Archive for February, 2011

Wrong move in Apple’s plans to improve iTunes audio quality

OPINION: There’s a story over at CNN this morning about how everyone is seemingly all-of-a-sudden upset with the quality of audio coming from iTunes. The solution? Apparently, 16-bit audio isn’t good enough, we have to have 24-bit. Apart from the fact that the majority of the world’s portable audio devices use digital-to-analog conversion (DAC) processes [...]

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Thunderbolt – Intel and Apple’s USB3.0 killer?

If you’ve read the news about today’s launch of Apple’s new MacBook Pro notebook series, you would’ve seen reference to a new port called Thunderbolt. Originally developed by Intel in conjunction with Apple back in 2009 and codenamed “Light Peak”, Thunderbolt is getting a run for the first time in the MacBook Pro range and [...]

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Apple launches new Sandy Bridge MacBook Pro range with Thunderbolt port

Tech giant Apple has released its first Sandy Bridge notebooks. The new MacBook Pro range features Intel’s latest second-generation Core i-series dual-core and quad-core processors inside 13, 15 and 17-inch notebook chassis with prices starting at $AUD1399. The 13-inch model (pictured) features either the 2.3GHz dual-core Core i5 or the 2.7GHz dual-core Core i7-2620M chip. [...]

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ASUS offers free replacement on affected Sandy Bridge products

Taiwanese notebook and PC component maker ASUS has announced that it has begun shipping replacement B3-stepping motherboards and notebooks. The news comes as the company announces the reintroduction of Intel’s troubled platform is ahead of schedule. Chip giant Intel announced on January 31 that a design flaw affecting hard drive connections had been found and [...]

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MSI launches new Intel H61-chipset motherboard with B3-step fix

Taiwanese motherboard maker MSI is one of the first out of the blocks with Intel’s new budget H61-chipset motherboard and the first so far to feature the B3-stepping fix for Intel’s Sandy Bridge chipset. The H61MU-E35 will handle all LGA1155 socketed processors from Intel, offers up to 16GB of RAM through two DIMM sockets, features [...]

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