Consumer Reports finally gets it right!

Consumer Reports may not be the most influential voice in determining which computers are most preferred by the buying public. But it matters. Each year, for the past who knows how many years, the magazine has dutifully provided its assessment of the best and worst in computers. And almost from the get-go, its overall assessment of the Mac has been negative.

At best, the magazine viewed buying a Mac as an oddball decision, only advised for those willing to swim against the tide and venture beyond Microsoft’s ubiquitous Windows universe. At worst, it downgraded and dismissed the Mac as being too expensive, too underpowered, and generally just too weird to be taken seriously. It never seemed to understand that the Mac OS was substantially different from (and, in the view of many, significantly superior to) Windows. It couldn’t see beyond the superficial similarities of the Mac and Windows desktop interfaces. And since Windows PCs ran much more software than a Mac (even if most of the software was crap), why get a Mac? This was the essence of the magazine’s logic.

I would regularly feel my blood pressure rise as I read these reports. “They just don’t get it,” I would wail. “They’re not taking into consideration how much extra stuff comes built-in to a Mac. They’re picking a low-end Mac to compare against a high-end Windows machine.” And on and on. I despaired of ever seeing Consumer Reports giving the Mac a fair shake.

Yet, over the past couple of years, the seemingly impossible has happened. Consumer Reports’ attitude has turned around. It’s been awkward and a bit slow, much like an ocean liner attempting a tight turn in a harbor. But it has happened.

Some may argue that the attitude shift is more due to improvements in the Mac than to a change in Consumer Reports’ perception. Or they may point to the ever-growing importance of the Internet, which has in turn minimized any software advantage of the PC. Plus, the Mac can now run Windows. Others might suggest that the shift simply reflects the increased status and popularity of the Mac, in this post-iPod world.

Perhaps. Or perhaps, after all these years, Consumer Reports at last gets it. Whatever. The completion of the pro-Mac attitude shift is readily apparent in the magazine’s current (June 2008) issue. Here are the ratings highlights:

The 15″ MacBook Pro was the highest rated 15″ workhorse laptop.

The 17″ MacBook Pro was the highest rated 17″ workhorse laptop.

The MacBook Air models were the second and third highest rated slim-and-light laptops (only slightly trailing the Sony VAIO). Even the MacBook made the list here.

Moving on to desktop Macs, the 20″ iMac was the top-rated all-in-one budget computer. Actually, it was in a category by itself here; there was no second place.

The 24″ iMac placed a strong third in the all-in-one workhorse computer category.

In the magazine’s separate Quick Picks listings (which consider value and tech support, in addition to test results and features):

The 15″ MacBook Pro was included in the “Best for features and performance” list.

The 17″ MacBook Pro was cited as a “Best desktop replacement.”

The MacBook Air was a Quick Pick in the “Best lightweight laptops” category.

The 20″ iMac was (no surprise) the lone Quick Pick for “Best inexpensive all-in-one.”

The 24″ iMac was cited as “Best for features and performance.”

In a separate assessment of companies’ technical support, Apple was far and away the winner. It received the highest ratings by a wide margin, both for laptops and desktop computers. Apple outpaced the second-best rated company by 17 points for laptops and 25 points for desktops!

The only place where Macs didn’t score was in the component desktop computer category. The Mac Pro is Apple’s entry here, but it didn’t even show up in the magazine’s listings. The high price of the Mac Pro was probably a factor in the magazine’s decision. With one exception, the rated computers in this category were $1300 or less, often much less. However, the one exception was the “high end” Dell XPS 420, listed for $2975. This is certainly in the same price bracket as a Mac Pro, which leaves me a bit uncertain as to why a Mac Pro was not included.

Apple’s Cinema Displays were similarly not included in the article on monitors. Once again, I suspect price was the primary reason. The most expensive rated monitor was $500; the least-expensive Cinema Display (20″) is $600.

Still, why quibble? Taken as a whole, Consumer Reports gives the Mac line-up a super solid endorsement. If you want a laptop, you want a Mac. If you want an all-in-one desktop computer, you want a Mac. If you’re concerned about technical support, you want a Mac. That’s just what I’ve been saying all these years. Now Consumer Reports is saying it too.

Last week, I read Dan Frake’s intriguing column describing his re-evaluation of the MacBook Air. Essentially, after extended time using an Air while on vacation, Dan found that he did not miss the Air’s lack of traditional features nearly as much as he had anticipated.

This reminded me of a question I have been thinking about ever since the MacBook Air was released: What is the future of the optical drive?

The Air’s “missing” optical drive has often been subject to the same sort of criticism leveled against the original iMac’s lack of a floppy disk drive. The iMac did have a built-in optical drive, but it was not a CD-writer, so there was no way to save data to a CD. The lack of a floppy disk drive was thus not a trivial matter. Yet, over the next few years, not only did the iMac survive sans a floppy drive, it thrived. At the same time, the floppy disk drive was dropped from all computers from all vendors, relegating it to the dustbin of computer history.

Could the same thing happen to the optical drive? Not right away. But I believe it will happen, and sooner than you might think.

For the moment, Apple offers two solutions to compensate for the Air’s MIA optical drive:

The first is to buy an external optical drive, such as the one Apple now sells. This works fine for when you are at your base location, but does not fit well with the intended portability of the MacBook Air.

The second is for the Air to share a drive from another Mac via the new Remote Disc option. This works reasonably well, including for accessing an unbootable Air from an Install DVD — as long as you have a second Mac available. But it is not a total substitute. For example, you can’t use a shared drive to play movies. And it is no solution at all if you don’t have a second Mac or are on the road where no Mac is available.

What about the third option: Doing without an optical drive at all? Before this is truly viable, we’ll need two incremental advances in current technology:

1. Much faster Internet speeds. In one sweep, a significant speed boost could eliminate as much as 90% of the need for an optical drive. When you can transfer gigabytes of data in the time it now takes to move megabytes, it will be practical to use the Web to do just about anything you now do with an optical drive: play music, watch movies, purchase software, or backup your drive. Even at today’s slower speeds, we are already doing much of this. With much faster speeds (which are predicted for a not too distant future), it will not only be possible but preferable. I’ve already discussed this, as it relates to movies, in a previous blog entry.

2. Very cheap flash and card media storage. I see matters moving in two directions at once here.

First, to substitute for bootable discs, we’ll shift to bootable flash drives. [Note: In an upcoming column, I’ll have more to say about how these work.] The cost of these drives continues to drop — often dramatically. You can now purchase a 512MB drive for as little as $.05! That’s like free. A 4GB drive can be had for around $20. In a related “sign of the times,” after Sony discovered a firmware problem with the model of their LCD television that I owned, they sent me (and all other owners) a flash drive to update the TV’s firmware!

Second, for greater storage capability, we can shift to media cards, just like the ones now used in digital cameras. A Mac could access these cards via a USB card reader, which is a much more portable accessory than an optical drive (these could even be built-in to a MacBook Air down the road). Amazon already sells 4GB SD cards for as little as $19. Before too long, prices should drop down to about the cost of a DVD (at least a dual-layer DVD), making the cards a true competitive alternative.

For archival storage, media cards and flash drives may not be as durable as CDs and DVDs, but I believe they will be good enough that most users will be content to forgo an optical drive.

When all of these puzzle pieces fall into place, the optical drive will be ripe to join the floppy drive in the dustbin. This day is still at least a few years away, especially with the push to Blu-ray prolonging the life of optical discs. But the day is coming.

Apple’s iPhone media event ended just minutes ago. So this is a very rough first take of my reaction. And my reaction overall is positive. The news is much better than my worst fears, although a little worse than my highest hopes.

Here are the upside highlights:

• Developers will get full access to the iPhone’s toolbox. From the sound of things, any software that Apple can write in-house, developers will be able to do as well. For example, the iPhone accelerometer will be accessible, as seen in some of the cool games that were demoed.

• Apple will release an iPhone Simulator that allows developers to test out their iPhone apps on a Mac.

• The iPhone SDK is free to developers and a beta version will be available today!

• Distribution of iPhone apps to users will be through an “App Store” application on your iPhone. YES! This means that you will be able to get software onto your iPhone directly from the phone itself. You won’t need to go through the iTunes application on a Mac or PC (although there will be iTunes access to the apps as well). Steve said you should be able to access the App Store via Wi-Fi or EDGE.

• The App Store will permit distribution of free software. Other than an initial $99 fee to publish software, there will be no charge for posting free apps. Developers will get to decide whether and what to charge for their software. Apple will take 30% of the price, if it is not free.

• Although Apple will place some limits on what software is allowed (no porn was mentioned, for example), it seems like Apple is not going to be overly restrictive here.

Now for the bad news:

• The iPhone Software Update 2.0 that allows users to get all of this software will not be available until June. The wait continues!

• Apple will apparently do its best to prevent developers from distributing software on their own. Exactly what this will mean for the software currently available via jailbreaking is not clear. Maybe Apple simply won’t officially support alternative distribution methods, but will still tacitly allow jailbreaking to continue. However, I suspect Apple will try to put an end to jailbreaking. Whether or not they can succeed remains to be seen.

• Aside from the new enterprise features (which I am skipping over here, except to say that the ability to mass delete and move email messages is extremely welcome!) and AIM for the iPhone (which may be included as part of a default iPhone installation), no other upcoming new iPhone features were announced. There was no mention of a 3G iPhone, more open Bluetooth access or voice-dialing, to name three things that I am especially looking forward to seeing.

• There was also no mention of whether or not third-party software will be able to allow hardware devices to connect to and work with an iPhone. I am especially thinking of something like a wireless keyboard. It remains unclear whether or not such devices will be possible via the SDK, but it seems unlikely. Apple did specifically say that they would not support any apps accessing the Dock Connector, outside of those that are approved for Apple’s “Made for iPod” program.

Bottom line: Having to wait until June for the Software Update, after expecting it to be available by February, is obviously a big disappointment. However, once June rolls around, all will be forgiven and forgotten.

Most users will be more than satisfied, at least in the short term, with what the Software Update allows. I would guess that about 90% of the third-party software now available via jailbreaking will wind up in the App Store. For the typical iPhone user, that should eliminate virtually any incentive to jailbreak their iPhone. Some software, perhaps apps that allow direct manipulation of the contents of the iPhone’s drive and certainly apps that perform actions that Apple does not want to permit (such as unlocking the SIM), will still have to depend upon jailbreaking. But most users won’t want such stuff, or at least won’t want to risk jailbreaking to get it.

On the plus side, by Apple completely opening up its iPhone toolbox and providing a “legal” method for third-party development, we should see a much wider and more elaborate selection of software than now exists. The games that were demoed today, for example, far exceed the rather minimalist games now available via jailbreaking.

So yes, we could have gotten a bit more. But we could have gotten a lot less. Yesterday, the iPhone was one of the greatest technological devices ever invented. Today it is even better—much better. It’s hard to complain about that.