MacBook Pro Update Imminent?

I've been eagerly anticipating the release of a new MacBook Pro. In my opinion the Pro range is overdue a significant update, with the MacBook Air receiving most of the attention over the past few years.

We have already had a few false starts, but with the recent release of Intel's Ivy Bridge architecture and some interesting GeekBench scores appearing online, I think this could finally be it!

The GeekBench score shown below popped up online recently and appears to show an unreleased MacBookPro version (v9,1) running an Intel Core i7 3820QM (which happens to be an Ivy Bridge part), as well as an unreleased build of OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion. This leads me to believe that this is an internal test unit, which someone may have accidentally (on purposes) uploaded GeekBench scores for.

So what else can we tell from the GeekBench scores? Unfortunately not a lot. We know that the i7 3820QM is a 45-watt chip and therefore would likely be positioned for a 15" or 17" model. We can also see that it has 8GB RAM, which is a great starting point. What we can't tell is if this version includes a new form factor, integrated Apple SSD or a Retina Display, therefore there is still plenty for Apple to announce.

It should also be noted that GeekBench scores have also appeared for an unreleased version of the iMac, which I would expect to get a similar Ivy Bridge update.

Based on the fact that we are less than one month away from WWDC (11th June), I now predict that the new MacBook Pro and iMac will be announced during the keynote, alongside an updated version of OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion and a sneak peak of iOS 6.0. If this turns out to be true, WWDC is gearing up to be an impressive event!

OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion - DP3

Today Apple released OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion - Developer Preview 3 (wow, that's a mouthful). It's available now to all Mac developers and like previous builds is downloaded through the Mac App Store (using a Redeem Code).

As reported by MacRumors, there is still a long list of known bugs:

• On systems with FileVault enabled, canceling the restart to the Mountain Lion Developer Preview 3 Installer may leave your system unable to present a password dialog at boot time. You can repair the problem by holding down command-R to boot to the Recovery OS and then using Disk Utility to unlock and Repair your volume. 
• Installing OS X 10.8 over 10.7.2 or earlier with FileVault turned on may fail.
• Pre-Lion FileVault user accounts are not supported in this Developer Preview.
• Some Apple menu items such as Restart may not work when a sandboxed app is in the foreground.
• iTunes no longer syncs Notes.
• Mail's photo browser cannot access the iPhoto library.
• Back to My Mac doesn't work for the first 5 minutes after rebooting.
• DVD Player may not launch after inserting a DVD on some systems.
• Most help topics are unavailable in this Developer Preview.
• Migration from a Time Machine backup that excludes "System" may yield an unusable system.
• Brightness settings may change unexpectedly after reboot.
• Display brightness may be dim after sleep or reboot.
• If Mail is hidden at logout time, it may not be correctly relaunched during a subsequent login but will appear to be running.
• Java applets may not work in Safari.
• QuickTime screen recordings may produce corrupted videos or cause an exception when run on machines with NVIDIA graphics

Unfortunately, due to the developer NDA I can't go into more detail, however as we move towards WWDC 2012 (6th June), you can expect a steady flow of leaked information. Watch this space. 

Office for Mac 2011 Service Pack 2

Today Microsoft released Office for Mac 2011 Service Pack 2 (v14.2.0). As with all service packs, this free update is recommended for all users and includes a long list of bug fixes and enhancements.

Although none of the new features are particularly exciting, Microsoft have optimised Outlook, with improved performance for Exchange and IMAP accounts. This should be great news for businesses looking to embrace the Mac, as up to this point I have found Outlook for Mac to be slower than its Windows counterpart, resulting in regular "beachballing". Microsoft have also finally included a few Lion specific features, for example Full-Screen Apps.

If you're an Office for Mac user then I suggest you head over to the Microsoft Download Center now and grab the 110MB update. For more details be sure to check out the official release notes.

Update on Friday, April 20, 2012 at 6:47AM by Matt (LifeinTECH)

It looks like Office for Mac 2011 Service Pack 2 is having a few teething issues, specifically a nasty Outlook database bug. As a result Microsoft have pulled the service pack from Auto Update, but it is still available as a direct download.

If you are a heavy user of Outlook it might be worth waiting a few weeks for Microsoft to release an updated version or patch.

MacUpdate Spring Bundle

Another day, another software bundle, however this one is special. Over the past few years the MacUpdate software bundles have become legendary, bringing top Mac applications together at a significantly discounted price.

This years MacUpdate spring bundle includes eleven Mac applications for just £32, which would normally cost £240.

• VMware Fusion 4 - Client virtualisation for the Mac
• Drive Genius 3 - Optimize, repair, test, resize and clean up your Mac
• PDFpen 5 - Edit and add text, images and signatures to PDFs
• ForkLift 2.5 - File manager and FTP client
• Typinator 5 - Text expansion solution
• DesktopShelves 2 - Display folders as desktop shelves
• Snapheal - Professional-quality image enhancement utility
• Boom - Boost audio output for your entire system
• Phone to Mac - Copy media from an iOS device to your Mac
• Star Wars: The Force Unleashed: Ultimate Sith Edition - Action game
• Worms Special Edition - Classic turn-based strategy game

As you can see from the list you get the latest version of VMware Fusion, which is an application I use daily (see my comparison review and performance tips), as well as a few other of my favourite applications such as PDFpen, Snapheal and Boom.

Normally in a software bundle I look for one great application to validate the purchase, however with his bundle I could easily argue that every application is worth the asking price (VMware Fusion alone would normally cost £32). Therefore this is a no brainer for the majority of Mac users and I suggest you head over to the MacUpdate website now, before it's too late (only 14 days remain).

BundleHunt Spring Bundle

It's been a great week for Mac applications! On Monday MacLegion announced their summer software bundle and today the team over at BundleHunt are offering an equally impressive deal.

You can get seven great Mac applications at the insanely low price of just £32! The bundle includes: 

• RapidWeaver 5 - Web Design
• MotionComposer - Interactive Animations
• FX Photo Studio Pro - Photo Effects
• Fantastical - Calendar
• ExpanDrive - Remote Storage Access
• KeyCue - Keyboard Shortcuts
• IconBox 2 - Icon Organizer / Editor 

I'm particularly excited about this bundle as it includes two of my long time favourite Mac applications.

Firstly, the critically acclaimed RapidWeaver, which is a web design application built specifically for the Mac. With its simple, elegant user interface and powerful integration with OS X, it's the perfect companion for anyone looking to create beautiful websites. It's also one of the few applications that successfully manages to blend simplicity and "power user" features, by offering a WYSIWYG editor, as well as full access to code, including advance features such as snippets, site maps and smart publishing (FTP, SFTP, etc).

AJCShow has put together a great video overview (shown below) that highlights the incredible results you can achieve with RapidWeaver in just a few minutes.

RapidWeaver is normally £54.99 from the Mac App Store, so at £32 it this is a bargain!

The second application is IconBox, which is a slightly unusual, but very cool Mac application. The best way to describe IconBox is "it's like iPhoto for your icons".

IconBox allows you to quickly see all of the icons stored on your Mac, enabling you to customise them with a single click. I'm not normally a fan of customising OS X, however IconBox is so well integrated and has so many great options available, it is difficult not to add a few personal touches. If you don't believe me, I recommend you check out IconPaper, who have an amazing collection of icon and dock packs that are available for free and work seamlessly with IconBox.

Overall this is a great software bundle and well worth the £32 asking price (normally worth £250+). Therefore I suggest you head over to the BundleHunt Spring Bundle website right now and grab this great deal while you still can.