New Macbooks: Details

Next Tuesday, 14th October, there will be an Apple Event in Cupertino at 10AM PST. The subject is “believed” to be new Macbooks…

Invitation send by Apple

In this post you’ll find all known facts and rumors about the next Macbooks. It will summarize what you can expect.

Macbook

For the first time, the consumer line of notebooks will have an aluminum enclosure. It will have the same amount of ports and the new multi-gesture trackpad like on the current Macbook Pro and Air.

Of course it will also get the usual upgraded processor,… but there is also a possibility that the current gpu from Intel in the Macbook will be replaced by the yet to be released Nvidia. This should give a minor performance boost.
The price is said to be more “competitive” so it could drop to $999 or below.

Macbook Pro

After 5 years of basically the same design, Apple is updating its high-end notebooks.
The next Macbook Pro wont use the current latch to open it, but the magnetic system like the Macbook and Macbook Air have and it will also have the new keyboard.

As you can see in the picture, all the ports seem to be placed on the left side. If this is true, there will be even less ports (from left to right): MagSafe, Ethernet, Firewire 800(backward compatible), 2 USB, 1 Micro-DVI and audio in and out.

If you enlarge by clicking the spyshot, you may notice that except for the edge of the plastic cover, there is no seam on the edge/corner of the Macbook Pro. This may be because of the new rumored manufacturing process which could make the Macbooks cheaper to make.

Just like with the Macbook the price may drop, to about $1899 or below.

Macbook Air

Sources suggest that the hard drive and processor will be upgraded. This is alot less certain than all what’s listed above but it’s worth mentioning anyway.

New: Gaming On A Mac

Almost two years ago, Apple released the first Mac with an Intel architecture. With it came a lot of new possibilities. The mac was now able run windows and windows-games! Of course there have always been games for OSx but never on the same level as on windows.
So today there are a few options if you want to play games on a mac, let’s find out.

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OSx

Virtualization

With this software you can run windows(-apps) without leaving OSx. There are two options: Parallels and VMware, there is a complete comparison list. Most of the game will run poorly if you don’t have the recommended hardware.:..

Parallels

With Version 3.0 of Parallels, support for DirectX 8.1 and OpenGL was added, allowing Mac users to play some older Windows games. Not all DirectX 8.1 and OpenGL games are supported. Here is the list of supported games.

VMware

It has support for DirectX 8 & 9 (a,b,c are not supported) and some OpenGL. There is a list of working games.

Native

Of course there are also games made specifically for OSx. They run at full speed and are fully optimized. Note that most of them are ports from the original windows-game and are usually later released.

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Windows

The last and “best” possibility is Bootcamp. With this you can run windows XP and Vista with no performance lost, just like on a pc. When you boot your Mac up, you can choose which OS you want to use, OSx or Windows.

From Apple:

Drivers galore.

When you install Windows using Boot Camp, you won’t need to search the Internet for drivers or burn a disc. After you run Boot Camp, simply insert the Leopard DVD to install the necessary drivers. Everything you need to make your Mac work with Windows is right there. When you use a Windows application, you’ll have full access to unique Mac features (iSight, Apple Remote, trackpad, specific keyboard keys, keyboard backlighting) and connectivity (wired and wireless).

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New Macbook Pro Rumors

People have been talking about all kind of rumors. The most popular rumors are the one that say that the new Macbook Pro is coming tomorrow… or next week… or…
I think this is wishful thinking. The Macbook Air has just been announced at Macworld and is just now shipping. Apple wouldn’t want to jeopardize the sales of the Macbook Air with the release of another Macbook with multi-touch controls.
This is my take:

1. The earliest date would be in April, around or at the NAB show. We would get Penryn processors.
2. The next date would be in June, at the WWDC. We should expect Penryn processors and some other hardware upgrades.
3. If apple decides to skip Penryn, which is very unlikely, we’d have to wait until a special event at the end of 2008 or until Macworld in January 2009…This might be outrageous but we would be rewarded with a total redesign and the new Nehalem microarchitecture, which should be a big step forward.

The later the Macbook Pro will be upgraded, the more likely it is that there will be a total redesign with all kinds of upgrades like a new graphic card or more standard ram,… Whenever it will be, whether it’s tomorrow or next year, the none Macbook Air/iPhone owners will finally have multi-touch.

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Almost Famous

This film is about a high-school boy who is given the chance to write a story for Rolling Stone Magazine about an up-and-coming rock band as he accompanies it on their concert tour. This movie has some good soundtracks and if you like this, you also might like High Fidelity.
Genre: music/drama.

IMDb (8.0)
Play DivX (Joox)
Soundrtacks (Wikipedia)