MacDailyNews - Where Mac news comes first

Oct 13, 08 - 11:56 am Comment from: Jay-Z

Just a little over 24 hours! I'm going to get my work to get me one of these.

I don't see how the optical drive is going to fit. If you consider that the keyboard is recessed and the keys then press in a little way, they're gonna be touching the slot on the side let alone the drive itself.

Oct 13, 08 - 12:01 pm Comment from: Spark

They had better be more than just thin. How is Apple to distinguish the Air? And I hope there is a One More Thing moment that addresses the desktop.

Oct 13, 08 - 12:03 pm Comment from: Wandering joe

But it looks as if they've cut FW out of the MacBook. Not good for our school. We only use Macs for video classes, but they need FW.

Wasn't there similar speculation about the iPod touch v. 1.0...? Actually here's the article from Engadget from last year:

http://www.engadget.com/2007/09/24/ifixit-digs-deeper-into-ipod-touch-bluetooth-mystery-discovers-802/

Oct 13, 08 - 12:04 pm Comment from: MacintoshSoftwareList.com

How do the rumors only pop up the day before. They have been making these things for weeks. Hum, I will wait and see.

Ahhh, sorry folks - the above comment was intended for today's article about the iPod touch's possible BlueTooth capabilities. Please ignore.

wandering joe - not the best solution but there are inexpensive USB to FireWire adapters.

The case design appears different from current pros in that the top is one piece that contains the key board cut-out and the port cut-outs rather than the bottom piece containing the ports. Am I missing something? Can this be the part cut out from a solid "brick" of aluminum?

Oct 13, 08 - 12:24 pm Comment from: Jimbo von Winskinheimer

Where is the 5 1/4 floppy drive slot? Apple is really screwing up if they don't have a floppy drive on this puppy.

Is this the new Macbook or the Macbook Pro?
Maybe they will just keep the old Macbook at the $999 price point and these at the next price point, and then the Air at a slight price reduction.
I hope they will take the iPod touch and make it twice the size with 16/9 aspect ratio with a bigger and recognizable drive, file management, cut and paste, and maybe a pumped processor, all for $699, and drop the mini. Make the iPod Touch a bigger touch computer without cannibalizing the existing Touch, which I love. That would be a revolutionary product transition to me. Anyone elses thoughts on what product is going to cause a transition?

"Where is the 5 1/4 floppy drive slot?"

It's a $500 option. You can also choose a SyQuest cartridge reader, a Bernoulli drive, a SyJet or Jaz disk reader, or a wax cylinder needle (keep out of direct sunlight).

I am just glad that it looks like they are abandoning the terrible keyboards on the MBP. I have two of them that have been plagued by keys popping off. The first week we had our latest MBP, the tilde key popped off! I doubt it had ever even been pressed!

Oct 13, 08 - 12:46 pm Comment from: Shadowself

@ Jimbo von Winskinheimer & Nick Fury:

... and if it won't play my 16 RPM records Apple is definitely doomed!

Oct 13, 08 - 12:47 pm Comment from: Mr. Reeee

What is Apple thinking? No FireWire ports in the MacBook? They can't be serious.

What about FireWire Target Disk Mode and the OS X Migration Assistant?

USB is crap for anything but input devices. It even sucks for flash drives and card readers. Not to mention cameras that have FireWire interface.

I guess that's one more thing to differentiate the Pro line from the Schmoe line.

If this is the real thing ... BAD move, Apple.

"But it looks as if they've cut FW out of the MacBook. Not good for our school. We only use Macs for video classes, but they need FW."

This seems unlikely. Even many PC laptops have at least a 4-pin firewire connector. If anything I was hoping they'd add Firewire 800. If they don't start promoting that it will never take any hold vs USB 3.0... plus, it's already on most other macs (MBP, iMac, Mac Pro).

"They had better be more than just thin. How is Apple to distinguish the Air? And I hope there is a One More Thing moment that addresses the desktop."

There won't be. This event is about notebooks.

And what do you want it to do? Make sandwiches? It's a laptop. Making it thinner, faster, better battery (hopefully), lighter, new case, substantial reworking of specs and price points, adding multi-touch trackpads and increased gesture support... if they do all this, it will be a good solid update and just what they need right now as the MacBook and MBP are starting to get seriously outclassed hardware-wise by cheaper PC laptops.

However, I'm not ruling out something unexpected with regards to the notebooks; while the addition of multi-touch trackpads could be what Apple was referring to with the "technologies our competitors cannot match" thing (seeing as how they have patented that technology), in my opinion too many multi-touch trackpad gestures will make a lot of consumers feel it's too complicated to use (not saying they're right, but...). If so, I'd guess it would have something to do with the choice of words ("spotlight" on notebooks), but I'm not sure what that might be.

One other thing I'd expect is LED backlight screens. This is a pretty big deal, since it uses less power and is substantially brighter. Put a MacBook Air side by side with a MacBook with the screens on maximum brightness... the MBA is substantially brighter, even in a well-lit room.

If no Firewire on MacBook that means they've moved me to the Pro! Ahhg!

Oct 13, 08 - 12:52 pm Comment from: Mr. Reeee

I don't think it's a solid aluminum block.

It seems to me that the two halves of the shell would be extrusions (cheap to produce). The cutouts for the keys and ports may be milled or laser cut. It'll probably use just a few screws to hold the halves together. If this is so, it should be a pretty efficient design.

We shall see...

Another thing I forgot to mention that makes me doubt these photos is the removal of the kengsington lock slot on the MacBook. This is an issue not just for consumers, but for any businesses with Mac laptops on display who make use of those slots. That slot is a standard feature on PC laptops which should not be ignored (it's bad enough that the air doesn't have one, though given the size constraints that's understandable).

Oct 13, 08 - 12:53 pm Comment from: NormM

I would guess that the new MacBook Air will have a 120GB hard drive. The Toshiba MK1231GAL (same exact dimensions as the drive in the current Air) has been in mass production for a few weeks now.

I'm thinking of upgrading the hard drive in my Air. It doesn't look that hard to remove the back and then change the drive.

Oct 13, 08 - 12:54 pm Comment from: Cubert

Mr. Reee,
I agree completely. Why oh why is Firewire Apple's redheaded step child? The Firewire 1600 is going to find its way into products (HDV cameras) real soon. 1600 has the same connector as the 800 spec. It also supports a wireless Firewire spec.

I sure hope Apple becomes more of a Firewire advocate in the near future.

Oct 13, 08 - 12:55 pm Comment from: Jamie

They'd better have FireWire in the MacBook... my LaCie Rugged is FW only (my Time Machine drive).

I dug out my old Zip Drive the other day - 100MB on a disk, WOW!

"And what do you want it to do? Make sandwiches?"

YEAH!

Every college student on the planet would want one and Dell would implode.

Slot loading bologna?

"This is an issue not just for consumers, but for any businesses with Mac laptops on display who make use of those slots."

Here's a simple solution. Pack C-4 and a detonator around the battery that can be triggered remotely. Make sure to back up your data and buy insurance for a replacement. Why clog up the court system and the prisons?

Looking at the picture of the left-hand side of the "MacBook Pro," the ports appear to be (from left-to-right):
Possible HDMI
Mystery Hole
ExpressCard 34 Slot
Audio Out
Audio In
Mini-DVI connector (hope it still supports 30" display)
2 USB ports
1 FW 800 Port
Ethernet Port
(Magsafe power port appears to be out of frame)

Oct 13, 08 - 01:10 pm Comment from: Cubert

Jacob,
The Kensington lock is on the optical drive side.

Oct 13, 08 - 01:17 pm Comment from: micha

has anyone else noticed the last three pics show a case with out the speaker grills on each side of the keyboard? If macbook isn't switching to aluminum, does this return the return of the 12" to the Pro lineup? If so, woo-hoo! My 12" PB is getting a little long in the tooth...

OK, the following is purely crazy speculation, but what if Apple were to build a MacBook motherboard that could use the Ethernet port for more than Ethernet? Combine this with an appropriate adapter, and one could perhaps use the Ethernet port for Firewire 400 as well--would it be all that difficult to make a MOBO that could tell what kind of cable/device was plugged in, and respond accordingly? Not being able to use both FW & Ethernet simultaneously would be a minor inconvenience on a wireless-N laptop.

"Mystery Hole"

That sounds hot. Any chance it's self-lubricating?

B R I C K

is something else entirely...

it looks like the ports are exactly the same on the "new" MacBook as they are on the current. It looks like the MagPort, Ethernet, two USB, one firewire. Look at the pictures in the real article.

THE BRICK:

I've 2 ideas on this...

1. A 'brick' SMASHES WINDOWS

2. This is a bit of a stretch... more of a wish... but the patent I saw reported that apple had where you could slide a laptop into an iMac type screen for home use... marvelous!

IF these images really show the next Macbooks they wouldnt have been up for this long before the event. Apple had had them pulled almost before they went online. On the other hand IF they really are real then Apple should really ask them self about what kind of security they have at the plant.

I guess time will tell...

Oct 13, 08 - 02:11 pm Comment from: nanisani

>>"has anyone else noticed the last three pics show a case with out the speaker grills on each side of the keyboard? If macbook isn't switching to aluminum, does this return the return of the 12" to the Pro lineup? If so, woo-hoo! My 12" PB is getting a little long in the tooth...<<

The speaker grilles are there. They are covered by temporary plastic scratch guards. The glossy plastic obscures the tiny holes of the grilles. Look close...

Oct 13, 08 - 02:13 pm Comment from: nanisani

On second thought - - - the last three pix are of a smaller size book. So there are no grilles

Look Again: what you ID'd as a Firewire port on the non-pro MacBook picture actually appears to be a mini-DV port. Double-check the symbol next to it, it looks like a video icon, not the Firewire "Y."

I read there are adapters for ethernet-to-firewire, so although its sad to see FW400 go, its not the end of the world, yet :s

Oct 13, 08 - 02:39 pm Comment from: MacBill

There BETTER be FireWire on the new MacBook! We NEED Target FireWire Mode!!!!

Oct 13, 08 - 03:22 pm Comment from: money talks

@ Quad Core

Do you have cats ?

I'm not an engineer but looking at the reverse of the cases, it seems unlikely that they are of made of stamped thin aluminium sheets (look to the extrusions)... Is there anybody who can educate us about this matter?

much better skin!

No Firewire? If Ethernet can support Firewire then could not Firewire support Ethernet?

What if Firewire is included, maybe 800, with a special Ethernet adaptor for a Cat cable. Since we all use wireless so much is it not useless to have the Cat on it.

Hey, my two cents worth.