iMac Updates

Let’s start off with the iMac. They still have the 21.5 and 27 inch models, but they both got some new hardware.

The base line 21.5 inch iMac has a new 3.06GHz Core i3 processor, 4GB of DDR3 RAM, 500GB hard drive, and has one of ATI’s Radeon 4670 with 256MB vRam. Apple also updated the the higher end 21.5 inch iMac ($1,499). They still have the Core i3 processors but instead of 3.06GHz, it’s now clocked to 3.20GHz. Apple also upgraded the hard drive to 1TB and the graphics to the ATI Radeon 5670 variety.

The $1,699 27 inch iMac has the same guts as the higher end 21.5 inch iMac, but the 27 inch model is upgradeable to a 3.6GHz Core i5, 2TB hard drive, a 256GB SSD and 16GB of DDR3 RAM. The highest end 27 inch iMac now has a 2.8GHz quad-core i5, ATI Radeon HD 5750 GPU with 1GB of vRAM, 1TB hard drive and upgradeable to a Core i7, 2TB hard drive, 256 GB SSD, and up to 16GB of RAM.

Mac Pro Updates

Possibly the most substantial update has to be the Mac Pro. Apple updated the Mac Pro to have 12 processing cores! (WOW!) It’s quite impressive to have that many cores, but it doesn’t come in a cheap price. If you want the 12 core Mac Pro, you’ll have to spend a whopping $5,000! Now, if you want a cheaper solution, you can still get a quad-core model for $2,499 or an 8 core model at $3,499. Apple updated the graphics card to the Radeon HD 5770, which is upgradeable to the HD 5870.

Apple does provide some good upgrades for the Mac Pro. Apple allows you to have 32GB of RAM, 4TB of storage, and a crazy option for four 512GB SSD drives!

New accessories

With all the updates out of the way, Apple made some cool accessories. Let’s take a look at them:

Magic TrackPad

The Apple Magic Trackpad is interesting. It’s basically the same glass multi-touch trackpad, but bigger. It still has the same gestures as all the Apple laptops. This product is mainly designed for desktop users. If you want this for your Apple computer, you can go get this for $69.

27 inch LED Cinema Display

The Apple 27 inch Cinema Display is no different from the 24 inch model. The new 27 inch Cinema display has a resolution of 2560×1440 and a new price of $999 Those are basically the main differences.

Apple Battery Charger… wait, what?!

Yes, you heard me, Apple is making re-chargable AA batteries. This could be the strangest thing that I’ve seen Apple to release to date. Now, Apple is pretty serious about this. Apple claims that it’s battery charger has the lowest vampire power draw than any charger on the market. You can get this thing for $29 and it will come with six AA batteries.

What Makes This So Special?

Think about it, an interface were you can group tabs and these tabs can help you find a good vacation spot, or a camera to take pictures of that vacation spot, pretty cool, huh? If you have tried Google Wave then most likely you have shared a document or a picture, but what about a webpage, or a group of them at this matter? This problem or situation is solved by Tab Candy. Along with many others mentioned in the video preview of Tab Candy!

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The Mozilla team is always busy designing, scripting, and planning their next browser. A couple weeks ago they opened their public doors to the next generation of Firefox, Firefox 4 Beta 1. Firefox sports a new, “more aero enabled” theme and a similar feel to Google Chrome. On that note the tabs are now closer to the top of the window. Also they have added a “Firefox” button that gives you quick access to things the would be found in, the now disabled by default, menu bar which can be seen in the picture below.

The New Interface

The new interface is a total over haul of the interface seen in previous versions of Firefox 3 and below. So, what about speed? The theme isn’t the only thing that feels like Chrome, the browser not only loads faster but is now seeing faster browsing speeds. Now with any application you are going to bog it down if you add too many add-ons especially if used in excess. Now with two simple add-ons No Script and AdBlock Plus, I have found no slow down once so ever!

Remember it’s a BETA

They don’t put the word beta in the title for nothing! There are still some glitches and add-on compatibility issues in the browser, so unless you know what you are doing Firefox 4 isn’t for you just yet, for the everyday user its better to just stick with the current “stable” version for now, and let the team work their magic to get it ready for you!

Marc Billow

Tech Cores Administrator

If you have a jailbroken iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch and you call Apple Care they now have the tools to see if your device is jail broken and refuse you support for that device and are then able to void your warranty, the consequence normally handed down for a device found to be jailbroken.

The next bit of information is that when using Apple’s new and instantly popular FaceTime app, it automatically sends you and you FaceTime partners location and name to Apple servers.

It wouldn’t be a full leak if AT&T want involved! Now if you use your device on a non authorized cellular network, you device will still receive AT&T updates, hence messing up your other connection!

Now this is a leak and could, in time, be proven wrong or corrected. If you would like to read more about this you can read the original post at http://www.addictivetips.com/mobile/leaked-apple-stealing-all-facetime-information-att-locks-user-via-ota-updates/ were the information was originally leaked to!

So, what do you think about this Apple leak?

Apple will still have a Mac mini Server configuration, which is basically a Mac mini with two 500GB hard drives, 4GB of RAM, 2.66 GHz Intel, No Superdrive, and Mac OSX Snow Leopard Server.

Picture Source: Engadget

Picture Source: Engadget

Picture Source: Engadget

Ok, we all heard about the iPhone “4G” leak, it became viral within hours, then Dell, and other companies followed. Now, either Apple poked a pin hole into a high pressure line that burst or these leaks aren’t done on mistake. Though these prototypes all look cool and modern, just like they all do, but it leaves us bloggers and consumers some curiosity. Don’t forget “curiosity killed the cat”! Now I know people have there opinions about these so called “leaks”. My personal opinion is that, well, the iPhone was real ( we all know that, and so does the Gizmodo’s reporters door), but the fact that a day or two after Dell leaked three phones and then other companies followed in a what i can coined “faucet parade”. So, what is your opinion about this “leaking” pipe?

Marc Billow

Tech Cores Blogger

However, I do have one problem with it:

There is no Ubuntu Software Center. I have had trouble downloading flash, and so far I haven’t been able to obtain it. This bugs me because I want to start using the OS more often and when i need to find a tutorial on how to do something, I can’t go to Youtube. No I will not deal the the HTML 5 beta because it is extremely buggy. Anyways, you will have to go through some more trouble downloading things when searching online.

ArtistX does run the Gnome desktop and is very nice and elegant. Like I said before, this runs fast! I have only experienced one time of bad performance and that was because I was installing updates.

I strongly recommend you download this if you are a hardcore graphics designer/music producer. This is free, and you won’t regret it.

I’ve read a couple of posts around the web, on people making there browser  of choice sound like the “elite” browser and personally I would like to put an unbias view of a techy here in this post.

Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE)
Now as far as performance and stability go, I really don’t see much or either of them in this browser. Most people are buying Windows machines that come preloaded with IE, hence for the person that want to do some none intensive browsing IE allows them to do it with limited troubles. Summery: IE is a nice browser for people who aren’t doing very intense browsing but it doesn’t really fulfill a general browsers expectations as far as performance and safety. IE in the last couple of month has gotten a flash of recognition for the lack of security.

Mozilla Firefox
Mozilla’s browser has a lot of features other more simple browsers don’t including things like Themes, Add-on, and a full add-on library. This browser also has more of a security and privacy outlook on the web. Now browsers have to be safe as far as add-ons go, too many and the browser gets slow and bogged down. With Firefox this can happen very easily. Summary: Is a great browser for more intensive pages as well as games but can get bogged down but installing add-ons and themes.

Apple Safari
Safari, like Firefox does a great job with the more intensive web pages and games but, Safari also like IE doesn’t allow for themes. Now this can be a good or a bad thing, as far as customizing your browser goes you’ve hit a dead end but if you like the look and feel or it to begin with you’ve stuck gold! Summary: Can handle some intensive pages but hits a dead end as far as being able to customize it and user security.

Google Chrome
To start out with chrome I would like to point out how fast chrome has taken a major spot in the browser race. Chrome is a great everyday browser that can handle the more memory intensive pages. Now as far as being able to customize your browser Google has set up a gallery of sorts of both designer themes and themes by Google. As far as toolbars and add-ons go Google opens the doors to developers to create add-ons the Chrome from toolbars to built in calculators. Summary: Chrome is a good sturdy web browser, but it lacks some basic features like “Set Image As Wallpaper” which are needed for everyday use!

Opera
Well this browser has a extremely nice interface and has built in web based email and other handy tools for daily and multi-daily use. Now this browser Has all these tools and the developers know how to arrange them. It is a very intuitive and handy browser. Summary: This browser shines in it interface and great overall design!

Well here is were I am going to end my “nonbiasness” and give my highlights.

Now personally I use Chrome as my main browser and Firefox as my second option. The reason I prefer Chrome is it just makes web browsing faster, fairly customizable, and most of all secure. Now the reason Firefox comes in a close second is it has the speed and the ability of being customized but with some of the customizations it can get clucky. So now i ask the question, What’s Your Web Browser?

Marc Billow

TechCores Blogger

Like i said before, it is pretty impressive that Geohot has done this within such a short amount of time. If you currently have an iPad, and are waiting for this to release to the public, be patient and wait about another month or so. I am not encouraging anyone to jailbreak, I am just giving news on how the iPad was jailbroken so quickly. Do what you want, I take no responsibility for what you do.

Below are some pictures of different style of mice different people need.



This is the Logitech Performance Mouse MX. This is a mouse that fits every category of different mice. Although it’s 80 dollars, it is worth it.

This is Apple’s Magic Mouse. Let me tell you, this is not a gaming mouse! This is just a $70 mouse that is great for web browsing, editing videos, switching between pictures, etc..

This is the SideWinder X8. This is the best gaming mouse I’ve ever experienced. The $100 retail price makes the hopes of buying it go down, but if you got the cash, you won’t be sorry.

Last but not least, this is the Logitech Trackman Wheel that retails for $30. This is a trackball mouse for everyday uses. It’s not for everyone, so don’t be disappointed if you don’t like the trackball.

I hope this helped! So in the end, it all really comes down to what you need, and what you want.

This MacBook Pro 15 inch is my first Mac and I’m totally loving every single bit of it. In this review, I’ll be talking about the Design, Display, Performance, Battery Life,  Software, Downsides, and the Conclusion.

Design:

First off, this is probably the best built laptop I’ve ever held and used. The reason why it’s so well built is because it has this thing called the Unibody enclosure. A unibody enclosure is basically a single block of aluminum and a machine basically carves all the ports and the speaker grills. With the Unibody enclosure, you’ll get a laptop that’s solid, thin and light. In the PC market, you can’t find something that is well built, thin, and light. Some might say that ThinkPads are also well built, but they are not as thin and light. Some might compare the ThinkPad X301 which is well built and actually thinner  than the MacBook Pro. Well, typical thin and light PC’s like the X301 uses ULV processors because of the chassis design. So, you’re basically sacrificing performance for the thin and light form factor in the PC world.

Display:

I think the MacBook Pro’s 15 inch 1440×900 screen deserves it’s own section because the screen is simply amazing. This screen has a 60% color gamut, which provides extremely rich and vibrant colors.

Performance:

This MacBook Pro 15 inch has an Intel Core 2 Duo P8700 Processor running at 2.53GHz, 4GB of DDR3 RAM, a 250GB 5400 RPM HardDrive,  Integrated NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics with 256MB of shared memory, and a 8X SuperDrive. With this MacBook Pro, I get extremely fast performance. Everything just loads quick and fluently. For example, iTunes loads in 5 seconds, Safari loads almost instant, and iMovie loads in an impressive time of 8 seconds. Also, boot up takes 28 seconds and shutdown takes 3 seconds.  The NVIDIA 9400M is quite impressive for being integrated graphics. The 9400M handles high resolution pictures quickly and iMovie editing is smooth. There is one complaint with the 9400M and I think this problem applies to all integrated graphics. The problem is that it uses some of my RAM. I believe this is normal for all integrated graphics, but it kind of bugs me since I always use a lot of RAM. *cough* Flash *cough*

Battery Life:

Apple claims that the MacBook Pro gets around 7 hours. Based on my web surfing test, I get around 6-7 hours with the display brightness half way and heavy YouTube usage. Now, I expected less than 6 hours because of the bigger screen, but I was wrong. Simply, this is truly amazing battery life.

Software:

The version of OSX that came with my Mac was 10.6.2 but upgraded to 10.6.3. OSX might be the best OS I’ve ever used. The reason why I think it’s the best is because it just works. OSX is quick and extremely stable. In OSX, I’ve never gotten a crash or any type of slowdown what so ever. However, OSX might need getting used to. For example, you’ll have to get used to the Window Management and especially the Finder. For me, the Finder took me a while to get used to it. The MacBook Pro comes with iLife 09 Suite which includes iDVD, iMovie, iPhoto, and iWeb. iMovie might be the best piece of software that comes with a computer. iMovie is simple and extremely powerful. This is 1000x better than Windows Live Movie Maker.

Downsides:

Ok, on to the downsides. The first one downside is that the MacBook Pro only has 2 USB’s. Now, first off, I think this is unexceptable for being a 15 inch laptop and having a price tag of $1699. But, I think Apple had could not fit an extra USB port due to the design. My last downside is a big one. The biggest downside is the glossy screen and let me tell you, it’s extremely glossy. This gets really annoying when the sun is facing you and fingerprints shows up easily.

Conclusion:

Overall, the MacBook Pro might be the best computer that I’ve ever owned. Simply because of the quality that Apple puts in their products. I’ve never seen a company put so much care and effort in the design of their products. From now on, I will never switch back to a PC and will be trying to use a Mac full time.

15 inch MacBook Pro Unboxing

I’ve always been a fan of HP until now. HP customer support has really blown me away this time. A lot of their products work nicely, but some of them, like mine, do have some issues. Below, I have a video about me discussing HP’s customer support.

Support with every company really does vary. But with HP, it’s totally different. I have this in a video mainly for the fact that if I was to type all of the things I said in the video, most of you wouldn’t want to read it.

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Now there’s probably a million ways you can do this, but this is the way I did it. I hope this will help someone out who is needing to do the same. All you need to do now after your done is show “$Current_Time” somewhere!

Yes, it takes 123 lines of code (really 16 lines without the comments) in order to display the time! No one never said coding was easy, but I hope this makes it easier for you!

You can download thescript from this file location:
PHP Time File

Ubuntu 9.04 has finally hit beta over several months in an alpha stage! Ubuntu 9.04 delivers a lot of new features that enhance the operating system even more!

Enjoy Ubuntu 9.04! I bet we all cannot wait for this to hit the release canidate (RC) stage!

Over these past few years, we all should know the Windows Vista wasn’t the best operating system Microsoft has ever created. Vista was for sure an operating system that made the world of technology improve, but in the same way, Windows Vista is a resource hog.

With Windows 7, I honestly think the Microsoft is taking resources seriously. Windows 7 is faster, more stable (even though it’s in beta right now), and just a great operating system by Microsoft. In some time, we might think that Windows 7 build 7068, that was recently leaked, might become the release candidate (RC) for Windows 7. This in return, is a great effort for Microsoft to get a stable and working operating system out to their developers.

In the beginning, Windows 7 was okay, but now, it’s definitely an improvement over Windows Vista!

Windows 7 will become our operating system of the future. Let’s just wait to see what the future will hold!