Eagle Ridge is available in two form factors (normal and SFF) and is effectively half of a Light Ridge chip. That means you only get two Thunderbolt channels (2 x 10Gbps bidirectional = 40Gbps aggregate bandwidth) and one DP output. Apple used the small form factor version of Eagle Ridge in its new MacBook Air to cut cost and save on motherboard real estate. The MacBook Air’s GPU also doesn’t support more than one external display so there was no point in using a Thunderbolt controller with two DP outputs.
One DisplayPort output. That means you can connect only one external display to the mid-2011 MacBook Airs. If you want to add that second monitor the only way as far as I know is to get a DisplayLink-powered USB graphics adapter.
If you buy a big house, or a buy a large hard drive for that matter, you will in all likelihood fill it. No matter how much of a “minimalist” you are, you will fill that space. Why? There is no cost to doing so. There is no real hardship for buying that extra couch, assuming you have the money, in the case of the house. With the hard drive, there is no real cost to keeping ten thousand photos all in RAW or having a dozen text editors when you only use or need one.
I’d like to consider myself a minimalist-in-training. I want to pursue minimalism, not for the mere sake of minimizing, but for the goal of living a simple life. I want time, lots of time, to focus on things I like, read broadly, think deeply, write a lot, and be with my family and friends.
If The Setup asked, “What would be your dream setup?”
I like big empty spaces. An expansive room with glass walls, overlooking the Pacific Ocean. With nothing but a simple wooden desk and a comfy chair. That would be my idea of a perfect room. In that room would be my iPhone 4 and my 17-inch MacBook Pro. That would be it.
And I don’t think I would fill that space.
Back in April, I was bitten by the SSD bug. There were so many reviews lavishing praise on the incredible speeds of these things. Review after review. So I took the plunge and purchased the cheapest, most reliable, and fastest SSD: the 50GB Mercury EXTREME Pro RE SSD from Other World Computing. I chose the RE version because it had more provisioning and a five-year warranty. I still don’t quite understand this business of provisioning, but more the better, right? There were other reasons for replacing the hard drive with a SSD (you can read Silent, Cool, Green MacBook Pro to find out), but the point is: at the time of this writing, I’m using 18.23 GB out of 49.68 GB.
Still lots of space left.
I think the cost of filling up the hard drive or, in my case, the SSD is that performance might deteriorate. More stuff means more stuff to go through, and that would reduce speed. Plus, I like keeping things tidy. Have a look at my desktop:
That’s a lot of space, 1920×1200 minus however tall the menu bar is. I like it empty because it allows me to start fresh every time I log into my Mac.
Space, and lots of it, helps me focus.
Once I started going down this minimalist path, there were certain quirks or habits that I picked up. Here’s the two I talked about: absolute minimal disk usage, and a completely blank desktop.
Back to Rhone:
No matter how much of a “minimalist” you are, you will fill that space.
Nah. Nope. Not gonna happen.
Apple ADB Display. Apple USB Display. Apple Firewire Display. You wouldn’t use the name of an interconnect for a monitor, would you? I didn’t think so. But, that’s exactly what Apple did, and I’m scratching my head trying to figure out why.
Sure, Thunderbolt is special. With a bi-directional stream of 10 Gbps each, it is 20 times faster than USB 2.0 and 12 times faster than FireWire 800. Thunderbolt is fast.
You can also daisy-chain. With a single Thunderbolt connection you can daisy-chain additional monitors and storage devices, up to six, to your Mac. I believe the Thunderbolt Display is the first mass produced monitor with a Gigabit Ethernet port, which you access via the Thunderbolt connection. You also get access to the rest of the ports behind the Apple Thunderbolt Display: three USB 2.0 and a FireWire 800. Thunderbolt is useful.
Thunderbolt might just be Apple’s next interconnect technology for everything. My guess is that Apple may even replace the 30-pin connector used on the iPod, iPad, and iPhone. Imagine how fast syncing would be with a Thunderbolt-equipped iPad? Thunderbolt is the future.
Yes, Thunderbolt is great, but Apple Thunderbolt Display?
Update: Final words by Anand Lai Shimpi at Anandtech after reviewing the Apple Thunderbolt Display:
The real improvements here are obviously those enabled by Thunderbolt. Apple is turning its line of displays into docks for its mobile computers rather than just external displays. It started with integrating MagSafe and has culminated in GigE and FireWire controllers now a part of the display. For MacBook Air owners who don’t have options for these high speed interfaces to begin with, the Thunderbolt Display is a must-have. If your MBA is a secondary or tertiary computer that only gets taken on trips perhaps the Thunderbolt Display isn’t so life changing. For those users who have moved from older MacBook Pros to the 13-inch MBA however, the Thunderbolt Display is a wonderful companion.
Zach Honig at Engadget:
Apart from the barrel distortion we mentioned earlier, we were exceptionally pleased with the photos we took with the Olloclip. Sure, the compact, dual-sided, three-in-one lens won’t match the image quality of a pro rig, but considering its size and versatility, it may just become the next must-have accessory for Apple’s iPhone 4.
Olloclip is a clip-on 3-in-1 one lens for the iPhone 4 that has fisheye, wide-angle, and macro lenses. Priced at US$69.95.
Without a doubt, the MacBook Air is Apple’s best notebook computer. Its design has no equal in the world. Even people who couldn’t care less about technology will be in awe of its beauty, and with its improved innards, the MacBook Air can handle some serious computing action.
For the past 9 months, the Air has been the computer I take with me everywhere. I previously didn’t like the Air line because I felt it was underpowered and overpriced — both of those things changed with last year’s revamp. Today’s upgrades should make it even more attractive to would-be purchasers. With just the right combination of portability and power, it is hands-down the best computer I’ve ever owned.
Sounds good. But those damned thick bezels.
by Joh Minhoo
Dell: The UltraSharp U2412M is a 24-inch LED-backlit IPS monitor with a pixel format of 1920×1200 priced at just $399.
Specs: 8-ms GTG response time, 1000:1 CR, 300 nits, 178/178 viewing angles, 82% CIE 1976 color gamut. Connections: DVI-D w/HDCP, DisplayPort, VGA, and 4-port USB 2.0.
Update: TFT Central reviewed the U2412M:
The Dell U2412M utilises an LG.Display LM240WU8-SLA2 e-IPS panel which is capable of producing 16.7 million colours. The panel itself actually uses a 6-bit colour depth with Advanced frame rate control (A-FRC) to produce the 16.7m colours. [...]
An 8-bit e-IPS LCD panel would have been better, but also would have cost more.
Viewing angles of the Dell U2412M are very good, as you would expect from a screen based on an e-IPS panel. [...] The panel is free from any off-centre contrast shift which you see from VA matrices, and this is why IPS technology is so highly regarded in the colour enthusiast and professional space. It is also free of the very noticeable contrast and colour tone shifts you see from TN Film panels vertically.
Serious about color? The only real option is a monitor with an IPS LCD, preferably one with 8 bits.
Twelve South has ported its BookBook case to the iPhone 4. The BookBook for iPhone is an all-in-one vintage case and wallet. It looks good, at first glance.
In my left front pocket I carry an iPhone 4 and a credit card holder. I haven’t had the urge to simplify further since the two items serve their purposes quite well.
I use my iPhone much more than I do my wallet. Thankfully. I check my email, RSS feeds, text, make the occasional phone call, and take lots of photographs and videos.
I put some cash, a few business cards, a debit card and other identification cards in the card holder.
The BookBook for iPhone would let me combine the two, and it would work neatly with what I have. One less thing to grab when heading out the door. The idea sounds good, but there are some problems. For me at least.
I can imagine whenever I want to use my iPhone, and that would be often, having just a little bit of anxiety. I like to keep my card holder in my front pocket, for obvious reasons. Second, I only take my holder out when I need to pay for something. I don’t like exposing it longer than I need to. And that’s exactly what I’d be doing whenever I want to use my iPhone.
The other problem: my iPhone is my camera, my only camera. I take a lot of photos with it. And from what I saw in the video (at around the 0:39-sec mark) I don’t think I’d want to take out my BookBook case, flip the flap open, push the iPhone up exposing the lens, and then take a picture, every time.
The BookBook for iPhone is a fantastic idea and it’s quite beautiful. But for the two reasons mentioned above, it’s not for me.
Amar Toor, Engadget:
The question, however, is whether the medium is stunning enough to warrant a purchase, which brings us to the Optimus 3D’s most cilantro-like quality: the glasses-less 3D experience. It’s not for everyone. To be fair, it’s definitely cool (in the “let me whip out my phone at a bar and make conversation” sort of way), and the novelty can be genuinely intriguing… for about five minutes. After that, spectators may either get bored with it, or end up feeling like their eyes were just juggled through a meat grinder (our experience skewed heavily toward the latter).
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