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New 13″ MacBook Skins Launched

Thursday, November 26th, 2009

These funky new MacBook Skins are ideal for personalising your 13-inch MacBook, MacBook Pro and MacBook Air – making it stand out from the crowd. Made of top quality scratch resistant and bubble proof 3M adhesive material – Gelaskins are the perfect solution for preventing scratches to your MacBook lid.

All MacBook Gelaskins feature stunning, photo-quality graphics ranging from fine art prints to contemporary urban images designed by selected artists from around the globe. Stand out in the crowd with personalized protection from GelaSkins. They’re easy to apply and suit all 13″ MacBooks.

Available from GearZap for just £16.95

13" MacBook Skin

13" MacBook Skin

Top 10 MacBook Cases

Wednesday, October 21st, 2009

If you’re looking to buy a case to protect your shiny New MacBook then you’ve come to the right place. With thousands of 13″ MacBook Cases on the market, it’s difficult to know which one to buy. At GearZap we pride ourselves on finding and testing the best cases and bags around so you don’t have to. Using our expertise and knowledge in this area, we have put together a list of some of the best MacBook Cases around. Just read on to see a list of our favourites in no particular order.

Cool Bananas MacBook Envelope

The Cool Bananas retro-look envelope is one of the coolest MacBook slip cases around. It’s made from durable leather style material with a soft velvet lining to protect your MacBook from scratches and shocks. The magnetic button makes it quick and easy to get your MacBook in and out.

Cool Bananas Macbook Envelope

Cool Bananas MacBook Envelope - £20.95

Knomo MacBook Slim Case

This ultra light and Slim bag is handcrafted from full hide leather and nylon twill quilting to protect your laptop from any knocks or bumps. The retractable padded handle makes it comfortable to carry and easy to fit into a larger bag. Every knomo comes with its very own PIMP system too. Created by knomo for knomo every bag has a Pretty Impressive Moulded Protection System that protects your laptop from the bottom and curves round to protect the corners and sides as well.

Knomo Macbook Slim Case

Knomo MacBook Slim Case - £49.95

Pakuma MacBook Sleeve

Pakuma eco 2 bag cocoons are the greener option for keeping your notebook safe and secure. Each case is made from 100% recycled materials. However you would probably never guess this because they’re also very high quality and durable. Pakuma use the most proven, high performance materials around and select the best quality fittings available. Each and every bag is made to the highest standards, and made to last. The designs are simple and above all practical.

We believe that a computer bag should first and foremost do the job you’ve bought it for, protect your notebook. That’s why all Pakuma cases have a unique COCOON™ SYSTEM that protects notebooks better. This is a specially designed fixed pocket that holds your computer firmly in place and cushions it with panels of high density memory foam (researched and invented by NASA). With a Pakuma COCOON, you can be sure your notebook will be protected from knocks, bumps and scratches.

eco2bag Macbook Sleeve

eco2bag MacBook Sleeve - £16.95

Pat Says Now 13″ MacBook Sleeve

Pat Says Now is the first manufacturer of laptop sleeves from Switzerland. These attractive laptop sleeves definitely stand out from the crowd. Made of high-quality neoprene, they protect your computer against scratches, moisture and dirt. Robust on the outside, the sleeves are fleecy and soft within. Their smooth running zippers are easy on both the laptop and your fingernails. Witty designs and blazing colours make every bag a unique accessory for out and about.

Designed to fit and complement your laptop, these sleeves are made from super-soft, tough and stretchy neoprene to keep your laptop secure and free from dirt and scratches. It will also absorb light knocks and bumps to prevent damage. These sleeves are ideal for protecting your laptop while it’s not in use or to carry inside a larger bag or rucksack. Simply hook the elastic corner straps over the edge of the laptop screen and you can also use your laptop from inside the case.

Pat Says Now Macbook Sleeves

Pat Says Now MacBook Sleeves - £18.95

ZeroShock III Sleeve

The core material is made from low-rebound polyurethane (slow depression, slow return), combined with its wave-shaped design, this material offers unrivaled light weight shock protection, so bumps and knocks won’t harm your notebook. The outside of the case is made from water-repellent polyurethane which looks great and protects your netbook from rain and spills. There is a zippered pocket on the front which provides room to store smaller accessories such as cables, memory cards, dongles etc.

ZeroShock III cases are designed to be as slim as possible, adding little to the size of your MacBook. This makes it ideal for using on its own or protecting your notebook inside a favourite bag or rucksack. The double-zip surrounds three sides of the case, allowing you to open it like a book for easy access.

ZeroShock III Sleeve

ZeroShock III Sleeve - £16.95

be.ez LArobe MacBook

The be.ez LArobe for MacBook is made from Low Resilience Polyurethane which has unique shock absorbing properties (slow depression, slow return) that also mould to the shape of your netbook. It’s ideal for protecting your notebook on the move and clothing it in an original, stylish surround.

It’s slim design means that this case fits comfortably in your bag, offering great portability, without compromising on your MacBook’s sleek design. Plus, there’s an inner lip to prevent scratches from the zip.

be.ez LArobe MacBook - £19.95

be.ez LArobe MacBook - £19.95

Targus Slim-Line MacBook Case

Now you’ve spent your hard earned cash on a Macbook laptop, we understand that you want to keep it safe, accessible and not to mention looking rather stylish at the same time. The clever designers at Targus have come up with a simple solution specially designed for the MacBook. It is the slim-line case with ultimate protection: the hard finish EVA outer shell acts as a protective barrier. Inside the case is lined with a unique foam construction system to safeguard the laptop from damage. The case has been thoughtfully designed to fit with your lifestyle: and can be used on its own or slipped inside another bag. If you are on the move and using your laptop, the case can be used as a lap-desk by fully opening the side zips (also allowing you to power your laptop alongside). Alternatively use as a simple slip with the Velcro flap giving quick access. Clever!

Targus Macbook Case

Targus Macbook Case - £19.95

Cool Bananas ‘Shock-Proof’ 13.3″ MacBook Case

As the name suggests, this case is designed to protect your MacBook from knocks and bumps with a shock-absorbing memory foam core. This advanced material was developed by NASA and delivers the ultimate protection for your MacBook. The soft inner materials and zipper lip will also prevent scratches. On the front there is a dual-zip accessories pocket which is ideal for your mouse, charger and other bits and pieces.

Cool Bananas 'Shock-Proof' MacBook Case

Cool Bananas 'Shock-Proof' MacBook Case - £17.95

Knomo Stirling 13″ Laptop Messenger

Slim and highly portable, the Stirling Laptop Messenger is a must for any commuter as it clings close to the body for easy maneuver. With double-protection for your laptop, internal compartments, and easy access to external pockets for travel documents etc, the Stirling is highly practical and beautifully stylish. Made with lightweight nylon and genuine leather, this messenger also has an adjustable shoulder strap and a grab handle for ease of use.

Knomo Stirling Macbook Bag

Knomo Stirling Macbook Bag - £94.95

Pakuma Choroka K3s Messenger Bag

The Pakuma Choroka K3s cocoons your notebook in high density memory foam, offering great protection. The K3s also has great storage space for other items such as documents, mp3 players, mobile phones etc. A computer bag should first and foremost do the job you’ve bought it for, protect your notebook. That’s why all Pakuma cases have a unique COCOON™ SYSTEM that protects notebooks better. This is a specially designed fixed pocket that holds your computer firmly in place and cushions it with panels of high density memory foam (researched and invented by NASA).

Pakuma K3S Messenger Bag - £33.95

Pakuma K3S Messenger Bag - £33.95

MacBook InvisibleSHIELD

Outside of the top 10, we had to mention the InvisibleSHIELD. Although it’s not a case it certainly offers the best protection against scratches. The precision pre-cut invisibleSHIELD applies directly to your Apple MacBook, providing the toughest, most durable protection you will find. The invisibleSHIELD has its origins in the military, where it was used to protect high-speed helicopter blades from dust, dirt and debris. Now you can use that same powerful technology to protect your MacBook.

The invisibleSHIELD is only .2 millimeters thick making it the slimmest Apple Macbook skin of its kind. It is so tough that it’s backed by a lifetime guarantee. So, if it ever does wear or scratch, we will replace it for free, for the life of your device. And if you ever need to remove the invisibleSHIELD, no problem; it comes off clean and leaves no sticky residue.

MacBook InvisibleSHIELD

MacBook InvisibleSHIELD

If you havn’t seen a case you like here, please take a look at all our MacBook Cases. We are also interest in any other suggestions you may have for our list of the best Macbook cases.

* Please note: All prices are correct at the time of publication and may be subject to change.

Should I Buy A MacBook Air?

Wednesday, June 18th, 2008

I had the chance to play around with the MacBook Air last weekend. A friend of mine got a refurbished MacBook Air. The slim and light MacBook Air is an excellent choice if I need to be on the move a lot with a notebook. I don’t need to be on the move a lot, so no need to get a MacBook Air. Anyway, I did a lot of research on the MacBook Air and here’s a list of MacBook Air reviews.

Ars Technica reviews the MacBook Air
http://arstechnica.com/reviews/hardware/macbook-air-review.ars

Ars Technica reviews the MacBook Air with SSD
http://arstechnica.com/reviews/hardware/macbook-air-ssd-review.ars

AnandTech: The MacBook Air Thoroughly Reviewed
http://www.anandtech.com/mac/showdoc.aspx?i=3226&p=1

Engadget MacBook Air Review
http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/25/macbook-air-review/

Gizmodo MacBook Air Review
http://gizmodo.com/348753/macbook-air-review

NotebookReview MacBook Air Review
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=4238

MacBook Air Review by Danny Choo
http://www.dannychoo.com/adp/eng/1374/MacBook+Air+Review.html

SlashGear MacBook Air Review
http://www.slashgear.com/macbook-air-review-0110023.php

MacWorld: Review MacBook Air
http://www.macworld.com/article/131864/2008/01/macbookair.html

WSJ MacBook Air Review
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120113632301711881.html?mod=hpp_us_inside_today

CNET MacBook Air Review
http://notebookreview-cnet.com.com/laptops/apple-macbook-air-80gb/4505-3121_7-32818756.html?subj=fdba&part=notebookreview-cnet&tag=_Laptops

New York Times: MacBook Air Review
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/17/technology/personaltech/17pogue.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin

Newsweek: MacBook Air Review
http://www.newsweek.com/id/101113

USA Today: MacBook Air Review
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/columnist/edwardbaig/2008-01-23-macbook-air-review_N.htm

AppleInsider: MacBook Air Review
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/02/04/macbook_air_hdd_model_an_in_depth_review.html

Mac OS X 10.5.2 vs 10.5.3 Performance Comparison

Friday, June 13th, 2008

How fast is the Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.3 compared to 10.5.2?

Mac OS X 10.5.3 vs 10.5.2 race?   macosx-leopard

I updated my hackintosh to Mac OS X 10.5.3 and re-ran the Geekbench and Xbench tests. The final results:

 

10.5.3

10.5.2

Geekbench

3055

3074

Xbench

156.12

147.68

It’s a TIE! Leopard 10.5.2 is faster on Geekbench, while 10.5.3 is faster on Xbench.

Related Links:

How Do I Install Mac OS X on a PC?

Friday, May 9th, 2008

Searching for tips on how to install Mac OS X on a PC? 

Mac OS X on a Dell Laptop and iMac G3

IBM ThinkPad Laptop running Mac OS X

Mac OS X on a Sony Viao

Get all the information you need to start your installation of Mac OS X on a PC at http://wiki.osx86project.org and http://www.insanelymac.com. Looks like quite a crowd has gotten Mac OS X running on their PC. I’m excited.

I’m going to build my own hackintosh (PC running Mac OS X) soon.

 

Asus Eee PC 900 Multi-Finger vs MacBook Air Multi-Touch

Sunday, April 20th, 2008

The newly released Asus Eee PC 900 comes with Multi-finger gesture input similar to the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro style multi-touch touchpad.

Asus Eee PC 900 Multi-finger gesture input

MacBook Air Multi-touch TrackPad

macbook-air-multi-touch

Apple MacBook Pro and MacBook Design Changes

Tuesday, April 8th, 2008

Apple Notebook History

AppleInsider has reported that the MacBook and MacBook Pro will see exciting changes in their next refresh. Details are still sketchy, with mention of aircraft-grade aluminum, stainless steel, casing with matte black portions, oversized trackpads, MacBook Air styled keyboard, “Montevina”-based processors, 1066MHz front-side bus, 2.26GHz to 2.8GHz clock speed. Wow! I’m waiting anxiously for more news about these new Macs. It’s about time for my G4 iBook to retire and time for me to start saving for a new MacBook.

Playing World of Warcraft – WOW on the MacBook

Sunday, March 30th, 2008

World of Warcraft is the world’s most popular MMORPG and many Mac users are playing this game on their MacBook, MacBook Pro and MacBook Air. What are these users saying about playing WoW On the MacBook? Here are some feedback from these Mac users.

It may look nice, but does it play World of Warcraft?So far I’ve played WoW on 4 computers – my parents’ AMD Athlon 3000+ (512 MB RAM, 64 MB VIA graphics), Hari’s Pentium 4 (512 MB RAM, 128 MB nVidia graphics) and my Mac Mini (1.42Ghz PowerPC, 512 MB RAM, 128 MB ATi graphics), as well as my MacBook (1.83Ghz Core Duo, 1 GB RAM, 64 MB Intel Graphics). … And now to my MacBook. I really didn’t know how it would handle WoW – though it has the best processor of the lot, with a high clock speed and two cores, and the most RAM, its graphics abilities aren’t that great. However, out of the 4 machines, WoW plays the best on the MacBook. Framerates are between 15-20 fps on average with 30+ possible indoors, and there’s almost no lag, even in the busiest parts of Ironforge. – http://www.neilturner.me.uk/2006/Aug/29/world_of_warcraft_macbook.html

World of Warcraft and MacBook ProSo my nephew installed World of Warcraft on my MacBook Pro to test how fast WOW would run, and we must say it is definitely phenomenal! Originally on the PowerBook I had, WOW ran quite laggy and the graphics were choppy and unexciting; essentially WOW worked on the PowerBook, it just wasn’t very satisfying to play on it. The MacBook Pro, on the other hand, seemed to be day and night difference, of course to be expected since the video card is better, dual core processor, and so on.http://bui4ever.com/blog/2006/04/16/world-of-warcraft-and-macbook-pro.php

MacBook Pro + World of Warcraft = AWESOME!World of Warcraft on a Mac Book Pro is WOW! I am sure that some of the other massively GPU intensive games might have problems but, at least for me, World of Warcraft played perfectly.http://www.richandstephsipe.com/wordpress/2006/06/18/mac-book-pro-world-of-warcraft-awesome-2/

Black MacBook – My WowspaceI play WoW on a Black MacBook, and it runs fine. I can’t have all the graphic modes set to highest, but don’t I have to have them on the lowest either. With a little tweaking, the game still looks beautiful. – http://scoots.wordpress.com/2007/04/08/black-macbook-my-wowspace/

Playing World of Warcraft on a MacbookThe picture above shows the current WoW video settings for my 2GHz Core 2 Duo Macbook with 2GB of ram. The graphics chip is a GMA 950. After some tweaking, I’ve found these settings work well for me.

They won’t give you the fastest frame rates but I think they’re a good compromise between graphical detail and raw speed. I typically get frame rates that range from the high teens to low 20s. If your Macbook has the newer GMA X3100 graphics chip, you should be getting even higher frame rates. I wouldn’t raid with my Macbook, but questing and 5-member instance runs certainly aren’t out of the question. – http://www.appleotaku.com/2007/09/23/playing-world-of-warcraft-on-a-macbook/

MacBook Air: Rambling First ImpressionsThe Air runs World of Warcraft pretty damn well. Sure, I don’t have, uh, specular water reflective anti-aliased spectroscopic quadrophonic roto-tilling turned on. But, you know, I can, like, heal things and run around and pick liferoot and run around some more. (PHEAR MY HEALING, EVIL-DOERS OF AZEROTH!)http://www.wilshipley.com/blog/2008/02/macbook-air-rambling-first-impressions.html

MacBook Air – My Brief Love AffairI briefly tested the MBA with World of Warcraft, and I thought it was fine. It performed about as well as a standard macbook, and I told myself that I could live with that.http://www.randomstatic.org/?p=69

Mac Games: Playing WOW on my 17″ MacBook ProI recently installed a trial copy of World of Warcraft on my 17? MacBook Pro. … Since I’ve installed WOW on my 17? MacBook Pro, I really have no reason not to play. No, I’m not getting sucked into the wonderful world of WOW. I give myself a certain amount of time to play and once I reach that limit. That’s it, no more gameplay.http://themacdiva.com/mac-games-playing-wow-on-my-17-macbook-pro/

How to Install Mac OS X on the Asus Eee PC

Saturday, March 22nd, 2008

asus-eee-pc-mac-osx-install

Uneasysilence.com has a tutorial on how to install the Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard on the Asus Eee PC. It’s definitely not a step by step guide for everyone. You’ll need to be familiar with command line to prepare a patched DVD install disk. An external USB DVD drive is required for the installation using the patched installation DVD. This is not for the faint-hearted or anyone looking for instant gratification.

The Mac OS X definitely works on the Asus Eee PC and here are some photographic evidence.

 

The Mac OS X may work on the Asus Eee PC, but I doubt the Mac OS X performance would be acceptable and since wifi doesn’t work, it’s pretty pointless.

My opinion: installing the Mac OS X on the Asus Eee PC is just for the hobbyist wants to have fun with his Eee PC.

Coming up next: Installing Windows XP on your Linux based Asus Eee PC!

Related Links:

Asus Eee PC – The Sub-Notebook for Gadget Lovers

Friday, March 21st, 2008

I stumbled across the Asus Eee PC today and was intrigued by this cheap and small notebook.

And I wasn’t the only gadget lover who is intrigued. A quick hop over to flickr.com got me plenty of Asus Eee PC photos taken by their proud owners.

  
The Asus Eee PC size comparison with a Macbook Pro.

 
An Asus Eee PC in the land of Apples.

 
Asus Eee PC size comparison with a MacBook.


The Asus Eee PC running Mac OS X!

 
A Black Asus Eee PC on a MacBook.


The Asus Eee PC beside a 12" Powerbook.

Next, I’m gonna find me a batch of photos of the Asus Eee PC compared to Windows notebooks. Wait for it!