Hasta La Gadget!

Apple’s been pretty resistant to putting out an OS X netbook, and we might have an inkling why — according to benchmarks run on a hackintosh’d MSI Wind variant, Apple’s OS runs just about as well on your average 1.6GHz Atom / 1GB RAM machine as it does on a four-year-old iBook G4. Sure, the Atom boots a bit faster and outperforms the G4 on simple tasks, but it slows way down when the going gets tough. Of course, the iBook was a much larger machine than most netbooks out there, but with numbers like this we’d say those of you searching for an OS X netbook can skip the EULA violations and just hunt down an old 12-inch PowerBook G4. Check out all the stats at the read link.

[Thanks, Penny]

Filed under: Laptops

iBook G4 benchmarked against hackintosh netbook, comes out even originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 03 Feb 2009 19:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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So it looks like wannabe cloner Psystar’s supposedly hotshot law firm of Carr and Ferrell regrouped for a deep think after pumping out some fairly weak arguments in its case against Apple — according to a new draft of Psystar’s countersuit, the Florida-based computer reseller should be allowed to sell whitebox Mac OS X machines because it legally purchased copies of Leopard at retail. That’s the first sale doctrine, if you’re into copyright law — it states that the purchaser of copyrighted materials (like a book) can sell or dispose of them however they want. Here’s the thing though: a big part of Apple’s case (but not all of it) is based around the fact that consumers license OS X under the terms of the EULA — and courts are basically up in the air over whether the first sale doctrine should apply to software transactions. It’s an interesting tactic with a ton of repercussions beyond Apple if it’s successful, but we honestly can’t see it working — in the cases where first sale has been used to overcome a EULA, it’s generally been for used software, not companies like Psystar, who are modifying and installing new copyrighted software sold by a first party. We’ll see how Apple responds — things just got interesting again.

Update: World Of Apple notes that this argument has been present from the outset, but it sounds like Psystar’s really pushing it now. We’d say so — we think it’s the only plausible one we’ve heard so far.

[Thanks, iB3nji]

Disclaimer: Nilay’s a lawyer and about to fall over from CES, but he’s not your lawyer, and this isn’t legal advice or analysis.

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

Psystar’s lawyers regroup, try another tactic against Apple originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 14 Jan 2009 15:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ll wager you didn’t know Macworld was going on today, did you? Pathetic jokes aside, Western Digital has lined up a pair of launches today in San Francisco to coincide with Apple’s final Macworld keynote, as we’re treated to the My Passport for Mac portable HDD and the My Book Mac Edition. Truthfully, the only real difference between these drives and their vanilla counterparts is the pre-format process; with these, they both come “pre-formatted for Mac,” saving you the tiresome task of converting ’em to HFS+ Journaled yourself. Additionally, these USB 2.0 drives are made to work “seamlessly” with Apple’s Time Machine backup software, and they’ll arrive in capacities including 320GB and 500GB (My Passport) / 1TB (My Book). Both units should be available now for between $129.99 and $179.99.

Filed under: Storage

WD pumps out My Passport for Mac / My Book Mac Edition originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Jan 2009 15:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HP’s 1.5TB MediaSmart Server ex487 (and its smaller 750GB sibling, the ex485) were just announced hours ago, but that hasn’t stopped a few lucky reviewers from putting their hands-on pictures and impressions online for the world to pore over. The biggest knocks that seemed to really grate the nerves of critics were that the single eSATA port was not port-multiplier aware, and despite the bump to 2GB of RAM, the TwonkyMedia and Remote Media Streaming software were still deemed “quirky and in need of some polish.” Those gripes aside, the newfangled unit was pretty well adored. In fact, WeGotServed flat-out called the device “stunning,” praising HP for its tightly integrated applications that worked fairly well on top of Windows Home Server. For those eying a simple-to-use media server, it looks like HP finally produced one that can be purchased sans regret; the real question, however, is will the outfit push these delectable new features down to existing ex470 / ex475 owners?

Read – MediaSmartServer review
Read – WeGotServed review / hands-on

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Storage

HP MediaSmart Server ex487 gets hands-on love and full-blown review originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 29 Dec 2008 08:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apple’s said it’s taking a break from adding flashy features to OS X to focus on the foundations and stability of the system with Snow Leopard, and this latest leaked screenshot might indicate that those foundations are moving to 64 bits — it shows System Preferences saying it needs to restart in 32-bit mode to open the Network panel. That’s certainly interesting, given the rumors that Apple’s dropping support for non-Intel machines and maybe even 32-bit Intel processors with this release, but it could also just mean that whoever took this screenshot doesn’t have a 64-bit-friendly version of that preference pane installed. (We’re guessing the latter, since there are a lot of 32-bit only Core Duo Intel Macs out there.) Restarting apps to change modes seems pretty clunky, though — shades of System 7 and the 32-bit Enabler, for the olds — so we’re hoping Apple’s got a more elegant solution in the works. Macworld’s just around the corner, we’re sure we’ll hear more from Steve Phil soon.

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

Leaked Snow Leopard image potentially indicates a 32 / 64-bit divide originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 28 Dec 2008 14:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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