The home of Mac info for New Zealanders, mac-nz serves daily Mac, iPhone and related news from the world of Apple Inc.
iMac, MacBook, thefts & improvements
Tuesday, 23 February 2010
Apple improves iMac ship times: New 27-inch iMac purchases direct from Apple now have a shipping wait time of 5 to 7 days, suggesting the hardware maker has addressed issues that plagued the desktops. Apple adjusted the shipping times this week after months of supply issues.
Dual graphics MacBook enhancements may be coming: One of the advances Apple plans for future MacBook Pro models is an improvement to the handling of the notebooks' dual graphics chips, AppleInsider has learned.
More specifically, the Mac maker has up and running in its labs several next-generation MacBook Pros that can switch between their integrated and discrete graphics processors automatically, according to people familiar with the matter.
This differs from the company's existing MacBook Pro lineup, which requires users to manually toggle between an integrated Nvidia GeForce 9400M graphics core and the more powerful 9600M GT discrete processor by first making a selection in their Mac's Energy Saver system preference pane, then logging out and back in for the change to take effect (as shown below).
Apple launches MacBook Repair Extension Program for Hard Drive Issues: In response to complaints lodged of failing hard drives lodged two years ago, Apple has launched a “MacBook Repair Extension Program for Hard Drive Issues” that will allow some MacBook owners to receive free hard drive repairs for their computers, or compensation for repairs they undertook themselves. Though the move suggests the failure rate of the drives is reasonably high, Apple states that it's determined only “a very small percentage” of the drives need replacing.
Apple sales up again: Apple is already having a good start to 2010, notes Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster. New NPD figures show that Mac retail sales rose 36 percent year-over-year for the month of January, well above a Wall Street consensus of 18 percent for the March quarter as a whole. iPods were meanwhile up 5 percent for the month, in stark contrast to Munster's call for a drop of 17 percent.
New Zealand 27-inch iMac thefts: Meanwhile, in neat, tidy and safe Westmere (Auckland), I know of a 27-inch iMac stolen in broad daylight. It was visible in the window from the road. The house owners were out, the window jemmied open and it was gone in one minute.
Insured, it was replaced within three weeks. Four days after that, despite an alarm, it was stolen again, this time at 4am when the terrified house-owners were sleeping. This time the window was smashed in with a hammer and, again, it was gone in seconds. The connections were ripped out and the whole iMac simply pulled through the smashed window. Police and neighbours reacted immediately but this was, again, a very fast operation and probably undertaken by the same people.
Rather incredibly, the police advised the house owners to get a gun! They said that thieves regularly get caught, appear in court, get out on bail, then are never seen again and carry on stealing. P is widely considered to be the impetus, and if you figure the nearly $3000 machine might be worth $2000 on the underworld market, that's only about a week's worth of P hits ...
I'm not sure if this is part of a growing trend across the country, but if you have an opinion or more info, please email me as I'd like to write about this on the NZ Herald.
