Retina MacBook Pro Beats 18 Windows 8 Laptops in Battery Life Test [Mac Blog]

The 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro beat 18 Windows 8 laptops in a battery-life test conducted by Which?, the UK consumer test organization with a reputation for the most detailed testing in the industry.


In the web-browsing test where most laptops performed best, the Acer Aspire M5-581T was the longest-lasting Windows 8 machine at 358 minutes, while the 13-inch Retina MacBook Pro lasted 30 minutes longer. The Which? test was primarily aimed at comparing Windows 8 machines, but they included two non-Windows machines as a contrast. The MacBook Pro topped the list, while a Samsung Series 3 Chromebook came out in the middle of the pack at 224 minutes.

The longest running Windows 8 laptop for web browsing is the Acer Aspire timeline Ultra M5-581T – a 15.6″ screen, 2.1kg ultrabook. It lasted almost six hours on battery – enough to get you to from London to Middlesbrough and back – and fell 30 minutes shy of the battery life of the 13″ Apple Macbook Pro Retina, but costs around £500 less.

If you switch to watching movies from the Acer's hard disk, you'd get four hours and 37 minutes of movie viewing time – a little over an hour less than the Macbook.

Similar to Consumer Reports in the United States, Which? is known for scientific approach and detail in its testing. For example, product testers hook up laptops to lab gear to measure power consumption, use thermal imaging systems to measure heat and use light-measurement kits to test screen brightness.

PayPal Creates iOS SDK to Integrate Checkouts and Payments Directly in Apps [iOS Blog]

PayPal today introduced a new mobile SDK that allows iOS app developers to integrate PayPal checkout and mobile credit card payment mechanisms directly into their apps.

Currently, iOS developers can include PayPal payment buttons into their apps, but users are redirected to Safari to complete their transactions. Now, users will be able to pay without ever leaving the app, including using PayPal's card.io technology that allows users to pay with a credit card by taking a picture of it rather than manually entering the credit card number.

Apple does something similar in iTunes 11 with iTunes Gift Cards.

Mobile SDK – Everyone knows that mobile is changing the way consumers shop and pay, and no one more than developers who must have a mobile presence to compete in today's environment. We're launching a mobile SDK so that developers can deliver great experiences for their customers by reducing friction when it comes to payments. Customers never leave the developer's app experience to pay and they have more choice in the way they want to pay – simply click a PayPal button or scan a credit card using our card.io technology. We're making it available for iOS developers first, but we'll expand to other platforms soon.

PayPal promises more APIs and capabilities through the rest of 2013.

Apple’s eBay store offers significantly better deals on Apple.com refurbs (and that’s before tax+pay

9to5Mac first broke the news that Apple sold refurbished merchandise through its own eBay store last year, equipped with the same price tags, full warranties, and approved inspections, and now the company has dropped prices on many of those items below what it offers at store.apple.com.

9to5Toys and eventually Dealnews recently noticed a $100 price cut for Apple's 13-inch MacBook Air with 1.8GHz i5 and 128GB of storage (now over). It costs $100 more at store.apple.com for the same refurbished unit.

An even better eBay deal has emerged today: Apple's 11.6-inch MacBook Air with 1.8GHz, 4GB SDRAM and 256GB SSD is only $949. It's certified refurbished unite, while the same refurb model goes for $1,059 on Apple.com, and the 256GB MacBook Airs start at $1,299 new. All items come with free standard shipping, and eBay adds sales tax for only a few states at purchase and allows folks to pay with PayPal and BillMeLater.

While it is unknown why Apple is selling its refurbished products at different prices on eBay, it is possible that Apple is testing different price points, trying to move refurbished products in bulk, or even giving eBay power sellers products to sell at a discount and increase sales.

We continue to list all exceptional deals at eBay and other retailers at 9to5Toys.com.

Additional refurbished products on sale at the official Apple eBay store include $30 and $50 off the fourth-generation iPod touch in respective 32Gb and 64GB capacities, $15 off the third-generation Apple TV, and $50 off the Verizon 3G Pad 2 in 32GB and 64GB capacities.

Locations where Apple's eBay store charges tax: