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Posts Tagged “
MacBook Air
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macbook air
Hacked MacBook Air With Built-In 3G Wireless
This is what every MacBook Air needs: built-in 3G wireless. In order to get this goodness into the MBA, Jordan Bunnell busted up a Verizon USB727 Air Card and soldered it up with the MBA's unused USB controllers on the motherboard and used a little bit of voodoo to get power flowing to the card. There's a little bit more elbow grease to get the antenna ports situated and the card crammed in there nice and properly, but as you can see, it pays off. Check out the whole nerdy process in detail over at his site, though our heart's a little too faint to attempt the feat. [Get Listed Locally via engadget]
parody
Lenovo Parodies MacBook Air Ad For X300
Most parody videos are lame in the sense that they take one joke and stretch it to 60 seconds, but Lenovo's one joke actually works when properly executed. Not to spoil anything, but it's a send-up of the MacBook Air in favor of Lenovo's own X300. According to Fake Steve, it's been sent around to component suppliers and contract manufacturers in China, no doubt eliciting much har hars as they forward it on to their friends. [Fake Steve - Thanks Dave!]
cases
Forget that tired old manila envelope joke, a new case by a company called Boa may just be the snuggest, sleekest wrapper for your MacBook Air. The Fashion Sleeve is plush-lined and offers what Boa calls "minimalist protection." At just .65mm thin, it's allegedly the thinnest Airbook case on the market. After seeing the pic, though, we theorized we could go thinner still by slipping a (large) condom over the thing. Here are the video results of our failed attempt to invent the official Gizmodo condom MBA case:
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Boa Sleeve Is Condom For MacBook Air, Only Stronger (We Checked)
Forget that tired old manila envelope joke, a new case by a company called Boa may just be the snuggest, sleekest wrapper for your MacBook Air. The Fashion Sleeve is plush-lined and offers what Boa calls "minimalist protection." At just .65mm thin, it's allegedly the thinnest Airbook case on the market. After seeing the pic, though, we theorized we could go thinner still by slipping a (large) condom over the thing. Here are the video results of our failed attempt to invent the official Gizmodo condom MBA case:
More »
laptops
Toshiba Ratchets Portege R500 SSD Up To 128GB
Toshiba's under-2-lb. Portege R500 will get its SSD boosted to 128GB, though at a still undeclared but likely super high price, says UK's Register. The machines get a bit of a chip upgrade, too, from Intel's 1.2GHz U7600 Core 2 Duo to a 1.33GHz U7700. The R500 is, to my knowledge, the lightest PC with an internal DVD burner, at least in the US market, but I can't back it 100% because of a little problem called Vista. More »
contests
Linux Last Man Standing In PWN 2 OWN Thunderdome
The dust has settled on PWN 2 OWN and Linux FTW! The Ubuntu-equipped Sony VAIO was the only computer to get through the tournament unscathed, managing to elude the assembled hackers. On Thursday the MacBook Air was the first to go, followed the next day by the Vista-running Fujitsu, conquered by Shane Macaulay. No one, but no one, however, was able to bring down the penguin. [ PWN 2 OWN via PC World ]
macbook air
New Airport Screening Procedure for MacBook Air (No, Really)
You might recall a couple of weeks ago, a dude got hassled by airport security because they couldn't make sense of his MacBook Air. Turns out, it actually does look "very different" than 99 percent of the notebooks they're used to seeing under the scanner, in a way that would "pique some interest" of security personnel, according to the TSA's Blogger Bob. More »
macbookcake
Martha Stewart Loves Her MacBook Air
It's official: the MacBook Air is going to be a roaring success no matter what we say about it: Martha Stewart loves it, and that's it. End of the story. She loves everything about it and, according to her, it looks great on her desk. So Brian, Walter, David et al, TFSU and read her comments, along the image of the MacBook Air sitting on her desktop: More »
apple
Missing Macbook Air Thrown Out With Stacks of Newspapers?
When I reviewed the Airbook, I noticed that I'd catch myself almost tossing the thing around like a magazine, which it resembled in size. Now Stephen Levy of Newsweek, one of the big four reviewers, has lost his. And he's theorizing that he might have thrown it out with a stack of old newspapers he piled on top. I can see this happening to not a few Air owners. [Newsweek]
apple
MacBook Air Selling Like Extremely Expensive Hotcakes?
Apparently, the MacBook Air is selling well enough to be unavailable in many stores and require a 5-7 day wait for online orders. Despite the high price, the super-thin laptop is often selling out the day a shipment arrives at an Apple Store, according to research done by Ars Technica. Of course, without knowing just how many MacBook Airs Apple is manufacturing, this could just as easily be a case of Apple not making all too many in the first place, making demand seem higher than it really is. What do you guys think, have you seen lots of them out in the wild or is this just a case of distorted perceptions? [Ars Technica]
apple
Carbon Fiber Macbook Air, A World of No
While we generally love to see gadgets receive new alloy skins, this mod that added carbon fiber to the back of a Macbook Air is—sensitively put—fugly. The trade-off is that carbon fiber is lighter than aluminum, though at the installed thickness, it's a bit flimsier too.
But maybe we're just grumpy. Does anyone think this actually looks good? [MAKE]
lenovo x300
Lenovo's Official X300 Comparison vs. MacBook Air Shows Why It's Better For Business Dudes
You saw the 5 takes on the Lenovo X300, the X300 benchmarked vs. the MacBook Air, and even Mossberg's review, but what does Lenovo think about the comparisons between the two laptops? Well, obviously, they think their machine is better, but the reasons given for why it's better appeals to Lenovo's core audience—the traveling corporate worker—and not the MacBook Air's core audience, weaklings who like shiny laptops. Hit the jump for a big version of the image and realize that these two aren't really competing for the same credit cards. [Thanks Justin!]
roundup
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5 Takes On the Lenovo ThinkPad X300
After Apple stole the show with their amazing Macbook Air, it was easy to overlook Lenovo's announcement of their own 0.73 inch thick, 3ish pound laptop—that, by the way, features a 13.3-inch display, 64GB SSD, DVD burner, EVDO, WiMax, GPS, 3 USB ports, and a blessed swappable battery.
And at $2,680.00 (2GB configuration), it may seem a bit expensive...but compared to the Macbook Air's $3,098.00 (solid state configuration), it seems like a steal. So what did the reviewers think? Here are five takes on the ultraportable:
storage
Toshiba Speeds 1.8-Inch Drives Up to 5400rpm
The bitch about using 1.8" drives in computers is that they run at a sluggy 4200rpm, as opposed to the 5400rpm commonly clocked in 2.5" laptop drives. Toshiba today announced a 1.8" drive that runs at 5400rpm in capacities of 80GB (MK8016GSG) and 120GB (MK1216GSG). More »
macbook air
Japanese Engineers: MacBook Air Insides Are "Full of Waste"
"Can we say that the MacBook Air has a perfect, sophisticated external appearance, but its insides are full of waste?" And by waste, the Japanese engineers doing Nikkei's teardown really mean screws. Thirty of them. (We thought it was marvelous.) Apparently, Apple is as anal about its manufacturing specs as it is about aesthetics. A common practice for Japanese PC companies is to let the manufacturing plant "improve" the design or implement ones that cut costs. Like, use less screws. But one of the noted that:"The MacBook Air gives me an impression that its manufacturing plant packaged the computer exactly as ordered by Apple."More »
thin laptop fight
Although Mossberg's Lenovo X300 vs. MacBook Air fight compared things like weight, portability, inputs and functionality, it didn't compare the thing that power users care about—performance—in absolute numbers. Notebook Review did. In their CPU benchmark, the Air finished the test in 68 seconds while the X300 took an almost double the time at 118 seconds. Things flipped around when they tried another benchmark.
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Lenovo X300 Benchmarked Versus MacBook Air
Although Mossberg's Lenovo X300 vs. MacBook Air fight compared things like weight, portability, inputs and functionality, it didn't compare the thing that power users care about—performance—in absolute numbers. Notebook Review did. In their CPU benchmark, the Air finished the test in 68 seconds while the X300 took an almost double the time at 118 seconds. Things flipped around when they tried another benchmark.
More »
apple
MacBook Air Can Be Laser Etched, With Monkeys
Make's writer and laser master Phil Torrone has etched a monkey on his MacBook Air, a process which he says worked as well as with the other MacBooks after leveling it so the surface was perpendicular to the ray. Whatever. I'm like, monkeys. Cool. Ook ook. [Make]
question of the day
Question of the Day: Lenovo X300 or the MacBook Air?
An interesting battle is brewing between the upcoming Lenovo X300 and the MacBook Air. The esteemed Walt Mossberg has already threw in his two cents, and now you can too—complete with a fancy percentage breakdown. So which is it going to be? Are you in Lenovo's corner or Apple's?
