The MacBook Pro was the first Apple computer to feature the Intel Centrino Core Duo chipset - a dual-core processing platform that was being perfected at the same time as the new Pro. The release of these two great innovations means you get a laptop that reportedly delivers performance four to five times faster than the previously released PowerBook G4. The new Mac Pro release was aimed at the professional and power user market, but has made plenty of fans among less demanding users.

The extremely thin MacBook Pro with the aluminum case weighs 2.54 kilograms and features a 15.4-inch wide-screen monitor, an iSight camera built in, and a remote for use with Apple’s Front Row media software. The trackpad has been enlarged, allowing for more room and comfort for scrolling and multi-touch gestures. The backlit keyboard has the sunken and separated keys that have become standard for Apple laptops.

The Mac Pro gives users a giant leap forward in processing speed, far above the performance of the PowerPC’s G4 processor, which was produced by IBM. Intel’s Core Duo processor has created a monster of a laptop that processes data at blazing speeds.

If you liked the profile of the 15-inch PowerBook, you’ll love the MacBook Pro. It looks very similar to the PowerBook and it weighs about the same, but the MacBook Pro brings users a larger monitor screen while keeping a slightly thinner profile.

The monitor is an LED-backlit glossy widescreen display with support for millions of colors. The high gloss finish of the display in this model, as compared to the former monitors’ matte display, is due to the thin glass cover on the screen. The bright display of the MacBook Pro monitor is possible due to Intel’s dual-core processors, which reportedly consume less power than the past generation single cores. The new MacBook is estimated to provide up to four times as much performance per watt as the PowerBook G4 did, resulting in a vastly improved display that isn’t as power hungry as previous laptop models.

So what’s the downfall of the MacBook Pro? Like most laptops, the answer is in battery life. Although this laptop and monitor is supposed to be more power conscious, battery life and corresponding problems seem like they will always be an issue. Another less important, though often worrisome downfall, is the amount of heat generated under the laptop during use. Neither of these issues are serious enough to take away from the advances that it brings to the table.

Own a Mac? Here are eight essential free applications that you should know about.

Newsfire (http://www.newsfirerss.com/) - Newsfire is a free RSS reader for Mac users that like to be on top of every news item, podcast, or video that hits the web. There are numerous features that make Newsfire stand out from the rest of the competition including search, grouping, and del.icio.us integration. And if podcasts are your thing, Newsfire has a built in audio plugin that allows for easy export to iTunes.

Adium (http://www.adiumx.com/) - Access all of your instant messenger accounts from one sleek program with the help of Adium. For recent adopters of Apple PC’s that may have used Trillian on their Windows PC will make great use of this app. Gtalk, AIM, MSN, and more can all be accessed from one account. No more logging in and out of a program for each IM client.

Temperature Monitor (http://www.freemacware.com/temperature-monitor/) - At the very least, this application is straight up cool. This application makes use of the built in temperature sensors found in most Mac’s these days. Find out which parts are overheating from Temperature Monitors clean interface, making it easier to identify performance problems.

TinkerTool (http://www.bresink.com/osx/TinkerTool.html) - TinkerTool opens up preference settings that were once hidden in OS X. Nearly anything you’ve wanted to customize, but couldn’t find the preference settings, are now available to mess around with. If you ever decide you want to go back to factory settings, you’re only a few clicks away.

Smultron (http://smultron.sourceforge.net/) - Smultron is essential for code monkeys. Smultron is a text editor with great features such as text coloring that makes coding far easier to write and even easier to decipher once written. If you find yourself lost in line after line of code, Smultron is for you.

ClamXav (http://www.clamxav.com/) - Viruses are far and few between for Mac users, but they do happen! Keep your system protected from those viruses that you haven’t had to put up with since you were running Windows.

Perian (http://perian.org/) - I think we can all agree that Quicktime does have its downfalls. The most annoying being codec support. If you are tired of having to hunt down a new codec every time a video fails to play, than Perian is for you. Perian will keep your system updated with all the popular codecs available on the web.

NeoOffice (http://www.neooffice.org/neojava/en/index.php) - OpenOffice, an open source application that rivals the functionality of Windows Office is an amazing program. There’s only one problem. OpenOffice can’t run on Mac OS X without the help of X11. This is where NeoOffice comes in. NeoOffice is a direct port of OpenOffice, but Mac OSX compatible. Until OpenOffice 3.0 (currently in beta) is released with Mac compatibility, NeoOffice is your best bet.

Most of the time buying a product - especially a used laptop - with known defects is a really stupid move. But with the knowledge from this article you will be able to score a deal on a perfectly good used Apple laptop that others would probably pass by. The “defects” to look for are case cracks and or discoloration of the palm rests.

These problems were encountered by people who bought the earlier releases of the MacBook (and even quite a few of the later models). While these issues are legitimate complaints, I mean, who wants to buy a brand-new laptop and have it look bad within a month or so? But the problem of the discoloration or the small cracks was in appearance only - it didn’t affect the functionality of the MacBook. And this means that if you can find a used Apple laptop with these small defects, you can often get it at a much better price than one that looks better but may not even work as well or have as many features.

Look for white MacBooks that have discoloration on the palm rests. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the previous owner was sloppy or that the laptop was used extensively without proper care. Since it took Apple a little while to acknowledge that the discolorations were caused by a defect in the composition of the plastic itself, there may quite a few that you can get for a great deal.

As far as the cracks in the case - this can be a more serious issue, but most of the time the cracks were just cosmetic and didn’t affect the laptop’s usability. The problem was caused by a weakness in the plastic Apple used in the MacBooks, so even when a user took extreme care with their laptop it could crack under normal use. Another cause of the cracks was simple over tightening of the screws that held together the bottoms of the cases.

Apple provided free repair after realizing this defect, but finding a cheaper, used Apple laptop with these minor cracks could still be possible because most people don’t want to be without their computers long enough to ship them off for repair. If you find one without cracks, do go ahead and just barely loosen those bottom screws and you may prevent it from cracking on you in the future.

As far as other laptop defects, such as poor screen quality, dead keys or huge cracks, don’t even make that purchase! But finding these small defects on a high quality used Apple laptop can save you a lot of money.

There is tons of great free stuff all over the internet. But there are also many freebies to be wary of. But how do you know if you are getting a legit freebie or not? Here are some things to look for when getting freebies online.

Cost associated with free stuff
Is there a cost involved? If you are getting something for free online then it should be free. If you have to pay than be weary. The only exception to this rule is that sometimes free stuff online will have a small shipping fee associated with it. In my opinion it is only worth it to pay a shipping fee if it is significantly less then the value of the freebie.

I would never pay a $5.00 shipping fee for a free sample of shampoo or anything like that. But I would consider paying a shipping fee on a freebie like free 250 customized business cards, b/c if shipping is a few bucks it is still well worth it.

Signing up with personal information for free stuff
Almost all online freebies will require you to give your email and a shipping address. You should not worry about this as your address is needed to ship the freebie to you. And I recommend creating a special email address for freebies so you don’t flood your normal email with junk mail. But be sure you dont give out any other personal info like credit card numbers etc.

Free trials
Many companies offer some really good free trials that are worth getting. But when signing up for free trials you have to make sure to cancel before the billing period starts, otherwise you may be charged. Make sure you make a note in your calendar for a few days before the trial period ends to make sure you cancel your trial offer. And you may end up liking the product or service in which case you might want to buy or subscribe to it. Just make sure that the free trial you sign up for is from a legitimate company. Do a Google search first.

Referral program freebies
There are many referral based marketing programs in which you can win free game systems, mp3 players, and other cool electronics. But in order to win them you have to complete a number of offers or refer a number of people. Some of these programs have good reputations, like Transcendent Innovations, who does free xbox 360, free Ipods, Free PS3s and much more. But there are also a lot of frauds out there.

Always do some research on the company before you sign up for anything. Also, be aware that these companies have strict Terms and Conditions and will not hesitate to deactivate you for even the slightest violation (even if you did not know it was a violation). I know from experience.

Free paying surveys
There are a lot of great free paying surveys out there where you can get real cash or gifts. There are even companies that you can sign up to and regularly do surveys for money. Again, do research before you sign up to any of these companies. And never sign up to a company that requires you to pay to be a member. There are companies that do this for free.

Free vacation packages
A lot of companies offer free vacation packages or other freebies that just seem too good to be true. That’s because they are. Stay away from any freebie that seems too good. There is almost always a catch involved. For example, last week I was offered a free 2 night vacation with paid airfare. I asked the lady who called me a number of times if there was any catch or if I had to make any payments down the road. She said no and assured me it was a free vacation package.

All I had to do was come to them and pick up my free tickets and listen to an hour pitch from some company. But I was still a bit skeptical so I Googled the company’s name who called me with the offer. Sure enough I found what I needed. Turns out the offer is a free vacation, but they don’t give you it for two consecutive nights, and they book you at a crummy discount hotel of their choice. Plus they try to sell you all this stuff you don’t want or need. Bottom line: stay away from anything that looks shady!

Now that you have some information on what to look for when getting freebies, you can hit the net and start searching for free stuff. Good luck!

You hear about it all the time. Someone you know knows someone who is making a living over the internet. You hear about people making some extra spending money. You also hear about people making thousands of dollars a month.

How do they do it?

Well, there are lots of ways to make money online. And they don’t involve spamming or any shady techniques.

One way is to make month promoting other people’s products or services for a commission or fee. This is called affiliate marketing.

One of the biggest affiliate marketing programs online is run by eBay. eBay pays people a percentage of their earnings for every visitor you send to eBay who buys something. They also pay out at least $25 for every new user you get to join eBay.

Many people make good money setting up websites that consist entirely of eBay products. When a visitor clicks a product on the site, they are directed to eBay. If they buy something, the owner of the site gets a commission.

There are many ways to set up an eBay site full of any products you want to sell. If you know how to program, you can use eBay’s API or RSS feed to show products on your site. But I prefer using and out-of-the-box software like phpBay Pro (which allows you to easily make an eBay site using wordpress blogging software), or BANS (stands for “Build A Niche Store”). Both are relatively cheap and much easier to use than the eBay API. I prefer phpBay Pro because it can easily integrate with wordpress to great great sites.

If you are familiar with wordpress, you should be able to get your first eBay site up in a week using phpBay Pro. If you don’t know wordpress and do not want to learn it, you can try BANS, but keep in mind you need to know some basic HTML using BANS.

How much does it cost to get started? The eBay API is free. phpBay Pro for wordpress costs about $49. BANS costs about $97.

How much can you make? I currently have three sites made with phpBay Pro and I make about $500-$600 a month total from all of them. And every month they earn a little bit more.

Now that you have the information on how to start making some money online using eBay, give it a shot and see if you can start earning some extra cash!