I’ve been using Apple’s mid-2011 MacBook Air for almost a week now and even though it’s physically the same unit that it replaced (for the most part) on the exterior, this is an entirely different beast. For starters, Apple’s second-generation MacBook Air improved greatly on the first model by offering up a redesigned case complete with two built-in USB ports, an SD card reader and SSD hard drives as the only available options. The older Intel Core 2 Duo processors however, severely ...

Japanese blog Macotakara.jp is reporting from parts makers in Asia that Apple’s upcoming MacBook Air refresh, expected in the next two weeks, will use super-speedy 400Mbps NAND flash storage chips. In addition to being incredibly fast — even faster that the current MacBook Air solution, which uses an mSATA connector to connect the SSD to the motherboard — these new NAND flash storage chips would be soldered directly to the motherboard, bypassing any connector. If true, this new change would result i...

Sony announced its brand new VAIO Z laptop on Thursday, an ultralight device that weighs just 2.6 pounds. The Windows 7 Professional-powered notebook is equipped with a 13.1-inch 1600 x 900-pixel display, a 2.7GHz Intel Core i7 processor, a 256GB solid state drive, AMD Radeon HD graphics, and can be purchased with an optional battery sheet that provides up to 14 hours of battery life. Similarly, its optional Power Media Dock accessory supports up to four displays at once, has its own 1GB graphics card, can be...

ASUS is on a mission to become a tablet-toting, force to be reckoned with and it looks like that mission could begin to yield some pretty nifty tablets moving forward. And while ASUS’ aim is to become the world’s No.2 tablet vendor by next year, it sounds like ASUS will continue to cook up some interesting products in other categories as well. Netbooks don’t get as much coverage these days, but the category is still a pretty big money maker for companies like ASUS. According to ASUS CEO Jerr...

Ever since Apple released Mac OS X Lion 10.7 to developers to test, new features have started to become uncovered. 9to5Mac has been doing a great job compiling a list of some new (and pretty lust-worthy) features that are available in the next version of Apple’s operating system for the PC, and here’s a brief recap of what you can expect to see come summer:TRIM support for super-fast SSD writingRecovery partition to your startup hard drive removing the need for the OS X installer disc in case some...

We have been told by one our Apple sources that the new MacBook Pro laptops will be available for sale in the next two weeks, and Apple stores are set to start receiving the shipments in “the coming days.” As far as what the refreshed MacBook Pros will hold, our source mentioned a few interesting features. For starters, we are told that the new laptops will contain glass trackpads that are even larger than the pads found on current-generation MacBook Pro models. The next bit of information doesn...

If you think a single $58,000 RED EPIC camera package is a lot to blow on a 5K resolution production camera, Peter Jackson and crew have just swooped in and snagged thirty of them. The entire package comes with the EPIC-M body, titanium mount, 5-inch touchscreen LCD, REDmote, four batteries, a four-pack of 128-GB SSDs to shoot onto, and of course, a charger. RED is planning on assembling Peter Jackson’s order by hand starting next month into January and then roll into full production one month after tha...

We covered the fact Apple is taking around $100 off Mac purchases today online at Apple.com as well as in Apple retail stores, but with $100 off, the 11″ MacBook Air with 128GB drive is effectively the same price as the 13″ MacBook Air with 128GB drive. Our question to you is, which one would you get, and is anyone taking Apple up on their Black Friday offer? We went with the 13″ laptop, but the 11″ is still tempting us from afar. (more…)

It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, but Apple today announced a long-awaited refresh of its MacBook Air notebook line. Apple’s airy laptops haven’t been its most popular series by any means, but there is no question that the company’s remarkably thin notebooks struck a chord among jet-setters and young urbanites with expendable income. The sleek, lightweight machines were perfect for travel and even better for being seen in a local Starbucks. As time moved on however, the meager s...

A refresh of the now aged MacBook Air line is almost a foregone conclusion at this point, with Apple’s “Back to the Mac” event scheduled to take place later this week. Now, more purported specs are making the rounds by way of Cult of Mac, and they definitely look appealing.  According to the blog’s sources, here are some highlights from the new Air models:11.6-inch model starting at $999, 13.3-inch model starting as low as $1,1002.1 GHz and 2.4 GHz processor options8-10 hours of batte...

Sony’s first VAIO P was a was quite a disappointment considering how poorly it performed and the huge price tag it carried, but Sony seems to be confident that its second-gen VAIO P will right the wrongs of the past. Shipping one week ahead of schedule, the “Lifestyle PC” comes pre-loaded with Windows 7 Home Premium and has an Intel Atom Z530 processor and 2GB of RAM to help keep things flowing. Apart from that, the $900 rig has a 8″ 1600×768 display that’s straddled by optica...

Some might argue it’s a case of too little, too late, but Sony looks to have a pretty darn good “don’t call it a netbook” netbook on its hands with its much-needed and long-rumored upgrade to the VAIO P. Featuring a “new design for two-handed operation while standing or walking”, the refreshed VAIO P has a built in optical trackpad to the right of the 8″ 1600×768 display which neighbors the left/right mouse click buttons on the left. Thrown in for good measure i...

It might have legal issues galore thanks to Chandra Rathakrishnan’s legendary row with Michael Arrington, but the internet tablet formerly known as the CrunchPad has finally entered into production and should begin shipping later this month. To retail for $499 USD, the JooJoo features a 12.1″ multi-touch capacitive display with native resolution of 1366 x 768, Wi-Fi 802.11b/g, 4GB SSD, front-facing camera, accelerometer, support for Flash (HD Flash will be all systems go when 10.1 comes out of bet...

Well, well, well. Look what we’ve just got our hands on… One of our Northern ninjas has hit us with full pricing and specifications for Sony’s VAIO X Series line of notebooks (these are meant for the Canadian market but give us a good ballpark). We’ve been told it will be announced sometime tomorrow, but hey, you know how we roll. (more…)