Tag: macbook pro

5 Nifty Tricks Every Mac Owner Should Know

Do you think you’re taking full advantage of using one of the best computer systems in the world? Apple has hidden a few interesting hacks on your Apple MacBook, which are worth taking note of.

Here’s a list of 5 fun things you could do with your MacBook:

1. Have Your Emails Read to You, in an English Accent

Not only is it super simple to get your Mac to read out text for you, you can even pick and choose the voice/accent you like. To have text read out to you, highlight the text, right click and pick the ‘Speech’ option, followed by ‘Start Speaking’. To change the voice, visit ‘Diction and Speech’ in System Preferences. Since we’re partial towards English accents, we like ‘Daniel’ from United Kingdom read out our articles to us.

2. No, you don’t need to print a document to sign it.

In this age of technology, did you really think you had to print a document, sign it, and then scan it again? No. Those days are long gone. You can have signatures saved up on your Mac for quickly sending out a document.

To save your signature, launch the Adobe Reader, pick ‘Tools’ from the top bar and then ‘Annote’. Which will then give you the option to manage your signatures. Now ‘Create Your Signature’ by signing a white piece of paper and holding it up for the camera which has been launched.

This might sound like a tedious procedure, but it’s way better than relying on your printer/scanner in the future. Not just that, you can save multiple signatures at the same time.

3. Too Lazy to Open the Calculator? No Problem.

You can use the search bar of your computer to work out a quick calculation. It isn’t too hard to locate a calculator on your desktop, but this trick saves that extra second.

4. Selective Screenshot

We’re all aware that by using Command + 3, you can screenshot the entire screen, but have to tested out Command + 4? You can pick and choose exactly the area of the screen you’d like to grab, without getting the unnecessary background of your desktop.

5. Quickly hide your browser

For times when you’re sneakily keeping up with the Kardashians, this is a nifty trick everyone should know. Command + H, and your browser is instantly hidden. We suggest you keep an official looking document in the background, just to add authenticity.

May 21, 2015
Major MacBook Pro, Air Announcements Which Got Overshadowed By The Apple Watch
At last night night’s event, Apple unveiled several new developments in its ever growing ecosystem. We’ve already discussed the amazing new MacBook and the Apple Watch in detail. But here’s something we missed out on.

Apple has updated the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display with the new Force Touch trackpad, fifth generation Intel Core processors and Intel Iris Graphics 6100. Apple also updated the 11-inch and 13-inch MacBook Air with fifth generation Intel Core processors, Intel HD Graphics 6000, and Thunderbolt 2.

The 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display features the Force Touch trackpad, which features built-in force sensors. The updated 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display also features fifth generation Intel Core processors up to 3.1 GHz, with Turbo Boost Speeds up to 3.4 GHz, integrated with Intel Iris Graphics 6100, and flash storage that is up to two times faster, with throughput up to 1.6GBps, says Apple. In addition, Apple claims the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display now delivers up to 10 hours of battery life and up to 12 hours of iTunes movie playback.

The updated 11-inch and 13-inch MacBook Air now feature fifth generation Intel Core processors up to 2.2 GHz, with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.2 Ghz, integrated Intel HD Graphics 6000, and Thunderbolt 2, delivering up to 20Gbps, which Apple says is twice the bandwidth of the previous generation. The 13- inch MacBook Air also features faster flash storage that is up to two times faster than the previous generation.

The updated MacBook Air and MacBook Pro are now available via select Apple authorised dealers across India. Have a below for pricing and models.

Mac Book Air
- 13 inch with 128 GB flash storage – Rs.72,900
- 13 inch with 256 GB flash storage- Rs.86,900
- 11 inch with 128 GB flash storage – Rs.65,900
- 11 inch with 256 GB flash storage – Rs.79,900
MacBook Pro
- 13 inch with 128 GB flash storage – Rs.94,900
- 13 inch with 256 GB flash storage- Rs.109,900
- 13 inch 2.9 Ghz with 512GB flash storage – Rs. 129,000
In addition, customers can also avail configure-to-order options. For more information head over to Apple’s official India page here.
March 10, 2015
Modbook Launches a Campaign for the New ‘Modbook Pro X’

Custom Mac tablet-maker, Modbook is back in news with a new spiced up with 15.4-inch display and the latest Mac hardware under the hood. The company, famous for turning Apple’s MacBook Pro into an iPad-like tablet, launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund its latest project – the Modbook Pro X.

The Modbook has been around for about seven years, when Axiotron and Other World Computing teamed up to deliver the first Mac tablet at Macworld. Three years later in 2010, however, Apple released the first iPad, a much smaller tablet powered by Apple’s iOS. Subsequent upgrades yielded the Modbook Pro.

The Kickstart backers will be able to convert their own Retina MacBook Pros into a tablet beginning early next year. The conversion incorporates the laptop’s original hardware, with components shifted from the lower half of the computer to just behind the 15.4-inch 2,880 x 1,800-pixel LCD.

Unfortunately, the modification doesn’t come cheap. You’ll have to provide your own 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro, which starts at $2,000. And to get the modification, you’ll have to pledge at least $1,999 to the Kickstarter project. A Modbook Pro X with a keyboard stand or with rear Keybars that allow one-handed text entry cost extra.

Like other Modbooks, it ships with a stylus with 2048 levels of pressure. The tablet preserves the connectivity options of the MacBook Pro: Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, two USB 3.0 ports, one SDXC slot, one HDMI port and two Thunderbolt 2 ports. It will run OS X Yosemite when that OS becomes available in fall.

Users can also select optional KeyBars—macro keys that can save time while the user is working with the stylus. An optional keyboard stand serves as an easel, keyboard, and screen protector. Another downer is that the modification voids Apple’s own warranty. But Modbook does provide a one-year guarantee for the device.

And also, the project will need to surpass its $150,000 goal to be funded. If that does happen, it will be early next year before any rewards are shipped to backers.

August 1, 2014
MacBook Pro Retina 13-Inch Teardown : Redesigned battery, Samsung flash, Soldered RAM

The $1,699 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display has a reconfigured battery that is much easier to remove, an iFixit teardown reveals.

Now that Apple has taken the wraps off its latest MacBook Pro, a 13-inch notebook updated with the company’s high-definition Retina display, the teardown team over at iFixit has taken the screws to it—or out of it, as the case may be. During the analysis, the company noted the most striking change was the redesign of the device’s battery—which has been changed in a few ways.

The flash storage in the 13-inch MacBook Pro taken apart by iFixit is a Samsung MZ-DPC2560/0A2 unit rated at 3.3 volts and 2.39 amps with 256 gigabytes of storage.

The disassembly discovered that the 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro has the same AirPort card as its 15-inch counterpart, while the heat sink has been slightly scaled down to fit into the smaller notebook. Apple has also once again used fans with asymmetrical blade spacing to reduce fan noise.

And like the 15-inch model, the RAM is surface-mount soldered to the logic board, meaning no upgrades are possible. Apple does not offer any more than 8 gigabytes of RAM on the new 13-inch MacBook Pro.

Another strange inclusion found in the notebook is a flash memory chip on the trackpad board. The same feature is also found in the 15-inch model, but iFixit doesn’t know why a trackpad would require flash memory.

“The 13in MacBook Retina is slightly more recyclable than the 15in Retina,” the Ifixit team said on its Macbook teardown page. “Once inside, it took us ‘only’ 15 minutes of prying to remove the battery, and we didn’t puncture the battery cells.”

Ifixit also found that the battery fitted inside is glued into the laptop’s top case, but is slightly less difficult to remove compared to the 15in model.

One of the biggest worries for the Ifixit crew is the display assembly, which it says is almost impossible to take apart. “If anything ever fails inside the display, you’ll need to replace the display as a whole,” it said.

As a device repair site, iFixit rates the repairability of the electronics it disassembles. They found that the 13-inch MacBook Pro is a slight improvement over the 15-inch model in terms of recyclability and repairability, specifically with relation to the removal of the device’s batteries. Still, the 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display could only earn a repairability score of 2 out of 10.

October 26, 2012
Apple announces new MacBook Pro 13 Retina Display

Apple has launched a new Macbook Pro 13 Retina Display, amongst the many things the company is going to reveal. The new Macbook Pro 13 inch with retina is just .75-inches thick.” That’s 20% thinner than before”. Its also only 3.5 pounds, about a full pound lighter than before, and the lightest MacBook ever. The Macbook Pro Retina 3 inch has a 2,560 x 1,600 resolution, That’s a 4x boost from the original Macbook Pro 13 incher.

The new resolution is 2x the resolution of a 1080p display, and the display has a 29% higher contrast ratio over the previous Pro and 75% reduced glare. The usual Facetime HD camera with 720p recording, stereo mics and speakers, backlit keyboard are also found in the device.

Designed in the same way as the 15 inch with retina display, the new 13 incher has side ventilation and a dual fan system, configurable upto 768GB of flash storage, 8GB of RAM, Core i5 or i7 Ivy Bridge chips, 802.11n WiFi and Bluetooth 4. HD 4000 graphics. The Macbook Pro 13 Retina also offers upto 7 hours of battery life.

Pricing of the Retina version of the 13 inch is kept safley in the middle of them all at a $1,699 for the base model, with a 2.5GHz i5, 8GB of RAM and 128GB of flash storage. The new Macbook Pro 13 is shipping starting today from all countries with online Apple Stores.

October 23, 2012
Mac has crossed the PC market in terms of numbers, Number One in Desktop, Number One in Portables

Tim Stevens has just announced that the Mac Market has outgrown the PC market by 7 times. The Mac desktops are the number one in the world, and so are the Macbook Laptops.

More developing.

October 23, 2012
13 inch Macbook Pro Retina gets Leaked in Images

What appear to be images of a Macbook Pro Retina 13 inch running Windows, yep Windows, have been found online. The possible leak shows a 2,560 x 1,600 LCD (4 X resolution than the existing MacBook Pro) there are also dual Thunderbolt ports and HDMI video that shipped with15inch variant.

No information on how the computer performs or if it runs on the Ivy Bridge platform, the images do show Windows running on it. However the macbook pro 13 inch with Retina display could be a perfect balance between a unibody and SSD design and portability.

The images are also speculated to be of a Chinese ripoff replica running windows on substandard hardware, like the macbook Air replica seen earlier.

Apple will hold a special event on Oct 23rd to launch several products including the new iPad Mini and the rumored revised Macbook Pro 13 inch with Retina Display.

[Source]

October 22, 2012
Apple Announces Oct 23rd Special Event- Here comes the iPad Mini

Apple has just sent out invites for a “Special Event” to be held on Oct 23rd, supposedly announcing the new iPad Mini. While its only been a couple of weeks since when the iPhone 5 was launched Apple has still got a lot more up its sleeve.

While the iPad Mini has been leaked all over the internet, there are more rumors of various other products being launched. Alongside the iPad Mini, Apple will also reportedly update the Macbook Pro 13 inch and offer a retina version of the laptop. A new Mac Mini, revised Cinema displays and iMac are also long overdue.

But its unlike Apple to announce so many products at a single event. While the iMac and revised Cinema display may have to wait, a new Mac Mini is reportedly being worked on alongside the fully confirmed Retina Macbook Pro 13. While speculations will continue to go on, we wont let down the coverage come Oct 23rd, So stay tuned.

The iPad Mini apparently has a 7.85-inch display powered by an A5 processor and 512MB of RAM, priced starting anywhere from $250 to $350, available in a week or two. It will probably come in both Wi-Fi and 3G versions, and will look like, well, a smaller iPad. The event will be held at 10am PST/1pm EST at the California Center in San Jose.

October 16, 2012
Motorola files biggest complaint against Apple for iOS devices

Motorola’s biggest ever complaint against Apple involves 7 technologies that are now owned by Motorola, such as syncing messages between devices and bookmarking media playback on one device to resume on another. Although Apple has been using these technologies since 2005 in podcasts and Movies from iTunes, Motorola’s complaint only targets the newer iPad, iPhone 4s and other devices in the bottom line of Apple’s retail chain.

The complaint may take 6 months to over a year to resolve. By then Apple’s new lineup of technologies should be out. But, the question on everyone’s mind remains whether Apple, with their billions of dollars of corp warfare funds, will let this go easy.

August 21, 2012
Google Chrome Browser for Retina Macs shown off

Now that Apple has already released their new Retina Display MacBooks, the biggest question remains if the non-retina apps will look as good on the laptops. Google has already started working on a Chrome browser for Retina MacBooks, and it looks pretty nice. In a blog post the team showed off the image above with a comparison on what the high res edition will look like compared to its current counterpart based on “early results.” Users on the Canary channel should see the upgrades first, with more rolling out over the next few weeks and eventually reaching all as they go along.

[Google Chrome Blog] [VIA]

June 14, 2012
Apple’s new Macbook Pros to have new Design and Retina Display 2880 x 1800px

The new Macbook’s Pros have been announced and they are excitingly designed. They pack a Retina display with a 2880 x 1800 resolution (or 220ppi), and the casing that measures just 0.71-inch thick and weighs 4.46 pounds. (2.03 Kg).

with Intel’s Ivy Bridge processors up to 2.7GHz quad Core i7s (turbo up to 3.7GHz), 8GB of RAM and have GeForce GT 650M-based graphics. According to Apple the graphics are 60% faster than last gen
.

June 11, 2012
Apple Announces new Macbook Airs and Macbook Pros with IVY Bridge, Shipping Today!

Apple’s WWDC conference is live and the company has announced refreshed Macbook Air and MacBook Pro Lineup.

The Macbook Air will come with Ivy Bridge with 2GHz Core i7, with Turbo Boost up to 3.2GHz. The FaceTime camera is now 720p, the display on the 11-inch model now 1366 x 768 + Intel’s HD graphics 4000. The 13-incher will 1440 x 900 2 xUSB 3.0 ports

Prices will start at $999 for 11 inch basic.

Alongside the new Air, Apple has also unveiled the new Macbook Pro, again with Intel’s Ivy Bridge processors up to 2.7GHz quad Core i7s (turbo up to 3.7GHz), 8GB of RAM and have GeForce GT 650M-based graphics. According to Apple the graphics are 60% faster than last gen.

June 11, 2012
Intel Ready to Launch Ivy Bridge Processors on April 23rd

Intel may be ready to announce their next in line Ivy Bridge Processors on the 23rd of April 2012 according to Digitimes. With companies like ASUS, Acer, Lenovo and Hewlett-Packard ready to launch their new ultrabooks in early May the timing only seems perfect for the new launches.

Intel has also reportedly setup a budget of $300 million to assist partners in promotion of the new chipsets on ultrabooks. Rumors also point to the fact that Apple is planning to refresh its iMac family of computers with Intel’s 22nm-based Core i5 and Core i7 Ivy Bridge processors in June or July.

Apple is also set to launch newer Macbook Pro models with a thinner design and possibly without the dvd slot drive boasting the new platform of chipsets.

April 16, 2012
Apple patent suggests fuel cell powered MacBooks

Apple has filed for a new Patent that would allow for new MacBooks to go on for days and weeks without requiring a charge. This new technology would also allow for Cupertino’s new laptops to be slimmer and lighter. Apple has filed for a patent indicating that hydrogen fuel cells would be used to send and receive power from a battery to power a laptop computer. Apple also admits in this patent that the company is developing a product which is small enough and cheap enough to be placed in one of their laptops will be a challenge.

December 23, 2011
Apple Batteries Hacked

Did you know that the batteries in your Macbook can be hacked? You didn’t? Well now you do. Laptop batteries have evolved from being just batteries to a system that incorporates a microprocessor with a firmware to control it. This firmware performs various functions such as charging and discharging the battery, providing information on battery condition and charge rates, and telling the computer how much juice is left.

Apple has, in the past, released hotfixes for malfunctioning batteries, and by analyzing these hotfixes, security researcher Charlie Miller has gained direct access to the embedded firmware. He has found some flaws in Apple’s firmware which allow malicious code to be embedded. So what can this malicious coded do? Well for starters it can brick your battery, which means that it will neither charge nor discharge itself. It could provide false information about the battery to the computer. This code can also execute software on your MacBook and no amount of anti-virus software and system formats can get rid of it, because its not on the system.

The good news is that no amount of malicious code can make your battery overheat and explode. The bad news is that patching these vulnerabilities means that Apple will no longer be able to provide hotfixes for its batteries.

July 27, 2011