KEY POINTS:
It's official. Apple has announced an 'Event' for October 14th. The notoriously secretive company has confirmed the event with its usual sparse invitation, which says only: "The spotlight turns to notebooks". The invitation included a picture of a partially obscured notebook PC coming out of the shadows with a light shining on the Apple logo.
The invitations were emailed on Thursday to media members (mine doesn't seem to have arrived yet - note to self: check spam filter) for an event on October 14th at Apple's Cupertino, California headquarters.
A revamp of Apple's notebook line has been long expected, with speculation focussing on laser-machined 'bricks' of aluminium - you can see the leaked pictures at Wired. It has long been anticipated Apple would release a MacBook made from the recyclable, lightweight and strong metal since the MacBook is one of only two Macintosh models left made from eco-unfriendly polycarbonate.
The other is the little Mac mini, which is essentially a MacBook innards in a small case designed as an entry level Mac. The idea with the mini is that you buy it, plug your PC's USB mouse and keyboard, plus your monitor, into it and you have an instant switcheroo from a PC to a Mac system. The New Zealand prices for the mini are $948 and $1249, including GST.
Other rumours have talked about glass trackpads like an inset screen from an iPod touch (I reckon this would be far too expensive). There is also considerable hope for 'cheap' new pricing (for Apple), starting at US$800 (about NZ$1270), which really might be just wishful thinking for an Apple laptop.
Currently the MacBooks cost $1799, $2099 and $2399 (in black) as standard models here, with the bigger aluminium MacBook Pros and the advanced MacBook Air costing more.
The leaked new notebook case pictures, which first appeared on the Chinese Mac fan site eLesson.
That is, I think it's a Mac fan site - it's English slogan is 'Turn on your Mac and life!' and there are Apple products shown, but also all sorts of unrelated pictures.
Anyhow, the leaked case pics show no MacBook Pro-style speaker grilles and they have generated whole new rounds of speculation. Wired thinks this means either an entirely new MacBook or even a smaller MacBook Pro, pointing out that Apple hasn't made a tiny 'pro' notebook since the 12-inch PowerBook was discontinued back in 2006.
Wired's Charlie Sorrel reckons these shots are real and not Photoshop mock-ups, by the way, but it's worth reading through the comments for some cynicism.
The Mac Rumors forum nurtures speculation about the ports on the side of the case. This is because the configuration is quite different from the current MacBook Pro, as it appears most of the in and out sockets are grouped on the left of the machine.
Currently, the left side of the MacBook Pro has a USB port, audio in and out, an ExpressCard slot and the Magsafe power connector. On the right is another USB port (two on the 17-inch model), video, Ethernet and two FireWire ports.
One port on the leaked images could represent a Mini-DVI port (the same as the MacBook uses as video-out) or even an HDMI-out, if not just a FireWire 400 jack, as ports for external displays usually sit near the back of the case to keep the cables out of the way.
If Apple goes the way of the MacBook Air, there might be Solid State Drive options and no optical (CD/DVD) drive, which certainly cuts down space requirements.
Apple could do with a boost to the Mac product line, with iPods getting a revamp well in time for the Christmas sales period, introducing new models like the nine colours of new nanos last month. Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster reckons Apple must report strong sales of Macs during the quarter ending 27th September or "the importance of the new Mac increases substantially."
Munster wrote in an investor's note that Apple is likely to introduce lower-priced products since Apple has warned of upcoming 'new, lower margin products' in hints coming from Apple's chief financial officer Oppenheimer.
Munster called guidance for 31 per cent margins "conservative" and said those numbers were being used to reduce expectations for the latest quarter and for the holidays.
But Apple shares rose $2.67, or almost 3 per cent, to $92.42 in afternoon trading after the 'notebooks' invitations appeared.
Mark Webster mac.nz
