Latest Posts in Mobile Mac

Macessity intros TrayStation convertible laptop stand

Mac accessory maker Macessity on Monday announced the TrayStation Cooler/Riser, a combination laptop stand and cooling tray.

Like traditional laptop stands, the TrayStation lifts your laptop to a more-ergonomic height (in this case, approximately six inches off the desk) when using the computer with an external keyboard and mouse. However, the TrayStation's clear-acrylic top surface separates from the steel base, allowing you to use the former as a low-profile cooling stand when the laptop is sitting directly on a desk.

The TrayStation, compatible with all current and previous Apple laptops, is available for order for $55; it will ship by November 2. You can also buy additional acrylic trays for $25 each or two for $45.

Knomo Prague laptop bag

Laptop bags are primarily utilitarian products. You start by looking for features like cushioning, space, and comfortable straps. London bag maker Knomo addresses these key protection and ergonomic requirements, but the company’s designs focus on appearance.

The laptop bags in Knomo’s Carnaby collection, for example, are definite head-turners. Available in black or brown, the Carnaby bags come in three similar styles: the tote-esque Sheya and slender Marbella can each hold laptops up to 14 inches; the briefcase-style Prague holds a 15-inch laptop. (If you’ve got a 17-inch MacBook Pro, you’ll need to check out the Cholet or Una bags.)

I looked at the Prague Patent Black. Made from a measured mixture of nylon and patent leather, the Prague adds just enough shine without going overboard, while the inside is lined with a luxurious satin material. The bag provides an ample array of pockets: On the outside are two large pockets and one smaller, zippered pouch; inside are a lightly padded laptop section, a large area for papers, reports, and books, and three smaller compartments for miscellaneous items. An optional clip-on shoulder strap is also included.

The Carnaby bags are not built for heavy-duty action. The bottom of the Prague bag is kept rigid with what feels like a thick piece of cardboard, with four metal rivets that act as feet. While the soft, padded sides of the bag offer protection against minor bumps and knocks, anything more extreme could damage your computer. Knomo’s craftsmanship is impeccable, however, and the Carnaby bags are plenty sufficient for someone just commuting to work and home again.

My favorite feature of Knomo’s bags is the ID tracking system. Each bag has a unique ID number printed on a tag inside the main compartment; you register your information with Knomo after you purchase the bag. Below this ID number are three Knomo phone numbers (UK, US, and international) that a Good Samaritan can call if they happen to find your bag. Granted, this ID label is not as high tech as MobileMe’s Find My Phone feature, but it’s still a nice touch that could prove invaluable if you lose your bag.

The price for the Prague is—unsurprisingly, given the designer roots—high: $295. If style is your thing, though, the cost is worth it, with the ID system and a two-year guarantee on materials and workmanship sweetening the deal.

Logitech intros Portable Lapdesk N315

Logitech on Tuesday announced the Portable Lapdesk N315, a lightweight, compact laptop desk designed to keep both your lap and your notebook cool over extended use.

At 14.4 inches wide, 10.2 inches deep, and 0.4 inches thick, and weighing less than 2 pounds, the N315 is designed to be small enough to pack in a laptop bag but large enough to accommodate 15-inch laptops. The N315 features a non-slip, washable surface and includes a slide-out mousing surface so you can use a desktop mouse while working on your lap.

The $30 Portable Lapdesk N315 will ship this month.

The case of the missing ExpressCard slot

As Apple giveth, Apple taketh away. Apple refreshed the MacBook Pro line with a new 13-inch model and a revamped 15-inch model, adding, peculiarly, an SD Slot to each of them, ostensibly to make it easier for digital camera users to transfer data over. But in the case of the 15-inch, this move came with a price—the elimination of the ExpressCard/34 expansion slot that had been a fixture of the 15-inch MacBook Pro since its inception. The omission has led to howls of derision for certain classes of MacBook Pro users who depended on that interface.

The ExpressCard/34 expansion slot remains a fixture on Apple’s most powerful MacBook Pro—the 17-inch model. But that’s it. No other MacBook model has the card interface.

Admittedly, many people have never used their ExpressCard slot in their lives. Like the PC Card interface that preceded it, the ExpressCard/34 expansion interface is mainly there for users who need some hardware capability that the MacBook Pro lacks, and the MacBook Pro is certainly better-equipped than many lesser PC-compatible laptops out there.

But for practiced road warriors, the absence of the ExpressCard interface is a real problem. Increasingly, many traveling pros have turned to ExpressCard-based 3G cards available through Verizon and other cellular service providers as a way of staying in touch without depending on Wi-Fi hotspots. A USB cell modem is a possibility, albeit a cumbersome one.

And if the WWDC keynote address on Monday was any indication, AT&T seems to be dragging its heels on enabling “tethering” on the iPhone—the wireless carrier's name was noticeably absent from a slide of service providers supporting tethering, displayed by Apple vice president of iPhone software Scott Forstall during his time on the keynote stage.

Tethering will enable new MacBook Pro users to share their iPhone’s Internet connection using Bluetooth, which would negate the need for a separate 3G card. But at least for millions of U.S. customers, that dream is still off in the future.

Cell data network-hopping isn’t the only use for an ExpressCard slot. Some IT personnel use ExpressCard-based Gigabit Ethernet cards to supplement or separate their network capabilities. Magma manufactures PCI expansion systems that have been found in vertical market like pro audio and video, and they work with ExpressCard interfaces. Some companies make smartcard security readers that are ExpressCard-based, and ExpressCard has also been used as a connection to flash media cards—like the SD card whose slot now replaces the ExpressCard on the 15-inch MacBook Pro.

And while the 15-inch MacBook Pro model comes equipped with a FireWire 800 interface, that’s just not fast enough for some mobile video and audio pros, and IT personnel looking for the quickest data access possible. Right now that capability goes to external Serial ATA, or eSATA, an interface that you won’t find built in to any currently-shipping Mac.

And for MacBook Pro owners, the best solution up to now has been to plug in an eSATA ExpressCard. Again, not an option for new 15-inch MacBook Pro users, and for this, there isn’t a simple workaround. They’ll either have to settle for using older gear or upgrade to the 17-inch MacBook Pro, which isn’t as easy to lug around or work in tight quarters as its little sibling.

So while the 15-inch MacBook Pro model may have gained some ease of use for those users who own a video camera or still camera that stores files on SD card media—and I admit I'm among that group—there’s another bunch of people that are steaming mad at this change and looking for a better solution than the bigger, bulkier, and considerably more expensive 17-inch MacBook Pro.

Shrinking your mobile gear

Over the past few weeks, I’ve covered a few ways to lighten your laptop bag and reduce bag clutter. One suggestion was to carry short cables and adapters in lieu of full-sized versions. Another was to make your AirPort Express Base Station double as a USB charger for iPhones, iPods, and other gadgets. Those articles turned out to be quite popular; while serious road warriors may not be able to do without particular heavy gear, most people can lighten the load of gadgets they carry when traveling.

In that spirit, I wanted to wrap up this miniseries of Mobile Mac articles by showing you a few of the other small-and-light gadgets I carry with me, as well as a couple newer items I’ve been testing that similarly aim to help you cut down on bag weight. (Some of these items I’ve covered individually in the past; I’ve linked to those articles in the text below.)

Apple USB charger (A): If you aren’t bringing along an AirPort Express, and you don’t want to keep your laptop on all night while your iPhone or other gadget charges via the laptop’s USB port, you need a USB charger in your travel bag. The smallest one I’ve seen is the Apple USB Power Adapter, essentially a 1-inch cube with wall-outlet prongs. It’s even compatible with 100- to 240-volt wall outlets, making it an option for international trips. The downside? A $29 price tag. But at least Apple includes an extra USB dock-connector cable.

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Climbing Mount Everest with a MacBook Pro and iPod

If you're planning an expedition to conquer Mount Everest, you need to make sure you have all of the necessary supplies. If your list of supplies is anything like the most recent group to take on the Everest challenge, you should pack your MacBook Pro and a few iPods, too.

On the First Ascent Web site, Gerry Moffat, head of production for the team, films daily dispatches and uses his MacBook Pro to transfer and edit the data. All of the footage is shot on a solid state cards on the mountain.

"It's then put into the trusty MacBook Pro," Moffat said in a video on the Web site. "These have been functioning superbly all the way up—we're at about 21,000 feet."

After the footage has been backed up, the card goes to one of the sherpas who takes it to the base camp for editing. The video editor, Tom, then makes another backup of the data and begins editing the footage for public viewing.

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Thought Out updates MagStay MagSafe collar

Thought Out has released the MagStay Uni, a version of the company's MagStay accessory compatible with the latest "unibody" MacBooks and MacBook Pros (but not the MacBook Air). An update to Though Out's older MagStay Pro—we covered that version last year—the MagStay Uni is a plastic collar that fits around your laptop's MagSafe jack, using the adjacent Ethernet port for support, and makes it more difficult for your power cable to detach. A small opening in the collar lets you view the charging light on the MagSafe connector.

The idea behind the MagStay is that Apple's MagSafe connector, designed to prevent damage to your laptop by allowing the power cable to easily disconnect under strain, makes it too easy to accidentally disconnect. The MagStay avoids such accidental disconnections in situations where it's safe to circumvent the MagSafe's protection.

The $18 MagStay Uni is available now from Though Out Web site.

Cut down on cables

Earlier this week, I covered a tip for lightening your travel load by making your AirPort Express Base Station serve double duty as a USB charger. But another place you can cut back is cables, which, collectively, can add a surprising amount of weight to your laptop bag—not to mention more than a little clutter.

The challenge for me—and for many road warriors, I’d bet—is that I hate to be on a trip and realize that I don’t have the right cable for something I need to do. So as much as I want to leave certain cables at home, I’m paranoid that the one I leave behind will be precisely the one I desperately need just before my big presentation.

Fortunately, there’s a good middle ground. Instead of carrying fewer cables, I carry smaller cables. A 6-foot FireWire cable? Try 6 inches. A tangled-up iPhone cable? I prefer a 3-inch connector. Swap out a couple bulky, lengthy cables for smaller versions (or just-as-capable adapters) and you’ll cut down on a bit of weight and bulk. Swap out all of your cables for travel-friendly versions, and you’ll be amazed at how much lighter your laptop bag is—and how much neater it is, as well.

To give you an idea of what I’m talking about, here’s a photo of the various cables and cable adapters I carry with me these days, along with a short description of how I use each one.

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Charge it on your AirEx

Savvy road warriors know you can find USB-charging cables for many portable devices—iPods, iPhones, Bluetooth headsets, game systems, you name it—and then charge those devices by connecting them to your laptop’s USB ports or to a “universal” USB charger. (Some vendors even make portable surge protectors with built-in USB-charging ports; I've covered such devices from Belkin and Kensington.) But many laptops don’t supply power to their USB ports if the computer isn’t on and awake, and a USB charger is just one more thing to carry.

If you regularly bring Apple’s AirPort Express Base Station on your travels—say, to create a wireless network in your hotel room—this tip on Mac OS X Hints suggests a clever dual use for the Express: use the Base Station’s USB port, officially designed for sharing a USB printer across your network, as a USB-charging port. Just plug the USB cable for your iPhone, iPod, or other device into the Express while you work (or sleep), and the gadget will be ready to go the next morning.

I have to admit, rather sheepishly, that it never occurred to me to try this, even though, in retrospect, it seems fairly obvious. And although several commenters to the original Hints article seem to have experienced incompatibilities, I tested both 802.11n and 802.11g AirPort Express units with a variety of iPhones and iPods, and each combination correctly charged. (Just to be sure, test out your own Express with your portable devices before leaving your chargers at home.)

Comparing Mac, Windows laptops at $2,000

(This article is reprinted from our sister publication PC World.)

Do you pay dearly for the Apple logo, as Microsoft's Steve Ballmer claims? Or are Apple laptops really a good value, even though they aren't the least expensive models on the market?

To find out, I first compared the least expensive Apple MacBook, the $999 white model, to two reasonably similar Windows laptops costing about the same amount. My goal was to see what you'd get, in terms of features and specs, if you spent $1000 on a MacBook versus the same amount spent on a Windows machine.

As you'll read in that article, the white MacBook's tech specs seem a bit stale in comparison to the two Windows machines I priced online, the HP Pavilion dv3510nr and Dell's Inspiron 13. And your dollar definitely goes further with the Windows laptops.

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