FRAMINGHAM – If there was any doubt that Microsoft wants to grab some of the iPad market, there’s none any more: Now Microsoft has a web page that shows developers how to translate iPad apps into Windows 8 ones with a Metro style look and feel.

“In this case study we want to help designers and developers who are familiar with iOS to reimagine their apps using Metro style design principles,” says the blog. “We show you how to translate common user interface and experience patterns found in iPad apps to Windows 8 Metro style apps.”

RELATED: iPads trailblaze for Windows 8

TEST YOURSELF: Do you know the New iPad?

Why would anyone want to do that? “To learn more about the business opportunity of Windows 8, see Selling Apps,” the posting says early on. Ultimately that leads to a site with this enticement: “With successful apps on Windows, you’ll make more money than the industry standard, earning 80% of every customer dollar, after an app makes more than 25,000 USD in sales. For the first 25,000 USD of an app’s sales, you get the industry-standard 70%.”

Money aside, the case-study post shows how an iPad photo journal application was adapted to fit with Metro style. Both Windows 8 and iOS on iPads cater to touch commands and navigation, but where iPads rely on icons and toolbars, Windows 8 centers around words on tiles and hiding toolbars.

In converting to Windows 8 the first thing to go from the iPad app is the “chrome” – the navigation bar, pagination controls and the bottom control bar, resulting in a less cluttered application surface. In the Windows 8 version, they are gone but are less necessary because the navigation hierarchy is flattened.

For example, the hub screen for the iPad app shows a single photo for each of the 12 months, with a tab to switch to comments about the photos.

In the Windows 8 version the hub screen is a single month with a featured large photo for the month with other, smaller photos from that month displayed next to it. About a third of the same screen is devoted to comments. For more comments, tap (it’s designed for touchscreen) the Recent Comment header. For more pictures, tap the This Month header.

A second navigation alternative involves pinch to zoom – making a pinching gesture while touching the screen to pull out hierarchically from a single photo to sets of 12 squares or tiles, each set representing a different year. Users can, for instance, go from a photo from March 2012 to a photo from July 2010 by pinching the March photo, zooming out to the sets of tiles, tapping the one for July 2010 and sorting through the photos that are brought up. There is no navigation bar.

With the iPad app, the same transition calls for tapping a Years button on the navigation bar at the top of the screen, selecting the year as it appears in a popover box and then sorting through that year.

Similarly, commands are hidden off screen and can be drawn up from the bottom or down from the top with a finger swipe. The commands shown depend on what object on the screen is designated. So if a photo is highlighted, the commands might include delete or upload.

In the iPad app, that is done via the always visible navigation bar.

On the iPad app, search is done via a search window on the app’s home page. With Metro, it’s always available on the charms bar – a bar of a consistent set of icons that can be swiped out from the right hand side of the screen. It searches the application that the user is inside of.

The features go on and on, including sharing content between applications and to various social networking sites.

SAN FRANCISCO – The question on everyone’s mind the past few days seems to be: Is the new iPad hot or not?

We don’t mean “hot” in the sense of popularity–3 million iPads sold during the opening weekend of sales would seem to settle that issue. No, we’re referring to the heated discussion in the Macworld forums and elsewhere about whether or not the new iPad runs warmer than the iPad 2.
Consumer Reports waded into the issue on Tuesday with its claim that the surfaces of new iPad can reach 116 degrees when running some games. (That’s certainly a headline-grabbing result; Consumer Reports‘ conclusion that the new iPad “felt very warm but not especially uncomfortable if held for a brief period” was buried deep in the story and got less play in the press.) Apple, for its part, said the tablet operates “well within our thermal specifications” and invited customers with any concerns to contact AppleCare.
At Macworld Lab, we’ve got a third-generation iPad and a handy Raytech Raynger ST infrared thermometer close at hand. Why not do some testing to check the numbers behind the chit chat?
Our results: The latest iPad does run a little warmer than its predecessor–but not so much that you’ll be asking passersby, “Is it hot in here or is it just my iPad?”

To test temperatures, we let the new iPad and the iPad 2 warm up by running a series of tests using GL Benchmark 2.1.2 for about 20 minutes. Using the handheld IR thermometer, the hottest spot we could find on the new iPad was 99 degrees. The area that hit that mark was on the back, along the long edge opposite the camera. The edge with the camera read 89 degrees.

Running the same test on the iPad 2 the hottest reading I saw was 87 degrees, in the same spot. The edge with the camera read around 83 degrees on the iPad 2.

That’s a higher temperature on the new iPad, to be sure, but not the sort of thing that’s going to make you drop your tablet howling like Major Toht when he tries to grab the fire-heated amulet in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Just for comparison’s sake, I also took some readings on my mid-2010 15-inch MacBook Pro. In those tests, the MacBook Pro’s temps peaked at 110 degrees while running Cinebench, with the hottest spot being on the bottom, about an inch away from where the screen connects to the body.

In the less exacting “lap comfort” test, the new iPad is noticeably warmer than its predecessor, but it’s not at all uncomfortable when using it in the controlled climes of the Macworld Lab. If the underside of the iPad ever did get too warm for my liking, simply turning the tablet so its camera edge was closer to my body would probably lower my lap temperature. The MacBook Pro, on the other hand, felt like I was having my clothes pressed while wearing them.

SAN FRANCISCO – If you’ve ordered a new iPad, you may be wondering what to do with your old one. One option, of course, is to keep it, perhaps passing it along to a friend or relative. Another option, though (as Lex Friedman pointed out in his guide to disposing of old iPads), is to sell that older device for cold hard cash—or at least a gift card or two.
There are several outfits out there—including a mix of old-school retailers, online giants, and companies you’ve never heard of before reading this story—that will pay for used iPads.

I took a look at nine such buyers, getting price quotes for assorted iPad and iPad 2 models. Before diving in, you need to know that the values of used iPads are incredibly volatile, depending not only on the machine’s condition, but also on market demand. The prices I found were current the morning of March 15, 2012, but there’s a very good chance they’ll be different by the time you read this—higher or lower, depending on market conditions. But they should give you an idea of what’s possible.

I priced every variation of the first-generation iPad (WiFi and 3G versions of the 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB models) and all iPad 2s, exclusive of color: I priced only black models. Few of these buyers differentiate between black and white. I also got pricing for iPads in top condition. So if your tablet is scratched, dinged, or engraved, you won’t get the best offers.

When you sell your old iPad, you’ll generally have to choose between getting a gift card or cash in return. Gift card values are (generally) higher than cash, but if you want to use the money somewhere other than the vendor you’re selling to, a gift card won’t do you much good. Note that NextWorth.com and Gazelle.com offer both gift cards (Target and Amazon, respectively) and cash options. Also, GameStop’s gift cards are worth 20% more than the cash values shown in the table.

Each vendor has detailed terms and conditions regarding their offers; please make sure you read each site’s terms before agreeing to send them your precious hardware. You’ll especially want to pay attention to shipping (pre-paid or not?), what happens if they decide your iPad’s value differs from the estimate (send it back to you? ask for approval on new bid?), and do some research on the company if you choose one of the lesser-known ones.

With all of those disclaimers in mind, here’s what I found at the nine vendors I chose. (You’ll need to click on it to zoom in and make it readable.)

(For the three vendors that offer both cash and gift cards, the values shown in the table are for cash.)

As you can see, values are all over the place, and there are some interesting outliers. For example,Amazon, BestBuy, and Gazelle all place a notable premium on the iPad 2 64GB Verizon models; if you’ve got one of them, those vendors will be your best bet. Strangely, when I checked Cash4iPads.com, it was offering $373 for a 64GB iPad 2, but only $299 for a 64GB iPad2 with 3G.
For a given iPad model, the range of prices can be incredible. The basic 16GB first-generation iPad will get you only a $110 gift card at Apple, but a $244 card at Amazon (or $183 in cash fromBuyMyTronics.com). At the high end, a 64GB Verizon iPad 2 is worth only $272 at GameStop but a whopping $450 in cash at Gazelle.com. And congratulations if you’re holding a 64GB iPad 2 with AT&T 3G; it’s worth more than any other machine in my study, earning you a $530 gift card at Amazon.
In case it’s not obvious by now, the lesson to be learned here is to shop around: Your old iPad has value, but it’s up to you to figure out who offers the best combination of price, reputation, and ease-of-use in taking that old iPad off your hands.

NEW YORK – Apple delivered a performance breakthrough Wednesday with its new A5X processor for the iPad, but it’s possible that this chip won’t make its way into the next iPhone, analysts said.

The chips used in the first two iPads, the A4 and A5, both made their way into a new iPhone soon after. But the A5X, with its heavy focus on graphics, may not be ideal for smartphone use, and Apple may wait for a more power-efficient chip built with a new manufacturing process.

The A5X has two CPU cores, just like the A5, and it was the superior graphics performance of the A5X that Apple played up at its launch event for the new iPad in San Francisco. The new chip has four graphics cores, which should boost multimedia performance and allow for smooth operation of the iPad’s higher-resolution, 2048-by-1536-pixel display.

Apple may have purpose-built the A5X specifically for the new iPad’s improved screen, said Linley Gwennap, founder and principal analyst of The Linley Group, who emphasized he was still sorting through the information about the new chip Wednesday.

“I think that this new chip is probably just for the iPad,” Gwennap said. “It looks like they planned ahead for this.”

If Apple releases a new iPhone later this year, which seems likely, it may opt to boost battery life rather than graphics, Gwennap said. In that case, it may wait for a chip manufactured on a 28-nanometer manufacturing process, which should make the chip more power-efficient and cheaper to produce, he said.

Apple may have been in a hurry to release the iPad and moved ahead with the A5X because it didn’t want to wait for a 28-nm part, Gwennap said. The number refers to the size of the smallest circuits etched onto the chip.

However, the A5X could be suitable for other devices with slightly larger screens than the iPhone, Gwennap said. It could be used in a smaller version of the iPad, for example. It could also be suitable for a video streaming device like Apple TV. Apple announced a new version of Apple TV on Wednesday, but it has a single-core A5 chip.

Dean McCarron, principal analyst at Mercury Research, also sees the current A5X as an unlikely candidate for the next iPhone, which won’t require as much graphics processing power as an iPad. The current iPhone has a display density of 326 pixels per inch, greater than the latest iPad’s 264 pixels per inch, but the iPhone has only a 3.7-inch display.

“There’s no technical reason to make the iPhone display better,” McCarron said.

Like Apple’s A4 and A5 chips, A5X is based on an ARM processor core, the same type found in most other smartphones. Many current ARM-based chips are manufactured with a 40-nanometer process, but a shift to 28 nanometers is expected later this year. The latest chips are based on ARM’s Cortex-A9 design; the first chips based on a faster and more power-efficient Cortex-A15 core are also due later this year.

Apple could take one of several approaches with the next iPhone, McCarron said, including using either the A5 or A5X design and having the chip made on the more power-efficient 28-nm process.

“For phones in particular … there’s a lot of incentive to use the latest process,” he said.

Ahead of Wednesday’s announcement, there was speculation that Apple might use a quad-core processor in its new tablet. But the decision to stick with a dual-core chip was a sound one, analysts said. There are questions about whether current software is ready to take advantage of four cores, and chip makers including Texas Instruments have stuck with dual-core ARM processors for now for that reason.

Most of the existing software for Apple devices wasn’t designed for a four-core CPU, so going with a dual-core chip made sense, McCarron said. By comparison, graphics performance scales fairly well across more cores and is quite well-abstracted by operating systems.

LONDON – Apple has seeded iOS 5.1 beta to developers and it hasn’t taken some long to discover references to next-generation iPhones and iPads within it.

References to an iPhone 5,1 and an iPad 3,2 as well as an iPad 3,3 were noticed by Filippo Bigarella, reports Apple Insider, as well as a reference to an iPad 2,4.

While current second-generation models are referred to as iPad 2,1, iPad 2,2 and iPad 2,3 within iOS, iPad 2,4 has not been spotted for, with some speculating that it could refer to an iPad that will be compatible with US network carrier Sprint’s CDMA network.

Another interesting point to note about iOS 5.1 beta is that it isn’t available over the air – as future iOS updates will be – but must be downloaded from Apple’s developer site instead.

The developer build is coded 9B5117b and once installed cannot be rolled back to previous versions of iOS, Apple warned.

Apple also released a preview version of Xcode 4.3 alongside the iOS 5.1 beta.

SAN FRANCISCO – Planning to buy a new Mac for someone on your holiday shopping list? Such a thoughtful and generous gift is going to make someone very, very happy.

Now comes the hard part: Which Mac should you buy? That’s where we come in. We’ve tested every standard-configuration Mac model currently in Apple’s lineup, and we know each model inside and out. We’re happy to help you make a decision.

This buying guide explains all the Mac models available and how they’ve changed from their predecessors. To read the full review for each Mac, click on the “Read our complete review” links. You can also get more details on how each Mac did in our benchmark tests. And we’ve provided links to help you find the best prices.
MacBook Air
The MacBook Air has become Apple’s marquee laptop. Its thin, lightweight design makes it an ideal portable computer, and you no longer have to accept the features compromises that older MacBook Air models required. As Macworld’s editorial director Jason Snell said in his review of the MacBook Air, “You get the distinct impression that it’s only a matter of time before all Mac laptops look like the Air.”

The 2011 MacBook Air line uses Intel dual-core Core i5 processors, a vast improvement over the Core 2 Duo processors used in previous models. Macworld Lab found that the 2011 MacBook Air models are at least 1.5 times as fast as last year’s 11-inch MacBook Air with a 1.4GHz Core 2 Duo processor. With some older games, however, the current models may suffer a hit in graphics performance.

The 2011 models’ key new feature is the Thunderbolt port. Past MacBook Air models had only USB 2.0 connectivity; Thunderbolt gives the 2011 MacBook Air a high-speed connector, and widens the range of peripherals you can use. You can either get the proper adapters to connect FireWire, eSATA, USB 3.0, or other devices to the Thunderbolt port, or you can get Apple’s Thunderbolt Display, which serves as a connectivity dock for the laptop.
When Apple discontinued the MacBook in July, the company thrust the MacBook Air into a new role. Apple’s lowest-priced laptop is now the 11-inch 1.6GHz Core i5 MacBook Air ( Macworld rated 5 out of 5 mice ) with 64GB of flash storage. (You may be able to find a refurbished MacBook at the online Apple Store, if you really want one.)
Configurations: There are four MacBook Airs: two 11-inch models and two 13-inch models. All come with flash storage and Intel HD Graphics 3000.

The entry-level 11-inch MacBook Air has a 1.6GHz Core i5 processor, 2GB of RAM, and 64GB of flash storage for $999. (Get best current price.) The other 11-inch MacBook Air has the same processor, 4GB of RAM, and 128GB of flash storage for $1199. (Get best current price.) Both 11-inch models feature a high-resolution LED backlit glossy display with a 1366-by-768-native resolution.
The only difference between the two 13-inch MacBook Air models is the amount of flash storage. Both 13-inch models feature a 1.7GHz Core i5 processor, but the $1299 13-inch MacBook Air (get best current price) has 128GB of flash storage, while the $1599 13-inch MacBook Air (get best current price) has 256GB.
Performance: The MacBook Air is quite capable of handling everyday tasks, such as emailing, Web browsing, using office applications, and more. You can even use it for editing short videos, and working with JPEGs from your iPhone or point-and-shoot camera.

The 11-inch MacBook Air is the slowest Mac in Apple’s lineup, but it’s no slouch. It’s much faster than last year’s 13-inch MacBook Air. Also, the 11-inch MacBook Air, thanks to its flash storage, is about as fast overall as the $1199 13-inch MacBook Pro with a dual-core 2.4GHz Core i5 processor and a 5400-rpm 500GB hard drive. The 2011 13-inch MacBook Air is about 28 percent faster overall than the last year’s 13-inch MacBook Air.

Macworld’s buying advice: Previous MacBook Air generations were thought of as niche laptops. But now, the 2011 MacBook Air is the ideal laptop for most Mac users. It’s a great combination of performance and portability.

Read our complete review of the 11-inch and 13-inch MacBook Air models (mid-2011)
MacBook Pro
The MacBook Pro was actually updated twice in 2011. The first update was in February, and the most recent MacBook Pro line was released in October. The MacBook Pro continues to sport the aluminum unibody design that was introduced in 2008, but it has more features and processing power than the MacBook Air. Consider the MacBook Pro a possible replacement for an older desktop Mac.
The current models feature Core i5 and Core i7 processors that are slightly faster than the models released in February. The speed differences are bigger if you compare the current MacBook Pro line to the models released in 2010; most notably, the 2010 13-inch MacBook Pros used slower Core 2 Duo processors. The new 13-inch MacBook Pros still use only an integrated graphics processor, the Intel HD Graphics 3000. The 15- and 17-inch MacBook Pros have both the integrated Intel HD Graphics 3000 and a discrete graphics chip.

Configurations: There are five standard configurations of the MacBook Pro.

The entry-level 13-inch MacBook Pro, with a dual-core 2.4GHz Core i5 processor, 4GB of RAM, and a 500GB hard drive, costs $1199. (Get best current price.) The 13-inch MacBook Pro with a dual-core 2.8GHz Core i7 processor, 4GB of RAM, and a 750GB hard drive costs $1499. (Get best current price.)
There are two 15-inch models. For $1799, you get a quad-core 2.2GHz Core i7 processor, a 500GB hard drive, and a 512MB AMD Radeon HD 6750M discrete graphics chip along with the integrated Intel graphics. (Get best current price.) The next model up (at $1999) has a quad-core 2.4GHz Core i7 processor, a 750GB hard drive, and a 1GB AMD Radeon HD 6770M discrete graphics chip along with the integrated Intel graphics.
The 17-inch MacBook Pro is the same as the $1999 15-inch model but with a larger screen. It has a quad-core 2.4GHz Core i7 processor, a 750GB hard drive, a 1GB AMD Radeon HD 6770M discrete graphics chip, and the integrated Intel graphics. It costs $2499. (Get best current price.)
The 15- and 17-inch MacBook Pros are the only laptops in Apple’s lineup that offer a high-resolution antiglare screen option. It costs an extra $150 for the 15-inch MacBook Pro, and an extra $50 for the 17-inch MacBook Pro.

Performance: The $1999 15-inch MacBook Pro 2.4GHz Core i7 was the fastest laptop in our Speedmark 7 testing. The $1199, 13-inch 2.4GHz Core i5 MacBook Pro offers performance that’s similar to that of the $999 11-inch MacBook Air with a 1.6GHz Core i5 processor and 64GB of flash storage, but the MacBook Pro has features the MacBook Air lacks, including FireWire 800 and a bigger screen.
Macworld’s buying advice: The MacBook Pro combines the performance of a desktop computer with the portability of a laptop. If you want the fastest MacBook Pro, the 15-inch 2.4GHz Core i7 MacBook Pro is the one to get. If you primarily want a device for travel and are trying to decide between a MacBook Air and a 13-inch MacBook Pro, go for the MacBook Air, unless you really need the processing power for heavy-duty tasks or you want a computer with FireWire built in.

Read our complete review of the 13-, 15-, and 17-inch MacBook Pros (late-2011)
Mac mini
Designwise, the 2011 Mac mini hasn’t changed much compared with its predecessor. It’s still a small aluminum square that sits modestly on your desk.

The change that does stand out—and may influence your buying decision—is that the Mac mini no longer has a SuperDrive. If you want to burn music CDs or DVDs, or read data from an optical disc, you need to get an external optical burner, which costs $60 to $100. If you absolutely want an internal SuperDrive in your Mac, opt for a laptop or an iMac.

The 2011 Mac mini has a Thunderbolt port, which replaces the Mini DisplayPort in the older model. The Mac mini also has an HDMI port, a FireWire 800 port, four USB 2.0 ports, a gigabit ethernet port, an SDXC Card slot, and analog/optical-digital audio input and output minijacks. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are built-in.

Configurations: The $599 Mac mini has a dual-core 2.3GHz Core i5 processor, 2GB of RAM, a 500GB hard drive, and Intel HD Graphics 3000 integrated graphics. (Get best current price.) The $799 Mac mini has a dual-core 2.5GHz Core i5 processor, 4GB of RAM, a 500GB hard drive, and AMD Radeon HD 6630M discrete graphics. (Get best current price.) You supply your own keyboard, mouse, and display.
Performance: In 2010, Apple released only one nonserver Mac mini model, which had a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB of RAM, a 320GB hard drive, and Nvidia GeForce 320M integrated graphics. The 2011 Mac minis are significantly faster than the older model: The $599 Mac mini is 32 percent faster, and the $799 Mac mini is 61 percent faster.

The Mac minis still lag signifcantly behind the iMacs, but for general-purpose use and editing of moderate-size videos, the Mac mini will do fine.

Macworld’s buying advice: The Mac mini continues to be a nice, affordable computer for new Mac users and shoppers on a budget. It has enough power for everyone except professionals who demand top performance. Be sure to shop around for an external disc burner if you really need an optical drive.

Read our complete review of the $599 and $799 Mac minis (mid-2011)

iMac
Apple hasn’t changed the design of its aluminum all-in-one desktop computer for a few years now, because it’s a design that works. It elegantly fits the components and display into an iconic form.

The company updated the line in May with new processors and graphics chips. The iMacs are available with 21.5- and 27-inch widescreen 16:9 displays.

The iMac comes with Apple’s Wireless Keyboard and Magic Mouse, but if you order online from the Apple Store, you can switch the keyboard to a wired version with a numeric keypad, and switch the mouse to an Apple Mouse or a Magic Trackpad, for no extra fee. You can opt for both a Magic Mouse and a Magic Trackpad for $69.

All iMacs come standard with 4GB of RAM, a SuperDrive, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, gigabit ethernet, a FaceTime HD camera, four USB 2.0 ports, a FireWire 800 port, an SDXC Card slot, audio in and out jacks, and built-in speakers. A Thunderbolt port is also included.

Configurations: There are two 21.5-inch iMacs. The first 21.5-inch iMac has a quad-core 2.5GHz Core i5 processor, a 500GB hard drive, and a 512MB AMD Radeon HD 6750M graphics card for $1199. (Get best current price.) The second 21.5-inch iMac has a quad-core 2.7GHz Core i5 processor, a 1TB hard drive, and a 512MB AMD Radeon HD 6770M graphics card for $1499. (Get best current price.) Each 21.5-inch iMac has one Thunderbolt port.
There are two 27-inch iMacs. The 27-inch model with a quad-core 2.7GHz Core i5 processor, a 1TB hard drive, and a 512MB AMD Radeon HD 6770M graphics card costs $1699. (Get best current price.) Then there’s a 27-inch iMac with a quad-core 3.1GHz Core i5 processor, a 1TB hard drive, and a 1GB AMD Radeon HD 6970M graphics card; it costs $1999. (Get best current price.) Each of the 27-inch iMacs comes with two Thunderbolt ports.
Performance: The four 2011 iMacs are considerably faster than the systems they replace. The $1199 21.5-inch iMac was nearly 24 percent faster overall than last year’s entry-level 21.5-inch iMac, which had a dual-core 3.06GHz Core i3 processor. The $1699 27-inch iMac was 25 percent faster overall than last year’s 27-inch iMac with a dual-core 3.2GHz Core i3 processor. The $1999 27-inch iMac was 16 percent faster than the previous high-end standard-configuration iMac: a 27-inch quad-core 2.8GHz Core i5 model.

If you exclude the $4999 12-core Mac Pro, the $1999 iMac ranks as the fastest standard-configuration Mac. In fact, all of the iMacs except for the $1199 model compete very well on performance when compared to the Mac Pro.

Macworld’s buying advice: The $1199 21.5-inch 2.5GHz Core i5 iMac offers the most bang for the buck. If you want top performance, then go for the $1999 27-inch 3.1GHz Core i5 iMac. In fact, if you want a computer for heavy-duty processing work, consider an iMac over a Mac Pro. The only difference between the $1499 iMac and the $1699 iMac is screen size; they have the same components.

Read our complete review of the 21.5- and 27-inch iMacs (mid-2011)
Mac Pro
Oh, the Mac Pro. Apple hasn’t updated this workstation since August 2010. Rumor has it that Apple may stop making the tower Mac. But for now, it’s still available, and it’s still a solid computer for the most demanding users.
The entry-level Mac Pro features a quad-core processor, while the top configuration has 12 processing cores. In between is a Mac Pro model with eight processing cores. All the standard-configuration models feature a 1TB ATI Radeon HD 5770 graphics card, a 1TB hard drive, four hard-drive bays, four PCI Express expansion card slots, four FireWire 800 ports, five USB 2.0 ports, two independent gigabit ethernet ports, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and audio in/out jacks. The Mac Pro is the only Mac that is not equipped with Thunderbolt.

Configurations: The first Mac Pro has a quad-core 2.8GHz Xeon Nehalem processor and 3GB of RAM. It costs $2499. (Get best current price.) The second Mac Pro has two quad-core 2.4GHz Xeon Westmere processors and 6GB of RAM for $3499. (Get best current price.) The third Mac Pro model has two six-core 2.66GHz Xeon Westmere processors (for a total of 12 cores) and 6GB of RAM for $4999.
The Mac Pro has a ton of build-to-order options. You can add more RAM—up to the 16GB limit for each Mac Pro. Apple fills only one of the four hard-drive bays with the standard configurations, but gives you the option to add more hard drives or solid-state drives, and even to configure them as a RAID. You can also add a second SuperDrive and upgrade the graphics card. A complete list of options is available on the Mac Pro technical specifications webpage.
Performance: The Mac Pros excel when running software that takes avantage of multiple processing cores, such as high-end video-editing programs, 3D graphics applications, image editors, professional audio software, and so on.

But with general, everyday tasks (emailing, Web browsing, and running office applications), the Mac Pro performs on a par with the iMac. In our benchmarking tests, the $1999 27-inch iMac with a quad-core 3.1GHz Core i5 processor actually outpaced both the $2499 and the $3499 Mac Pros overall; however, when running applications designed to use multiple cores, those two Mac Pros were faster than the $1999 iMac.

Macworld’s buying advice: The Mac Pro is ideal for the most demanding user, one who uses high-end applications and wants hardware expandability. Yes, the machines are expensive, but they’re well worth it for professionals, and they’ll still be very usable four or five years from now. If you don’t need expandability but still need speed, consider a 27-inch iMac with a quad-core 3.1GHz Core i5 processor.

What’s the difference between Opera Mini and Opera Mobile? With Opera Mini, the cost-saving compression is always turned on. There are computers located in cool locations such as Iceland that squeeze the webpages down before sending them in smaller (and thereby cheaper) packages to phones. This also enables less-capable feature phones to view full webpages, where the built-in browser can’t. Opera Mobile has cost-saving features too, but here one can turn them on and off, making the browser more like the Opera Turbo feature in an Opera desktop browser.

Learn more about Opera at www.opera.com.

SAN FRANCISCO – Last month, a faulty electrical outlet in my charming turn-of-the-century studio apartment sparked a fire while I was out of the house. Many of my gadgets were singed, and what wasn’t directly burnt still suffered damage from smoke and/or water from the automated sprinklers. Truly, it was a geek’s worst nightmare! My trusty MacBook Pro, iPad, Xbox 360, and countless other gadgets were bricked, including my primary backup hard drive (thank goodness for data recovery). So, for my first blog back at GeekTech I thought it would be apropos to compose this short list of fire prevention gadgets I only wish I knew about before the incident.

1. The Text-Messaging Smoke Detector
This smoke alarm will send an SMS to up to 4 different phone numbers. When it smells smoke you can program it to dial 911, text your mobile phone, post a Tweet, and update your Facebook status all at the same time!

2. Smart Surge Protectors
Old surge protectors are the culprit in many house fires. Even if they are UL rated, many have been damaged due to age or past surges but provide no indication as to whether or not they are actually still protecting. Your surge protector should have an LED indicator, and while you’re upgrading, why not get one that conserves power too- like this one that turns off all connected gadgets when a master device is powered off. After all, why have your speakers siphoning power like vampires when your computer is switched off?

3. Fire- & Water-Proof Hard Drive
I always back up by data fastidiously, and unfortunately my primary backup drive was a casualty of the fire. In retrospect I wish I had one of these- not only is fireproof AND waterproof, it includes a data recovery service in the event of a disaster. There is also an SSD version, which is even less prone to failure and has faster read/write speeds to boot.

4. Cloud Backups
Redundant backups are important, and having one offsite is a great idea. Depending on your needs, there are many solutions: Dropbox is great for storing small files on a remote server that you can access from anywhere, including your smartphone. Dolly Drive is another great choice that store your entire Time Machine backup cache online.

5. Fireproof Laptop Safe
Okay, maybe this is overkill but I really think that a fireproof laptop safe would have come in handy.