New MacBook Air expected?

There will reportedly be a new entry-level laptop in the Fall. Predictions have gone back and forth as to if it will be a new MacBook Air or a new MacBook, and today Taiwanese research firm TrendForce predicted that it would be a new MacBook Air that would be released by Apple in either September or October.

The device, either MacBook or Macbook Air, is rumored to have a 13-inch retina display and have a starting price of $999 or less in the United States.

If it were to be a MacBook Air, that would be pretty great, as the current MacBook Air hasn’t seen any major updates in over three years.

With a super large new release line up for the Fall – three new iPhones, Apple Watch Series 4, updated iMac and Mac Mini models, some are saying that this will lead Apple to have two events, the first major (read:iPhone) event in September, and a secondary event in October.  The last time we had two Apple events in the fall was in 2016.

Best Apple Laptop for school? 2018 Version

So you have some extra cash burning a hole in your pocket, eh? Fancy some new Apple gear? It’s an investment in your future, you know, your grades would suffer if you didn’t  buy something shiny and new, right?

If that’s the case, or if you just really want a new laptop, Here are you options:

Apple MacBook Air 13-inch, 128GB, 256GB –

The cheapest: even without any discounts you can get the MacBook Air from $999. If you pay a little more, you can get twice the storage space with a 256GB SSD.

On the flip side, the display is the only Apple laptop that is not Retina, and is also the least powerful model.

BUT it does have the longest battery life, at 12 hours (two hours longer than other models). It is also the only model that has older hardware such as an SD card for photographers and familiar USB sockets.

If you’re a student or working in education then Apple is selling the Air from $849.

Apple 12 inch MacBook 256GB

The lightest of the lot, and super slim, even though  the screen is only an inch smaller than the 13″ MacBook Air and MacBook Pro.

Retina display! Yay! Can increase storage to 512GB with a 256GB SSD. Double Yay! Has a force-touch trackpad. Yay?

Fast, but likely not heavy packing enough for video editing or gaming.

Starting at $1299 for regular folk, if you’re in education or a college student, you can get this baby for… $1249.

2018 MacBook Pro 

This big mama is at the pricier end of the Apple tree, and both heavier and thicker than either the MacBook or the MacBook Air. It has a beautiful retina display and is the fasted, most recently updated, and most powerful Apple laptop you can get right now.

If this sounds like your cup of expensive tea, you also have a couple of secondary options to decide on.

Firstly, you can get either the 13-inch or the 15-inch. Then, you have to decide if you want the base model  Then, you have to decide if you want the base model or if you want the Touch bar and touch ID.

The Touch Bar shows features and options of your software super clearly, and the Touch ID brings the iPhone-style way of unlocking and of paying in online stores.

Adding Touch ID and Touch Bar adds $500 to the price but that also means a better screen: it’s the same Retina display but with True Tone which adjust display color and brightness to fit your surroundings. Fancy.

Something additional to consider, is that only the Touch Bar models of the MacBook Pro are capable of being expanded to have 32GB RAM and 4TB of SSD.

You can get the Macbook Pro for-

13-Inch – From $1299 ( or $1249 with education pricing)

13-Inch with Touch Bar and Touch ID – from $1799 (or $1699 with education pricing)

15-Inch with Touch Bar and Touch ID – From $2399 (or $2249 with education pricing)

Similar to last year, if you are a (verified) college student, a parent purchasing on behalf of higher-education students, or faculty/staff at either a higher-education or K-12 institution, you can get a free or discounted pair of Beats headphones with the purchase of an eligible Mac or iPad Pro, and 20% off AppleCare.

This offer will be available until Sept. 25.

Happy shopping!

New MacBooks coming our way

Rumor has it that Apple will be announcing a refresh for it’s MacBook line at WWDC (Worldwide Developers Conference) in June, with high expectations for an updated MacBook and MacBook Pro, and the possibility of a new MacBook Air.

All of the updates will likely only be internal, however, with updated processors, the MacBook Pro and the MacBook both in line to receive a faster Kaby Lake processor.

The MacBook Air hasn’t been updated since March 2015, with Apple putting more focus on the other models, however the affordability of the Air has kept it’s sales strong, likely ensuring it’ll be around for a few years more.

WWDC keynote begins at 10:00 AM PT, and according to rumors, we’ll also see announcements regarding a new iPad Pro, as well as a Siri speaker.

Apple Special Media Event Part 2 – The new MacBook

Today, Tim Cook announced a new Macbook, and it is very, very shiny and pretty and new.

What, you wanted more information? Okay, okay. Here’s what you can expect from the new member of the Apple Family.

* It weight 2 Pounds. That’s less than a 1 liter bottle of soda pop. It’s lighter than our iPhone Antidote Guinea Pig, Papa Nu.  It’s really light.

* It’s the thinnest Macbook, coming in at a anorexic 13.1 mm thick, 24% thinner than the previous skinny-minny, the 11-inch Macbook Air.

*The enclosure is, for the first time, all metal.

* The keyboard is full size, and is actually an entirely new keyboard, with  a butterfly mechanism instead of the usual scissor mechanism, making it 4 times more stable than before. The keys are 40% thinner and 17% larger, and now come with an LED light each. The new Keyboard and the new track pad (see below) apparently will take some getting used to.

* The trackpad has also been redesigned, with 4 force sensors and a new ‘force’ click with a range of different applications, from bringing up the Wiki page for a word you force click, to opening up the calendar for force clicking a date in a message.

*It comes with a new 12-inch edge to edge Retina, 2,304 by 1,440 pixel resolution display that uses 30% less energy.

*It’s the first fanless Macbook. It wasn’t actually explained how the new macbook will keep itself from overheating, but we assume (hope) that detail will be forthcoming.

*The logic board is super tiny, coming in at 67% smaller than previous logic boards.

*They will have the new intel core M with 1.3 ghz and turbo to 2.9 ghz

* The Battery life has improved, thanks to terraced battery contours helping you to get all day battery life.

* The new Macbook will be almost entirely cable-less, with one port to RULE THEM ALL. Or, just one port, really, for Power, USB and video output. The USB cable/port is a new industry standard that we will see more and more of, called USB-C.

Cool, but definitely something that will get some users fired up, as to gain USB compatibility you will need to use an USB-C Digital AV Multiport Adaptor with included HDMI, USB 3.1, and USB-C inputs located on the device. This adaptor, currently unavailable, will come in at a rather large $79 clams.

* The Macbook is the most environmentally friendly and the most efficient Macbook.

* They will come in Silver, Space gray, and Gold option. Is the Gold option a little too flashy? We think maaaaybe. Time will tell. They will come with 8GB memory, and 256 GB storage space.

* Shipping  April 10th, you’re looking at $1299 big ones, or if you have a couple more big ones handy, there’s also a slightly more powerful model for $1,599 with a 1.2GHz processor and 512GB storage space.

See what we mean? Apart from needing another adaptor Apple, this new Macbook sounds like a definite step forward in notebook technology.

Next: Part 3 – Apple Watch in all it’s shiny detail!

Christmas Gift guide Part 3 – Tips & Tricks for buying tech this Christmas!

We told you we loved Christmas right? We also really like deals. Deals, tips, tricks, writlefifers, all of it. This is why we now proudly present the Christmas Gift Guide Part 3 – Tips & Tricks for buying Tech this Christmas!

( See our other Christmas Guides, Part 1 -Comprehensive Holiday Tech Gift Guide and Part 2 – The Really Really Expensive Gift Guide.)

According to Macrumors, Apple now has an official policy on price matching, which allows specialists to price match iPhones, iPads, and Macs, giving up to 10 percent off on products without authorization. Specialists are also allowed to give business customers up to 20% off a non-Apple accessory when purchased with an Apple product via special order.

Apple also has free shipping now through December 22nd.

If you’re thinking of buying that special someone a Smartphone this holiday season, you should get yourself along to Whistleblower – a fantastic tool that you can use to compare cell phone plans online, and see which one is best for your needs and your budget!

If you use Amazon ( and you should)  you should be aware of a couple of things. Firstly, they will price match on cell phones and televisions within 14 days of shipment of the product.  Click here to see the details. 

Amazon also offers 3-months of Amazon Prime Membership for free for parents & caregivers. This includes Free 2-day shipping on qualifying items, 30% off Select Diapers & Wipes which qualify for subscribe & save (15% discount + 15% S&S discount, an additional month of Amazon Prime for each $25 you spend on a single order (up to 1 year total of free prime) and exclusive e-mail discounts and offers.

Click here to check it out.

College students should also click here to apply for Best Buy’s student discounts, all you need is your student email address ( must end in .edu). With this, you’ll save $50 on MacBooks and receive similar discounts in your email.

College students also save up to $200 off a MacBook with Apple’s education pricing.

You guys should definitely check out the refurbished products on the Apple special deals page here. You can find deals like the iPad Mini Wifi 64 Gb with a 1 year warranty for $419, 13 inch MacBook air for $849, or Apple TV for $75.

Target’s markdown day is usually Monday for electronics. Markdowns usually take place every two weeks and items will continue to be marked down every two weeks until sold or the discount reaches 75 percent. Markdown schedule’s might vary from store to store, so it won’t hurt to check.

You can get a bunch of sweet Mac applications all in one go from MacUpdate in corroboration with Macrumors. For only $39.99, the bundle includes 10 applications such as iStopMotion 3, Anonymiser, and Backblaze. All up it’s worth a cool $360 clams.  Click here to check out the deal.

And here’s a couple of specific deals you should check out:

iPad Mini and iPad Mini with Retina Display Smart Cover by Apple – 19.99 for blue, 14.99 for all others including Red. Free Shipping. Click here to see the deal. 

Pioneer A4 WiFi Speaker w/ AirPlay Streaming $80 + Free Shipping save $120! Check it out here.

Get a Apple 15.4″ MacBook Pro for $1549.99 with a discount and rebate at MacMall.

Happy dealing and Writlefifing and Merry Christmas!

Images courtesy of Freechristmaswallpapers & Hqwallbase.com

New MacBook Airs

MacBook Airs were given a small but quite amazing revamp in time for WWDC 2013.

The new 11-inch and 13-inch notebooks use Haswell processers, which provide better overall performance and most importantly- increased battery life or ‘all day’ battery life as described by Apple.

The 11 inch MacBooks will increase from 5 hours of battery life to 9 hours and the 13 inch MacBooks will increase from 7 hours to a pretty amazing 12 hours of battery life. I know we just said Amazing to describe that, but we totally think it deserves an Astounding too. Simply astounding battery life!

The new MacBooks also come with 40% better graphics performance, and up to 3 times faster Wi-Fi capabilities with 802.11ac compatibility.  802.11ac is the newest Wi-Fi standard, but as it is not common yet, Apple also announced a new Airport Extreme that is compatible with 802.11ac.

The pricing has changed a little (for the better) with the narrowing hard drive options, as the 64 GB is not available with this update. The 11″ MacBook Air starts at $999 with a 128GB hard drive and the 13″ MacBook Air with a 128GB hard drive starts at $1099.

Available online and in retail stores as of today (yesterday officially, but a lot of stores actually started selling them today).

Image courtesy of Ubergizmo.