Mighty Gadget Blog: The latest technology news & reviews in the UK

We touched yesterday on the new iMac upgrades and talked about the notion that some people only buy Macs because they’re “pretty”. Well another new Apple product that takes all aesthetic pleasantries from the iMac and that lovely Aluminium MacBook Pro and basically makes it a simple screen is Apple’s LED Cinema Display. If you didn’t know already the Cinema Display is basically a Monitor which can be used with either Mac desktop PCs or with laptops. Older models of the Cinema Display were limited to what could actually be plugged into it, but now Apple have seen the fault and left it accessible to basically any type of current Notebook or Desktop Mac.

Ok so what’s great about it other than looks. Originally available in a 24” or 30” model Apple has now opted for just a straight 27” more than adequate space and room for you to do your work and with a resolution 2560 x 1440 it’s certainly packing the pixel power. Obviously as it’s now LED backlit, the screen is super bright with no wait time and greater control of brightness of your screen, not only that it has an ambient light sensor that can adjust the screen brightness to an optimum setting for whatever light your room is currently in.

Other things it has include built in sound, a 49W built in speaker with subwoofer, for fantastic sound whether from your games or media content. It has a built in I-Sight camera and microphone for things like Skype and also packs great connectivity with 2 USB 2.0 ports and 2 Firewire 400 ports. One thing Apple are pushing with the display is it’s eco-friendly, free from harmful toxins and is made of recyclable materials

All in all it’s a great monitor to have if you have a Mac or Macbook. However like all things Apple it comes with a price to match. As it stands there’s no price and only a “Coming Soon” date but looking back at the older models you can expect anything from £700 to £1000 at least.

I’ve been doing my best to try and avoid iPad overload but its that time of year again when Apple seem to be very busy in releasing a slew of new products and updating its current lineup. With the release of iPad this last week and the apparent iPhone OS 4 event coming this week, Apple doesnt want its laptop fraternity to feel left out so its giving its Macbook Family a boost too.

Reports in Taiwan and Apple Daily claim the the standard Macbook, the Pro and the Air will be updated and available this month a month later than they were actually supposed to be due to a shortage of Intel chips. We don’t have too much info on the apparent changes but it’s believed the new Macbook will come in 3 sizes and the highest specced version will be bundled with a 640GB HDD. The battery life will also be improved to 8 hours after the iPad clocked an impressive 11 hours the Macbook needs to improve it’s own if it wants to stop its fans switching allegiance to the slate.

The Macbook was last updated in October of last year however the Air and the Pro haven’t since last June. An apparent email from the top dog Steve Jobs has led to this news and Apple stores having minimum stock and supplies of the laptops. If you’re wanting to get one, might be worth hanging on.

Lots going on at the Apple WWDC Conference. Apple just announced that their 13-inch MacBook is getting updated to MacBook Pro specifications, at a lower price than the original aluminium MacBook it will replace. It will also have an impressive seven hour built-in battery.

The MacBook Air is also getting a price drop and will be available in two models. The base price has also been lowered to $1,499 for a 1.86 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo system with a 120GB hard drive and NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics, and a 2.13 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo system with a 128GB solid state drive and NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics for $1,799.

 Click below for new 13” MacBook Specs

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Apple's paper-thin notebook machine has received a fairly major software update, reports The Unofficial Apple Weblog.

Accessed via the usual updating system within OS X, the patch addresses issues with video playback as well as - primarily - issues with heat. The CPU cores in the MacBook apparently don't idle as they should out of the box - resulting in the slimline unit running very hot with extended use.

If you're an Air user rushing out to install this, the update comes with a word of warning: if you've installed a third-party workaround like CoolBook, uninstall it before running the update.

Ok so I am about 10 years too late blogging about the MacBook Air, but it is pretty big news so I am going to blog about it anyway. So what is the MacBook Air? It is a ultrathin, ultraportable laptop with a 13.3 inch widescreen.

From Apple.com

MacBook Air is nearly as thin as your index finger. Practically every detail that could be streamlined has been. Yet it still has a 13.3-inch widescreen LED display, full-size keyboard and large multi-touch trackpad. It’s incomparably portable without the usual ultraportable screen and keyboard compromises.

The incredible thinness of MacBook Air is the result of numerous size- and weight-shaving innovations. From a slimmer hard drive to strategically hidden I/O ports to a lower-profile battery, everything has been considered and reconsidered with thinness in mind.

MacBook Air is designed and engineered to take full advantage of the wireless world. A world in which 802.11n Wi-Fi is now so fast and so available, people are truly living untethered — buying music and TV shows online, downloading software, and sharing and storing files on the web.

Some of the key features include:

• 13.3" backlit LED with 1280-by-800 resolution
• 2GB of RAM
• 80Gig hardrive
• or 64GB solid-state drive (very expensive)
• 1.6GHz or 1.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
• Built-in iSight camera
• 5hrs Battery
• Oversize trackpad with multi-touch technology
• 1 USB Port
• Headphone Jack
• Micro-DVI

There is no CD/DVD drive built in to keep the size down, though a USB powered external drive will apparently be available.

The batter is not user replaceable but it is apparently possible to pay for a factory fitted battery for you. Apple are quoting $129, I would expect it will be a bit more here in the UK.

In order to reduce the size of the laptop it has been reported that Intel have used the Montevina based chip that was scheduled to be launched later this year. Combined with the Intel 965GMS chipset with integrated graphics the chip has had a 60% reduction on its footprint size. The power rating of the chip is just 20W, as opposed to 35W from the Core 2 Duo

Some more pictures after the jump.

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