Mr. Blurrycam reveals the updated MacBook Pro, $899 laptop model shows up in Apple inventory systems (Updated)

Well, maybe -- we're not calling it official until Steve pulls the cloth off himself tomorrow morning . Still, there's no denying the similarities between this image and all those other case leaks we've seen, and the list of specs we've been given matches up as well -- that "metal and glass" enclosure now houses an NVIDIA GPU, but no FireWire 400, and video-out is apparently through a connector "more compact" than MicroDVI. We'll find out soon enough -- oh, and just to amp up expectations, Boy Genius says he's confirmed the existence of an $899 part number in Apple's retail systems. Counting down...

Update: Our source just hit us with another pic, this time from the side -- it's after the break. We're also told that there's not one, but two NVIDIA GPUs inside -- we're guessing an integrated / discrete setup like in the VAIO Z, but we'll find out for sure tomorrow.

Update 2: Our source just hit us again to say that it's two full-on NVIDIA GPUs -- sounds like a hybrid SLI setup to us, which is pretty wild. Wilder still, they say the MacBook and 17-inch MacBook Pro aren't getting refreshed tomorrow, which we find hard to believe, but we'll see when we see.

Update 3: John Gruber over at Daring Fireball, the first to accurately predict today's launch event, has confidentally chimed in with many more details. The button-less trackpad is indeed glass, and "is a button itself" which opens the door for a few hours of trouser-heated speculation about the trackpad doubling as a BlackBerry Storm-like display (Gruber doesn't say and it doesn't appear to be in that image above so don't count on it). Gruber also claims that none of the new laptops will reach the rumored $899 price point -- the part number spotted earlier seems to be associated with a new 24-inch LED Apple Cinema Display with DisplayPort according to MacRumors, not a low-end MacBook. To support this, Gruber says that the aluminum MacBooks will indeed be announced in $1,299 (2GHz, 2GB memory, 160GB disk) and $1,499 (2.4GHz, 2GB memory, 250GB disk) configs and will ship by the end of the week along with new 120GB HDD and 128GB SSD configurations of the MacBook Air. While CPU clocks will remain pretty much the same, all new MacBooks -- regular, Pro, and Air -- will feature the new NVIDIA 9400M GPU -- the 15-inch MacBook Pro (the 17-inch will remain unchanged albeit with 4GB of memory and bigger 320GB disk) will feature a second 9600M GT GPU making it a true graphics powerhouse as previously speculated. Lastly, the current 2.1GHz white MacBook remains in the line-up but will be cut to $999.

[paul @ Oct 13th 2008 10:41PM]

where's the click button? there's a trackpad but no actual button

[Alex L. @ Oct 13th 2008 10:47PM]

That's what she said!


Sorry, I couldn't help it...

[James Mack @ Oct 13th 2008 10:54PM]

Speaking of which, where's the power button?

[lowdef @ Oct 13th 2008 10:54PM]

multi touch perhaps?

[ridestp @ Oct 13th 2008 10:58PM]

Do you guys notice that the screen has a clear ~1/4 inch border?

[Aaron @ Oct 13th 2008 10:58PM]

steve jobs doesn't like buttons...

[CraigJ @ Oct 13th 2008 10:58PM]

I agree with the multi-touch comment. who needs buttons with multi-touch?

[ThatOneKid @ Oct 13th 2008 11:01PM]

maybe you push down the trackpad or double tap to click

[Jeremy K. @ Oct 13th 2008 11:07PM]

Power button is on the right hand top corner. It's one of those flush kind of buttons.

[nick @ Oct 13th 2008 11:09PM]

I would agree, it's probably touch. except I find the really annoying with any windows laptops i've used and I always turn it off. maybe the whole thing physically clicks down. that wouldn't be too bad. My guess is that power is either on the side or more likely, integrated within the keyboard. oh, and for the record, I checked the photo out in ps...

[IMG]http://i38.tinypic.com/dx1atf.jpg[/IMG]

[Cycomachead @ Oct 13th 2008 11:12PM]

Not only that but I doubt that would use glass over the screen. even if they have a glossy model they wouldn't use glass because that'd b 2 different manufacturing processes. And Apple is smart enough to know that pros want matte screen.

[Kizorblade @ Oct 13th 2008 11:21PM]

It's on the FARRRRR right hand corner of the thing. Farking hard to see (Thanks J.R.) but yeah. It's there.

[telepheedian @ Oct 13th 2008 11:26PM]

The screen border thing reminds me of my Zune, although I must say, it looks pretty good.

[Indefinite Implosion @ Oct 13th 2008 11:34PM]

buttons are not toys

[Zach G. @ Oct 13th 2008 11:47PM]

These renderings are so fake it hurts. Even if Apple did "forget" to include a power button and a track pad button, glass on a laptop screen is just dangerous. Plus, the first image is obviously an iMac display Photoshopped together with a Macbook Air keyboard and some other nonsense. The aluminum in bottom case gets mysteriously reflective in the top right corner, the "hinge" is magically one shade of black, the dimple in the front that allows one to open the display is too bright for that lighting, and the shadow from the display does not look right at all. And that's just the top image...

[CraigJ @ Oct 13th 2008 11:57PM]

glass on a laptop is not dangerous. what are you, like 8 years old?

[Chris @ Oct 13th 2008 11:59PM]

@Zach G:

I hope they do release these soon so you can eat your words. If you're right, then congrats. If you're wrong, then you are basically completely discredited as an image authenticator.

[Carl Vitullo @ Oct 14th 2008 12:08AM]

Craig, have you ever played a game with tap-to-click on?
It is no longer a game, just frustrating. You make a subtle adjustment in counter-strike and suddenly you're spraying everywhere.

[IndiaTech @ Oct 14th 2008 12:11AM]

Forget the buttons, am I the only one to observe that only the laptop is blurry while the surroundings are not?

[Chad @ Oct 14th 2008 12:14AM]

You just hump it and it turns on.

[Josh @ Oct 14th 2008 12:43AM]

Tap-to-click or multi touch?

[Gojulas @ Oct 15th 2008 12:55AM]

Clearly this is retribution for us complaining about the one button...

Please do not tell me they removed my manly DVI port and put one of those stupid Mini-DVI ports in instead...

It wouldn't bother me as much if they sold a Mini-DVI to DL DVI-I adapter, but of course that's WAAAAAAY to easy...

[Wormbolt @ Oct 14th 2008 12:48AM]

The whole thing will be controlled with a simple Zune Pad.

[@AustinAaron @ Oct 14th 2008 1:00AM]

Yeah. What's up with that? Screen glare is hideous.

[CraigJ @ Oct 14th 2008 1:09AM]

no, I don't play games on laptops, so that may be a valid concern. I do know that I use tap to click exclusivity if it is supported

[Nick J @ Oct 14th 2008 1:31AM]

@ ridestp

I think that the clear "bezel" of varying thicknesses may be a protective plastic screen sticker thing....like on new cell phone screens...ya know what i'm talkin' about?

[Joe @ Oct 14th 2008 7:05AM]

John Gruber reckons the whole pad works as a button, allowing you to push the pad to click.

[Jody Clarke @ Oct 14th 2008 6:17AM]

Screens a bit blurry - also not so sure about the big light in the top centre, that would interfer with my blurry movie watching.

[treetrunk @ Oct 14th 2008 8:02AM]

I don't understand the lighting in this photo. The screen is angled back and it's brightly lit from above as shown in the reflection, so why is there such a clear "shadow" on one half of the keyboard?

[treetrunk @ Oct 14th 2008 9:21AM]

More fundamentally, how can they stick a sheet of GLASS in front of the screen and still make the lid so thin? In the second picture the lid is clearly no thicker than the current MBP. That couldn't happen. It's either a sheet of plastic (based on the "warping" of the reflection in the first photo it might be), which would probably look cheap/awful in the flesh, or it's fake, based on an imac.

[eddy @ Oct 14th 2008 10:12AM]

@Gojulas: I would just be annoyed if they created a THIRD connection type in addition to the regular DVI and MicroDVI. I work A/V at a college campus and it was annoying enough to have to stock DVI/MicroDVI adapters for the handful of people that insist on using Macs on a PC campus (and not having the sense to have their own adapters) where all the projector ports are VGA. If Mac ends up creating another connector type, well, people on campus on going to be on their own at that point. Just make something STANDARD for a change. Geez.

[NickBitch @ Oct 26th 2008 3:17AM]

dude, READ the article. it explains it.

[25mL @ Oct 13th 2008 10:42PM]

Not too shabby. I hope they're available at Apple's store tomorrow for closer inspection :)

[Simon @ Oct 13th 2008 11:45PM]

rod, i disagree.
no mouse buttons? to me thats not a problem. i don't use them anyway, i just tap the pad.
no power button? well thats doubtful. there is probably a touch or heat sensitive button that is flush and we just cant see it, like on the ps3. the only thing that marks the ps3 on/off button is a power symbol.
glossy screen? well that is annoying. however, it does make the colors just pop off the screen.
no copy and paste? since when? i'm using leopard now and it has copy and paste. i use it all the time...
non removable battery? who said? if it was non removable, that would piss me off, but we don't know. i hope it is removable.
personally I think it is a very stylish machine, and the glass looks good, even if it is very glossy.

[josejuan05 @ Oct 14th 2008 2:37AM]

A touch- or heat-sensitive power button would be a horrible idea. In order to use a touch- or heat-sensitive button you need to have power supplied to it in some form constantly. While this could be reduced to almost nothing, it still represents a constant power draw on the battery even when "power" is off.

[Parker @ Oct 13th 2008 10:42PM]

damn!

[chris @ Oct 13th 2008 11:41PM]

Yeah, watch out microsoft!

[atomicthumbs @ Oct 14th 2008 12:04AM]

Microsoft doesn't make laptops.

[Bob Dober @ Oct 14th 2008 1:49AM]

apparently 899 pricepoint is probably gonna be for a display...

[Wulile @ Oct 14th 2008 2:02AM]

You mean iDamn!

[Hotrod @ Oct 14th 2008 3:31AM]

First word that came out my mouth too! It looks real slick.

[EmoChicksAreHot.....Seriously @ Oct 14th 2008 8:16AM]

I'm liking the duel gpu.It's just what I've been asking for.But what about the cpu?Please tell me they are using the centino 2 chipset.That's a big dealbreaker for me.

Bigger FSB = win.

[Jash Sayani @ Oct 14th 2008 10:10AM]

I hope the $899 one is a nice little netbook by Apple.... Or else I would have to go for an EeePC or something.....

[wako @ Oct 13th 2008 10:42PM]

EWW, i dont like the new keyboard...


black keys do not go well with the aluminum... Ill hang into my 15'' MBP i have now :)

[josh @ Oct 13th 2008 10:43PM]

I second that

[Eddie W @ Oct 13th 2008 10:47PM]

That's funny, I thought specs and price might have something to do with it. Is this a computer or a fashion statement?

I'm currently in need of a laptop. It might be one of these if the price isn't horrible. I could care less what color the keyboard is.

[Tone @ Oct 13th 2008 10:55PM]

i agree. i won't be in any hurry to buy one if they do look like this. i am pretty sure they will all end up looking like the imac and macbook air. shame. i hate multi-colored computers.

[cesium @ Oct 13th 2008 10:56PM]

It's an apple computer, of course its a fashion statement...

[rod @ Oct 13th 2008 10:59PM]

I understand what you're saying, but aesthetics have always been important part of Apple's designs.

This, on the other hand, is a tawdry abomination and it makes my current MBP and even the ThinkPad tablet look handsome.
It looks more cheap than the worst of the Vista laptops from HP.

[CraigJ @ Oct 13th 2008 10:59PM]

Black goes great with aluminum.