Trade-in Your PC And Get P10,000 Off On A Brand New Mac

Ynzal's Switch2Mac promo offers a P10,000 discount when you trade in your desktop PC (any model in good working condition) for a brand new Mac. This great deal from Ynzal is applicable when you purchase a 17-inch iMac with the following specs:

- 17-inch LCD
- 1.83GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
- 512MB DDR2 SDRAM
- 160GB Hard drive
- Built-in iSight camera
- 24x Combo (DVD/CD-RW) drive
- Intel GMA 950 graphics processor with 64MB DDR2 SDRAM

Price...P54,880
Trade-in Price...P44,880

Promo runs until March 15, 2007. Call Ynzal at 413-7575/74 or send an email to sales [at] ynzal [dot] com.

Disclaimer: PinoyMacLovers is not affiliated with Ynzal. Please contact Ynzal directly and make the necessary inquries before entering into any transaction.

The 2007 Philippine Blog Awards

Hello, my dear & faithful readers (there are two of you). I am happy to announce that PinoyMacLovers has been nominated in the Technology blog category for the 2007 Philippine Blog Awards. Hooray!!! Check out the list of nominees.

Power Mac Center in Greenbelt Holds Free Apple Seminars For The Month Of February

For the entire month of February, the Power Mac Center in Greenbelt 3 is conducting free Apple training seminars. These seminars are open to anyone and everyone who loves Macs! Topics to be covered include: (1) Mac Basics - Mac OS X Fundamentals, (2) Mac Music Day - iPod, iTunes & Garageband Essentials, and (3) Mac Movie Day - iMovie, iDVD & iPhoto. The seminars are held every Tuesday (Mac Basics), Thursday (Mac Music Day), and Saturday (Mac Movie Day) at 6-7 pm.

Click on the graphic below for more details:

*The Power Mac Center is located at the 2/F, Greenbelt 3, Ayala Center, Makati City, Philippines
Tel: (632) 729-7128 | Fax: (632) 729-7087

Note: PinoyMacLovers is not formally affiliated with Power Mac Center. You are advised to contact them directly, if you wish to avail of a slot in any of their seminars.

The Right Time To Buy A Brand New Mac

Now, this is tricky. It's tricky for any type of computer or gadget for that matter because new and upgraded versions will always come out. I remember a few years ago (2005, I think) when I was all set to buy a 20-inch iMac. On the day I planned on getting one, I was just so busy with work that I wasn't even able to call the store to place my order. This turned out to be quite fortunate for me because the very next day, Apple announced the release of the very first iMac with a built-in iSight. So I ended up buying that instead. I know I've mentioned that the release of upgraded models is inevitable, but in this case, it would really suck big time to find out about a new model on the very next day that you buy a product. So luckily for me, I didn't end up being in a situation that would surely have caused me to pull a few strands of hair off my head.

So the question remains - when's a good time to buy a brand new Mac? or an iPod? or a plutonium-powered flux capacitor? I usually go with the 6 months rule. If a specific model has been out for atleast 6 months, I'd much rather wait for a new release to come out. And then I also do a little research for any rumors and speculation about upocoming new models. Now, for those of you who don't have the time or patience for that, you might want to look at Mactacitc.com. Their website says - "We estimate the release date of new macs so you get a chance to buy when they are the best value." They have a list for Macs as well as iPods and Apple accessories. An item can be labeled caution - may be replaced, still good value or buy immediately. They also give information about how long a particular model has been in the market and an estimtate on when it might be replaced. Now, I have no idea how they come up with those figures so I think you should take them as recommendations instead of fact. In the end, what's important is that you make a well-informed decision before you make your purchase. Get a Mac or an iPod or an Apple accesorry that suits your specific needs. If it can do the things that you need it to do, then that's a lot more important than being on the cutting-edge all the time.

[via TUAW]

Perian: Adds QuickTime Support For Many Different Video Formats

There are so many different video formats out there that won't play in QuickTime unless you download and install a specific video codec. Perian, touted as the "swiss army knife for QuickTime", tries to make things a little easier for us Mac users by enabling Apple's standard media player to playback many different video types. It is a free, open source QuickTime component that adds native support for many popular video formats which include:

• AVI and FLV
  
• 3ivX, DivX, Flash Screen Video, MS-MPEG4, Sorenson H.263, Truemotion VP6, and Xvid
  
• AVI support for: AAC, AC3 Audio using A52Codec, H.264, MPEG4, and VBR MP3
  

This is great because Mac users don't have to download and install a bunch of different codecs to add support for the many different video formats out there. Perian provides all of those for you all in one package. I also like how it adds native QuickTime support for the Flash video (flv) format. Up until I discovered Perian, I was using a separate standalone FLV player to playback my Flash videos. Now, I don't have to.

You can log on to Perian.org to download and learn more about Perian.

The iSkin Protouch Keyboard Protector For Your Apple Keyboard

Throughout the years, my very first Apple keyboard went from a lovely shade of pure white, to this horrendous yellowish color.


So before my newer keyboard suffers the same fate, I have decided to protect it with the iSkin keyboard protector by Protouch.

Made of durable high-grade silicone, this removable and washable product effectively protects your keyboard from dirt, grime and the occasional booger that sticks to your fingertips.

The instructions indicate that the iSkin keyboard protector be "massaged" into position until perfectly fitted. After "massaging" it on for a few minutes, it still didn't fit as snug as I'd wanted it to, but it was still quite unobtrusive and made typing on the keys feel more soft and jelly-like.


The iSkin Protouch Keyboard Protector - don't eat cheetos in front of your computer without it.