MAC BLOG SAFARI
Bloggers Sink Their Teeth Into Apple's New MacBooks

The dominating Apple-focused blog traffic this week has been -- not surprisingly -- all about the new MacBook lineup.

Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) introduced the new notebooks at a special event Tuesday, and while online chatter has been all over the map, Apple's new Nvidia graphics architecture, the new single-piece aluminum design, pricing, glass trackpad, and LED-backlit displays make up the high points of the conversation.

Nvidia on Tap

Apple's new processor and graphics architecture lets the company continue to use Intel's (Nasdaq: INTC) processors for primary CPU functions, but it forgoes Intel's lower-performance, built-in GMA X3100 in favor of utilizing Nvidia's GeForce 9400M graphics processor with 256 MB of DDR3 SDRAM shared with main memory. This is great for GPU-hungry applications like iPhoto, iMovie, Aperture, Photoshop, and 3-D games.

The MacBook Pro, it turns out, picked up an extra Nvidia processor, the 9600M, which is used for those times when pros (or mobile gamers) need extra graphics processing power.

As David Chartier noted on Ars Technica's Infinite Loop journal, "These new chips may indeed be a leap ahead for Mac graphics in general, but the new MacBook Pros are anything but two-speed terrors on the graphics computing highway."

To get the MacBook Pro to switch gears between the two processors, users will have to change their Energy Saver preference, then log out and log back in to have the change take effect. It still works, of course; it's just not automatic, nor is it as simple as pushing a single button.

"How inelegant," commented MrRefinement on the Infinite Loop post on the subject.

"Originally, I was hoping that the new MBP [MacBook Pro] will be able to use _both_ cards for top performance. Then I thought, let's be realistic, perhaps it won't use both cards at the same time but if you have an external display plugged in it will use one card for the internal display and one for the external," commented Shisha, who added, "This is really disappointing. My G4 PowerBook needs to be replaced now, but I'll just get MacBook. (I'll wait for the benchmarks)."

Still, "I think it's pretty safe to assume this will be addressed in a software update. If only because such a horrific hack makes Jobs angry. You won't like him when he's angry," noted anthonyr.

Carving the Brick

Apple's new chassis manufacturing process carves most of the case out of a single slab of aluminum. Apple seems to be pretty proud of the new process and has even posted some videos online that show a few snippets of production. The end result, however, is what matters to most consumers. The case is largely devoid of screws, and as a detailed comparison post by AppleInsider.com reveals, the old MacBook Pro suddenly looks like a piece of junk when placed next to the new generation.

In a close-up photo comparison, AppleInsider noted, "From to top left edge, this close up (below) reveals the fantastic fit and finish made possible by the new unibody construction. The laptop on top has been treated pretty well over the last two years, but still looks bent and misaligned, with waving panels that cave in at the points where an Apple Store Genus torqued the screws too hard. There's also a visible gap between the hard plastic lips of the case and above and below where the plastic attaches to the body and lid. In contrast, the new MacBook Pro looks absurdly strong and solid with simply perfect lines."

The entire post is full of great close-up views highlighting the little details that make up Apple laptops.

"Wow. Simply wow. A fantastic design. Clean and attractive. Nothing superfluous, everything with a purpose. Hyperbole of the article aside, the new design is incredible. Wish I was coming into a new buying cycle...." commented Bowser on the AppleInsider coverage.

'$800' and $999 ... Huh?

Prior to Apple's official announcement this week, a report of a retail price sheet mentioning something in the $800 range sparked speculation over a new low-end MacBook, or even a netbook type of product. The placeholder, it turns out, likely referred to a new LED-backlit monitor. Still, Apple did drop the price of an existing plastic white MacBook model to $999.

"There were a lot of rumors that there would be an $800 system. I didn't believe it myself, partly because there's no incentive for Apple to go to that price. Their growth rates have been two to three times the industry average, so there's been no indication of a slackening in demand, nor was their any indication that price was a factor in less growth," Richard Shim, research manager of IDC's Personal Computing Program, told MacNewsWorld.

Not everyone, it turns out, was particularly excited about the display and $999 price for the plastic MacBook.

"Kind of a let down," commented Chris Rogers on the MacRumors.com post on the subject.

In other pricing news, Apple kept its overall prices fairly high, retaining the traditional $1,999 low-end MacBook Pro and $2,499 step-up pricing scheme. However, RAM upgrades, which were previously outrageously expensive compared to what was available in the industry at large, have gotten better.

"The 4GB memory upgrade option is now only $150. That's a serious improvement," commented numbsafari on the general announcement post on MacRumors.com.

Glass Multi-Touch

The new notebooks' trackpads are now made from wear-resistant etched glass -- without a separate button. The entire trackpad is the button. It's nearly 40 percent larger and features multi-touch capabilities, with some added three- and four-finger gestures for manipulating Web pages, images and invoking Exposé modes in Mac OS X.

"Considering the iPhone's multi-touch, it obviously makes sense for Apple to want to extend that feature into their notebook line, and it's probably one of those things where they are sowing the seeds to reap a harvest further down the road," Shim noted.

"For the moment, they need to show us more applications that take advantage of that technology -- I don't doubt that they'll do it, it's just when and if the market will respond," he added.

Speaking of glass, Apple's new displays are now glossy -- with no option for matte in the MacBook Pro line.

No Glossy Love Here

Apple's move to an all-glossy laptop display line certainly meets the interests of most consumers -- to the ire of professionals. In an ironic and somewhat humorous move, depending on how you feel about gloss, Apple's online photos of its new laptops happen to picture them with a crease of light glare across the screens. Obviously, it's been subtly Photoshopped into the photos to show that the screens are glossy.

The older 17-inch MacBook Pros still have the matte screen option, but new glossy screens were confusing -- and irritating -- to some.

"This doesn't really make sense to me. I can have a low res (1400x900 maximum) 15" glossy thing I wont be able to see when there is light in the room with all the new features or i can pay full price for the 17" that doesn't come with any of Apple's new 'breakthrus', what gives?" commented Dave S on the Wired Gadget Lab live blog post on the new MacBooks.

"Light-glare is the worst with these. Phil's answer to the press that one of the great things about laptops is that you can move it is just plain silly. Additionally, photo professionals will tell you that glass changes the colors and thus does not represent the picture accurately," Sven Rafferty, founder of hyperSven and SvenOnTech blogger, told MacNewsWorld.

Ah, But the Hard Drive Brings the Hugs

"If I may give Steve Jobs a big hug, thank you for giving us easy access to the hard drive!" Rafferty raved.

John Jacobs, DisplaySearch's director of notebook market research, told MacNewsWorld that the easy access also comes with another nice benefit.

"One of the other great things [that hasn't gotten a lot of press yet] is that on the MacBook Pros, you can also swap out the hard drive to a solid state drive," Jacobs said, noting that getting to the hard drive is now much easier than in the previous generation.

"So if you want to upgrade to a solid state drive later as the cost comes down, it's right there and easy to do," he added.