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Apple MacBook 2008 Event

Highlights from Apple's MacBook 2008 Event which kicks off at 10am.
Written by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, Contributing Writer

Highlights from Apple's MacBook 2008 Event.

10:56 am - No HDMI because it can't drive 30" monitors.

10:56 am - Jobs: "Blu-ray is a bag of hurt."  Waiting for things to settle down before burdening customers.

10:54 am - Apple first to market with the 9400M.

10:52 am - Q&A. Steve says his blood pressure is 110/70. That's all he'll say about his health.

10:47 am - Talking glass display. Goes all the way to the edge. LED makes it instant-on. Better colors and more efficient too.

Bad news - no matte finish for the displays.

10:38 am - Next up - MacBook. Entry level price drop to $999. This will be a whitte plastic notebook.

x5 graphics performance thanks to NVIDIA 9400M chipset.

Two more models:

$1299: 13.3-inch LED backlit display, 2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo (3MB L2 Cache), 2GB 1066MHz DDR3 memory, 9400M GeForce, 160GB hard drive and SuperDrive.

$1599: For the extra cash you get 2.4GHz processor, 250GB hard drive and backlit keyboard.

Available today (in-store tomorrow).

10:37 am - Next up - 24-inch LED-backlit cinema display. 1920 x 1200 pixel resolution, MagSafe, built-in iSight and mic, stereo speakers and a 3 port USB hub.

Price will be $899 and will be available Nov.

10:35 am - Next up - MacBook Air. The 9400M makes its way into the updated notebook - upshot is x4 graphics speed.

Storage bump to 120GB HDD (from 80GB), or the option of a 128GB SSD. Addition of a mini Display Port too.

Available Nov.

10:30 am - Two models. $1,999: 15.4-inch LED backlit display, 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo (3MB L2 Cache), 2GB 1066MHz DDR3 Memory, the 2x GeForce GPUs, 250GB hard drive and SuperDrive.

$2,499: For the extra cash you get a 2.53GHz(6MB L2 Cache) CPU, 4GB memory, 512MB video memory and bigger hard drive.

Both get EPEAT Gold rating.

Both shipping today

10:30 am - Connectors are as follows: Magsafe, gigabit Ethernet, Firewire 800, 2x USB ports, Mini Display Port, Audio In/Out, ExpressCard 34, plus a battery indicator. Battery and hard drive accessible on the back of the machine.

10:28 am - Option of 9600M GT for the MacBook Pro too. 32 parallel graphics cores, 120 Gigaflops and 512MB video RAM. Battery life: 5 hours with the 9400M, 4 hours using the 9600 GT.

10:24 am - Introducing the new MacBook Pro. - Unibody aluminum shell - LED-backlit display - Next-gen graphics - Multi-touch glass trackpad - Mini Display Port - Environmentally responsible

10:21 am - Introducing multi-touch glass touchpad. - 39% larger - Multi-gesture - Silky smooth glass - Whole trackpad is a button - Multi-software buttons - Four-fingered gestures

10:20 am - Chipset + GPU combined. 70% of die is GPU. 16 parallel graphics cores. x3 to x8 performance increase. 54 gigaflops. x5 faster than Intel IGP.

10:18 am - Jobs is up, talking about NVIDIA. Product is called GeForce 9400M.

10:16 am - "We started with a 2.5 lbs piece of metal and end up with a piece that weighs quarter of a pound." All waste is collected and recycled.

10:15 am - Design breakthrough was to mill entire shell from a single block of aluminum rather than use thin sheets.

10:11 am - Hand over to Jony Ive. Explains the complex build of the current MacBook Pro made up of multiple shell parts.

10:10 am - In the period Q1 - Q3 '08, Apple has equaled sales for the whole of '07.

10:07 am - Mac's doing well in universities. the message here is cleare - college kids are choosing Macs over PCs.

10:07 am - Mac has outgrown market for almost 4 years. Mac now represents 17.6% of unit sales in the US.

10:04 am - Another reason Mac is doing well ... Vista! "Vista hasn’t lived up to everything Microsoft hoped it would."

Also, "The Mac vs. PC ads have struck a chord with many PC users."

10:02 am - Jobs hands over to Tim Cook (Chief Operating Officer). Apple has "better computer" and "better software." Leopard is "far ahead of Vista." Boot Camp fixed the notion that Mac wouldn't fit in with Windows.

50% of Macs sold to those new to Mac OS.

10:00 am - Steve Jobs on stage.

9:58 am - OK, the whole thing is getting ready to kick off ...

9:53 am - Poll time!

[poll id=375]

9:40 am - In the past 30 minutes alone I've received about a dozen "tipster" emails claiming to have the inside track on what Jobs will unveil. The rumor mill is working overtime! 

9:32 am - Apple stock holding at around $110.

[poll id=376]

9:21 am - Apple Store is already down in anticipation of the new/updated products.
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