Amazon Prime Instant Videos Gets A New Look On PC

Amazon finally got rid of their clunky and flat out shitty Amazon Prime Instant Videos interface that PC users had to deal with for years. The new interface copies Netflix's look by categorizing movies by genre and it now displays the cover art of each movie in horizontal rows too. This interface isn't new for Amazon Prime Videos since Andriod and iOS users have had this layout for quite some time now and it baffles me why it took ages for the PC to get this intuitive layout.

Well I'm glad it finally happened since now I can cancel my Netflix membership because Amazon has an interface that isn't dog shit anymore. I had a Netflix these last few years alongside my Prime membership because the interface was way way way better on Netflix. Now that they're the same yay! I don't have to spend to $7.99 plus tax for Netflix and hopefully Amazon will add some more TV shows and movies to their streaming catalog.

Here are some before and after photos of what the interface looked like before and what it looks like now.

Here's what it was like before...

And this is after!!!!!!!!!!!!

Life Hack: Why You Should Refurbished Macs Over New

I recently purchased a refurbished Mac and got a smoking good deal and I wanted to share my experience with everyone, so they could learn about the value to be had. First off, not all refurbished models are broken ones that were repaired and then resold. Apple and other laptop makers don't want to tell you, but a good amount of units that are considered refurbished are actually brand new units with nothing wrong with them. The unit was for a day or two in some cases and returned because the customer didn't like it for some reason. 

My purchase story: I was browsing the web and came across Apple's refurbished store and decided to take a look at what the Cupertino tech company was offering. I found they were selling a (June 2013) 11 inch Macbook Air selling for $849 which is roughly $150 off the unit's new in box price. 

The next part will probably surprise you as much as it did me. I thought I was getting the base model with 128GBs of storage, a 1.3GHz i5 processor and 4GB of RAM, but Apple ended up sending me 128GB 11 inch with an i7 1.7GHz processor and 8GB of RAM instead. If you want the i7 processor Apple charges you $150 to upgrade to the speedier processor and another $100 for the upgrade from 4 to 8GB of RAM. Basically, I wound up paying $849 for a computer that normally retails for $1250 and found there's nothing wrong with it. The unit looked and felt brand new as there was absolutely no scratches on it and the power adapter was wrapped in Apple's signature plastic wrapping. 

Why did I get such a great deal? I assume that I purchased a custom order someone had placed and then returned, since you have to make a custom ordered Macbook Air to get the upgraded internals. So, there you have it you sometimes can get killer deals by purchased refurbished products and I know I'll be buying my next Macbook refurbished too. 

By: Jason Sullivan

Is Apple Care Worth It?

If you're wondering whether or not to make the plunge into purchasing Apple Care, I'm here to tell you my opinions on buying the extended warranty. I've debated many a nights on just sticking with the one-year warranty or getting Apple's signature extended coverage. I'm going to tell you what Apple Care is and break down each product and tell you what benefits you'll receive from the warranty service.

What is Apple Care? 

Apple Care is an extended warranty you can buy for your iPod, iPhone, Macbook Pro/Air, iMac, or Mac Pro desktop computer. The warranty extends your manufacturer warranty to two-years or three-years. You'll receive full software support during your Apple Care warranty, which can be done in an Apple Store or over the phone. If the device cannot be repaired by Apple in some cases you will receive a brand new shiny Mac, iPhone, iPod, or whatever Mac product you have under the coverage.

iPhones/ iPod

I've dropped every cell phone I've ever owned, so Apple Care for me was a no brainer and it costs $99 for two-year coverage that also insures you over accidental damage. A new iPhone 5s if broken today without Apple Care would cost at least $650 to replace, so yeah Apple Care is worth it for that. Apple will only replace your twice due to accidental damage, and you will have to pay a deductible fee of $79, but hey that's way less than $650. The warranty covers your phone's charger and headphones too.

Should you buy it? If you're prone to dropping your iPhone or iPod a ton, Yes!

MacBook Pro/ Air

For countless nights the debate has raged on in my mind of whether or not I should buy Apple Care for Macbook Air. The coverage extends the manufacturer warranty to three-years and does not cover accidental damage due to drops and spills. The warranty does give you three-years of tech support like Apple Care for an iPhone and iPod and if purchased with Apple accessories at the time of purchase it will cover them too. Accessories that can be covered by a MacBook Pro/ Air warranty include Apple's USB SuperDrive, Apple's Thunderbolt Display, or AirPort Extreme router. 

If you're getting a Macbook Air I would recommend purchasing Apple Care for one of two reasons the first the accessories are covered and two Macbook Airs cannot be serviced easily. What do I mean about serviceability? Well the Air has soldered in RAM which means you'll need to know how to use a soldering iron to replace it. The keyboard is hard to fix too, as you'll have to take the whole notebook apart to replace it. If your SSD fails it might cost $300 or more for Apple to replace it if its outside the one year manufacturer warranty. Also as stated before Apple Care covers the charger too, so that's another reason to purchase it.

Unfortunately, Apple Care does not cover battery replacement of your MacBook Air, so you'll have to fork over $129 plus tax to get it replaced.

The 13" and 15" Retina Display MacBook Pros are built very similarly to the Macbook Air so I recommend you buy Apple Care on these notebooks too. 

If you're planning on buying a non-retina MacBook Pro then you don't really need Apple Care if you're familiar servicing laptops. The non-retinal Pro is a very serviceable laptop as the RAM is not soldered to the motherboard, the hard drive is easily replaceable, and not to mention the optical drive and battery can be replaced too. On laptops the two components that fail the most are the system's RAM or hard drive and since these are easily user-repaired I don't feel that you need to buy Apple Care. 

Breaking down the costs of servicing a non-retina Macbook Pro if you wanted to replace your MacBook's RAM ($40), hard drive ($60), and battery ($60) it would cost roughly $160 in parts to replace these yourself. 

I recommend Apple Care on the Air/Retina Pro and don't recommend it on the regular Pro.

iMac/ Mac Pro

If you're planning on buying a iMac or a Mac Pro then I'd say purchase Apple Care, as these computers are hard to service just like the Air/ Retina Pro. The iMac is particularly difficult because every computer is behind the computer's glass screen. I've seen someone try to service one themselves and actually break the glass screen. The new Mac Pro is not service and has everything soldered to its motherboard, so you're going to want to get Apple Care for it unless you're again a competent solderer. Apple Care for these computers is cheap running $169 for three years, which is super cheap.

Get Apple Care for these units.

Another option I read on the internet is going through Apple's Repair Depot and paying a flat rate of $319 for repairs. The repairs you can get done can only be things that fail from normal use so if your motherboard dies, RAM gives out, or hard drive goes you can get it repaired through the repair depot. While the repair depot could save you money potentially since you can get a battery replacement from them, but its still very expensive. One person stated they had their battery replaced, hard replaced, and motherboard swapped out by using Apple's Repair Depot. If you can wait for everything to break on your MacBook and then go and have it serviced then, yes, the repair depot is a great option. If you want your out of warranty Mac to be serviced its a great option, but $319 is a pretty hefty fee to pay and they don't cover cosmetic things or repairs needed for accidental damage. Some accidental damage quotes have been reported at a whopping $1200. 

That's my spiel on Apple Care, I see it as very beneficial to users of hard to service products, but for those comfortable servicing laptops the non-retina MacBook Pro is one unit that go without Apple Care.

Written by,

John Kessler

Google Announces Chromebook 11 made by HP

Google's finally brought a new Chromebook offering to the market with HP's Chromebook 11 and this Chromebook sports a variety of color options. Unlike past Chromebooks that came in just one color option, you can get this newest version in white with either red, blue, green, or yellow accents. For those wanting a more rugged look the Chromebook also comes in glossy black too.

All of the Chromebooks feature a band of colors (blue, red, yellow, and green) on the top of the display which lights when the lid is opened. The Chromebook 11 also features a magnesium frame that is bonded its plastic shell, which in turn is supposed to give the device a more solid feel and better build quality.

The Chromebook 11 has a weak point when it comes to its I/O ports as it comes with 2 USB ports, a headphone/microphone jack, and a micro-USB charging port. I'm disappointed that HP and Google didn't include an SD card slot as this would have made it easier to add storage to the unit. Another thing that I would have liked to see in this newest Chromebook is Bluetooth which is MIA. It should be noted one of the USB ports can use an HDMI to USB adapter to display video as well.

The Chromebook comes with a micro-USB charger the same charger that most Android phones use.

The reason Google decided it didn't need an HDMI port on this new device is that they probably wanted to leverage its $35 Chromecast, their wireless HDMI streaming device. The Chromecast allows users to stream content from their Chrome browsers directly onto your living room TV or HDMI monitor.

Google and HP decided to give the Chromebook 11 an 11.6" 1366x768 IPS display with 300 nits of brightness. I'm not a fan of the old 1366x768 resolution, but its $279 so I can't really complain about this since the devices price is super low.

Now for the internals of the Chromebook 11 and what you should expect from them. Google's newest Chromebook features a Samsung Exynos 5250 dual-core ARM processor, 2GB of RAM, and a 16GB SSD. The speakers are located internally too tucked underneath the Chromebook 11's keyboard.

The processor in this device is the same one used in Samsung's Nexus 10 so it's not the newest ARM processor on the market. Laptop Mag did a few tests on the device and it seems it should be slightly faster than Samsung's Series 3 Chromebook that uses a Exynos 5 ARM processor and slightly slower than Intel based Chromebooks.

This newest Chromebook looks promising as the major problem with Samsung's Series 3 Chromebook was that it featured a flimsy design and feel. HP and Google have done their best to make a solid product with an upgraded internals and a fancy IPS screen.