MacMost: Making the most of your Mac, iPod, Apple TV and iPhone.

   Summary: Jobs announced new MacBook Pros, a new 24-inch display, and new MacBooks. He also announced an update for the MacBook Air. The new MacBooks and MacBook Pros feature a new style of construction where the the aluminum body is carved from a single block. They include new Nvidia graphics chips for better video performance, and a new mini display port. There is also a new glass trackpad that supports multi-touch for gestures and the entire trackpad is a the button.

   Here was the play-by-play:
    10:05 Steve Jobs comes on stage and introduces Tim Cook, the Apple COO.
    10:08 Cook talking about the success of Mac taking more market share over the last few years.
    10:10 Cook says Mac actually has 31% market share when you measure in revenue.
    10:12 Jobs introduces Jonathan Ive, Apple VP and lead designer to talk about MacBook design.
    10:15 Ive talking about building notebooks by taking a single piece of aluminum and carving parts out of it.
    10:17 Start with a 2.5 pound piece of aluminum and end up with a single .25 pound piece.
    10:20 Jobs now talking about the Nvidia 9400M chipset, which will provide video and a GPU, 5 times faster than the current MacBook integrated video.
    10:22 New MacBooks will feature a multi-touch glass trackpad, where the entire trackpad is the button.
    10:23 New trackpad will include multi-touch gestures and multiple button support through software.
    10:24 New MacBook Pro: Glass LED-backlit screen, connectors on one side only, mini display connector, new trackpad, new graphics chips, new rigid aluminum body built with new technique.
    10:25 Also: Backlit keyboard, iSight and mic, magnetic latch, motion sensor.
    10:26 New mini port connector will be on all new Macs?
    10:29 NVIDIA GeForce 9400M or the NVIDIA GeForce 9600M.
    10:31 Will include Firewire 800, two USB, mini display port, audio in and out, ExpressCard 34, and a battery indicator. No Firewire 400 (But you can use an adapter). Have slot-loading superdrive.
    10:33 Option for Solid State Drive. Can access the drive and battery through lid at bottom.
    10:34 .95 inches thick.
    10:35 Bluetooth 2.1, 802.11n.
    10:36 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 3MB L2 Cache, 2GB Memory, 250GB hard drive and SuperDrive for $1999.
    10:36 2.53 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 6MB L2 Cache, 4GB Memory, larger hard drive and SuperDrive for $2499. Also better video chips.
    10:38 Shipping today!
    10:39 Upgrading MacBook Air: Nvidia 9400M, 120GB drive, mini display port (November)
    10:40 New 24-inch display with 1920×1200, iSight, mic, stereo speakers, 3-port USB, $899 (November)
    10:41 New MacBooks: Nvidia 9400M, mini display port, glass screen, multi-touch trackpad, new construction technique like the MacBook Pro, better battery life.
    10:44 2.0 GHz processor model with 160GB drive for $1299 and 2.4 GHz for with 250GB drive for $1599.
    10:45 Old white plastic MacBook still on sale for $999. MacBooks on sale today, in stores tomorrow.
    10:46 Video shown about new MacBook and manufacturing process.
    10:52 Jobs jokes about health, shows current blood pressure on screen (110/70).
    10:53 Q&A session.
    10:54 Display Port used instead of HDMI because HDMI can’t drive 30-inch monitor.
    10:56 Blu-ray left out because it is too hard to license it.
    10:58 17-inch MacBook Pro will also be refreshed, but later.
    11:00 Only glass screens, no more matte ones in the future.
    11:02 Jobs says touch screens don’t make sense yet.
    11:03 No Mac “netBook” yet as market is too new.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 14th, 2008 at 10:52 am and is filed under Blog Posts, frontpage. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.