- MacWorld Expo rundown. The show was packed. Apple booth a little disappointing.
- The little notebook is highlighted. My take on its “Chiclet Keyboard.”
- Gridiron the hot item.
- Game sales up.
- Time-Warner trying to gouge customers over movie downloads.
- Microsoft needs to go outside to get new CIO. Cripes, does anyone but me think this is odd. Microsoft is a computer software company and nobody can be the CIO? Incredible.
- Microsoft may buy Limelight.
- Sears selling a sub-$200 PC.
- There may be an OLED laptop.
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I went to MacWorld today.
Boring.
The new laptop is very nice, if you need something really minimalist. It seems like one of these systems that you are going to keep wishing that it had some additional basic functionality, like an Ethernet port for your office that doesn’t offer wireless for security reasons. Only one USB port, that will be immediately taken up by a USB mouse. No bluetooth. No firewire. No HDMI. Good for office work, but don’t expect anything creative to be done with it. All in all a step down from a MacBook Pro.
Still no real alternative to the MacMini for a desktop system at a $700 price point to compete with a PC. You can spend $2700 for the basic desktop system, or just get a crippled mini.
Last year it was dozens of iPod case vendors.. this year it’s dozens of iPhone case vendors. And lots of iPod speaker docks… like we need even more?
Want a USB case for a drive? You have 50 to pick from.
The “gotta have this new one, your old printer is junk, and you suck if you don’t use this one” printer for the next six months were being displayed by Canon, HP and Epson.
Why were there several vendors selling huge server racks? Does anyone actually use a Mac server or storage?
The best thing there was that OWC was doing free upgrades if you brought your gear in and bought the new part (iPod batteries replacements, MacMini memory upgrades, hard drive enclosures with whatever hard drives installed)
Why do I even bother going to that show anymore… the same stuff will be in the local Apple store in a little while.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
For the volume control slider.
Did you get a chance to try the keyboard, John?
Looking at photos, I presume it’s like the new skinny keyboard I have on my iMac. Which I love. They’re short-throw keys like those I had on my previous Kensington keyboard.
I’m not one to pound away on the keyboard as you had to on the original IBM’s – which some folks seem to miss.
Additionally, the thin aluminum construction of the iMac keyboard probably served as prototype for the aluminum shell of the Mac Air. The sucker is really stiff and sturdy. Better than some of the aircraft structures and alloys I worked on back in the day.