Apple fans quick to drool, bid Powerbook farewell

How accurate were your predictions for product announcements in Apple CEO Steve Jobs' MacWorld keynote? That's a question buzzing around the Apple faithful blogs--along with reaction to his presentation of new Intel-based Macs and a new version of the iLife suite.

There's already a lot of virtual drooling going on over the both the new iMac and the new version of the Powerbook, rebranded as the MacBook Pro. Jobs called the MacBook the fastest Mac notebook ever. There's also some lamenting, however, about the end of the Powerbook era, particularly from those who recently bought one.

Among reaction to iLife upgrades, some are pleasantly surprised that the iDVD authoring program now supports third-party DVD burners.

And it looks like those anxiously awaiting the rumored colored iPod Shuffle will have to settle for a new case, for now anyway.

Blog community response:

"OK, so we now bid farewell to the PowerBook line, and welcome the new MacBook laptop instead: it is much faster, runs cooler, is relatively less expensive and still looks sharp like an Apple laptop should."
--West of the Moon, East of the Sun...

"I don't like the name. They should have kept 'Powerbook' instead! MacBook Pro sounds like a software application."
--What cha heard?

"The January keynote is usually a doozy, and today's was no exception...not by a long shot. For me, there's always that one moment that causes me to smack my hand against my forehead and just say, 'Wow. This year, it wasn't the flash of iLife '06, the shiny new Mactels or even the .Mac enhancements. No, this year I was blow away to see that iDVD now supports third party DVD burners! Holy cow! *smack* How long have we Mac users clamored for this, and how long has Apple used their non-compliance as a means to sell Macs? Finally, Apple. Thank you."
--The Unofficial Apple Weblog