Gadgetell | Tech News, Reviews, and Interesting Things

If you’re a business traveler and plan on taking Virgin Atlantic airlines in the near future, you should know that your laptop battery may not be allowed on-board.  Similar to Korean Air’s recent battery ban, Virgin has announced that passengers who travel with Dell Inspirons and Latitudes, and Apple iBooks, Powerbooks, MacBooks, and MacBook Pros will be asked to remove the battery before the plane takes off.  The company is asking that if you need to use your laptop in-flight, you plug in to the in-seat power supply.  In addition, passengers are only allowed to bring a max of 2 batteries on-board, so if you the Energizer bunny, you many need to leave some at home.

The battery ban is the result of recalls that took place last month of certain models of Sony-manufactured batterys.  Virgin has yet to announce when they will lift the restriction.

Read [RegHardware]

Since the laptop battery fiasco media attention has died down, we just wanted to be sure you didn’t miss the news.  If you have a Dell or Apple laptop computer with a Sony battery, make sure your battery wasn’t recalled.  After talking to several friends that have iBooks and such, I’ve realized that they all forgot, now there’s no media attention to remind them.  So if you want to be a true geeky friend, make sure your friends and family don’t have explosive laptops.  The battery program websites are listed below.

Apple: Battery Exchange Program iBook G4 and PowerBook G4
Apple: 15-inch MacBook Pro Battery Exchange Program
Dell: Battery Return Program

The Apple MacBook has been out for a few weeks now and we have had a couple of interactions with it. Not enough to writeup a full review but we logged enough Apple Store hours to offer our impression.

The new MacBook is a 13-inch laptop that replaces both the iBook and the 12-inch PowerBook G4. The MacBook box is a slightly smaller version of the thin MacBook Pro box. It comes with the Apple Remote and MagSafe power adaptor. It comes in both standard Apple White and a new Black. We preferred the look of the white in addition to the fact that the black model is extremely overpriced.

Compared to a 15-inch MacBook Pro, the MacBook seems quite small. The MacBook is slightly thicker but weighs 5.2 pounds, compared to the MacBook Pro’s 5.6 pounds. Unfortunately the MacBook is clearly bigger than its predecessor the PowerBook. Not only wider which we expect from the widescreen display, but thicker and heavier too. If you’re an iBook G4 user, you’ll find the MacBook slightly smaller, but slightly heavier.

The 13-inch widescreen display with a native resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels is glossy, which we liked, like Sony and Toshiba units.
Another major change for Apple is the brand new keyboard on the unit. It looks very different (keys are very spaced out) but it seemed to feel natural to type on. The MacBook also does not have a latch to close the unit but rather uses a magnet (which we find unnecessary since a hinge like my Sony VAIO S series works just fine). With two fingers on the mouse pad your click becomes a Ctrl-click/right-click.

Above the screen in the built-in iSight camera, has Front Row software, comes with the remote, has built in wireless and Bluetooth, all like the MacBook Pro. The MacBook’s also got built-in audio input and output, in both digital and analog forms, and support for external displays up to 1920 x 1200 resolution. The MacBook seems to be missing a PC card or ExpressCard expansion slot, a back-lit keyboard, lack of dual-link DVI support, and could have better video card.

Although the MacBook is Apple’s lowest-priced laptop, it’s about as far from a “low-end” model as you could get. Although you can no longer buy a new Mac laptop for under $1,000, the cheapest MacBook (a $1,099 model) features a dual-core 1.83 GHz processor: even the lowest-priced MacBook is a remarkably powerful system. A maxed-out MacBook will cost you $2,049 ($2,199 if you want it in black!), with a dual-core 2GHz processor, 2GB of RAM, a 120GB serial ATA drive, and a SuperDrive.

Overall - We have not spent enough time with the laptop to offer a true rating but we doubt you will go wrong with Apple’s new, very powerful, 13” widescreen laptop.

Over the past week we have had a bunch of new stories that seemed to compete against one another, so we decided to fight it out. At the completion of our PTI-like podcast Doug walked away with a black eye, Adam has a broken nose, and Greg our sound guy...well let’s just say that his mother was not happy. OK, not really but it got heated. Checkout the lineup below. This podcast was once again sponsored by GoDaddy.com.  Head over there and get 10% off any domain or hosting order courtesy Gadgetell and GoDaddy.

• Treo 700p vs. Motorola Q


• AIM Phoneline vs. Free Skype Out calling


• Site redesigns (Yahoo and Flickr) vs. Change is bad


• Sony VAIO UX vs. Origmani vs. Sidekick III vs. Tablet PCs vs. Nokia 770


• XM vs. RIAA


• MacBook vs. iBook


• Apple Stores (specifically the cube) vs. other CE company stores (Samsung, Sony Style, Dell)


• Treo 700p out on Sprint vs. Verizon

Listen In
[MP3] Direct Download (Right click, select save as).
[RSS] Add the Gadgetell Podcast RSS feed to your RSS reader to have the show delivered right to you!

Hosts: Doug Berger, Adam Berger
Producer: Greg Cherniet
Music: Dvir Tzadok
File size: 29.7MB
Length: 00:43:20

Sponsored by GoDaddy.com:
As a listener of The Gadgetell podcast, enter code GADGET1, that’s G-A-D-G-E-T and the number 1, when you check out, and save an additional 10% on any order. Get your piece of the internet at GoDaddy.com.

Interested in sponsoring the podcast or advertising on the site? Please check out our advertise page or send an email to advertise (at) gadgetell .com.  We are specifically looking to get the resources for some sweet podcasting equipment (microphones, a mixer, cables, etc.).

Feedback is much appreciated. If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions, please email us at gadgetell (at) gmail.com.  Thanks for listening!

Charles Gaba did a really nice comparison of all the feature differences (and similarities) between the Apple iBook G4 and its successor thenew Apple MacBook. Overall these two machines are hard to judge since they are very different. They have been released a few years apart with technology changing drastically over time as well as corporate partnerships (Apple and Intel who would have thought).

Some key differences that gave the MacBook one up are: a upgradeable hard drive, 13.3” widescreen display, Intel Core Duo processor, max 2 GB of RAM, iSight camera, and BootCamp capabilities. The iBook was most notably favored in the weight area (4.9-5.2 lbs.).

Check it out [System Shootouts]

After all the rumors, expected launch dates, and bated breath anticipation Apple has finally replaced the iBook with a 13.3” glossy widescreen (1280x800 resolution) MacBook. The new model is supposidly up to 5x faster than the previous model, powered by a Intel Core Duo processor with a 667 MHz front-side bus and 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM memory expandable to 2GB running Mac OS X 10.4.6. It also has, as expected, a built-in iSight video camera, Front Row, iLife ‘06, the now standard Apple Remote, DVI-out, dual display support, optical digital audio input and output, Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11g WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0, 2 USB ports, a Sudden Motion Sensor, Scrolling TrackPad and MagSafe Power Adapter.

The MacBook lineup includes three models: a 1.83 GHz ($1,099) and 2.0 GHz ($1,299) MacBook in a newly designed, white enclosure and a 2.0 GHz ($1,499) MacBook in a new black enclosure At about one-inch thin, the new MacBook is 20 percent thinner than the iBook and a display that is 79 percent brighter than the iBook. Click more for additional information and images

The new MacBook is available immediately through the Apple Store, Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers. Additional build-to-order options for the MacBook include the ability to upgrade to 80GB, 100GB or 120GB 5400 rpm hard drive, up to 2GB DDR2 SDRAM, Apple USB Modem, Apple Mini-DVI to DVI adapter, Apple Mini-DVI to VGA adapter, and the AppleCare Protection Plan.

Read [Apple]

We already have confirmation that Google is going ahead with their Press Day this Wednesday where they will release some new offerings and AppleInsider is now reporting that Apple is going to drop some hot news this week too.

Apple may unveil the iBook replacement tomorrow, smack dab in the middle of E3’s biggest day (both Nintendo and Microsoft are holding their press conferences tomorrow). The MacBook is expected to have a 13” widescreen display, run Intel’s Core Duo chips, a built in iSight camera, MagSafe power adaptor, etc. Finally, expect this model to be Apple White for now with the possibility of other hues in the future.

Read [Apple Insider]