October 14th Event: Everything You Need to Know

Introduction, State of the Mac, NVIDIA Chips, and Glass Trackpads

    Steve Jobs took the stage at Apple’s Headquarters on October 14th, 2008, to introduce what we all knew to be a new line of laptops (from both the rumors and the invites). Overall I’d say the event was a huge success, they definitely released some cool an innovative stuff. That being said, I think there were a few key design flaws in their new lineup.

    First, Steve Jobs introduced Tim Cook, who came on stage to talk about how well the mac was doing, which they called “The State of the Mac” (kinda - like my article, except they only talked about the good stuff). Then Steve came on stage for a brief moment, to introduce Jony Ives. Ives started to talk about how Apple tries to build their products thin, light, and yet at the same time, durable. Jony continued to state how that with the multiple parts that make up the Mac, they couldn’t properly do this, so they had to figure out a better manufacturing process. This, lead into Ives introducing the new manufacturing process, that we’ve come to know as “the brick.” (The rumors were generally correct, except for the fact that these aren’t manufactured in the US.) The brick - carves out the computer from one brick of Aluminum, which makes it, like Ives stated, lighter, more durable, and all around better.

    After that, Steve once again took the stage to talk about the NVIDIA chips that we’ve all been expecting. Apparently NVIDIA came to Apple with the chips (originally as a desktop chip - but Apple wanted a powerful laptop chip) and according to Jobs, they’re 4-6 times more powerful! Amazingly the new NVIDIA GeForce 9400M is featured in all 3 of the Apple notebooks. (These new graphics cards are a very welcome addition to MacBook users.)

    Jobs also talked about the new glass trackpads that they’re introducing (these are the ones have been rumored for the last year or so). First off when you hear “glass,” don’t think it’s going to feel like your iPhone. The folks at Apple have textured the new trackpad so that its a “perfect balance” of how smooth it is and how much friction there is. Now, the glass trackpads, don’t actually have any buttons at all, however you can “click” the trackpad (another words the whole thing is a button). One thing that’s really cool about these trackpads are their ability to be customized, for example, just like on the old trackpads you can tap with two fingers to right click, but you can also set different “zones.” These “zones” will differentiate where the trackpad is clicked, so for example, one part of the trackpad can be left click and the other part right click. According to several reviews, the click feels exactly like the normal button does, and that if you’re not thinking about it, you shouldn’t even notice it. Overall, of course its going to take some getting used to, simply because of how many gestures there are, but just like with everything else Apple does, soon enough it’ll be second-nature. I think the new trackpad will eventually become a new “gold standard” in trackpads (maybe not right away, but it’ll get there).

MacBook Pro

    Finally, Steve introduced the new MacBook Pro, first of all it features the new uni-shell body that’s manufactured with Apple’s new “brick” process it uses 50% less of the parts that it used to, which makes it stronger and thinner (now .95”). (As for the weight it gained 0.1 of a pound - sooo no real difference there.) The new Macbook also features a 15” LED screen that’s covered with a black bordered glass, now the black border has gotten a lot of mixed feelings so far amongst the Apple crowd, along with the new black “tiled” keyboard (as seen on the MacBook Air). One thing that really surprised me was the MacBook Pro’s lack of ports, they dropped Firewire 400 (you can get an adapter that coverts the 800 to a 400), moved all the ports over to the left side, and changed the DVI port to a Mini-DisplayPort. However, besides that you still have your standard ports: MagSafe, Gigabit Ethernet, Firewire 800, 2 USB, Audio In/Out, ExpressCard/34. Apple did however move the battery indicator up to the left side, and it now shows battery life in eight levels instead of the old, less accurate, four. One feature, Apple never mentioned was that the audio out jack now supports iPhone headphones, so your Mic and click-remote will work with your MacBook Pro.

    One change MacBook Pro users have been craving for, is better upgradability, especially with the hard drive ( on the old Pro,you literally had to disassemble the computer), and Apple certainly delivered. On the bottom there’s a lever, which releases a plate, here you can pull out the battery and swap out the Hard Drive (which is as simple as turning a screw). However, upgrading the ram, is more of a task than it used to be, but it’s nothing terrible. To upgrade the ram, you now need to undo eight screws, to remove the rest of the bottom casing, and there you can swap it out. One cool feature is when you lock the laptop from the security slot, you can’t access the bottom plate, which prevents Hard Drive theft.

    The MacBook Pro, doesn’t just come with the NVIDIA 94000M, it also comes with the 9600M GT, which is a more powerful card. Apple lets you toggle between the two graphics cards, from the Energy Saver preference pane, however when you do switch between the two, you’ll need to log out and then back in (a slight pain).

    Finally, the MacBook Pro comes in three configurations: 2.4GHz for $1999, 2.53GHz for $2499, both in 15”, and finally a 17” 2.5 GHz model for $2799. The configurations are pretty standard, but I’m not sure why Apple didn’t change the look of the 17” MacBook Pro and yet continued to sell it at a slower speed, for a higher price.

MacBook

    Now, we finally move on to the normal MacBook, which is Apple’s #1 selling Mac ever! (One interesting note, this is the first time Steve Jobs has ever introduced a normal MacBook.) Steve started off by saying that the 2.1GHz White MacBook will stay in production, but now selling for $999 (not as groundbreaking as we hoped, but not bad). However, Jobs also introduced 2 new configurations of the MacBook, which both feature the new uni-body design that was featured in the new MacBook Pro. However, unlike the MacBook Pro, the MacBook has 60% less components thanks to the uni-body design, which has made it a pound lighter at 4.5 pounds, and that same .5” thinner. Side-by-side, the new MacBook and MacBook Pro look identical. So, that means the MacBook features the same glass LED screen (except in 13.3”), the same black “chicklet” styled keyboard, and the same multi-touch trackpad. Also, the MacBook now features all of the same ports as the MacBook Pro, except for the loss of a FireWire port (much to the disappointment of video camera owners). Honestly, the loss of a FireWire 400 port was a bad move for Apple, but Apple customers tend to roll with the punches and get over the losses.

    The new MacBook’s speakers are now housed underneath the keyboard, which may or may not be a good thing, when it comes to quality and volume. The MacBook  also houses the battery, hard disk, and RAM the same way the MacBook Pro does. So, all in all, the MacBook is the same computer as the MacBook Pro (which is a good thing), with the exception of that FW800 port, and the  extra graphics card.

    The MacBook is available in 3 configurations: the 2.0 GHz model for $1299 (slower, yet $300 more than the white model), 2.1GHz plastic white model for $999, and finally the 2.4GHz model for $1599. However, the special thing about the high end 2.4GHz MacBook is that it features the backlit keyboard that Mac fans have been craving for, so if you’re willing to pay for the higher end model, this is definitely an incentive.

MacBook Air & LED Cinema Display

    As a few other side notes, the MacBook Air got an upgrade to its graphics card and hard drive, and like the MacBook and MacBook Pro, it got the new Mini-Display connector. Jobs, also announced a new LED Cinema Display, which is 24” for $899. However, it does come with a built in iSight, Speakers, 3 USB ports, and a Mag Safe so that you can power your laptop off it. (So, overall the display is nice, but kind of a rip off considering you can get a display with the same quality, size, and features for around three to four-hundred dollars less.)

Also, feel free to check out my website - here - where you can find some of my older content - and my Twitter transcript of the Keynote.