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This will be 'my precious'.

Jan 21, 08 - 02:48 pm Comment from: ericdano

Seems a no-brainer. I'd imagine it is going to be standard across the line in no time at all.

Jan 21, 08 - 02:51 pm Comment from: Jimbo von Winskinheimer

The question is, would this be a software, hardware or firmware upgrade? If software or firmware, existing machines can get it.

Jan 21, 08 - 02:57 pm Comment from: Buster

I sure hope it is either software or firmware. I just bought a new 15 inch for my wife and a new 17 inch for me. This could make me sad :-(

I vote for Jimbo's idea about a soft or firmware update. A new MacBook Pro is being delivered today. I am delighted about that and will be delighted if Jimbo's idea is true. MMmmmmm. Get a laptop today and new goodies later. I'd even spend a little more.

The MacBook Air is tempting for me despite the really low capacity hard drive. I thought I could get around that issue with a portable drive, but no... there's no firewire for a self-powered FW drive like myFirelite250gb that I love dearly, and there is only a single USB port which precludes the use of a self-powered USB drive. (unless there is a single plug USB self-powered drive out there? I haven't seen one.)

So... what to do?

I love my PowerBook 12 inch G4, but it is becoming long in tooth and my wife stole it anyway.

New 15 inch Mac laptop? Maybe.... we'll see.

Between business and home I have 5 macs now... starting with the half-moon 15 inch flat screen that I bought in ... 2001 I think? and the last was the first G5 iMac

Time for a new toy... but oh the choices!

Apple’s next-gen MacBook Pros to gain multi-touch trackpad

Like it really took a lot of deduction to figure that out.

If it has a asinine glossy screen, they can keep it.

Glossy screens reflections cause eyestrain, headaches and the premature need for glasses.

Get a matte screen, I can tell you from 20 years experience using glossy CRT's. Reflections are BAD FOR YOUR EYES, not right away with your young eyes, but in time it will cause problems!

Which means that the MacBooks won't be long in getting the multi-touch track pad too soon.

Enough of the Bakla Obama ads already!

Sorry, but the multi-touch track pad thing is lame. Build it into the screen. That would be better. None of this crap now.

LOL.

This is the "no s*it sherlock" rumor of the day...

Western Digital and others make a single cable USB self powered external Hard Drive - http://www.westerndigital.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=387

Has anyone else noticed how many guys say that their wife stole their Mac?
Mine did, too.
Apple should do a reality commercial featuring guys who's wives stole their laptops...maybe have a guy disguising his Mac as a Dell or HP.

Existing MacBook users get a simple firmware update for a multi-touch trackpad. Uh, oh. Folks will be canceling MBA orders now!

Except for Japanese business people, fashion designers, and luxury resort lackeys, of course. They''ll still buy MBAs.

Hey, man, is that a MBA in your envelope?

Uh, no, no. of course not! It's just bunch of papers.

Yeah, hey, check out my MacBook Pro. Multi-touch trackpad, Cool huh? Freaking free firm ware update, too. Check it out, check it out.

</b> (fidgeting) Yeah, sure, real cool.</b>

Ya know, I can't believe that some people paid $1,799 for the MBA. Morons, huh? They shoulda known Apple was gonna update all other MacBooks.

</b>Yeah, morons, sigh.</b>

Hey, I'm meeting Steve over at the union. Wanna join us?

No, thanks. I gotta put an ad to sell an old notebook I have.

Alright. You should think about upgrading to the Macbook Pros, bro.

Yeah, thanks for the advice.</n>

Later.

<b>Later.

(mumbling) I should have never listened to those fanbois at MDN

Jan 21, 08 - 03:41 pm Comment from: Predrag

Phred seems to be convinced that the only reason people were going to buy MBA was the multi-touch track pad.

I will repeat this again here: MBA will be a runaway hit. Why? Because most of purchasing decisions in the western world are made by women. And when women shop for laptops, the first question that majority of them ask is: "How heavy is this thing?" They don't care about the specs; they know that they'll always get their money's worth, since the market is so saturated, the competition makes pricing more-or-less uniform.

For all of you who don't mind lugging heavy metal on your sholder, knock yourselves out, get a MBP (or MB). Those who think carefully what's going to be putting strain on their shoulder, they can finally get a Mac laptop that's right for them. And there are many, many of those.

Im getting the new macbook pro next christmas so I hope all this features to be true lalalallala

I like a glossy screen, but you can get an easy to apply film if you want to -- so no worries either way.

I wish WE were familiar with Apple's product roadmap.

Jan 21, 08 - 04:11 pm Comment from: Mr. Reeee

A firmware update to give my MBP multi-touch seems like the way to go. If only Apple would agree with all of us.

Since there's STILL no Half-MacPro, maybe they wouldn't.

The MB Air will certainly sell well. There are plenty of users who almost NEVER install software after they've installed Office or iWork. The rest is downloaded.

I'd be interested to see a survey of MBA users in 6 months to see how they use it.
Primary machine? Home? Office? Road? Shared machine for around the house or office?

It will be extremely interesting. I can't imagine it as a primary Mac, but that's just me.

At this point we don't know what the impact of the Time Capsule may be. A wireless hard drive, PAINLESSLY connected and configured accessible from anywhere you get an Airport signal? It sounds too good to be true. You could partition it and store photos, music, etc. on it without clogging up the MBA's tiny internal drive and still retain a Time Machine backup volume.

Think of it!

Jan 21, 08 - 04:29 pm Comment from: ken1w

@ Guy With A Beard

> and there is only a single USB port which precludes the use of a self-powered USB drive. (unless there is a single plug USB self-powered drive out there? I haven't seen one.)

I don't get it. Most 2.5-inch external USB drives are bus-powered, I believe. And what does that have to do with the single USB port on the MacBook Air? Are there external drives that require two USB ports?

Jan 21, 08 - 04:30 pm Comment from: LinuxGuyAndMacProdigalSon

I just hope that the current MBP touch-pad hardware itself is capable of the new gesture features. If so, surely a firmware update would be a great idea. The problem might be that it will be only for Leopard, forcing current Tiger users to move from stripes to spots.

But with the imminent arrival of Mac OS X 10.5.2, that would surely get me to upgrade.

"Sorry, but the multi-touch track pad thing is lame. Build it into the screen. That would be better. None of this crap now."

@ AC, You are unfortunately right my friend!!! But I would say that the best would be to come with a full fledge multi-touch keyboard!!!

Jan 21, 08 - 05:15 pm Comment from: HolyMackerel

The MBA seems to be selling a lot of MacBooks. People are more confirmed in their mind of its value.

MacBook Air is currently the 6th best selling portable on Amazon. Somebody is ordering them.

Why do analysts act like they had this epiphany that a new technology would be integrated throughout Apple's product line? "We think Apple will use a little red mousestick for the next MBP update." At least it would be refreshing.

Don't look for Apple to update current MBPs or MacBooks with multi-touch features. They didn't the last time an update came out. I recall installing a third party hack on my PowerBook to get the two-fingered scroll (boy, that sounds like some kind of insult or something naughty!), which was rendered useless by the next OS X update.

The new multi-touch scroll pad will be a selling feature for the new MBPs. Apple doesn't have much incentive to make a firmware/software update for older MBPs.

Newest Rumor: Next-gen MBP will run on electricity!

Jan 21, 08 - 07:03 pm Comment from: Grigori

I'm STILL waiting for an external multi-touch trackpad... and I can't be the only one.

iScroll 2 gave my PB G4 the power to use the two finger scroll... It force enables the System Preference... which means that such "multi-touch gestures" are fully capable in the hardware, even from years ago.

Since the capability is going to be added (revealed?) in Leopard I think we can all rest assured that someone somewhere is going to make all of our trackpads like new.

Here's the iScroll 2 link:

http://iscroll2.sourceforge.net/

For freak's sake! What a hero this Kasper Jade is - predicting what Steve *announced* in his keynote.

Steve specifically said the rest of the MacBook lines would be getting multi-touch touchpads.

So it doesn't take any brains at all to work out this would occur at the next revision.

Jan 21, 08 - 10:06 pm Comment from: Cubert

I've got a Powerbook G4. What are the odds there will be an iScroll 2-D?

I predict the HD will get bigger, there will be multi touch pads in all and there will be new models of the iPod and iPhone later in the year.
Who do i give my details to so I can have my check delivered.

And in further astonishing news-water is wet, the earth is round and Apple will release a new fangled gadget called a computer.