When Apple updated the notebook line in October, they conveniently left the 17 incher out of the equation. We figured they just needed more time to wrap things up in their production lines. After all, when they introduced the MacBook Pro, the 17 inch PowerBook was only updated a few months later. 

Then Intel goes ahead and releases a low-cost quad core notebook chip that definitely fits the bill for Apple’s large notebook. It is after all, a desktop replacement, and people want the best performance they can get from the workhorse. Here’s the report by David Flynn on APCmag.com…

Branded as the Core 2 Extreme Q9000, the chip partners four 2GHz cores with 6MB of Level 2 cache for US$348. That price is one third the US$1,038 ticket for the QX9300 2.53GHz superslab and well under half that of the next-down Q9100 2.26GHz, which lists at US$851.

Both of those processors have twice the L2 cache of the Q9000, but they all share the same 45nm Penryn-class architecture and a 1GHz front side bus, compared to the 800MHz bus (also with 6MB of cache) of the T8300 and T8500 processors used in the 15 inch MacBook Pro.

This still remains a rumour of course, so don’t get disappointed if you see the 17 incher sporting only a two point something dual core processor. Besides, we still have to worry about whether Apple will again exclude the matte option on the display, and leave out some juicy firewire ports on the big one.

Have any tip-offs? Send them along to pr@smokingapples.com

Not in the US store, but in their New Zealand Store we have seen that Apple has revealed the Black Friday pricing for all Macs and iPods. 

The discounts however are less than startling. For all the advertising and rumours of “15% off”, the sale is an average (convert to USD) $100 off from the new MacBooks and iMac. The MacBook Pro, Air, Mini, and Mac Pro prices remain untouched. The US store of course will open the discount sales soon enough, so we’ll get to see those prices first hand. 

Of course, we’ve also heard that all Apple Stores are agreeing to match up to any discount sale you might find on the net. So if you carry along with you a print out of a sale you have found on the internet, the store will most probably agree to match those prices. Check out deals on MacMall before walking into an Apple Store. 

We’re of course still digging around for special deals on Macs, iPods and applications for the Mac and iPhone. If you know any, tip us off at pr@smokingapples or leave a comment.

[Thanks Mark for the heads up.]

In a rare turn of events, the first TV ad for the new MacBook shows almost none of its salient features. Instead, Apple has focussed on how green their computers are. Or have they? If you notice, the ad mentions that the “new MacBook”, has a aluminium the unibody enclosure, the glossy glass display, and shows a complete 360 degrees of what it looks like. Mentioning the buttonless trackpad to PC users wouldn’t be advisable on TV.

The Ad of course is very Apple like, with stunning production quality, right down to the green hue that dominates the video. Go check it out on Apple.com/Mac/Green-Notebooks/.

And speaking of the environment, 2008 has been a very green year for Apple. Starting with the whole “A Greener Apple” promise back in mid 2007, Jobs and his jolly band of outlaws have been steadily getting out the toxins and plastic from their products. Read all you want about this in their special Environment Page.

Not even a week after the 23” Cinema Displays made their way out of the store, the 24” LED display has taken over. The sexy display, which for the first time includes a built-in iSight, a glossy display, a new DisplayPort connector, as well as a Mag Safe connector to power your MacBook. Or to put things into perspective, your new MacBook. 

We all saw this coming (except maybe for Apple), that the new LED displays will only connect to a computer with a DisplayPort connector. And since besides the new MacBook, MacBook Pro and MacBook Air, there are no other devices in the market sporting the DisplayPort standard, the new display will only be usable with these three. They haven’t even made any converters to connect this to anything other than DisplayPort. Thankfully, the reverse of this is true, which is that you can connect any monitor (using converters) to a new MacBook or MacBook Pro. 

Apple seems to have made a mess with their display lineup. Not only is this a glossy (and therefore unprofessional) display, it also cannot connect to Apple’s own professional machine, the Mac Pro. Having being left to choose between just a 20” display and a 30” display, I’m sure Dell is going to sell quite a few of those new 23” pro monitors. Come Macworld 09, Apple is definitely going to convert its entire lineup to feature DisplayPort connectors and glossy displays.

The new LED Display sells for a rather high steep price of $900, and is shipping today from the Apple online store (US). A few of the Apple retail stores have also got models for display and retail. The rest of the world awaits.

Looks like Apple is at its money making tricks, yet again. The all new MacBooks feature a large glass trackpad, capable of understanding upto 4-finger guestures, set for Exposé and App switching. While everyone thought that it was the glass that is conducive to this behaviour, a MacRumours forum member proved that the same functionality is available on the previous generation multi-touch trackpads.

Forum member “Michaelb” has detailed all the steps taken for getting this working. After circumventing the protection that prevents the OS from being installed on a machine other than the type it was bought with, he managed to get the MacBook Air up and running with the OS designed for the new Macs. However, only after a little editing of the plist files, did he finally manage to get the 4-finger gestures working. 

Four finger Exposé on my January 2008 MacBook Air now works just as it does on the unibody MacBook. (Secondary click, where you click the bottom right corner of the trackpad to get a right-click, is also there, but only seem to work in combination with the Air’s physical button - haven’t worked that one out yet, and don’t really care as I am used to soft two finger clicking for right-click.)

I suspect this would work on all later model multitouch trackpads (which includes the previous generation MacBook Pro)

So, Apple caught denying features to previous customers for no technical reason whatsoever. I suppose they wanted to highlight this as one of the features of the all new glass trackpad, and providing a software update would take away its luster. Your take?

Excluded from the features list of the new MacBooks, was the fact that they cannot be used for jailbreaking the iPhone or iPod Touch. While it is unclear as to whether this is a hardware feature, or a software modification loaded on the new notebooks (the new MacBooks run a special version of Leopard), Apple is clearly trying to keep its monopoly with the App Store.

Users over at HowardForums and iPodTouchFans are reporting problems running the Pwnage tool on the new aluminum MacBooks, which don’t seem to be able to recognize an iPhone or iPod Touch when it is booted into DFU mode, a vital requirement for jailbreaking. - Gizmodo

So while you can use a modified IPSW file, or even a jailbroken iPhone or iPod Touch, you cannot use Pwnage Tool to create a new IPSW on the new MacBooks. How far this will help Apple in preventing people from jailbreaking, we can’t be sure. It might shoo away technophobes who just wanted to try out jailbreaking, but someone who is determined can very well get the IPSW done on an older Mac or possibly, Windows (he would have to be really determined to go to that extent!).

Whether Apple is the monster here by preventing such an awesome thing as jailbreaking, or are they really looking out for their customers by making sure they don’t slow their iPhones down with the added baggage, is for you to decide.

With the release of the new MacBooks, Apple has done away with the matte screens on its 15-inch MacBook Pros and is only offering the glossy option. Currently, the only matte displays in Apple’s entire lineup are the old Cinema Displays and the one on the 17-inch MacBook Pro, both of which may soon be upgraded to glossy as well. 

This has obviously triggered a lot of whining in the very vocal Apple community. By the looks of it, everyone seems to want matte. So I decided to do a survey, asking only those who have actually purchased either of the new notebooks which display they preferred. I posed the question to our Twitter followers, scoured the Internet forums, and personally confirmed each of the statements. 

Surprisingly, most of the users I spoke to are not worried about the glossy screens. [Update: Look at the comments! People hate them!] Aside from comments on popular blogs (which I can’t confirm), I couldn’t find any MacBook user who was not satisfied with the display. Here are just some of the replies I got for the new glossy displays.

“I was worried about glossy screen due to the whining, but I dont have any problems except for few more fingerprints and some glare,” says one of the replies on Twitter.

“If you ‘look’ at the glare, then you can see it. But if you can get that out of your head, the glare is almost non visible. And if the reflection is too much, just tilting the screen a bit makes it go away. I was very disappointed at first when they said glossy only, but the display is so bright and vivid that I just can’t think of going back to a matte display,” answers another new MacBook owner. 

“It’s *beautiful* but the glass gets dirty easily and definitely has glare problems,” says another reply on Twitter. Fingerprints are a major complaint when it comes to the glass displays. However, note that cleaning the glass screen of the new MacBook is much easier since the glass extends right to the edges. 

“I’ve used the MacBook Pro in bright sunlight, and it still is awesome. They are all just whining.”

“It took me about 2 days to get used to the glass. Now when I go back to my old powerbook all the colors are dull. It’s an odd feeling.”

“It’s awful. Makes me giddy looking at two different things at the same time. I’m giving this back and getting a cheap MacBook Pro from Amazon.” Yeah, just about the only negative comment I could get (coupled with the one above). 

For those looking to cut the glare, a lot of people have suggested Photodon’s Anti-glare films for the MacBook and the MacBook Pro. [Ed note: For what it’s worth, no matter what anyone may say, I will never be in favour of a glossy display. I’ve kept my 17-inch MacBook Pro next to several MacBooks with glossy displays and I just cannot imagine myself having to use the latter for any length of time.]

What’s your ‘GlossBook’ story? Have you held off from buying the new notebooks because of the glossy displays or are you looking forward to the sharper, more vivid display?

With all three MacBook lines—MacBook, MacBook Pro, and MacBook Air—now sporting enclosures machined out of a single block of aluminium and black, backlit keyboards with chicklet style keys, it’s more difficult than ever to zero in on which particular model and configuration to go for. Further complicating matters are the new prices for all these notebooks which, to say the least, are freakin’ exhorbitant!

Worry not though, dear readers, because where there is a problem, there exists a solution, specially if it’s Smoking Apples we’re talking about. In this article, I’ve tried to highlight the key differences between the various configurations that these notebooks are available in (eight in total) and point out the positives and negatives of each one. At the end, I’ll leave you with two recommendations, one for the budget conscious buyer and another for those of you who want to go all out and have the cash to do so. Continue Reading »

Among the many new features of the new notebooks, the new design of the MacBooks seem to have solved the heat issues. I’m sorry to report that you can no longer fry an egg on the underside of your MacBook or MacBook Pro. The elimination of heat issues consequently make the fans kick in rather late, thereby making the notebooks apt for the phrase, ‘cool n quiet’.

(The image above is a fake)

“I can actually use the new MacBook on my lap without burning my thigh!” says one of the new MacBook users. “The fans are dead silent at 1500rpm, and the temperature hovers between 50-60˚C for the CPU.”

A quick twitter poll also revealed that others also notice similar thermal characteristics. “Whisper quiet. I can only hear it by holding it to my ear.” says one of the replies. “My MacBooks been on for about 3 hours playing video and music. Still feels slightly warm to the touch, but it’s silent.” The temperatures are reported cooler for the MacBook Pro as well, but it might still get hot under stressful conditions.

So far people the reviews for the new notebooks are extremely positive. Have you been one of the lucky ones to get a new MacBook? What’s your experience of the new unibody-aluminium enclosure notebooks?

After announcing the greenest MacBooks ever, Steve Jobs has written a lengthy report on how Apple has fared in their environmental goals. At the beginning of this year, with the release of the MacBook Air, Jobs announced that by the year end Apple would carry out major changes to make their products greener than ever. 

“I’m proud to report that all of Apple’s new product designs are on track to meet our 2008 year-end goal.” - Jobs. 

Jobs also mentions that they now have a special page that will continually provide progress reports on the Apple recycling program. 

Visit Apple.com/environment/update for the whole report. Now if you find such a simple link on a Dell or HP website, be sure to let us know.