Of MacBooks, minis and them thar surreptitious updates

Apple would like to finish with polycarbonate for Macs, but it seems it can't quite yet.

Polycarbonate is not very eco-friendly, but hey, it's cost effective.

And presumably, Apple didn't have to invent roller processes, and laser and water etching, to make it into a unibody, unlike with the aluminium models of MacBook. And also, it's distinctly different to the MacBook Pros to look at.

Jonathan Seff at Macworld magazine has already been able to compare the old and the new MacBooks side by side, and says there are many minor changes.

The new MacBook (NZD$1699), says Seff, is a consistent white colour with a smoother surface and has fewer visible screws. It has a glass Multi-Touch trackpad with gesture support; this is larger than the combined pad-plus-button area of the old model.

It's slightly wider and deeper than the model it has replaced, and slightly lighter.
iFixit went a bit further than Seff - the site has already gleefully pulled a brand new one apart.

The display has the same resolution as the older (1280x800 pixels) but it's brighter. The biggest changes are in the ports. There's no FireWire. At all. If you need a small MacBook with FireWire, you'll need to spend $700 more for the aluminium MacBook Pro 13-inch.

But the new MacBook has a bigger hard drive than the MBP-13, at 250GB instead of 160GB, so if USB2 is sufficient for your needs, that's compelling. (They both come stock with 2GB RAM.)

Probably the best news for students is seven hours of battery life; students and educators get a discount, too - they save $100 over the list price. Weirdly, the new MacBook also lost the dedicated audio-out port. Now one port does the job of both audio output and input. Why?

And there's still only one model of MacBook, so it looks like Apple is leaving the category a little bare. As if the firm has something else lined up to slot in for portable consumers. But what? I think we'll find out early next year.

Mini

The much criticised Mac mini also got a refresh. This littlest Mac has been criticised for price. I suspect it's sour grapes that even the lowliest of Macs could still cost more than NZD$1000.

PC users who covet Macs (a secret society, apparently) went 'Cool! Mac! Tiny! Cheap? Arrgh! Woa! Price!' or something. The new models comprise a 160GB HD version clocking 2.26GHz (NZD$1049), a 2.53GHz with a 320GB HD ($1398) and, most interestingly, a server version: this 2.53GHz Mac mini is fitted with two 500GB drives (making a terabyte of storage) and has Snow Leopard Server software preloaded, all-up $1749.

I have Snow Leopard Server here to review and I was putting it off, hoping to test it on a new iMac. Then I watched some of Apple's great Quick Tour of Leopard Server videos (which are available as free podcasts in iTunes) and hey, it was being demonstrated on a 13-inch MacBook Pro, so obviously I didn't need to wait. It just seemed weird to put server software on a laptop. (Is that weird?)

This little mini makes perfect sense for small businesses and offices, those not yet ready for big server racks. Being able to serve addresses and contacts, schedules and even host blog and Wiki pages is all pretty cool. And did I say it's teeny?

Magic Mouse has multi-touch

In the box with a new iMac is also a new mouse. The Magic Mouse is wireless (there's no wired version). It has a sleek, touch capacitive design which means the top performs like a track pad on a MacBook.

The whole top is smooth and glossy, but it has sensors underneath that differentiate between swipes and where you click. So a right-click is still a right-click. You simply drag your finger down the middle of the mouse to scroll up and down.

It's seductively sleek and simple to look at, with no buttons or scroll wheels or nubs or ... anything. And it's wireless. All the ingenuity is concealed inside. As is Apple's way. I'm looking forward to trying this, but can't imagine playing Call of Duty with one ... I hope to let you know in due course. Macworld magazine, meantime, has already looked at it closely.

Surreptitious goodness

While Apple was making headlines with new iMacs and the lone new MacBook, it was also busily, and with little fanfare, releasing other sneaky updates.

Apple has also made a new wireless keyboard the default in iMac boxes. It too has been slightly redesigned, and has an all-aluminium body.

Even the little Apple Remote has been redesigned. It's now aluminium too, but it doesn't ship with the new MacBook, which has no IR sensor.

The new Apple Remote doesn't have the old iPod shuffle-like buttons any more, it has a black circular control, with black menu and play buttons beneath. On the back is a new coin-turn battery access panel. It lists in New Zealand for $29 and the little wand is backwards compatible to 2005 and later Macs with IR sensors.

Speaking of wands, the Apple wand (presumably made from an apple tree branch) was also waved over the AirPort Extreme wireless networking tool and Time Capsule backup system. Both got speed and performance upgrades.

They have new antenna designs for up to 50 per cent better wireless performance, along with a 25 per cent improvement in range. All great news for us Apple fans.

- Mark Webster mac.nz