Supposed MacBook ad accidentally posted to Apple site

See that pic up there? Word around the Internet is that it shows an ad for the upcoming MacBook laptop that Apple "accidentally" posted to its website before quickly taking it down. Nothing in this supposed screencap -- which shows a starting price of only $999 and black or white case options -- immediately screams fake to us (they gotta release the darn thing sometime), but then again, it wouldn't be very difficult to mock up something like this in Photoshop, either. Real, fake, we surely can't tell -- but if Apple doesn't show us the goods sometime this week, they're gonna have some serious 'splaining to do to their legions of anxious fans and weary tech bloggers.

Update: Ah oui, comments on French site Mac4Ever confirm what most of you have already concluded, which is that this is no screencap but another Photoshop hoax.

[Thanks, Phlash65]

[Pancake @ May 14th 2006 1:32PM]

Fake, those pics are taken from the old ibook page. http://www.apple.com/ibook/software.html Apple does not reuse images.

[Jason @ May 14th 2006 1:33PM]

Nice try. The images on the right are taken straight from the current iBook page.

[DinnyHoon @ May 14th 2006 1:33PM]

First post!

I thought this was real for a second, until I recognised the pics from the iBook page :P

[The_doctor @ May 14th 2006 1:33PM]

The very page you link to says it's a fake.

[Sam @ May 14th 2006 1:38PM]

This really shouldn't have been posted on Engadget.

[tiuk @ May 14th 2006 1:40PM]

As much as I'd like to believe it'll start at $999, I'm almost positive it will be at least $1099.

[george @ May 14th 2006 1:41PM]

most definitely a fake. like someone said, the pics are taken from http://www.apple.com/ibook/software.html . those aree just ibooks!

in any case, think about it... if apple were to make a front page ad about a computer that comes in two colors, they would actually show the computer in both colors!! they wouldn't make you click a black sqaure to see it. apple's not dumb like that.

[Phil Walmsley @ May 14th 2006 1:41PM]

Where do you start? The gradient above the "MacBook" (no no no), the black or white choice (buttons?) beneath the image have no explantion of what they are/means, the typographic treatment on the left is very un-apple (Light, medium and bold weights? yikes), the blue background on the left isn't an "Apple blue", it's too washed out. And all the photo's on the front? Apple would never have a product on their front page competeing for attention with anything like that. Le Fake!

[James @ May 14th 2006 1:43PM]

Fake... the iSight is too low on the display, to see what I mean look at pics of the MacBook Pro and how the iSight resides just a little above the screen bezel, obviously for room for the camera mechanisms....

[MacCrazy @ May 14th 2006 1:46PM]

Colour is wrong on the screen-shot which is suspicious. Also the writing is too crammed - the speed of life is an odd caption. Also the font does not look quite right. The re-used images and even the actual MacBook don't look quite right. That MacBook looks like on of the entries on Engadget's competition. I say fake.

[Tim Dorr @ May 14th 2006 1:47PM]

Plus, it looks like crap. No way Apple would let something that poorly laid out sit on their front page.

[Chris Coleman @ May 14th 2006 1:48PM]

This is total bullshit. A friend of mine showed me a similar image a few days ago, but the copy on the right read "Intel Core Duo.5x faster.Front Row and iLife '06"

The main difference being the lack of spaces after the periods. Apple would never do crap that. This is almost exactly the same thing, just with that fixed.

Furthermore, I don't think Apple can try to win Windows users by saying Front Row and iLife. This doesn't mean anything to them. We'll see, but I'm calling serious fake on this one.

[blahblah @ May 14th 2006 1:55PM]

Boy, you guys are gonna look real dumb if that laptop shows-up on Apple's site next week. An' I'm gonna be riiight here, on Engadget, when they report on the new Mac Books, reminding you all of your stupidity. Watch for it. ;P

[Mambo @ May 14th 2006 1:57PM]

The graphics on the ad look tripe, anyway. Never mind the photos. Apple are also not THAT stupid to post a whole graphic up by mistake ... a small empty page, maye ;-)

Besides, Apple will do a better job. It'll be less than $999.

[narrativium @ May 14th 2006 1:57PM]

I have an additional reason why this is obviously fake: the boxes on the bottom rotate, depending on what content is in the main area above them. If the Mac Book were featured on the top, there wouldn't be a box at the bottom with the Mac Book in it.

[Anon @ May 14th 2006 2:01PM]

It's obviously wrong since it's only coming out in white, and the price is starting at $1099.

[JP @ May 14th 2006 2:02PM]

Fake. Where's the magnetic closing mechanism for the screen? This has the same hook-and-pushbutton-release design of the old laptops.

[Dustin @ May 14th 2006 2:06PM]

Engadget, this is sad. This image is from SpyMac Gallery, a.k.a. the armpit of the Apple rumors ring. I won't even go into the bad photoshopping done here, but honestly, you are making yourself look bad.

[Steve J @ May 14th 2006 2:06PM]

Another fake indication, is whatever the main home-page ad is, is not repeated in one of the small 4 square ads on the bottom of the home-page, but here one of the four is the macbook again.

[Travis @ May 14th 2006 2:08PM]

Look at the top of the screen. Two latches like on the MacBook Pro. Most sources have confirmed that the MacBook is going to latch entirely magneticly.

[bob @ May 14th 2006 2:08PM]

its also fake because the image shows a catch type locking but most hype has pointed towards a magnetic locking system.

[jbstingray @ May 14th 2006 2:13PM]

PLUS: Your Life, To Go

Apple does not capitalize all the letters, it would be

Your life, to go

Am I right? You know I am.

[engadet = cheap hacks @ May 14th 2006 2:24PM]

#5 - why not? this site is notorious for posting:
-vapourware
-incorrect facts
-down right hoaxes
-bad grammar
-bad spelling

what do you expect?

I hope you all ad-block their ads, because it would be sad if they made a single penny from their readers.

[umijin @ May 14th 2006 2:30PM]

Yeah, a hella big 13" laptop in front of the blond woman too.

Or maybe she's really small.

[onionsaregross @ May 14th 2006 2:35PM]

I'd say fake, due to the fact that there's no period after "Your Digital Life, To Go". Apple is all about quaint little sentences, and without a period it's amateurish.

[tatanka @ May 14th 2006 2:40PM]

there one thing more, margins for the blue block are not set it up properly, Apple may make a mistake and uploadsomething before time but the never make those kind of mistakes when it comes to graphic design

[Nik @ May 14th 2006 2:40PM]

"Accidentally"? All of this is on purpose. A big tech company like Apple does not do this by accident. Its all well thought out, genius marketing.

[Djoolz @ May 14th 2006 2:43PM]

It is a fake, it was posted to a french site last week and the guy who sent it admitted later it was a fake, for those of you who read french the answer is in the comments :
http://www.mac4ever.com/news/23526/on_continue_avec_le_macbook/
Anyway I hope it looks better than just a revamped ibook, it's apple we're talking about, their new macbook should be breathtaking.

[CJN @ May 14th 2006 2:52PM]

"Nothing in this supposed screencap immediately screams fake to us"

How about the fact that this is a modified image of William W's entry in your third WWJD contest? The disc-drive makes it a dead give-away. That and of course, as the other commenters have already pointed out, the graphics are from a recycled iBook ad.

[Konstantino @ May 14th 2006 2:56PM]

"Furthermore, I don't think Apple can try to win Windows users by saying Front Row and iLife. This doesn't mean anything to them. We'll see, but I'm calling serious fake on this one."

Why wouldn't they? They already have that for the iMac ad.

[Gil @ May 14th 2006 3:04PM]

Why not correct/remove the entry since the pics are clearly taken from the old iBook campaign? Well, rumors create stir, stir creates interest, interest results in you clicking on the ad.

You clicking the add pays for Engadget staff's Mercedes, home entertainment systems, condos and other excesses that would be repossessed if you didn't click. It's click fraud made nicer. I don't know if I see the concept of pay-per-click lasting, (did anyone else read the "Wired" article about click fraud) so lets click while we can and keep help a deserving Engadget employee save-up for that Lambo Murcielago. Get to clicken'! Time is money, people.

[Dave @ May 14th 2006 3:12PM]

Definatly Fake, but...

If you check out this week's compUSA circular, they are having an apple event on wednesday, as one of the rumors predicted. Albeit it is supposed to be an iPod event, but we know apple well enough.

[joshua @ May 14th 2006 3:14PM]

What tells me that the screen shot is fake:
on the bottom row of 4 mini-product placement areas, it should be MacBook Pro, Get a Mac, Mac Mini, and iMac: the MacBook shouldn't be second; Apple doesn't place a product as their main page spread and then plug it below...

[Windowsrookie @ May 14th 2006 3:40PM]

Dude! This guy made it. He said it was a mockup!!!

http://forums.applenova.com/showpost.php?p=343516&postcount=540

[Scottie @ May 14th 2006 3:55PM]

Fake. The pictures, besides being iBooks, are all white. If Apple is showing off the new black laptop, some of the pictures should use them, no?

[Gordon @ May 14th 2006 4:07PM]

The text in the blue square looks horizontally crammed. Very unlike Apple. Their graphics designers often pay more attention to details like that. And is that right weight of Myriad Pro in the ad? I thought they've consistently used a heavier weight on the official site. And I agree with the others about the awkwardness of having the MacBook at both the top and as one of the small four boxes in the bottom. They've never duplicated like that before.

[John Doe @ May 14th 2006 4:10PM]

"but then again, it wouldn't be very difficult to mock up something like this in Photoshop, either. Real, fake, we surely can't tell -- but if Apple doesn't show us the goods sometime this week, they're gonna have some serious 'splaining to do to their legions of anxious fans and weary tech bloggers."


Yah because god knows Apple damn well better live up to the rumors floating around on the net. Promises and announcements were made. They damn well. Wait a minute. No they weren?t. My bad. I understand that engadget is trying to be funny but seriously, stupidest blog post evar.

[Anonymous Coward @ May 14th 2006 4:12PM]

Alright, we've determined that it's a fake ad, but how come nobody's debating the black/white issue?

Does anyone here think Apple will actually release a black iBook? I say no way, for two reasons:

1. Think about the scratches on the iPod Nano
2. It would look just like every other crappy notebook out there.

Never going to happen.

[mkm322 @ May 14th 2006 4:16PM]

man .. one could really get tired of all this .. i mean lets face it .. we know they are going to release the macbook .. sooner or later it will be out ... lets all just relax

[Max v W @ May 14th 2006 5:09PM]

Well, i'm not going to argue about the fact that it's fake, and neither about thef act that i doubt that their will be 2 colors. I DO think that when a MacBook is available, they 'might' use a Core Solo. I don't know if there is MUCH difference in price, but if you take a look at the Mac Mini, it also starts with Core Solo. It will probably also be more efficient with power usage. Just my penny.

[Edu @ May 14th 2006 5:30PM]

#22

If this site don't like you, why are you visiting it??? what are you doing here???

If you think that you can create a better site than this, good luck!

Please, send me a link of a better site than this if you think there is.

Bye

[Spiff @ May 14th 2006 8:25PM]

Isn't the Macbook expected to use the Core Solo processor (not the Core Duo)?

[Mike @ May 14th 2006 8:35PM]

#36,

You're exaggerating. I have a black Nano which I take to the gym. It dangles around my neck on lanyard headphones, bashes against weights, and has my sweaty fingers on it every 30 mins when I change albums/podcasts.

After 6 months and only being occasionally wiped on a t-shirt, it still looks excellent. You'd have to really stare at it closely to see the marks.

For a black MacBook: if it's a dull matt plastic then I agree that would be boring and I wouldn't be getting one. But if it is a glossy transparent skinned finish, then...

Oh momma, I'm buying this baby!

[Daniel @ May 14th 2006 8:39PM]

I think that the rumor sites have been kind of sketchy on whether the Intel iBook/MacBook will be using a Core Solo or Core Duo processor. The most recent report (I think by AppleInsider) expects all of the MacBook models to use the Core Duo, but of course that's just speculation.

I have to disagree with #36 (Anon. Coward) about Apple not using different colors. I think Macrumors and AppleInsider have both said that they expect at least black and white initially, and perhaps other colors in the future. Also, I don't see why scratches on the nano would prevent Apple from releasing a black notebook?? The white nano gets just as scratched. Also, it seems silly to me that Apple would refuse to make a black notebook just because other PC manufacturers use black cases. Color doesn't have nearly as much to do with the aesthetics as other factors that set noteboook models apart from one another.

[me @ May 14th 2006 11:44PM]

yeah completely fake. Still its coming out soon so i'm excited nonetheless

[David @ May 15th 2006 1:49AM]

For a fake or accidental ad, this is sure creating a lot of free buzz.

[spike @ May 15th 2006 8:14AM]

#40, i had immediately spotted the fake for this very reason. core solo, not duo, why would apple release a cheapo laptop that could compete woth a Macbook pro?

the specs are bound to be dissapointing, look at the difference betweena 15" and a 17" Pro for example....

[joe mfkilla @ May 15th 2006 10:09AM]

F*ck you, #23. go hate somewhere else. this photochop was never claimed to be fact; if you think its a fake, post about it, but don't be an asshole.

[dzieci @ May 15th 2006 11:21AM]

definitely fake.

[you idiots - lol @ May 17th 2006 2:17AM]

you all said it was fake! lol, and it was real!