Mac users looking for a full-featured mechanical keyboard experience have a new option today with the release of the Das Keyboard 4 Professional for Mac.

The Das Keyboard 4 Professional is a mechanical keyboard that comes with a lot of the features you’d expect out of a modern keyboard. First up are the dedicated media keys, along with an oversized volume knob for quick and easy access to your media functions. Alongside the media keys, the keyboard also features dedicated function keys to access Mission Control, Launchpad, and display settings.

As for the mechanical parts of the keyboard, it features gold-plated switches, which the company says will provide more tactile feedback than standard keyboards. Finally, the keyboard also features two USB 3.0 ports for fast file transfers, as well as a 6.5-foot long cable to allow some distance between the keyboard and connected Mac.

As for price and availability, you can pick up the Das Keyboard 4 for Mac for $175 in either English or German layouts with your choice of blue (clicky) or brown (soft) switches from the Das Keyboard website.

Press Release:

Apple stores won’t be the only places consumers can purchase the Apple Watch on April 24. A few high-end fashion stores will also offer the smartwatch to their customers.

Apple clearly wants the Apple Watch to appeal to an audience beyond the typical technology gadget adopters. According to Women’s Wear Daily:

In tandem with the April 24 launch, select specialty stores will sell individually chosen selections of the Apple Watch: Colette in Paris, Dover Street Market in London and Tokyo, Maxfield in Los Angeles and The Corner in Berlin. It is understood 10 Corso Como in Milan will also get the product at a later date. In addition, Hong Kong-based specialty retailer Lane Crawford is to preview the Apple Watch in its personal shopping Platinum Suites from April 10 in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing and Chengdu locations.

The article stated that the Apple Watch will also be made available as a preview experience for shoppers at Galeries Lafayette in Paris, Isetan in Tokyo and Selfridges in London starting on April 10. It added:

It is understood those stores will host shop-in-shops in high-visibility locations custom-designed to support high service quotients, with Selfridges putting the smartwatch in its Wonder Room, Isetan on its ground floor and Galeries Lafayette on its first floor amid European brands. The size of the installations could not be learned, but are to incorporate bespoke tables that display the watches under glass with special lighting and animations. Sales specialists are to assist customers in discovering and trying on different models, also ensuring the setup so they are fully operational when they leave the shop.

It’s likely that these retail locations will offer the Apple Watch Edition, which will have prices starting at $10,000. Apple has already recruited supermodel Christy Turlington Burns to show how she is using the Apple Watch to help her train for running the Virgin Money London Marathon.

Source: Women’s Wear Daily

The Surface Pro 3 gets much love from Microsoft, as it should. The company is actively updating apps, firmware and adding features based on user feedback. With that, it is no surprise to find a new update for the firmware today o Patch Tuesday.

Additionally, the old-school Surface RT also has a small firmware update waiting for it as well. This leaves nothing new for the Surface Pro, Surface 2, or Surface Pro 2.

Monday’s Apple reveal of the new MacBook has some people shaking their heads no. Even if it’s not right for you, Apple’s gonna sell millions. Here’s why.

First of all, if you haven’t already read it, check out Ren and Rene’s first look at the new MacBook:

• Hands on with Apple’s unbelievably-thin, battery-packed MacBook

Like the American Tourister gorilla

I’m hard on portable gear. My boss at Macworld at the time, a clean-shaven fellow from Nova Scotia named Jim Dalrymple, was totally horrified by what I’d done to the company-issued PowerBook G4.

“What the hell did you do to that thing?” Jim asked, incredulously, one day at Macworld Expo. I’d managed to crack the edges of the PowerBook, destroy the screen hinges and scratch the hell out of the wrist area on either side of the trackpad.

In late 2009 I had to get myself a new computer, because my 17-inch MacBook Pro died a premature death (quelle surprise). I scored an excellent deal on a white polycarbonate Mac model at Micro Center: 13-inch screen, 2.26 GHz processor, enough RAM and storage to get the work done.

It was a MacBook.

That MacBook is still with us. My about-to-turn 15 year old uses it. I’ve upgraded the RAM and replaced the hard drive with an SSD, and it’s still pretty zippy.

Not your father’s Oldsmobile

So I have very fond memories of the MacBook line, and still use MacBook hardware. I suspect MacBook is long in the memory of many Mac users like those that visit the Apple reseller I work at on the weekends. Many of them bring theirs in for service when the inevitable accident occurs, or when something needs replacing.

In 2010 Apple made its last MacBook model. Apple repositioned the MacBook Air to be its new consumer model, with the MacBook Pro squarely aimed at customers who wanted more beef. Last year, after a price realignment and some marketing push, Apple sold more MacBook Airs in one quarter than it had, ever.

It’s very fitting that Apple has resurrected the MacBook moniker. They’ve done something very different with the line, however. To borrow an old marketing slogan, it’s not your father’s Oldsmobile.

About the USB-C interface

The most controversial design decision of the new MacBook has nothing to do with the bright, beautiful Retina display, the choice of chassis color or its incredible thinness. It has to do with Apple’s decision to do away with all expansion ports except for a singular USB-C style connection. This marks the first time any Apple device has supported this interface.

USB-C replaces everything. There’s no Thunderbolt port, no USB ports, not even a power port. That doesn’t mean the Mac can’t connect to anything, just that you’re going to have to buy adapters to make it happen. Computer users are going to be seeing a lot of USB-C in the coming years regardless of whether they get Macs or PCs, so get ready.

Regardless, Apple has shown time and time again that it’s willing to inflict some short-term discomfort to users if there will be long-term gain. Just like the floppy drive, just like optical discs. Just like the 30-pin dock connector and Lightning cables. It’s happened before. People have moaned and groaned. And they’ve moved on.

• Apple’s new MacBook sports USB-C: Is Thunderbolt headed for FireWire’s graveyard?

The new MacBook

The new MacBook is not aimed at power users, nor is it aimed at everyone else better outfitted with a MacBook Air. This new MacBook combines the overall practicality and usability of the Mac with, for the first time, the sort of Apple design fetishism we’ve seen in iPhones and iPads for years.

Gold. Gold! You can order your MacBook in gold. Coincidentally, the last Mac you could order in custom colors? The MacBook. For a while you could get your hands on either a white or black-clad plastic version. The black MacBook is still an object of desire for some old-school Mac users.

But what about that Core-M thing?

Inside is an Intel Core-M processor, a new fifth-generation Core chip design based on Intel’s “Broadwell” microprocessor architecture. It’s already been featured inside some new two-in-one convertible laptops and tablets that run Windows. But don’t hold that against it.

The new MacBook’s clock speed is considerably lower than the MacBook Air, but that’s not a meaningful measuring tool for most people shopping for a new computer. They want to know what it can do. Can it check e-mail? Check. Surf the web? Check. Help with homework or the occasional work project? Surely.

The new MacBook isn’t built for speed or horsepower. If you want to do Final Cut edits on your Mac or compile millions of lines of code quickly, stick with heavy iron like the Retina MacBook Pro or the Mac Pro. Even the iMac is a good choice.

Apple still makes computers you “power users” can enjoy. This is not one of them. People are asking a lot of good questions about the MacBook’s overall horsepower and how exactly it can be used. Answers are forthcoming, since the MacBook doesn’t launch until April 10th.

In the interim, rest assured that the arrival of the MacBook doesn’t foretell the death or discontinuation of anything else. Remember, MacBook Airs and MacBook Pros just got a bump too.

Microsoft has issued 14 security bulletins today for a number of software products, as part of its regular monthly “Patch Tuesday” event. Four of those downloads are to fix issues in the current 9926 preview build of Windows 10 for PCs.

Griffin has announced WatchStand, a charging dock for the Apple Watch, more than six weeks ahead of the device’s launch.

The first in what Griffin says will be a line of products for the Apple Watch, WatchStand features an angled cradle that will securely hold the watch’s magnetic charger. The central post holds the charger’s cable, with excess cable wrapping around the post.

The base of the WatchStand features an angled lip that holds your phone at an angle, letting it rest against the post. Your iPhone will, of course, need its own charger. The stand will be available this summer for $29.99. You can sign up now to be notified when it goes on sale.

Source: Griffin

The new MacBook is an intriguing machine, but despite all of its innovations it has me most excited for the next MacBook Pro.

The Spring Forward event brought us things like pricing and more details on the Apple Watch, but to me the most exciting part was the brand-new Retina MacBook. Not because of what that computer is — and it is an interesting piece of hardware — but for what it means for the future of the MacBook. In particular, the future of the MacBook Pro.

Let’s be perfectly clear: the new MacBook is a specialized forward-looking machine. While I’m certainly lusting after it and keep going back and forth on whether or not I’m going to buy one, it’s not the machine for me. That doesn’t mean it can’t or shouldn’t be your next Mac. For my purposes — working with a large external monitor, Ethernet, several USB devices, and SD card on a regular basis (and all but the monitor while on the go as well) — it doesn’t suit me. I require more physical input options than the MacBook afford me. And I need more power to do what I do in a timely manner than the Core M processor inside it can offer.

Conversely, I go to the coffee shop and I see people sitting there with their laptops and nothing at all plugged into them, or maybe just a pair of headphones. For them, the ultra-light and ultra-portable MacBook might be the perfect machine. Even with that Core M processor will be adequate — they’re not processing video, rendering 3D models, or even playing games much more intensive than what you’ll find on Facebook.

There’s been a lot of angst about the new MacBook from the “technorati”. A lot of us have MacBook Air computers that aren’t quite powerful enough to do what we ask, or we have a MacBook Pro that has all of the power and a gorgeous screen, but its weight and size makes us lust after those we see pulling Airs out of their bags. I saw it myself at MWC 2015 just last week — I think my first-gen 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display is a fantastic machine, though it’s starting to show its age. I saw my colleagues with their lighter MacBook Airs and wished for the lesser weight on my shoulder, but then all I had to do was look at their screen and watch them try to process video to push myself back from the edge.

In the minds of those that lust for powerful and thin, the long-rumored and much-longed-for Retina MacBook Air was supposed to solve that. But the new MacBook isn’t that computer. It’s a machine of compromises. Getting it as thin and light and long-lasting as it is required opting for a less-powerful processor and cutting out the multitude of ports we’ve grown accustomed to. There’s nothing wrong with that; it just means that the new MacBook is not the computer for me.

But it does set the stage for the future of the MacBook Pro (I’m not certain about the future of the Air, since this new MacBook is both thinner and lighter than the current Air and I don’t know what Apple could possibly do to make an even thinner and lighter computer right now). I look at the new MacBook and I imagine the design innovations that went into it — the slimmer keyboard, the terraced battery cells, the thinner display — going into the next-generation MacBook Pro.

The MacBook isn’t designed for people who need power and ports, and in retrospect it was rather insane of us to project those expectations onto even a MacBook Air with Retina display. The next MacBook Pro is the computer I want. Alongside the introduction of the new MacBook, Apple refreshed the internals of the current MacBook Pro design with a new set of fifth-generation Intel Core “Broadwell” processors and faster memory. These are better computers than the one I own, yes, but merely in that they’re more powerful and get a longer battery life.

I’ve resigned myself to wait. The new MacBook isn’t for me, and the updated MacBook Pro line isn’t enough of an update over what I have today. I’m waiting for the next generation Pro, with an Intel Skylake processor and a design that follows the lead of the new MacBook, all while retaining things that I need to accomplish my job like a Thunderbolt port and an SD card slot. I hope it will have those, but maybe it won’t.

I’m a pro user and I use my Pro computer as a pro ought. I push it to the brink and make use of nearly everything it has to offer. I run live video conferencing for hours on end, I do 3D modeling and video rendering, I hook up a multitude of peripherals (with just one plug thanks to a Thunderbolt dock), I pluck my SD card out of my high-powered camera and slip it into my computer.

All of these things mean that the new MacBook isn’t for me. And that’s okay. Just in the same way that an entry-level Moto G is not the smartphone for me or a single taco is not enough taco for me. It can be the computer for somebody else, and I’ll gaze longingly at its slim profile and effortless weight while pondering for the umpteenth time if I could get away with using it as my primary machine (and eventually dismissing that thought after realizing all of the adapters I’d have to carry around).

And that’s okay. I’ll wait for the computer that is for me, and to my friends that take photos with their iPhone and never do any heavy lifting with their computer but with it wasn’t as heavy to lift, I’ll recommend the new MacBook without hesitation, but with the caveats that it comes with. It’s first computer to head down Apple’s new computing design and philosophy. A lot of it’s ahead of its time, some of it might be rolled back.

For now I’ll just sit here and dream about my lighter, slimmer, SD card slot-bearing, future MacBook Pro.