iMac Core Duo and MacBook Pro: A Comparison

Everybody seems to be singing the prises of both the new iMac Core Duo and the MacBook Pro, but there have been very few comparisons between the two. After comparing specs, I have found that the specifications of Apple's new portable are nearly as good as, and in some aspects better than, the new desktop computer.

Similarities
Among the four new Macs (two iMacs and two MacBooks), there are a number of features which are the same across the board. For instance, all of the new machines have a 667MHz frontside bus, 2MB of Level 2 processor cache, and 667MHz RAM chips (with a total available RAM capacity of 2GB).

All have an ATI X1600 graphics card, 54Mbps 802.11g AirPort Extreme cards built in, and Bluetooth 2.0+EDR wireless peripheral connection. (Other similarities include pre-installed iLife '06 and built-in microphone and speakers, but I'm concerned mainly with processing power in this comparison.)

Differences
There are several differences between the four machines as well. The processor speeds vary from 1.67GHz to 2.0GHz (both the faster MacBook model and the slower iMac model are rated at 1.83GHz; right in the middle), and the faster MacBook comes standard with twice as much RAM as any other model. The 1.83GHz MacBook Pro has 1GB of memory, while the other three models ship with only 512MB.

Both of the laptops have 15.4-inch monitors, while the desktops' displays are 17-inch and 20-inch. All of the new Macs have 128MB of GDDR3 video memory, again with the exception of the 1.83GHz MacBook (which has 256MB). The 20" iMac is expandable to 256MB of VRAM, but this is not the standard configuration.

Laptop/Desktop divisions
A number of the differences are sharply split between the laptop and desktop lines. For peripheral connections, both MacBooks have only one FireWire 400 port and two USB 2.0 ports. The iMacs have two FW400 ports and 5 USB 2.0 ports (they even have two USB1.1 ports, but these reside only on the USB-connected keyboard).

Both portables have 5400rpm hard drives (80GB in the slower and 100GB in the faster model), while the desktop machines' platters spin at 7200rpm (160GB and 250GB, respectively). And, while all four models have SuperDrives, only the iMacs can record dual-layer DVDs.

Did I mention the price?
And, of course, the iMacs are cheaper... $1299 and $1699, as opposed to the MacBooks at $1999 and $2499.

Conclusions
The MacBook Pro certainly can be seen as a true "desktop replacement" Macintosh. Though it has a slower hard drive and a smaller screen than the iMacs, it is my opinion that the abundance of RAM more than makes up for these deficiencies. I'm sure Apple will eventually come out with an Intel PowerMac that will blow us all away, but it's nice to know that Apple doesn't have a consumer-grade product (the late G5 iMac) that is so far ahead of a professional-grade product (the G4 PowerBook) anymore.

(All specs used in this comparison are taken from apple.com.)

Apple releases new software & hardware

Steve Jobs had an excellent keynote speech yesterday at Macworld, in which he introduced a lot of cool new things.

I'm still in shock. Everything is great, especially the new iMac and the PowerBook-killing MacBook Pro. But I really have no comments to make. Just visit the pages, view the specs, and be amazed.

Modest Change: Cancel something

Over at 43 Folders, Merlin's current focus is on "Fresh Starts and Modest Changes," or what I like to call "the antidote to New Year's Resolutions." One of his recent posts deals with clearing out the clutter we've allowed our live to collect: Cable TV subscriptions, the constant checking of Web sites (or their RSS feeds) for new content, and Anything of the Month Clubs.

My biggest time-consumers are RSS feeds and podcasts, with a couple of email discussion lists thrown in (but they deal with professional development in my career, I rationalize to myself). I monitor my RSS intake pretty constantly, throwing out unimportant feeds often and keeping a maximum of 20 subscriptions in my Bloglines subscription list at any given time. And I'm only subscribed to two discussion groups, the Finale list at SHSU (a forum for discussing the Finale music notation software) and the SMT-talk list from the Society fo Music Theory.

That leaves podcasts. And boy, do I seem to like my podcasts. I have been subscribed to up to 20 of these at a time, which kept me hoppin' with more Internet audio than I could even think about making time to listen to. So I've pared it down to just 4:

• Merlin Mann's 43Folders podcast (Updated very infrequently)
  
• Diggnation (videos) (A video podcast updated weekly)
  
• Jawbone Radio (updated infrequently, but usually at least one or two per week)
  
• Radio Leo (This is the big one, since it's actually a single feed that delivers all shows in Leo Laporte's podcast network. There are 3-5 updates per week in this podcast).

This diet of podcasts will give me enough audio to listen to on my way to and from the office without inducing the "need" to always have my earbuds in "just to keep up."

Also, I'm going to use the extra time I was spending on the MacCast, NPR's Sunday Puzzle, and The Word Nerds (plus several others) to read more. Books, I mean. I'm currently reading C.S. Lewis's Mere Christianity, a book I've been meaning to read since I was a teenager, and it's great to get in the habit of spending time with books. I've missed it... I don't think I ever went more than 12 hours without a book in my hand (and this doesn't include textbooks) from the time I learned to read until I graduated from high school.

Oh, and one other thing on the "Cancel Something" front: I've stopped using my PDA (a Palm Tungsten E2). I recently got an iPod nano, and since it can carry out the basic functions of a PDA (i.e. store contacts, calendars, to-do lists, and memos) I've completely switched. Now, instead of pulling out my E2 every time I've got a bit of downtime and playing Pyramid Solitaire, I actually stop to notice the world around me.

By the way... I know that the nano doesn't have any data-input capability. That's why I carry around a blank index card as well for important "remember this!" data, which I input into my computer before my next iPod sync. Props for this idea again go to Merlin Mann (here's his article on the nano), self-styled electronic hobo and productivity evangelist. Link to Merlin's "Cancel Something" article follows below.

Internet lampposts to be trialled

This is an awesome idea... solar lamp posts that take energy from the sun (even on cloudy days) to power both the street lamp and an internal wireless Internet access point. This is a great idea; I hope it "works well" in whatever way those in charge want it to work. It could be a boon for bringing Internet access to the world at large, so it would be great if it is deemed profitable enough to be expanded.

Two More Pennies For Your Letters

Did anybody know that the postal rates were going up again? This is he first I've heard of it.

Starting Sunday, first-class postage will now be 39 cents, with postcards and additional ounces going up to 24 cents.

I remember, when I was a kid, reading in my mom's 1965 World Book Encyclopedias that letter post was only four cents. Oh, for the simpler times of yesteryear.

Feeling the iPod's presence at CES

I really could care less about the rest of this article (sure, there are some neat new iPod things in it), but can anybody tell me what kind of case that nano is in near the bottom of the page? I'm talking about the picture of the Griffin TuneFlex and iTrip. I'm pretty sure there's some sort of cover on that nano, but I'm not sure which one. Does anybody recognize it? Let me know in the comments if you do. Thanks!

Microsoft rushes out Windows fix

If you're running Windows, visit Windows Update NOW to get the patch for the new horrendous WMF security vulnerability!

Bubble Bobble blows onto PSPs

It looks like the old Taito classic, Bubble Bobble, is getting a facelift (as well as a new game design). This was one of my very favorite games back when I was on the Apple IIe, and I really hope the new version comes our for Windows and/or OSX. It looks really cool... check out Image #2 in the "more images" section.

Firefox, again

OK, I was just kidding when I said that I was switching to Fx1.5. I'm sure that the new version would work just fine for me on Windows, but the Mac version just isn't up to snuff. There are just too many changes, plus it's a bit unstable (crashed on me several times) and also much slower. I'm just too much of an early adopter, and I'd really like to be using the cutting-edge version, but it's just not working for me.

Anyway, I'm back to 1.0.7 (again). The link below goes to the download location for the old version.

Dave Barry's year-end wrap-up for 2005

And, as always, completely hilarious... Enjoy!