You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours — all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
It’s a frankenstein monster of efforts, this computing rig appearing this afternoon, one that connects a MacBook Air to graphics it has no business running on its own – but certainly has the ability to roll with, it would seem. This amalgamation of bits and pieces starts with a Thunderbolt to Express Card adapter, moving on then to an ExpressCard to PCI-Express adapter, then connecting in the end to an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 graphics card. This beast then – after all that – brings what very much appears to be a high-end gaming experience to the Apple notebook.
The only caveat – other than an exposed set of fans, if you don’t wrap it all up – is the fact that you’ve got to use Apple’s Boot Camp to run Windows to make this all happen. Inside Boot Camp, Windows can bring the driver requirements needed to work with this high-powered graphics card, and the adapters seem to do the rest!
This setup is able to be plugged and unplugged with ease, making the MacBook Air an at-home beast of graphics delivery when you’re sitting down, a mobile computer as it’s marketed as when you’re not in the mood for gaming.
“You’ll get faster performance with an external monitor, but you’ll lose the convenience of not needing a giant monitor. This becomes relevant as people make better eGPU cases where your eGPU will be portable. Why bring a monitor to your friend’s place when your laptop already has one?” – Larry Gadea
Larry Gadea is the creator of this rig, and his original post to the Tech Inferno forums has more details on benchmarks and build options than you’ll ever care to sift through. Instead you’ll probably just want to kick this rig out yourself.
Meanwhile we’re reveling in the fact that someone saw things similar to Chris Davie’s column from earlier this year: Dear Apple, here’s what I want from the new Thunderbolt Display, complete with display-based GPU. Keep it powerful, and Apple – keep considering it!
VIA: MacRumors
MacBook Air rigged with NVIDIA GeForce GPU for Thunderbolt super-build is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.
The MacBook Air has already seen its glory day with a Haswell upgrade last month at WWDC 2013, but the MacBook Pro was disappointingly skipped over and still has yet to get the new chips. However, it’s reported that we may see new MacBook Pros come our way in October during Apple’s annual fall event.
According to a report from the China Times, says that refreshed MacBook Pros will make an appearance in October, based on reports from sources in Apple’s supply chain. Furthermore, the report suggests that prices will remain the same for the upgraded MacBook Pros, which has been an ongoing trend for Apple.
Intel’s new Haswell processors obviously offer faster speeds than the previous generation, but they also provide lower power consumption, which reduces the juice needed from the battery. We’ve already played around with the new Haswell-equipped MacBook Air, and it certainly boasts quite the battery-life improvement. The MacBook Pros should deliver similar results.
The new Haswell chips also come with support for 4K displays, which not come in handy now, seeing as how Apple doesn’t currently have any 4K products, but it certainly could come in handy down the line.
In any case, while today’s report of an October launch is merely just a prediction based on Apple supply-chain status, that seems like a good bet overall. Apple usually holds an event every fall to announce new products, and this coming fall could be a big one, with rumors of a new iPhone(s), iPad(s), and now MacBook Pros.
VIA: 9to5Mac
SOURCE: China Times
MacBook Pro Haswell refresh tipped for October arrival is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.
At first glance it doesn’t look like much but this thing is a reference design of the first 13-inch MacBook. Remember those from 2006?
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Laptop briefcases and sleeves tend to blend together after a while, because most of them look the same and are pretty boring. That’s one of the reasons why an Italian designer decided to come up with something with a bit more flair.
Bombata bags are supposed to marry technical expertise with fashion sensibilities. Unlike most laptop bags, they’re not bulky, and some function like sleeves, so they can be used inside larger bags to keep your electronics safe.
Bombata bags are made from durable vinyl, and offered in a number of different colors and sizes. They start with the tablet-friendly Micro Bombata and go up all the way to the Chubby Bombata, which can hold much more than just a laptop. Prices start at about $45(USD) and go up to about $110.
[via Yanko Design]
Apple has finally rolled out a MacBook Air update that fixes the Wi-Fi issues owners
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If you’ve been experiencing unstable WiFi as well as flickers while Photoshopping on your new mid-year MacBook Air, Apple’s got you covered. The tech giant reports that the patch addresses the aforementioned issues cropping up in “rare instances,” as well as a bug that causes audio levels to jump around during video playback. The software update — 1.0, if you’re interested in the details — is available from Apple Support in the links below.
Via: MacRumors
Source: Apple Support
Apple‘s 2014 MacBook refresh will see the company switch to IGZO displays, it’s reported, reducing power consumption while simultaneously improving clarity. The switch, which isn’t expected to take place until the first half of next year, will see Apple raid the production lines of Sharp and LG Display, ETNews reports, with the iPad also potentially in line for the screen technology.
IGZO – or indium gallium zinc oxide – is used by Sharp and others to replace the more traditional amorphous silicon substrate found in TFT LCD panels. Since IGZO demonstrates more electron mobility, it can be more efficient, and the individual pixels can be smaller.
That allows for higher-resolution displays, but also permits a reduction in backlighting for the same degree of brightness as a regular LCD. Sharp has used the technology for a number of smartphones and tablets in the Japanese market, but we’re only just seeing IGZO make its way to the desktop in the shape of displays from Sharp itself and ASUS.
Those advantages have long been said to have caught Apple’s attention, and in fact the company is believed to have quietly invested in Sharp so as to get first refusal on the panels once they reach mass-production level.
According to the Korean reports, Sharp may end up supplying both MacBook and iPad scale IGZO panels to Apple, trimming the power consumption of the notebooks and tablets in the process. It’s also expected that LG Display will join the supply chain with IGZO, and said that the company is already upgrading its existing AMOLED and LCD lines to be compatible with IGZO manufacturing.
For Apple, the biggest benefit could be Retina display resolution but without the drain on battery life. The company has made a name for its hardware thanks to the pixel-dense displays, but balancing the power demands of such panels is an ongoing challenge.
2014 MacBook and iPad IGZO display switch tipped is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2013, SlashGear. All right reserved.
You might view your laptop as a nice, neatly contained unit—but there’s more bursting out of it than meets the eye. In fact, all of its electrical components create complex magnetic and electric fields that spread far and wide, and this video shows you their reach.
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