With the launch of the unibody MacBook, Apple have not only completed the transition to their newest laptop aesthetic but also narrowed the gap between their entry-level and Pro ranges. On face level that can only mean good things for the end consumer, but does the $999 MacBook really represent the bargain Apple tell us it is? Check out the full SlashGear review after the cut.
Ah, the lot of a new high-profile gadget. One day you’re making headlines and we’re cooing over your new, unibody-style polycarbonate casing; the next you’re splayed across a workbench with your guts on show. iFixit have been doing their usual sterling work, taking the new 13.3-inch MacBook and breaking it down into its component pieces.
With their entry-level MacBook sticking at $999, Apple have obviously decided that avoiding the price-race to the bottom is no way to better the last quarter’s excellent financial performance. We’ve just picked up our 13.3-inch polycarbonate MacBook review unit, and to be frank we can’t blame them; it’s a little thicker and a little heavier than the 13.3-inch MacBook Pro, but it’s also quite a bit cheaper, too.
The Apple Store has just gone back online with a broad sweep of updates, and I’ve been catching up with Apple this morning to go hands-on with the new range. After the cut, all the details and some hands-on feedback with the new 13.3-inch MacBook, three new Mac mini desktops, four new iMacs with 21.5-inch and 27-inch Full HD IPS displays and, in the top-spec model, a Core i5 or Core i7 processor, and the new Apple Magic Mouse with a multitouch trackpad.
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Entirely unsurprisingly, the Apple Store has been taken down for the usual hurried "updates". While the same thing happened late last month with no noticeable changes, today we're expecting quite a few modifications what with the very recent speculation that Apple are planning to push out a new MacBook, iMac, Mac mini and even peripheral range.
Update: The store is back, and here's what you can buy.
Apple may be riding high on another successful financial quarter, but we still wouldn’t put it past them to announce a few new products this week in order to stick a spoke in the wheels of Windows 7’s launch. According to man-in-the-know John Gruber, it’s not a product trickle but a flood we should be expecting, with both new notebooks and desktops together with multitouch-compatible peripherals on the cards.
Update: The new range is now live – all the details here
Apple have announced their fiscal Q4 2009 financial results, and it’s been another successful three months for the company. Anybody suggesting that Apple’s tactics of selling relatively few expensive devices (rather than many cheap ones) will have some explaining to do in the face of these latest figures: Mac sales are up around 17-percent from the same period one year ago, while gross margin is up 36.6-percent. That’s helped the company reach $9.87bn in revenue, of which $1.67bn is profit (compared to $1.14bn profit in Q4 2008).
After the cut, slumping iPod sales and the promise of “really great new products” by Steve Jobs
The iMac/MacBook/Mac mini update rumors continue, with the latest fact to stoke the flames being several AdWords adverts showing up in the Netherlands. According to Apple Insider, the adverts – which link to a 404 page at present – tip a new MacBook as (translated) “thinner, lighter and faster!”, new iMacs as “the Brand new iMac. Ultra Thin 20 & 24 inch models. From only €1099″, and a new Mac mini that’s “Faster and more affordable than ever. From only €499.”
You guessed it, it’s a Tuesday and the Apple Store has been taken down for the usual hurried batch of updating. No word on what we might be seeing added today, but considering the past few weeks have hummed with talk of new iMac desktops and new MacBook entry-level notebooks there could be a pleasant surprise if you’re in the market for a new OS X machine.
Update: The store is back online (only the US site went down) and there are no changes we can see aside from to the cart system itself. Looks like this was just maintenance downtime, and we’ll have to wait a little longer for new iMacs and MacBooks.
Apple have already been tipped as readying a new entry-level MacBook once this month, and now the second nod to the polycarbonate MacBook line has come, courtesy of AppleInsider. They’ve heard that the range refresh will likely be launched alongside the rumored new iMac desktops, themselves described as “imminent”, and be the Cupertino company’s “most affordable notebook offerings” to date.
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