The Skinny:
MacBook Air-like aluminum styling, a glossy
screen, multi-touch glass track pad that does away with buttons but brings some
new gestures, 0.95-inch thickness, 5.5 pounds.
15.4-inch base model: $1999, 2.4GHz Intel
Core 2 Duo, 3MB L2 cache, 1066MHz System Bus, 2GB of DDR3 RAM, 250GB 5400 rpm
HDD, NVIDIA GeForce 9600M graphics processor, 256MB GDDR3 memory
Upgrade: $2499, 2.53GHz Intel Core 2 Duo,
6MB L2 cache, 1066MHz System Bus, 4GB 1066 MHz DDR3 memory, 320GB 5400 rpm HDD,
NVIDIA GeForce 9600M graphics processor, 512MB GDDR3 memory
- On Rumours:
The ‘brick’ talk has revealed itself as an
aluminum internal structuring that allows the Pro to be slimmer, stronger, and
more spacious (in regards to hardware additions that is).
- Now for something completely different:
Apple bashing.
Daniel Lyons over at Newsweek has a spiel
that he embarks upon despite “the risk of sounding like a grumpy old crank” for he
finds that the “Apple shtick is wearing a bit thin.” The ‘shtick’ to which he
is referring is Apple’s tendency to, I dunno, blow things out of proportion.
Whether it’s announcing a notebook upgrade via a special, invite-only event or
claiming they’ll shut down the world’s largest music retailer if you piss ‘em
off, Apple has a penchant for culling a little too much attention for footnote announcements.
Richard Shim, who is an analyst at IDC, summed things up thusly: “They’re doing
a lot of things that others in the industry are doing, but they’re Apple, so
it’s special.”
My thoughts: tune in, or tune out. Apple has been putting
on these ‘special events’ for some time now; for some it’s like Christmas in
July (and August, September, October etc) and for others it’s drama-queen
antics that should be treated as such. Though, to be fair, for those in the
business it’s easier said than done as the Apple rhetoric coupled with the hype
can be overwhelming.
Frustrated journalists aside, the spotlight seems fixed
on Apple, and by extension, Steve Jobs. So long as they have the sway to stir
up the entire industry for a notebook upgrade announcement (which was, by and
large, what folks expected) then they might as well use it.
