mac

Microsoft and technology analyst Roger Kay have made a couple of changes to their charts outlining the "Apple Tax," but the update does little to address broader critiques of their math.

On Monday, Microsoft noted that it has updated both Kay's white paper and the accompanying blog post and chart to reflect the fact that both failed to take into account Apple's latest hardware specifications. The new paper and chart use slightly different models on the PC side.

However, the main points I (and others) made last week regarding Microsoft's bad math haven't changed. … Read more

Updated at 9:10 a.m. PDT: correcting for refurbished Apple MacBook Air price and refurbished unit discussion.

Dell's ultra-sleek Adamo may be ill-timed and grasping for cachet that's not there.

Gizmodo summarized its review of the Adamo by saying: "Just don't dare buy this computer until Dell comes to their senses and realizes that $2,000+ is absurd for a 4-pound laptop with no graphics muscle."

Though I think Gizmodo misses the mark about "graphics muscle" (ultraportables are not designed or marketed as graphics powerhouses, or anything close to it), the reviewer is right about price--and high price implies cachet. Only Apple (and maybe the ThinkPad x301) can command the kind of cachet that demands $2,500 for a high-end laptop (i.e., the MacBook Air).

But there's a greater force conspiring against the Dell Adamo and even the Apple MBA: the Netbook.

High-end Netbooks, like the just-announced 11.6-inch Acer Aspire One, are priced well below $700, making it hard to plop down $2,700 for the 1.4GHz Adamo. Yes, the four-pound Dell is a stunning, superior design (0.65-inches thick, machined-aluminum chassis) with better hardware (Core 2 processor, 128GB solid-state drive standard, 13.4-inch 16:9 HD display with edge-to-edge glass) . But is it $2,000 better? In the age of the two-pound $500 "luxury" Netbook, definitely not. … Read more

According to Macnn, one of Apple's latest patents indicates the company may be looking at a unibody design for the iPod Classic--and possibly other products.

In October of last year, Apple began incorporating unibody designs into its new MacBook and MacBook Pro lines. The "revolutionary" manufacturing process creates a seamless enclosure carved from a single piece of aluminum that makes the final product lighter, thinner, and, according to Apple, sturdier. The unibody design may also help shave manufacturing costs.

It seems logical for Apple to switch to a unibody design for its iPod Classic, which currently uses … Read more

After Lauren, the actress, and Giampaolo, the model engineer, meet Jackson, the cutest kid you ever will see. His mom, Lisa, is quite nice too.

Yes, with its "laptop hunters" campaign Microsoft is going to keep punching with every possible demographic and every last letter in the extremely traditional advertising vernacular until it hears the merest whimper from those smug, designer-clad pretty-boys at Apple.

Lisa and Jackson are a charming pair. Revved up by the folks cunningly pretending to be market researchers, they scurry around Best Buy as if they're playing a sophisticated form of hide and … Read more

Microsoft's assault on Apple is continuing, as the software maker is ready with the third in its "Laptop Hunter" series of Windows ads.

This time it's a mom and kid in search of an entertainment notebook. Guess, what? They go with a PC--a Sony this time. And, instead of going to Fry's, they hit Best Buy.

Otherwise, it's pretty much the same thread as the earlier spots, though this time Microsoft once again plays the kid card.

Microsoft had said when it launched the "Lauren" spot that there would be several ads along the same theme. … Read more

At some point, clever marketing can backfire.

It's been quite a run for Microsoft of late. After sleeping for nearly three years while Apple successfully bashed it every night on network television with the Mac vs. PC ad campaign, Microsoft has sobered up and taken the offensive over the last several months with a series of marketing messages comparing the relative prices of Macs and PCs made by Microsoft's partners.

Make what you will of Lauren and Giampaolo's sincerity, there's no denying that the ads have struck a nerve. For years, fanboys of various stripes have … Read more

Earlier this week, I showed you how to take apart your iMac and replace your hard drive. But I ended that with a promise to tell you the rest of the story. Here it is:

After I installed the new hard drive (a 500GB 3.5-inch internal Seagate hard drive costing $99), to replace the computer's nonfunctioning drive, I put my iMac back together and fired it up. I popped my Leopard install disc into the DVD slot, formatted the new hard drive, and installed the operating system. Within about 30 minutes, my iMac was back to life. I was ready to determine what happened to my old drive.

First, I bought a hard drive enclosure to convert my internal disk to an external hard drive. I bought an Antec enclosure for about $70 at Best Buy. It's a simple black box that connects to your computer via USB. It wasn't the most expensive enclosure on the shelf, but it did the trick.

After placing my internal hard drive in the enclosure, I plugged it into my iMac via USB. I waited (and waited and waited) for the hard drive to pop up in Finder. Eventually, it did. Unfortunately, only my Windows partition was accessible. My OS X files were gone.… Read more

Microsoft is back touting the "Apple Tax" that it says Mac buyers are paying, this time filling out a fake tax return listing all of what it claims are the extra costs of opting for Windows' leading rival. But I'd argue that this time Microsoft is in danger of being audited.

The document, posted on Microsoft's Windows Blog on Thursday, compares the cost of a PC and Mac purchase, making the case that buyers can save more than $3,000 in buying two Windows PCs as opposed to two Macs. The "tax return" is … Read more

Please, as you walk down the street today, as you eat something far too large for you at Burger King, and as you go home to those who claim to love you, consider whether any children you see seem ruined.

I ask this on behalf of Stevie Nicks, the singer from sometime band of the ages, Fleetwood Mac. Ms. Nicks has strong beliefs. And most of them seem to paint technology as a dastardly villain that has moved into every neighborhood, like a living voodoo doll, warping children's brains into its control.

In an interview with the Associated Press, … Read more