New Apple Notebooks to be Revealed October 14th

The recent rumors of Apple announcing a new batch of notebooks on October 14th has come to fruition. Apple today sent invites for a San Francisco event next Tuesday, the messaging on the invite bares the words "The spotlight turns to notebooks."

Now that we know there is definitely something coming from Apple next week the speculation turns to what notebook products will be there. And of course the various Apple fan sites have a few leads as to what we might see. Some expectations are:

• One of the notebooks to be released could start at $799, this is likely some sort of MacBook replacement
  
• Some of the notebooks to be released will have similar features to the MacBook Air casing with an aluminum type of finish instead of the plastic look you see on current MacBooks.
  
• The new design lends itself to a cheaper manufacturing process. The word "brick" is being thrown around to describe this process, although others have speculated the "brick" is a product in itself and not related to a manufacturing process. Generally brick does not carry a positive connotation when used in conjunction with a notebook, so it'll be interesting to see exactly who's right here.
  
• Indications are that we'll see up to 20 different SKUs of products announced. Indicating that MacBook and MacBook Pro replacements will be revealed, and potentially something else.
  
• It is likely that Nvidia graphics cards will be on board the MacBook Pro replacement

There's no telling exactly what will be revealed at the event on Tuesday, but suffice to say if you were thinking about buying a MacBook soon you should wait until next week to see what's in store. Generally Apple starts selling products very soon after they are announced, so the lag between the announcement and being able to walk into a store to buy one of these new notebooks should not be long. Meaning we'll have a hands on before the month is out!

 

You've just got to love the secrecy of Apple Computer, Inc.

I can't wait to see what they have in store!

 

How many days, exactly, has it usually taken from the announcement till we're able to buy them? A week? Less?

 

dedicated GPU as an option Apple dont let me down!

 

They should be available soon, but a wait wouldn't be unheard of. It'll probably be three to four weeks before they go retail.

 

20 different SKUs?!?! They have 8 laptop SKUs now I think. Are they doing rainbow colors like the iPod Nanos or something?

 

Wow, that's along wait. I was hoping they'd be available before the end of the month.

 

So what will the IGPs be? X4500s or what?

 

The Macbooks will probably use the X4500. If Apple didn't use it, considering Montevina has been scratching at their door, then hooey to them.

I'm really curious to see if Apple will put hybrid / switching graphics into the Pro line for better power savings. If they do, I might actually get a Pro over a T400.

 

Well, "brick" suggests Apple aims at Lenovo's territory...

 

I can't wait!

 

Anybody else thinking they might release an affordable Apple Netbook. Seems like they are the only company that hasn't released a netbook yet. The Ibook or the Inet?

I'd probably buy one .

 

apple may just lower the price of macbook air to $799 and rename it "inetbook" to clean out the glut of inventry.

 

I don't see why they would. I thought that profit margins are very thin on netbooks which is why newer models are getting bigger and more feature-filled in order to increase their price points.

Apple already has a mobile internet device in the iPod Touch which is cheaper than a netbook and probably offers more storage than most netbooks too. Apple really just needs to release iWork Touch and they'd have a great mobile productivity device.

And I'll reiterate my hope that the MBP will come with a Mobility Radeon HD 4670 with GDDR3 memory. 2GB and 4GB DDR3-1066 configurations with 8GB BTO and 2.53Ghz and 2.8GHz configurations and a 2.93GHz (that Intel is going to release soon) as a BTO. Maybe if I say it enough it'll come true.

 

I thought Apple switched to using NVIDIA chipsets?

 

How is it even possible to tell before it's released yet?

In any case, I wouldn't be surprised if they stuck with Intel chipsets. Maybe used Intel's yet to be released GM47 chipset which has a higher clocked IGP than the GM45 that is currently available. With Intel moving to IMCs and QPI with Nehalem, it's still unclear whether nVidia will be producing chipsets for Intel processors in the future, so it seems disruptive to switch to nVidia chipsets only to switch back to Intel in the next generation.

 

I think the new apple notebook will use the nvidia chip which is a plus, since NVIDIA and ADOBE announce that the CS4 will be using GPU power also. So Mac user will be happy in some ways.

 

i've heard the current series are to drop the price by 50% !!! so a mac book would be what, 600-700 bux??? a bit unbelievable

 

nVidia employees are reporting early models have been passed around. Supposedly.

As long as Intel gives them a license, nVidia can make nextgen chipsets - it's strongly in their interest. In trade, Intel wants nVidia to license SLI.
nVidia would be layering over CUDA to support Apple's OpenCL, which will make use of GPUs for (parallel) processing, a big new Apple tech in X.6 (Snow Leopard). Intel would have to do more work for OpenCL support.

 

I don't know where the 50% figure comes from but it's completely unrealistic for a $600 MacBook. The lowest price analysts have bandied about is $799, while others say $899 or $999. Personally, I think $899 is more than reasonable. It may sound elitist, but Apple has no need to court the low-cost crowd. Growing market-share is important, but getting into a price war on bargain notebooks with Dell or HP just isn't worthwhile because Apple doesn't have the buying power to compete and there isn't sufficient profit there to justify the effort. Recent studies have shown Apple's notebook sales have grown to 20% of all notebooks sold in the US in September while maintaining an average selling price twice that of Windows notebooks. Clearly, Apple can grow market share and protect their margins at the same time. And those margins are critical to allow money for developing their own OS. Going low-end is just unsustainable.

I think nVidia has successfully skewed people's perception of how Adobe's GPU acceleration works to their own benefit. Adobe's GPU acceleration is actually done similar to how Apple does it with Core Image and Apple's Pro Apps. Images and effects are rendered using OpenGL and the standard graphics pipeline. Kind of like making a picture into a game and so that the GPU will process it. This means that Adobe's GPU acceleration like Apple's Core Image will run on any modern GPU including Intel, ATI or nVidia.

What nVidia has done is develop their CUDA framework in a way so that people can make separate plug-ins for Adobe apps that can directly take advantage of GPUs. Like the plug-ins can use the GPU directly for processing without going through the standard graphics pipeline. These plug-ins will be nVidia specific, but they are kind of a separate bonus from Adobe's internal GPU acceleration support. Apple is creating the OpenCL standard for direct GPU programming and is supported by ATI and nVidia (although probably grudgingly for the latter) so that in the future things won't be vendor specific.

It looks like nVidia is going to stick to a DMI license for now, which means that they'll mainly be making southbridges. Which makes sense since the memory controller and PCIe x16 lanes which is most of the northbridge has been incorporated into the CPU. However at this point, I think Apple would be making their own southbridges. PASemi and Apple may not have the talent to making fast northbridges, but southbridges to connect peripherals should be doable. Then Apple doesn't need to but chipsets from anyone.

In terms of SLI license, nVidia has kind of weakened their position on it since they were forced to license SLI on the X58 without the requirement of their own nForce 200 chips being present. Which confirms that specific chipset support for SLI isn't really necessary.

In regards to OpenCL and Intel, I'm still unclear on Intel's level of support for it. They are banking on Larrabee which they say will be easily programmable in x86 like any other processor thereby eliminating the need for middlemen like OpenCL or CUDA.

 

Yes! Apple I knew you wouldn't let me down! Woo!

 

this is exciting. I've heard the term "aggressive price point" also used ...also talk of an "$800 notebook' from Apple.

...the suspense is KILLING ME! it could better and as cheap as used MacBooks or MacBook Pro's. I hope that the LED displays get even better. I could rejoin the Apple cult as a true Devotee lol

after all, the iPhone was improved, and price dropped

 

They didn't disappoint with the iphone update, lets hope they can make it 2 for 2.

 

if apple offered the MBA at 800 as a previous poster mentioned I think I would be the first in line for that! but it will never happen.

 

the iphone update only changed 2 things: gps and 3G, besides that - they are identical to the orginal iphone....

with still not file bluetooth transfer....no copy/paste....no flash, shall i go on?


so although i have an iphone 3G and owned the original iphone and i do love it - i hardly will say they didn't dissapoint with the the new iphone, they simply colored it black, smoothed the sides and added 3G and gps....but decreased the battery life a bit

so not much difference at all but still both great phones, the best phone you can buy in my opinion and will be for a long time and i hate apple so thats saying something - you just could call it dissapointment if you only look at the changes between the 2.

 

if apple finally releases a macbook (not pro) with an option for a dedicated GPU.. i will be surprised.. and impressed.

 

You are not very difficult to please.

 

its a matter of opinion.

i despise the iphone... but to a a lot of people the first iphone was perfect and that all it was missing was 3g. I could see how he would be satisfied, as are millions of other iphone 3g users.

 

Most likely. This is what Sony offers in a $799 NS: Intel C2D 2.0Ghz/3GB/X4500/250GB.

It wouldn't be surprised if the new Macbook comes close.

 

I'd buy if it comes with a 9100M or a HD3200.

 

Lets hope for a 9300 GS!

 

What are you guys thinking we'll see in the Pro?

 

A long awaited 12'' widescreen?

 

11.1" widescreen at 1366x768
G45 graphics
intel dual-core
brick alu chassis
$800-$900 pricetag

that would be tempting

 

It's about friggin time apple!! That's all I have to say.

 

*gets her debit card ready*

 

Is it just me or has apple lost a lot of its appeal and luster. They've waited so long for an upgrade I don't think people care as much. Seems like all the other PC companies are wayyyy a head.

 

Hurrah! At least I won't have to let Apple down by buying another one of those machines you call a ... PC. I feel so happy now! Guess I'll have a look at it, and pick it up on early-mid November if it suits my needs. Oooooo boy, I feel really good now.

 

I think you're wrong. My prediction is if Apple does release a notebook under $1,000 (and especially at around $800) they're going to knock things out of the ballpark with taking market share from the PC. Industry analysts say Apple will have 35% of the computer market by 2012. That's huge compared to what they have now, so it's moves like this that will get Apple there. It might be a recession for some companies selling computers, but Apple will do fine, they've practically got consumers in a trance at this point. They'll march into stores like zombies to buy the stuff Apple makes.

 

apple is a consumer company, not a technology company.
it tends to do well when economy is bad, once economy is back on track,
ppl will have to buy pcs to get back to work.

 

I think it's just you.

I believe recent studies showed that Apple's market share has gone up to 20% of notebooks sold in the recent Back-to-School season. Not only is 1 in 5 notebooks a Mac, but they are suceeding despite the "Apple tax" since Apple's average selling price is like twice that of the average Windows laptop during that period. Technically they have nothing to worry about. But they do need to maintain momentum, which is what this update is supposed to do.

 

I am hoping for a 13.3" LED backlit, lower end dedicated graphics with GDDR3, and DDR3 memory Macbook (Pro) at around 1,000-1200$.....it would be a good deal enough to cancel all other orders.

 

The PC companies may be way ahead but unfortunately Microsoft is way behind. Because of Vista, Microsoft is delivering consumers to Apple in droves.

I doubt that Apple is going to announce anything that is a blockbuster product. It will likely be a technology refresh incorporating the latest and greatest; something like take the existing macbook technology, put it in a new package, drop the price and watch the money flow in. Add the latest generation processors and GPUs to the Macbook Pros and keep the price point the same.

Why would Apple give anyone an amazing machine for cheap when people have demonstrated that they would be willing to buy the same machine at a higher price?

 

Noooobody has any predictions as to the new MBPs GPU?

 

9600m GT.

 

maybe an apple "i16", a 16 inch laptop with 16:9 screen with a scroll wheel replacing touchpad. in ur wildest dream, the thing also has a 2 inch chassis and 5.1 speaker system.

 

What the... are you serious?! That's barely better than the 8600M GT

What about the 9650M GT?

 

Does anyone know how long it takes for the uk to get the new macbook when it comes out? It is faster ordering online or going to the store directly 2 days after the announcement?

I have been waiting for so long !

thanks!

 

If they do have a notebook for the 800 range which puts it in the realms of netbook territory in my opinion, i might be tempted to line up for one.


but my main question is...




Will it be called the macbook nano?

 

Well the MBP has terrible cooling so...