Recently in Apple Category

Reg Hardware have published a review of the Apple Mac Mini 2011 compact desktop. 'Last year's Mac Mini was a bit of a let-down. Sure, it got a nice redesign, with a gleaming metallic, low-profile chassis and a new HDMI port that seemed like a belated attempt to try and repurpose the Mini as a media centre system. However, the hardware inside it was actually downgraded, which meant that you were paying almost £650 for a low-spec desktop Mac that didn't even include a mouse and keyboard, let alone a monitor. This year brings slightly better news, as the £529 base model has been reinstated and the adoption of the i5 processor brings a welcome performance boost. The basic model has a 2.3GHz Core i5 processor, 2GB RAM, 500GB hard disk and an integrated Intel HD 3000 graphics processor that shares 288MB of system memory. That doesn't leave a lot of memory for the graphically heavyweight Lion operating system, so 4GB really ought to be standard.'

Computeractive have published their review of the Apple Macbook Pro 13in (2011 model, 2.7GHz). 'This Macbook Pro model makes use of integrated graphics so there is no dedicated graphics card; instead the graphics are produced by the main processor. Though the Core i7 processor has dedicated graphics hardware it's still not as powerful as a separate graphics card. What would make this laptop faster and better is the inclusion of a dedicated card such as the ones on its more expensive siblings. Performance was impressive, but for £1,300 (£50 more than before) we think it should be even faster.'

PC Perspective have published a review of the Apple MacBook Pro 2.3GHz Sandy Bridge 13.3".laptop. 'The 13" model we configured for our review includes a 13.3" glossy widescreen LED display that natively runs at 1280x800. We also kept everything else standard like the 2.3GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor with 3MB shared L3 cache and 4GBs of DDR3-1333 system memory, but we upgraded the hard drive to a 500GB, 5,400 RPM SATA model. We also chose to stick with the Intel HD Graphics 3000 with 384MB of DDR3 SDRAM shared memory to keep the cost down below $1,300.'

Trusted Reviews have published a review of the Apple MacBook Pro 15in (MC723B/A) laptop. 'At 364mm x 249mm x 24.1mm in size, and weighing 2.54kg the 15in MacBook Pro isn't a laptop you'd want actually sitting on your lap very often, but it isn't so heavy that you'd be unhappy taking it to and from work every day, or carrying into a meeting room occasionally. It's certainly not a frequent flyers best friend, though. The power adaptor is light enough not to cause concern, and we definitely approve of its modular design, with either a plug built into the adapter or a long cable available. An addition we're not particularly enthralled with, but which might be of interest to some buyers is the new FaceTime HD camera. As the name suggests, this constitutes a 720p sensor, in the same place as every previous MacBook Pro had its standard definition one. A small mercy is that new MacBook Pros come with FaceTime installed, saving you the £0.99 cost owners of older Macs are subject to. Suffice to say that this works, and looks good, but that we're not inclined to use it.'

Computeractive have published a review of the new Apple Macbook Air 11in laptop. 'The model we reviewed was the 11in version with 128GB of what's known as flash storage. All Macbook Air models use this type of storage, also known as solid-state disk or SSD, as an alternative to a hard disk. It means it can start programs very quickly, and it took just 11 seconds to go from switched off to ready-to-use. It has a 1.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 2GB of memory and an Nvidia Geforce 320M graphics card. With those components, it's no slouch: we were able to play and edit high-definition video, manage large collections of photographs and run multiple programs at once with no noticeable slowdown.'

Trusted Reviews have published a review of the MacBook Air 11in (Late 2010) notebook. 'The industrial design of the 11in MacBook Air, if nothing else, confirms that this system is playing, not just in a different league to netbooks, but a different game to them entirely. Shrinking the aluminium unibody design of the 13in MacBook Air into a system measuring 300mm x 192mm x 17mm (Apple's 3mm to 17mm height dimension is somewhat misleading, as the system is only 3mm thick at the very edge) hasn't made it look any less fantastic, and more importantly hasn't made it feel any less premium. At 1.06kg it's reassuringly heavy, but still light enough to use on your lap for extended periods. Put simply: the 11in MacBook Air isn't just a system that feels like it could survive daily use, it's a system that you will want to use daily.'

Pocket-lint have published a review of the 2010 Apple MacBook Air laptop. 'Cast from aluminium, the MacBook Air is "cake cutting" thin with a design that tapers from 17mm at the back to just 3mm at the front, although you've got to also take into account the feet and general sitting on the desk form factor. If you're wondering how that stacks up against a MacBook Pro - that 17mm is roughly the same height as the side of the bigger more powerful laptop, while the thin end when on a desk is the height of a CD jewel case. With such a thin design the laptop isn't that heavy, and that means a total weight of just over 1.32kg for the 13.3-inch model we've got on test. Against the 13.3-inch MacBook Pro it's almost half the weight (2.56kg), and not surprisingly in the hand it really does feel it.'

HotHardware have published their review of the Apple MacBook Pro15-inch notebook. 'With an Intel Core i5 humming away under its hood, the MacBook Pro uses the processor's integrated graphics. But it also includes a discrete Nvidia GeForce GT 330M GPU as well. Similar to how Nvidia's Optimus technology works on some switchable-graphics Windows-based laptops, the MacBook Pro uses a technology that Apple calls "automatic graphics switching" to automatically switch from using one GPU to another, depending on the demands of the running applications. The goal is to use the discrete GPU only when it is truly needed in order to best conserve battery life.'

A review of the Apple MacBook Pro 17-inch i5 computer has been posted over at Pocket-lint. 'The keyboard is outstandingly good: comfortable, well-spaced and enjoyable to use. It is backlit so you can see it easily even in low light, which is useful as the lettering is white on black keys. There's the now-standard large, glass trackpad with multi-touch so it reacts differently according to whether you touch it with one, two, three or four fingers. Perhaps the next iteration will have a five-finger option, too. The screen is great: glossy, with high 1920 x 1200 pixel resolution though you can opt for a matte screen instead if you want, but you'll pay extra for this. It's so big that you notice it not just because it takes up so much of your vision, but because dragging something from one edge to the other is a bigger movement.'

A review of the Apple Macbook Pro 13in 2.66GHz notebook has been posted over at Computeractive. 'As a 13in computer the Macbook Pro is reasonably portable. It's relatively heavy, partly due to its metal body construction, but it's still easy to carry around. There is a CD/DVD drive on one side and two USB ports, the SD memory card reader, Firewire, network sockets and a power connector on the other. Like all Macbooks this one doesn't have the DVI or VGA socket a PC has; rather it uses the relatively rare Mini Displayport, which is an annoyance, especially if you have an existing monitor that doesn't take it. It also connects to wireless networks and Bluetooth devices. It comes with 4GB of memory and a 320GB hard disk.