MacWorld Keynote Announces x86 iMac & Laptop

Steve Jobs began giving his keynote at 9am local time, PST. The action was posted live at MacRumorsLive, and Engadget. From the Engadget liveblog: "How many [iPods] did we sell last quarter? Some of the estimates were getting astronomical - 8 million, 9 million. I'm really pleased to announce that last quarter we sold 14 million iPods .. that is over a hundred every minute, 24/7 throughout the quarter. And it still wasnt enough. We've now sold over 42 million iPods -- as you can see the curve is going up again" MacWorld and Ars Technica has coverage as well. The shiniest news: MacBook Pro. iSight, Front Row; $1999 1.67 Core Duo; 667 DDR bus, Radeon x1600; $2499 1.83GHz. Intel chip.

Comments

So the big question is...

[John Harrison]

Can you load easily dual boot Windows on the new iMac and on the MacBook Pro? If you can then this opens up a new market of tepid switchers. It seems that Steve didn't mention this sort of functionality at all which leaves it as a big question mark for now.

MacBook Pro

[Have Blue]

We CANNOT allow "MacBook Pro" to take off. Everyone needs to keep calling them Powerbooks. I don't care what Apple says. If customers keep coming into the stores asking for Powerbooks maybe they will come to their senses.

Really, all the top Mac news sites and blogs need to get on board with this. It is NOT a "MacBook Pro". It is and always will be a Powerbook.

Re:MacBook Pro

[the web]

Bbbut, they still sell power books... :(

Windows?

[anothermortal]

I guess the real question is can it run Windows, Linux and OS X? What kind of black magic will we need to do to make it work?

Re:Windows?

[CerebusUS]

Running MS Windows on a MacBook Pro is like letting a retarded kid drive a Ferrari.

Yeah, but at least the retarded kid gets to play F.E.A.R. and Warhammer 40,000:Dawn of War.

While driving the Ferrari.

Or does the metaphor break down at that point?

Unimportant...

[Savage-Rabbit]

Macbook sounds offensive and computer illiterate.

What do you guys think?

The art of choosing strategically well thought out product names is a declining art these days, I need only point to "Windows Defender". While most of us nerds know that Windows is on the defensive in the malware department there is no reason to let the uninitiated masses of Windows users know about it, they think the current situation is normal.

Not that I really care about the 'stupidity' of the MacBook name and I do agree with you that it is kinda clumsy. What I care about is what this MacBook can do and how soon I can get my filthy paws on one. Now if you will excuse me I have to go and empty my piggybank....

Re:Don't like it

[Fatmiko1]

It's not a premium, though. This is the problem with PeeCee guys. --- build the identical comparison machine on dell's or sony's website, make the dell and sony do exactly what the mac does, then come talk. They are usually the same price at that point. Apple doesnt sell crap that doesnt do anything for you. They build machines that have wireless and bluetooth, and fast hard drives and such, and if you want it, you buy it, if not, there is no crap, 500 laptop. They dont waste your or their time. Sorry kids....

Gaps (and lack of) in the product line

[patiwat]

The product mix has stopped making sense, although only temporarily. In the portable line they have iBook G4 and MacBook Pro intel; in the desktop line they have iMac intel and PowerMac G5.

iMac that's as powerful as a PowerMac? Who's gonna wanna buy PowerMacs for the next couple months? Does Apple expect to make so much profit from the iMac intel over the coming months than the forgone profit from lost PowerMac G5 sales? I would think that the PowerMac G5 made a much higher profit than the iMac.

And a MacBook Pro that's 10x more powerful than a iBook?!? There goes the iBook market...

Anybody else see the logic of transitioning the consumer desktop and pro laptop first, rather than starting with the consumer desktop and laptop, or the pro desktop and laptop, or the pro desktop and consumer laptop, or some other combination?

Re:Gaps (and lack of) in the product line

[The Phantom Mensch]

I think you have to turn the question around and ask yourself: What can Apple meet the demand for now? This makes the product rollout a little more sensible. Apple probably couldn't sell an Intel iBook laptop for $1299 right from the start and meet the demand. They definitely couldn't do that with a $499 Mac mini. But the pro laptop will sell to anyone that has a PowerMac G5 for their heavy CPU work on legacy apps that aren't yet in a Universal binary. And a consumer desktop will sell because most consumer desktop users don't install much more than the already bundled iLife and maybe Office and some games.

Re:Gaps (and lack of) in the product line

[NilObject]

And a MacBook Pro that's 10x more powerful than a iBook?!? There goes the iBook market...

The iBook is 1/2 the price of the MacBook Pro, which is enough of a differentiation, really. But yeah, that MacBook Pro is one juicy piece of hardware. You're right, though, it's certainly an awkward product lineup.

I believe the current "funk" in the product line is entirely a product of the fact that the transition to Intel is going to be uneven as the engineering teams work on each individual model to bring them in to the Intel future. The iMac is equivalent in power to a PowerMac, it looks like, which only bodes well for the next PowerMac ("MacDesktop Pro"? "Mac Pro"?) - that puppy will be one seriously powerful monster.

But like Steve said, they'll be transitioning them throughout the year. I imagine that once all the machines are moved over, the pricing will settle a bit and we'll get back our 12" and 17" laptop models.

My 12" PowerBook used to seem so powerful... Cripes.

Re:Gaps (and lack of) in the product line

[javaxman]

Anybody else see the logic of transitioning the consumer desktop and pro laptop first, rather than ... some other combination?

What machines does Apple make the largest markup on ?

Profit is the only motive that makes sense to me. Consider that Apple knows it's going to be seeing a somewhat limited supply of chips and chipsets from Intel. With that as a given, where do they want to put those chips- in low-margin designs like the Mac mini and iBook, or in higher-margin designs like the desktop and pro laptop ?

Also, what chipset would Apple put in a lower-end machine ? I'm going to guess that due to Apple using Trusted Computing crap to keep you from building your own MacIntel and pirating OS X, they're not going to use any chipsets ( and thus chips ) that are pre-Yonah, so the low end of what they have right now is the slower 1.3-1.6Ghz Duo Core chip... too powerful and expensive for real low-margin machines, so... no low-end Mac Intels for now, and we won't see any until Intel introduces newer chips that can move in on the high end, maybe. Of course, I'm just speculating, but nothing else makes sense to me... I don't think there's a pure market-based reason for Apple to abandon the low end, I think it's just what they're able to do right now.

Too bad, too, I think that if Apple weren't so paranoid about OS X ending up on a Dell, they'd be able to make a seriously cheap Mac mini based on a Pentium M or something...

Re:Gaps (and lack of) in the product line

[PureCreditor]

> which means that running apps under Rosetta will be like running 68000 apps on the first Powermacs

not that slow. rosetta instantly recompiles PPC code to x86, not emulate, so the only true overhead is the compilation, which is the same overhead you get with any runtime such as Java. Also, Apple can simply improve rosetta to include compiler optimizations (well, very very low-level), the same way Transmeta can optimize their internal core to improve x86 execution, with the key distinction that while Transmeta banks its entire corporate strategy on that translation, Apple is simply adopting it as a stop-gap bridge.

Assume Yonah is 2x-4x that of G4 on either Int or FP (let's take Steve's word for it). Take out 20% for the lack of software compiler high-level optimization, and you still beat a native G4 app by a huge margin.

also, if i recall correctly, 68K code was *emulated* on PowerPC-based Macs, not real-time translated.

Re:Gaps (and lack of) in the product line

[colmore]

Doubtful.

The new chips will be out in more machines than just Apple. Why does Apple not release the mini on lower spec processors? Well first off, just because they didn't announce it the *day* they revealed their first Intel machines, doesn't mean it isn't going to happen. Second off, they aren't in the bottom-end business in general. The mini is a transition machine for geeks. It's meant to make OS X appeal to the homebrew crowd, who don't account for many sales, but do generate a lot of buzz. It's an important product, but it's not their top priority. Secondly, the mini is a little engineering feat. There is a very much non-zero cost in assembling a new one and testing it. Their first two machines seem to address the biggest hole in their product line (badly lagging top-end laptop) and the most friendly product for the early adopter crowd (medium cost & big cool factor iMac)

Apple also wants to avoid getting mired in the jargon and infinitely fractured product lines of the PC world. I imagine their negotiations with Intel are a big reason that Yonah isn't being called Pentium-Y etc. I doubt they will ever have more than two processor families going in their active line of computers (2 laptops, 2 desktops + eMac, mini, server)

Thinking that Apple is overly concerned about piracy ignores the company's history of not using any kind of restriction or guard against software copying. Most apple applications STILL can be copied from one computer on a network to another, simply by dragging the application icon. No apple product has ever had a CD Key or anything similar. They're aware of their market and demographics. They sell to professionals and high-end users who don't mind buying software. It's the same reason they can drop support for old OS X releases the moment the new one comes out. Their market doesn't mind paying, and it enables them to push new technologies with a much greater ease than if they had to maintain the roughly 5-year backwards compatibility that Microsoft does. The first time Apple ever had ANY copy control on anything they've done is when they started getting in bed with the media industry. That just goes with that territory, but their power over Apple isn't so great as to affect the design of their computing systems, otherwise you'd have seen much more significant changes to the way things like Appletalk and Safari handle files by now.

Likewise, try to imagine the type of person that would be downloading a torrent of OS X, burning it to a CD, and installing on unsupported and undocumented hardware. That person is not a potential apple customer. They're clearly not willing to fork over the Apple premium (yes it does exist, Apple has nothing in competition with $300 and $400 desktop with monitor and $600 laptops, even though those give performance roughly equivalent -- where it matters to that market anyway -- to the lowest end ibook and the emac and mini) so why should Apple care? Their tech support will hang up as soon as the "customer" says they are on non-apple hardware, it's only a small core of nerds looking to brag about accomplishing something illicit that will be doing this. Mom, Joe Dormroom, Suzy Designer, and Vic Corporate would never bother.

Apple's entire market strategy is about maintaining a large niche with heavy profit margins. I really doubt they want to dominate the PC world. If Apple had Microsoft's market share, they'd have to do things very differently (not for the least of reasons that many of their practices such as hardware exclusivity and software bundling would make Microsoft look angelic in comparason if OS X were the "default" operating system of the masses.

If they *are* making significant product design decisions based on the fear of OS X getting onto some Dell somewhere, then they're fools.

Re:Chip Speed

[JPamplin]

The Yonah architecture is the next generation of the Pentium-M - the mobile chip first designed by their Israel design team. It's small, faster at lower clock speeds, and uses less power than the Pentium 4 chips, which you are referring to.

This is a dual-core 2Ghz Yonah which I daresay will blow the doors off of a 3Ghz P4 Prescott, and run much cooler, which is necessary in a case that thin (the iMac case) when coolers are space-limited.

Did you post anonymously because you knew that was just a stupid question, or are you just now figuring this out?

Keep it up, genius. ;-)

Re:Stupid name

[moonbender]

I always considered that a feature, and missed it in my laptop. Routing cables around the laptop because there are only ports on one side, that's ugly.

Battery Life?

[blackmonday]

Any word on the expected battery life of the MacBook Pro? I couldn't find any info anywhere, so I'm expecting it to be adequate at best. This is the laptop that finally replaces my 867 powerbook, but I might wait until the first revision. Battery life and heat ouptut are big considerations for me.

I feel abused

[el_womble]

2x faster? 4x faster?

We've been lied to horribly for the last 3-4 years. Clock for clock intels are as powerful as PowerPC. So when I bought my 1.8GHz iMac G5 it was already slower than equivalent PCs. Now thats all very well and good, except that Apple were screaming that it was faster, better, stronger. That you would be mad to even think about buying Intel, and I sucked it up. Its not even like they didn't know the truth. They've been developing Mac OS X on intel for the last 5 years, so they new they were onto a looser with PowerPC and they still over sold.

Now I'm very happy with my Mac, but the smug sense of superiority that I bought with the Mac has been wiped out. I miss being inside the RDF.

Re:MacBook ===== Acer Travelmate 8200

[MysteriousPreacher]

Only difference, Apple is running OSX, so Apple should charge less then the Acer Travelmate, Acer has to pay Microsoft for Windows, Apple doesn't have to pay anybody for OSX.

Um, doesn't it normally cost money to develop software? Silly question I know but I'm fairly sure that and OS doesn't just fall from the sky followed on a regular basis by updates. I'm forever having to clean those annoying binaries from the gutters on my roof.

Re:The MacBook Pro

[tak amalak]

Sure but you'd still not be able to run MacOS X, the purpose behind getting a Mac in the first place.

Re:Firewire 800

[LionMage]

Professional musicians and DV camera users (i.e., users of pretty much any worthwhile camcorder, consumer or professional) will need FireWire still. So I don't think we'll see FireWire 400 disappear any time soon. But I fear its days are numbered, especially if the consumer electronics industry decides to kill FireWire in the few niche areas it's still viable. The pro and prosumer segments may keep it alive even then.

It's worth noting that FireWire 400 is present and accounted for on the MacBook Pro, so no need for USB->FireWire dongle adapters. Yet.

In the case of the iPod, it makes sense to focus on a single interface that is a "least common denominator" among users -- and while many PCs lack IEEE 1394 ports, all modern PCs have USB 2.0, and all modern Macs have USB 2.0 as well. So eliminating FireWire support from the iPod is a great cost-saving measure that increases Apple's profit margin and streamlines the product design moving forward.

Re:No modem.

[jellomizer]

Like the absence of the Floppy Disk less then a decade ago.
Most hotels and buisnesses use WiFi 802.11b/g. If you really want the modem you get a USB one. But for most systems now it is becoming one of those unused ports. on my powerbook I used my Modem like 4 times in 4 years. Once to see if it worked, 3 Times after I moved waiting for my Cable to be hooked up. Modems are no longer as nessary as they use to be.

Re:Low Resolution

[juuri]

Every time an article comes up mentioning screen res someone always something along these lines. I suggest doing a google search on DPI and optimum DPI for working on computer screens. Apple chooses resolutions in a very deliberate matter based on what it is available *and* maintaining a sane DPI that is easy on the eyes for extended work.

Yawn...

[Savage-Rabbit]

I dunno but for the extra ~$550, I could get a much faster laptop than the MacBook *or* I could get the Gateway and have the money in my pocket.

Yet again somebody makes the case for buying a Kia instead of a Benz. And before anybody is tempted to start bitching about the analogy being invalid since both the Dell and the MacBook have more or less the same 'engine' please note that if the outgoing PowerBook line is anything to judge by you get a bit more than just $550 worth of Software with the MacBook. That would include both consumer software like iMovie, iDVD, (plus a whole slew of other consumer software) and a pretty sophisticated development package. Does the Dell ship with a decent Movie editor, DVD authoring software and a full featured copy of MS Visulal Studio (according to MS that will set you back $799, upgrade: $549) as well as Windows XP? Another point is that the MacBook is likely to remain the only computer on the market able to stably triple boot OS.X Windows, and Linux which for me is a major reason to buy one although personally I probably will settle for running Windows 2003 and LINUX on some Virtual PC type setup.

Re:Too expensive...

[CerebusUS]

What it doesn't have (comparatively):

Decent support.

I will never, never, never buy Gateway again.

Dell has better support, though not by much.

Re:Low Resolution

[Jeff DeMaagd]

I don't think there is an "optimal" dpi, otherwise laser printers wouldn't be higher than displays. What you mean in view of operating systems that are very limited in scaling UI object sizes, which is, all of the current major operating systems.

A twelve point font should be twelve point, not necessarily twelve pixels. The way it is currently handled, fonts are too small on a 100dpi screen because points are 72dpi, yet operating systems simply render them as 12 pixels high. That makes text techically too small on pretty much any current LCD screen save maybe the 19" SXGA screens.

I want higher resolution not necessarily to show more detail or show more text or have more objects on the screen, but have smoother fonts and UI elements rather than blocky edges.

Re:MacBookPro anagram

[mblase]

MACBOOKPRO! ~ PC OR KABOOM!

Rico... enough with the dynamite already.

Re:Indeed

[flosofl]

You've read 1984, haven't you? Those weren't TVs, they were computers.

Yes, because as everyone knows the Mac has so saturated the market to be near ubiquitous.

I demand better because Apple is better than...

[ashpool7]

.. this nickel and dime crap.

* USB robs CPU cycles (yes, I want all of them)
* USB does not chain
* You don't connect DV devices over USB
* USB on-the-go does not bring it to feature parity with FireWire
* USB has nothing on FireWire in terms of bandwidth

I don't buy Macs because they are missing advanced technology. I buy them because they have it by *default*. I get the latest USB and Bluetooth standards. If I am paying $3,000 for a high-end laptop it better damn well have the latest and greatest version of FireWire that cost them $2 to put in.

Re:The MacBook Pro

[lost_n_confused]

And if I bolt a snow plow on a Yugo I have a truck. Bolting garbage on the outside of something is not as clean or appealing as having it built in. Having a Bluetooth dongle and a cam with a cable is not the same thing as built in.

By the way loading of a free *nix is not the same thing as a OS that is supported by a company. So if you have a problem with your install who are you going to call for free support? Go ahead and load iTunes and MS Office on your version of *nix and make sure that you have that special MS support number for Office versions running on *nix.

Why are you bothering with using a Gateway computer you can buy barebones laptops and build your own. Hey you can save even more buying an LCD panel and duct taping a small computer to the back of it.

Why don't you compare similar items. An OS with telephone support, an Office package with phone support, built in features that actually work rather then bolt on items that may or may not work, and when you buy your bolt on crap don't go for the lowest price bargain bin trash go with a name brand item.

I am all for OSS but you might as well say the Gateway is a rip off since includes software. You and I might enjoy playing with computers but 99% of computer users are just that users. Any version of *nix is not as good for the average user because of the lack of a support structure.

If I asked my wife to compile something so she can install a program she needs to run she would tell me to kiss her ass as would 99% of the computer users out there. Talk to someone at Best Buy and ask them how many people come in looking to buy a new computer because their old one is full of spyware and they would rather buy a new one then redo the old one. The Gateway and the MacBook are both directed at those users and the MacBook just happens to do the job better. The right tool for the right job I always say.

Re:Low Resolution

[grimJester]

Try this: Hold up your hand in front of your face. Too many DPI to look good?

DPI can only be too high if you have text and icons fixed to a given amount of dots.

Re:MacBook ===== Acer Travelmate 8200

[jacksonj04]

You mean along with the acceleration sensor, slimmer case, superior OS, sensible power cord that the Travelmate has?

Not to mention you don't pay entirely for the components, you pay a lot for the fact the bloody thing just works in harmony with most other things.

Re:Never Microsoft Windows again.

[gentlemen_loser]

Why? I mean really. Why in the name of all that is holy would ANYONE want to put Windows on a Mac?

I switched FROM Linux (which I was fairly happy with as a longtime user) to OS X about 6 months ago. Comming from Linux - I actually GAINED games that I can play. That being said - around 1995 I switched from Windows to Linux. I just learned to live without Windows specific software. It really does not take much. What gaming I could not do with Linux I substituted with a console. I can see why some people would want to dual boot Linux (I still feel that open source has great merit and the urge to tinker is hard to overcome), but Windows?

To put it another way - WHY would you go out and buy yourself a Mercedes, drive it home happily, then promptly put a nice set of square wheels on it?!?

There is just SOO much crap in the way of viruses and MBR issues that you'd be creating for yourself that would ruin the reason you own a Mac. Why do that to yourself?

Re:Heh

[Golias]

So much for the bogus 42" and 50" media center plasmas.

The Rumors sites, such as ThinkSecret and MacOSRumors.com, were almost universally wrong this time around.

No new iBook. No Intel mini. No plasma TV's. No "media center" mini. No movie streaming on demand (that was Cringely's guess). None of it.

As of this keynote, Intel chips are going into the iMac and the replacement for the Powerbook... just about the only systems which NOBODY predicted upgrades for.

Looks like Apple managed to plug up the leaks from last year.

Re:The MacBook Pro

[kanweg]

I use a PowerBook to earn my living (have a small company. No not in the creative sector. Who told people that Macs are only used there?). $450 is VERY easy to earn back over a couple of years, eh months. Things like Spotlight which make that I don't have t spend time searching for files, and not having to worry about virusses (which advantage may be lost on Intel-based Macs in the near future) make this saving very real. And even if that weren't all there: Working with a nice looking machine, a nice OS, nice apps etc. help to enjoy work. Worth less than a buck a day? Definitely.

Bert

Re:The MacBook Pro

[lost_n_confused]

I am so glad the Novell has decided to give away free telephone support for a free product. No wonder they are on the verge of collapse if they are giving you free software and then letting you talk to a person on the phone for support. Wait thats not right if YOU PAY Novell then you get phone support. Being a dumb ass is why you equate a free product with a paid for support product.

I hope to God you don't work in IT and actually are allowed to make architecture decisions. Hey lets use SUSE cuz it is free and Novell supports it. Wrong blowzo Novell will only support it if you PAY them. Please show me all of the phone numbers for all of the free distributions so I can give them to people when they have a problem.

Find me 1 single company or person that gives free phone support for any free version of *nix. You use something free to make your point and then when your balls are nailed to the door you resort to name calling and see see Novell supports it. So you need to add in the cost of a support contract for a single user copy of SUSE from Novell. What is the cost of that? The online support for *nix is terrible for the non-technical user. The *nix forums are notorious for flaming newbies with what they consider a trivial problem that anyone worthy of using *nix should know.

Oh by the way how does a person that has one computer get on the internet to see how to fix his networking problem that won't let him on the internet. If Yast, rpm, and .deb are so wonderful then why is the in internet full of 1000's of questions about installation issues? The people that put the packages together do a fine job but since they aren't being paid they don't fix all problems because they don't have the resources.

You know it is better to be a moron then a fuckhead with a brain the size of his penis like you. As for enlightenment the closest you get to being enlightened is when you pull your head out of your ass once a year to see if winter is over.