Kibbles & Bytes Blog

  • New MacBook Pros – Faster and More Powerful Laptops!

    The big headline is that you can now configure a MacBook Pro with 32GB of ram, a 4TB SSD drive, a 2.9GHz six-core 8th generation i9 processor and a fast video card for around $7000! That’s a lot of laptop!

    Apple updated the MacBook Pro line on Thursday and discontinued the 2017 models and one 2015 non-Touch Bar 15-inch MacBook Pro. The non-Touch Bar 13-inch models survived the cut.

    The new MacBook Pros feature the latest 6-core and quad-core Intel processors. You can now get up to 4TB of SSD drive which is simply amazing (I can still remember how thrilled I was with my new 100MB drive years ago!). Apple also listened and now allows configurations of the MacBook Pro with up to 32GB of memory.

    The new MacBook Pro is the fastest yet with Touch Bar and Touch ID. It features the stunning Retina display with True Tone technology and has 3 ThunderBolt 3 (USB-C) ports.

    The 13-inch model weighs just 3 pounds and the 15-inch MacBook Pro weighs in at a pound more at 4 pounds, The True Tone technology, now on the MacBook Pro delivers a more natural viewing experience by adjusting the intensity and color temperature to the ambient lighting of the environment.

    The new Intel 6-core 8th generation Intel i7 and i9 Intel processors in the 15-inch MacBook Pro deliver speeds up the 4.8GHz with Turbo Boost. The 13-inch is no slacker, now featuring the quad-core Intel i5 and i7 processors with Turbo Boost speeds up to 4.5GHz.

    Both of the new MacBook Pros feature the Apple T2 chip that was formerly only found on the iMac Pro. The T2 supports secure boot and encrypted storage but also handles task like “Hey Siri” to free up the main processor for other more important stuff. It handles things like the speakers, the fans, the microphone and other tasks.

    Apple also says the new keyboards are quieter and I assume that they have solved the issues with the “butterfly” keyboards.

    What’s new in the 13-inch MacBook Pro

    Quad-core Intel Core i5 and i7 processors
    Intel Iris Plus graphics 655 with 128mb of ram
    Up to 2 TB of flash storage
    True Tone display technology
    Apple T2 Sub-system chip

    What’s new in the 15-inch MacBook Pro

    6-core Intel i7 and i9 8th generation processors
    Up to 32GB of DDR4 memory
    Radeon Pro graphics chip with 4GB video ram
    Up to 4TB of flash storage
    True Tone display technology
    Apple T2 Sub-system chip

    We should start getting stock on these new units next week. They are basically the same price as the ones they are replacing starting at $1799.99 and working their way up – way up to $6699.99!

  • Dear Friends,

    After a week of very hot and humid weather we are back to typical Vermont summer weather with sunny days and cool nights which makes sleeping a lot easier! Jezebel is already after the dropped green apples but I am trying to keep her away from those tiny apples. Her Native American name is Apple-eater, stain-maker because she loves to eat apples.

    Apple surprised me by releasing new MacBook Pros this week. Unusual to see new product introductions in July but my guess is that Apple’s pipeline is so full that they are going to stagger a complete line refresh over the next few months. I’ll review the new MacBook Pro line-up below.

    This week’s Kibbles & Bytes exclusive is a $25 savings on Apple HomePod! This could be the only smart speaker that you need. I have one in my kitchen and we use it for everything from asking Siri about the Cubs scores or the weather to playing our favorite rock and roll! It has amazing sound and has the added benefit as serving as the hub for our HomeKit home automation products. This week only in white or space gray the Apple HomePod is $324.99!

  • A quick photo tip

    If you’ve ever photographed a sheet of paper or some other rectangular object, the image may have come out skewed because you inadvertently tilted the camera. The iOS 11 Camera app has a level feature to help you avoid this problem, but it’s so subtle that you may not have noticed it.

    To use it, first go to Settings > Camera and turn on the Grid switch. Thin white lines will appear that divide the viewfinder image into a grid of nine rectangles. Then, to access the level, hold the iPhone or iPad flat, so the camera points straight down toward the floor (or straight up toward the sky, if you’re photographing a ceiling). Notice that two crosshairs appear in the middle of the viewfinder, a yellow one that marks the position where the camera will be level and a white one that shows the camera’s current angle. Tilt the camera until the crosshairs merge into a single yellow image, and tap the Shutter button.