MacDailyNews’ live coverage of Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ presentation at Apple’s ‘spotlight turns to notebooks’ event at 10am PDT/1pm EDT today.>
Live coverage of Apple’s “Spotlight Turns to Notebooks” event in reverse chronological order:
• End of event.
• Do touchscreen laptops make sense? Jobs: So far they don’t to us.
• What about matte screen options? (told you, it’s already started) Jobs: “We’re going straight glass. VAST majority of our customer prefer glossy.” Increased brightness of LED-backlit displays will make up for reflections (outoodr, in transit, etc.)
• MB and MBP = 0.95″thin, weigh 5.5lbs and 4.5lbs respectively.
• 17″ MacBook Pro being “refreshed” as well. NOT updated as the 15″ has been updated according to Jobs.
• Why no Blu-ray, HDMI? HDMI is limited res, can;t drive our 30″ display, display port is better. “Blu-ray is a bag of hurt.” Not for the consumer, its great for movie watching, but the licensing is so complex. Waiting for it to settle down.
• Apple on of first to have 9400M on market – we’re going to use a lot of their chips.
• Q&A: Jobs, Cook, Schiller
• Jobs puts up slide: “110/70 Steve’s blood pressure” – That’s all Steve will talk about his health today.
• Jobs: We will post the quicktime movie of the event later today
• AAPL down $3.44, or -3.12%m to $106.82 in current NASDAQ trading.
• MBP: glossy only, not matte. We predict uproar from some pros.
• Showing a movie about the production processes of the aluminum cases…
• MB: Upgrades and Accessories: 4GB 1066 MHz DDR3 memory, 320 GB 5400 rpm hard drive, 128 GB SSD, DVI, Dual-DVI and VGA adapters
• MB: US$1599: 13.3″ LED-backlit display, 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo / 3 MB L2, 2 GB 1066 MHz DDR3 memory, NVIDIA GeForce 9400M, 250 GB hard drive, Slot-loading SuperDrive, Backlit keyboard.
• MB: US$1299: 13.3″ LED-backlit display, 2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo / 3 MB L2, 2 GB 1066 MHz DDR3 memory, NVIDIA GeForce 9400M, 160 GB hard drive, Slot-loading SuperDrive.
• MB: 5 hours battery life.
• MacBook: precision aluminum unibody enclosure, LED-backlit display, Next-gen graphics (9400M), Multi-Touch(tm) glass trackpad, Mini Display Port connector, Environmentally responsible.
• Next-gen MacBook!
• New 24″ LED Cinema Display, MagSafe, 3-port USB 20 hub, Display port, built-in iSight camera and mic. 1920×1200, stereo speakers: US$899 (available next month).
• Air: US$2499 – 13.3″ LED-backlit display, NVIDIA GeForce 9400M, 1.86 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo / 6MB L2, 2 GB 1066 MHz DDR3 memory, 128 GB solid state drive
• Air: US$1799 – 13.3″ LED-backlit display, NVIDIA GeForce 9400M, 1.6 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo / 6MB L2, 2 GB 1066 MHz DDR3 memory, 120 GB SATA hard drive
• Jobs: We’re putting the 9400M in the Air, adding a 120GB hard drive, and we’ve got a 128GB Solid State Drive as an option, plus we’re putting in a mini display port.
• MacBook Air!
• MBP: US$2499 – 15.4″ LED_backlit display, 2.53GHz Intel Core 2 Duo / 6 MB L2, 4GB 1066 MHz DDR3 memory, NVIDIA GeForce 9400M, NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT / 512 MB, 320 GBhard drive, Slot-loading SuperDrive
• MBP: US$1999 – 15.4″ LED_backlit display, 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo / 3 MB L2, 2GB 1066 MHz DDR3 memory, NVIDIA GeForce 9400M, NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT / 256 MB, 250 GBhard drive, Slot-loading SuperDrive
• Slot-load SuperDrive on right side (facing screen), On left: MagSafe, gigabit ethernet, FireWire 800 (no 400), two USB 2, Mini Display Port, audio in / out, ExpressCard 34 slot, Battery Indicator.
• NVIDIA GeForce 9400M in the MacBook Pro AND a 9600M GT (“state of the art mobile graphics”) with 32 parallel graphics cores, 120 Gigaflops and 512MB video memory. Apple is including both of these in the MacBook Pro. User chooses can switch between them. 9400 = 5hrs battery, 9600 GT= 4 hours.
• Display looks like iMac – black around edge
• Unibody alum. piece passed around audience – very rigid
• Display looks like iMac – black around edge
• Precision aluminum unibody enclosure, LED-backlit display, next-gen graphics, Multi-Touch(tm) glass trackpad, mini display port connector (going on all Macs), environmentally responsible
• Jobs introduces new MacBook Pro!
• 39% larger tracking area, Multi-Touch(tm) for gestures, Glass for silky-smooth travel, Entire trackpad is the button, Multi0button via software, New four-fonger gestures.
• Jobs: We have a new trackpad: Large Multi-Touch(tm) glass trackpad
• NVIDIA GeForce 9400M
• Chipset + GPU on one die, 70% of area is GPU, 16 parallel graphics cores, 54 Gflops of performance which is up to 5X faster than Intel integrated graphics.
• NVIDIA GeForce 9400M
• Jobs returns to stage…
• Instead of building upon sheets of aluminum, Apple’s going to start from one piece of aluminum and remove pieces – makes the structure more rigid.
• “For years, we’ve been looking for a better way in building a notebook…”
• Ive: talks about how to make notebook thin and light, but also strong
• Ive: we’ve had a real, significant breakthrough about how we design and build our notebooks
• Ive: talks about how to make notebook thin and light, but also strong
• Jony Ive, Apple SVP Design, talking about new ways to build Apple notebooks
• Jobs back onstage: “Let’s talk about notebooks… First, I’d like to talk about some new ways to build notebooks.”
• Mac has 17.6% retail market share in U.S.; 31.3% revenue share
• 50 percent of Macs sold in retails stores are still to those new to Mac
• 247 Apple Retail Stores in 8 countries (400K visitors per day)
• The Mac vs. PC ads have really struck a chord with so many switchers. Playing ad…
• Talking about Boot Camp, virtualization: “Windows on Mac frankly sends a shiver up my spine.”
• Cook: “Leopard is far ahead of Vista.” (duh)
• Steve Jobs onstage – introduces Tim Cook, COO, to talk about “The State of the Mac”
• Audience being seated…
• 15 minutes from start of event
• 8:00am PDT – Apple Store currently offline.
“MacBook: precision aluminum unibody enclosure, LED-backlit display, Next-gen grpahics, Multi-Touch(tm) galss trackpad, Mini Display Port connector, Environmentally responsible.”
And a BITCH to work on
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yes chris, glass. it is a newer tech for some, but we think it has a future…..
…. i heard rumors it is coming pre-installed in many houses now.
it occurs to me that if the new graphics in the MBA is any good at all, it is going to be hard to not buy one of those babies….
the GPU performance was my only gripe about those. can’t wait to see the tests!
OK, well. Nothing earth shattering so far…
@shen… no kidding, but you clearly then do not understand the implications for many professionals. Do you know how many photographers this is going to turn off?
Thanks for adding your smartass and ignorant comment though.
A lot of games have excluded Macs using the built-in Intel GMA graphics. I wonder if developers will warm up to the NVIDIA GeForce 9400M / GeForce 9600M GT?
@chris
gee, as a photographer, i submit that you are the ignorant one.
lemme check with a few other photographers and get back to you though…..
oh wait, it occurs to me that i don’t care.
you don’t like it? you are free to buy a dull. have fun then. bye now.
CNBC is of course talking about Steve’s appearance, as usual. Hardly any mention of the new products.
Dicknecks.
OK, I’m the biggest Apple apostle you’ll ever find. And I know you get what you pay for, but is Apple blind to current economic conditions? Low end MB is $1,299?!?!?! Give me a break…. Off to Ebay.
My prediction…. stock going to take big hit today.
Waiting for the “and one more thing”
I’m a photographer too, and work with many. Many disagree with you.
I hope you aren’t this big of an a-hole every day.
“One more thing”
Steve’s blood pressure is OK
OMG, you are right. the economy is in the crapper, and yet Apple has the nerve to charge a reasonable price for what they sell.
….i can’t see why they don’t drive to every individual house in America, ask them exactly what they want, build it custom, including shitty screens for whiners, and then make it for that customer alone. and then sell it for about $200 per machine.
they have plenty in the bank, let them take the loss.
@superdave
Low end MB is still the white plastic one. They dropped the price from $1099 to $999… but they probably should have dropped it further.
My interpretation of the MacBook story is that the existing design currently selling for $1099 will drop to $999. But you will only get the new goodies (metal enclosure, want faster graphics, want an LED-backlit display) if you spring $1299. And $1599 will get you a faster processor, larger hard drive and backlit keyboard.
$999 seems like a fair price for the entry level MacBook – that’s 9.1% less than it was yesterday. But the $1299 model is clearly the value sweet spot. Many will buy the under-$1000 version of the MacBook, but I would do my best to scrape up the additional $300 if I were in the market.
gosh Chris, you are right, i humbly apologize.
just because you dislike the screens you are allowed to speak for everyone. i should not think your a prick for announcing what everyone thinks. you are our leader, and we hang on your every word.
please forgive your most humble servant…..
“Blue-ray is a bag of hurt” has an odd ring to it….
“-What’s the concern about the glare on the new screens? Are you planning to incorporate matte screen in the future? Steve says “We’re going straight glass. A few of our customers prefer matte screens, but a vast majority (capital “V” on Vast) prefer glass because of brighter colors, etc.””
hey Chris, you want me to tell them they are wrong?
Hmm…not sure I really like the new designs. I have to say I’m more a fan of the older style, expect the Macbook. Anything is an improvement over the plastic. The new cinema display looks terrible IMO and add my voice to one who can not stand glossy displays.
As a professional working in the fields of Motion Graphics/3D Animation and Video Editing, I can say that I am not turned off in the slightest by glossy screens.
However, I am VERY disappointed that there is no 17″ MBP option. I need the extra screen real-estate in remote situations, and do not want to have to tether to an external screen just to have a useable workspace.
More disconcerting is that at $2499 with an option to upgrade the processor (probably at a $200-$300 cost) the top in 15″ is coming in at a 17″ price point.
I really think Apple screwed the pooch on this one.
Glossy only…Yeah, there is an uproar from professionals!
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That’s why the stock is down.
I’m one on those pros that doesn’t want to fight the glare.
I was in a client’s office yesterday, trying to watch a presentation on a glossy laptop through all the reflections from their corner office windows.
I know you people in your dens love the glossy, but some of us have to work in daylight.
No new MacBook Pro for me.
@ Shen
Lighten up dillweed; and learn to spell.
Reading more on the Ars feed, I see that someone brought up the 17″MBP. The answer was that they are still being around and are being ‘refreshed’. This implies that they will hold the current aesthetic, but will get some stronger internals. I view this news with trepidation, as it still feels like the beginning of a phase-out.
store is back up
actually, been up for 5 minutes.
MDN had a problem posting my comment