Aecraft Peak for MacBook Air Review

Posted on October 15, 2014 by Teague Loughman under Reviews

Aecraft Peak is one of the newest MacBook Air cases/sleeves to hit the Mac third-party accessories market. The big question is, can Peak compete in the already overpopulated Computer Case marketplace?

In short, Peak crushes it! Clever innovation, thoughtful design and functional material, adapts the successful “iPad case concept” and revamps the design for use with Apple’s MacBook Air

Peak’s landmark feature, is the exceptional folding concept! This unique concept provides the user with an easier and more comfortable typing experience plus protection in transport. Much like Apple’s iPad Smart Cover case, Peak folds in upon itself to create a laptop stand and a comfort wrist rest, that is at the perfect angle for typing. I know what you’re thinking… “I can type just fine” or “How can my typing be even more comfortable?”.

Peak has two different snap-in-clip buttons: one that keeps the laptop sleeve shut, and one that elevates the laptop for easier typing. The design and concept both very straightforward! Here’s how to do it in two easy steps:

— Take out your Macbook Air

— Snap in the first-from-the-top clip to create the typing angle

— That’s all there is to it!

Now to the typing angle concept, overall…Pretty good (albeit, somewhat hard to explain!). Elevated typing with Peak just feels… right. Simply, it is one of those things that you didn’t know was great until you tried it.

Peak even offers health benefits! Using Aecraft’s sleeve lowers the possible risk of arthritis because of the elevated typing angle (probably helps with carpal tunnel too!). All in all, Peak is both healthier and more comfortable for your fingers than just typing with your MacBook flat on the table!

Last but not least, the innovative use of two sturdy, complementary materials provides a great “look” and the felted back design makes for a built-in backing…your laptop slides effortlessly around your work space, with no more scratch/streak marks on your work space.

Now utilizing Acecraft Peak with my MacBook Air daily, I can’t believe I have lived without it for so long. And for just $190, Peak arrives on the accessory market very well priced!

The Peak truly is a triple threat MacBook Air accessory — acting as a case to protect while transporting your MacBook Air, as an elevation stand for your laptop and, and also offers a built-in, ergonomically correct stand for ease of typing! You can read more about and purchase Peak for MacBook Air for $190 on Aecraft’s website.

Apple’s iPhone 6 Plus: First Impressions

Posted on September 23, 2014 by Teague Loughman under News, Reviews

I received my white iPhone 6 Plus via UPS late Friday afternoon. After signing ‘here, here, and also here’ for the Plus, I greedily ripped off the simple, yet elegant packaging much like a small child on Christmas morning.

During the Apple Keynote on September 14th, CEO Tim Cook announced that the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus were revolutionary devices like you’ve never seen before, and man was he right! As soon as I held the 6 Plus in my hand, I knew that this was going to be Apple’s Android-killing smartphone.

The iPhone 6 Plus is super speedy (read, scary fast) with the new A8 processor, very responsive, and very, very big. To be honest, I am trying still getting used to the new, huge size. When comparing the 6 Plus to my old iPhone 5S, it’s like comparing Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson to “Mini-Me” in Austin Powers — it’s just that big!

But you know what makes the size even better? 😉 The new Retina HD display! Scrolling down my Instagram feed has never been more beautiful! Black and whites are sharp, colors are saturated perfectly and everything is vivid and super, easy-to-read clear. (My mom tried using it for 5 minutes and didn’t even need her reading glasses!)

One little thing that annoys me, however, is that some App Developers have not yet updated their applications for the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus’ new, larger displays – UGGH! This causes some apps to look pixellated, or it makes menus and text larger than needed to be (much like the 2x zoom button when opening iPhone applications on iPads).

I haven’t really put the 6 Plus’ camera through its paces quite yet, but I am planning on going to the beach sometime this week to test it out. (Follow my Instagram for these pictures!)

The iPhone 6 Plus is major contender for best smartphone on the market, if not the only one! The bigger and clearer screen, faster processor, and at first impression better camera, all together really exemplify Apple’s ability to read the market’s needs and develop a smartphone that people will really want to use and buy!

Stay tuned for my full review of the iPhone 6 Plus and iPhone 6 coming soon.

Pre-WWDC: What You Should Do

Posted on June 2, 2014 by Teague Loughman under News

Tomorrow’s the big day – Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference kicks off tomorrow (June 2nd) in beautiful San Francisco!

Apple has a Keynote planned for 10AM Pacific time tomorrow morning, and in it they are rumored to be announcing the latest version of their iOS software, iOS 8, which will officially ship sometime this fall.

If you want to get your hands on iOS 8 early, you need to register your iPhone’s UDID through a developer’s account so your iPhone doesn’t become bricked or unusable.

In my opinion, the best website to do this is iOSReg. To register your UDID, it is just $3.99 and you will have an email confirmation and your iPhone registered in under 1 minute — which is the fastest UDID register-time available on the internet! Here is the full link: www.iosreg.com

If you need any help registering your iDevice or have any predictions or comments about the WWDC Keynote tomorrow morning, make sure to drop your comments below!

Also, look for another post coming later this week with a full iOS 8 walkthrough!

October 2013 Apple Event Round-Up

Posted on October 26, 2013 by Teague Loughman under Reviews

On Tuesday, October 22nd, 2013 in San Francisco, California, Apple held a media event to discuss their new and innovative line of MacBooks and iPads, and boy did they deliver!

During this new event, Apple announced several new products, such as Mac OSX 10 (Mavericks), a newly updated iLife & iWork suite of apps, as well as a new Mac Pro, and the brand new iPad Air, which is the latest & greatest in the iPad family of tablets.

Mac OSX 10 – Mavericks

Apple introduced their newest Mac software, Mavericks. This announcement really raised the competition stakes against Microsoft, as this update would be free to all Mac users, something Apple has never done before!

Among the various improvements in UI and speed, OSX 10 increases power efficiency, which allows for a longer lasting battery to allow for more surfing the web, responding to emails, or movie watching. Another improvement over Lion is the upgraded notification system which allows users to respond directly from the notification itself, which I find extremely easy to use and definitely beats going in the app itself just to respond to a tweet or email.

My favorite new feature of Mavericks is the introduction of Finder Tags, which allows for easier and quicker finding of files, documents, photos, and movies. You can create your own tags and easily tag any document or file you like by using a two-finger on your Mac trackpad, and selecting a Tag, so all of your School or Work related files are all in one organized location on your Mac.

In addition, coming preloaded on Mavericks are two new apps, Maps and iBooks. Maps is basically the same as it is on iOS 7, however you do have the ability to send directions from your computer to your iPhone/iPad as a push notification, which is a really convenient feature! The introduction of iBooks on the Mac is excellent for textbooks or note-taking, however I still prefer to read books on the iPad over the Mac as it is more comfortable to hold, as well as the animations of the page swiping too!

Mac OSX 10 Mavericks is available today as a free update on all Macs. To download it, simply go into the Mac App Store and click ‘Check for Updates’.

Macbook

In the Macbook line of products, Apple announced three new members to the Mac family: the 13 inch Macbook Pro with Retina Display, the 15 inch Macbook Pro with Retina Display, as well as the new Mac Pro.

The 13 and 15 inch Macbook Pro are shipping with the beautiful, crystal-clear Retina Display, as well as some new upgrades internally, such as an improved battery (9 hours of battery life), 802.11c wifi (3x as fast as the previous versions), as well as an Intel 4th gen. Haswell chip. The new Macbook Pro’s come in at an unbelievable 0.71 inches thick, which is the lightest the Macbook Pro ever!

Apple also launched the new donut-shaped Mac Pro, which has the fastest chip, memory and graphic technology from Apple.

The Macbook Pro(s) are available on Apple’s website now starting at $1,499 for the 13-inch and $1,999 for the 15-inch. The new Mac Pro will be available by year’s end, starting at $2,999.

iPad

The main reason for this media event: the latest innovations to iPad. Apple announced two new versions to the iPad family: the new iPad Air and the iPad Mini with Retina Display.

On Tuesday, October 22nd, 2013 in San Francisco, California, Apple held a media event to discuss their new and innovative line of MacBooks and iPads, and boy did they deliver!

Overview

This media event was huge for Apple! Announcing their brand new Mac OSX, three new Macs, as well as updating their iLife & iWork suite of apps, and perhaps most overdue, two super upgrades to the iPad family.

You can read more about all of the details of the Apple event and watch the Keynote video on Apple’s website.

Review: Apple iPhone 5

Posted on November 14, 2012 by Teague Loughman under Reviews

The Apple iPhone 5 – a smartphone that has been rumored, wished, and talked about – is finally here and it’s packing a huge punch with a brand new A6 processor, bigger screen, new design, and super fast 4G LTE. Not a bad upgrade from the iPhone 4S!

Apple is one of the leading tech companies all around the world, with their vast product line of Macs, iPods, iPhones, & displays. Every year, there is always that one must-have smartphone and most of the time, Apple’s iPhone is that particular device.

Can this new iPhone 5 keep up that must-have smartphone standard? Is it that much better than the iPhone 4/4S to warrant an upgrade? Is 4G LTE that much faster than 3G? All of these questions and more will be answered in my review of the Apple iPhone 5 below.

—-

Design
Apple has always been known for their unique sense of design and in particular, their design used on the iPhone 4 & 4S smartphones. The iPhone 4/4S had people from all around the world ranting and raving about the sleek, glass and aluminum combination of the smartphones. These Apple devices set a standard for smartphone manufacturers to not only release high-quality products, but high-quality products with a great design and the new iPhone 5’s design takes Apple quality to a new level of craftsmanship.

Apple added a bigger screen to the iPhone 5 coming in at 4 inches (9 millimeters taller than the iPhone 4/4S). The iPhone 5 is the same width as the iPhone 4/4S, so typing with one hand is just as easy. With this added screen real-estate, the iPhone 5 also has 18% more pixels than the iPhone 4S for an impressive 1136-by-640 resolution, which makes playing games, watching movies, and even checking email, a vivid, visual delight! The color has also received a boost compared to previous iPhone models with a color saturation that is 44% greater than before.

The Apple new smartphone is just 7.6 millimeters thin and weighs in at 3.95 ounces, which despite the iPhone 5’s added screen size, makes the phone feel very thin & light in the hand; without feeling cheap or inexpensive. The iPhone 5 is 18% thinner, 20% lighter, and there is 12% less volume than the iPhone 4S.

Apple introduced a new design with the iPhone 5 as well, as the back of iPhone 5 is made of anodized 6000 series aluminum (same material used in Apple Macs) with the inlays along the top and bottom made of ceramic glass (white & silver model) or pigmented glass (black & slate model). This new design for the iPhone 5 makes it an even more beautiful device to look at and it truly is a work-of-art.

Hardware

The iPhone 5 is a beast of a smartphone, complete with 4G LTE, a blazing fast new A6 processor, and well as an 8 megapixel iSight camera on the back & an 1.2 megapixel FaceTime-ready HD webcam on the front.

The new A6 processor on the iPhone 5 makes almost everything faster. Opening apps, multitasking, editing movies or music, or creating Keynote projects, is now a breeze; without any lagging or hesitation. You might not think that the A6 processor does much on paper, but when you get your hands on an iPhone 5, you’ll realize how important it is for everyday things.

I reviewed an iPhone 5 running on Verizon’s 4G LTE network, which is one, if not THE fastest data network for a US mobile phone carrier. Downloading apps, movies, & music was very quick and again, it is a massive improvement over the 3G network that the 4S and iPhone 4 run on.

I didn’t really notice that much of a difference between the camera on the iPhone 4S and iPhone 5. What I did notice was a huge difference in the photo quality of the front camera on the iPhone 5 compared to previous generations, however. Photos using the front camera were much clearer and less pixel-y than before, which is perfect for people who enjoy taking pictures of themselves or FaceTiming friends & family.

Software

The software that is shipping with the iPhone 5 is Apple’s brand new iOS 6, which was announced at WWDC 2012 back in June and was released to the public on September 19th.

iOS 6 isn’t as much as a revolutionary software update as iOS 4/5 were, but is more geared to tweaking and creating a better user experience around all iOS devices. Some of the new features include; updated UI (from grey to light blue/silver) in the standard Apple apps, Passbook, Do Not Disturb, brand new Maps, Facebook integration, FaceTime over 3G/4G LTE, new emojis 🙂 (LOL), and many more updates as well.

Passbook is an app that allows you to save boarding passes, movie tickets, retail coupons, loyalty cards, and more are now all in one place. You can add passes to Passbook through apps, emails, & website from participating businesses. It’s a great idea and I love using it with my gift cards, as I don’t have to go digging through my car’s pockets to find my gift card. Passbook will also send you push notifications when you arrive at a location that you have a Passbook pass for, which is very handy if your at the airport or walk into a store to redeem your favorite gift cards!

Do Not Disturb has to be my most used feature on iOS 6. Do Not Disturb allows push notifications to come through to your phone, but when the notifications come in, the screen will not turn on and a sound will not be played. However, when you turn the screen back on, all your notifications will be waiting on your lock screen. I use Do Not Disturb regularly! Another great feature about Do Not Disturb is that you can allow your “Favorites” calls and text messages to come through normally but still collect other notifications not set as your Favorites in the lock screen.

Apple has redesigned their Maps application from the ground up, which means they have completely gotten rid of their Google-hosted maps, which is a good and bad thing. The good is that it looks stunning, but the new Maps app isn’t as updated as the Google Maps with driving directions and correct locations. Also added in the new Maps app, is visual and spoken turn-by-turn directions as well as real-time traffic updates.

Overall, the new iOS 6 software isn’t REvolutionary but more EVolutionary. With all these new features and tweaks, it makes using the iPhone 5 even easier & faster than before. Every year, Apple makes its iOS software even better, and this year is not any different.

Overall

The new iPhone 5 is a beast of a device – with the new design, upgraded hardware, bigger & brighter screen, faster 4G LTE speeds, and new iOS 6 software, the iPhone 5 has yet again set the smartphone bar very high for competing mobile phone manufacturers.

The iPhone 5 is available in two colors: Black & Slate, or White & Silver. Prices for the iPhone 5 on a cellular contract are 16 GB ($199), 32 GB ($299), and 64 GB ($399).

The new iPhone 5 is available on Verizon Wireless, AT&T, and Sprint.

You can read more about and purchase the iPhone 5 on Apple’s website.

Review: MacBook Air (13 inch model) [Mid-2011]

Posted on January 13, 2012 by Teague Loughman under Reviews

The original MacBook Air was more of a style symbol than a computer. Yes it could fit into a manilla envelope, but the $1,799 laptop trailed behind other ultra-portables in performance, lacking USB ports or a SD slot, and packed a small and slow hard drive. For most people, there were just too many cons over pros for the high asking price.

Then came the major revision, the second Air was priced significantly less at $1,299 ($999 for the 11-inch version) and included very fast solid state drives, and added one more USB port and a SD card slot. If you didn’t need an optical drive, it had almost about everything it needed to be both a ultraportable business as well as a primary computer, but the older processors still didn’t offer quite enough performance to do the job for some people. Also, in an oversight, the keyboard wasn’t a backlit one.

Which will now bring us to Apple’s 2011 version of the 13-inch MacBook Air. The new Air now has a with a snappy dual-core Core i5 processor (with an i7 option too), a back-lit keyboard, and a new Thunderbolt port, as well as booting Apple’s brand new Mac OS X (10.7). It may look the same as the last Air, but the additions change a lot more than you’d think so. Read on after the break for my full review.

Hardware & Design

The new 13-inch MacBook Air doesn’t look any different than its predecessor – but I don’t think anyone is going to complain about that! When closed, the Air is thicker at the back of the device and tapers like a tear drop, measuring 0.11 inches at the thinnest point and 0.68 at the thickest.

The Air is still stocked with two USB ports (on opposite edges), a 3.5mm headphone jack, and an SD card reader. One big thing that the new Air is still missing is a Ethernet port to connect to the internet while traveling, but Apple offers a USB-to-Ethernet adapter for $29.

Keyboard & Touchpad

Why change something when it’s perfect, right? Well, Apple agrees with that philosophy and kept the chiclet keyboard style, added a backlight and the LaunchPad and Mission Control function keys, which took the place of the Expose and Dashboard shortcuts on the top of the computer. Bottom-line is that the new MacBook Air keyboard has it all!

It’s hard not to go on and on about Apple’s glass touchpad — it simply is the best in the business. The 4.2 x 3.0-inch pad is plenty wide for accommodating all the new multitouch gestures supported in Lion. Not to mention, the sensitivity and responsiveness is just right. Two finger “natural” scrolling, three-finger pinching to bring up LaunchPad, and horizontal swipes to move between desktops, are all effortless and don’t require that extra pressure like most of the Windows 7 laptops.

Display & speakers

There’s no change to the 13.3-inch, 1440 x 900-resolution display. It still has the amazingly wide viewing angles, and though it’s glossy, it doesn’t appear to be as distracting or mirror-y as the MacBook Pro’s display. The speakers and webcam have also been untouched. Sadly, the VGA camera hasn’t gotten the FaceTime HD upgrade, but it served up plenty clear and well-lit images when I put it to the test with some FaceTime calling and PhotoBooth pictures. The Air’s speakers are one of the best laptop speakers in the “Thin Laptop” category. Sure, it’s not going to replace your desktop speakers, but it sounds perfectly pleasant when listening to some music.

Performance

Apple claims that the new Airs pack double the performance of last-years model, and that’s not a stretch. My review unit’s 1.7GHz ultra-low voltage Core i5-2557M processor, 4GB of RAM, and a 256GB SSD showed some impressive benchmark results — even besting a handful of higher spec’d PCs because of its SSD. In actual use, it is twice as fast as the old 13-inch Air. Thanks to the Core i5 muscle and a speedy solid-state drive, apps open almost instantaneously and running multiple applications doesn’t cause any lag. The laptop also boots in a quick 18 seconds.

The entire OS just purrs along and all those worries I once had about using an Air as my primary system have gone away in the past two days of heavy use. There’s no doubt this Air could easily replace my current Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro.

Battery life & Software

When I first saw the benchmarks and felt how much faster the Air was in everyday use, I was worried about the impact on battery life. However, my worries were put to rest. Apple’s 50Wh battery lasts just as long as it did before. I could easily get a day’s usage out of the computer without any need for rushing to go get my charger on an outlet.

The MacBook Airs are the first laptops to be sold with Apple’s new OS X 10.7. I’m not going to get into the software here, but the iOS-influenced operating system seems likes it was built exactly for a system like the Air. As I’ve mentioned above, the new gestures work like a charm and the solid state drives have things speeding along very quickly. I love the new “Natural” Scrolling and the new Mission Control as it gives me a better layout as to what I have open and running on my computer. I’ll also give props to the new Safari, which looks awesome in full screen mode, and the new mail app, which pulls on a lot of the iPad’s UI.

Conclusion

You will be forgiven for thinking that this new MacBook Air isn’t all that it has hyped up to be. It is much more than that! Sure, if you look at it on paper; Apple has only added Lion, a new processor, and a ThunderBolt port. In reality, it’s much more than that: it’s the first Air that’s capable enough to replace not only the old white MacBook but also the MacBook Pro for some mainstream users. The new processors are fast enough for almost any day-to-day task, and the Thunderbolt port allows the system to expand to almost full desktop strength using just a single cable. Oh, and Apple added the backlit keyboard back in.

One thing is clear: you can no longer write off the Air as merely a status symbol or secondary system. This is a grown-up laptop with the kind of horsepower and battery life that will make a lot of users very happy. And yes, it still fits in a manila envelope!

Teague Loughman

Technology, Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Social Media

Tag Archives: Mac