The Mac Mini (Late 2014) has soldered RAM and CPU

After two years, Apple last week announced the refreshed Mac mini, alongside the new iPad and iMac models at an event in California. Those who had been waiting for Apple to unveil the new Mac mini were ecstatic... however, much of that excitement may die down after a teardown by iFixit revealed the decisions Apple had taken about the innards of the small form factor PC. Repair and teardown specialist iFixit on Monday published a full teardown of the new Mac mini revealing that Apple has soldered two components to the PC's logic board, ensuring that users are not able to replace them themselves. iFixit tore down the Mac mini 1.4GHz Core i5 and 4GB of RAM variant, and found that Apple had soldered the Samsung-made 1600MHz LPDDR3 RAM into its slot, unlike the previous model, as well as the dual-core Intel i5 4260U processor.

While user replacement of components is not extremely common, there are plenty of users out there that look to upgrade a machine when it reaches further along in its lifespan, and some replace the components on day one to save money on higher-specification models, whilst others just replace failed components themselves after the machine goes out of warranty. The fact that Apple has soldered the CPU into place will not really trouble most users, as CPU replacement is relatively rare, though the RAM being soldered into its slot will certainly affect more people who were hoping to upgrade the 2014 Mac mini themselves.

The iFixit team, which also rates the devices based on ease of repairability and other factors, suggest that the new Mac mini is more difficult to repair than the previous models. The team has given it a repairability score of 6 out of 10, which is notably lower than the previous Mac mini (2012), which had a score of 8 out of 10. It further notes that while the repairing of new Mac mini is little difficult than previous model, its "disassembly is straight-forward and simple" if the proper tools are used.



The new Mac mini comes in three models and is expected to be available via select authorised resellers in India this week. The new Mac mini model at Rs. 36,990 comes with a dual-core Intel Core i5 CPU running at 1.4GHz with a Turbo Boost speed of up to 2.7GHz and integrated Intel HD Graphics 5000. It features 4GB of RAM and a 500GB 5,400rpm hard drive.

Another model, priced at Rs. 49,990, comes with a dual-core Intel Core i5 running at 2.6GHz with a Turbo Boost speed of up to 3.1GHz. This model has a 1TB Fusion Drive standard and ships with 8GB of RAM and Intel Iris graphics.

Lastly, the highest-priced model comes in at Rs. 69,990 and boasts of a 2.8GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 CPU with a maximum Turbo Boost speed of 3.3GHz, 1TB Fusion Drive, 16GB of RAM and Intel Iris graphics.

Nokia Lumia is history, meet Microsoft Lumia!

The Nokia Lumia brand is no more as it will only be called Microsoft Lumia.

 However the Nokia phone brand isn't completely dead. Microsoft will continue to sell current Nokia Lumia handsets and provide the support that users expect. Features phones like the Nokia 130 will continue to be sold, we should also see new feature phones being introduced.



Tuula Rytilä, Senior Vice President of Marketing for Phones, gave an interview in which she detailed the future course of the Lumia brand. She points out that the rebranding is already underway with former Nokia-branded apps coming under the Microsoft umbrella. Similarly Nokia sites are in the process of moving to Microsoft.
Microsoft's strategy from its very inception is to put a PC on every desktop, now they will be focusing on a phone in every pocket. This comes on the back of record Lumia sales, so Microsoft has a decent chance of securing Windows Phone as the third horse in the smartphone OS game.

Google & HTC introduce the flagship Android 5.0 tablet: Meet the Nexus 9

A powerful new tablet has gone official. A tablet that represents an affordable stock Android offering but doesn’t compromise on the including the latest and greatest hardware either. Let’s take a look at it, shall we? 

To kick things of, the Nexus 9 rock an 8.9-inch display with a resolution of  2048 x 1536 (resulting in a 3:2 aspect ratio). A 64-bit NVIDIA Tegra K1 processor coupled with a 192 Kepler GPU are the heart of this tablet. 8MP and 1.6MP camera combination are there on the front and back of this Nexus. There’s also 2GB of RAM, a 6700mAh battery, and 16 or 32GB of internal storage. The tablet will feature HTC BoomSound. Brushed metal sides are also present on the Nexus 9. And now to the killer feature, the Nexus 9 ships with Android 5.0 Lollipop with 64bit enabled!

That keyboard case we saw a few weeks back is confirmed, magnetically securing itself to the Nexus 9 and offering adjustable angles of support, all ready to accommodate the workspace of your choice.

The new Nexus tablet will be available for pre-order on October 17. Color options will include black, white, and “sand.”

Source

Google & Asus introduce the flagship Android 5.0 media centre: Meet the Nexus Player

Along with the pure Android running Nexus 6 & Nexus 9, Google has the flagship Android TV powered home entertainment hub, they call the Nexus Player. This small console is designed to sit discretely alongside your home entertainment setup, offering access to your favourite TV shows and Android games.

 The Nexus Player was designed in collaboration with ASUS and acts a streaming hub for music, movies, and other videos. All you need to do is hook it up to your TV via an HDMI cable and start streaming your content over WiFi. The device runs Android TV based on Android 5.0 (Lollipop). Now because it is Android TV powered, the Nexus Player employs the Android TV functions shown off at I/O earlier in the year, including a TV optimized Play Store interface, 
content based search functions, and a gaming platform.

It is powered by a quad-core 1.8GHz Intel Atom processor with PowerVR Series 6 graphics, 1GB of RAM and 8GB of storage.

The Nexus Player can also be used to cast your favourite entertainment apps directly from your Android or iOS device, Mac or Windows laptop, or Chromebook to the TV. Content also syncs across Android devices, so you can start a movie on your TV and finish it on your tablet in bed.

The Nexus Player console comes with a dedicated remote for selecting and skipping through your content. The remote is also voice activated, allowing you to make the most of Google’s search functions. 


For the gamers out there, a dedicated gamepad for the Nexus Player will be available for purchase separately.


The Nexus Player will be up for preorder for $99!

Google & Motorola introduce the flagship Android 5.0 smartphone: Meet the Nexus 6

As expected, a powerful new phablet has been introduced in the form of Google’s Motorola-made Nexus 6. The phablet represents an affordable (well, comparatively) - stock Android offering, one that doesn't compromise on the specs front either. Let’s take a look at it, shall we?

Here we’re looking at a 5.96-inch QHD (2560x1440) display, a 13MP camera sensor with OIS, a front-facing 2MP sensor, a 3,220 mAh battery, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 processor, 3GB of RAM, dual front-facing speakers, and more. There’s also support for Motorola’s Turbo Charger, which can give the Nexus 6 six hours of battery with just 15 minutes on the charger – impressive stuff. And just as expected, Android Lollipop runs the hardware

The Nexus 6 will be available for pre-order beginning later this month. Pricing is set to start at nearly $650 for the 32GB version, with blue and white color options. The 64GB model will run you just $50 more, coming in closer to $700....which makes me wonder if Google forgot if this is a Nexus or not!

Microsoft announces the biggest version of Windows ever, Windows 10

After months of anticipation surrounding the follow-up to Windows 8.1, Microsoft decided to jump and unveil Windows 10 at San Francisco. Scheduled to be released in 2015, Windows 10 brings a wealth of desktop-friendly features while promising a unified experience across smartphones, tablets, PCs and TVs. Microsoft teased the possibility of a more unified Windows earlier in the year, and Windows 10 seems to deliver on that promise by offering an app marketplace in which applications can be bought and updated across smartphones, laptops and tablets all at once. Windows 10 also has its eyes on the enterprise user, offering the ability to easily separate personal and business data.

Now, putting the main thing into limelight: Windows 10 itself

The return of the Start Menu

Windows 10 will mark the long-awaited return of the START MENU. No, this is not the Start Screen you saw in Windows 8 & 8.1... This is the Start Menu. But ofcourse, Windows 7 was released in 2009 and the world has seen great improvment in software designs, and Microsoft didn't just bring back the ageing Aero based Start Menu we saw in Windows 7.  The Windows 10 Start menu combines Windows 7's convenient column of app icons with a sidebar for Windows 8's refreshing, touch-friendly Live Tiles. There's also a "Me" tile at the top of the Start menu that displays whichever user is logged in (just like Windows Phone)

Multitasking

Multitaskers can look forward to Windows 10's new Task View feature, which lets you get a quick glance at all of your open apps in the vein of Mission Control in Apple OS X. The software will let you switch between multiple desktops just like the Workspaces in various Linux distributions, with a Snap Assist feature that lets you easily swap in apps from any of those open desktops. You'll also be able to snap up to four apps on the same screen. In another upgrade for power users, Windows 10 has beefed up the command prompt function, which now lets you paste directories directly using the Ctrl+V command.

Continuum  

Microsoft showed Windows 10's new continuum feature, which is designed to automatically alter the OS when you switch modes on a 2-in-1, such as the Surface Pro 3. For example, clicking the Start button with a mouse and keyboard attached will open the classic-style desktop Start menu, while doing the same in tablet mode will bring up the Windows 8-style full-screen Start menu with large Live Tile icons.