MacBook Pro: first signs of power-hunger

21 February 2006

So ZDNet have got themselves a MacBook Pro and are unpacking it. And, whilst the lovely, slim packaging is very nice, there are some worrying signs – signs that suggest why a 12″ (or even 13″ widescreen) Macbook Pro is a way off yet.

Namely, the insatiable hunger for power.

The two important lines are “notice the larger 17-inch-style battery” and “the MagSafe adapter is about 25% larger, about the size of the Airport Express.”

The larger battery and larger charger are clearly necessary to support the higher power draw of the Core Duo, and the new battery size goes some way to explaining why they need a thinner optical drive in there.

If that’s all necessary for the 15″, then I’m not sure how they’ll cram it any smaller without affecting battery life or power. The MacBook (iBook as was) might be better off with the Core Solo, which could have a lower power draw. But a smaller Core Duo machine seems difficult, right now.

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Powerbook woes: continued

21 December 2005

This is taking the biscuit.

Way into work: unplug Powerbook from PSU, bundle up PSU. Work on train a bit. Get to work. Plug PSU into power socket. Plug PSU into Powerbook.

No light on charger ring; no indication of a charging battery.

Change the fuse, same problem. I think, after two and a half years, the PSU is dead. Investigate buying a new one. A new power supply will be

£55.

I give up.

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iPod Nano

07 September 2005

OK, so Apple have gone completely bonkers with the naming of their new iPod Nano. I’ll let that one go. I can also let go the complete axing of the iPod Mini as a line, as it never really mattered that much to me. What I can’t forgive is whichever lunatic thought that the bottom edge of an audio device was the best place for the headphone socket. That’s before you consider that it comes in black, of all the non-Apple colours in the world. Not that impressed, really – smaller, less space, same money, more whizz-bang. Sticking to my 3G 20gig, then.

(Also, I’m not convinced by this new “streamlined look” for iTunes 5, and will let others download the first stone, as it were – but you heard the prospect of it being “rubbish” here first).

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