If the iPhone 3GS had parents, its father would be the iPhone 3G, and its mother would be the 1st Gen iPhone. If it had a Grandma, that would unequivocally have to be the Apple Newton. We’ve done teardown videos on all of the iPhone models, and so it seemed only logical (and respectful) to give the Newton the same honor.
What’s the Newton you ask? The Newton was one of the first PDAs available circa 1998. It was revolutionary and ahead of its time. The system had handwriting recognition, applications, data storage, etc.. It was a Palm before the Palm was cool.
The main goal of the Newton was to revolutionize personal computing. At the time, the project was considered a failure in many ways as it did not live up to its goals. However, looking back, the Newton was the springboard for a lot of the current technologies we enjoy today. For example, the software that goes into iPods was developed by some of the Newton creators. Also, the handwriting recognition engine from the Newton crept into the Jaguar operating system in the form of Inkwell and is rumored to be the base of the handwriting recognition for the rumored Mac Tablet.
So here’s to the iPhone’s Grandma and her progeny:
We just released our latest teardown take apart video. This time we’re showing you how to take apart the Macbook Pro 13 Inch Unibody model.
The video as well as the source files (so you can download them to your computer or iPod) can be found at the link below or can be viewed in the embedded player below:
*This contest has ended! Congratulations to our twitter fan @codyblackout !
Last week, 5 lucky Twitter fans won Snow Leopard upgrades. This week, we’re upping the ante and we’re giving away a 13″ Macbook from our Pre-Owned Mac Store valued at $594.95.
Specs on the Macbook:
Pre-Owned Apple MA699LL/A MacBook 13″ 1.83GHz Core 2 Duo, 1GB, 60GB,COMBO
* 1.83GHZ Core 2 Duo Processor
* 60GB Hard Drive
* 1GB Ram
* Combo Drive DVD / CD-RW
* Airport
* Bluetooth
* 1 Year Standard Warranty
There are three ways to enter this week’s giveaway. You can enter multiple ways, and each individual can end up with up to 10 entries.
1.) Join us on Twitter (Click Here to visit our Twitter page) and Retweet the following message “RT @powerbookmedic is giving away a Macbook: http://tinyurl.com/msy9vx”
The retweet counts as 2 Entries. (You must still be a follower when the contest ends to be eligible.)
2.) Post a comment on any of our blog posts this week until the end of the giveaway. Only one comment per blog post will count as an entry. So, if there are 5 blog posts, one comment on each post will earn 5 entries. (Note that blog comments do not post instantly as they must first be approved.)
This counts as one entry for each blog post for a total of 5 possible entries.
3.) Write a blog post about us or the giveaway with a link back to our site and email the link for the post to twitter@powerbookmedic.com.
One blog post will count as 5 entries. Only one blog post per individual.
The total number of entries possible per individual is 10. The contest is over on Friday September 4th at 12:00 CST.
Rules and Regulations
No purchase necessary
Must be 18 years or older to enter to be eligible to win the prize
Void where prohibited by law
PowerbookMedic reserves the right to refuse any submission for any reason
Odds of winning depend upon the number of eligible entries received
Winner will be listed on the website, twitter, and notified by email
Prizes are non-transferable and not redeemable for cash
Entries will be accepted through Friday September 4th at 12:00 CST.
Employees of PowerbookMedic, affiliates, and their families are not eligible to enter
All federal, state and local laws and regulations apply
Participating entrants agree that PowerbookMedic, its subsidiaries, participating sponsors, their affiliates, officers, directors, agents and their employees shall not be responsible for lost, misdirected, illegible or late entries
TheMacbookwillshipviaUPSGround for free unless the winner is located internationally. If the winner is located internationally, they will be responsible for the shipping charges.
PowerbookMedic is not responsible for any International shipping, duties, or taxes should the winner be located internationally.
By enrolling, contestants accept these rules and agree to be bound by the results of the prize drawings. All decisions made by PowerbookMedic are final
We’ve made a quick video to show some of the new Snow Leopard features. You can find our take on Snow Leopard below the video:
Background:
Mac OS X v10.6 (Codenamed: Snow Leopard) was announced on June 8th by Steve Jobs at the WWDC. Today it has been released. The upgrade is $29 for current Leopard single users and $49 for current Leopard family users with 5 licenses. Anyone running previous versions of OS X will need to purchase the Mac Box Set which will include a full copy of Snow Leopard, iLife ’09, and iWork ’09 for $169. This is the first Mac operating system to not support the older Motorola processors.
System Requirements:
Mac with an Intel Processor (Core Solo and Core Duo supported, Core 2 Duo and up preferred for 64-bit mode)
1GB of RAM
5GB of free disk space
DVD drive
Features:
This new version of OS X focuses more on performance than new interface gadgets. It takes advantage of 64-bit processors, multi-core systems, and the instruction set provided by Intel processors over the older PowerPC architecture.
User Interface
There are of course some improvements to the UI even though the main focus is on performance and efficiency.
Expose now will show all windows for certain programs by holding down the left mouse button on icons in the dock. This is comparative to Windows 7 new task bar preview feature.
Stacks now support a spring folder type feature allowing you to go into subfolders from within the stacks.
Finder is now updated to a 64-bit Cocoa app which should extremely speed up file processes.
Time Machine now does its backups in 20% of the time.
The OS X installer is now up to 50% faster and requires half the disk space of its predecessor.
Our Review:
You won’t see much difference in the interface with Snow Leopard over its predecessor. The small tweaks though seem to be pretty good. I was never a fan of stacks and thought it was implemented poorly especially when trying to navigate through subfolders. With the new implementation it works much easier to find a certain file through Stacks instead of having to go through a Finder window.
For the new Expose style implemented into the dock, it may take getting used to, but it could turn out to be very handy when working with multiple windows from the same application.
Finder does seem more responsive in our initial tests when listing folders with several items and calculating file sizes.
Microsoft Exchange
This feature has been highly requested in the business market. With support for Microsoft Exchange built in, this should help convince companies to make the switch over to Mac. Mail, Address Book, and iCal all have built in Microsoft Exchange support.
64-bit addressing
Most of the built-in OS X applications have been rebuilt to take advantage of the 64-bit system. iTunes, Front Row, and DVD Player have not been upgraded yet, but all other applications should see a large performance increase on 64-bit systems.
Our Review:
Most applications are not optimized yet for the 64-bit addressing, but we can definitely detect more snappiness with the built-in Apple applications. More benchmarks will need to be run to see the actual performance, but it looks promising.
Grand Central Dispatch
All current Macs have a multi-core processor, and with that, programmers can take advantage by sharing the workload across the two cores with parallel processing. Most developers do not bother due to the added hassle, but with Grand Central Dispatch this will make it extremely easy for developers to implement a multi-core application as it will do most of the work for you. Once the applications start coming in with this implemented, there should be a large performance increase.
Our Review:
Again, this will require the developers to start releasing applications that take advantage of this. It’ll just take some time for most applications to be running at their full potential. There is definitely a bright future though.
OpenCL
Most current machines come with a very good processor that is not even taken advantage of any everyday applications. This is the graphics processor. With OpenCL, applications will be able to offload complex functions and equations to the GPU and then send it back. This again will greatly improve performance in complex applications such as games, video, and graphic editors.
Our Review:
Unfortunately out initial test machine just has onboard Intel graphics, so any possible advantage from OpenCL will not be seen on this system. Once our employees start installing their own copies on their home machines geared more towards gaming we should have a clearer picture. This again, however, is another feature that will take time to mature and see the results. Developers have to program all of these new features in.
QuickTime X
Apple released a new major version of QuickTime. This adds 64-bit support, HTTP live streaming, and many interface improvements.
Our Review:
The new QuickTime is one of the bigger things you’ll be able to play with right off the bat. The new smokey black interface is a nice change from the old brushed metal look of older versions. There are several new toys available now for people that did not have Pro versions before. You can export videos into other formats, do screen, audio, and video captures straight from the application, and you can upload to Youtube and other sites directly from the application.
Common Unix Printing System
CUPS as it is more commonly known will be updated to allow more compatibility with printers.
Our Review:
The detection and implementation of printers does seem to work better. The new printing system will also automatically update printer drivers for you, so you no longer have to go search manufacturer websites for updates when you have a problem.
To celebrate the release of Snow Leopard, we are giving away 5 Snow Leopard Upgrades with FREE Overnight Saturday Delivery (where available.)
To Enter:
1.) Join us on Twitter.Click Here to visit our Twitter page and become a follower.
2.) Retweet the following message “RT @powerbookmedic is giving away 5 Copies of Snow Leopard Upgrade: http://tinyurl.com/mfmmqw” One retweet counts as one entry. Only one entry per twitter account will be counted.
Already have a twitter account? Just click the following link to retweet:
The winner will be randomly selected at 12:00 CST on Friday August 28th using random numbers from Random.org. Each entry will be assigned a number based on the order they come in. We will post a tweet with the winners shortly after 12:00 CST as well as tweet the individual winners.
In order to get the free Saturday delivery, the winners must respond by 3:00 CST on Friday August 28th. If a winner responds after this time, but within 24 hours of our tweet, shipping will be changed to Standard overnight delivery for Tuesday delivery. If a winner does not respond within 24 hours, another winner will be chosen at random.
Rules:
1.) You must be a follower of Powerbookmedic on Twitter to win this giveaway.
2.) One winner per household (per address).
3.) We will only accept US mailing addresses.
4.) If Saturday Delivery is not available for your area, your Upgrade will ship via Standard Overnight.
Snow Leopard System Requirements:
Mac with an Intel Processor (Core Solo and Core Duo supported, Core 2 Duo and up preferred for 64-bit mode)
Requires previous version of Leopard
1GB of RAM
5GB of free disk space
DVD drive
It’s come that time again to add to the PowerbookMedic ranks.Would you like to join our team? If you’re in the Huntsville, AL area and are as nuts about Macs as we are, you could.
This time we’re looking for a Technical Support Representative to assist customers via telephone, e-mail, and the web. The individual in this position will also be responsible for assisting in shipping customer orders.
The official job posting is up at Monster.com at the link below:
Today we began offering used Macbook Air A1244 adapters. These are original adapters in like new condition for the Macbook Air. The price on the adapters are $49.95. They are available from the link below:
Today we announced a new feature that we’re very excited about, the Mac Serial Number Lookup Tool. This new tool will allow you to find out all the detailed specs for the serial number for your Mac laptop or iPod. It also provides direct links to Repair Guides, service parts, memory, and hard drives based on your specific Apple serial number.
Below is a screenshot of the information that will be provided when a serial number lookup is performed. You can see the information is rather detailed and includes things like processor architecture, codename, screen resolutions, etc…
This new feature is currently in Beta. Our data, while mostly complete, is missing some model info. If you do a serial number search and do not find your machine, you have the option of submitting the data for that serial number, and we’ll get it added to the system.
As this feature is in beta, we’d love any feedback you’ve got or features you’d like to see added to the tool. Please post any comments you may have or features you’d like to see. You can also email your suggestions to support@powerbookmedic.com.
Today we released our take apart video for the Intel Mac Mini. This set of videos will show you how to completely disassemble the Intel Mac Mini. The process is basically the same for a Non-Intel Mac Mini as well.
The video page and m4v downloads can be viewed at the link below:
Today we released our iPhone 3GS Take Apart repair guide video. The video is a four part video that shows you how to completely disassemble the iPhone 3GS.The video includes removal of the lcd glass, digitizer, logic board, and battery.
You can download the video segments in .m4v format and see the video page at the link by clicking the link below:
