Apple finally released an optional, add-on mouse that allows right-clicking and scrolling. But Apple designed the Mighty Mouse so it looks like, and can work like, a one-button mouse, making it harder to use than competing mice.
“Multitouch,” the iPhone-style interface that lets users manipulate lists or objects without a mouse or keyboard, is catching on. Rival companies are scrambling to add multitouch features to laptops and other digital gadgets.
Hewlett-Packard is rolling out a new TouchSmart, a desktop computer with touch-controlled software. The hardware and software are better. It’s attractive, more versatile and fun to use. But the latest effort still has some problems.
Many new Mac buyers are switching from years of using Windows computers. Here’s a quick tip sheet on a few of the most common differences in using the two operating systems.
Apple’s MacBook laptop, the company’s low-end portable computer aimed at average consumers, isn’t just any old product. It’s the best-selling Macintosh in history, at a time when Mac sales are growing much faster than sales of PCs in the U.S. overall. And, according to the sales-research organization NPD Group, the midrange model of the MacBook has been the single best-selling laptop of any brand in U.S. retail stores for the past five months.
In his annual fall PC buyer’s guide, Walt focuses on computers and laptops for consumers whose budgets have been shrunk due to the global economic slowdown.
Apple is rolling out new versions of its iMac and MacBook this week. Though both new Macs sport important improvements, they are evolutionary, not revolutionary, writes Walt Mossberg.
Edited by Walt and written by Katie Boehret, this is a guide to gadgets, web services and other consumer technologies.
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