Skylarking

New Mac Prices (click to enlarge)

Often people say to me, “I think I’m going to get a Mac” because they’ve “had enough of Windows”.

Then I ask them, “How much did you pay for the computer you have?”

90% of the time they say about $600 to 800.

Then I let them know that they’re not likely to find a Mac at that price because the cheapest Mac, apart from the Mini which no Mac owner I know has ever considered, costs at least $1,000. Most Mac owners start with the MacBook Pro which costs anywhere from $1,200 to $2,300 depending upon the features you get.

That’s usually when I say, “Any $1,200 computer is a good computer.”

For more information $1,200 computers, check out this article from PC World: “The Perfect PC: Don’t Buy It, Build It”. They discuss $500 machines briefly, then they elaborate on more expensive machines, even though they are talking about building your own computer.

FYI, I have an iMac and two PCs.

I don’t have an iPad, but I do have an old e-book reader, the eBookwise 1150 — which I’d like to replace sometime soon — which I use quite a bit when I’m eating alone or snacking. I like to do a little reading while I eat, and I’m often trying to find some combination of items I can use to prop it up at an angle so I can read comfortable. Oftentimes this results in me leaning it up against the napkin holder, while placing a small book or something else at the base to prevent it from sliding.

Maybe you’ve found yourself doing the same thing with your iPad?

Well, I was looking at the iPads and the iPad accessories over at MacMall.com, and I saw a couple of products that would work nicely for iPad owners.

One such product is the Kickstand Nylon Case by Incipio. It comes in three different colors: Light Gray (shown),  Black, and Khaki/Tan. It’s constructed from rip-stop nylon with a microsuede lining on the inside to protect your investme—, er, iPad from scuffs and scratches. It acts as a book cover, as you can see, but it also has a kickstand design that allows you to prop it up for reading or video watching. (You forgot you can watch videos on it, didn’t you?)

As it is a book cover, it also comes with a magnetic latch to keep it closed when not in use. And, lest I forget, they cost only $22.99 each. Get one now and protect that iPad.

A: When you’re left handed.

Surprisingly there is one big complaint about the new iPhone 4. If you make a call with the phone in your left hand you might not receive a cellular signal.

The redesign of the iPhone 4 moved the antenna to an external stainless steel band that wraps around the phone. A significant portion of this antenna band is on the left hand side of the phone. So when you hold the phone in your left hand, the flashy part of your palm below the thumb can significantly reduce or block the cellular signal needed to make a call.

How not to hold an iPhone 4 (Credit: Apple / Screenshot by Scott Ard/CNET)

Interestingly, at June’s Apple Worldwide Developers Conference, Steve Jobs praised this antenna redesign as “brilliant engineering” and commented that it has never been done before. In a report on iPhone 4 signal issuesby cnet news’s Scott Ard mentions “some other companies may have considered a similar solution but backed off due to the attenuation caused when a person’s hand ‘covers both sides of the black strip in the metal band,’ as Apple put it”

He also points out that during Jobs’s demonstration he used WiFi instead of the AT&T cellular network. The Wifi signal portion of the antenna is higher up on the band, and less likely to be covered by your hand or fingers. Steve Jobs, himself, has a tendency to hold the iPhone in his left hand, so he may very well have been aware of the reception issue that would cause.

Now that word of the reception problem is spreading, word has it Apple suggests “not holding the phone in your left hand to make a call”. Or to use a case or bumpers that lift your hand off the edge of the phone. The bumpers from Apple cost $29. maybe Apple should send them out for free to iPhone 4 owners.

For more information on the signal reception problem with the iPhone 4see this report at AppleInsider.com.