iPhone 4G Being Rumored To Mimic Macbook

Here's what's going around the Mac world today...

Updates From Apple’s Notebook Media Day

The Apple notebook media event starts at 10AM Pacific, 1PM Eastern. The Apple Store has already gone down for updates.

High level updates are new pricing and casing for the MacBook line, as well as the intro of a 13" screen. Macbook Air got some tweaks as well.

Courtesy of MacRumors:

Event Started. Jobs intros Tim Cook to talk about state of the Mac. 2.5 million Macs sold last qtr. growing 2-3x the rate of the market.

- Cook attributes Mac growth to better computers, software, compatibility (bootcamp), poor Vista reception, Mac v PC ads, and retail stores.

- Jobs intros Jon Ive: challenge of building MacBook Pro both strong and thin. MB Air introed new techniques. Start with 1 pc of aluminum.

- Been working on new Uni-body enclosures.

- Back to Jobs: NVIDIA approached Apple re new chipset. GeForce 9400M. 15 parallel cores. 54 gigaflops.

- MultiTouch Glass trackpad. "silky smooth travel" Entire trackpad a button. 39% larger. new 4 finger gestures. multi-buttons via software.

- New MacBook Pro:glass screen, thin display, connectors on one side, glass trackpad, uni-body enclosure, mini display port, next-gen graphics

- Both GeForce 9400M (integrated) and 9600M GT (discrete) in MBP. 5hrs battery w. 9400M. 4hrs w. 9600M. Battery indicator on side of MBP. (that was the mystery port)

- $1999, 15.4" LED display, 2.4GHz, 2GB RAM. 256MB VRAM, 250GB HD, SuperDrive; $2499, 2.53GHz, 4GB RAM, 512MB VRAM, 320GB HD. SuperDrive.

- MacBook Air update: 9400M in Air. 120GB HD. 128 SSD Option. Same processor speeds as before. mini display port. Also, new 24" LED Cinema Display

- Air prices $1799, $2499. LED Display: $899. Both avail in November. MacBook Pros shipping today. Dropping current MacBook to $999.

- New MacBooks: same features as MBP. Metal enclosure, faster graphics, LED display, glass track pad. $1299, 2GHz; $1599, 2.4GHz; both 13.3"

- MacBooks should be in stores tomorrow. New Apple 24" LED has iSight, speakers, Magsafe to charge notebook, 1920x1200 pixel rez.

- Q/A session: no blu-ray yet, complex licensing issues; glossy only option on laptops "You offset the reflection by the brightness".

Apple’s Mysterious Media Day Snowballing Into Reality

A traditionally secretive company, Apple is holding an event tomorrow, but only released media invites at the end of last week for the Cupertino event. While much of the pess anticipated that this event could be much ado about nothing based on the release of invites, it seems the notebook focused meeting may have some serious weight behind it.


The image below is a capture of the invite that was sent out to the media:



Some of the more serious rumors going around now:

New models and price points, from 8 to 12 base configurations ranging from $800-$3100
New manufacturing process and facility to produce notebook casings from a single block of solid aluminum
Wider touchpads, slimmer casing, and keyboards matching that found in the MacBook Air
Nvidia integrated GPUs in MacBook line
Possibility of in-built screens in touchpads
Possibility of tablet-type Mac introduction (sadly seems unlikely)

The Apple notebook line is in need of a serious refresher, as there haven’t been too many changes in the last couple years.

Apple notoriously has built mystique over the years by alerting media very late about upcoming releases and announcements, sometimes giving the media only days to prepare for a coming release.

Historical Apple events and invite lead times:

Sept 7, 2005 (Invite: 9 days before)1000 songs in your pocket: first-gen iPod nano

Oct 12, 2005 (Invite: 8 days before)One more thing: first video iPod, iMac with iSight, iTunes 6

Oct 19, 2005 (Invite: 5 days before)Apple’s latest pro innovations: Aperture, PowerBooks with higher-res displays, Power Mac G5 Quad & Power Mac G5 Dual

Feb 28, 2006 (Invite: 7 days before)Fun new products from Apple: iPod Hi-Fi, Mac mini Core Duo, leather iPod cases

March 20, 2007 (Invite: 26 days before)Lights, Camera, Apple: Final Cut Studio 2, Final Cut Server

Sept 12, 2006 (Invite: 7 days before)It's Showtime: Apple TV, second-gen iPod nano, updated video iPods, second-gen iPod shuffle, iTunes 7

Aug 7, 2007 (Invite: 7 days before)Mac announcements: Aluminum iMacs, iLife '08, iWork '08, .Mac upgrade

Sept 5, 2007 (Invite: 8 days before)The beat goes on: iPod touch, WiFi iTunes Store, iPod nano fatboy (3G), iPod classic, iTunes 7.4

March 6, 2008 (Invite: 7 days before)iPhone software roadmap: iPhone SDK, iPhone 2.0 and App Store

Sept 9, 2008 (Invite: 7 days before)Let's Rock: fourth-gen iPod nano, second-gen iPod touch, iTunes 8, HD TV shows