For many people they’ll want it to fit in their bag, or on their desk, or in their hands – anywhere, in fact, where they can touch it.  There’s no denying Apple’s strength in industrial design, especially when they have a new, glossy manufacturing method to publicize alongside it.  The 1.5-pound casing is hewn, sliced and buffed from a great hunk of aluminum, leaving something only a little thicker than the MacBook Air at 12.8 x 8.9 x 0.95 inches (the Air is a mere 0.7-inches thick).  Into that, Apple pour a heady mixture of the latest ULV Core 2 Duo chipset and NVIDIA graphics, topped off with a multitouch trackpad and lashings of glass.

Filled up this way, the MacBook weighs 4.5-pounds.  Part of that weight comes from the new, flush-fitting glass display panel, now edged in black rather than the old MacBook’s distinct bezel.  The absence of a matte option will frustrate those working in direct sunlight (and who will find little solace in Apple’s “you can always tilt the screen, or move” advice) but everyone else will be entranced by the vibrant colors and overall brightness.  The same 1,280 x 800 resolution as the previous model, it uses LED backlighting to increase visibility while also saving power.

The keyboard is another point where the Air and the MacBook share DNA.  In black against the brushed silver, each key stands proud through its own cut-out (backlit in the top-spec MacBook), and typing remains perhaps the most pleasant way to do so bar a Lenovo ‘board.  Underneath sits the new, 39-percent larger trackpad, freshly topped in glass and barren of any visible buttons; instead, a well-weighted press acts as a single click, while software allows different areas of the pad to represent double- or right-clicks.

It also borrows the latest in multitouch technology, bringing gestures with two, three and four fingers.  The same two-finger gestures are present as before, but now you can scroll through photos with three digits, or switch between apps or trigger Expose with four.  Short of an iPhone embedded in the palm rest it’s the best touch-implementation in a trackpad to-date.

Ports have been shaken down to occupy only the left-hand side of the new MacBook, with both new additions and casualties along the way.  Two USB 2.0 ports, a gigabit Ethernet port, audio in/out and the clever MagSafe power port remain, but DVI and FireWire have been jettisoned in favor of a new Mini Display Port.  This fresh socket – not, as many are assuming, a proprietary Apple technology – earns its place by virtue of supporting higher resolutions (up to 2,560 x 1,600) and integrated audio than DVI can, but it’s more usually a business connector and users may struggle to find as broad a choice of monitors with the port.  Of course, Apple will happily sell you a 24-inch Cinema Display to use with it, also announced on Tuesday, but anybody else will have to stump up for the adapter cables.  It seems cheap of Apple not to include at least one such adapter in the MacBook box.

The 8x slot-loading SuperDrive lives on the right-hand side of the notebook, sadly not a Blu-ray drive since Apple believes the licensing issues too troublesome to navigate.  The same old iSight camera, now hidden behind the glass bezel, lurks above the screen.  Connectivity gains draft-n support and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR as standard, but there’s no ExpressCard slot so 3G WWAN modems – still not offered as an integrated option by Apple themselves – will have to be USB.  The relatively mediocre speakers from the previous MacBook are replaced with a far meatier, more satisfying pair, and there’s a built-in Omni directional microphone for VoIP and video conferencing.

Two stock variations of MacBook are available, one with a 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo and the other, which we have to test, with a 2.4GHz chip.  Each has 3MB L2 cache, 1066MHz frontside bus and 2GB of DDR3 RAM as standard; maximum supported memory is 4GB.  The cheaper 2.0GHz MacBook comes with a 160GB 5,400rpm SATA hard-drive, with 250GB or 320GB versions optional; the 2.4GHz model automatically gets the 250GB drive.  Each can alternatively be fitted with a 128GB solid-state drive, which promises faster access times and reduced power use at the not-insubstantial cost of $600-700.  We can’t quite envisage a scenario where specifying the SSD would make sound financial sense; happily, unclipping the battery from the underside of the case exposes the hard-drive, so future upgrades – when prices are more reasonable – should be straightforward.

Recognizing, perhaps, that more people choose to do media editing and gaming on their notebooks where once such chores could be left to a desktop, Apple have eschewed Intel’s integrated graphics offerings and instead thrown in with NVIDIA’s brand new GeForce 9400M.  Packed with 256MB of dedicated DDR3 memory, the 9400M is capable of simultaneously driving the internal LCD and an external screen at up to DisplayPort’s maximum 2,560 x 1600 resolution.  It’s a move that clearly prioritizes graphical grunt over battery life, as the NVIDIA chipset is undoubtedly more power-hungry than Intel integrated versions.

In choosing the ULV P8600, which runs at 25W, Apple have guaranteed that rival Windows machines – where the 35W CPU alternative is more common – will edge ahead in processing power.  If you compare the MacBook to the more extreme ultraportables, however, such as Apple’s own MacBook Air, the bigger notebook comes out brighter.  Ironically, Apple themselves may have created the most appealing alternative to the Air, for all but the most space-crazed of buyers.

The new battery design contains a 45-watt-hour Li-Polymer power-pack, with only 80-percent of the capacity of the previous MacBook.  Apple’s own estimates suggest five hours of wireless usage; in the short time we’ve been using the notebook, we’ve managed between 3.5 and 4.5hrs away from the mains, depending on screen brightness, wireless and optical drive use.  It sounds silly, but among our favorite features of the new MacBook is the move of the LED battery status indicator from underneath – requiring you to flip it upside down – to the left-hand side.

It’s hard not to fall for the aluminum MacBook.  No, it’s not an $800 machine, in fact even the reduced old-type plastic MacBook still available as a sop to budget buyers is still just under $1,000.  Next to it, though, you get a glimpse of how the new MacBook puts serious pace between the models that went before.

Performance, with an ultra-low voltage processor, is never going to overwhelm, but the MacBook does a decent job of balancing what mobile users are currently looking for – decent graphics, reasonable run-time on battery power, jaw-dropping good looks that are sturdy to boot – and only asks that buyers not blanch at the inevitable price-tag.  $1,299 for the entry-level 2.0GHz MacBook and $1,599 for the 2.4GHz version is a considerable amount of money, and it makes things like Apple’s dismissal of Blu-ray – that licensing is a logistical nightmare, and they’re waiting for the market to settle down – rankle.  Yes, it might be tricky, but surely that’s what Apple charges their premium prices for.  Right now, it smells of herding customers into the iTunes HD offerings, freshly bolstered recently with more TV content.

While you may find cheaper, though, and even better specified, none will run OS X Leopard and none will have the same design clout as the new MacBook.  On that level alone, RDF or not, the “best-selling Macintosh” crown is likely to be passed on to the new aluminum MacBook.

MacBook Unboxing

The inventory sheets do not give off a shelf date or any specifications other than screen size and model. The pricing listed is exactly the same as current models. If the inventory sheets are true, this squashes all of the rumors of price drops, much less an $800 dollar MacBook. Here is a breakdown by screen size, model and price:

GREEN = $1,999.99 – 15″ MacBook Pro base model
PURPLE = $2,799.99 – 17″ MacBook Pro base model
YELLOW = $1,499.99 – 13″ MacBook top end model
BLUE = $2,499.99 – 15″ MacBook Pro mid model
ORANGE = $1,299.99 – 13″ MacBook mid Model
RED = $1,099.99 – 13″ MacBook base model

There is no mention of a new MacBook Air which is very surprising being the innovative device that it is. Still no word if the two tone MacBook that was rumored will become a reality. No BestBuy employee has come fourth and confirmed this information, looks like we will just have to wait till tomorrow.

[Via Gizmodo]

Will Steve announce an SDK beta as has been rumored, and leave the full release for later in the year?  Just how draconian are Apple going to be about third-party software, and is iTunes really going to be the only place users can get new apps for their iPhone?  And please, can we have Microsoft Exchange support yet?  We’re hoping to find out the answers to all these questions – and maybe the odd surprise, because we’re greedy like that – when Jobs takes to the stage, so join us later today!

Waiting To Enter

Nothing too terribly interesting with two exceptions, first the Q&A session, I don’t know if it is the entire segment or just a 4:19 long clip of it, but it has some useful information in it. The second exception is the video of the new iMac and keyboard, it gives you a better mental picture of what they look like and their comparative sizes.

Q&A

I have decided to summarize the above video for those without the luxury of broadband internet. So below are the key points from this video:

• Current Mac owners are the best marketing force ever for two reasons
  • They tell all their friends and family how great it is, they are proud of their Macs
  • Their friends and family see it, and become jealous and/or ask questions
• Don’t participate in the Intel Inside sticker program for the following reasons
  • They like theirs better [the Apple Stickers]
  • Everyone who would buy a new Mac already knows they are using Intel Chips
  • They don’t want their customers to have to remove stickers from their products.
• 2/3 of Apple’s products are in the notebook side
• iMac is the desktop of choice from Apple, for the consumer, prosumer, and professional.
• Desktops are still a viable market for Apple for the following reasons
  • They don’t require batteries or miniaturization
  • iMacs offer bigger screens and bigger HDD’s
  • Better and faster equipment than notebooks, generally
• No one is requesting 24” notebooks either.

Inside the Presentation Room, Pre-Presentation

iMac and Keyboard

Wireless Keyboard

The Mac mini didn’t get a complete overhaul like the iMac, but it did get a processor upgrade. The mini will now sport 1.83/2.0GHz Core 2 Duo CPUs. That’s up from the 1.66/1.83GHz that we’ve become used to. The updated chips should give you a 39% boost in performance, according to Apple.

That will be the only hardware change, though they will now be shipping with the newly-announced iLife ’08. There won’t be any price changes, and you should be able to order them just as soon as the Apple store comes back up.

More pics after the jump

One thing I will say is that I really don’t like the black bar that runs around the edge of the screen. I think it would have been better if they would have just made it all aluminum instead. Of course it would be better if it didn’t have such a large lip anyway, but I’m sure there’s a good reason why they didn’t do that.

There are a few more pics below, including some of the new keyboard. That thing is just tiny! Stay tuned for some video footage.

Over 1.8 million copies of iWork have been sold thus far, which isn’t too bad. Now they’re releasing the new iWork ’08, which is dramatically enhanced. You’ll see a big change in Keynote with new transitions, text effects, color planes, confetti and more.

If you’ve been itching to do some spreadsheet on your Mac (aren’t PCs made for that boring stuff) you’ll be able to use the new program called Numbers to do them. It’ll have a similar feel to Pages and Keynotes. Of course, it will have full Excel compatibility.

You’ll also be able to add animations to new themes. You’ll have a new contextual format bar and 140 apple-design templates. iWork ’08 will go on sale today for $79.

Photo credit to Gizmodo, Thanks Brian! 

Steve walks in and welcomes everyone to the event. We will start off talking about the Mac, it’s been an incredible last 12 months. the growth has grown 3times as fast as the industry. “We’ve got a clean product line”, today we are going to focus on the iMac.

Steve makes fun of a PC
a much better way is the iMac
the iMac has been really successful
“we will make it even better” using aluminum because it’s professional and durable
also recyclable
second element is glass
it’s elegant
and desirable
the new iMac is much thinner before
(I’m not allowed to take pics where i am sitting)
you can also add memory
with just one screw, there’s only one visible screw
20-inch display and 24-inch display
both are glossy —- customer told apple they love glossy display
“they look way better on glossy display”
new keyboard is much smaller
thinner
.33-inch
vs .89
there are special dedicated keys
media transport controls
right on the keyboard now
wireless option?
new wireless keyboard is compact
super thin with Bluetooth 2.0
and feature dedicated keys as well
Intel core 2 dual
2.4GHz
up to 4GB of memory
ATI Radeon HD graphics
up to 1 TB of storage
802.11n+BT
all built-in
17, 20 and 24 —
24-inch = $1799!!!
better product at $200 less
20-inch $1499
17-inch going away
another 20-inch at $1199
Consumers told Apple they love aluminum and glass – Steve is reiterating
so the new iMac is a mixture between professional and consumer
there’s a new ad
that will be running in a few days
there are a bunch of new iMacs twisting and turning,
“The new iMac”
(everyone claps)
after the presentation, the new iMacs will be available
alright…the next thing
is Applications that run on
the hardware
today, apple introduce iLife 08
the biggest jump in iLife since the first
intro many years ago
this year, apple dramatically enhancing and replacing to take to a new level
iPhoto is going to a whole new level
1-Events,
Steve talks about the issues around dealing with thousands and thousands of images
the solution “was” to create albums
they are centered around events —- such as birthday, ski trip etc
iPhoto will automatically take “events” and do it automatically
it’s all about events
you still get the photo view, but on top is the “Events” view
~50 photos per event
what that means is you no longer need to look through thousands, you now only have to look through 100 or so
which photos go through the events?
All photos taken in one day
makes up an event
so what happens when you go to a bday in the morning and then wedding at night?
Split and Merge
simply by taking one and move
or select a bunch then merge the same event
2- Hide photos – this looks trivial but important
since you may not want to throw them away
you can simply hide them then later bring them back
3-unified search
dates, keywords, ranking
then sorts them
4-more powerful editing tools, ie. adjust photos by copying and pasting adjustments to other photos
5-theme base photo printing
6-new books and calendars
(very neat)
Demo — starting now
oooh ahhh, new iMacs
(two of them — -sorry no pics)
Steve demos 5000 photos, huge library
there are 104 events out of over 5000+ images
Moving the mouse over the photo you can “skim” all the photos
(Steve made a point they’ve applied for patents — everyone laughed)
once in the event, another way to look at an image is to double click to preview the photos
Steve demos how to split two events
simply click on one image from the series and it splits into two events, birthday and wedding
merge events simply by select two events then select merge
or select one then put it on top of the other
hide and show images intuitive to use keeping the gallery uncluttered
concluded the demo of iPhoto
.Mac
please to announce 1.7M .Mac subscribers
iPhoto + .Mac = .Mac web gallery
“hand in a glove”
what does it do?
1 button photo sharing to publish
your photos to .Mac web gallery
Rich “web 2.0″ experience
grid, slide show, mosaic and even in carousal
works on windows IE, safari etc
Print-quality downloadable
People can contribute from anywhere
there’s a special email address and email the images
then the images will appear and then syncs right to your gallery as well
Great iPhone Experience
take an image with your iPhone and there’s a new option on the iPhone to send to your .Mac web gallery
it also syncs automatically with your system
you can also view other’s .mac web gallery right on your iPhone
Steve demos .Mac web gallery
options allow you to select who can view the gallery
once the selections are made, the images get uploaded automatically if you’re connected to the internet
“skimming” is available right on the web “true web 2.0 app”
quick quiz….do you remember what the “skimming” feature does?
images are viewed as slide shows, grid, carousal, mosaic
demoing how easy it is for others to contribute
Phil just sent Steve a photo via his iPhone right into the .Mac web gallery
concluding the .Mac web gallery (everyone claps loudly)
NEXT up
iMovie (per Steve this is very interesting — there’s a story)
a brilliant engineer went on a well deserved vacation
he wanted to make a quick 5 min movie but it’s too darn hard
luckily he knew final cut pro but still didn’t know how to only spend 30 min to make a 5-min away
Steve was blown away when he say it
THIS IS NOT AN ENHANCEMENT to iMOVIE!!
it’s a whole new app with a whole new
1-one library for all your video
you can scroll through all of them similar to iPhoto
it takes movies from all sources even the AVCHD!!!(much better than any)
Steve talks about the Panasonic AVHD $799
2-Skim to preview too!
holyshit — skimming on video rock!
no longer need to open the file to view!
3-Supr fast movie creation
simply select videos and build a movie “almost instantly”
4-polish quickly
5-view and share videos anywhere
You can watch the videos literally anywhere on any devices or on the web
.Mac web gallery also supports video
.Mac web gallery shows video instantly
you can also send it to YouTube and it encodes automatically!
Steve demos iMovie 08
if you’re trying to find something fast, “skimming” is an amazing feature
starting and stopping the camera creates a separate clip
“Drag media here to create a new project” simply drag and drop clips and iMovie takes care of the rest
by default it selects 2-secs
you can also grab the hooks and extend the length of the video
Adding a title by simply drag and drop, same with adding a sound trap
watching Steve’s movie “Snowboarding on mt hood”
the large size is even better resolution than the dvd
per Steve “no longer sending dvds to grandma”
these videos are downloadable
concluded the iMovie demo
the large size is even better resolution than the dvd
per Steve “no longer sending dvds to grandma”
these videos are downloadable
concluded the iMovie demo
Next up is iWeb
enhanced version
1-live web widgets
for example drag and drop Google maps
or grab any html snippets
copy and paste into the website
2-Google adsense
decide which format you want then ads show up
3-Media index page
pick and index page, drag and drop content
4-Personal domain support
5-Theme switching
dynamically change the way your website look and feel
iDVD
believe it or not there are still people who wants to make them
better performance
theming is added
(Steve is breezing through iDVD)
lastly is Garageband
multi-take recording, visual eq automation
Steve’s fav feature is magic garageband
demoing magic garageband
iLife 08 is $79
iLife ships free with all new macs starting today
10GB of online storage $99.95 per year subscription service (everyone claps)
now leaves iWork
Apple has sold 1.8M copies
iWork ’08
dramatically enhanced
Keynote
-text affect, bouncy, etc
new transition
color planes, confetti
Instant Alpha
lets you take out the background
only use what you want in keynote
Smart Builds lets you create instant high value animation
drag photos or anything, to create turntable, spinning cube etc
A to B animation is now available and easy for mere mortal to use
New themes : possible to add animations to the new themes
NEXT, Pages
-Distinct word processing and one for page layout modes
-contextual format bar has been added
140 apple-design templates
Steve is demoing Numbers
iWorks ’08 is available today and cost $79
Check out the new iMac at Apple.com, there’s a new iLife ’08 Guided tour

The big deal today is iPhoto + .Mac =.Mac web gallery. One button is all you need to push photos onto your .Mac web gallery. It gives a rich Web 2.0 experience. It’ll even work on Internet Explorer for those still using a PC. An awesome feature is that you will have an email address and people can email pictures to that inbox. They automatically get uploaded to your .Mac web gallery.

Naturally, it’s going to play nice with your shiny new iPhone. You’ll have the option on your iPhone to send to your .Mac web gallery. You’ll be able to view other .Mac web galleries on your iPhone as well. Steve demonstrated this feature right on stage, it was fast and pretty cool.

He’s covering the 6 major points of new new iLife. The first is Events. This will help you to sort through those thousands of pictures by creating “events” rather than albums. All of your pics will be automatically sorted into events based on the day they were taken. That way you don’t have to sift and sort. If you’ve got an event that lasts through the night and into the next day you can always split and merge events.

Next is the ability to hide photos. Perhaps you want to get rid of a picture, but you don’t really want it gone. Just hide it and pretend it’s not there. You can always go back and find them again. You’ve also got more powerful editing tools, theme-based photo printing and new books and calendars.

Steve did a brief demo of these new features. While we can’t show you just how cool it was, Vincent has assured me that it’s going to be a piece of cake to use.

Photo credit : Gizmodo, Thanks Brian!

Of course, as we all knew, the iMac is getting some loving. It is getting an aluminum enclosure, which he says will be more professional and durable. They will also be adding glass to the screen, meaning it will be glossy.. It’s going to be much thinner before, and upgrading the memory will be easy. Just remove the screw (I say the screw because there is only one visible screw on the whole machine) and pop it in.

They have killed off the 17-inch iMac line, so we’re going to have only the 20-inch and 24-inch models to look forward to. We also have heard much talk about a new smaller keyboard, which was also true. It’s only 0.33 inches thin. You’ll have dedicated keys for media control, and there will be a Bluetooth wireless keyboard available.

So what kind of pricing and specs will we see inside the iMacs? They’ll have Santa Rosa chips running at up to 2.8Ghz, and up to 4GB of RAM and 1TB of storage. For those needing a little extra on the graphics, they’ll have ATI Radeon HD graphics. 802.11n and Bluetooth will keep you connected without wires.

Pricing is going to start at $1199 for the low-end 20”, $1499 for the high-end 20” and $1799 for the 24”. Look for new iMac commercials to start running in just a few days. If you want to buy one of these new machines, they’ll be available after the show. If you were wondering, yes, the Apple Store is down.

There’s quite a gathering already but don’t worry, we’ve got a seat saved for you. That’d be the seat you’re sitting in right now. Just stay where you are and click over to live.slashgear.com where we’ll be liveblogging the entire event. If you are unable to view from Livecast, come back to SlashGear blog as we are posting entries as announcement being made.

Any last-minute predictions? I’m actually starting to think they’ll focus on gaming, not for the entire event, but they’ll probably show off a new iMac, and then show off some new games that will rock on your shiny new Mac. I’m also pretty sure there will be an update to .Mac. Then again, I could be way off, what do you guys think?