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Why Microsoft Should Fear Apple...an approximate view of mine

March 28, 2007 (Computerworld) -- Should Microsoft fear Apple's Macintosh? Maybe not quaking-in-your-boots scared, mind you, but Redmond should certainly be concerned.

I'll tell you why. Apple has gotten smarter about how it competes with Microsoft. Clearly the underdog, Apple has to make moves that can be seen as both supportive of the Windows marketplace and good for its Mac customers at the same time.

The switch to Intel was just such a chess move. Intel hardware makes it easier for Microsoft to create apps for the Mac. It solves a performance problem Apple had. It creates a better experience for Intel-Mac owners because it better supports Windows applications. The CPU architecture also puts Mac and Windows hardware on an easy-to-understand, level playing field. Perhaps most significantly, though, all these advantages appeal to potentially millions of Mac-curious Windows users because it makes the Mac more familiar.

For the first time in its 23-year history, the Mac is finally able to move fluidly into and out of the world of Microsoft Windows and its applications -- both in the workplace and at home. Microsoft's own Office suite plays a big role in that. Microsoft's commitment to Office 2008 for the Mac lends additional support.

But the untapped source for the Mac is software designed for Windows. VMware is offering a public beta of its Fusion virtualization product for the Mac; the final release is due this summer. In the meantime, it's the Parallels Desktop software that has been truly transformational for the Mac.

Parallels isn't just an easy-to-use virtualization utility for running Windows on the Mac. The company's Coherence feature lets Windows apps run in an all but invisible Windows instance on your Mac. They look for all the world like they're running on your Mac, not in Windows. Parallels also makes it easy to switch back and forth between a full-screen version of Windows and your full-screen Mac. And Windows XP runs flawlessly on the Mac in Parallels. (Parallels also supports Vista, but not the Aero interface, yet.)

For people who haven't tried it recently, the most surprising thing about the Mac in 2007 is that software is simply not a problem. Most average Windows users have no idea how rich a software base the Mac has grown in recent years. With convenient access to Windows applications, as well as access to an intriguing, growing market of Mac-specific software, finding great software that runs on the Mac is easier than ever before.

That Insidious Macintosh

OK, so full disclosure: I am a recent Mac convert. But before you chalk me up as an apple-eyed Mac fanboy, I'm not your average Windows-to-Mac switcher. No one knows better than me (well, maybe Microsoft's accountants) how firm a grip on the computer industry Microsoft has. As a Windows reviewer since almost the beginning of Windows (my first tests were of Windows 2.11), I have no illusions about Microsoft's market lock.

If the Mac or any other desktop OS were to truly put a dent in Microsoft's desktop market share, it would take 15 years for Windows to "die." And that's assuming Microsoft stood still and did nothing. In other words, it ain't gonna happen.

I also don't hate Microsoft. I'm not a fanatic. I'm just someone who recognizes a good thing when he sees it. I undertook a simple three-month trial of the Mac last autumn, with no intention of sticking around, and realized four months later that I wasn't going back.

But here's the kicker: I am very definitely not alone. A lot of people who were previously confirmed Windows users have given the Mac a try over the last year. Windows Vista is the most ambitious version of Windows since Windows 95, but it's far less compelling than Windows 95 was. Vista isn't a bad product; it's just not a great one. After six years of waiting, it was time for something significantly better. We didn't get it.

Because I made the switch recently, and did so publicly, I've gotten hundreds of messages from Computerworld readers (as well as readers of my personal newsletter, Scot's Newsletter) informing me that they, too, switched to the Mac recently. Many are IT people. Some confess that they manage Windows users by day, and run Macs at home. Others tell me that they've switched in the office, and it's no big deal. The all-but-universal experience is that the transition was much easier than expected, and that using the Mac has made switchers more productive.

What's especially intriguing to me is that many IT managers have reported that execs of all stripes are switching to the Mac at their companies. I've seen the same phenomenon. At my company, three very highly placed execs have used Macs for many years. The vast majority of people have used Windows. Over the course of the last year, however, several new Mac users have appeared, including three in my area of the company. Mac users are beginning to come out of the woodwork. And the word is spreading that it's OK to do that.

So, while I don't think Microsoft has anything to fear in the market share department, when it comes to mind share, it has a lot to lose. The Mac is experiencing a renaissance. It's about Intel inside. It's about Unix at the core. It's about virtualization technology. It's about the surprising availability of software. It's about a superior operating system, and attractive hardware. It's about serious buzz.

People are talking about the Mac throughout the industry. Admit it: Whether you love it or hate it, you're talking about the Mac at the water cooler. Many IT pros tend to laugh up their sleeves about how expensive and eccentric Macs are. But they're still talking. It's one of the top 10 technology stories of the year.

Macintosh TCO

There are three essential truths that I have come to believe about Macs:

1. The mythology surrounding the Mac isn't true. It's not impervious to problems. Like any computer, a Mac can really come apart on you in a bad way. I've seen it happen.

2. When Macs go bad, the conventional wisdom is that they're harder to fix than Windows machines. I used to believe that myself. It may have been true under pre-OS X versions of the Mac OS, but I no longer find that to be the case. As a relative Mac newbie, I've had no trouble figuring out Mac problems -- and that includes a couple of doozies.

3. That said, Macs go bad less often than Windows PCs. Mac users are more productive than Windows users because Macs experience fewer problems. There's nothing mystical about it either. There are some obvious reasons why this is the case: The Mac is a closed hardware/software system. The OS isn't forced to contend with a vast variety of hardware, and the hardware is carefully vetted so that it works perfectly with the software. Apple controls the horizontal; it controls the vertical. The hardware and software are a matched set.

Apple has also had an enduring, consistent vision about usability. It's willing to sacrifice both power and flexibility to create a user interface that is far more intuitive than other operating systems. So Macs work better and are easier to use. That's it in a nutshell.

What would you pay for a computer that doesn't currently need anti-malware software? On most Windows PCs -- especially consumer-spec'ed PCs -- the security software is robbing the PC of so much system overhead that the user experience suffers. This one difference alone delivers a small reduction of software costs and a large reduction of helpdesk calls.

When it comes to hardware, Macs have long been perceived as overpriced and underpowered -- and that may have been true in the past. But when you compare today's premium Windows-based hardware, such as the Lenovo ThinkPad T60 series, to the Apple MacBook Pro, what you find is that you don't pay a premium for the Mac hardware. You can easily pay a lot more for a high-end Lenovo notebook than for a MacBook Pro. Of course, it's also possible to pay less for Dell hardware than you would for Apple hardware.

he point is that Apple isn't necessarily the most expensive hardware vendor out there. And given the productivity and reliability of Mac hardware, it's not as expensive as it may seem. Of course, if you don't already have Macintosh expertise in your helpdesk, then it's a big deal to add. But more and more companies have already accepted that challenge.

The problem in assessing Mac total cost of ownership comes at the low end. Apple should create economy-oriented, business-class desktop and notebook hardware. The iMac is a home machine. And while the MacBook is fairly inexpensive, there are too many tradeoffs -- such as its Chiclet-like keyboard -- for it to succeed in the business world. (Not everyone agrees with me on this point. Some believe that Apple's consumer Macs are enterprise-worthy.)

Since Apple offers very few SKUs, it's almost impossible for enterprise buyers to save money by specifying this or that lesser feature in order to reduce cost. Without a model specifically designed for low-end business desktops, Apple just isn't competitive there.

Microsoft's Buzz Kill

There was a time when people jokingly described Apple as Microsoft's advanced software lab. Anyone who follows operating systems -- please, be objective if your knee-jerk reaction is to disagree -- has to realize that Microsoft has imitated literally hundreds of features and behaviors of Apple's OS X. Yes, there are some advantages that originated with Microsoft (such as file icon thumbnail previews). But OS X is clearly leading the desktop OS parade. Everyone is copying Apple -- and with good reason.

The time for joking has passed. Microsoft hasn't exactly failed with Vista. But it's more like a double than a home run. Apple is innovating not just with the software and hardware it creates, but with the value proposition it is building in the marketplace. Apple hasn't ever been particularly good about that before. Sure, it's managed to appeal to people's aesthetic sensibilities, but almost never to people's wallets. While Macs still aren't cheap, you get a lot more bang for the buck than you once did.

And that's why Microsoft should read the vibe and think twice about ignoring Apple this time. Microsoft nearly missed the boat on the Internet last decade. It backed into a giant antitrust brouhaha. It has had huge problems with security this decade. Through its own inattention to Internet Explorer, it allowed Mozilla's Firefox to gain a bridgehead on browser market share. Even dyed-in-the-wool Windows enterprises are fed up with me-too Microsoft upgrades, the never-ending blizzard of security patches, the increasing hardware requirements for Vista, volume licensing snafus, and a litany of other complaints and sore points.

Nothing lasts forever. The bloom is coming off the rose on Microsoft. I would never put it past the software giant to come up with a way to remake itself in a better light. But the current course doesn't appear to me to lead in that direction. As much as Apple is doing things right, Microsoft is doing things wrong. That's a great combination for Apple, if it can keep walking the current tightrope.

In the end, this is about perception. It isn't about Apple's market share or even its quarterly sales numbers. (Apple's notebook computer sales for the fourth quarter were 4.1% of all portable computer sales, according to DisplaySearch.) What this is about is that Apple is reaching the right people with its product, winning new converts, Windows user by Windows user -- and creating buzz.

How do you measure buzz? You don't. It's something that experienced people in this industry can just feel. And that's the condition Microsoft should fear. Because buzz can turn into something much harder to combat than sheer numbers.

Scot Finnie is Computerworld's online editorial director.

What's In a name

By any other name

Please, Apple Inc.—don’t forget about the computer

By Andy Ihnatko

“I want you to call me Dar,” my good friend Jeff told me once again, impatiently. “Short for Darbloor. It shouldn’t be this hard for you to remember it.”

It was my sophomore year of college, and a few days earlier, Jeff had suddenly insisted that I stop referring to him by the name that his parents and I had always known him by. My reaction to all this was a precise indicator of my level of maturity and compassion at age 20. If he’d gotten to me two years sooner, he would have been praying for me to forget his request to call him Darbloor. But I’d grown up some, and my sole concern was understanding what had brought the poor lad to such a state.

“Jeff is who I used to be,” Darbloor explained, in the manner of a man who’d practiced this speech in front of a mirror. “By choosing the name that best suits the Jeff (sorry, ‘Dar’) of today, I’m taking a symbolic step that puts me in control of my future and …”

After listening to him continue for ten minutes, I asked him if Darbloor wasn’t also the name of one of the villains in the ongoing Star Wars comic that we were reading. Then he changed the subject, and I was a good enough friend to pretend not to notice.

Call me Apple

Now my good friend Apple Computer Inc. has asked me to start calling it Apple Inc. And this time the news came in the form of a press release, rather than over a shared plate of cheesy fries.

Both my friends’ motivations are exactly the same, though. Whether you’re an individual or a billion-dollar company, you should probably stop every now and then and ask yourself, “Who am I?” But if the answer you wind up with involves a corporate rebranding, you probably ought to go back inside the sweat lodge for another hour.

I still don’t know what Jeff’s deal was. (The name Dar lasted about as long as the purple hair he sported late in his freshman year.) But with Apple, it’s pretty obvious: the company is not just in the computer business anymore. Even if it were, the word computer is sounding more and more like a disposable antique of the 1970s or 1980s with each passing year. Here around my sofa, I’ve got an iPod, a Windows Mobile smart phone, and a TiVo. Each one truly fits the Apple II-era definition of a computer, yet we all know them simply as a music player, a phone, and an enchanted friend that brings us movies and TV shows.

More to the point, each one of these items is in the category of a device that Apple now builds. By the start of summer, the iPhone and the Apple TV will be in hundreds of thousands of homes, thus bringing the reliable Apple stamp of simplicity, reliability, and keen-as-a-lightsaber technology to consumer electronics.

Swell. But will Apple continue to bring that stamp to its computers?

We have MacBooks. But they’re unique only in that they run Mac OS instead of Windows. Where is that new miraculous subnotebook or tablet that only Apple can design?

Thanks to the transition to Intel, iMacs and Mac Pros are absolutely no-foolin’ among the most powerful desktops on the planet. But has desktop evolution truly dead-ended with the mouse-keyboard-screen configuration?

And what about Leopard? Apple has shown off only a handful of new features, and none of them seems revolutionary enough to inspire someone to tattoo an Apple logo on a visible body area.

Corporate amnesia

Companies often fail because they forget who they are. When the company that makes fantastic soups repositions itself as “a home branding portfolio,” when a newspaper stops talking about news and refers to its stories solely as content, and especially when the bank that holds your mortgage starts advertising that “Our currency is people, not money,” it’s time to worry.

I’m certainly not worried about Apple Comp—sorry, Apple Inc. Not yet. It has built an entire business out of hiding the word computer from its products’ users. Now it has just gone a step further and removed the word from its name. So long as it remembers the word’s importance, everything’s cool.

But I’ve been a watcher of corporations for far too long not to worry about a day, twenty years from now, when the company’s name is Ako, its logo is a black square inside an orange square, and its most popular product is a line of snack sandwiches that stay fresh without refrigeration.

[Andy Ihnatko is the technology columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times and the author of the forthcoming Mac OS X Leopard Book (Wiley).]

Adakah Alternatif itu suatu kesalahan?

Mesti ada yang tertanya2 kenapa tiba2 blog ini ditulis dalam bahasa melayu? Saya mempunyai hobi untuk melayari web. Sedang meninjau halaman Redesign Malaysia , sebuah website yang didedikasikan untuk menggembleng tenaga rakyat Malaysia untuk meningkatkan taraf broadband atau jalur lebar di negara kita. Apa yang menarik perhatian saya di situ ialah pengendali halaman web tersebut adalah seorang yang beliau sendiri menggelarkan dirirnya 'cina-beng' bernama Josh Lim. Walaupun peratusan blog yang ditulis oleh beliau adalah di dalam bahasa inggeris namun salah satu dari artikel beliau ditulis dalam bahasa ibunda malaysia. Gaya bahasa dan pengayaan perkataan yang beliau gunakan menyebabkan saya terasa tercabar, bukanlah untuk menjadi penulis lebih baik di sini tetapi untuk turut menggunakan bahasa melayu yang semakin lama semakin ditelan zaman.
Berbalik kepada persoalan adakah alternatif itu suatu kesalahan. Biasanya apabila berlaku sesuatu yang diluar norma atau tabii maka sesuatu itu ditakrifkan sebagai alternatif. Tapi dari aspek apakah ingin saya sampaikan disini? Marilah kita melihat dari sudut telekomunikasi yang ingin disampaikan oleh Josh Lim.

Internet

Semestinya kita semua menyedari bahawa di Malaysia pembekal perkhidmatan jalur lebar dikuasai oleh TMNet Streamyx. Walaupun kita mengetahui bahawa perkhidmatan yang diberikan adalah bak kata pepatah 'indah khabar dari rupa' namun semakin hari semakin ramai yang kita lihat melanggan Streamyx. Adakah masyarakat tidak mengetahui bahawa terdapat juga ISP (internet Service Provider- Pembekal Perkhidmatan Internet) yang lain seperti Time dan sebagainya yang memberikan perkhidmatan yang jauh lebih baik dati tmnet? Ataupun masyarakat mengambil pendekatan endah tak endah dan 'lebih baik ada dari tiada' dalam menilai perkhidmatan yang diberikan pihak tmnet? Hakikatnya ialah sistem tmnet sedang mengendalikan bebanan pelanggan yang lebih dari yang termampu, dan akibatnya ditanggung oleh pengguna , kelajuan yang lebih rendah berbanding harga yang dibayar dan kadang kala terputus perkhidmatan malah P2P yang menjadi tulang belakang untuk memuat turun media dari internet turut terjejas. Jelaslah di sini bahawa alternatif kepada permasalah in harus diberikan perhatian dan langkah yang telah diambil oleh Josh Lim adalah langkah yang bernas dan saya menyokong penuh usaha yang dijalankan beliau.

Komputer

Sepertimana niat asal blog ini ditulis iaitu untuk memberikan maklumat yang lebih lanjut tentang Apple dan komputer yang dikeluarkan oleh syarikat tersebut maka tidak perlulah saya menghuraikan lebih lanjut memandangkan sudah nyata bahawa saya memilih untuk menggunakan MacOSX dari menggunakan windows. Justifikasi yang diambil iaitu untuk menggunakan sistem operasi yang alternatif , selain windows adalah satu langkah yang tidak mudah untuk saya ambil malah disangkal dan dikatakan tidak sesuai untuk pelajar seperti saya, tambahan pula tidak ramai yang tahu menggunakan MacOSX.
Namun inilah yang dinamakan anjakan paradigma. Dikala manusia sibuk menggunakan benda yang sama di dunia kita mengambil langkah untuk maju setapak dengan mengenalkan suatu benda yang lebih baik. Maklumat mengenai Mac dan apple telahpun saya blogkan sebelum ini. Di sini ada sebuah tulisan mengenai Microsoft dan Alternatif.


Politik

Adalah bukan maksud saya untuk menyebelahi mana2 pihak tetapi hanya untuk memberikan maklumat2 tentang alternatif yang ada untuk rakyat malaysia. Alternatif sememangnya sukar untuk diterima tetapi adalah hak sendiri untuk menerima yang alternatif atau konservatif. Oleh kerana saya memang seorang yang suka mencari maklumat maka di sini saya berikan sebuah halaman web yang berkaitan dengan alternatif. Adalah disini ingin saya ketengahkan bahawa bukan niat dihati untuk menghasut dan sebagainya tetapi sekadar berkongsi maklumat, persepsi saudara saudari adalah untuk saudara saudari tentukan sendiri. Namun adakah kita berpuas hati bagaimana negara kita ditadbir dan dipimpin pada masa sekarang? Jika anda tidak berpuas hati adakah kita mampu untuk memilih yang alternatif? Dan adakah menjadi suatu kesalahan untuk memilih yang alternatif? Semua berbalik kepada prinsip dan kemahuan masing-masing....





Akhir kata

Maka justifikasi tentang salah atau benarnya sesuatu yang alternatif ituadalah bergantung kepada penilaian tentang baik buruk serta impak yang akan diberikan dengan memilih yang alternatif.


A man walks into a his bathroom and shoots himself right between the eyes using a real gun with real bullets. He walks out alive, with no blood anywhere. And no, he didn't miss and he wasn't Superman or any other caped crusader.
How did he do this?

A man was found murdered on Sunday morning. His wife immediately called the police. The police questioned the wife and staff and got these alibis:
The Wife said she was sleeping.
The Cook was cooking breakfast.
The Gardener was picking vegetables.
The Maid was getting the mail.
The Butler was cleaning the closet.

The police instantly arrested the murdered. Who did it and how did they know?

Your answers?

Leave your answers in the comments area.

Reminiscing the past embracing the present

This week is the start of my new cycle ENT and Topographical Anatomy. Its the hardest of cycles this semester as in the end of this semester both subjects will be subjected to exams. Just imagine everyday having to attend both classes that prior to it abundant reading must be done. Reaching the end of this week i became exhausted just by seeing book n understading even another phrase just as having difficulties deciphering codes....medially to this cut laterally but not past the proximal part of distal line that while having to be exact not to cut the nerves...and it goes on.....

Having the first test on Topographical Anatomy this monday, my hands are supposed to be glued to the books but instead this is what i am doing.... during high school, having lived with my roomates W and AT was the hilarious moments in my life. Their combination would make ur stomach contents come out just by seeing them side by side to each other. One afternoon back from class, i came into my room having discovered they had just finished doing sumthing (which was fishy by the looks of it) and was holding their laughs for no apparent reasons. Hot and sweaty i quickly changed into my towels and headed straight to the bathroom to take a bath before the prep class starts. It was a normal bath and things were just as they were in the afternoon in Langkawi- until i came back into my room.

Half a metre away from my room i can already hear both of them laughing out loud bout sumthing, but once i entered suddenly silent they became. 'Apa yang hampa dok gelak kuat sangat weih?', said I...'Tak dak papa bang dong (what they called me back then)...keh3', they continued laughing suddenly. I noticed they was an empty pack of soy juice besides W's bed and the middle of the room's floor was sticky as if sumthing was wiped away clean. AT said again to me in a very comel way (he had the Sinyu's from doraemon voice) that its nothing and they'll tell it in the evening.

Refreshed with clean clothes i went to class for the prep still not knowing about the incident. In the evening, again i asked bout the incident and again both of them broke into laughter..what the hell was going on here?? Launghing while trying to explain, which is very hard to do, both of them ware pushing each other to tell me what happened.....

It seems that AT and W were drinking soy juice they bought from KOOP that afternoon. AT drank a mouthfull and tried to make sounds like 'si tenang' the dugong to W while W was mouthfull of soy juice as well. Seeing the joke AT made he sprayed the whole content that was in his mouth to the floor not being able to hold his laugh and in search of a rug to wipe of the soy juice on the floor the decided to play a prank on me. They took my towel which was well hanging at my lockers side and wipe of W's vomit and kept on laughing......




Reminiscing the past



Embracing the present

Get a Mac Ads and Vista Imitation

Started a new cycle and dont have the time to write out any blogs. Hands busy thrusting stuff inside peoples ear nose and throat in the morning and busy cutting hands and legs in the evening...here's an article i picked up from myMacBUZZ about the Switching ads apple made..enjoy! ill try to attach the video if possible..

About the Get A Mac commercials

The Get A Mac ads, you either love it or hate it, either way the ads had made an impact. Surely it is more entertaining then the previous “Switch” ads. However some people are misinterpreting the adverts.

The commercials produced for Apple by TBWA who had done ad campaign for Adidas, PlayStation, Nissan and other high profile client. There are even now an UK and Japan version of the ads with different actors playing ‘PC’ and ‘Mac’.

The common misinterpretation are regarding both the characters ‘PC’ played by John Hodgman and ‘Mac’ played by Justin Long. They do not represent Bill Gates and Steve Jobs neither do they represent PC users and Mac users.

What both of the characters represent are the machine itself. If a PC and a Mac were to take a human form, that is most probably how they will look like. If both machine were to be humanize and were able to talk, most probably that is how they will act. This is what the whole Get a Mac commercials is going for.

Notice that on each commercials they introduced themselves as “Hi I am a PC”, “and I am a Mac”. They didn’t say that “I am a PC user” or “I am a Mac user”.

So PC users don’t be offended over the ‘Get a Mac’. The commercials are not saying that you are boring, just that your machines are.

About Vista And MacOSX

Here are some interesting facts you should know ...i do admire these guys presenting skills though, very relax and yet interactive.



Here are some of the ads i promised

iMac revealed...

Ive mentioned in my previous post that its a nightmare having brought this monster back to moscow! I always have one notion that 'everything will eventually come into place when the time comes'. It applied even to this situation as well but having to go through the obstacles firsts seemed like its never gonna apply in the first place. Just a few days before my departure from Malaysia back to Moscow i started searching the luggage to carry my iMac in. I measured the size of my iMac which i dont remember now but then it was like the number '23' (please go to the cinema for more information) haunting me night and day! So there was i searching every single luggage store for the right bag. My initial strategy was like this, as the iMac's stand cant be unassembled the only option to fit this thing in a bag is byputting it face down. But what worried me the most was will it be safe to put the mac without any padding. I was soo desperate that the price of the luggage doesnt matter (it did initially) as long as my investment in this mac would worth it! From one shop to another,one shopping complex to the other, one state to another (haha i didnt actually did this on purpose but my village is in another state if you get what i mean) but still this number 23 haunts me.

Up to the very end, i.e the morning of my departure day this question wasnt resolved until i finally noticed the obvious. Why dont we use the original box? said i to my family members(a bit poietic have i become). It has the paddings we need and the exact size for the mac to fit. But the drawback of this is wheather im allowed to bring this box inside the cabbin. There's no way im gonna checked this box in (which eventually did come into reality sadly). So rushingly i drove to my local airport bringing with me the empty iMac box to ask the ground staff wheather this box is allowed into the cabin area, which is of course NOT said one of the ground staff! Next time then...got an iMac to reveal...huhu

iMac

-below are images i took from iMac user guide given by apple to their users. I used the command-shift-4 (its like print screen in windows accept u can choose area to catch your pictures by dragging your cursor) to capture this pictures. These info is exlusively given to those who already bought mac but nevertheless ill reveal it for the purpose of Switching ...

Out of the box

This is what you will get when you purchase an iMac. What? Where's the CPU?.... its all there! Everything is already built inside. Yup, no clogged wires, space saving! How about speakers? Like i told you before-everythings there and ill pin point where they're all located..



Front View A

As you can see on the side theres the slot to load your DVD's and remote rest. Yup the remote attaches magnetically to the side of your imac. The power indicator light is only noticeable when the mac is being switched ON and when its sleeping. One thing about the disc slot is that it doesnt have any eject button physically on the mac. Its on the keyboard instead! Thus you can deduce by now wheater you can use other keyboards other than apple's..... sigh...yup the volume and mute button is also on the keyboard.


Here is shown the slot loading area
Magnetic placing of the Remote

Front View B

Yeah, recent lines of macs except for macpro has i-sight installed where you can use it to make video conference,take pictures and as well make movies! Near to it as you can see is a built in microphone. The IR (infrared) receiver for the remote is the apple logo itself. The speakers although at the bottom but it works extremely well! The only drawback is that if the files youre playing is of low audio quality,the volume cant be amplified enough sometimes to be heard if youre staying far away from your mac. Apple's keyboard comes in with 2 USB ports at the rear side. One is usually used for inserting your mighty mouse and the other one i use for thumb drives...


Rear View A

-new generation iMacs have mini DVI port in case you are feeling that you need extra desktop/working space to attached an additional monitor.
-the rest you can see it by yourself-3 USBs and 2 fire-wire 400 ports

Rear View B
-memory access is the place you would pay attention to if you wanna upgrade our RAM-by yourself that is
Mighty Mouse

-although it may look like a buttonless mouse, it may be one of the most crowded buttoned mouse ever!
-What a mouse ball on the upper side? Yup !you can scroll left and right, up and down using one scroll ball (this is super cool but you better make sure no dust is trapped in there or youll be in serious trouble!) Clicking on the scroll ball lets u choose which windows you wanna work with (alt-tab equivalent)
-Side button is usually used for expose' (its like aero in vista) where you have to 'squeeze' the mouse

Remote

-a device that is especially loved by couch potato like me. There's a few cool stuff you can do with this remote actually. You can put your computer to sleep and boot your mac into windows just by using your remote!!

i-Sight









Some other pictures taken...

The real Krun and Lutp's picture....which they claimed can increase the traffict of this site...hehe

The real Anas Sofian..huhu