Did Intel Just Leak the New MacBook Pro Design?

I think Apple's on the verge of updating its MacBook Pro line of notebooks, but Intel may have let the cat out of the bag early with an image in an ad. 

Intel's just popped up with a new advert for "the 2nd generation of Intel Core processors" and among the visuals is a much slimmer notebook that has an unmistakable Apple-esque design. Last year Intel did something very similar, teasing the upcoming release of Core i5 chips with an ad that included a MacBook:Intel quickly adjusted the ad, but it was actually indicative of an imminent MacBook refresh. In early 2010 the tweak was merely a processor upgrade.

So what does the advert show? It seems to display a super-slim laptop that has a flat-rectangular profile, not like the wedge-profile of the Air. See that IR port on the front right of the keyboard segment? Classic Apple design, and similar to the placement on existing Pros. See the lid with its glossy black bezel, and the radius of the curves that provide a more elegant visual.  I'm not saying this definitely is a new MacBook... but I believe it to be the case.

We also know that rumors say an Intel Sandy Bridge-powered MacBook is en route in around "two weeks" and there are "additional" adjustments to the design that go beyond a new powerful CPU. Apple's even thought to be ramping up orders from manufacturers despite the chip manufacturing error that plagued Sandy Bridge's arrival on the market.

The one thing that makes us doubt this is a new MacBook is its color: Black. Apple's been focusing on aluminum unibody design a lot, touting its advantages, and left black plastic casings for its MacBooks behind a while ago. But another MacBook Pro-related rumorsuggests that along with an innovative new battery tech for longer life, the Pros will get a "stronger, lighter, more scratch resistant" aluminum material. Could this new alloy be colored too? Apple did license advanced alloy "liquid metal" tech from the Liquidmetal company just last year, so ...

Self Encrypting Hard Drives or SEDS.

In the new millennium many people have opted out of desktop computers and have entered into the realm of notebooks to handle their computing needs.  Most of those people use notebooks for their mobility, but there is a growing segment of the population who have purchased notebooks due to space requirements in their homes.  If you are one of those people in that growing segment then you probably don't need to worry about drive encryption and protecting your data as much as someone who is always on the go.

Up until recently I have preferred Western Digital hard drives over other brands because I have had fewer failures with them than I have experienced with, say, Seagate.  However, that is changing.  If you'll remember, last year I purchased a Seagate Momentus XT (500 gigabyte) hard drive and wrote a review about it, well that drive is still up and running and performing its job admirably, and now I'm thinking it might be time to purchase an SED for my Dell XPS 15, and it looks like I will be turning to Seagate again.

There are a host of software applications out there such as TrueCrypt, DiskCrypt, Microsoft's Bitlocker, etc, that will encrypt entire drives or just certain files and folders, the issue with these software applications is that they are prone to data corruption and in the case of Full Disk Encryption (FDE) they often cause a huge hit to performance due to the CPU overhead that they require.  So this rules out software as a possibility for encryption.

That leaves hardware, and more specifically that leaves the ST9500422AS Seagate Momentus Self Encrypting Hard Drive now with FIPS 140-2 certification.  It's been approved by the United States and Canadian governments for use in their laptops and is the first SED to receive it.   It runs a little more than a standard hard drive, but you have to ask yourself how important your data is to you?  Especially when approximately 10% of all notebooks are stolen in any given year.  


So even if you just use your notebook to pay your bills, isn't it worth it to you to encrypt that data?  Especially with the huge rise in identity theft?  


It is to me. 

Kingston SSD for 1 dollar a gigabyte. Get it quick

Here's a late entry at buy.com  128 Gigabyte Kingston SSD for $125.00 after mail in rebate, expires 2-17-2011.  While performance isn't great (when comparing to other SSDs) the price is phenomenal.

Industry Analysts have predicted the price of SSDs should be down into standard HDD price ranges by now, but that obviously hasn't happened yet.  Pricing still remains extremely high so this is a real find.  I'll wait this one out as I need more storage space than 128 gigabytes can give me, so let me know how this Solid State Drive works out for you!

The Xoom, Android, Microsoft, Everyone else, and Apple

So, Motorola's Xoom is being renamed Doom before even leaving the gate.  The tablet running Android 3.0 has been labeled over-priced for what you get, and I tend to agree with this.  Also, there seem to be rumors running around that in order to enable wifi on the Xoom you'll have to pay for at least one month's worth of 3g data usage through Verizon....   What are they thinking???

Microsoft and Google seem determined to make up in quantity what they lack in quality when competing with Apple, and yet they continue to fail.  They have a multitude of devices out there running their respective operating systems and yet Apple products are still the "must haves" of the industry.

I begin to wonder if Apple's closed ecosystem is really the way to go.  Create a product, or even a line of products from the ground up, not just hardware, but software too, make it look stylish and throw it out on the market and watch it fly off the shelves.  Oh, and it doesn't hurt if you can put a groovy picture of an Apple on it too.

Sometimes I get so disgusted with how HP, Dell, Samsung, Lenovo, Sony, Acer and all the other manufacturers lag two to three years behind Apple in design that sometimes I just want to throw in the towel, replace my 4 notebooks with Macbooks, set up a NAS, and be done with Microsoft and the PC manufacturers for well and good.

I would be lying if I said I have never gone to Apple's website and perused a Macbook Pro or two, but usually once I get a look at the price, and the generally outdated hardware, I remember why I continue to buy PC's with Windows on them.

Comic Relief.

I know it's been a little serious around here lately and since I've spent the last few days studying for my Cisco Certified Network Associate certification so I can exit my current job and enter one that doesn't require Xanax, I thought a little comic relief would be in order.

Tech Support - watch more funny videos

Unbelievable iPhone 4 tech support call recorded!! - watch more funny videos

Dropbox and Printing From Your Smart Phone

I'm always on the look out for a better opportunity (Read: Job) and I like to keep a lot of my documents synchronized between my phone and my computers and have found Dropbox an invaluable tool for getting this done, but Dropbox can also do more than just keep your files Synchronized.
Using Dropbox, you can also send documents, attachments, spreadsheets, and naked pictures of your co-workers to be printed at home for perusal at a later time.  All you need is is this VBS Script, a Dropbox account, a computer and a printer and you are good to go.  Just download and run the VBS Script on the computer with Dropbox installed and it will create a Print Queue folder that you can drop files in which will then send them to your printer (or queue them up to be printed when you get home and turn on your computer).

There are other programs out there like PrinterShare that you can use for a nominal fee, but why bother adding another one-trick-pony background process when you can use Dropbox to do both?

The only downside I have found to Dropbox is that large files seem to time out a lot when downloading to your phone, but hopefully a resume feature will be added at some point to resolve this issue.

If you don't already have a Dropbox account you can sign up for one right here and also boost my storage space by 250 megabytes in the process.  Don't worry, Dropbox is free.

Farmville Automation Style?

For those of you addicted to Farmville but never have enough time to do everything you want in the game, such as visit all your neighbors, there is a new product out there by BOTOHOLIC.COM that will bring your Farm into the new age by automating all your Farmville tasks in the background while you do things like, work (shyeah right) or watch Youtube videos and chat with your friends.

While I don't agree with it, I know there are a ton of you out there who are just dying to automate your game of Farmville, so have at it.