Laptops - Page 18

Patents can be particularly problematic when you try to figure out what Apple's plans for the future are, but that doesn't make them any less fun to delve into. Like this new patent which has now been granted and appears to show a keyboard key being used as a pointing device.

The patent is for a so-called Deployable Key Mouse and Apple first applied for it back in 2021 but it took until now for it to be approved. It's always difficult to really read these kinds of patents because of the language that's used throughout, but the idea appears to be that a MacBook's keyboard could have a hidden and removable key that would then turn into a pointing device thanks to an equally-hidden sensor.

The patent suggests that the resulting pointing device would be comfortable to use, which seems unlikely given the size. However, the company seems convinced.

If you're reading this on a Google ChromeOS device, you're going to want to take a look at a new software update that might be waiting for you. ChromeOS 117 is now rolling out and it brings with it some pretty major changes and improvements.

The new update is of course free to download and we'd suggest that you do that as soon as possible. Not only are you going to get a brand new Material You redesign to look at but you can also look forward to a number of usability improvements that will make your Chromebook a different beast in use.

The biggest change is of course the new look which includes a number of changes throughout the system. The most noticeable one is probably the revamped Quick Settings, a change that makes everything easier to see and interact with. Gone are the circular buttons and in come new, rectangular ones that are easier to discern when looking at a glance. They're going to be easier to hit when making selections, too.

While all of the attention right now is on the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro series' of devices, there have been plenty of rumors that claimed there would be something else on the horizon after the September 12 event. Those rumors claimed that there would be a Mac event in or around October, likely to launch new M3-series chips. But now, a new report claims that might not be the case after all.

That's after a tweet by the supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo claimed that it appears Apple will now no longer launch any M3 MacBooks before the end of 2023. That means that the rumored refresh of the 13-inch MacBook Air and 13-inch MacBook Pro might not happen after all. Or at least, not this side of 2024.

That would be an interesting change of plan because so many precious reports have pointed to October as being the month that Apple's first M3 chips launch. That being said, Kuo does say that new MacBook models won't arrive - is it possible that we will still see new iMac and perhaps Mac mini hardware?

Picking up a 15-inch MacBook Air just got cheaper in Europe with Apple now offering its big Air as a refurbished option for the first time. The move means that those in countries like the U.K., Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, Poland, and Switzerland can now pick up a 15-inch MacBook Air via the Apple refurbished store.

With these countries now coming online it seems likely that we can expect the United States and Canada to also get the same refurbished options within the next few weeks. Refurbished Macs tend to sell for around 15% less than their new counterparts with color options and configurations often varying depending on what is in stock at any given moment.

Buying a refurbished Mac is often a great way to save some money. Apple checks each Mac before cleaning and testing it before repackaging it in a new box, ready for sale. All refurbished Macs come with a one-year warranty and buyers can even take out AppleCare+ as if they were a brand-new machine as well.

Apple is reportedly working on a new, cheaper MacBook to compete with the Chromebooks that are flooding schools. Apple offers educational pricing on its existing MacBook Air and MacBook Pro lineups but they are still considerably more expensive than the options provided by companies working with Google.

Now, a paywalled DigiTimes report picked up by MacRumors claims that Apple is working on a cheaper MacBook that will potentially close the educational gap at the bottom of its portable lineup - although it isn't clear if it will be sold to the public.

The DigiTimes report claims that despite the budget build, Apple will continue to use metal for the laptop's construction - ruling out any return of the plastic MacBooks of yesteryear. However, the report does expect Apple to use different materials to ensure that costs are kept down. We can also expect Apple to put older-generation M-series chips into this thing, too.

Apple is currently testing its most powerful MacBook yet, according to a new report by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Likely to be a MacBook Pro, the new machine is codenamed J514 and is powered by an as-yet-unannounced chip that is likely to be called the M3 Max.

That M3 Max will be the top of the line for the M3 series of chips, at least until an M3 Ultra arrives, and is expected to debut next year. When it does, it'll bring with it a huge number of both CPU and GPU cores in a single package and offer unparalleled performance compared to existing Mac devices.

Gurman says that the new chip has been spotted in the logs of a Mac app developer, suggesting that the app has been used on such a device inside Apple. We can likely assume that the app is one that is particularly tasking and is used in pro workflows - with Apple presumably using it to internally benchmark its new silicon.

Apple was already thought to be hard at work on making its new M3 Macs available within the next few months, but now a new challenger is thought to be ready to enter the arena.

While Apple is yet to formally announce any of its M3 Macs, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has been vocal about the company working on a new series of desktop and portable computers that all use the next-gen chip. Now, he's at it again, saying that Apple will add another M3 chip-powered Mac to its lineup. Writing via the Power On weekly newsletter, Gurman says that Apple is now testing another Mac, thought to be the M3-powered Mac mini.

There's still little to go on with regard to which Macs the M3 will power a launch, but Gurman has a few ideas as to what we should probably look for.

Apple finally announced the 15-inch MacBook Air earlier this year after months of rumors and many had expected it to quickly become the company's most popular laptop. However, new reports suggest that the laptop might not be as popular as had previously been expected.

That report, citing industry sources inside Apple's supply chain, claims that the 15-inch MacBook Air didn't meet the demand expectations that were previously in place. As if that revelation wasn't bad enough, it's now been said that there are already calls within the supply chain for shipments to be put on hold to try and prevent a surplus of devices from being left without a home.

Just how bad are things? Some sources are claiming that the supply chain volume is 50% less than was originally estimated. Demand is also said to already be on the decline, suggesting that things could get even worse.

If you own a Mac laptop and are worried about what might happen to your data if someone steals it, it turns out that you don't actually need to worry all that much after all.

That's because there are tons of security features already built right into macOS Ventura and Apple has detailed all of them in a swish new ad that runs for more than eight minutes and might just be worth every single one of them. Because it's pretty hilarious.

The ad follows The Underdogs, a group of people that we've seen in past ads of this kind and are out there trying to create a business using Apple devices and services. In this case, they're set to give a presentation to a potential business partner but the laptop housing that presentation gets stolen.

Apple's expected to announce new M3-powered Macs later this year and one of those Macs is thought to be a new 13-inch MacBook Pro. Now, a new report is already pointing to the fact that the new laptop will use an upgraded 3nm manufacturing process from TSMC. That will surely mean that the same process will be used for other M3 chips that will find their way into a new 13-inch MacBook Air and updated iMac.

Those are the Macs that we'd been told to expect from Apple's October event by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman - a man that is normally pretty accurate when it comes to predicting what hardware Apple will announce and when.

The new TSMC report comes via a paywalled DigiTimes report seen by MacRumors. According to that report, Apple's next-generation MacBook Pro will arrive in the third-quarter of the year, just as Gurman also predicted this past weekend. DigiTimes goes on to say that industry sources have said that TSMC's 3nm manufacturing process will be used.

AMD has a new tech on the boil that might just prolong the battery life of your laptop considerably.

Phoronix.com reports on the sighting of FreeSync Panel Replay in a new patch for AMD's Linux display driver.

In theory, if it comes to fruition, FreeSync Panel Replay will mean less power usage for AMD Ryzen-powered laptops.

When Apple announced the 15-inch MacBook Air during the WWDC 2023 event on June 5 it brought to an end months of rumors and speculation. And it gave us exactly what we expect it to give us - a MacBook Air that was just like the 13-inch model but butter.

Now, the folks at iFixit have taken a new 15-inch MacBook Air apart to confirm just what's going on inside and then ascertain just how easily that laptop can be repaired. Apple hasn't done too well on that front in recent years, and as expected, the 15-inch MacBook Air is not going to change that anytime soon.

The iFixit teardown ultimately comes to the conclusion that the new MacBook Air is pretty poor in terms of repairability. The reasons all revolve around that M2 chip that's used to power the new laptop. Not only can that not be replaced, but the same goes for the RAM and storage because they're all so intricately connected to the chip itself. The RAM is actually part of the chip these days, making it impossible to upgrade.

Apple's brand-new 15-inch MacBook Air and updated M2 Ultra Mac Studio are both now available to buy and you can pick either up from the Apple Store right now, depending on where you happen to be.

The two machines are available for in-store pickup starting today across the United States with same-day or next-day collection available depending on the configuration that you want to buy. However, while the new M2 Ultra Mac Pro is also available for in-store pickup, you're going to have to wait a little longer for it to be ready - many locations report that the new Mac Pro won't be available for a couple of weeks yet.

Apple announced its three new Macs during the WWDC 2023 event on June 5. The new MacBook Air is its biggest to date and gives buyers who want a big-screen laptop another option rather than forcing them towards the costly 16-inch MacBook Pro. Beyond the display size, the 15-inch MacBook Air is largely identical to the smaller 13-inch model, right down to the M2 chip that powers it.

After months of rumors, Apple finally announced the 15-inch MacBook Air a week ago, and that laptop is set to actually go on sale this week. But a new report suggests that Apple is already hard at work on what comes next. And it might be a big upgrade.

The 15-inch MacBook Air, like the smaller 13-inch model that it joins in the lineup, is powered by the M2 variant of Apple's in-house silicon. But there will be a new flavor as soon as 2024, and now Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports that Apple is already hard at work on an M3 MacBook Air in both 13 and 15-inch configurations.

Gurman was writing in his weekly Power On newsletter when he said that Apple is already developing upgraded M3 versions of the MacBook Air models. with laptops expected to go on sale at some point in 2024.

When Apple announced the macOS Sonoma update during its WWDC 2023 event on June 5, it previewed a number of new features that are going to be available to Mac users later this year. However, not all of them will be available to everyone.

That's because some of the macOS Sonoma features won't work on some Macs - specifically, those that are running Intel chips.

While a macOS update being made available to more Macs is always a good thing, it seems that reducing the functionality on some of them is the only way that Apple could make that happen. And while it isn't yet clear why Apple silicon appears to be required for these specific features, this could be an indication that it's only a matter of time before Intel Macs no longer receive big macOS updates at all.

All the rumors were true - Apple has now announced its biggest-ever MacBook Air at the company's WWDC 2023 opening keynote. The new 15-inch MacBook Air is set to be available in four colors, while Apple also confirmed that the 13-inch MacBook Air is getting cheaper.

The new 15-inch MacBook Air will start at $1299, Apple confirmed via press release. The news means that the 13-inch M2 MacBook Air is now set to sell for $1099 while the M1 13-inch MacBook Air will retail for under $1000, but only just - it can be yours for $999.

The brand-new 15-inch model will be available in midnight, starlight, silver, and space gray with Apple noting that its 15.3-inch display can provide one billion colors and 500 nits of brightness. That's 25% brighter than a comparable PC laptop, we're told.

Computex 2023 is off to a roaring start, and as you can probably imagine, ASUS is very excited to show off its latest products. Introducing the already-released ASUS Zenbook 17 Fold OLED.

ASUS was kind enough to give me an introduction to the Zenbook 17 Fold OLED and explained to me that the product is designed for versatility as it can be transformed into multiple modes depending on what the user requires. ASUS explained to me that the Zenbook 17 Fold OLED comes with an ASUS Lumina OLED display for more accurate color, which tiers perfectly into the video-watching mode as pictured above. More specifically, the Zenbook 17 Fold OLED comes with a 17.3' 4:3 2.5K FOLED touchscreen that folds down to a 12.5" 3:2 laptop, as pictured below.

ASUS has equipped the Zenbook 17 Fold OLED with a laptop mode for users that need to work in tight spaces, such as on a flight, or users that are looking to conserve battery life. Additionally, users have the option of using a virtual keyboard if the physical keyboard isn't their forte. Furthermore, the Zenbook 17 Fold OLED comes with a 12th Gen Intel Core 17 processor.

Apple is expected to announce new Macs with M3-series chips in the future and a new report suggests that Apple is now testing an M3 Pro for a future MacBook Pro update.

If the report is accurate the M3 Pro will feature more cores than the M2 Pro and M1 Pro that came before it, with the MacBook Pro thought to be in testing ahead of an expected 2024 release. The machine in testing is said to be running macOS 14, a software update that isn't expected to ship to the public until this September.

The latest report comes via Bloomberg's Mark Gurman and his weekly Power On newsletter. Gurman believes that Apple is now testing the chip based on data collected by an App Store developer that has been shared with him.

If you've been pondering picking up a 14 or 16-inch MacBook Pro or Apple's latest Mac mini but have been waiting for a great price, now might be the time to hold on a little bit longer.

That's because a new report claims that Apple is getting ready to start selling refurbished 2023 Macs, with those including updated 14 and 16-inch MacBook Pro models as well as a revamped Mac mini that offered the most powerful chips ever used in that chassis.

Those chips include the latest that Apple silicon has to offer, with all of Apple's 2023 Macs sporting M2-series silicon. The 14 and 16-inch MacBook Pros ship with either the M2 Pro or M2 Max chips inside, promising speed improvements of up to 20% CPU and 30% GPU performance. They also have support for up to 96GB of RAM which is a big jump over the previous 64GB limitation. Other improvements include an upgrade to HDMI 2.1 and Wi-Fi 6E support.

Apple could be getting ready to announce a number of new portable Macs within the next few weeks according to a new report. But that report stopped just short of saying exactly which of those Macs we should be looking out for.

The report says that Apple has a lot going on for the upcoming WWDC23 event that will kick off on 5 June 2023, with a few MacBooks on the horizon. But it also says that some of them might not arrive just yet after all, leaving potential buyers a little lost as to what they should be saving their cash for

Writing in his weekly Power On newsletter, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that Apple is working on a number of Macs. He says that the much-rumored 15-inch MacBook Air is still coming while a refreshed version of the current 13-inch MacBook Air is also in development. There's also an updated 13-inch MacBook Apro as well, we're told.