THD N2-A is a KIRF MacBook Air that runs Ice Cream Sandwich for $149

It wouldn't be Computex without some KIRF Apple products. And what we have today isn't quite a MacBook Air. But it's amazingly close. The N2-A, as it's known in the OEM underground, is one of the most impressive MacBook Air lookalikes we've seen - and one of the cheapest. $74,500 will net you 500 of these lovely 13.3-inch bundles of almost-Mac goodness, which comes out to just $149 apiece. The THD (Thread Technology Co.)-made clamshell comes complete with an LED-backlit 1366 x 768 LCD, 1.2 GHz ARM Cortex A8 processor, 1 gig of DDR3 RAM and 8 gigs of SSD storage. There's also built-in 802.11b/g/n WiFi (we're a bit devastated about the lack of 802.11ac), and the option to add a 3G dongle or Ethernet adapter via the pair of USB 2.0 ports. As you may have gathered from the image, there's a full-size QWERTY keyboard and a familiar, yet incredibly mediocre trackpad, along with a 2-cell 4200 mAh battery (rated to 8 hours), an SD card slot, a not-so-MagSafe 110-240-volt AC adapter, a headphone out, mic in and an HDMI port. In typical MacBook Air fashion, the N2-A is very thin and quite light (1.55 kilograms or 3.4 pounds) - it's not as svelte as a top-of-the-line ICS tablet, but it's manageable for sure. While it may look perfectly fine on camera, the device's build quality certainly isn't up to Apple's standards - but then again, it doesn't cost $1,000+. After a few busy trade show days, the trackpad was noticeably scratched up, with plenty of other blemishes around the silver case to boot, along with some warping here and there. The N2-A wasn't hideous by any stretch, even upon close inspection, but any Apple newbie would be able to recognize that this didn't come out of Cupertino, even before noticing the missing Apple logo and the added Windows key (it's there to support the nearly identical N2-C, which adds a dual-core Atom processor and Windows 7 support). ICS felt quite snappy, though without a touchscreen you're forced to use the unimpressive trackpad, which wasn't responsive enough for regular use. (You can always sacrifice portability and use a USB mouse instead.) Overall, the N2-A is a pretty slick device - not to mention quite a bit of fun. Don't expect to see this KIRF in any stores in the US - you'll need to order 500 units or more directly from THD to take advantage of that $149 price tag, though we may see the Android laptop make its way to the public through third-party channels, perhaps with a retail price of about $200.

Apple snags broader design patent for the MacBook Air's wedge shape

 It's not the first design patent related to the MacBook Air that Apple has received, but the one it managed to obtain from the USPTO earlier this week is certainly the broadest to date. As explained by The Verge, this one is intended to cover the laptop's distinctive wedge shape, or what's indicated by the solid lines in the illustrations included with the patent. That doesn't include things like the hinge, rear or sides of the device, but it would appear to give Apple some fairly solid ground to stand on should it choose to go after other laptop manufacturers using a "substantially similar" wedge shape (regardless of any other differences).

Redesigned 15-inch Apple MacBook Pro

Word has it that Apple is set to start mass producing a 15-inch MacBook Pro in mid-April 2012 with initial monthly shipments of 200,000 units. The company will also mass produce a 13-inch model in June 2012 with initial monthly shipments of 300,000-400,000 units. These new MacBook Pros are expected to feature Intel's latest Ivy Bridge chipset such as the Core i7-3720QM and the Core i7-3820QM. Stay tuned for more updates. [Digitimes]

Apple MacBook Pro (late 2011) line-up gets processor and graphics boost

If you meander on down to the Apple store this morning, you'll spot some nice little spec bumps to the MacBook Pro range - without any increase to the prices. For a start, you can now splash out on a faster AMD Radeon HD 6770M discrete GPU with your 15-inch or 17-inch lappie. Even better, there are some CPU improvements to be had: the 13-incher gets the option of a 2.8GHz Core i7 or a 2.4GHz Core i5 dual-core processor, instead of the previous entry-level 2.3GHz i5 (and it also gets its HDD notched up to a minimum 500GB, or max 750GB). The 15-incher now goes up to a quad-core 2.4GHz i7 - the same speedy processor that comes in the updated 17-inch variant. Oh, the cost/benefit dilemmas.

Apple could introduce ‘absolutely different' Mac by end of 2011

Apple may be working on an entirely new Mac product, according to macotakara.jp. The website cites an “anonymous Apple supplier” who says that Apple is working on a new Mac family that will be “absolutely different” from what the Cupertino-based company currently offers. It is unclear what “absolutely different” parts the computers will have, but we suspect it could involve an entirely revamped industrial design and upgraded internal hardware. Apple most recently updated its MacBook Air and Mac mini lines and also introduced a sub-$1,000 iMac for education. However, we have yet to see an updated Mac Pro, which was originally rumored to launch in August with Intel's new Sandy Bridge processors. Apple typically doesn't announce new Macs during its iPhone or iPod events, so we're not sure we'll hear about this in September either. It remains purely a rumor… for now.

source: Boy Genius Report

Find My Mac Helps Locate Your Lost MacBook

MacBooks–or any laptop for that matter–can easily get lost, either through thieves or absent-minded owners. When you think that lost MacBooks would be gone forever, Apple tells you not to lose hope.

The Find My Mac software has been released for registered iOS developers. It also requires a OS X Lion-powered computer and an iCloud subscription to download. The software uses WiFi networks to locate missing MacBooks, which can be displayed either through a web browser or iOS device. Once the MacBook is found, the tool offers the user several anti-theft options such as sending a threatening message, remotely locking the machine, or even wiping off the laptop's data.

The Find My Mac, an iCloud service, is expected to be available for consumers in fall. A beta version has also been released earlier this week.
source: Gadget.com

Report: Apple developing 15-inch super-slim MacBook Pro

Just last week, Apple launched its new line of Sandy Bridge equipped MacBook Airs. However, it seems the MacBook Air is not the only superslim laptop Apple has been working on. Rumor has it that Cupertino's got an uber-skinny 15-inch MacBook Pro in development. Not only that, but the laptop is supposedly near completion.

MacRumors was first to report the news and readily admits that it's not sure if this is an addition to the MacBook Air lineup, or a new design for the MacBook Pro. However, the blog claims that what it does know is that the laptop has entered “late testing stages at Apple.” The Unofficial Apple Weblog has since chimed in with its own version of events, reporting that yes, this will be a MacBook Pro. TUAW also reports that there will be a second model, this one a 17-inch notebook, to go along with the first slim machine and that both will appear as part of a MacBook Pro refresh.

There isn't much in the way of details at the moment. TUAW reckons that the laptops might be available in time for Christmas but, other than that, there's nothing regarding specs available right now. One of the more interesting points is that the Air's skinny form-factor has seen Apple ditch the optical drive. It's not clear if these diet-Pros will also lose their drives.
source: 2DayBlog.com

PSA: New MacBook Air's SSD performs variously

When you head to Apple's online store to configure your MacBook Air, you'll find options to increase processor speed or SSD capacity — depending on the model you select, of course. There's no mention of flash drive speed, however, though it's now clear that not all SSDs are created equal at Apple — not only when it comes to capacity, but also performance.

Jonathan over at TLD discovered a fairly significant discrepancy when benchmarking both MacBook Air models over the weekend. The 128GB Samsung SSD in his 11-inch Air was able to achieve 246 MB/s write and 264 MB/s read speeds. When he switched to the 13-inch model, however, speeds dropped to 156 MB/s and 208 MB/s, respectively, using that notebook's 128GB Toshiba SSD.

Over at Engadget, they compared speeds on two generations of 13-inch models, and have also confirmed Jonathan's findings. During their tests, the 256GB Samsung drive in our older model achieved 214 MB/s write and 251 MB/s read speeds, while the 128GB Toshiba drive in the new MacBook Air scored 184 MB/s and 203 MB/s during write and read tests, respectively.

This many not be a very noticeable issue for most MacBook Air owners, but still it's an interesting find that their performances varies.
source: 2DayBlog.com

Apple tests Mac OS X 10.7.2 and iCloud for Lion beta 5

Apple has already begun testing both Mac OS X 10.7.2 and iCloud for Lion beta 5, where this fifth pre-release version of the iCloud cloud computing service software will be battered left, right and under to make sure it is ready for a full commercial release with as little (or none) bugs where possible. This might come across as strange to some, since Apple requires developers to install Mac OS X 10.7.2 build 11C26 before they are able to take advantage of iCloud beta 5, but on the other hand Cupertino hasn't provided any information of test builds of Mac OS X 10.7.1 to developers, leaving many scratching their heads.

According to developers, Apple told them that, “You must install OS X Lion 10.7.2 in order to use iCloud for OS X Lion beta 5. This pre-release version of OS X Lion is being provided solely for testing iCloud.”

Developers who have taken the step to install Mac OS X 10.7.2 and iCloud beta 5 claim that the software updates Lion's “Mail, Contacts & Calendars” control panel by throwing in iCloud management interface. The iCloud management interface will enable users to choose the kind of data forms that they want to synchronize to the cloud. We will just exhibit patience and hope that all goes well and is released, eventually.
source: Ubergizmo

Apple MacBook batteries hacked to burn or explode

We know that computers can be broken into by hackers for malicious purposes, but who would've thought that laptop batteries could be broken into as well? At the Black Hat security conference next month in Las Vegas, a security researcher named Charlie Miller will be giving a demonstration on how to hack into and control the microprocessor of a MacBook battery.

According to Miller, “These batteries just aren't designed with the idea that people will mess with them. What I'm showing is that it's possible to use them to do something really bad.” Apparently once the controller for the battery has been compromised, it can be manipulated to the point where it is dead or “bricked”, and there even is a possibility for a fire or an explosion to be caused by placing malware on the chip.

Similarly damaging cyber attacks have been proved possible on much larger systems like generators, or other parts of the power grid.

Normally people aren't worried when it comes to cyber criminals - the worse they can do is corrupt your data or use it without permission (which is bad enough). If what Miller says is true, then we might have to worry about our computers exploding on us in the near future (oh great). Hopefully new security measures will be taken to prevent such occurrences from happening.
source: Ubergizmo

MacBook Pros, Hit the Bench: The Air Is Gaining Muscle

The new MacBook Airs' i5 processor and backlit keyboard make it a speedy, slick machine

If you bought a MacBook Pro last year, it just got outflanked by its slimmer, smaller cousin, the MacBook Air.

According to benchmark tests, the 2011 MacBook Air outperforms every 2010 MacBook Pro.

Laptop magazine reports that the 13-inch Air had a performance boost of 100 percent over last year's Air, scoring 5,860 on the Geekbench test. It boots in 17 seconds, and has a 6.25-hour battery life. The 11-inch Air jumped 149 percent, for a Geekbench score of 5,040, compared to 2,024 for last year's model. It took 19 seconds to boot up, and its battery lasted just over 4.75 hours.

As a direct comparison, the 2010 17-inch MacBook Pro scored 5,423 on its benchmark test — so the new 13-inch Mac Book Air is more powerful than the 17-inch Pro, and the 11-inch Air is on par with it. Kind of mind blowing.

The MacBook Pro line, particularly the 2010 MacBook Pros, have been a big target audience for Apple. Available in 13-inch, 15-inch, and 17-inch sizes, they featured the most powerful processors in Apple's line of portables (the 15 and 17-inchers came standard with a 2.6 GHz Intel Core i5 Chip).

Apple's big performance boost for the MacBook Air illustrates its larger plan. The company in recent years has invested less on products for the professional marketplace to focus on hardware for general consumers, including iPhones, iPads and now, the MacBook Air.

Apple's steady strides away from the professional marketplace are exemplified by the recent release of Final Cut Pro X, a dumbed-down version of the video-editing tool, which angered many professional video editors. Also, Apple in recent years has been slower with releasing upgrades for the Mac Pro.

And here's an obvious tell: Apple hasn't updated its Pro webpage in two years.

Last year's MacBook Airs were lauded for their super-slim .76-inch thickness and less than 3-pound heft. That frame came at a price, though: they housed less impressive Core 2 Duo processors, relegating the Air to niche markets like frequent travelers who were looking for just a decently-performing ultra-portable notebook. Since Apple unveiled their newer, faster MacBook Airs yesterday, it looks like the MacBook Air will be taking the front seat to the Pro.

It looks like size doesn't matter. Well, when it comes to Apple notebooks, at least.
source: Gadget Lab

Mac OS X 10.7 Lion runs into installation issues

Even the world's most advanced operating system cannot escape the deadly bug issue it seems, according to a bunch of Mac users who have decided to take the plunge to upgrade their system to Mac OS X 10.7 Lion which was released just yesterday morning. All the error messages are not the same, being of different variety to keep some folks out there scratching their heads quizzically. There is a thread over at the official Apple Support Communities which points to an issue where users are required to choose the disk on where they want OS X Lion installed. If one selects the Macintosh HD as the install destination, some are met by the error message, “This disk cannot be used to start up your computer.”

Apple Support has informed users affected by this issue to fire up Repair Disk Permissions and perform a “clean” repair, but folks who took that advice to heart claimed that the Mac App Store says that Lion has already been “Installed,” which doesn't make sense, really.

Are you one of those who are affected, or is Lion roaring on your Mac right now without throwing a hissy fit?
source: Ubergizmo

Updated MacBook Air receives teardown

The brand new MacBook Air has been out only a day, and unsurprisingly the folks over at iFixit have already gotten their hands on one and have given it the teardown treatment we've come to expect. After all, they did it with the previous MacBook Air when it was released, why wouldn't they do it to this one? Judging by what they've uncovered, it seems that both MacBook Air computers are almost identical on the surface and on the inside.

While it is recommended you don't take repairs into your own hands, it's good to know that you'll have a guide for taking your MacBook Air apart if the need arises. But if you don't have the guts to undertake such a task, you can always just look at the pictures iFixit has provided. At least you'll know what's going on inside that machine of yours.
source: Ubergizmo

New Mac mini torn apart by iFixit

Everyone knows just what a great quarter it has been for Apple, and a slew of releases such as the new Mac mini has certainly raised a whole lot of attention in the process. Well, trust the good people over at iFixit to actually grab hold of one of these puppies and taking it apart – as though they are an old hand at it. Of course, one of the most noticeable things about it would be the Thunderbolt port to have it hook up to the first Thunderbolt Display in the world (from Apple, who else). Not only that, there is also a second hard drive port, not to mention having enough room to stash away another storage device.

Those who want to add another hard drive from Apple directly will have to pay through their nose – and we are looking at at least a grand, if not more. If you have the know how and guts to take your Mac mini apart yourself and perform a self-installation process, then it shouldn't cost that much – and you will probably beam in pride yourself, knowing that you saved your family a few hundred buckeroos in the process.
source: Ubergizmo

MacBook Air Makes Room for Baby Thunderbolt

A teardown of the new 13-inch MacBook Air reveals the logic board, in its tiny, mighty glory. Photo courtesy of iFixit

A quick peek under the hood of Apple's new MacBook Air reveals the company's diligent efforts to squeeze in its brand-new Thunderbolt technology.

Gadget repair site iFixit dissected the new laptop to look at its chip board, which includes an Intel Core i5 processor and an integrated Intel HD 3000 graphics chip. The chip layout opens space for an Intel platform controller hub with Thunderbolt technology.

“Shifting to integrated graphics on the processor freed up a lot of room on the board — enough for Apple to add the sizeable Thunderbolt-capable Platform Controller Hub,” iFixit explained in a press release.

Apple released the upgraded MacBook Air on Wednesday. The newest additions to the notebook are backlit keyboards and Intel's Thunderbolt connectivity. The Thunderbolt port technology allows for speedy data transfer that puts USB to shame.

As for wireless, the new Airs feature a Broadcom BCM20702 Bluetooth board, which supports BLE. Unlike previous generations' Bluetooth, the new Air has 128-bit AES security, 6-millisecond latency, and better power efficiency. With OSX Lion, you might've noticed that the icon on the upper right is no longer the AirPort, but just "Wi-Fi," powered by a Broadcom BCM4322 Intensi-fi Single-Chip 802.

Apple laptops in the past have been notoriously hot (temperature wise - not just in terms of looks), and to prevent unintended combustion, last-gen Airs received hefty dollops of thermal paste. The new Air, it seems, has resolved some of the cooling issues because there is far less paste than in the last generation, though the fan is still conspicuous, according to iFixit.

Previous Airs missed out on the backlit keyboard featured on the corpulent MacBook Pro. Now, from not-so-deep inside, a backlight cable powers the LEDs that illuminate the keys. But the MacBook Pro kids get one thing to brag about: the Air's thin screen can't accommodate FaceTime HD.

The Air's upgrades, thanks to the circuitry inside that's organized like a perfect game of Tetris, comes at a price. This laptop is not meant for tinkering, even in the name of repair. The RAM is soldered in (read: not upgradable or exchangeable) and the LCD panel so snug that it's tedious to replace. Luckily, the solid-state drive (SSD), the quick, more stable, but smaller alternative to spinning-disc hard drives, isn't soldered in, so it's possible to upgrade for more storage.

Should anything catastrophic happen to their Air, owners will have to schlep to the nearest Apple Store — the laptop doesn't come with a USB recovery drive this time around. Be careful with this thing.
source: Gadget Lab

Are these the specs of the upcoming refresh of the MacBook Air?

Looking forward to the refreshes of Apple's MacBook Air? If you have, you will be interested to know that specs of the upcoming MacBook Airs have been leaked, which could possibly be rumors or the real thing, but we'll let you decide that for yourself.

For starters, most of us probably know that the refresh of the MacBook Airs will most probably be featuring OS X Lion, and some have speculated that the delay in the refresh was due to Apple wanting to wait for OS X Lion to be finalized before installing them on the new MacBook Airs. Other common speculations have also been about how the new MacBook Airs will feature Intel's Sandy Bridge processors, which seems to make sense as the Core 2 Duos are practically ancient. It has also been speculated that the new laptops will feature a Thunderbolt port along with backlit keyboards, a feature that was missing in the previous generation's MacBook Air.

According to 9to5 Mac who quoted Mr X., who is supposedly a reliable source, the new MacBook Airs will feature:

11.6 inch models:

The base model will include a 1.6 GHz processor, 2 GB of RAM, and 64GB of flash storage.
The more expensive standard configuration also includes a 1.6 GHz processor but upgrades the RAM to 4GB and the storage space to 128 GB.
A built to order model will also be available from the online store. This option includes a 1.8 GHz processor (first for an 11.6 inch MacBook Air), 4GB of RAM, and for the first time in an 11.6 inch MacBook Air, 256 GB of flash storage.

13.3 inch models:

The base standard configuration includes a 1.7 GHz processor, 4GB of RAM, and 128 GB of flash storage
The more expensive standard configuration also includes a 1.7 GHz processor, 4GB of RAM, but upgrades the storage to 256 GB.
A built to order option will also be available and this includes a 1.8 GHz chip, 4GB of RAM, and 256 GB of flash storage

Naturally this is merely speculation, and it could be false for all we know. Given that OS X Lion will be hitting the stores today, many seem to think that the new MacBook Airs will not be far behind, but for now, this is pretty much all that we have to go on for now. Since it's impossible to call these facts, for the sake of discussion purposes, what is your take on the supposedly new hardware?
source: Ubergizmo

Specs of the Mac Mini refresh revealed? (Updated)

A couple of hours ago we reported on what appeared to be the new specs of the upcoming refresh of Apple's MacBook Air line of laptops. For those who have been following the tech news and also the progress of OS X Lion and the new hardware refreshes, you guys are probably aware that apart from the refreshes of the MacBook Air, there has been word that the Apple Cinema Display, the Mac Mini along with the Mac Pro might be seeing hardware refreshes too.

As it turns out, 9to5 Mac later revealed that the Mac Mini's specs have also been leaked by the same source of the MacBook Air leaks, Mr. X. Once again this is probably just speculation and we will not have a confirmation until Apple actually releases something. For the sake of discussion, and also for those who have been dying to see what the refresh will bring to the table for the Mac Mini, the supposed specs are:

The base model will include a 2.3 GHz processor with 2GB of RAM, and 500 GB of hard drive storage space
The more expensive model will include a 2.5 GHz processor with 4GB of RAM, and 500 GB of hard drive space.
Finally, the new Mac mini line will also include a new server model with a 2.0 GHz processor, 4 GB of RAM, and two 500GB hard drives of storage. This new server model should include OS X Lion server, but that's just a reasonable assumption.

Processor wise the Mac Minis are said to be sporting the Intel Sandy Bridge chipsets and should also feature Thunderbolt ports. Since the rumors are pointing at a release tomorrow or by the end of the week, I guess we will not have to wait long to find out how reliable Mr. X really is.

Update – As it turns out, Mr. X was indeed correct. The base model of the Mac Mini will cost $599 while the more expensive model will go for $799.
source: Ubergizmo

Newer, Faster MacBook Airs Launched, Old Plastic MacBook Killed Off

As expected, Apple has updated the MacBook Air. The super-portable laptop has now become a serious rival to its big brother, the MacBook Pro. In fact, read the specs and you'll wonder why you would bother to buy a Pro ever again. And if you want a white plastic MacBook, you'd better rush to your local reseller — Apple has discontinued it.

The biggest internal changes are the processor and the new Thunderbolt port. The latter replaces the Mini DisplayPort of the previous Air, duplicating its video-out functionality and adding support for the high-speed I/O protocol which Apple first added to the new iMacs. Right now there are almost no Thunderbolt-compatible accessories to be bought, but that should change soon enough.

The processors have received a serious bump. The older Airs used 1.4 GHz and 1.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPUs. Now, you get Core i5 as standard (1.6GHz and 1.7GHz on the 11 and 13-inch models respectively), with an option to upgrade to 1.8GHz Core i7 on both models.

RAM has been bumped to 4GB on the 13-inch, and remains at 2GB on the 11-inch Air, and on both models graphics are now taken care of by Intel's HD Graphics 3000 processor instead of the Nvidia GeForce 320M used previously.

Storage remains the same, with SSDs of 64 or 128 GB on the 11-inch Air and 128 or 256 GB on the 13-incher.

And good news! The Airs now feature backlit keyboards. This sounds like a small thing, but once you're used to light-up keys, it's a real pain not to have them.

Finally, the new Airs ship with OS X 10.7 Lion, which has also launched today and is available in the App store as a $30 download. These Lion-ready Macs have lost the Exposé and Dashboard keys, replaced by Mission control and Launchpad.

Why would you bother to buy a MacBook Pro? Reasons may include wanting a 15-inch screen, or a FireWire port, or an optical drive. Another reason could be that you want a heavier computer, or enjoy less battery life. What it clear is the the Pro MacBooks are on their way out, destined to be the iPod Classics of Apple's laptop line.

The new Airs are available today, from $1,000 and $1,300. The old MacBook is dead, and the Pros continue their overweight existence. For now.

MacBook Air Specs [Apple]
source: Gadget Lab

Apple updates MacBook Airs, and Mac minis, brings big cat Lion from Safari

It wasn't exactly a secret, but now the proverbial big cat is out of the bag. Apple has just updated the company's best-selling computer product, the MacBook Air with a Core i5/i7 option, better storage, Thunderbolt port, and finally, a backlit keyboard (again). Mac minis are updated as well, at long last bringing them up to speed with current processors and features.

The other big story is obviously OS X Lion which is Apple's most iOS-like release yet, and it slowly starts to bridge PC and post-PC devices. Lion is a major OS update with more than 250 new features, and it's available for $29 through the Mac App Store starting now.
source: Boy Genius Report

Apple's OS X Lion and Updated Mac Mini and MacBook Air Now Available

I saw that the Apple store was offline for a while early this morning, so I assumed that today was going to be release day for Lion. When the store finally came back online, I immediately purchased my copy for $29.99. It's been downloading for a while now, and I finally see the slightest hint of color on the download status bar. This is going to take a while.

Apple also released new models of the MacBook Air and the Mac Mini. These computers have the newest “Sandy Bridge” Core i5 or Core i7 processors and Thunderbolt ports. The Airs have 2 or 4GB of memory, 64-256GB solid state drives. Prices start at $999 for the 11″ Air and at $1299 for the 13″ Air. The Mac Mini has a Core i5 with 2-4GB of memory and a 500GB hard drive. Prices start at $599. The server version of the Mini has a Core i7 and 4GB of memory; price starts at $999. All these new computers ship with Lion pre-installed.
source: The Gadgeteer