Apple’s New Mini Mac (Unibody)

Apple has announced its newest addition to the Mac Mini family, a unibody Mac Mini which is now available for sale.  For those of you whom are on a tight budget but would love a Mac computer, this is definitely the way to go!

There will be two options available, the lesser starting at $699:

Apple® today unveiled a completely redesigned Mac® mini, featuring up to twice the graphics performance, a new HDMI port and a new SD card slot, all in an amazingly compact aluminum enclosure. Mac mini is the world’s most energy efficient desktop and starting at $699, is the most affordable way to enjoy Mac OS® X, iLife® or Mac OS X Snow Leopard® Server.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100615/SF20941)

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20100615/SF20941)

“The sleek, aluminum Mac mini packs great features, versatility and value into an elegant, amazingly compact design,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “With twice the graphics performance, HDMI support and industry-leading energy efficiency, customers are going to love the new Mac mini.”

Created with the unibody construction process pioneered by Apple, the new Mac mini features a compact aluminum enclosure just 7.7 inches square and 1.4 inches thin. A new integrated power supply eliminates the need for an external power adapter, reducing overall system volume by 20 percent and keeping cable clutter to a minimum. A removable panel underneath provides quick access for memory expansion. Mac mini is incredibly versatile, effortlessly connecting to existing peripherals such as mice, keyboards and digital displays, while the new HDMI output connects Mac mini to an HDTV and the new SD card slot enables easy transfer of photos and videos from a digital camera.

Inside its sleek, compact enclosure, the new Mac mini includes the fastest integrated graphics processor on the market today. With 48 processing cores, the NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics processor delivers up to twice the graphics performance of its predecessor, making Mac mini ideal for graphics intensive applications or visually rich games. Mac mini comes standard with a 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 320GB hard and 2GB of RAM for $699.

With twice the graphics performance, the new Mac mini is still the world’s most energy efficient desktop.* The new Mac mini reduces power consumption by an incredible 25 percent to less than 10W at idle, less than half the power required by competing systems. Mac mini meets Energy Star 5.0 requirements and achieves EPEAT Gold status.** The new aluminum enclosure is highly recyclable and Mac mini uses PVC-free components and cables, contains no brominated flame retardants and features material-efficient system and packaging designs.

Mac mini comes with Mac OS X Snow Leopard, the world’s most advanced operating system, and iLife, Apple’s innovative suite of applications for managing photos, making movies and creating and learning to play music. Snow Leopard builds on a decade of OS X innovation and success with hundreds of refinements, new core technologies and out of the box support for Microsoft Exchange. iLife features iPhoto®, to easily organize and manage photos; iMovie® with powerful easy-to-use new features such as Precision Editor, video stabilization and advanced drag and drop; and GarageBand® which introduces a whole new way to help you learn to play piano and guitar.

Mac mini with Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server fulfills all the server needs of a workgroup or small business including email, calendar, file serving, Time Machine® backup, Wiki Server, Podcast Producer and more. Mac mini with Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server uses less than 11W of power at idle, a fraction of the power consumed in comparison to typical entry-level tower servers.*** Mac mini with Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server is faster than before with a 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, two 500GB hard drives now running at 7200 rpm, 4GB of RAM and supports unlimited clients for $999.

Pricing & Availability

The new Mac mini is shipping today and will be available through the Apple Store® (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers.

The Mac mini, for a suggested retail price of $699 (US), includes:

2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 3MB of shared L2 cache;
2GB of 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM, expandable up to 8GB;
a slot-load 8X SuperDrive® (DVD+/-R DL/DVD+/-RW/CD-RW) optical drive;
320GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm;
NVIDIA GeForce 320M integrated graphics;
AirPort Extreme® 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;
Gigabit Ethernet;
four USB 2.0 ports;
SD card slot;
one FireWire® 800 port;
one HDMI port and one Mini DisplayPort;
HDMI to DVI video adapter;
combined optical digital audio input/audio line in (minijack); and
combined optical digital audio output/headphone out (minijack).

Build-to-order options and accessories include up to 8GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM, 500GB hard drive running at 5400 rpm, Apple Remote, Aperture™ 3, Final Cut® Express 4, Logic® Express, iWork® (pre-installed), Apple Wireless Keyboard, Magic Mouse, Apple 24 inch LED Cinema Display and the AppleCare® Protection Plan.

The Mac mini with Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server, for a suggested retail price of $999 (US), includes:

2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 3MB of shared L2 cache;
4GB of 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM, expandable up to 8GB;
two 500GB Serial ATA hard drives running at 7200 rpm;
NVIDIA GeForce 320M integrated graphics;
AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;
Gigabit Ethernet;
four USB 2.0 ports;
SD card slot;
one FireWire 800 port;
one HDMI port and one Mini DisplayPort;
HDMI to DVI video adapter;
combined optical digital audio input/audio line in (minijack); and
combined optical digital audio output/headphone out (minijack).

Build-to-order options and accessories include up to 8GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM, External SuperDrive, Apple Wireless Keyboard, Magic Mouse, Apple 24 inch LED Cinema Display and the AppleCare Protection Plan.

*Claim based on energy efficiency categories and products listed within the EPA Energy Star 5.0 database as of June 2010.

**EPEAT is an independent organization that helps customers compare the environmental performance of notebooks and desktops. Products meeting all of the 23 required criteria and at least 75 percent of the optional criteria are recognized as EPEAT Gold products. The EPEAT program was conceived by the US EPA and is based on IEEE 1680 standard for Environmental Assessment of Personal Computer Products. For more information visit www.epeat.net.

***Claim based on energy efficiency categories and products listed within the EPA Energy Star Small Scale Server database as of June 2010.

Apple ignited the personal computer revolution with the Apple II, then reinvented the personal computer with the Macintosh. Apple continues to lead the industry with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system, and iLife, iWork and professional applications. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store, has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and has recently introduced its magical iPad which is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices.

© 2010 Apple Inc. All rights reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, Mac, Mac OS, Macintosh, iLife, Snow Leopard, iPhoto, iMovie, GarageBand, Time Machine, Apple Store, SuperDrive, AirPort Extreme, FireWire, Aperture, Final Cut, Logic, iWork and AppleCare are trademarks of Apple. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

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Jeremy Gibson | PCQuikFix

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BP Kills Mario

Unfortunately, I have seen many oil soaked animals on the news clinging to life, but who knew BP’s oil spill would attack Mario next?!  What is wrong with these people??

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Jeremy Gibson | PCQuikFix

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iTunes 9.2

As Apple plans to release iTunes 9.2 soon (currently only available to developers), there are many features included that most knew were coming.  On the other end, there are many features missing which many assumed would be included.

Via Apple, here is a rundown of what to expect when iTunes 9.2 is released:

iTunes 9.2 comes with several new features and improvements, including:

• Sync with iPhone 4 to enjoy your favorite music, movies, TV shows, books and more on-the-go

• Sync and read books with iPhone or iPod touch with iPhone OS 4 and iBooks 1.1

• Organize and sync PDF documents as books. Read PDFs with iBooks 1.1 on iPad and any iPhone or iPod touch with iPhone OS 4

• Organize your apps on your iPhone OS 4 home screens into folders using iTunes

• Faster back-ups while syncing an iPhone or iPod touch with iPhone OS 4

• Performance improvements make scrolling much faster

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Jeremy Gibson | PCQuikFix

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iPhone 4 vs Other SmartPhones

Now that the iPhone 4 is coming out, let’s pair it up against some of the industry leaders in SmartPhones.  Currently I have the Google Nexus One running Android 2.1 and HTC Sense:

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Jeremy Gibson | PCQuikFix

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ThunderCats Coming Back To TV

Oh hell yeah!

My favorite 80′s cartoon will return to TV in 2011 via Cartoon Network.  The new series will follow Lion-O as he ascends the throne and is a “sweeping tale combining swords and science and boasting ferocious battles with the highest of stakes.”  From Warner Brothers:

“In addition to being Warner Bros. Animation’s first anime series, ThunderCats marks our most ambitious foray yet into fantasy. The realism and dynamic visual style we’ve achieved are sure to thrill viewers, and the cool weapons, vehicles and technology should help the show appeal to a diverse audience.”

Hopefully they don’t blow it!

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Jeremy Gibson | PCQuikFix

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AT&T iPhone Insurance

It looks like AT&T wants to try take a chunk of business away from PCQuikFix and offer iPhone insurance.

The plan will be offered at $13.99/mo.  AT&T:

AT&T will be launching a new insurance service, named MobileProtect, designed specifically for the Apple iPhone. The insurance plan, which will be run by Asurion, will carry a price tag of $13.99/month and will be available for purchased through Apple’s App Store. The charges will be billed to the credit card on file with Apple. The deductibles range from $99 for an 8GB 3G to $199 for a 32GB 3GS, which is pretty steep – but not quite as steep as $699 for a new 32 GB 3GS off-contract.

Something tells me $13.99 ON TOP of that crazy deductible is a tad overkill, and we will continue to get a slew of iPhone’s through our doors with cracked screens and digitizers!

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Jeremy Gibson | PCQuikFix

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Your Email Dictates Your Computer Skill Level

Here’s a pretty funny one from theoatmeal.com.  As I read through this and think of those I know with such emails, its pretty funny and accurate.

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Jeremy Gibson | PCQuikFix

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AT&T Kills iPad 3G Unlimited Data Plan

Well, this didn’t take long now did it.  AT&T has announced that as of June 7, 2010, their iPad 3G Plan will be shaken up a little bit.

For new iPad customers, the $25 per month 2 GB plan will replace the existing $29.99 unlimited plan. iPad customers will continue to pre-pay for their wireless data plan and no contract is required. Existing iPad customers who have the $29.99 per month unlimited plan can keep that plan or switch to the new $25 per month plan with 2 GB of data.

If you are lucky enough to have the unlimited plan as of now, no worries, your plan will be grandfathered in.  Shocker, I know…

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Jeremy Gibson | PCQuikFix

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Cub Scouts Video Game Badge

LOL, you gotta be kidding me.  Apparently, the Cub Scouts figure if you cannot beat them, join them.  They have just released the latest “belt loop”, not badge, for playing video games!

Too bad they didn’t have these when I was a kid, or I would have gotten my Eagle Scout!  Here are the requirements:

Requirements

Tiger Cubs, Cub Scouts, and Webelos Scouts may complete requirements in a family, den, pack, school, or community environment. Tiger Cubs must work with their parents or adult partners. Parents and partners do not earn loops or pins.
Belt Loop

Complete these three requirements:

1. Explain why it is important to have a rating system for video games. Check your video games to be sure they are right for your age.
2. With an adult, create a schedule for you to do things that includes your chores, homework, and video gaming. Do your best to follow this schedule.
3. Learn to play a new video game that is approved by your parent, guardian, or teacher.

Academics Pin

Earn the Video Games belt loop and complete five of the following requirements:

1. With your parents, create a plan to buy a video game that is right for your age group.
2. Compare two game systems (for example, Microsoft Xbox, Sony PlayStation, Nintendo Wii, and so on). Explain some of the differences between the two. List good reasons to purchase or use a game system.
3. Play a video game with family members in a family tournament.
4. Teach an adult or a friend how to play a video game.
5. List at least five tips that would help someone who was learning how to play your favorite video game.
6. Play an appropriate video game with a friend for one hour.
7. Play a video game that will help you practice your math, spelling, or another skill that helps you in your schoolwork.
8. Choose a game you might like to purchase. Compare the price for this game at three different stores. Decide which store has the best deal. In your decision, be sure to consider things like the store return policy and manufacturer’s warranty.
9. With an adult’s supervision, install a gaming system.

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Jeremy Gibson | PCQuikFix

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Android Smartphone OS Versions

If you have a phone with Android on it, chances are you are unsure of which version you have installed.  Android 2.2 is coming out soon (or already has on some Nexus One devices), so Google has promised less updates and more “universal releases”.  If you care which version you have and are unsure, here ya go:

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Jeremy Gibson | PCQuikFix

Computer & Electronic Repair Solutions
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