Live from Apple's "spotlight turns to notebooks" event
By Joshua Topolsky 
posted October 14th 2008 11:58AM
posted October 14th 2008 11:58AM
Photos by Ryan Block
9:08AM PT -- We've got a little less than an hour to go, so we'll just kind of be loitering outside Apple Town Hall, waiting to spot Steve and the unicorn that is his new MacBook Pro.
9:54AM And we're in our seats! Some nice classical music playing -- just the quiet before the storm we're expecting.
9:59AM Looks like we're getting ready to start -- the lights are dimming...
9:59AM People are scurrying to grab their seats. And... Steve's out!
10:00AM "Good morning -- we appreciate you coming down this morning... I think everyone knows today is about notebooks. And we've got some exciting new notebooks."
10:01AM Tim Cook: "Good morning -- our last reported quarter we sold 2.5m Macs. In several quarters in a row we've been growing 2/3x the market growth."
10:03AM "Third reason: compatibility. When people looked at macs in the past, they were concerned about switching -- we fixed that with Boot Camp. We also work with third parties on productions like Fusion and Parallels." Windows on an iMac. "Frankly this sends a shiver up my spine." Big laughs.
10:04AM Vista -- the 4th reason Macs are doing well. Nasty, nasty burn to Microsoft.
10:06AM "So these are the six reasons we've been successful."
10:09AM "Macs at major universities -- from 15% to almost 50%" "Many universities requires students have a laptop, we've worked hard to get Mac to be a choice." Shot of a school room... every laptop is a Mac! Ha!
10:12AM "One of the problems is designing something as thin and light as the Pro, but making it strong." "The structure is primarily derived from this..." Shows the internal frame. "It's made of multiple parts, then assembled into the bottom case... a very thin aluminum pressing."
10:13AM "The palm rest requires the same sort of internal structure. A series of stiffening plates..." "Finally, we had this plastic gasket -- it helps us control the junction."
10:14AM "This new process culminated in the design of this product: the MacBook Air. You couldn't build something this strong and thin in the older way."
10:15AM "We discovered if we started with a thick piece of aluminum we could make a lighter and stronger part." "So we make it from a solid piece of aluminum." Uh huh... Brickish.
10:16AM He's going through the very detailed way this piece of metal is machined. "We go through a noisy stage called rough cutting -- we create the holes for the key caps, towards the end we anodize it..."
10:16AM "Through each stage we're cleaning, collecting, and recycling the material. We started with a 2.5lbs piece of metal and end up with a piece that weighs a quarter of a pound."
10:18AM "They've dubbed it the NVIDIA GeForce 9400 M -- it's an amazing chip. Chipset and GPU on one die -- 70% is the GPU, 16 parallel graphic cores, 54gflops of graphics performance. It's a stunner."
10:20AM "We've got a new trackpad -- a large multi-touch glass trackpad."
10:27AM We got a shot in hand... nice.
10:29AM "We've added a new chip from NVIDIA -- the 9600M GT, 32 graphics cores, we're including both the 9400 as integrated graphics, or choose the 9600M for big graphic performance. 5 hours of battery life on the 9400, 4 on the 9600."
10:30AM "So let's get back to this mini display port -- we can drive any display we could before, but at a fraction of the size -- we're building this into everything we make. This will also be the first MBP that we offer SSD on, and you can access the drives from underneath the battery." Nice! That's a nice touch.
10:34AM "There's a lot of new tech in these products, but we're proud of the things we left out..." Now he's going to talk about how eco these guys are. "We think we're leading the industry with this... arsenic free glass, BFR free, mercury free, PVC free, 37% smaller packaging." "And for the first time, the MacBook Pro has earned an Epeat gold rating."
10:35AM "We're putting the 9400M in the Air, adding a 120GB hard drive, and we've got a 128GB SSD as an option -- in addition we're putting in a mini display port."
10:35AM "So again at $1799." "We have a second model at $2499, gives you a 1.86GHz CPU and SSD -- available in early November."
10:37AM "Of course that one more thing is the MacBook."
10:38AM "It is the best-selling Mac... ever. We sell a ton of these, and people love them. They sell for $1099, and we're gonna keep right on selling these, but we're going to reduce the entry price to $999." Ooh, so close Steve, but not low enough!
10:39AM "We're introducing a new generation of MacBook on top of the white plastic model." It's just like the Pro... yet smaller.
10:40AM It has the same casing, LED backlit display, glass trackpad... the whole nine. Just smaller. Looks like those leaks we saw were right on this too.
10:42AM "It's going to come in two models -- $1299 for the new MacBook 13.3-inch display, 2GHz Core 2 Duo... that's $700 more affordable for these Pro features."
10:45AM "I've got a video." Ive talking about the construction. "The new MacBook is remarkable..." Very earnest stuff. Now we're hearing his description of the process again -- seems a little redundant. They're clearly very psyched on bringing this new technique to the whole line.
10:53AM And Steve is back. "This will be on the web today. So what we'd like to do is have a Q & A session. I'm going to ask Phil Schiller and Tim Cook to come up. A few caveats, we can't answer questions about the quarter ending, and secondly... 110/70... this is Steve's blood pressure." HUGE laughs and applause. "This is all we're going to talk about Steve's health today."
A: Steve: We're the first taking it to market, but it's up to them.
A: Steve: HDMI is limited in resolution. Phil: for typical computer use, display port is the connector of the future.
Steve: "Blu-ray is just a bag of hurt. It's great to watch the movies, but the licensing of the tech is so complex, we're waiting till things settle down and Blu-ray takes off in the marketplace."
10:56AM "Blu-ray?"
10:56AM Phil: "We have the best HD movie and TV options in iTunes."
10:57AM Q: What's up with the 17-inch?
A: Tim: It's being refreshed today as well.
11:01AM Q: Concern about the glossy screens. Are you going to offer another option?
A: Steve: We're going all glass -- we won't offer another version. Phil: You offset the reflection by the brightness, and consumers love it. One of the great things about a notebook is you can turn it however you want!
Yeah, nice try, but that's kind of a pain.
11:02AM Q: Are we going to see a netbook?
A: Steve: In terms of netbooks, that's a nascent market that's just getting started.
11:03AM Q: You've put a lot of work into the new touchpad, do touchscreens not make sense?
A: Steve: so far it hasn't made a lot of sense to us.
11:03AM And that's all! Time for some hands on!
Apple are clearly prioritizing the general consumer over their high-end professional users. 'A small group' of their user base prefers matte screens? Try most professionals. A glass screen is completely impractical in terms of reflections and it's crazy to suggest that because it's a portable you'll be content to endless re-orientate the machine to avoid reflections. And where's the 17 inch? They say it'll be refreshed, but it doesn't even feature in the launch demo? I'm guessing it's the old style MBP 17inch that will be refreshed.
The new production process is admirable, Apple's attitude toward professionals is disappointing.
I like how Apple going "sub-$1k" means exactly $1 below the mark.
The pros still seem ridiculously overpriced, at least, in my opinion.
and we needed a press conference for this. i feel a little let down.
Here's my feedback to Apple:
Hi Apple,
Thanks for bringing new MB(P)'s out today - I look forward to see it in person - but hate to admit, I'm disappointed in advance.
That glossy screen-stuff you seem to have fallen so much in love with, is SO hated in the professional area, you have No idea how bad a move this is, to not offer a non-glossy screen to (at Least!) the pro market.
Those Glossy screens are Terrible!! to work on. Unless you are sitting in a Completely dark room, it's Terrible!
And this is not just my opinion - I work as a Mac IT consultant, and Not ONE customer so far have liked the glossy screens.
It looks flashy - yes - but if people need a mirror - why buy a computer?
Sorry - it's a redo!
PRICE PRICE PRICE PRICE PRICE PRICE!!!
What good is all that fancy crap if I have to take out a second mortgage for a new laptop. On top of that, Apple offers no financing other than that crappy Visa card. You know, I have excellent credit, but they only offer me a 1000 dollar credit limit. I mean really... I called these people up and asked them why. Know what their reason was? Because I haven't built enough credit... I own a new car, house, and various household appliances all payed off and got using credit. What more do you idiots want? Should I go buy a 747 then maybe you'll give me a 5k limit? Mean while, I can point out about 50 dope dealers in a 5 block radius that have this card and have maxed it out buying iPods to resell on the street corners. I makes no sense.
Steve, lower your prices or drop the shitty Visa card for something less idiotic. One or the other. You and your marry band of hippies won't be making money once this slow economy really kicks in.
engadget becomes youtube
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جداً رائع
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Is the "documentary" going to be leaked out anywhere? sounds pretty interesting.
I think the last time I felt this way, was when Vista came out. Totally sad... Arg... Not happy... Sniffles... Guess I'll crawl into bed.
I'd be nice if they put out something that wasn't $500 overpriced....
"10:57AM Q: What's up with the 17-inch?
A: Tim: It's being refreshed today as well."
So, the store is back up and the 17" looks the same as it ever was. When can we expect the update?
As a windows user with an open mind but no intentions of getting a mac, i can take a look at this from another view. Heres whats been announced:
The new Macbook Pro: Built like a tank, but terrible to use,
The new Macbook Air: Now with even more pointless features,
The new Cinema Display: Just like the old ones, but no professionals are going to buy it because of this completely stupid glass cover.
That they are only selling macs because of they have succesfully ruined vista's reputation.
Apple are VERY clever. They are the absolute masters of advertising. Talk about how bad everyone elses products are, then contrast it by telling how good your stuff is. It works a treat on anyone who isn't highly cynical or a sheep (aka, 95% of max users).
Leopard is technically a better OS because its based on BSD. thats is, theres nothing else going for them. They're latest round of updates (now complete) are very nice looking and plent shiny but in practical terms are the most useless pieces of junk ever created. Hopefully this stupid new touchpad crap will show that to alot of people.
I NEED THE KEYNOTE ONLINE APPLE!!!!
I NEED IT NOW!!!!
PLEASE POST THE FRICKING VIDEO ONLINE!!!!
I CANNOT VISIT THE APPLE'S MAIN WEBSITE UNTIL APPLE POSTS THE KEYNOTE ONLINE!!!!!!!
Was REALLY hoping for a 13,3" MacBook Pro with 1440x900 resolution, Firewire, USB2 and XpressCard. Instead, they remove the FW bus from the MacBook. Great! No there is NO portable mac with FireWire. (Lugging around a big clumsy 15,4" laptop and still getting only 1440x900 resolution is simply a really bad joke. 1920x1200 would be more like it, or at least 1680x1050).
no, you're not building those from one piece of alu. f%&in PR talk. you are building them from TWO pieces at least. y'know, laptops do have a friggin screen. no matte for MPB. Blu Ray not viable. Well. More itunes PR talk. They do look fabulous though. Still, disappointment for now (will have to check em out, or see others check em out, first).
Only Apple can announce a price drop in the US of $100 which then results in a price INCREASE in the UK of £20. So the US price is £580 and the uk price is £719. Oh well I still wont be embracing the MAC way.
Ok, not read all the notes.. mini-display port.. only fractionally smaller than "display-port" and only 100% more proprietary.. minus 1, 12" PB replacement? no? minus 1, no firewire? minus 1, netbook competitor (you know $200-$500)? minus 1, ooooh! a 24" display refresh, not a 30" refresh? minus 1.. *yawn*..
Oh look SUPER fast graphics for all.. those.. erm.. mac.. games.. minus 1
sigh... Yet another year with my very very old 12"PB... Now I'll go an read the coverage and make sure I've not lied too much
No Webcast?
This is difficult to read, I prefer the top down method. At least make it an option?
Please can you stop posting your live fees from the bottom of the page up, or at the very least change it round when you have finished.
This is such a pain to read
How can they go on about excellent sales of 7m when Dell alone shipped 14m last year and the whole PC market shipped almost 100m laptops in 2007?
Pity, really. Time was when Apple was known for involving itself in (if not creating) 'nascent' hardware and software - now, it occupies most of its time in rehashing older products, using hardware everyone else has available to them and pinning just enough gloss over the product to qualify to The Stevo as 'Insanely Cool' and to the die-hard Macolytes as a Must Have.
Now, the only gloss on a new MacBook is apparently the hard-to-view screen....
That a hardware company (and comparatively minor notebook builder) named ASUS can create a device and a market where none existed before and this, in less than a year, can encourage others like Dell, HP, Lenovo, Acer and MSI to bring to the market their own take on this device has to be galling to Jobs, whatever his public reaction. What ASUS did is exactly what Apple used to do.
However 'coy' he wants to play it, the fact remains that regardless of however 'cool' an eventual netbook from Apple might be, it will be released more than a year (and several hundreds of thousands of netbooks) behind everyone else. Whatever iPhone-like Epiphany Jobs might consider for an Apple netbook, its already an also ran.
Plus, of course, the Apple Factor will mean a meagre-spec'd device at double the current netbook price....
Like I said, Pity.