Apple has release its latest firmware update for the Thunderbolt Display. The current version 1.2 comes almost 3 years after 1.1 was released in December of 2011. Version 1.1 was released then to fix a fan noise issue that affected a small number of displays. Concerning its latest update 1.2, Apple has stated:
This update improves reliability when connecting devices to the Apple Thunderbolt Display, and addresses a rare issue that may cause the display to go black.
To download this update have your Thunderbolt Display connected and visit the Apple Mac Store, then click updates. You could also see their support page for the direct link. Still no word from Apple on an updated 5K Thunderbolt Display. If you are looking for a display to connect to your Macbook Pro with Thunderbolt port, take a look at our recent round up – the best monitor for Macbook Pro.
Although the latest version of the iPad stirred quite a hysteria, it may surprise you to know that the Mac recently passed the iPad in overall revenue. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the first Macintosh and this years sales were the second among all it’s products. It generated revenue totaling over $6 billion. These Mac sales proved that Mac still has the upper hand over similar PC models in terms of quality.
So the question is: What’s the cause for the rise in sales for Mac? This is a very good question and one that can be answered by looking at the marketing strategy of Apple. In the last eight years, Apple has decided to do a few things different. For example, they increased their visibility by opening more retail stores, especially overseas stores in Europe and China. They also stopped charging a fee for updating Mac software and offered a reasonable price for other Mac computer products like the Macbook Air.
Surprisingly, prices for their desktop and laptop computers have not decreased significantly in price compared to PCs, averaging a price point, two to three times higher than the cost of a PC especially for laptops. Nonetheless, consumers say that it is the quality and value of the product that sets Mac apart from its less expensive counterparts. This is a quality and value that consumers have come to count on. Once consumers have a pleasant experience with an Apple product, they generally become lifetime customers, buying other Apple products for themselves and family members. This is what keeps Apple and Mac products continuously in the running for high sales. You can’t beat a loyal customer.
In addition, Mac continues to be a frontrunner now that it offers free updates for its Mac OS X operating system and lower prices for new Apple products like the Macbook Air. This only helps to move the brand beyond the iPhone and the iPad and into what it was originally known for. Now, Apple has provided a seamless transition between the iOS and OS X environment. This is yet another draw to gain and keep customers.
Apple will of course still have PCs as its competitor, particularly in price. Consumers are drawn to a lower price for a product that can competitively do the same as its more expensive counterpart. The key for Apple is how to continue to retain its loyal customers.
Portable hard drives for Mac, which are the best selling. As you collect more music, videos and even work files, it’s inevitable that you will eventually need additional space for data. There are infinite portable external hard drive options out there for a Mac, but this article is designed to fast track your search. These are the most popular and best selling portable hard drives available on the market today. Some may say they are specifically designed for mac computers but in general most hard drives can be formatted to Mac OS Extended regardless. Thanks to many recent advancements in technology external portable hard drives have been getting smaller and smaller. Let’s focus on those smaller versions because they can still hold a ton of data, but provide that portability so many mac enthusiasts are after.
Hands down, the Passport has been the external hard drive choice for mac and pc computers alike. For years they have been producing a small but powerful product. With USB 3.0 you won’t have to wait as long to transfer your files. To top it off they offer automatic cloud backup. You can disable this and use Time Machine if you prefer.
This drive comes formatted for a PC so you’ll have to reformat it first in order for it to work with your mac. Formatting this portable hard drive for your mac takes less than a minute with new drives so it’s quick and painless. This 2TB model will hold enough music to listen to non-stop for 4 years – that’s crazy! The Passport is available in silver to match your mac and is reasonably priced at ($109 USD).
Protects your drive (Internal Shock Sensor and Ramp Loading Technology)
Our 2.0TB Drive is capable of storing up to 571,000 digital photos or 526,000 digital music files or 1,640 downloaded digital movies
Accommodates large digital files with spacious storage capacity
Gives you peace of mind with Toshiba’s 1-year Limited Warranty
Coming in second is the Toshiba Cavio portable hard drive. A great choice if you are on a budget this 2TB hard drive costs only ($94 USD). Toshiba is all about the ease of use. No gimmicky software or confusing instructions, simply format and you have a small, portable and stylish external hard drive. Also runs on USB 3.0 so expect blazing transfer speeds. Only downside is the shorter warranty period, but we recommend you backup your files to a cloud or second hard drive just in case.
Easily back up your computer and content from mobile devices with free Mobile Backup App
Apple Time Machine compatible
Transfers files quickly with USB 3.0 connectivity
Use between PC and Mac computers without reformatting
The Seagate Slim is the most stylish and smallest of all the portable drives. The brushed silver matches almost any MacBook. Seagate advertises this product as a mac friendly hard drive. In testing we found that it works with mac computers right out of the box. However we still recommend a proper formatting before use, it can’t hurt and can save a lot of headaches. The drive is so small its easily fits into a computer backpack sleeve. The drive sells for ($99 USD) which is in the medium range.
Bottom Line
There you have it the three most popular portable drives for macs. You can use them at home, work or when traveling. They don’t take up a lot of room so you have plenty of space for additional gadgets. Use them as a backup so you always have your work files with you or when you need a movie to pass time on a plane. We personally went with the Seagate Slim, we just couldn’t resist the look that complimented our MacBook Pros so well. Now that you have the top three selling hard drives you can’t go wrong. Pick the one that best matches your style or color theme and feel confident in your purchase. You can’t lose!
This week Apple announced a new 27‑inch iMac with Retina 5K display. All this talk about 4.7 million pixels had some Apple fans drooling and others wondering if a Thunderbolt Display with the same resolution was on the way. Turns out that even though Thunderbolt 2 technology is somewhat new to the market, it can’t handle the 5K resolution.
This is sad news for creative professionals and others who use the MacBook / Thunderbolt Display system on a daily basis. It makes life easy: Dock at home, dock at work and a laptop for use anywhere else. Let’s not forget the Mac Pro which is popular with video professionals who also use Apple’s brilliant display. The Thunderbolt 2 which supports DisplayPort 1.2 maxed out at 3840 x 2100 resolution. There is some good news however, DisplayPort 1.3 was announced just last month. The increased bandwidth of 32.4 Gbps allows for 5K monitor support and a crazy 5120 x 2880 resolution. With that said, is it possible we could see a Thunderbolt 3 in the near future? Don’t hold your breath. The Thunderbolt Display is now over 3 years old and Apple has showed no hints of releasing an update anytime soon.
Connections for New iMac with Retina 5K Display
The only possibility at this time is to use two Thunderbolt Ports to run a single 5K monitor. For those who use the Mac Pro this could be an option. The Mac Pro is the only mac powerful enough to attempt this and even then it means tying up more connections you might need. Not to mention many video professionals use multiple monitors, at this time it just doesn’t seem practical.
It’s crazy to think at it’s introduction the Thunderbolt technology was so advanced that many companies didn’t even have products for it yet and some still don’t. Now years later display technology is taking a giant leap over connection speed. It might be possible that Apple is holding off on purpose waiting to see how the new iMac performs in the market and where exactly the display port technology standards are heading, before releasing a new Retina 5k Thunderbolt Display. Of course we can all imagine the cost of that new display based on Apple’s current prices, but for some budget buyers, there is always the option to purchase a refurbished Thunderbolt Display from Apple at a reduced cost before the new monitors start hitting the market. As it stands the Thunderbolt Display is still the best monitor for MacBook and MacBook Pro.
Apple TV is another one of Apple’s great and innovative products. And like all Apple products, the Apple TV also get regular updates. The latest update for Apple TV was recently sent out, just last week. The update was the 7.0 update for third generation Apple TVs only. However, the highly anticipated update fell flat with many Apple TV users. With the new update, the new features that Apple TV users got were new icons, a new Beats Music Channel, and a Family Sharing feature. Even though the new icons were esthetically pleasing, they still didn’t add anything new to the Apple TV in terms of usability. Many users stated that the new update did nothing to improve the Apple TV experience. So, below are 5 suggestions to Apple to improve its Apple update and make the next update a better one.
Safari plug-in for queueing videos
Many people watch YouTube videos on their computer, iPhones, or iPad by simply typing in the web address in their browser and watching videos. However, the experience of watching YouTube videos through the Apple TV is not always so streamlined or a pleasant experience. Surfing through the YouTube channel with the remote has been described as “clunky”, and trying to send a video from your iPhone or iPad using AirPlay can be a long wait and can only be done one video at a time. One suggestion for the Apple TV was to be able to surf around with Safari and right-click videos around the web to add them to a “watch later” list that’s synced through iCloud to my Apple TV.” It’s a much easier and streamlined process to be able to watch videos online or on your phone instead of through Apple TV. However, the experience of watching online videos would be much better through the television.
Universal Search
Instead of sifting through each channel and their myriad of choices, Apple TV users should be able to search for content across all channels at one time, in order to find what they are looking for. This is a lot to ask, but when other streaming products like Roku and Kindle Fire are making strides to provide this feature, it’s time for Apple to get a leg up on them.
Roku – One of Apple TV’s major competitors
Siri
We are all familiar with the voice activated program on Apple iPhones called Siri, Having Siri be available on Apple TV would be a great feature in the next update. (Kindle TV has a microphone already built into the remote.) The ideal scenario would be that someone speaks directly into their Apple TV remote saying, “I’d like to watch Whoppi Goldberb films on my Apple TV”, and these films will come right up.
One Login
There are a number of channels available on Apple TV. Some of these channels are paid for by the user. However, for each pay TV channel, the Apple TV user is required to log in in for each and every time they want to view the channel. This is because those channels don’t all support the same provider. Each time you want to watch the channel, you have to search around for the login screen and login every time you want to watch a new channel. The best way to solve this problem is to create only one place for the user to log in just one time. Also, a notification of when there’s an update through the Apple TV, perhaps through email once the user logs in, would work as well. This streamlined approach makes it much easier to use.
Open SDK and a channel store
Apple TV competitors like Fire TV and Roku allow for their users to leisurely look through the Channel Store and choose whatever channel they want. Apple TV places channels on the lineup without you choosing them, so they just sit on your user page even if you don’t want that particular channel. Apple should create a better way for their users to pick the channels they want to watch or sign up for, and reject the channels they do not want. It’s recommended that Apple should, “greatly expand the channel offerings through an open SDK without users becoming overwhelmed by screen after screen of icons.”
There are sure to be more suggestions that Apple TV users have for the company before the next update. Can you think of a few?
