Code Retard

Yes, it’s a lot of storage — but the drive’s form factor won’t fit into any currently available Mac laptop. (Note the update at the end of this post)I was pretty excited when the Western Digital news release hit my inbox. The new drives, the industry’s first in that size for portables, have pretty good specs and capacious storage space. The problem really is the size. With Apple in the business of providing slim notebooks, the drive is just too tall (12.5mm) to make it into any Apple portable, which maxes out at a drive size of 9.5mm. The drive will be available in a USB enclosure, and WD is also offering a 750 GB version of the drive as well. The 1 TB drive lists for US$250, while the 750 GB drive is $189. Those prices are for the drive alone. Mounted in a USB enclosure the 1 TB drive sells for $300.Currently the largest 3rd party drives you can get in current Mac laptops max out at 500 GB.The Mac Mini may be able to house the new drive, but it would be a pretty tight fit, and according to our Steven Sande, may require the removal of the SuperDrive.Update: We’ve had a variety of responses to this post, with different ideas about which, if any laptops could take this new high capacity drive. I thought the quickest and best approach would be to try the experts at Other World Computing, who make a living selling replacement hard drives for Mac Desktops and portables. The tech there told me that the last generation 17″ MacBook Pro can take the 12.5mm drive, but that the 15″ model can’t. He also said none of the unibody MacBook Pro models can take a drive of that size. I’m sure some won’t accept this information either, but these were the most expert opinions we could find since Western Digital wasn’t sure and Apple doesn’t generally comment on such things. Since the drives are just shipping, we’ll wait for some real world experience and report back. Thanks to all who commented.

Apple’s in the middle of its spotlight event of the latest specs and prices of their notebook line: the MacBook, MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro. Each line has two trims, with some room for upgrades.

$1299 MacBook

• 13.3" LED-backlit display
• 2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo / 3 MB L2 Cache
• 2 GB 1066 MHz DDR3 memory
• Nvidia GeForce 9400M
• 160 GB hard drive
• Slot-loading SuperDrive

$1599 MacBook

• 13.3" LED-backlit display
• 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo / 3 MB L2 Cache
• 2 GB 1066 MHz DDR3 memory
• Nvidia GeForce 9400M
• 250 GB hard drive
• Slot-loading SuperDrive
• Backlit keyboard

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Engadget managed to snag two photos of the newest MacBook Pro, rumored to have two NVIDIA GPUs, using the 9600M GT chipset, in a dual-SLI setup just like on desktops. The MacBook Pro will come with an aluminum finish and the trackpad is actually made of glass. If you look closely at the picture, there’s no button either. Apparently, the trackpad itself is the button. Nice work Steve Jobs, way to lose another unnecessary button (he hate buttons, FYI, notice how he never wears button-up shirts, just button-less turtlenecks). Hit up the link to get another side view shot and some more detailed info on the specs.

Of course right now Apple is in the middle of its "spotlight turns to notebooks" so expect to see some photos and confirmations within the next couple hours.

Image/Engadget

Sony Vaio Biaos Full Screen

How to get your Sony Vaio laptop to view games Full Screen

We at Code Retard love StarCraft even though it was written 10 years ago. One problem that I have always had with my Sony TX was that it would reduce the screen when that game would load. I never bothered to figure out why that would happen until I got my Sony UX.

If your screen isn’t resizing, I found out it was a BIOS setting on the motherboard. Easy Fix:

1. Hit F2 when you see the VAIO load screen
2. Go into the “Advanced” Tab
3. Change “LCD Screen Expansion” to “YES”
4. Save out and exit, and all your problems will be solved.

This not only will solve the Star Craft issue, but any other program that tried to load a lower resolution than the max on your Sony LCD.

wait for it…….BOO YAH! Done.

Thanks for bringing us back to 2007 guys!

In light of the new recall, we just felt like reliving the good times before it started to burn people. Other than the recall, we still love the Sony TZ, and think its way better than the Mac Air.

Just when I was about to open my pocket book and buy a new Sony Vaio TZ notebook, I hear this craptacular news: “The company’s Vaio TZ-series may have irregularly positioned wires and/or a dislodged screw near the computer’s hinge that can cause a short circuit.” Great….Sony now has to recall almost 500,000 laptops. The recall effects 19 Vaio TZ models manufactured between May 2007 and July 2008. In the U.S. the flawed models include the Vaio VGN-TZ100 series, VGN-TZ200 series, VGN-TZ300 series, and VGN-TZ2000 series.

Details after the break:
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The average cost of a laptop is about $700, so who would think that someone can purchase a laptop for $130! Yes that’s right $130.

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In an effort to push out the remaining 900 Eee PC stock to make room for the new Intel Atom-based 901 Eee PC’s, Asus is offering a $100 rebate to help the sales of the original 9″ model, even though it wasn’t even that long ago that it was introduced into the marketplace. With the price drop, the Eee PC 900 20G Surf goes for $449 on amazon, the only major retailer that is currently offering discount. Hopefully other retailers will follow suit soon.

At this point I’m really really debating whether or not I want to pick this up. I had held out on the 700 because I knew the bigger 900’s 9″ screen would be more useful. The Eee PC 900 sports a 900 MHz Intel mobile CPU, 1GB RAM, and a 20GB SSD which was a big improvement over the 700’s 4GB. It also comes with a built in camera. The Atom-based 901 will come with a 6-cell battery (over the 900’s 4-cell) and a 1GHz processor as its biggest improvements over the 900 but at $600 a pop, it seems to be a big price to pay for a small set of improvements. Now that the Eee PC 900 is $150 cheaper than the yet-to-be released 901, I may have to pull the trigger today.