Shop for music, movies, TV shows, audiobooks, podcasts, and games. For Mac + PC iPod is a brand of portable media players designed and marketed by Apple Inc. and launched on October 23, 2001. The line-up currently consists of the hard drive-based iPod classic, the touchscreen iPod touch, the video-capable iPod nano and the screenless iPod shuffle. Former products include the compact iPod mini and the spin-off iPod photo (re-integrated into the main iPod classic line). iPod classic models store media on an internal hard drive, while all other models use flash memory to enable their smaller size (the discontinued mini used a Microdrive miniature hard drive). As with many other digital music players, iPods, excluding the iPod touch, can also serve as external data storage devices. Apple's iTunes software is used to transfer music to the devices. As a jukebox application, iTunes stores a music library on the user's computer and can play, burn and rip music from a CD. It also transfers photos, videos, games, and calendars to those iPod models that support them. Apple focused its development on the iPod's unique user interface and its ease of use, rather than on technical capability. As of September 2007, the iPod had sold over 110 million units worldwide making it the best-selling digital audio player series in history Key Specs: 2.0GHz Intel Core Duo 100GB 5400 RPM Hard Drive 2GB 667MHz DDR2 RAM (upgraded from stock amount) Intel GMA950 13.3" Glossy Widescreen (1280 x 800) First impressions One thing I noticed about the Apple MacBook which wasn't entirely apparent from all the photos I'd seen swarming the net was the contrast between the glossy white and the matte grey of the inside. Everything I'd seen so far suggested a difference far more subtle if at all! In reality the difference is pretty large and I'm not too sure if I'm keen on it yet. I was extremely close to going for the Blackbook but common sense prevailed, the £100 or so difference meant an extra 1GB of RAM which was far more useful. Besides, I've seen the way my Navy Nintendo DS Lite and my Logitech Midnight Black MX1000 mouse pick up fingerprints, and I despise dust and dirt! The texture is very nice, smooth to the touch but not glossy, a lot of people have mentioned the lip at the bottom of the macbook where just below the trackpad meets the glossy surface. There's been suggestions that it's quite sharp and it can cut into your wrist when typing. The way my hands rested when typing meant my wrist never got near the edge and even when it does it's not sharp enough to cut it, it's a non-issue for me. Build quality The MacBook is an extremely sturdy laptop, I compared it with a Dell at work and an Acer at home. The Dell (although it is around 2 years old) creaked all over the place, it doesn't help that there's flaps and slots all over the place. With the Dell you could also press the back of the screen and see the results on the LCD, as many of you would've done at some point. With the Macbook there wasn't a hint of shimmering, I dare not press it harder! Another aspect of the Macbook I like is the port arrangement, the lines it leaves are so clean with 6 ports on the left hand side towards the back and that's it. You have the tiny IR sensor for Front Row on the front and the slot loading superdrive. By its very nature there's less room for creaking and less weak points. On the one hand you could argue that its lack of expansion slots are a downside, but personally I'd rather have it just the way it is, I've not seen a well implemented expansion card slot outside of Apple. The last six months have held a whirlwind of hype surrounding the iPhone the likes of which we've rarely seen; an unbelievable amount of mainstream consumer electronics users -- not just Engadget-reading technology enthusiasts -- instantly glommed onto the idea of a do-it-all smartphone that's as easy to use as it is powerful. The fact is, there's only a very short list of properly groundbreaking technologies in the iPhone (multi-touch input), and a very long list of things users are already upset about not having in a $600 cellphone (3G, GPS, A2DP, MMS, physical keyboard, etc.). If you're prepared to buy into the hype, and thusly, the device, it's important that purchase (and its subsequent two year commitment to AT&T) not be made for features, but for the device's paradigm-shifting interface. The hardware Industrial design We're just going to come out and say it: the iPhone has the most beautiful industrial design of any cellphone we've ever seen. Yes, it's a matter of taste, and while we imagine some won't agree, we find it hard to resist the handset's thoughtful minimalism and attention to detail