This article needs to be updated. The reason given is: the article is missing information about the SMS not being included in Macs with a solid-state drive. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(July 2017)
The Sudden Motion Sensor (SMS) is Apple's motion-based data protection system used in their notebook computer systems. Apple introduced the system January 1, 2005 in its refreshed PowerBook line, and included it in the iBook line July 26, 2005. Since that time, Apple has included the system in all of their non-SSD portable systems (since October 2006), now the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air.
With a triaxial accelerometer, the shock detector detects sudden acceleration, such as when the computer is dropped, and prepares the relatively fragile hard disk drive mechanism for impact. The system disengages the disk drive heads from the hard disk platters, preventing data loss and drive damage from a disk head crash. When the computer is stable, the drive operates normally again. A clicking noise can be heard when the sudden motion sensor activates.
Broadly speaking, there have been two types of Sudden Motion Sensor. The sensor used in the G4-based laptops resolved shifts of 1/52 g (e.g. the dynamic range was close to 6-bit), while the sensor used in the current Intel-based laptops have an 8-bit resolution (250 scale divisions). In at least one model of Intel-based laptop, the MacBook Pro 15", Apple uses the Kionix KXM52-1050 three-axis accelerometer chip, with dynamic range of +/- 2g and bandwidth up to 1.5kHz.
Among the MacBook and MacBook Pro community there have been several owners who installed aftermarket hard drives already equipped with anti-shock features who reported experiencing kernel panic errors whenever their unit was physically moved. This is believed[by whom?] to be due to a conflict between SMS and the new drive's anti-shock function. The Western Digital Scorpio series of notebook hard drives have been the most frequently reported[where?] as being susceptible to this problem. In practically all cases, disabling SMS alleviated this problem without any negative performance impact.[according to whom?]
The PowerBook is a family of Macintosh laptop computers designed, manufactured and sold by Apple Computer from 1991 to 2006. During its lifetime, the PowerBook went through several major revisions and redesigns, often being the first to incorporate features that would later become standard in competing laptops. The PowerBook line was targeted at the professional market. In 1999, the line was supplemented by the home and education-focused iBook family.
AirPort is a discontinued line of wireless routers and network cards developed by Apple Inc. using Wi-Fi protocols. In Japan, the line of products was marketed under the brand AirMac due to previous registration by I-O Data.
A laptop computer or notebook computer, also known as a laptop or notebook for short, is a small, portable personal computer (PC). Laptops typically have a clamshell form factor with a flat panel screen on the inside of the upper lid and an alphanumeric keyboard and pointing device on the inside of the lower lid, although 2-in-1 PCs with a detachable keyboard are often marketed as laptops or as having a "laptop mode". Most of the computer's internal hardware is fitted inside the lower lid enclosure under the keyboard, although many laptops have a built-in webcam at the top of the screen and some modern ones even feature a touch-screen display. In most cases, unlike tablet computers which run on mobile operating systems, laptops tend to run on desktop operating systems which have been traditionally associated with desktop computers.
An accelerometer is a tool that measures proper acceleration. Proper acceleration is the acceleration of a body in its own instantaneous rest frame; this is different from coordinate acceleration, which is acceleration in a fixed coordinate system. For example, an accelerometer at rest on the surface of the Earth will measure an acceleration due to Earth's gravity, straight upwards of g ≈ 9.81 m/s2. By contrast, accelerometers in free fall will measure zero.
The PowerBook Duo is a line of subnotebooks manufactured and sold by Apple Computer from 1992 until 1997 as a more compact companion to the PowerBook line. Improving upon the PowerBook 100's portability, the Duo came in seven different models. They were the Duo 210, 230, 250, 270c, 280, 280c, and 2300c, with the 210 and 230 being the earliest, and the 2300c being the final incarnation before the entire line was dropped in early 1997.
The PowerBook G4 is a series of notebook computers manufactured, marketed, and sold by Apple Computer between 2001 and 2006 as part of its PowerBook line of notebooks. The PowerBook G4 runs on the RISC-based PowerPC G4 processor, designed by the AIM (Apple/IBM/Motorola) development alliance and initially produced by Motorola. It was built later by Freescale, after Motorola spun off its semiconductor business under that name in 2004. The PowerBook G4 has two different designs: one enclosed in a titanium body with a translucent black keyboard and a 15-inch screen; and another in an aluminum body with an aluminum-colored keyboard, in 12-inch, 15-inch, and 17-inch sizes.
A head crash is a hard-disk failure that occurs when a read–write head of a hard disk drive makes contact with its rotating platter, slashing its surface and permanently damaging its magnetic media. It is most often caused by a sudden severe motion of the disk, for example the jolt caused by dropping a laptop to the ground while it is operating or physically shocking a computer.
The Toughbook is a line of rugged computers produced and marketed by Panasonic Corporation. The Toughbook, introduced in 1996 with the CF-25, is designed to withstand outside forces which would damage or destroy normal laptops. The Toughbook laptops are used in a wide variety of industries, including construction, defense, emergency services, government, healthcare, law enforcement, manufacturing, oil, gas, telecom, and utilities. The Toughbook brand mainly competes with other lines of rugged computers, such as Dell's Rugged Extreme.
The MacBook Pro is a line of Mac laptops made by Apple Inc. Introduced in January 2006, it is the higher-end lineup in the MacBook family, sitting above the consumer-focused MacBook Air. It is currently sold with 13-inch, 14-inch, and 16-inch screens, all using Apple silicon M-series chips.
The MacBook is a line of Mac laptops sold by Apple Inc. between May 2006 and February 2012. It replaced the iBook series of notebooks as a part of Apple's transition from PowerPC to Intel processors. Positioned as the low end of the MacBook family, below the premium ultra-portable MacBook Air and the performance-oriented MacBook Pro, the MacBook was aimed at the consumer and education markets. It became the best-selling Mac in Apple's history. For five months in 2008, it was the best-selling laptop of any brand in US retail stores.
Subnotebook, also called ultraportable, superportable, or mini notebook, was a marketing term for laptop computers that are smaller and lighter than a typical notebook-sized laptop.
A solid-state drive (SSD) is a solid-state storage device that uses integrated circuit assemblies to store data persistently, typically using flash memory, and functioning as secondary storage in the hierarchy of computer storage. It is also sometimes called a semiconductor storage device, a solid-state device or a solid-state disk, even though SSDs lack the physical spinning disks and movable read–write heads used in hard disk drives (HDDs) and floppy disks. SSD also has rich internal parallelism for data processing.
The MacBook Air is a line of laptop computers developed and manufactured by Apple since 2008. It features a thin, light structure in a machined aluminum case and a 13-inch screen. The Macbook Air's lower prices relative to the larger, higher performance MacBook Pro have made it Apple's entry-level notebook since the discontinuation of the original MacBook line in 2011.
The MacBook is a brand of Mac notebook computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc. that use Apple's macOS operating system since 2006. It replaced the PowerBook and iBook brands during the Mac transition to Intel processors, announced in 2005. The current lineup consists of the MacBook Air (2008–present) and the MacBook Pro (2006–present). Two different lines simply named "MacBook" existed from 2006 to 2012 and 2015 to 2019. The MacBook brand was the "world's top-selling line of premium laptops" as of 2015.
The history of laptops describes the efforts, begun in the 1970s, to build small, portable Personal Computers that combine the components, inputs, outputs and capabilities of a Desktop Computer in a small chassis.
On Apple computers, pmset is a command line utility to manipulate power management settings under the Darwin and macOS operating systems. It can assign sleep settings, schedule sleep and wake times, and display power information.
iMac is a family of all-in-one Mac desktop computers designed and built by Apple Inc. It has been the primary part of Apple's consumer desktop offerings since its debut in August 1998, and has evolved through seven distinct forms.
In computer hardware, active hard-drive protection refers to technology that attempts to avoid or reduce mechanical damage to hard disk drives by preparing the disk prior to impact. This approach is mainly used in laptop computers that are frequently carried around and more prone to impacts than desktop computers.
Fusion Drive is a type of hybrid drive technology created by Apple Inc. It combines a hard disk drive with a NAND flash storage and presents it as a single Core Storage managed logical volume with the space of both drives combined.
The Intel-based MacBook Pro is a discontinued line of Macintosh notebook computers sold by Apple Inc. from 2006 to 2021. It was the higher-end model of the MacBook family, sitting above the consumer-focused MacBook Air, and was sold with 13-inch to 17-inch screens.
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