Now that purchases of MacBooks are largely done, it’s time for upgrading of the default 512MB ram in your MacBook to at least 1GB of ram. “But hey, I don’t use the computer for any heavy stuff, I don’t need to upgrade right?”, you may ask. WRONG. The MacBook uses AT LEAST 80mb of system ram to power the integrated graphics, and at times this will go up to about 200over mb. Which means that you may be running on only about 200 over mb of ram! As this article suggests, the sweet spot for Mac OS X is around 768mb, with the MacBook it will have to be 1gb due to the integrated graphics card. OS X just runs too slowly with 512mb or below ram. To prevent disappointing performance from your MacBook, upgrade today. MacNUS will be organising a mass purchase of ram, sign up for the forums today to participate in the ram purchase by posting in the mass purchase thread.
Mac Hardware, MacNUS, Other Hardware
Seems that Apple is facing their age-old problem of not being able to keep up with demand for their products again. This time round, customers who have ordered a MacBook have been sent an apology letter from Apple stating their their orders will be delayed by weeks.
Image from Apple Matters.
The full article is here.
Mac Hardware, Other Hardware
Dailytech and Appleinsider reported that the new Merom chips, also known as Core 2 Duo, will actually be running hotter than the current Core Duo “Yonah” chips, and thus will not lead to a cooler MacBook Pro.
According to Appleinsider,
Specifications released by Intel this week to system designers reveal that the chips, formerly code-named Merom, each have a thermal design point (TDP) of 34 watts — about 3 watts more than the top of the line 2.33GHz Core Duo (Yonah).
Intel defines TDP as the “worst-case power dissipated” by a processor while running publicly available software under normal operating conditions.
The recent findings are confusing, as Intel had previously stated that Merom would provide about a 20 percent speed increase over Yonah — the chip it aims to replace — without drawing any additional power.
In battery mode, Merom processors clock down to 1GHz, yet still carry a TDP of 20 watts, according to DailyTech. On the other hand, a Yonah chip in the same mode has a TDP of 13.1 watts while also at 1GHz.
Hmmm… Higher wattage, more heat, less battery life. I wonder how much “better” Merom really is.
Mac Hardware, Other Hardware
The Mac Pro is finally out! This time round all Mac Pros are quad cores, with 2 Core 2 Duo Xeons (woodcrest) in them. There is only one standard model, the dual 2.66ghz model, with the following configuration;
Quad Core 2.66 GHz Xeon 5100 Processor, upgradeable to Quad Core 3 GHz (There are 3 CPU Speeds configurations, 2Ghz, 2.66Ghz, 3Ghz)
1 GB FB-DIMM RAM (2×512 MB), expandable to 16 GB
250 GB Hard Drive, 3 empty slots (3 Gbps SATA)
NVidia GeForce 7300 GT (256 MB VRAM), configurable to ATI Radeon X1900 XT or Quadro FX 4500 (512 MB VRAM)
SuperDrive (2 5.25″ slots total, 1 remaining)
4 PCI-Express Slots (One extra-wide, taken by GPU)
The casing was modified slightly, with one extra drive bay and more ports at the front.
Photo taken from PCwatch
More info on Apple’s Mac Pro site here.
News, Other Hardware
As the matriculation fair is over, you might be thinking that the Apple booth cannot be found any more…. Nahz, it’s still around, but now at YIH 2nd floor! As of now the time of posting, I’m writing from one of the MacBooks on display! =P
Can you spot Ryu at the booth? hehez..
MacNUS, NUS, Other Hardware, Past Events
Loading ...
Recent Comments