Category Archives: Hardware

AppleMatters recently looked at the resale value of Macs.  It compared the purchase price and resale values (from eBay) for models over a seven year period.  The conclusion was that after a decrease over the first two years, the resale values leveled off.  In fact, even a six year old Mac laptop could sell today for $400.  Does anyone think that a six year old PC could sell today for $400?  When you consider that new PC laptops can be purchased starting at about $600 these days, I think the answer is an obvious and resounding NO.

The article concludes that Apple machines retain their value for two main reasons:

• Since Apple faces no hardware competition, prices stay artificially high.
• Apple’s hardware stays relevant longer than its "equivalent" in the PC world.

The bottom line is that "Macs remain competitive long after their PC brethren have gone to that
great recycling heap in the sky. Which means, in the long run, your Mac
cost less. Just something to think about next time you get ready to put
your old Mac out to pasture. Somebody still wants it."  This article is well researched and well written.  There are graphs to illustrate the points being conveyed, and if you need yet another reason to purchase a Mac, be sure to read this article.

Source:  "The Amazing Resale Value of Your Mac" by James R. Stoup, published at AppleMatters.

Mac360 recently determined which Mac is the "Value King" — the one that was (a) "affordable, but powerful"; (b) "attractive yet efficient in design"; and (c) in "that sweet spot between price, power, capability, et al."

Its analysis determined that the new Core 2 Duo 24-inch iMac (priced at $1,999) was the winner.  This model is the absolute top of the line iMac, and it comes with a huge 24-inch display, built-in iSight camera, 1GB RAM, 250GB hard drive, 4MB L2 cache, the Apple Remote, Bluetooth, and
an NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT video card with 128 megs RAM.  This model also has a capability for upgrade that is not found in the lower-end models.

Another option is the "low-end" iMac, which is priced at $999 price and comes with 17-inch screen, Core 2 Duo CPU, keyboard, mouse, graphics, SATA hard drive, CD/DVD, and Airport Extreme.  Those features will likely be more than enough for most attorneys, and at one-half the price of the above-described 24-inch model.

The money quote: "It’s tough to find a better, more attractive, more powerful, more capable, more elegant statement, than the high end iMac.  The $1,999 price tag may not seem like bargain basement, but value doesn’t always attach itself to the lowest price. Ask any Dell user."

When CNN Money compared the iMac with a Dell, it found that "you’ll get more for your money with Apple.”  You can read Peter Lewis’ comparison of the iMac and Dell’s PC by clicking HERE and decide for yourself.

Source:  "The Ultimate Mac Value: Tricked Out, Low Price" by Carol Mary Miller, published at Mac360.

After months of forcing myself to wait to order a new MacBook, I finally broke down and placed an Order last week for a black one with
2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 2 GB RAM, and 160 GB hard drive.  Apple kept its delivery record perfect with me by once again delivering the product to me sooner than its own anticipated arrival date.  How many companies do you know that regularly do that?  Kudos to Apple!

Last night, I moved all my data, settings, etc. to the new MacBook from my old PowerBook using Apple’s Migration Assistant, which is included in Mac OS X Tiger.  I previously posted on this topic last September, and I am pleased to report that the "moving" process went as smooth as silk.  In fact, even when using my most critical eye, I have NO complaints at all about the process. 

It took me less than ten minutes to enter the necessary information and plug in a firewire cable.  I then sat back and let two Macs chat and do all the heavy lifting for me.  After about an hour and a half of data movement, everything had been shifted over to my new MacBook and the process was done.  My network connections, passwords, printer configurations, and everything else was right where I expected them to be, and they worked flawlessly the first time. 

Unfortunately, our PC-using friends don’t have it so easy.  Compare my experience with that of FutureLawyer Rick Georges as described in the post on his blog or in his article, The Agony and the Ecstasy of the Laptop Upgrade on this same subject.  Rick spent "two days and nights" copying his files to a new PC, and he compared the process to "getting a root canal."  Ouch!  So painful and so unnecessary…

Unless you’ve literally been living under a rock, you know that MacWorld 2007 was held earlier this week in San Francisco, CA.  During the much anticipated Steve Jobs keynote address, several new products were announced including the iPhone and Apple TV. 

Somewhat unexpectedly, no major announcements were made specifically for the Mac.  Nonetheless, Apple is still expected to release its Leopard version of Mac OS X in the coming months along with its "normal" slew of product upgrades. 

You can watch Mr. Jobs’ keynote address for yourself HERE, or you can read summaries and discussions of what did (and didn’t) take place at MacWorld 2007 at the following sites:

• AppleMatters  ::  "Macworld 2007 – Summary and iPhone Announcement"
• Mac360  ::  "Macworld: All About What We Liked, Loved, Hated"
• MacUser  ::  "MW07: A word on the lack of Mac updates in the Keynote"

Until you are lucky enough to get a new laptop which has the MagSafe Power Adapter, you might find the following suggestion from Mac OS X Hints helpful to maximize the lifespan of your power cord:

This may be old news, but I thought it was a worthy suggestion to prolong the life of any Mac power adapter cord that has the small u-shaped sliding cord keeper. Slide the cord keeper right up to the reinforcement at the male end, as seen in the image at right. Insert the plug into your Mac. About three inches from Mac, make a loop and double the cord back on itself and insert the doubled portion into the cord keeper to maintain the loop. This reinforces the connection to the computer, holding it at a 90 degree angle from computer. It also serves as a shock absorber, as the loop will release first before pulling the cord from the computer.

Source: “Reduce Pressure on Laptop Power Cord Connectors” published at Mac OS X Hints.

What if you could take your own video depositions for an investment of less than $100.00? Well, believe it or not, you can. The new Mac laptops (MacBook and MacBook Pro) have built-in iSight cameras, which allow you to easily create movies/video with iMovie HD.

Now, I can hear you thinking, but the iSight camera is designed to film the person facing the monitor, not the person on the other side. Never fear, a solution is near — meet Huckleberry, a tiny webcam mirror which attaches to the screen to reflect the camera’s field of view. The Huckleberry is made by Ecamm, and it comes with their award-winning iGlasses software, which provides iSight video enhancement and manipulation, including mirror image functionality.

Total cost to you: iMovie (included in iLife) $79.00 + Huckleberry $19.95 + iGlasses $0.00 = $98.95. Let’s see a PC beat that — or even come close!