MOBODOJO

Apple, oh Apple. What hath thou done. Fine, I realize that I’m being a little over-dramatic, but I think its very well worth knowing that Apple has gone and taken the Pro out of the MacBook Pro line-up. Not by word, have they done this, but by act. Apple has removed from the MacBook Pro the one and only significant advantage it had over the lowly MacBook line, and it was a doozy; discreet graphics.

If I’m preaching to the choir right now and you didn’t already know this, your jaw is likely on the floor about now. If you don’t understand what I’m talking about, then I shall explain. There are two kinds of computer graphics systems which can be installed in a computer by the manufacturer, discreet and integrated. Starting with the latter, integrated graphics is a simplified set of chips which generate video for the computer. These are installed on the mainboard and cannot be replaced. Integrated graphics also share RAM from the system, so if you have 1GB of RAM (1024MBs) and your integrated graphics system uses 256MBs of RAM, then your computer ends up with a mere 768MBs of RAM to run on. All cheap laptops and netbooks use integrated graphics.

Discreet graphics, on the other hand, is like its own separate computer whose only job it is to create the graphics for your computer. It has its own RAM and it is usually installed as a separate board which can later be replaced if necessary. In this case, if you have 1GB of RAM and 256MBs of VRAM (Video RAM) then you still have 1GB of RAM for your system. It is the discreet video systems which professionals rely on from Apple because they are powerful and are capable of things which integrated systems simply aren’t. That’s a huge part of the Pro in MacBook Pro.

What Apple has done by bringing the unibody MacBook models into the MacBook Pro fold is to bring the concept of integrated graphics into the Pro line-up. Witness on the Apple Store page or in Phil Schiller’s keynote at yesterday’s WWDC 2009 kickoff the introduction of the NVIDIA 9400M chipset in not only the 13″ models but now also the entry-level 15″ model which starts at US$1,699. If you take a closer look you will see that the 9400M integrated chipset is on every single MacBook Pro in the entire line. Sure, they are alongside the more potent, discreet 9600M GT chipset and you can select which one to use, but the game has still been changed.

Integrated video is significantly cheaper than discreet video. Apple has always charged a relatively fair price for the cost of quality components, a consistency which no other computer company has ever been able to match, and a level of reliability which isn’t fair to the competition. Two things emerge from the change. First, to call a MacBook with integrated graphics just because they look the same, have SD card slots, and can use 8GBs of RAM is more like a bait-and-switch scheme. Second, to put only integrated graphics into the larger, Pro-level 15″ model is almost lying.

Business users who don’t need the powerful graphics sub-systems didn’t have a problem with using a computer called a MacBook. I know of few people who were unhappy that they had a MacBook when they knew that what they had was what they could afford. In fact, I know quite a few MacBook users who don’t like the larger, heavier MacBook Pro line and are quite pleased with what they already have. The only thing Apple did here was arrange a little smoke and mirrors with no real updates to anything, just a name change. I suppose its possible that Apple was feeling the pressure of not delivering on Snow Leopard and only having the iPhone 3Gs to announce.

Then again, they’ve also had the pressure put on them from Microsoft about the cost of their computers compared to what Microsoft’s hardware partners offer in a recent spate of ads. Apple seems to be responding (they’ll deny it) by evening out their pricing structure. If there’s anything to be said about Apple’s product line-up now, its well spaced.

Well, well, well. I’d been a reluctant fan of Windows 7 since I first got hold of the betas (long before the public betas were released). Its fast, easy to use within reason and after some practice, works better on slower, older hardware, and requires less resources. Sounds fantastic, I’d say, and I did for the longest time. Since then, however, I’ve come to know Windows 7. After all, its been my job, having worked on two books about the next Redmond OS. Its even more critical to understand since Microsoft has officially announced the date that Windows 7 will be released. Its not a good date…

October 22nd

Yeah. If that seems a bit short for a product development schedule, your not far off. Microsoft has become well aware that the term “Vista” has become a bad word amongst Windows users. It wasn’t hard to tell, what with all those consumers rolling Vista back to XP and enterprise operations flat out refusing it. Vista was released to manufacturers (RTM) November 8th, 2006. Microsoft announced last week that Windows 7 would RTM in mid-July, a little over a month from now. Hmm. That’s less than three years for Vista, and Microsoft will dump the name. Shades of Windows Me? 

I’m not going to run through a list of things which Microsoft has done to Windows 7, but I’ll touch on a few items. First, Microsoft chose to remove the included Photo Gallery, MSN Messenger, and Windows Mail installations, so that for the first time in years, Windows will not come with an IM or email client. Instead, they’ve bundled it all up into a tight little package called Windows Live Essentials. Oh, and you have to download it. The total package is almost 180MBs, too. Hope you don’t have dial-up. To make matters worse, I noticed a number of the slow behaviors from Vista after installing Essentials.

The other problem, and this one kills me, just cropped up today and speaks far louder than some VP in Redmond opting to yank basic tools from Windows. This one is a problem created by and experienced first in Vista, but its far from the first time there have been issues related to User32.dll. Problems swirling around User32.dll have been a nuisance since Windows 2000 was first introduced. There’s not even a knowledgebase entry for it. Its just there. I’ve found a solution to it, though. Some smart guy figured it out, I tried it on one of my test machines, and it worked. Damn, Microsoft. Get a grip! If you happen to be having the same problem, here’s the link.

So, the moral of the story is that if you think Microsoft is making good on its promise to deliver a workable, reliable, powerful OS to replace the crappy Vista, you will be mistaken. Windows 7 is nothing more than Microsoft’s failed advertising campaign, the Mojave project. In that, Microsoft crawled through Windows Vista and changed it to be called Windows Mojave, then had a bunch of people look at it. They liked it, but were then told that Mojave was really Vista in disguise. Anyone can give a guided tour of crap and make it look like gold, just like you can coach a 4-year old to make a slideshow. There’s no magic there, but this appears to be what Microsoft is doing to make “the Vista problem” go away. 

Don’t worry, Ballmer! The smart ones are seeing right through the smokescreen about now. I won’t be the only one.

Okay, so you want to know the lowdown on what Schiller Dawg brought all up in the hizee, so here it is. Schiller kicked it all off by first (yes, first), announcing updated MacBook Pros and a new organizational arrangement for the models. The biggest change was to move the 13″ MacBook Unibody models into the MacBook Pro fold. Battery life jumps to 7 hours (claimed) for the 13″ and 15″ MBP models, and prices start at US$1,199 overall. The MacBook White budget machine remains, but also get an update, and the MacBook Air also gets a refresh. The big news on the MacBook Air, though, is that they are now offering a new SSD model with a 128GB drive for a mere US$1,799. Oh, and the ExpressCard/34 slot was replaced with an actual SD card slot. Wow. 

Next up is a discussion about what Snow Leopard will bring. There are lots of refinements to Leopard and very few new features. This is a good thing, too, as continually adding new features, like Microsoft does as a standard operating procedure, continually adds new problems. Apple has decided to refine all of the components of Leopard. The three big elements for developers are GCD, OpenCL, and 64-bit support throughout. OpenCL, a new open standard from Apple which is being supported by everyone who is anyone, allows unused processing time from the graphics GPU to be used for other stuff. GCD allows developers to take advantage of multiple CPU cores without effort. Nice. Snow Leopard is out later this year for upgrade pricing of US$29 per license and US$49 for the family pack. 

Finally comes the iPhone OS 3.0 chatter. Honestly, if this thing works like they say it will, the iPhone OS 3.0 on an iPhone 3Gs will be more like a laptop in your pocket than just a phone, and everyone else STILL has a long way to go to catch up (except maybe Palm, but that’s another article). Thirteen years ago when I was still banging away on a PowerMac 7300/200 and an Apple Newton MessagePad MP130 and had a PowerBook 145b and PowerMac 7100/60 in active use I would not have been able to tell you that Apple was going to pull it out again around now. For nearly ten years now, though, I’ve been watching Apple deal Aces off the top of the deck in the form of Mac OS X, the iPod, the new MacBook Pros, the Intel switch, and now the iPhone. 

Here’s to another 30 years of wicked Apple gear.

Well, since I can’t send any more Tweets, I’ll have to do this here in BlogSpace. The new iPhone 3Gs  is now official. It has that digital compass, a video capable 3MP camera, a faster processor, better battery life, remote wipe, encryption, new VoiceOver and voice controls. Just tell it what to do and it does it. Eco friendly, too… DOI. Oh, and 7.2Mbps HSDPA.

Ships with iPhone OS 3.0 for US$199. That’s the 16GB model! US$299 for the 32GB! Wow. iPhone 3G now can be had new for US$99. DAMN!

Phil Schiller is proving that he isn’t Steve Jobs by jumping immediately into the new product announcements, and that seems to be a good thing. It shows that he’s no clone and that Apple isn’t looking to stay the same. So, the hardware bits are big for the moment. The MacBook Pro has been updated in two significant ways. First, the entry level price for the 15″ models has been moved down to US$1,699. Second, the MacBook line has been redubbed to join the MacBook Pro line, starting at US$1,199. The 17″ MBP and the MBA are also getting updates, as well as a lowly MacBook White.

Now they’ve gone on to talk about Mac OS X 10.6 “Snow Leopard”, but there will very likely be more product announcements later on in the keynote. For now, however, that leaves a large hole in expectations for this WWDC. Will Apple be releasing the 3rd hardware revision of the iPhone today and what will it offer? Now that we know about the reshuffling of the MacBook line does that indicate that Apple is about to intro a tablet type device, a netbook, or something else? Its no like the prices have really changed all that much, so for Apple there are no holes, but we’ll just have to see. More later!

Stupid name (but better than the previous MyNumo which makes no sense at all. I guess its just as stupid as Mobodojo…), but its nice to see that someone is already paying attention to the Short Attention Span needs of new Palm Pre owners. PlayScreen has ponied up a whopping 25 free Flash-based games for Preophites. Just head over here and tally up the fun for no dough! I tried playing a few games like Bowling, Golf Driving Range, Political Punch Out, and Snowboard Alley on my MacBook Pro and they were way too fast. PlayScreen also has additional titles with creepy names like Peeptin, Bomb A Bubble, Pigs A Pop’n, and iWhack which appears to star Steve Ballmer in a whack-a-mole thingy. There’s also a bunch of gambling games, as usual.

The game is on, kind readers. Palm has finally released their hotly anticipated Pre with the slick new webOS. Palm isn’t out of the woods yet, though, as Apple Inc. has WWDC 2009 up their sleeves this coming Monday where the 3rd Gen iPhone is slated to be announced. There’s even a rumor that Steve Jobs may pop up and deliver the keynote personally, and that rumor is being mongered by no less a valid news outlet than the WSJ (check Friday the 5th’s rag). He is, after all, slated to be returning to the helm of the USS Cupertino later this month.

Palm, then, is clearly a shortimer on shaky ground as Apple has managed to several up their opponents at every turn, and I’m having doubts that they will show up to this party with 80’s grade wine coolers. The iPhone is, after all, Apple’s flagship product already in its short life, besting even the powerful and battle-ready iPod (yeah, the iPod Touch is an iPhone without the phone, so you do the math). This new iPhone is just in time to sate the upgrade needs of the original iPhone owners whose precious non-3G gizmos 2 year contracts are coming up.

Interestingly enough, it appears that Palm is struggling right out of the gate by releasing webOS 1.0.2 today! Reports on PreThinking.com are already saying that the update makes the phone faster and adds a clock widget. Wow. I’m not surprised, since its a very Palm-like thing to do, but its not the kind of message that Palm should want to put out there. Regardless, there has been a great deal of buzz about the Pre and people appear to be loving it, with thousands of tweets hitting the nano-blogging nano-sphere as people pick up their new handsets at a local Sprint store.

The excitement is clear and many of the reports being posted about new Pres is very positive, which is a good sign. The other question is, “Who will win, Apple or Palm?” Fortunately, I’ll break out the old saw and say that neither, its the consumer who wins. Apple set out to completely revamp the mobile market and it did so in less than a year with the first iPhone. It has taken less than three years now for the competition to start catching up, and (this is my opinion) the Palm Pre and the new webOS is the first to offer a valid challenge to Apple. Apple wins, Palm wins, and we all win.

We get a pair of kick ass pocket computers for cheap! Nice work, fighters!