News for Friday, 9 June 2006

Intel has started communicating about the embedded video chip in its next chipsets.
This chip will be integrated into the G967 and might be called the GMA X3000.
Just like ATI and NVIDIA, this chip will be able to mangage hardware decoding of HD in all of its formats.
The Clear Video technology will provide necessary post-processing, which is essential for the optimal presentation of videos, up to the 1080p format.
Intel has not yet stated the power of the chip and it's gaming capabilities, but you can assume that it will be much better than the GMA 950

The manufacturer, PQI, has presented a 2.5" disk containing 64 Gb of flash memory.
It is claimed to get speeds of 32 Mb/s, which is a little slower than a normal hard drive. On the other hand, its power consumption is much lower, and it's unfailing stability.

There remains one obstacle to its wide adoption, a prohibitive price of $2000.
This disk, which will be available in August, should however find its market with companies needing to use machines in extreme environments.

Xbitlabs has tested a universal adapter for hard drives.

Very compact, the electronics are in the small case, it enables connecting PATA or SATA hard drives to a USB 2 port. An electronic transformer and cables are also provided to power the disks. Both 3.5" and 2.5" disks are supported.
The performance is comparable with what one normally finds on USB 2 hard drives, quick, but slower than Firewire.
We were wondering if it woud work on the Mac when we discovered this:

Newertech is distributing them under their brand and is assuring it's compatability with both the Mac and the PC. It is being sold for $24.99.
This auxiliary solution to transfer data from disks without having to put them in cases should be very alluring to bidouilleurs.

Jürgen, a French-speaking Austrian reader, has received his 17" MacBook Pro with a "glossy screen." Previously he had a Sony laptop with a Xblack screen. He has sent his testimony and some photos to us.

...I immediately took some photos of the screens of my iMac G5 and my MBP. My first impression is that the glossy screen is better (minus the reflexions) than my Sony VAIO. Unfortunately, I have already sold it, so I didn't have the opportunity to take photos comparing the two directly. Nevertheless, the glossy screen of the MBP seems to have a surface treatment which makes it less reflective than the Sony X-Black. If you look at the light reflected on the screen really closely, you can make out a very fine outline, which is a little reminiscent of the rays in photos taken in direct light - I was not successful in capturing this effect in a photo.
Nevertheless, I'm sending you the images of my two Macs: since I live in an attic, I have a window right above my desk.
You can compare the different reflections in the images.

This type of screen has been debated among Mac users for a long time. But it could seduce those who are coming from the PC world. This is probably the reason for Apple adopting the screen.

According to Digitimes, PC manufactures are in such a hurry to switch to the Core 2 duo that they might decide to put the Conroe (which is intended for desktops) in their notebooks instead of the Merom. Incidentally, the PC based on this CPU will be approximately 50% cheaper than those based on the chips which are intended for mobile applications.
This will have a big impact on the size and power consumption of the machine since the Conroe consumes 65W, almost double that of the Merom.
We would prefer for Apple to wait a month so that Apple can keep the current size of the MacBook...

Tristan wrote in about a problem with his 8 day old MacBook. Note that this is the only occurrence of this that we are aware of.

Here is the state in which I found my 2 GHz MacBook (1 GB ram, 40 GB HD) after returning home this evening.
As you can see, the upper left has begun to come apart above the power connection.
To clarify, this machine is only 8 days old...
It is resting on 2 erasers to raise it in the back for better ventalation... (1.5 cm of ground clearance)

Apple will exchange the machine for him and study the machine to determine the cause of the problem.
For now, the only recurring complaints on Apple's forums are in regards to the power brick which sometimes becomes too hot. It is only 65W while the MBP's is 85W. Perhaps it is a not enough for extreme loads with this machine.