Apple recently released a new and improved 17″ Macbook Pro, apparently the world’s thinnest and lightest 17″ notebook. It is really impressive how Apple always ups the ante with its existing line of products. Most notably, it currently comes equiped with a fixed battery that provides up to 8 hours of use! As Clara, a friend of mine said “it would be perfect for long haul Jet Star flights” 
For the photographer, this improvement is fully welcomed especially when shooting, backing up files and working on the road. The processing cycles used up can really draw a huge amount of limited battery life.
To add to that, the battery also has a lifespan of up to 1000 recharges, which according to the Apple site is three times more the lifespan of typical notebook batteries. Absolutely amazing! I have to keep convincing myself that that my now, 1 generation old MBP is still more than sufficient for me I’ve had mine for about half a year now and i’ve only had 11 battery cycles so it will still last me some time to come.
Other improvements worth mentioning would include a 60% increase in color gamut for better color reproduction – again another welcomed feature, especially for photographers and digital artists. All 17″ MBP’s now ship with 4GB of RAM as standard up to a maximum of 8GB! That’s how much RAM I have for my desktop work horse! 
Now you may think i’m one of those Apple snobs who hates everything Microsoft 
Sorry to dissapoint, cause I actually like using Microsoft’s Windows Vista too. It is a rock solid operating system and has never given me any problems. I run a quad core system with 8GB’s of RAM and Vista 64 really flies through most of the stuff I throw at it. Lightroom makes instant changes and so does Photoshop
When it comes to notebooks it’s a different story though. I don’t believe there is any other notebook that comes close to the MBP’s for the digital artist, regardless if you’re a photographer, graphics designer, musician, etc. Fast CPU, more RAM, high resolution display, crazy battery life – plus it looks so damn sexy!
Last week Canon also released a firmware update for perhaps one of the most highly anticipated cameras, the Canon 5D MKII. Most of you who have been following news about the 5DII would be familiar with the ‘black dot’ phenomenon evident in some night pictures and also vertical banding noise when shooting in sRAW mode.
Canon acted quickly this time around and an update was released soon after users discovered those issues. Here’s a link for the update to 1.07: http://web.canon.jp/imaging/eosd/firm-e/eos5dmk2/firmware.html
And a review of the 5DII by The-Digital-Picture.com: Click Me!
By the way if anyone is wondering, JB Hifi have yet to contact me about the 5DII I preordered from them last year. I rang them just after the New Year break for a quick check and apparently the ETA has been pushed back to Feb. When I placed the order the ETA was mid to end January so I really hope that will still hold true. I have several shoots lined up but thankfully they all start in March.
*Keeps fingers and toes crossed for an early delivery*