Steve Jobs delivers some long overdue updates; keeps them highly overpriced.
Never one to shy away from an excuse to take centre stage and bask in the applause of the Fanbois, Steve Jobs and the iCrew today stepped up and introduced the next generation of Macbooks, Macbook Airs and Macbook Pros.
The changes are largely cosmetic with some better-than modest speed bumps and an impressive new graphics card.
Specs are as follows:
13.3 INCH MACBOOK:
Processor and memory
intel Core 2 Duo
• 2.0GHz or 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 3MB on-chip shared L2 cache running 1:1 with processor speed
• 1066MHz frontside bus
• 2GB (two 1GB SO-DIMMs) of 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM; two SO-DIMM slots support up to 4GBGraphics and video support
NVIDIA GeForce 9400M
• NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics processor with 256MB of DDR3 SDRAM shared with main memory15.4 INCH MACBOOK PRO
Processor and memory
intel Core 2 Duo
• 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 3MB on-chip shared L2 cache running 1:1 with processor speed; or 2.53GHz or 2.8GHz Intel Core 2
Duo processor with 6MB shared L2 cache
• 1066MHz frontside bus
• 2GB (two 1GB SO-DIMMs) or 4GB (two 2GB SO-DIMMs) of 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM; two SO-DIMM slots support up to 4GBGraphics and video support
NVIDIA GeForce 9400M
• NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT graphics processor with dual-link DVI support; 256MB of GDDR3 memory on 2.4GHz configuration; 512MB of
GDDR3 memory on 2.53GHz and 2.8GHz configurations
• NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics processor with 256MB of DDR3 SDRAM shared with main memoryBoth models sport the standard 802.11n WiFi, Bluetooth, and Gigabit ethernet built in. Full specs and additional details are here.
Recent rumours circulating the internet regarding the new MBP “Brick”, so called because the machine is housed in a unibody case that is carved from a single piece of aluminum, appear to have been accurate, as were reports of a glass multi-touch trackpad. One rumour that had some people raising an eyebrow that did not come to fruition, however, is that of price: speculation on an $899 notebook from Apple met with disappointment as the cheapest new machine, the 13.3-inch MacBook, will still run you at least $1299.
Surprisingly, this new Macbook will NOT be replacing the current white plastic model, but will instead complement it. The original does, however, get a price drop to $999.
Both models now feature an all-glass multi-touch trackpad with no button, claiming instead that the “whole trackpad is the button.” How this works remains to be seen, but I can already see frustration with the simplest of tasks, including text selection and drag-&-drop.
The Macbook Air also got some improvements, including a larger HDD and a Mini Display Port.
Perhaps the best and most welcome news from today is that Apple also upgraded its much-maligned Cinema Display line with a new 24-inch LED-backlit LCD. Features of the new display include built-in iSight, Mag-Safe adapter, a mini-display port (eliminating the need for an adapter, finally meaning it’s designed for Macbooks only…any other user will require an adapter), 3-port USB hub, built-in stereo speakers, and has a glass front with a black bezel. At $899, it is, for the first time in a very long time, a genuinely competitive Apple display product.
As is becoming the standard, today’s “keynote” was evolutionary at best and almost completely unnecessary. Other than the Cinema Display update, everything discussed today was, while long overdue, largely expected, given the direction Apple products are going in these days. The update to the Nvidia 9400 graphics cards is a welcome one, but again, this hardly qualifies as a revolutionary announcement.
Where’s my Multi-Touch Tablet, Steve?
.
I wonder how long they are going to sell the white plastic models, because restricting FireWire to the Pro line alone is going to piss off the video editors, BIG time. The MacBook Air without FireWire was bad enough, and they had an excuse for that — an extremely small enclosure. But a full-port-set MacBook line only without FireWire? Even the Mac mini has FireWire. That’s just embarrassing.
~restricting FireWire to the Pro line alone is going to piss off the video editors, BIG time.~
Jobs disagrees:
Q: Is the MacBook upgrade going to steal some demand from the MacBook Pro?
A: Pros buy MacBook Pros. So we’re going to see a refresh demand in both spaces.
‘video editors’ != ‘pros’. The point is if you want video edit comfortably the price of entry for a Mac notebook just went wayyy up.
My point exactly. Apple now figures that if you’re a “professional”, you’ll be only too happy dropping $3K on a laptop (more if you want the 17 inch model, which, as a video editor, it can be safely assumed, you will.)
Ballz. As I see it, there is NO reasonable reason to deprive the mid-range prosumer market of something as simple as a FW port. If anything, they should have UPGRADED to a FW 800, IMHO.
BTW ‘Fanbois’ is so 2005.
:rolleyes:
LMAO ROFL LOL ZOMG
really if it’s not apple praise it’s apple disappointment
to be honest I am quite excited about the new macs, and really if you spec out an equivalent high end laptop from anyone else (ie a high end Sony Vaio, Voodoo PC etc) with exotic build quality (as is the single piece aluminum carving of the new macs) the price won’t be that much different – these are the first laptops with nvidia’s new chipset, they have hybrid graphics (not new plenty of Vaios and Thinkpads have this), multitouch etc – I mean what more can they do with a notebook with the standard for factor – and anyways the price will correct itself in a few months when the ‘new’ price drops a few hundred bucks. Myself the 13″ macbook aluminum with vista would be a pretty nice notebook
:STUNNED:
You’re definitely right about the price correction, but even with that on the horizon, I still feel like that recent trend of Apple price equity is faltering again. Even in yesterday’s keynote, they talked about Mac retail market share (not Apple as a whole, just Mac) and said that he Unit Share was 17.6%, but the revenue share was 31.3%…meaning people are spending ~40% more on Macs than they are on PCs. Of course, if *I* were Apple, I wouldn;t do anythign to rock THAT boat…but doing things like removing ports like FW from the midrange machines is a pretty skeezy move, especailly considering the price.
I do agree, though…Spec-wise, these lappys are pretty hard to beat…although I’m not sure about removing the button from the track pad…I’ll have to wait and get my hands on that thing before I can speak to it.
:EQUALLY STUNNED:
They do look nice. The only problem I have with them is the restriction of FireWire to the Pro line. I always buy on an extremely tight budget, and I always push the limits of the machine, so this is the sort of thing that seems specifically directed to piss off people like me.
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