Apple today have unveiled a plethora of updates to most of their computing product lines. A complete list of what has changes and what is available is here.
Now what about pricing? Using the 320GB Mac Mini as an example it is listed in the U.S. Apple Store for $799, the U.K. Apple Store for £649 and on the Irish Apple Store for €749. So let’s compare the U.K. and U.S. prices taking currency conversion into account shall we?
At the time of writing one Euro is worth 0.894 U.K. Pound and 1.258 U.S. Dollars.
A 320GB Mac Mini therefore will cost the equivilent of €726 in the U.K. and €634 in the U.S.
As usual we are being ripped off over here. But what about a MacBook Pro?
The 17in MacBook Pro is listed on the Irish Apple Store for €2499. In the U.K. Apple Store it is the equivilent of €2178 and on the U.S. Apple Store it retails for €2223.
If anyone is planning on buying a Mac Mini I suggest it may be worth your while popping up to Northern Ireland to save yourself €73. If it’s a 17in MacBook Pro you are looking for then you will save yourself a not too shabby €321.
The Apple Mac is 25 today. Hard to believe it was that long ago. I can remember when they first came out although I was only 7 at the time. I really wanted one but the price was off the wall. Back in the recession hit 1980′s you could have probably bought a house for the same price. I could only dream of getting a PC or a Mac back then so I was cutting my teeth with an Oric-1 instead.
Skip forward 25 years and I finally have a Mac (Macbook) which I’m using to write this post. My Macbook is actually my second Mac; back in 1999 I bought a lime green iMac in anticipation of OS X which was due for release. Unfortunately I had many a bad experience with the iMac which was finally put to pasture when the CRT failed. You can see the autopsy photos here.
So in celebration of the Mac’s quarter of a century i would direct you to this page on The Register which celebrates the best and worst of 25 years of the Apple Mac.
Image from Wikipedia
I’ve had another hard disk failure on my primary workstation so until I get a replacement disk I will be using my Macbook. Now while I love my Macbook as a laptop it becomes a bit difficult and uncomfortable to use all day. So seeing as my main workstation is lying idle I hooked up its LCD, keyboard and mouse to make things a bit easier.
I’ve done this before but if you haven’t or would like to I have this little tip for you:
Hook everything up to your Macbook or Macbook Pro, turn on the power and immediately close the lid!
This will enable you to use your external display at its proper resolution. Otherwise you will find that your external display will mirror the built in one. And the resolution which on my Macbook is 1280×800 will be the same. The only other option under System Preferences is to use it as additional screen space under which it will work at its ideal screen resolution.
So if you only want your external display to be your primary display there you go!
