The MacBook Air is a very portable notebook, but that comes with some tradeoffs in terms of processing power.

You won’t bump into this wall while doing basic office tasks, but if you want to edit video the system will show signs of weakness.

During CES 2012 I used my MacBook Air to edit tons of 720P and 1080P HD video content. While the machine was able to handle the work, it was hot, it was loud and it didn’t like to do much else.

So imagine my surprise when I saw that Adobe’s Dave Helmly was going to try to edit 4K video on the MacBook Air. 4K video is about 4,000 pixels, compared to HD which tops out at 1,080 pixels.

In order to do this Helmly relies on the ThunderBolt connection that is built into the MacBook Air, and is making its way to a number fo PCs. This high speed connection allows users who need more power to connect powerful peripherals and accessories to the MacBook Air for more power. This will curt down the mobility of the notebook, but it allows users to keep their work on a single notebook.

Editing 4K video on the MacBook Air with Thunderbolt Accessories

Dave Helmly started out with a MacBook Air rocking a 1.8Ghz Intel Core i7 processor and 4GB of RAM. This system is running Windows 7 64 in Boot Camp. To this he added,

• a Red Rocket Card
• Sonnet ThunderBolt Chassis
• UltraStudio 3D playback peripheral

As you can see in the demonstration video, the MacBook Air can hardly render the video at the start, but once he enables the ThunderBolt accessories the Macbook Air is able to function as a mobile video editing station.

This $5,000 add on makes 4K editing possible on a MacBook Air.

Sure, you need a desk or a car to keep the Thunderbolt peripherals in, but if you want mobility during the day and processing power in your hotel room while on location this shows a promising look at the future.

Did I mention you’ll need to spend upwards of $6,000 on top of your MacBook Air purchase price to do this?

Via 9to5Mac

ThunderBolt Peripherals Turn MacBook Air into Video Editing Beast is a post by Josh Smith from Notebooks.com.

The MacBook Air isn’t billed as a gaming notebook, and most users who purchased the Air did so for the portability, but with OnLive gaming you can actually game on the MacBook Air. We’ve been testing out the OnLive gaming system recently and in addition to the Micro Console that connects to the HDTV you can game on Mac and PC without the need for a powerful graphics card and processor.

We put this to the test, using the MacBook Air to pick up where we left on Just Cause 2 and Dirt 2, both fairly demanding games which have the potential to look great. After teaching at the local university, I stole an office and plugged my MacBook Air into the speedy campus network to see how well the MacBook Air could handle these games.

What does it take to play Just Cause 2 or Dirt 2 on your notebook? For a Just Cause 2 experience that isn’t painful you’re looking at a 2.6GHz Dual Core Intel processor and a dedicated graphics card, oh and 10GB hard drive space and Windows since you can’t play Just Cause 2 on the Mac. Dirt 2 also recommends a beefy processor, nice graphics card and plenty of hard drive space.

While our MacBook Air has a discrete graphics card, it’s not up to snuff with gaming laptops. Let’s see how it performs.

Gaming on the MacBook Air – Just Cause 2 and Dirt 2 Video Demo:

In the testing we’ve done, the gaming experience is pretty amazing, especially considering the fact that we are playing on a MacBook Air. A few things we like include features that make OnLive almost like the Kindle.

• Buy Once, Play Anywhere – Buy the game you can play it on your console, Mac or PC without extra fees.
• Synced Game Saves – Your game saves are available wherever you are, no more playing old missions on a new console.
• Free Samples – Most games come with at least 30 minutes of free gameplay, enough to test it out and see if it suits you.
• All Your Games With You – When you purchase your games, they travel with you wherever, but don’t take up hard drive space.

But, OnLive isn’t perfect. You do need a fast internet connection, and if you are playing on your Mac or PC a Wired connection is recommended. This means you won’t be playing while in flight or even at your local coffee shop. It’s a small sacrifice for bringing gaming on the go with a computer like the MacBook Air.

Stay tuned for our full review of the OnLive Gaming Service and the OnLive Micro Console.

Gaming on the MacBook Air: Just Cause 2 and Dirt 2 via OnLive (Video) is a post by Josh Smith from Notebooks.com.

Intel’s two press events–one in San Francisco, California and another at the company’s headquarters in Santa Clara, Claifornia–scheduled for this Thursday have prompted some to believe that the events will be centered around Light Peak technology. Light Peak, which is a connection technology that promises to deliver speeds of up to 10 Gbps, will initially be available with copper wiring, though fiber optics may be the conduit in the future to deliver up to 100 Gbps by 2020 according to the company’s plans.

Apple is one of the earlier computer-makers to push Intel on the technology, and perhaps, it is no coincidence that Apple’s new range of MacBook notebooks will also debut on Thursday, according to the latest Internet chatter. The technology allows multiple types of connection to be used via a single cable, such as displays, peripherals, drives, and docking stations. The optical connection technology appeared on a recent Apple patent filing when paired with a MagSafe connector.

Via: CNET

Intel to Announce New Light Peak Connection Tech on Thursday? is a post by Chuong Nguyen from Notebooks.com.

Apple’s MagSafe connector on the company’s line of notebook computers is a power cord with a magnetic head that attaches to the laptop and can detach easily so your laptop doesn’t become damaged or fall to the ground in the event someone trips over your cord. Now, the Cupertino, California company may be looking to bring the same technology to data cables as well, providing a MagSafe attachment to cables such as USB.

The recently discovered patent application filed by Apple shows a single MagSafe connection on a laptop, which would provide both power and data connection. A MagSafe cable would connect to the connection port, and would split into two ends–one for power and the second for data over a fiber optic line.

This way, connected peripherals, such as printers or Ethernet cables, can quickly detach as well to provide the same protection against damage resulting in someone tripping over a data cable. Though USB is used here as an example, other uses could include Firewire, Ethernet, and Mini DisplayPort to transfer data.

There is no indication, however, that the MagSafe technology to support data cables would make it to the market as Apple routinely files for patents for ideas that do not make it to market. If it does reach the market, it may help save USB ports and MacBooks from accidental damage as a result of someone tripping over an extended Ethernet cable that’s stretched across a room.

The use of an optical cable in the patent diagram also hints at a potential for use in Apple’s adoption of Intel’s forthcoming Light Peak technology. Light Peak promises to deliver faster connections and would replace a number of existing and legacy connection types, such as USB, Firewire, and DisplayPort, to provide a faster standard. According to Intel, “Existing electrical cable technology in mainstream computing devices is approaching practical limits for speed and length, due to electro-magnetic interference (EMI) and other issues. However, optical technology, used extensively in data centers and telecom communications, does not have these limitations since it transmits data using light instead of electricity. Light Peak brings this optical technology to mainstream computing and consumer electronic devices in a cost-effective manner.” Intel hopes to scale Light Peak performance over the next decade to achieve transfer speeds of up to 100 Gbps.

Via: AppleInsider

Apple Patent Reveals Plans for Data Transfer Over MagSafe Connector is a post by Chuong Nguyen from Notebooks.com.

While we were in Vegas covering CES this month connectivity was an issue. While the connections inside the blogger lounge were in general pretty fast, but the room filled up quicker than the Speck booth – and they had an open bar. Once you were in the hallway the press and blogger connections failed to work and a trip back to the room was out of the question since even in the Venetian this would be a 30 minute adventure.

I started the trip using PDAnet for my Droid, but was very excited to get a review MiFi unit from Novatel late the first day so that I could get connected without any cables or fussing around with software.

With a freshly charged MiFi, and an Eye-Fi card on loan from Xavier, I set out to cover day two of CES and immediately recognized the benefits of the MiFi unit over tethering to my phone. Leaving the Venetian I hopped onto a 10-15 minute shuttle ride over to the big show and while I wouldn’t have gone through the trouble of connecting my Droid for such as short period I was able to connect my HP Mini 1000 to the MiFi quickly and knock out a post I had leftover from the evening before. Tethering my Droid wouldn’t have been practical in this quick cramped situation.

The MiFi unit also came in incredibly handy throughout the show as I had it turned on in the pocket of my ScotteVest for practically instant on connectivity wherever I ended up; be that on the floor, a corner of the USPS booth or camped out at RunCore’s booth in the Netbook Zone.

When the entire Notebooks.com and GottaBeMobile team covered the Intel keynote the four of us each connected a computer to the MiFi unit as well as Xavier’s Eye-Fi card which he used to provide the rest of us with almost instantaneous access to his photos that were uploaded to his Flickr account. This situation highlights one of the biggest benefits of a MiFi card over any tethering solution; the ability to share a connection and do so without any extra installation.

Connected with MiFi wishing for a backlit keyboard!

If I wanted to share my PDAnet tethered Droid with the rest of the group I would have had to pull some workarounds in Windows to share over the built in WiFi or lend the connection to one person at a time and even then they would have had to install the software and USB drivers and hope it worked. Because the MiFi shares over WiFi the only setup is typing in the network password and clicking connect.

The ability to upload pictures from anywhere with a Eye-Fi card and a MiFi was another positive at the show after a helpful Eye-Fi rep showed me how to fix a user error that prevented the images from uploading when the notebook was on one connection and the Eye-Fi card on the MiFi. This connectivity is one of the things I will miss most as I pack up the MiFi unit and return it to Novatel tomorrow. The fact that combining a MiFi and the new Eye-Fi Pro X2 means you can keep taking photos without ever running out of room may be enough to cause my wife, who is a shutterbug, before I do!

As far as speed goes during the comparison I tested both PDAnet and the MiFi several times; both moving and standing still and the speeds were very close no matter which device I used. That said the MiFi was faster by about 200 Kb/s up and down while in a moving vehicle that was traveling between 35 and 45 mph. It is likely that this difference was due to small changes in location and networks rather than a clear advantage but nonetheless the differences existed in my non-scientific tests.

Really the only trouble I had during my test was uploading large files to YouTube, but I wouldn’t have even attempted that when tethered and it’s possible that part of that was due to network and YouTube saturation at CES.

If you couldn’t already tell, I am sold on the MiFi. Not only is it dead simple to use, easy to share and tiny but it just works. Not once during my use did I run into an issue like you see below that popped up with PDAnet on a few occasions. The MiFi device is one of the simplest ways to connect to the internet on the go and offers several advantages over traditional tethering such as the ability to share and Eye-Fi connectivity.

You can currently get a MiFi device from Sprint or Verizon for practically nothing if purchased on Amazon with a contract. If you don’t want to pay between $40 and $60 a month you can pick up a Pay-As-You-Go MiFi device and use it only when you need it which may fit those of us like myself who travel less frequently better than adding another monthly data fee.

For the time being I haven’t decided to pick up a MiFi, only because while I continue to have a day job that puts me behind a desk 9 hours a day without much travel I don’t connect as much on the go to justify purchasing one. If that situation changes, or Verizon lets you add a MiFi to the same pool of data my Droid uses, I will be much more likely to pick one up.

Bottom Line: If you need mobile access from Verizon or Sprint a MiFi is the device for you — it does so much more than the USB cards they both sell and when purchased from Amazon a MiFi is as about as cheap as you can get.

Here’s what the MiFI looks like when it’s up and running.

Novatel MiFi Review: Easy On The Go Connectivity is a post by Josh Smith from Notebooks.com.

When we first got a look at Dell’s 9.99mm thick concept notebook, the Adamo XPS, it was so thin and light that Xavier wondered if Dell would actually sell the concept notebook.

It looks like Dell is pushing forward on its quest to slice the competition down to the size with new images of the razor-esque looking Dell Adamo XPS leaking out which show us what ports the Adamo XPS will have.

Click for larger image

The first product shot we saw of the Adamo XPS appears to have been a picture of the notebook’s tiny rear end, about as thick as a Macbook Pro’s display, which is the only curviest part of the Adamo XPS.

The rest of the notebook, which Xavier estimates couldn’t weigh more than 2 pounds, looks like it could easily be used to defend yourself from any would be muggers; so long as you know how to use it.

Click for larger image

While still teasing, the new Dell Adamo XPS images do give us a little more info about the notebook. In addition to a solid state hard drive, which is the only storage that will fit in this small package, the Adamo XPS looks like it will come with the following ports.

• 1 DisplayPort connection
• 2 USB connections
• Headphone connection
• An odd shaped power connection.

Even though the Adamo XPS will be priced outside of my gadget budget it’s really exciting to see technology like this out there because it means that someday these smaller parts and batteries will make their way into cheaper gadgets that I can enjoy.

New Images of the Dell Adamo XPS Reveal Connections is a post by Josh Smith from Notebooks.com.