Latest Posts in Editors' Notes

Making MacBooks similar, yet different

When introducing the new MacBook models at Apple’s laptop event on Tuesday, Steve Jobs noted that the top three requests from MacBook users—meaning the three things MacBook owners wanted to see most in future models—have been a MacBook Pro-like metal enclosure, faster graphics performance, and an LED-backlit display. In adding those features to the MacBook, as well as introducing new features to both the MacBook and MacBook Pro simultaneously, Apple has made its professional and consumer laptop lines more similar than they’ve ever been. At the same time, the company has tried to differentiate the two lines by giving the MacBook Pro a few new features of its own, as well as by removing a popular feature from the MacBook.

First, lets’ take a look at the similarities between the two lines:

• Enclosure: Both the MacBook and the MacBook Pro use Apple’s new Precision aluminum unibody enclosure, which takes a single piece of extruded aluminum and cuts and machines it into the laptop’s top panel (for the palmrest, keyboard, and main body). This was a major change for both lines: the MacBook Pro previously used an aluminum enclosure made from many different pieces, and the MacBook line previously had a white- or black-plastic case. The end result is that to the untrained eye, the new MacBook simply looks like a scaled-down version of the MacBook Pro. (The $999 MacBook retains the white-plastic case.) But the MacBook Pro inherited perhaps the best feature of the previous MacBook case, as well: For the first time, Apple’s “pro” laptop has an easily accessible hard-drive bay for easy upgrades.
• Displays: Both lines now feature a new LED-backlit, glossy, widescreen display with glass that spans the entire face of the laptop’s top panel.
• Trackpad: Apple’s new Multi-Touch, buttonless trackpad is standard on both new lines.
• Impressive graphics performance: For the first time since the Intel transition, Apple’s consumer laptops include a graphics card that doesn't cripple the machine.
• Backlit keyboard: The new models have seen the keyboards of their predecessors converge: the new shared keyboard—identical to that of the MacBook Air—features black Chiclet-style keys, like those of the previous MacBook, with backlighting like that found on the previous MacBook Pro. (It’s worth noting that only the $1,599 MacBook gets backlighting, according to Apple.)
• Many other technologies: From system-bus speed (1,066MHz) to the now-standard Mini DisplayPort connector to SATA to SuperDrives to wireless to battery life, the two lines provide the same specifications. The MacBook is no longer based on lower-end—or older—technologies compared to the MacBook Pro.

The result of these changes is that Apple’s laptop line—17-inch MacBook Pro aside—is as similar, top to bottom, as it’s been since before the company introduced the iBook as a separate consumer line in 1999. In fact, if you didn’t know better, it would be easy to think that Apple is now selling a single line of laptops, ranging in price from $1,299 to $2499, with the customer gaining more features with each step up in price.

Matte matters

If you followed the news coming out of Tuesday’s Apple event, you know that Apple introduced brand new 13-inch MacBook and 15-inch MacBook Pro models (not to mention an update to the MacBook Air and a “freshening” of the 17-inch MacBook Pro), along with a new 24-inch LED Cinema Display.

While there is much to like about these new machines—the Nvidia chipset seems to offer a stunning improvement in graphics performance—Apple has made one simple decision that, unfortunately, means I’ll never be purchasing one: the glossy screen.

While Apple sees only the upside of glossy screens—bright and vivid colors—I see only the negative—myself. Well, myself and whatever else happens to be above and/or behind me. All those vivid colors come at a terrible cost in terms of reflection and glare—there are times when the screen is nearly invisible, due to the glare from overhead lights or other sources of distraction (people walking by behind you and so forth). Apple fooled me once when the original MacBook came out. I liked the size (still not my ideal 12-inch PowerBook G4 replacement, but close), and I liked the features… so I bought one.

All atwitter about Apple’s laptop event

By this point, pretty much everybody knows that Apple will be announcing updates to the MacBook line at Tuesday’s Town Hall event. I think even my dad knows about it, and when you’ve reached that level of saturation, there’s honestly not much more room for expansion.

Of course, when you open up that browser at 10 a.m. PT on Tuesday to find out what Steve Jobs is saying, we hope you’ll join us for our usual live coverage of the event, direct from Apple headquarters in Cupertino.

Normally, in scenarios such as this, I would be airborne about now, bound for the West coast so I could take my seat next to Editorial Director Jason Snell for another of our, dare I say, inimitable liveblogs. Unfortunately, it was not practical for me to travel the length and breadth of the country this time around—please, Steve, won’t you think of the poor press when you schedule these events? The day after a long weekend? Really?

Apple's fall notebook classic

As the baseball post season gets underway and the presidential election marches steadily closer, everybody and their sidekick has a prediction about what’s going to happen in the next couple of months. Nor is the rarefied air of the Apple community immune to this disease of predictionalisis. With the announcement that Apple is planning on rolling out new laptops on October 14th, what kind of changes can we expect to the portable lineup that bears the name MacBook?

In recent years, the notebook computer segment has increasingly become one of Apple’s strongest performers, outselling desktops every quarter for the last two years—in the most recent quarter by more than 50 percent. It’s also one of Apple’s most visible faces: Mac laptops abound on television shows and in cafes and colleges across the country.

So as we go into the holiday season, it’s no surprise that Apple wants to bump up its portable line to incorporate faster, shinier technology. The company’s done the same thing for the past several years, and this year will likely be no exception. So let’s delve into what we can expect to see when the spotlight falls on notebooks.

iTunes and media file organization

In a recent Mac OS X Hints blog entry, I explained how to prevent iTunes from changing filenames (in the Finder) when adding items to your iTunes library. As this is something I don’t normally pay any attention to myself, I included a disclaimer, to let everyone know that I don’t use this hint myself, and as such, may not be able to answer many questions about it. I wrote:

Now, I’ll admit that this particular preference change was meaningless to me—I really don’t care, nor do I even know, what iTunes names my songs when it imports them. I use iTunes to make listening to music easier, and not having to care about filenames is a key part of the “making it easier” bit.

I’ve now heard from a couple of readers that the above could be construed as insulting for those who do care about filenames on imported music. In re-reading what I wrote, I can see how it could be read that way. For that, I’m sorry, as that wasn’t the intent at all. However, these e-mail exchanges got me thinking about the broader question at hand, which is simply…why do you care what iTunes names your tracks, or how it organizes the files in the Finder?

For me, the filenames and folder structures for my media files are irrelevant, because iTunes manages all those details for me. I use iTunes to play, tag, track, and otherwise handle all the mundane aspects of managing my music and movie collection. Using iTunes’ built-in tools, the actual filenames (and storage locations) of the songs or movies being managed are invisible. iTunes presents all the information I need to know—song or movie title, artist, purchase date, etc.—within the iTunes interface, and without having to show me each file’s name or storage location. If I ever want to see one of my songs in the Finder, I just Control-click on it in iTunes and pick the Show in Finder option from the contextual menu. (I use iPhoto in much the same way, only rarely bothering to title images—I do, however, spend lots of time with keywords and Smart Albums to keep my images organized).

An array of audio offerings at AES

Over the weekend, I visited San Francisco’s Moscone Center—home of Macworld Expo every January—to check out the annual AES Convention, put on by the Audio Engineering Society. Think of it as Macworld Expo for the music and audio industry.

Most of the products on display around the show floor were aimed at pro audio users: producers, recording techs, and the like. But I did see a few products—or hear about some upcoming ones—that will appeal to a more general audience:

Audio-Technica AT2020 USB microphone

More credit for Apple

Recently, my colleague Chris Breen offered up some kind words for Apple regarding some of the company’s contributions to his multimedia life. In his piece, Chris noted that he’s never at a loss for words when Apple does something stupid, but also believes that the company should be recognized for the things it does right.

Like Chris, I’m also usually never at a loss for words when Apple’s done something that doesn’t seem quite right—such as with the original iPhone 2.0 software release. Also like Chris, though, I feel that Apple deserves kudos when it does something right. In this case, that something right is the recently-released iPhone 2.1 software update.

As noted in our first look, iPhone 2.1 brought a number of new features (mostly relative to the iPod portion of the iPhone), as well as fixes for bugs that “caused hangs and crashes on systems that use lots of third-party applications…” It was this claim that most interested me—my original rant about the iPhone 2.0 software was based on the number of times my iPhone had been left in an unusable state after doing something as simple as installing or updating an App Store program. (I discussed this problem in our Troubleshooting iPhone and iPod touch issues article.) Like other users, I also had problems with programs quitting repeatedly, and certain programs not even launching. In short, the sum of these experiences turned using my iPhone into a most-unpleasant experience—so much so that I recommended people hold off on buying a new iPhone until the software issues were sorted out.

Apple and old equipment recycling

Given my profession (and avocation), I go through Macs relatively regularly—typically, the hardware lasts two to three years in my hands before being passed on to a family member for additional use. Over the years, though, there’s actually one Mac model that’s never made an appearance in my home: an iMac of any sort. All that changed last week, however, when we invested in (sounds better than “spent a bunch of money on”) a new 20-inch iMac. This machine will be our family workhorse—acting as the kids’ educational/gaming machine, holding our music and photo collection, and handling everything from budgeting to holiday card preparation to the occasional Final Cut Express project.

As noted, most of my old machines go to relatives when I upgrade. But sometimes, I find myself with a “leftover” Mac (or the occasional PC), and I then try to find ways to get rid of it while keeping it out of the local landfill. If you’d like to put your old machine to use, of course, there are many ways to do so. But what if you want to do the environmentally responsible thing and recycle your old Mac? Or if your new Mac is your first Mac, you may want to recycle your now-useless PC or Linux machine.

The best choice relative to recycling is to find someone who can put your Mac to use locally. By reusing equipment locally, your old gear will go to a good use, and it won’t have to be shipped somewhere to be recycled. The way I find local companies who reuse older computers is via a Google search: Computer recycling your_city, where your_city is, obviously, the name the city where you live (or the nearest large city). Running this search for Portland, Oregon, I found a number of good candidates for used computer gear. Note that a number of these programs will require a small payment, or ask for a donation, to cover their expenses.

Introducing the Macworld Daily News newsletter

We publish a lot of stories each day at Macworld.com—usually in the neighborhood of 20, give or take a review or two. If you’re a Mac news junkie, you want to stay on top of all the headlines, but you can’t just sit in front of your Web browser all day reloading Macworld’s Browse All Stories view repeatedly. (Though if you really want to, who am I to dissuade you? Refresh, away!)

Macworld Daily News newsletter

If you’re looking to strike a balance between comprehensive coverage and convenience, then Macworld’s Daily News newsletter may be just what you’re looking for.

Adobe’s CS4 message

As part of this week’s Creative Suite 4 launch, Adobe taped a launch event Monday night that it broadcast on the Web to conicide with the announcement of its 13-product, six-suite package. And the takeaway message from that launch event—which the company says was watched live by 200,000 people on the Web—was this: CS3 was slow and tedious to work with, while CS4 will save you time, money, and repetitive strain injuries.

OK, maybe I’m paraphrasing a bit, but the bulk of the hour-long presentation—which had the feel of an infomerical mixed with a late-night talk show, with phrases such as “pushing the envelope,” “bleeding-edge,” and “monetization”—was focused on features that let users do things more quickly than before.

After warnings from stage hands to not stand up lest we audience members be conked on the head by moving camera booms and some practice applauding on cue, Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen gave a quick intro in which he talked about Flash Player 10 and apps built on Adobe’s AIR technology, and then handed the show over to John Loiacono, one of Adobe’s senior vice presidents. Loiacono, in turn, turned over a good part of the next 45 minutes—after making the point that CS4 was a “major overhaul of CS3” with hundreds of new features and more than 1,700 person years of work—to several customers who use CS applications in their daily work.