Tuesday June 19, 2007
- New iMac: Is It Summer Time? - Lionel - 14:40:11
It is of course difficult to avoid talking about the last rumor floating around and initiated by Apple Insider.
The new rumor predicts that the new iMac will come during summer time, some day between July 15th and August 15th. As previously reported, the 17" iMac should disappear and iMac models should only be based on 20" and 24" LCD display. But that's not all. The new iMac enclosure should also be redesigned and feature a brushed metal look.
To have disassembled an iMac Core 2 Duo, we confirm that one can not really save a lot of space in the current design; it is well organized and packed already. A metal enclosure will of course improve heat release, allowing maybe to reduce the cooling system to save up to 1 cm in thickness. On the other hand, one could make the new iMac almost looking like a display, by packing everything to get ride of the bottom white band, the larger display allowing to pack everything behind the LCD panel.
So, according to the rumor we will only need to wait for 2 months before seeing the new iMac.
[translation by Linathael]
- VLC: Update Available - Lionel - 13:43:46
Videolan released an update of its popular application VLC bringing it to version 0.86c.
It fixes a security flaw in CDDA / Vorbis / Theora / SAP modules as well as some bugs.
The Universal binaries version weights 23.3MB while the Mac Intel version is lighter 14.2MB.
For additional information: http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-macosx.html
[translation by Linathael]
- Hitachi 1TB HD: Additional Tests - Lionel - 13:19:54
Following request from numerous readers, we have performed a new set of benchmarks with the Hitachi 3.5" 1TB HD (Xbench results being too unreliable).
We have been using ZoneBench 1.3.1 which is part of the powerful but expensive SpeedTools Utilities.
This software measure reading and writing performance of the drive at the beginning and at the end of the HD plates (respectively the fastest and slowest area). It provides interesting information:
- One can obtain the highest and lowest performance level.
- One can use a drive already loaded with data without modifying the result.
- It can be used on a booting volume without affecting its performance.
To avoid biased results due to the cache memory, we have been using a 60MB file.
Hereafter is the result obtained with a Hitachi:
In dark red is the reading speed, while the writing speed is displayed in light red bar. As we originally reported it, the high speed is 80MB/s but it is 2 fold slower when the disk is getting full.
Hereafter is the result obtained by a RAID 0 composed of two Raptor 150:
There is a huge difference between reading and writing speed. When the disk is getting full, performance are strongly impacted, as reading speed dropped 2-fold while writing is 3 times slower.
Last but not least, the result obtained by the original 250GB Western Digital HD shipped with the Mac Pro:
Its performance level is 25% lower than the Hitachi 1TB unit.
One should also mention that this benchmarking does not take into account access time. We could not get a software running on OS X and able to measure this value. But one can get a good estimate by looking at the data we published yesterday about duplicating large files.
[translation by Linathael]
- Samsung Unveiled its 1TB HD - Lionel - 13:18:21
Samsung is gaining a lot of good reviews about its HD, and can be consider as a leading company among HD manufacturers on a highly competitive market. Some computer companies are using Samsung HD as default product in their hardware models.
The last products unveiled by Samsung should strengthen its position. The Spinpoint F1 models are 3.5" HD with storage capacity ranging from 320GB to 1TB.
To reach 1TB storage space, Hitachi has been using 5 plates of 200GB each. Seagate is claiming to be able to reach the same capacity with 4 plates of 250GB each. Samsung bit them all by releasing a 1TB HD based on 3 plates (333GB each). Using only 3 plates should increase reliability while reducing power consumption and heat release. Manufacturing cost could also be lower.
The Spinpoint F1 HDs will be available in SATA II format and will feature from 8 to 32 MB of cache depending on the model (320, 500, 750 and 1000GB).
[translation by Linathael]
- Sony Unveiled its Apple TV-like Box - Lionel - 13:17:33
Sony will launch in a near future the Bravia Internet Video Link
This device will allow users to watch on a HDMI-enable HD TV streamed internet video contents.
Unlike the Apple TV or other similar boxes, this device does not include any storage unit, and will only be able to work with Sony video contents. In addition, it will work only with the most recent Bravia HD TV models, and will be connected to TV via HDMI and USB. Then, user will access the GUI via the remote control.
Despite the lack of a storage unit, this device will cost as much as an Apple TV., US$300.
Of course the price of the box is not the main criteria to select one box or the other, getting access to a reliable, cost effective, large library and high quality online video content shop is the main point
[translation by Linathael]
- Apple: Speculation? - Lionel - 13:17:02
Following the announcement of an extended battery lifetime for the iPhone, Apple stock on the NYSE gained 3% within an hour. If stock market will of course translate good news, this example illustrates how Apple stock became a highly speculative value, able to go massively up and down quickly depending on rumors.
Today, some analysts expect Apple stock to reach US$200 within a short period of time, but any delay or problem about the iPhone might bring it below the US$100 line.
Based on this information, we decided to avoid commenting rumors or variation of Apple stocks, as we are mostly interested in Apple hardware and products.
[translation by Linathael]
