Items tagged with Macbook
What do Hollywood, Apple users, and Google Chrome share in common? A wave of unbootable MacBooks and Mac Pros. A Google Keystone update was able to damage certain Mac files and shut the affected devices down unexpectedly. This past week, several Hollywood film editors reported that their Mac devices were unable to reboot. Affected Apple users included the video editing team of ABC’s Modern Family. Many of these film editors use Avid Media Composer software and initially believed that a software bug or virus was to blame. Google later confessed that a Chrome update was the real culprit. Google Keystone Bug Most Mac devices include “SIP” or “system integrity protection”....
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After letting its entry-level 13-inch MacBook Pro languish for the past two years without any major updates, Apple is finally "making it rain". Just in time for Back to School season, the base 13-inch MacBook Pro is gaining a number of features previously reserved for its more expensive siblings. Standard equipment now includes a True Tone display, the T2 security chip and the Touch Bar (which includes Touch ID). The last addition might be sad news for those Apple fans that hate the Touch Bar (admittedly, it's more of a gimmick than actually being useful) and love the traditional function keys on the top row. Apple has also updated the internal hardware, as the previous "old hat" 7th generation...
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Apple just can’t seem to get it right when it comes to the keyboards on its MacBook, MacBook Air and MacBook Pro family of laptops. Even though the company is currently on the third-generation of its “butterfly key” keyboard design, customers are still complaining of premature failures. With that being said, the process of replacing a defective keyboard is not a simple one, and requires removing the whole top panel of the notebook (which includes the integrated battery). Not only is it time extensive – currently requiring a few business days for the machine to be shipped off-site, repaired, and then sent back – but it is an expensive repair (for Apple) as it’s...
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When Apple launched its slimmed down MacBook family back in 2015, the device was praised for its compact frame and light weight, but one of the biggest criticisms was leveled at its expansion options. Or rather, lack thereof. The MacBook (to this day) only comes with a single USB-C port that is used both for charging and for connecting peripherals. So, if you want to, for example, power your MacBook while plugging into an external HDD or SDD, you’d need a hub. The folks over at Hyper have gotten in on the April Fools’ pranks that it says will be the “Mother of All USB-C Hubs.” Called, the HyperDrive Ultimate Ultimate Hub, would be seen as the ultimate docking...
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Keyboards aren’t an unknown quantity in the PC realm; we’ve been using them to input data into our computers for decades, and Apple seemingly was at the top of its game with keyboard design for its notebooks – that is until the 2015 MacBook and 2016 MacBook Pro redesigns occurred. A new report from The Wall Street Journal’sJoanna Stern indicates that Apple still has not exorcised its keyboard demons. Stern is already experiencing key failures on her new MacBook Air, which was redesigned late last year. That’s a relatively short span of time to begin seeing hardware failures on a brand-new piece of hardware. Stern rather interestingly highlighted...
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Tell me if you've heard this one before -- Apple is developing its own Mac processors in an effort to bring more hardware design in-house and to avoid Intel's oft-delayed product roadmaps. That rumor is once again making the rounds, and this time it's coming from Intel employees. A new report from Axios is suggests that Intel officials have privately confirmed to it that Apple will begin making the shift to its own ARM processors starting in 2020. Intel has a lot to lose if/when Apple begins shifting from Core and Xeon processors to its own designs, as Apple is one of its biggest customers. Couple that with the fact that Apple is also rumored to be working on its own...
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Apple has caught some heat designing increasingly thinner and lighter MacBook Pro systems seemingly at the expense of a proper typing experience, and there was even a class action lawsuit filed last year because of it. The underlying issue is the redesigned butterfly keyboard. Apple has taken measures to improve the typing experience, but looking ahead, it might scrap the butterfly keyboard altogether and replace it with glass panel plank. What seems to be causing all the fuss with the current design is that dust particles manage to creep inside, causing they keys to malfunction. This has led to a higher-than-usual failure rate. MacBook owners have also been frustrated that even when they have...
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A class-action lawsuit filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of California accuses Apple of using literally dirty design tactics with its iMac and MacBook computer systems. More specifically, the lawsuit alleges that some iMac and MacBook owners report "consistent problems with dark smudges on their screens" and other problems stemming from a lack of any dust filters. Image Source: Hagens Berman "The computer intakes air to cool its components, but with no filter, dust gets trapped inside. This affects the screen and logic board of the computer, leading to dust stuck behind the screen and gummed up motherboards, causing the computer to run slow and/or overheat," Hagens Berman,...
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Black Friday has come and gone, and for those who didn't brave the crowds to pick up goodies last week and over the weekend, you still have a chance today to score some deals. Cyber Monday is here, and this is the time when online retailers discount their goods to entice shoppers. Best Buy has some terrific deals going on right now that are good for today only. One of the deals is for a MacBook Air for $200 off making the 13.3-inch MacBook Air with an Intel Core i5, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage $999.99. You also get three months of Apple Music in that deal. If you want a MacBook, Best Buy is offering $200 off some of those machines as well with a 12-inch MacBook with an Intel Core M3,...
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Mac fans looking for some deals on laptops for Black Friday may have an early jump on the shopping season, with savings up to $650 off Mac laptops right now. The biggest savings comes at B&H with the Apple 15.4-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar in space gray or silver for $2,149, that is a discount of $650 on the mid-2017 model. Specs on this machine include a 2.9GHz Core i7 quad-core processor, 16GB of 2133 MHz RAM, 512GB SSD, and AMD Radeon Pro 560 graphics with 4GB of RAM. This MacBook has a 15.4-inch 2880 x 1800 Retina display and can be purchased here directly from B&H. If you want a MacBook Pro that is a bit more portable and costs less to boot, B&H also has a deal going...
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Macs used to have a persona of "no viruses or hacks" with many feeling like the MacBook and other Apple computers were more secure and therefore better than Windows counterparts. This was a long-running argument in PC enthusiast circles and despite ample evidence that Macs are vulnerable to attacks, some still feel that the Mac is immune to most of the hazards posed to a Windows user. Apple's latest 2018 MacBook models certainly aren’t immune from significant issues and flaws right out of the box. The high-end Core i9 version was hampered by thermal throttling out of the box that Apple blamed on a flaw in macOS, and a patch was later issued. Researchers at the Black Hat security conference...
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Intel is nearly ready to roll out a new family of low-power Core Y-Series processors, and they could find their way into a number of popular devices in the coming months. There are three processors SKUs that have been revealed, and they all fall under the Amber Lake family. According to Romanian website NextLab501, the three processors will officially launch during the third quarter and are considered part of the 8th generation Core family. All three processors are dual-core parts, HyperThreading-enabled, and incorporate Intel HD Graphics 615: Core m3-8100Y Base Clock: 1.1GHz All-Core Boost: 2.7GHz Single-Core Boost: 3.4GHz Core i5-8200Y Base Clock: 1.3GHz All-Core Boost: 3.2GHz...
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In May word was going around that noted Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo was leaving KGI Securities and the world of Apple rumors behind. While he did, in fact, leave KGI, he is still prophesying things all things Apple and is back with a new rumor. Kuo is now at TF International Securities and has published an investor note that outlines what he expects to see in the fall hardware lineup from Apple. Perhaps the biggest news is that long after Tim Cook promised the Mac mini would remain part of the lineup as the cheapest Mac, it will finally get a performance update. Sadly, if you are dying for details on that Mac mini there are no hardware predictions offered. Other tidbits Kuo predicts include...
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One of the things that was rumored early on to turn up at Apple's WWDC last month were refreshed MacBooks running Intel Coffee Lake processors. Those refreshed Macs didn’t happen leaving many Apple fans disappointed. Now, however, a new MacBook Pro model with an Intel Coffee Lake processor has turned up on Geekbench giving Mac fans hope that refreshed hardware is coming. The Geekbench entry was logged this week and lists a "MacBook Pro 15,2" model notebook that packs inside an Intel Core i7-8559U processor. That CPU is a 28W part with a 2.7GHz base frequency. The turbo frequency for the chip is 4.5GHz. Other specs called out in the benchmark results include 16GB of LPDDR3 RAM running at...
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