News du 10/15/2008 - DigitalVersus

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Apple 24'' LED Cinema Display unveiled

Vincent Alzieu
October 15, 2008 5:07 pm

One surprise from Apple's MacBook event was that included a new product ... that isn't a MacBook: they also unveiled a new 24 inch version of their LED Cinema Display:

It will sell for 899 USD, or 649 GBP (available from 849 EUR in Europe), which means it's hardly cheap--regular 24'' screens regularly go for less than 500 euros!

The selling point, here, however, is the special built-in connectivity with your the new MacBooks that Apple hopes will persuade you that a new screen is a worthwhile investment too:

Although it's not so clear in this photo, three separate connectors snake out from behind the new display, including a power adaptor for charging Apple laptops and a USB lead allowing USB peripherals to be plugged directly into the monitor. The USB cable also allows you to profit from the built-in iSight webcam.

Finally, a mini Display Port--somewhat cheekily described by Apple as the "new industry standard" allows you to connect it to your new MacBook.

After DVI, mini DVI, HDMI, regular Display Port, the arrival of yet another connector is not very useful.

Here are the technical specs for the screen itself:

24'' visible display are

LCD TFT panel, backlit by LED

1920 x 1200 pixel maximum resolution

16.7 million colors

178° viewing angle both horizontally and vertically

330 cd/m² brightness

1000:1 contrast

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New MacBook Pro: from $1999, £1299

Florent Alzieu
October 15, 2008 4:52 pm

In a classic move, the Apple Store closed last night, only to re-open an hour later, after Steve Jobs' keynote, featuring three updated Macbook Pros.

Meanwhile, Jobs took the time to boast about Apple's continued strong performance.

Macs represented 17.6% of the computers sold in the United States last year, and 31.3% of the market by value given their often heavy price tag.

Afterwards, it was time for Jonathan Ive, Apple's design guru, to describe how the MacBook Air had been manufactured from solid blocks of aluminum, something they now share with the new MacBook Pros.

Other new features on the refreshed MacBook Pros include an enlarged trackpad with no button, manufacturered from glass and featuring multitouch technology first seen on the iPhone.

In fact, the majority of Apple products now boast this system, but the MacBook Pro definitely takes it to the max with gestures that exploit the use of four fingers simultaneously.

Three models are available:

For 1999 USD / 1399 GBP, you get a 15'' screen, an Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz processor, 2 GB of RAM, a 250 GB hard drive and an NVIDIA GeForce 9400M plus a 9600 GT with 256 MB on board

For 2499 USD / 1749 GBP, you get a 15'' screen, an Intel Core 2 Duo 2.53 GHz processor, 2 GB of RAM, a 320 GB hard drive and an NVIDIA GeForce 9400M plus a 9600 GT with 512 MB on board

For 2799 USD / 1949 GBP, you get a 17''' screen,an Intel Core 2 Duo 2.5 GHz processor, 4 GB of RAM, a 320 GB hard drive and an NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT with 512 MB on board

As you can see, Appple aren't ceding to any pressure to lower the price of their high-end models.

There's another piece of bad news, though: Apple may sell up the "brilliant brilliance" of their screens, but that's down to the fact they too have succumbed to glossy screens ...

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New MacBook Air: from $1799, £1299

Vincent Alzieu
October 15, 2008 4:24 pm

First of the blocks at Apple's MacBook event were two new MacBook Airs, both available from November:

Here's how the two models break down:

For 1799 USD / 1299 GBP, you get an Intel Core 2 Duo 1.6 GHz processor, 2 GB of RAM and a 120 GB hard drive
For 2499 USD / 1799 GBP, you get an Intel Core 2 Duo 1.8 GHz processor, 2 GB of RAM and a 128 GB solid-state drive

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Jobs: Blu-ray ''a bag of hurt''

Florence Legrand
October 15, 2008 4:01 pm

The very first question during the Q and A at Apple's launch of its' new Macbooks was why neither HDMI nor Blu-ray have still not been included?

Steve Jobs' response was unequivocal: "HDMI only offers a limited resolution," while his colleague Phil Schiller claimed that "for typical computer use, DisplayPort is the connector of the future."

And what about Blu-ray? Well, they don't like that either: "it's just a bag of hurt;" said Jobs, "it's great to watch the movies, but the licensing of the tech is so complex, we're waiting till things settle down and Blu-ray takes off in the marketplace"

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Multimedia Hard Drives added to DigitalVersus

Sam McGeever
October 15, 2008 2:57 pm

We're pleased to welcome multimedia hard drives to DigitalVersus.com as our latest Product Survey.

These increasingly popular devices are more than just fancy external hard drives: their built-in decoders allow you to play a whole host of different multimedia formats directly onto your TV and sound system.

The addition of a remote control and a separate LCD screen makes them incredibly indepedent, while those that offer network connectivity mean you need never drag your computer in the sitting room again.

The first three we're looking at are: