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The new MacBooks: Beauty more than skin deep

I couldn't be at the Tuesday morning Apple launch event for the new MacBook and MacBook Pro systems, but I've had a chance to review the announcements.

Normally I focus on the technology in new products, but this time, I have to say my first impression is dominated by the appearance of these systems. These are some good-looking laptops.

The most dramatic change is the new display surround, black glass that goes right out to the edge of the upper case just like on an iPhone. The lower case also looks significantly cleaner now that the old gray … Read more

Apple's new MacBooks: Which one is right for you?

As you've perhaps heard elsewhere on Crave, Apple on Tuesday held a pretty broad-reaching laptop event in which it updated its entire line of portable computers.

Sure, there's new tech and spec bumps to talk about, but the really interesting part is that Apple dramatically simplified its line. While the 17-inch model is still around (with a modest upgrade to the included RAM), the real stars are the new MacBook and the 15-inch MacBook Pro, as well as the lust-worthy MacBook Air. If you're in the market for a new OS X portable, you've got some choices to make.

Each laptop is geared toward a certain kind of user. These users, in turn, each likely have a primary feature they want out of a laptop: portability, power, or price. While it'd be nice to have all three, that's unrealistic, though these machines are all fairly close to each other on all three fronts. … Read more

Is Apple's new MacBook Pro a gaming machine?

While Macs have long been the preferred computer of the creative class, gamers have generally looked at the machines and said, essentially, thanks but no thanks.

That tech truism could be on the verge of disappearing forever in the wake of Apple's announcement Tuesday that the newest high-end MacBook Pro model will have the graphics processing firepower--thanks to the inclusion of the Nvidia GeForce 9600M GT chip--to finally give hard-core video game players what they want.

"It's more of a gaming machine than the old MacBook Pro," said Mike Schramm, a blogger who writes for both … Read more

New MacBook Pro lineup vs. old lineup

Editors' note: As of June 2009, the product highlighted here has been replaced by these updated models.

Of Apple's MacBook Pro lineup, only the two 15-inch models received the complete workup today. By now, you're probably aware of the design changes, which include a new "unibody" chassis, new buttonless multitouch trackpad, the addition of a mini DisplayPort, and the subtraction of the FireWire 400 port. Let's take a closer look at the changes under the hood.

Pricing remains the same, with $1,999 and $2,499 default configurations. Aside from slightly larger hard drives, the … Read more

The key to Apple's future: Multitouch

The announcement Apple made Tuesday was impressive. Steve Jobs and his cronies showed off some of the best notebooks I've seen in quite some time and even after coming down from the initial high of new tech goodness that I get with any product announcement, the impressiveness lingered.

But the real story here isn't that the notebooks sport nicer designs or better components. The real story is that Apple has drawn the line in the sand and told the world that it has tied its future to multitouch technology.

First, multitouch technology in one form or another cropped up on the iPhone, then it moved to the iPod touch, and now it has solidified itself in the entire Mac notebook line. The only products missing are the Apple TV, iMacs, and Cinema Displays, and chances are, the iMacs may be equipped with similar functionality at some time in the future, too.

Of course, Jobs hinted that such a move would become a reality last year. Speaking to The New York Times last year, he hinted that his company was on to something and more Apple products would feature multitouch technology in the future.

"People don't understand that we've invented a new class of interface," he told the Times.… Read more

Buzz Out Loud 830: One more thing: one less button

Steve Jobs delivers: he delivers one fewer button, an all-new proprietary display port, annoyingly glossy screens, and a paltry $100 price drop on the new MacBook. Huzzah. We do have some other news to talk about today, luckily, like Microsoft sticking with Windows 7 as the official name of Windows 7, and Joost deciding it might be time to get in the online streaming game. Good ideas, all. Listen now: Download today's podcast Episode 830

Apple notebook event: Live blog at 10 a.m. PDT Tuesday http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-10064559-1.html http://www.engadget.com/2008/10/13/mr-blurrycam-reveals-the-updated-macbook-pro-899-laptop-model/… Read more

Checking under the hood of Apple's new MacBooks

Tuesday's announcement of new and updated MacBook laptops from Apple could never have lived up to the hype of the past several weeks.

After endless predictions about tablets, touch screens, and cheaper (some would say recession-friendly) products, from an $800 MacBook to an Apple Netbook, the end result was instead a solid list of upgrades and improvements, with a few noteworthy innovations and a few interesting developments that may get lost in the "Where are the $800 MacBooks?" shuffle. Here's our take on what the new developments mean for you.

The most obvious of these is the so-called brick manufacturing process, whereby instead of building a frame and overlaying the chassis, Apple is taking the process used in the making the MacBook Air and expanding it to other MacBooks. The brick comes from a 2.5-pound piece of aluminum (in the case of the Air), which is literally whittled down to 0.5 pounds, meaning the internal frame is part of the same piece of metal as the chassis.

We were impressed with the build quality of the MacBook Air, and hearing that it's made of few individual pieces than other laptops makes sense. But the 13- and 15-inch systems always seemed plenty sturdy to us, so we're not sure if this will be a big selling point for casual consumers.

While switching to Intel CPUs a couple of years ago was a huge breakthrough in terms of mainstream appeal for Macs, Apple is moving away from Intel motherboard chipsets in favor of a new one from Nvidia.

The GeForce 9400 M combines a chipset and GPU, which will hopefully be a big improvement over the Intel integrated graphics found in most MacBooks today. It certainly won't match dedicated gaming laptops (and Mac gaming is still in a sorry state), but we've long decried the sad state of integrated graphics, and in fact, have long given up on finding a decent 3D gaming test to run on systems with integrated graphics. (Note that a dedicated 9600M GT graphics card--with either 256MB or 512MB of graphics memory--will be available in the MacBook Pro.)

Multitouch gestures aren't exactly new--we've seen them on the MacBook Air, and they were added to the last round of MacBook Pro upgrades. But one of the biggest physical changes to the new Apple laptops is the inclusion of what is being called a "multitouch glass trackpad."

We got quite used to using gestures on the Air (as well as the iPhone and iPod Touch), and the idea of a bigger (reportedly 39 percent) touchpad is always a good idea--too many PC makers include tiny touchpads that require several swipes to get your cursor across the screen. The big questions are: Will software makers take advantage of it? And will users get used to not having a physical button to click? … Read more

Live blog: Apple notebook event

CUPERTINO, Calif.--At Apple's headquarters here at 10 a.m. PDT on Tuesday, the company held an event focused on its laptops. A redesigned MacBook and MacBook Pro were announced, as well as upgraded graphics. And as expected, Apple is releasing its first sub-$1,000 notebook. Here is how it all unfolded.

9:57 a.m.: We're here, and the event should start momentarily.

10 a.m.: Steve Jobs enters, wearing the standard outfit. He says he's going to cover the "State of the Mac." Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook takes the stage to … Read more

Plum lets you add social networking to any Web site

Plum, a social media platform company that provides tools to Web site developers to help them make their site social, launched Share Space Pro on Monday to provide users with a custom social-networking application that can be modified to look and feel like the host site it's running on.

Share Spaces are micro-social networks that let a Web site's users interact with others that have the same interests. Companies can sign up for Plum's service and create a mini-social network for a page on their site with the help of Share Space Pro. The tool lets them … Read more