Good Timing Gamestop

Yesterday I received an email from Gamestop promoting their new sale. Boy did I laugh when I saw what it was. Due to the reason events with Sony's PSN, it would seem Gamestop is trying to empty out stock. This means you could get a PS3 for as little as $200. Wether or not you need one is up to you, I myself was always looking into a Blueray player. Most likely I will pass this one up, but it is something to think about. Plus, when PSN does come back up, anyone who uses this promotion should really not give any information to PSN no matter how safe Sony claims it is. Another possibility is that Sony knows their sales will drop due to the recent incident, thus they may have instructed sellers to put a sale on to keep the sale of their consoles going. What ever it may be is unknown, however if you need a PS3 now is your chance to get one at a low price.

~Dave

Microsoft is Really Trying

Over the weekend I happen to stumble upon a new Microsoft advertisement. Usually I don't care about them, they don't have anything of interest. However, this one is funny and strikes a good points. Buy a PC and go to Hawai is what Microsoft is pushing now. They say that with the money you save buying a PC, instead of buying a Mac, you can go to Hawai and enjoy your new laptop. The ad is not without its flaws. It of course states things like MobileMe is only used for online backup, which is not entirely true. It also tries to draw comparisons between different sized hard drives as compared to a solid state. Again, not quite the comparison you want to be drawing, solid states are much faster. Another notable difference is that all the Macs offer matte display options, where as none of the PCs offer this option. I give props to Microsoft, they are really trying. In my opinion though, they just haven't hit that one ad that will have a last effecting. Take the first iPod ad for example, it was simplistic and to the point. This is what Microsoft should be aiming for in their ads.

~Dave

iMac Refresh

Images provided by Apple.com

As expected, a new line of iMacs was released yesterday. The new line came with two of the things rumored to come with it. There is a brand new processor, as well as the addition of thunderbolt. But wait, there is one more thing that snuck its way in! A brand new Raedon 6970 for the 27 inch top of the line iMac, a Raedon 6770 for the bottom 27 inch and top 21.5 inch, and a 6750 for the low end 21.5 inch. This graphics boost is a much needed, and much welcomed, addition to the iMac family.

In addition, the brand new Sandy Bridge chipset has been added as the processor. These processors are up to 3x faster that the core 2 duo that was in the previous iMacs. Plus, they come with turbo boost 2.0, which allows the computer to change the clock speed of the CPU when needed to as to boost performance. Theses CPUs bring a much needed boost to the desktop line, putting them on par with the new line of Macbooks.

And finally, there is the addition of not one, but two Thunderbolt I/O ports. This will not only give you the option to hook up tons of extra space if you want to, but you can also have a three way display done through the mini DVI ports. That means you could purchase a 27 inch iMac, two 27 inch mini DVI LCD screens, and hook them up to have one giant screen. That would be great for gaming, as well as video editing.


That two refreshes down for Apple, but there is one product that is hiding. One product that has not been refreshed yet. That is the Mac Pro. It will be interesting to see how long it is until the Mac Pro is refreshed.

~Dave

Apple's Online Store is Down: Refresh Time!

If you have never seen the above image, then you have never witnessed an Apple Online Store refresh. As we speak the store is currently down. Why you may ask? Well rumors have it that a new set of iMacs will be coming out today. They are rumored to have the new Intel Sandy Bridge processors, as well as the new Thunderbolt technology. Other then that, not much else has been rumored. Personally, I would like to see a slightly update design. Word of the update should come at about 8:30 AM EST today.

~Dave

White iPhone Extravaganza

Thicker white iphone 4

Last thursday Apple quietly unveiled the White iPhone 4 on their website. This phone was due out with the release of the iPhone 4 last year, but never went on sale. It was seen through out the internet on different sites, rumored to never be release. There was fake versions, mods, things you could do to your iPhone 4 to make it white. There was no given reason by Apple as to why the White iPhone was never released on time, but there was a statement made by Steve Wozniak about it. He had bought parts to mod his iPhone 4 and made it white. He said the parts made taking pictures with the phone difficult as the flash turn the picture a little too bright. Whether or not this is the reason is still unknown. In addition, it has come into the light that the White iPhone is slightly thicker then the iPhone 4. You may not see this as a big deal, but other sites like Engadget brought up a good point. When you change the size of the phone, you produce a big problem for case makers. Case makers now have to produce cases for both a White iPhone on AT&T as well as on Verizon. That is in addition to the two different types of cases they had to make before. That means case makers will have to make four different cases, which can be costly. This is very unlike Apple to have an abnormality with the sizing of their products. Apple has always prided itself on perfection and size, among other things. As of now, there has been no statement as to why this is. I have a feeling it will be touched on in June during WWDC 2011.

~Dave