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Decide: Mac Book Pro 13inch vs Mac Book Air 2009

Geekboy — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 23:15:56 +0000

My friend is looking at getting a Mac, but is having trouble deciding between the Mac Book Pro 13 inch or the Mac Book Air…

Here’s a comparison chart I came up to help with her decision making.

Which MacBook are you? (Specs table courtesy of apple.com.sg)

	13″ MacBook Pro	MacBook Air
Price	2.26GHz, 160GB S$ 1,988.00 2.53GHz, 250GB S$ 2,488.00	1.86GHz, 120GB SATA S$ 2,488.00 2.13GHz, 128GB SSD S$ 2,988.00
Display	13.3-inch (viewable) LED-backlit glossy widescreen 1280 x 800 pixels	13.3-inch (viewable) LED-backlit glossy widescreen 1280 x 800 pixels
Processor	Intel Core 2 Duo 1066MHz frontside bus 3MB shared L2 cache	Intel Core 2 Duo 1066MHz frontside bus 6MB shared L2 cache
Graphics	NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics processor with 256MB of DDR3 SDRAM shared with main memory	NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics processor with 256MB of DDR3 SDRAM shared with main memory
Memory	2GB (two 1GB) or 4GB (two 2GB) of 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM Option: Up to 8GB	2GB of 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM (onboard)
Battery²	Built-in lithium-polymer battery Up to 7 hours of wireless productivity	Built-in lithium-polymer battery Up to 5 hours of wireless productivity
Hard drive¹	160GB or 250GB Serial ATA, 5400 rpm Options: Up to 500GB hard drive or 128GB or 256GB solid-state drive	120GB Serial ATA, 4200 rpm; or 128GB solid-state drive
Optical drive	8x double-layer SuperDrive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)	Option: External MacBook Air USB SuperDrive (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
Expansion	Two USB 2.0 ports, one FireWire 800 port, one SD card slot	One USB 2.0 port
Video	Built-in iSight camera Mini DisplayPort output with support for DVI, Dual-Link DVI, and VGA video (requires adapters, sold separately)
Audio	Combined optical digital/headphone out (with selectable analog line in), microphone, speakers	Headphone out, microphone, speaker
Wireless	Built-in AirPort Extreme (802.11n)³ Built-in Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR (Enhanced Data Rate)
Ethernet	10/100/1000BASE-T (Gigabit)	Apple USB Ethernet Adapter [need to buy to collect to hotels/places with no wifi]
Input	Full-size, illuminated keyboard with ambient light sensor Glass Multi-Touch trackpad	Full-size, illuminated keyboard with ambient light sensor Multi-Touch trackpad
Enclosure	Precision aluminum unibody
Size(H x W x D)	0.95 x 12.78 x 8.94 inches 2.41 x 32.5 x 22.7 cm	0.16 to 0.76 x 12.8 x 8.94 inches 0.4 to 1.94 x 32.5 x 22.7 cm
Weight⁴	4.5 pounds 2.04 kg	3.0 pounds 1.36 kg

Mac Book Pro 13inch
Everything you need is built-in, and up to 7 hours of wifi usage. If you get this, go for a total of 4gb RAM(long term investment for a faster system) and at least 250gb HD or 500gb (store more pictures/music/videos) .

Good when you don’t mind the 2kg (not light, plus case or bag?), or have a car or porter to help you carry stuff around.

Mac Book Air
Sleek, sexy, thin.. lighter and you carry the minimum (no DVD, only 1 USB, 128gb HD, need adapter for no wifi internet connections.)

Slightly slower processor and only 2gb RAM but good enough for web surfing – youtube/facebook/emails and photo and simple video editing, for up to 5 hours only.

Sexy enough that you want to carry yourself.

If you get this, you will definitely need the Ethernet Adapter, and optionally ->

external DVD drive, + S$150
250gb or more external 2.5inch Harddisk + S$150
4 port USB hub (to connect more USB devices). + S$30

Do note, since the Air has only 1 USB port, if you’re in a hotel or place that has no wifi, and you are wired up thru the Ethernet cable, you have no way to connect to other USB devices (e.g. digital camera/ipod).

BOTTOM Line

For price and performance, the mac book pro definitely seems a better deal. Of course at the expense of the additional weight and thickness.

Decide how you will use the device and see which on fits your usage better.

No Asus Eee PC T91 in Singapore

Geekboy — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 09:48:19 +0000

According to Asia CNET.com, Asus has decided to limit the release of the Eee PC T91 only in Japan, Taiwan, Thailand and Australia for now.

However, they are open to getting business / bulk orders directly if you’re in Singapore or else where.

Here’s the link to the article.

I guess, this may be a wiser decision, since the multi-touch, GPS and digital tuner versions are still being tweaked.

There are other alternatives for those looking for a touch screen netbook.

Like the Gigabyte Touchnote T1028M and Gigabyte Cafe Book M912X.

Fast web browsing for the Nokia n810/n800 : Tear!

Geekboy — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 07:47:48 +0000

The bulit-in web browser on the n810 is good.. its fast, it allows you to visit most websites, even the flash ones.

But it’s terrible at some sites.. e.g. Facebook and other javascript heavy sites.

Mozilla’s port of FireFox over to a mobile platform is still in its beta stage – Fennec.. and though the interface looks quite promising.. its still unusable.

So here comes – Tear. You can download 0.3.1 here [direct to your n810/n800].

It’s built on the web kit (same as Safari/Chrome) and its blazing fast for Facebook (compared to the built-in browser).

It has the Chrome/Opera like start up page – where you get 9 most visited sites thumbnails…(as seen above)

When you hit the full-screen button, it allows you to use up the full 800×480 screen real estate – hiding unnecessary info and by having a small line at the bottom as the progress bar.. Brillant, if you ask me.. do we really need to see big turning arrows or bars?

The only site I have encountered some issues using Tear is.. Gmail. Somehow it’s too heavy for Tear.. but the built-in browser (handling it at a lower feature set) works fine.

So give Tear a run.. its my favourite browser on the Nokia n810/n800 for mobile browsing.

For installation, more information and latest updates, check out the wiki.

Quick review of iNo Mobile CP09

Geekboy — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 12:03:39 +0000

Here’s a very quick post on the hottest gadget to get this PC Show 2009. The iNo Mobile CP09. It’s a good buy at only SGD $78. Available in white and black only.

I’ll post a more detailed look later.

But first, here’s mylivingtech.com’s first video review of the mobile phone.

General Specification	Key Experiences
Operating Frequency: GSM900/1800MHz Dimensions (mm): 10248.514.5mm Talk Time (mins): 130-300 mins Storage Capability: 32MB NorFlash Screen Size: 1.6 inch Pixel Resolution: 128*48 Ringtone: 16 tones polyphonic	Candybar design MONO Display Smart design for the elderly Super big key design Build in Speakerphone Electric torch light Digital time announcer Shortcut dialing

This simple phone has no camera, no MMS, cannot surf the internet but has other useful features for the target market of the elderly.

The SOS feature is something interesting where it allows you to set up to 4 different contacts for this. So if the user of the phone needs help, all they have to do is to press this button located at the back of the phone and it will SMS/message the list of people for help.

And a siren will go off. Quite useful for the elderly when they go out on their own.