macbook

With Apple likely forgoing optical drives across all or most of its MacBooks, and ultrabooks doing the same, it's no surprise that the venerable whirring drive will spin away, albeit gradually, into obscurity.

Next to go driveless at Apple is the 15-inch MacBook Air. 9to5Mac says Apple almost brought out a 15-inch Air in late 2010 (but didn't because of a problem with the hinges). Apple now has plans to make this happen next year when Intel's graphics-centric Ivy Bridge processor ships.

Ultrabooks will do their part to hurry the otherwise slow demise of the optical drive. … Read more

Would Apple eschew its thinner-is-better ethos in the name of new hardware features? That's what might happen with the next iPad, if a report in iLounge is to be believed.

Citing "our most reliable source," the Apple news and reviews site said today that the third-generation iPad could be thicker than the existing model, but not by much. That's to incorporate the recently rumored dual-light bar backlighting system that's needed to brighten up a higher-resolution display. Accessory makers may be able to breathe a sigh of relief though, with iLounge claiming it will be a … Read more

Apple's MagSafe connections for its laptop power adapters allows the connections to be quickly detached from systems, the benefits of which are obvious to anyone who has ever caught a foot in the power cord of a charging device and yanked it to the floor from its resting perch.

The MagSafe adapter is a great idea, but a number of people complained that its first iterations did have a couple of flaws that resulted in the cable getting twisted and bent (a situation called "strain relief"). In some instances this strain would cause the cable components to … Read more

More details have emerged on Intel's first system-on-a-chip for mainstream PCs.

That chip, codenamed Haswell, is due by 2013 and will be the first high-performance Intel processor to approach the same level of integration used in smartphones and tablets. Today, Texas Instruments, Qualcomm, and Nvidia are the major suppliers of smartphone and tablet SoCs (system-on-a-chip) derived from the ARM design.

What does Haswell mean for future Macs and PCs? Even more powerful ultraslim MacBooks and laptop PCs will emerge--as well as hybrid laptop-tablet designs.

Imagine, for example, a future 15-inch MacBook Pro as skinny as a MacBook Air but … Read more

Apple has released an update for its latest MacBook Pro systems that resolves an issue where systems running under wall power may unexpectedly shut down under heavy workload if the battery is at low levels. Apple does not specify exactly what revisions of the MacBook Pro this update is for, but it will only install on those for which it applies.

The update is a small 730KB download either from Software Update or from the Update's Web page, and requires OS X 10.6.8 or OS X 10.7.2 or later. The update will require you to … Read more

Karyne may be up a point on the Rumor board, but I'm winning where it actually counts: on Twitter.

As of this writing, I have 232 followers and Karyne has 223.

OK, you can stop laughing now.

We realize, of course, that those numbers are embarrassingly low. So follow us, guys! (@EmilyDreyfuss, @karynelevy, @RumorShow.) Our new high-stakes side bet is who can get to 500 first. Maybe the lucky 500th follower of the winner will get a prize!

The rumors on today's show are of the spiciest variety: sightings of the first quad-core phone (which some people really don't want); two new iPads in 2012; all-new Apple products next year (huzzah); and Siri may ruin my life by coming to old iOS devices. … Read more

Apple surprised many when it introduced quad-core processors into its MacBook line for the first time in February. But a Commodore 64 packing quad-core?

For the uninitiated, the Commodore 64 Keyboard PC was introduced back in 1982 packing a MOS Technology 6510 1MHz (yes, that's one megahertz) chip running the Commodore kernal accessed via BASIC commands.

That model competed with the Apple II and Atari computers.

Well, a lot has changed in 30 years. After resurrecting the Commodore name in April of 2010, the company came out with an Intel Atom-based design in April of this year. That's … Read more

I've been a big fan of Samsung's laptop designs, going back to the QX401 last year. While I had spent extensive time with the sleek Series 9 and diminutive Series 3, I was away on vacation when the Series 7 was first introduced. Now that one has arrived at CNET's offices, it seemed like a good time to do a quick first take, based on my first few minutes with the laptop.

Sleek metal: clean cut, brushed lines, very solid. The Series 7 is more impressive than I expected, more along the lines of an Apple MacBook Pro, and the way the HP Envy looked to our eyes for the first time. It's also a wide laptop, but that keyboard goes edge to edge. … Read more

While last week's MacBook Pro upgrades were mostly minor, and entirely under the hood, I felt it was worth getting my hands on one of the new systems to benchmark and compare with the models we saw earlier in 2011 (read the full review of the fall 2011 15-inch MacBook Pro).

Almost as soon as these system refreshes were announced, I started receiving inquiries via Twitter, e-mail, and other forms of electronic communication (sorry, no telegrams) asking if it was worth upgrading to the new MacBook Pro. Some of these questions were about upgrading from the most recent Pro, others asked about pre-2011 models, and one was from a reader who was considering a MacBook Pro, but wanted to know if a further refresh was coming sometime in the next six months.

To best answer these, it's easiest to start by looking at exactly what's new.… Read more