Filed under: Laptops

digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/apple/Pictures_of_Apple_s_new_MacBook_leaked’; We can’t say for sure these are the real deal, but if recent leaks of iPhone 3G production models are any indication, we might just be looking at Apple’s new MacBook. It’s a bit hard to make out what’s happening in these photos, but to our eyes we’re seeing the back of a metal laptop lid, as well as the as-yet-unused inner panel of the display. The text clearly reads MacBook, which falls right in line with rumors that the next iteration of the smaller laptops would be aluminum just like their big brothers. Right now it’s anyone’s guess if these pics are legit or not — but you can be sure we’ll be keeping a close watch on this one as these pictures emanate from the same site carrying the last supposed leak. Two more shots after the break.

Continue reading Pictures of Apple’s new MacBook leaked on Taiwanese site?

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Filed under: Laptops, Portable Audio, Portable Video

digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/apple/Apple_Hints_Of_iPod_MacBook_MacBook_Pro_Shortages_Coming’; According to a report from AppleInsider, the Cupertino giant is issuing “advisement bulletins” to some of its channel partners suggesting they get their hands on iPods and MacBooks / MacBook Pros while the gettin’s good. It seems that Apple is telling resellers to place orders for a four-week block’s worth of top-selling iPods, saying that within the next seven days supplies will become extremely limited, while recommending a three-week supply of MacBooks and MacBook Pros. The article claims that this practice is familiar to third-party sellers, and indicates Apple is ramping up for its holiday season (and new iPods and MacBooks / Pros, presumably). Of course, right now this is just whispers in high school hallways, but we can promise you this: Apple will be selling something this holiday season. You have our word.

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Filed under: Laptops

An interesting wave of MacBook rumors hit today, for some reason, following up on these weird case images we saw a while back. First up, Seth Weintraub at Computerworld says the new machines will be manufactured in an all-new process out of one sheet of aluminum and feature glass multi-touch trackpads — which seems entirely unnecessary, since there’s no reason for the trackpads to be clear if there’s no screen underneath them. (No, there’s not going to be a screen underneath them. Stop it.) Second, AppleInsider says that the inherent suck of Intel’s integrated graphics solutions is pushing Apple away from using the Centrino 2 / Montevina platform in the MacBook, and that the company’s planning on doing its own custom chipset instead. That’d a be big step for Apple, since it’s basically used Intel reference designs ever since it went x86 — but given how useless Intel’s integrated graphics are when really pushed, we can see why Apple’s ready to walk away. Of course, this is all nothing more than rumor and speculation, so we wouldn’t expect any of this to actually come to pass, but hey, it’s fun to dream, right?

Read - Computerworld
Read - AppleInsider

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Filed under: Laptops

It’s no shock that Apple plans to update the MacBook Pro sometime soon, and these casing designs are starting to look like the real thing. AppleInsider says that it has received confirmation that the leaked images are in fact authentic, and we can safely say that the new design will include some minor, yet welcome design tweaks. Of most interest is a release latch that provides access to both the battery and hard drive. AppleInsider speculates that the easy HDD access could lead to an available SSD for the MacBook pro, which would only make sense. Finally, the illuminated Apple logo remains, and a more tapered design a-la MacBook Air is in the cards.

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Filed under: Laptops, Storage

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Filed under: Cellphones, Laptops

Whoops! Apple’s gone and leaked its brand new aluminum MacBook and redesigned MacBook Pros to the interblogs. Yeah, it seems old Jobsy has really loosened the binds over in Cupertino — he doesn’t care what gets out these days. No, but seriously, some cats on the internet supposedly discovered a .Mac page which appears to display mockups (or actual product renderings) for a new line of laptops, as well as adverts for iTunes 8 and iPhones in the 32GB variety (for Australia, naturally). Of course, this is wild, crazy, unfounded speculation, and likely has no basis in reality at all. Then again, you never know… stranger things have happened. Steve, we await your takedown requests. See full pages for yourself in the gallery after the break.

Update: Looks like MacRumors got duped by its own forum members — these are fan-made mockups. Oh well, at least we can dream.

[Thanks, al and sleuth]

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Filed under: Displays, Laptops

It looks like that would-be class action lawsuit over the quality of MacBook and Macbook Pro screens has fizzled out to nothing, as the plaintiffs have quietly settled. Although it’s technically true that the 6-bit screens can’t actually display millions of colors at the same time, apparently the two photographers who filed the suit had a difficult time finding other people who had bought MacBooks based on the advertised color depth of the display — and from what we’re told, you just can’t have a “class action” without a “class.” Even still, we hope someone at Apple was paying attention to how much interest the case generated at the outset — although MacBook Pro screens generally look fine to us, we’ve seen some questionable MacBook screens.

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Filed under: Laptops, Peripherals

We’ve all ideas the designers at Cupertino had good intentions when designing the MagSafe adapter, but just in case you can’t seem to find the value in said feature, the $11.99 MagStay Pro is out to remedy your curious quandary. As with the JerkStopper, this concoction actually plugs into your MBP’s nearby USB port in order to get a better grip on the machine. Apparently, this thing is designed to help you avoid any “unintentional disconnections” in power, but aside from totally blocking your USB port (no passthrough?), you’re also begging for some extraneous repair bills. To each his / her own, we guess.

[Via TUAW]

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Filed under: Laptops, Storage

We know, we’re getting tired of Apple Blu-ray rumors as well — they’re right up there with refreshed Cinema Displays in terms of rumor persistence — but until Steve and the gang actually shove a drive into a machine we’re stuck with them. The latest says that Apple is actively pressing Sony for slot-loading BD-R drives but quality control issues are gumming up the plan. Reportedly, this latest ho-hum MacBook Pro refresh was to feature BD-R drives, but all Sony could muster up were Blu-ray / DVD±RW drives, which Apple refused. That seems a little odd, frankly — now that the format war is over and the competition’s already shipping mid-range laptops with slot-load BD-R drives, you’d think Apple would want to cash in that Blu-ray Disc Association membership card with whoever can supply the drives. As always, we’ll see when we see — it’s gotta happen sometime, right?

[Image courtesy of dadako.com]

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Filed under: Features, Laptops

While everyone and their second cousin third removed had something to say about Apple’s ultra-sexy, ultra-hamstrung MacBook Air, we’ve a sneaking suspicion that folks previously eager about this week’s MacBook Pro updates will be equally vocal. For whatever reason, Cupertino faithful had February 26th pegged on their calender, and while the addition of a Penryn or two was nearly a given, the dreamers in the crowd had much higher hopes for that fateful Tuesday.

Nevertheless, the time came and went, and the re-opening of the online Apple store brought a whole heap of disappointment to many. Sure, folks still (somehow) enamored with the aging MBP design were thrilled to have access to a more potent, less scalding iteration of their favorite machine, but honestly, we’re still using the GeForce 8600M GT? Really, Apple? Needless to say, this refresh likely did little to satisfy your desire for a revamped MacBook Pro, but we’re interested in finding out exactly what it is you really wanted. An option for an SSD? What about a built-in Blu-ray drive? Would integrated HDMI make things more appealing? Or is a top-down case redesign the only thing stopping you from abusing your credit card in the name of Steve Jobs? Go on, we know you folks are chock full of good ideas, so let’s hear ‘em, shall we?

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Filed under: Features, Laptops

Sure, more speed is great, but on OS X most bumps don’t have an appreciable effect on everyday work (unless all you’re doing is video encoding). We were more interested in what Intel’s Penryn processors can do for the MBP’s heat envelope, so we maxed out both CPU cores in this brand new machine at let ‘em crank for a half an hour. Our test machine may or may not compare to a later 3rd-gen MBP in terms of heat efficiency, but here’s the quick rundown:

Core Duo (2.16GHz)

• Peak: 195° F, fans over 5000 RPM
• Average: 185° F, fans about 4900 RPM
• Enclosure (bottom): very hot to the touch
• Enclosure (top): fairly hot to the touch

Penryn Core 2 Duo (2.5GHz)

• Peak: 176° F, fans about 3400 RPM
• Average: 173° F, fans about 2500 RPM (much quieter)
• Enclosure (bottom): warm to the touch
• Enclosure (top): warm to fairly hot to the touch

The usual Xbench tests are after the break.

Continue reading Apple MacBook Pro Penryn tests: a little more speed, a lot less heat

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Filed under: Features, Laptops

We just got our 2.5GHz Penryn / 4GB fourth-gen MacBook Pro. Plenty of power under that hood, but the outward differences are few: it’s got the new, reorganized F-key layout (which we’re not all that fond of), and the trackpad physically the same (with the addition of multi-touch, which works just as well as it did on the MacBook Air). It’s definitely an anticipated upgrade to the flagship, but whether you think the form factor’s still got the longevity necessary to keep you coming back after, what, more than two years on the market with no major changes — well, we’ll leave that to you. We’ll have some updated benchmarks shortly.

P.S. -It includes the same model 60Wh battery they’ve been selling on these for a while, for those puzzled about the battery life changes made to the Apple’s MBP spec page.

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Filed under: Features, Laptops

We all knew this day was coming. Apple’s previous MacBook Pro revision was certainly getting long in the tooth, a MacBook spec bump never hurt anything, and hey, Penryn isn’t getting any younger. Still, it’s pretty obvious that quite a few of the Apple faithful feel like the MacBook Pro and its cute little MacBook sidekick are in some serious need of a form factor refresh, and perhaps a little bit of SSD. We can understand Apple not wanting to steal the MacBook Air’s thunder, and to be fair most major manufacturers put the new Penryn chips inside existing form factors, but that doesn’t mean it’s wrong for you to be upset. So, how do you really feel?

View Poll

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Filed under: Laptops

digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/apple/MacBook_and_MacBook_Pro_Lines_Refreshed’;Aw snap. It finally, really happened… kind of. Apple has just dropped a nasty refresh on its MacBook and MacBook Pro lines, knocking the processor speeds up, and giving the Pros that tasty multi-touch the MacBook Air has been sporting. Still, they couldn’t break off an even slightly new form-factor for us? Both lines are sporting Intel’s downsized new Penryn chips, which should make your lap and / or battery quite happy. Right now we’re seeing updates to the GPU memory, an LED backlight (option!) for 17-inchers, as well as LEDs on all the rest of the Pros (sorry again MacBookers). New specs on the MBPs include a CPU boost to a base speed of 2.4GHz all the way up to 2.6GHz, that suspiciously new 3MB or 6MB L2 cache on the CPUs, added RAM to the graphics cards (up to 512MB for the higher-end 15-inch, and all 17-inch models), and of course the new trackpad. On the MacBook front, things look even more familiar, with only minor bumps to speed (2.1GHz up to 2.4GHz) and CPUs. Both new lines get hard drive increases, with the MBPs rocking 200GB or 250GB options, while the MBs range from 120GB all the way up to 250GB. Ports, weight, and size all appear to be just the same for both lines, undoubtedly to the chagrin of many readers, and Apple is skimping on the Apple Remote across the line; it’s now a $19 add-on. Full SKU rundown after the break.

Update: Just to make it totally clear, Apple confirmed to us that the processors are indeed Penryn, as noted above. As for future updates and notable omissions in this round, they had little to say.

Continue reading Apple MacBook, MacBook Pro get refreshed with faster CPUs, multi-touch

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Filed under: Laptops

We’ve always heard that Apple deliberately sends out misinformation to distract the rumor sites, and it looks like that may actually be true — check out these shots of the Future Shop inventory system, listing the upcoming MB402LL/A and MB403LL/A SKUs from Apple as being priced at CA$1149 and CA$1349, respectively. That’s MacBook pricing, if we had to make a guess — but remember that earlier Best Buy shot that showed a box size of 17 inches square, which is way bigger than any non-Pro MacBook. So, to recap: there are definitely new Apple laptops coming soon, but we have almost no idea what kind — based on product cycles, we’d say it’s the MacBook Pro, but signs point to the MacBook as well. Confused yet? Yeah, we thought so — but hopefully answers are coming soon.

Continue reading More Apple MacBook / MacBook Pro models numbers pop up

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Filed under: Laptops

Our tip jar, it brings us so much joy — and it brings you, dear reader, this printout of what’s purported to be the Best Buy database listing for one of those heretofore-unknown MacBook model numbers. You’ll note that whatever MB402LL/A turns out to be, it’s said to be in stock on March 2nd, which is just a few days away — but also note that current MacBook Pros have MA-series model numbers, while the regular MacBook has traditionally carried the MB designation. That’s interesting, but we doubt a $1,999 MacBook is about to surface — besides, the current MacBook box is 15 inches square, smaller than the 17 inches listed here. (Yes, we measured.) As always, we’ll see when we see — come on Tuesday, you’re almost here.

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Filed under: Laptops

If you’ve been replying to our earlier post on Apple rumors by repeatedly typing “MacBook Pro update” across the screen, you’ll be happy to hear this latest news. AppleInsider claims they have confirmed three new Apple part numbers which are showing up in both the Best Buy and Apple inventory databases. The numbers, MB402LL/A, MB403LL/A, and MB404LL/A, have appeared on these systems with the prices of $1,999, $2,499, and $2,799 in tow — leading some (read, all) to believe that they may be those new laptops everyone’s been talking about. Of course, we haven’t seen these inventory management systems with our own, bloodshot, sleep-deprived eyes, so don’t be too disappointed when it turns out this was just a really, really specific typo.

Update: Apparently AI had an actual typo in their part numbers (which we reprinted) — they’ve been fixed.

[Thanks, Mark]

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Filed under: Laptops

When we saw Spicu’s Air-inspired MacBook Pro mockup last week, we asked if you could guys could do better. In terms of true-to-reality, the jury’s still out until Apple hits us with the truth, but when it comes to “imagination” and “rainbows,” you guys win in a landslide. Up top we have the MacBook Pro touch from Alex W, who slapped an exterior touchscreen onto the MacBook Pro’s lid for maximum optimism. Check out the gallery below for the rest of the entries so far, with descriptions if they sent ‘em. Thanks so much to everybody who participated, and be sure to check in next time when we prototype new facial hair configurations for the Engadget staff — sure to be a riot.

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Filed under: Features, Laptops

It was inevitable, Apple’s got a bit of a new laptop design direction in the MacBook Air, and nothing’s going to stand in the way of the hordes of MacBook Pro Photoshops to follow. This one here is from spicu, and we’re afraid it leaves some proportionality “to the imagination,” but it’s as good we’ve got so far. Think you can do better? Submit yours to contests at engadget dawt com with “MBP mockup” in the subject and we’ll get a little gallery going. Optimists have Apple launching an update in February, and while that rumor might be a tad sketchy at the moment, there’s no better time than the present to make a bid for Photoshop greatness. Optometrists think you shouldn’t look at the computer screen so much. Oh, and there’s nothing up for grabs for the best mockup, only pride.

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Filed under: Laptops

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