| MacBook Pro line updated
As surmised among the rumorscenti, this morning's Apple Store outage was the preshow for a MacBook Pro speed bump. The new units ship with either 2.2 GHz or 2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo (Santa Rosa) processors, upgraded NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT video cards (with either 128 MB or 256 MB of VRAM), new mercury-free LED displays, and a minimum of 2 GB of RAM (yay!) with support for 4 GB (YAY!). The slot-loading optical drive has also been updated to 8x, in line with the MacBook configs. Apple also notes that the 17-inch model "offers a new optional 1920-by-1200 high-resolution display, providing over 30 percent more screen real estate than the standard 1680-by-1050 display." Does it come with a set of magnifying glasses too? The 802.11n version of the Airport Extreme card rounds out the feature package. For a handy spec list, check the end of the Apple press release.Ladies and gentlemen, start your credit cards...
Mortgage Terminology Explained
When you first apply for a mortgage, you may feel you've stepped into a different culture with a language all its own. More than likely, your mortgage professional is throwing many new terms and expressions your way. It's the responsibility of that same mortgage professional to make sure you understand everything that's being explained to you, so you should never hesitate to ask them to stop and clarify. However, if you can approach your application meeting armed with some familiarity with mortgage terms, everyone can be more comfortable from the very beginning. Familiarize yourself with the following and you'll be a step ahead of the average first-time borrower. HUD: HUD stands for Housing and Urban Development, and refers to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development Settlement Statement documents pertaining to the house being financed.
Jack Naudi
I was all set to provide a glowing update to last year's column, one of the few in which I wrote about a specific product. Now, I'd say I've become more skeptical. A year ago, I wrote of the program: "It provides you with more money to invest in stocks and bonds." Well, that might be true in some cases. But in the vast majority of regular mortgages, it's not. Indeed, it's just the opposite. The program works as advertised only if you put more money into your home than into other investments.
But the Home Accelerator is dramatically different from a regular mortgage. In simplest terms, it's a lot like a home equity line of credit, but with a bit of a kick.
Under the program, your home equity line also is a bank account. You deposit checks into it, just as you would into a regular checking account.
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