I remember debating, about a decade ago, the sensitive issue of "x86 versus PowerPC performance" with my fellow nerds while dealing with dandruff.

So look at where we are now. I still have dandruff, but the Apple Mac Pro is getting a whopper of a processor that promises to send professional desktop consumers to high heaven on fluffy clouds of cheddar (for the Apple noobs, the "cheddar" joke refers to the "cheesegrater-like appearance" of the Mac Pro casing - look at the picture above).

The Mac Pros are getting 64-bit dual-core Xeon Woodcrest processors. With 4MB L2 cache (for the non-technical, that just means the processor has a lot of built-in space to do extra things). Top speed? 3GHz. For those Appletons not familiar with the Xeon, the Xeon series of microprocessors are Intel's server-class PC microprocessors. They are usually used for multiple-processor PCs. And now, for multiprocessor Macs, because Apple is putting two (that's 2) of those Xeon beauties in each Mac Pro.

This new Mac Pro definitely promises to be better than the G5. While this is more or less what was previously anticipated, the details about the cheesy insides are just yummy: it has room for four (that's 4) internal HDDs, although the basic Mac Pro will "only" have a 250GB HDD. And 1GB RAM. And the NVIDIA GeForce 256MB 7300GT. And a 16x SuperDrive. That sounds about right for a powerful office server.

Not good enough you say? Can't grate the cheese you say? Well, you can opt for up to 16GB of RAM and up to 2TB of disk space (for noobs who don't know what a "TB" is, let me just say that one "TB" or terabyte is roughly one trillion bytes, one million megabytes, or one thousand GB). Now that's some serious cheese.

On a somewhat unrelated note, I'm now waiting for the Mac Pro to get the quad-core processor so I can calculate the meaning of life. And yes, I'm still dealing with dandruff.

Here's a company that doesn't want to end up like Dell.

Apple has initiated a worldwide battery exchange program for certain rechargeable batteries that were sold for use with 15-inch MacBook Pro laptops from February 2006 through May 2006. The company recently discovered that some 15-inch MacBook Pro batteries supplied to Apple don't meet their standards for battery performance.

The affected batteries have model number A1175 and a 12-digit serial number that ends with U7SA, U7SB or U7SC. To check if your MacBook is equipped with the batteries in question, just take out your MacBook's battery and check the serial numbers located above the battery's barcode. If you've recently bought an extra battery for your MacBook Pro, check the serial numbers on those babies too.

An exchange form is available in the Support section of the Apple website. You can exchange up to three batteries using the form, and if you need to exchange more than three batteries, you can call Apple. Contact numbers are also listed in the website.

This exchange program is free of charge.

Merom, which is the code name of the mobile variant of the Intel Core 2 processor, is allegedly going to replace Yonah. Yonah is another code name for the Intel Core Duo chip found in the iMac, MacBook, MacBook Pro and Mac mini, and now it is one step away from being somewhat outdated, but not obsolete.

When asked for more info on Merom, Intel could only say that it is "a mobility-optimized, dual-core processor based on the new, state of the art, Intel Core microarchitecture". Their selfishness on details resulted to more backfence talks about the product which was recently announced together with its desktop counterpart -- the Conroe. One of those rumors that have been gaining ground is that Merom will be marketed as the Intel Core 2 Duo Mobile and is destined to replace the current 2MB Yonah chips found in MacBook Pros.

Merom comes with a 667 MHz frontside bus and 4 MB of L2 cache, double the 2MB found in current MacBook Pros. Intel is offering Merom in 2.0, 2.16 and 2.33GHz clock speeds. Apple will most likely announce new Intel-based Mac Pro desktops at WWDC on August 7. And until nothing official comes out from Apple, this will just join the long list of WWDC 2006 Apple rumors.

By this time you pro'lly know the MacBook has earned a reputation for being too hot too handle - literally. It has been reported to cause leg burn and some guy even used his MacBook to cook an egg just to make a point. A Dell laptop, on the other hand, turned into a spectacular fire ball in an office in Japan during a  board meeting. 

Sounds like a battle brewing? Krische thought so and set up an experiment to see which of the two gets to wear the Jalapeno crown. The test was simple. He played a full-length DVD movie on both machines while running on batteries. All other conditions were kept the same. From the room temperature to the space between the laptops and the table on which they were placed. Temperature was measured using an infrared thermometer from the top-side and bottom-side of the laptops after an hour of playtime, and at the end of the 1 hour and 45 minute movie.

The results: The MacBook runs significantly hotter than the Dell in certain spots but the average temperature is about the same as Dell's. Krische thinks the MacBook is a great alternative to the PC anyways despite running a little bit hotter. After all the MacBook lacks the built-in cooling fans of the Dell, he says. By the way, he already owns a MacBook which makes him an Apple Person. Any PC Person for the rebuttal?

We have earlier reported about some disgruntled Apple MacBook Pro users complaining about high-pitched whining noise coming from the right side of the monitor screen or the left-hand side of the keyboard. My colleague also mentioned in that article that Apple is really good at taking care of the "whines" of their MacBook Pros, err, I mean customers - that at the end of the day, it's not just about money. Here's an example to Apple's efficient customer service.

A guy named Rickard Almqvist mentioned that he recently received a new revision of the logic board that actually got rid of all whine. The new logic board (or motherboard if you aren't familiar with Mac lingo) came with new installation DVDs needed to make a new install with the new logic board. They contained 10.4.6 instead of 10.4.5 that the computer was delivered with, the new logic board remove all the whine! Sweet! Now, let's hope that Mr. Almqvist's fate spreads like a bush fire to those other disgruntled consumers. Nice one, Apple.

The MacBook has been attracting the wrong kind of attention for the wrong reason: its excessive heat. One man claimed the MacBook burned his wife's leg (which unlike many movie stars' gams were not insured for a million dollars, unfortunately). And some bloggers claim the MacBook gets soo hot it can cook an egg. Of course, they were being rhetorical.

But MacBook owner Derek went a step further... several steps further...to prove that the unit can actually double as a hot plate. He says his MacBook temperature reaches 159 degrees Fahrenheit. Enough to literally cook an egg, rather slowly, but definitely cooked. Now he's putting together a bunch of recipes which you can cook on your McBook. Derek thinks the infamous MacBook heat was part of Apple's plan to keep MacBook users from starving to death so they can purchase more Apple products later in life. We'll wait for the Derek's recipe book to see if we can truly survive without a hotplate.

By the way, Apple's response to the MacBook heat issue: It's not a laptop. So take it off your lap.

A lot of QJ staff are in love with their dual monitors. Heck, even a certain Crazy Jon is addicted to multiple monitors! I guess some people really find ease at doing computer jobs when faced with multiple monitors; we can't therefore blame Richard Troxel for wanting to use an extra monitor with his 17" MacBook Pro.

Troxel asks, "Is it possible to use both a 30Â? and 23Â? Apple Cinema Display monitors with a 17Â? MacBook Pro?" Macworld's Christopher Breen clues us in on the answer.

Unfortunately for Troxel - and other MacBook Pro users who also want to work with multiple monitors - the answer is no, not for now. Breen explains, "Although you can connect AppleÂ?s 30Â? display to your MacBook you need another video card to drive an additional monitor."

Because Apple replaced the PC Card slot with the faster ExpressCard/34 slot on their new laptops, the task of adding other monitors on a MacBook Pro has becomes impossible as there are a few ExpressCards available and nil ExpressCard video cards.

If you're a PowerBook user though, multiple monitors are a go for you via the PC Card slot - you'd just need a device like VillageTronic's VTBook and Digital Tigers' SideCar, which will soon release an ExpressCard version of such device this fall...so all is not lost to MacBook Pro users.

From the Nimble company blog comes the story of an employee that used the Microsoft line of operating systems from the very beginning of his career only to make the switch to OS X after the years of frustration became too much for him to bear.

From DOS 2.1 to Windows XP he continued to suffer through instability, insecurity and lack of functionality. Finally, after losing one too many machines to a build up of malware, he decided to go Mac and not look back!

I may have been exaggerating his suffering (in a poor attempt at humor) but the underlying problems that pushed him away from Windows are real and cannot be ignored. The Nimblogger goes on to detail some of the differences between the two operating systems, along with some of the deficiencies that he found in Windows.

Many of the negative points that he makes about XP are legitimate but, he seems to have developed a permanently hostile stance toward Microsoft that cannot be changed. Although most of his assertions are common knowledge and their validity is not in doubt, some of his assertions simply express his now soured opinion of Microsoft.

The number of viruses floating around in the wild facing XP users, the level of style and design savvy apparent in the machines and the "it just works" factor are but a few of the reasons the author gave for making the switch.

Having been a Mac and a PC owner myself, I can attest to the fact that Macs actually do work out of the box better than PCs, and the Nimblogger seems to agree with me. Either way you look at it, more operating systems would benefit everyone; prices would likely be lower, consumers would have more systems to chose from and the competition would foster advancements in technology.

Regardless of what OS you use, learning about the causes behind an experienced computer users decision to switch operating systems can give you more to think about the next time you need to decide on a platform to use.

When the infamous MacBook Pro was released to the masses back at the start of the year, it was housed in a very fetching aluminium case, gained somewhat from its predecessor. When the MacBook was released recently, that too supported a 'newish' case, which gained popularity thanks to its slimline appearance, and its choice of white and black. We have now learned that the new release of the PowerMac will be housed within a newly designed case.

The new case will be different enough to allow instant distinction between the PowerPC and Intel Core Duo variants. Together with the cases, there will be a few choices on which processors to adopt. The new Intel Core Duo will be available for the PowerMac with 2 chips, A.K.A. Quad-core platform. It is not known whether the PowerMac will adopt the soon-to-be released Core Duo 2 chip, codenamed Conroe. The mobile variant is not expected till Fall.

The MacBook Pro will also have a new case for its range. However rumour has it that this will not be released till the system adopts the Intel Core Duo 2 chip, codenamed Merom. We would hope that issues are fixed in the new case release including heat expulsion.