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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.
Macbook sounds offensive and computer illiterate.
What do you guys think?
-Sj53
This isn't the first "Duo" Apple has released in notebook form. The original PowerBook Duo was a very cool machine for its time.
Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government.
This is it. Never Microsoft Windows again. Not one more second of pain.
In fact, while I was always die-hard Apple supporter (I'm typing this on my fourth Apple-branded laptop) I appreciate the fact that now I will be able to dual boot in Windows and play the games not-yet or not-at-all released for MacOS. I actually do have a copy of "Deus Ex 2" waiting for the release of Intel-based Macs. Now I'll be able to dust it off... and play on a soon-to-be-mine iMac.
Power Up With MagSafe
The new power adapter with MagSafe connector is designed to magnetically guide your cord into place and disconnect smoothly if someone (else) trips over it.
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I think that's awesome. I can't tell you how many times I've grabbed my PowerBook thinking it wasn't plugged in, only to have the chord yanked out, or worse, have the laptop almost pulled out of my hands.
I like big butts and I cannot lie.
I have never owned a mac, and have never wanted one... until right now.
Am I the only person who thinks that 1440x900 is a pretty low resolution for a 15" laptop?
My 10" laptop has 1280x768 for goodness sakes.
badness 10000
I'm just damn excited about the MagSafe connector. Probably half of all the laptop hardware repairs I've done were to replace the power connector. It's one of the weakest points in current design, and I'm glad to see someone finally innovating along that front. Although, if this catches on it will mean declines in laptop repair revenue....
---- El diablo esta en mis pantalones! Mire, mire!
The lack of FireWire 800 may be due to a lack of adoption to the interface (although its speeds do exceed FW 400 and USB2).
Another likelihood to the lack of FW 800 includes Intel (who developed the USB spec and may have asked Apple to push USB2 instead), as well as problems in heat or design that prohibited use of FW 800. I'm betting for simplicity + Intel pressure. We've already seen Apple choose USB2 as its dominate sync interface for iPods, and this is a reflection of that change.
Overall, not a bad introduction for a new 'book, but betware the Rev1 Effect. Remember the first PowerPC systems? Not bad, BUT...
Vos teneo officium eram periculosus ut vos recipero is.
According to a person with a MacBook Pro prototype, it won't boot with the Windows install CD. Or the FreeBSD install CD for that matter. But that's just booting with the C key held down, like you do to boot the OS X installer CD. Maybe there is another way?
The next Cmdr Taco duplicate will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and see it early!
Why not package the new iMac guts in a case without a monitor? I understand the desire to use their allotment of Yonah processors in the machines that will give them the highest markup, but all the PC fanboys are going to complain now that they don't want to pay for a monitor just to upgrade their machines... and even Mac fanboys aren't going to buy PowerMacs, iBooks, or Mac minis when iMacs and this ( IMHO poorly named ) "Mac Book Pro" are so far ahead of them and clearly on the way out, if not already gone.
Anyone have thoughts on why there were no Mac mini, iBook, or eMac updates ( or Intel conversions ) today ? What is going to happen there ?
appreciate the fact that now I will be able to dual boot in Windows and play the games
Actually, this is the most important remaining question about this entire announcement. Is it really the case that one can install Windows on Apple's new hardware? Can any geeks out there truly verify this? Has anyone actually gotten the shipping hardware and tried to install Windows on it and successfully gotten it up and running with a dual-boot configuration?
It wouldn't surprise me if Apple has implemented some kind of unique encrypted handshaking between the OS X installer and the hardware so that only Apple's OS can be installed on it, so that they can avoid receiving support calls from people who put Windows on Apple hardware. Keep in mind that even if they refuse to provide support for such a configuration, the bulk of a support call's cost is in the customer placing the call in the first place. If someone calls only to be told "we don't support that", that has already cost Apple a good bit of money.
Moderator hint: a comment is neither "Flamebait" nor "Troll" if it is true.
What happened? Where's the Firewire 800?
USB 2.0 comes practically free with any modern chipset. Firewire does not. A good firewire interface will take 2-3 sq inches of PCB realestate, and add $1-2 to the total cost. The only area where firewire gained some market hold was with digital video cameras, and those now include USB 2.0. Lastly, very few pieces of equipment can even use firewire 800 to it's fullest. USB 2.0 is cheap enough and fast enough to do 99% of what needs to get done. Further you don't have as much customer confusion between ports and cable types and powered vs unpowered ports.
So all that means is that there's a very small slice of people who need firewire for which USB cannot work. They can get a card in the laptop, and Apple can save a few dollars per Mac.
Those who complain about it most are usually doing so for emotional reasons more than logical reasons. Much like those complaining that the new notebook should be referred to as a "Powerbook." They like Apple; Apple came out with firewire; ergo they like firewire. Nevermind that few new peripherals support firewire, and even fewer support only firwire and not USB. Nevermind that similar USB only peripherals are generally cheaper and perform as well as if not better than the equivilant firewire peripheral. Firewire lost in the market. Apple has acknowledged that. Let's move on.
-Adam
Also absolutely no mention of battery life, apart from a vague "Battery life depends on configuration and use."
I think we may be looking at a return to 2hr. battery life. When you configure a new Powerbook, err, MacBook Pro, at the Apple online store, the first recommended product is the "Rechargeable Battery - 15-inch MacBook Pro - Buy an extra battery to double your battery life when traveling." Hmmm.