Wednesday January 24, 2007
- Time to update the intel Mac Minis - Lionel - 13:44:47
While Apple seems to be taking its time to updating the mac mini to a core 2 duo processor, nothing prevents owners of these machines to upgrade their processors.
Right now it's possible to find reasonably priced Core 2 duo Txxx processors that are compatible with the mac mini.
In france you can expect to pay a bit under 200 euros (inc. vat) to buy a 1.66 GHz Core 2 duo T5500 with 2 MB of cache. the T5600 running at 1.83 GHz is around 50 euros more.
But the best price/performance ratio goes to the T7200, priced around 300 euros, running at 2 GHZ with a 4 MB cache.
Such a CPU would energize the mac mini, especially those currently using core solo cpu... or even an entry level core duo iMac.
Faster CPUs are also available but the prices go sky-high without proper justification.
Those without a mac mini and willing to buy one can watch out for a good deal. The Refurb Store regularly offers mac mini core solo for interesting discounts. These are ideal machines to perform a processor upgrade. With a T5500 one obtains a machine marginally more expensive, but more powerful than the current base model Mac Mini.
This is an opportunity to remind readers that MacBidouille posted a video shot during the last apple expo, showing the complete upgrade of a mac mini. MacBidouille_Upgrade_MacMini_H264_200Kb_320x240_15i.mov. The video is a 31 MB download.
[translation by pmax]
- LED backlighting too expensive for next generation MacBook Pros? - Lionel - 13:24:12
A few days ago a rumour suggested that Apple could start using LED to improve the backlighting of its laptop screens.
although that rumour has a certain appeal, it does not confront to reality too well. According to Digitimes this manufacturing process will only start being widespread in 2008. Currently, the adoption of LEDs would double the price of the backlighting, whereas in 2008 it is likely to only represent a 20% increase in price.
Apple could anticipate on the massive adoption of LED backlighting, but this would mean a substancial increase in price for the eligible laptops. We would reap numerous benefits indeed from such an increase, however Apple is currently focused on an aggressive price policy. One option could bring eveeryone together: offer the LED backlighting as an option on such machines, just as it is possible to pick between the standard display of the glossy one.
[translation by pmax]
- Intel Unveils its Centrino 802.11n - Lionel - 12:00:49
Source : Intel
PC manufacturers and assemblers were urging Intel to release its 802.11n solution, especially after recent Apple announcements.
As for Apple products, after a firmware update, this Intel WiFi card will be compatible with 802.11 a/b/g drafted-n with 2.4 and 5GHz frequency. Such WiFi card is also supposed to drain less power, while the 802.11n id not finalized yet, Intel will use a labeling "Connect with Centrino" for compatible models. The WiFi Alliance might also be pressure by Intel to get current specification as final ones, in order to finally be able to massively launch 802.11n-based devices and peripherals. Apple will also have to speed up availability of its Apple TV.
In the MacBook Pro Core 2 Duo, if one looks carefully, the airport card looks very similar to the unveiled Intel WiFi-n card, so we might get the Intel model in the future MacBook revisions.
Airport Extreme cards found in Mac Intel Core Duo would be upgraded via the fee-based firmware update, but they are also using the same connector. So in theory one could exchange the Airport card, with the new one from Intel; but as 802.11n required 3 antennas, one will have to deploy a third cable/antenna required by MIMO.
[translation by Linathael]
- Collateral Damages Following Apple's Q4 EMEA Sales Up 31.3% - Lionel - 11:11:52
As we mentioned it yesterday, explosion of Apple's EMEA sales last quarter have generated collateral damages: for 2 to 3 weeks now, it is nearly impossible to get its defective Mac (mostly notebooks and iMac) to be repaired within couple of days as it was the case previously. Apple Repair Centers are facing unusual delay in getting replacement parts, especially motherboards.
In our team 2 members are waiting for more than 2-3 weeks to get their Mac repair (in both cases the motherboards have to be replaced).
However, it seems to improve from the beginning of this week, and repair delay should quickly go back to normal. While the percentage of defective machines remains as usual low, the increased number of Mac hardware units sold within the last quarter has generated much more reported cases to the Apple Repair centers.
[translation by Linathael]
- Security Update 2007-001 - MacEnsteph - 10:56:54
A security update is available for Panther and Tiger, and available either from Apple website or Software update panel.
This document describes Security Update 2007-001, which can be downloaded and installed via Software Update preferences, or from Apple Downloads.
Security Update 2007-001
QuickTime
CVE-ID: CVE-2007-0015
Available for: QuickTime 7.1.3 on Mac OS X v10.3.9, Mac OS X Server v10.3.9, Mac OS X v10.4.8, Mac OS X Server v10.4.8, Windows XP/2000
Impact: Visiting malicious websites may lead to arbitrary code execution
Description: A buffer overflow exists in QuickTime's handling of RTSP URLs. By enticing a user to access a maliciously-crafted RTSP URL, an attacker can trigger the buffer overflow, which may lead to arbitrary code execution. A QTL file that triggers this issue has been published on the Month of Apple Bugs web site (MOAB-01-01-2007). This update addresses the issue by performing additional validation of RTSP URLs.
Additional information: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=61798-en
[translation by Linathael]
