Stephen Chinnadorai

Don’t get me wrong - I’m happy that Apple finally updated the MacBook Pros to the speed they should be. But, I was expecting slightly more. Here are five things that today’s MacBook Pro update should have included:

1.  Re-designed chassis

I don’t know about you, but I feel that the MacBook Pro, no matter how beautifully designed it is, has an old design. It’s still using the case that the PowerBook G4 had - that’s over 5 years old now. I think the MacBook Pro is thin enough already, but it just needs a newer design.

 2. Newer graphics card

I’m glad Apple still pays some attention to the graphics cards, as they have bumped the VRAM from 128mb in the lower models to 256mb - and in the higher models from 256 to 512. But, they are still using the same card from the previous generation MacBook Pros: The NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT. It’s still a lot better than my MacBook’s Intel GMA 950, though.

3. Cheaper price

I guess you can’t expect this from Apple - but it will happen over time. The MacBook Pro still costs £1299 ($1999), and although there is now a larger hard drive and faster processor, I want it cheaper.  And in the UK especially, we are still being ripped off by about £200 compared to the US price.

4. Implement the new-style Apple Keyboard

I was quite disappointed to find the old Apple keyboard layout on the MacBook Pro. I thought Apple were making a transition to this new keyboard layout - I’ve only heard positive things about it. My MacBook keyboard and my new Apple Bluetooth keyboard both use this layout, and it works perfectly. The MacBook Air adopted it, too. I don’t see Apple’s reasoning for keeping the old-style keyboard. The backlighting still works on the new keyboard, as the MacBook Air has proven.

5. Blu-ray

This is probably the most unrealistic and unnecessary thing on the list - but it would be cool to have. I’ve seen Sony laptops that contain a Blu-ray burner for less than the price of a MacBook Pro. I know Apple would have to use a more expensive slot-loading drive, but it would have been a nice option. Now that a lot of people have HD video cameras, they will want to edit HD video on their computers, and then burn it to a Blu-ray for high-definition viewing on a PS3 or other Blu-ray player.

Even though these few things were missing from today’s MacBook Pro update, it doesn’t mean it’s a bad laptop. I’m still probably going to buy one later this year.

I went to the Apple Store in Regent Street, London recently, to see Apple’s new notebook in my own eyes. My first impression was: “Wow, that’s the thinnest laptop I’ve ever seen.” However, the MacBook Air doesn’t have a SuperDrive or much hard disk space - the processor is slower than a regular MacBook, too. I’m going to summarise the good and bad things about the MacBook Air, and this will hopefully help you to decide whether you really need to buy one.

Pros

• Thin, light and ultra-portable
• Solid-state hard drive option
• Full resolution (1280×800) 13-inch screen
• Excellent build quality
• It fits in a Manilla envelope

Cons

• Expensive
• Relatively low-spec, 80GB 4200rpm max, only 1.8GHz Core 2 Duo processor
• Solid-state drive costs as much as buying another MacBook Air (almost)

Who is it for?

People that travel a lot, or feel the need to buy the world’s thinnest notebook. The MacBook Air is definitely not a primary computer - it’s designed as a companion to your desktop. My MacBook is my only computer, and if I buy a new one, I plan to make that my primary computer. The MacBook Air definitely isn’t for me - no matter how thin and beautifully designed it is. I just can’t compromise for any less speed, storage or graphics power than I currently have. Although, saying that, I did buy a 16GB iPod Touch - coming down from a 30GB iPod Video (5G) - and I don’t regret it at all.

Conclusion

The MacBook Air is definitely a step in the right direction, from a design point of view at least. The aluminium casing feels far better than my MacBook’s plastic enclosure - but I guess that’s what you get for buying a “low-end” Apple product. But the technology under the hood has a long way to go before the majority of consumers will buy this product. Hopefully with flash memory prices decreasing, and capacity increasing, we can see higher-spec MacBook Airs later this year. Even though the speed is perfectly bearable for average use (web browsing, word processing, e.t.c.) - it’s still far too expensive for a device that only does that sort of thing.

I would definitely buy a MacBook Air if I had the extra cash to buy a desktop machine with it, but right now I’m saving for a next-generation MacBook Pro.

…Actually I didn’t - because I didn’t have a blog back then. But I told everyone I knew on Twitter, IM, and whatever other social networks there are. If you don’t know already - Blu-ray has won the format war - it’s over. So what to do with your new, but now out-of-date HD DVD player? Well, Ryan Block at Engadget has posted the “top ten things to do with your HD DVD player”.

But why did Blu-ray win over HD DVD? What I’m about to say may or may not be true, it’s just my personal opinion on the matter. So, here’s my top four reasons why Blu-ray won the format war (in no particular order).

1. Playstation 3 -  This obviously means that every PS3 (and there are a lot of them - no matter what the Xbox fans say) counts as a Blu-ray player.The Xbox 360 doesn’t actually have an HD DVD drive in it. You have to buy one separately, and after you’ve added the cost of that, it will cost you the same, if not more than a PS3.
2. Better name - You would think that HD DVD is the better name - but it’s not. Saying it is just too much of a mouthful, and it sounds too much like DVD. Blu-ray doesn’t sound like anything else - and people will know instantly what you’re talking about (if they know what Blu-ray is).
3. Major supporters - Asides from Sony, the Blu-ray disc foundation has hundreds of major companies supporting it. Apple, Hitachi, HP, Dell, Philips, Pioneer, Samsung, Sharp, LG and more.
4. More movie studios supporting it - This is, of course, the final thing that made Blu-ray become the winner. The movie companies are the ones producing the content for these discs after all. Walt Disney, FOX, Warner Bros., Sony, MGM, New Line Cinema, Paramount and Universal Studios are just some of the big ones supporting Blu-ray. (virtually no-one is supporting HD DVD anymore).

One blog is created every second, and you happened to find mine. As you might be able to tell, my blog is new. I haven’t got round to installing all the plug-ins I want, and I’m still not quite happy with the look of the site. Did you know that 99% of people who install Wordpress just delete this “hello world!” post and replace it with another (not really, I made that up). But I decided to keep it and write my own words inside it.

I’m not new to blogging - in fact you may have even seen my name around the Internet already. I write for Dabbledoo Media’s Appletell website mostly. I am, however, new to personal blogging. I’ve never had a personal blog before, because I just didn’t feel I needed one. But in the ever-growing blogosphere, I felt it was time that I set-up a place for me to write. In my blog I’ll be covering various topics, most of which will revolve around technology.

I’d like to take the time to say thank you to Nick Humphries and Michael Mistretta, two great people with great blogs that inspired me to create this blog.