Yesterday Apple had a small event in California to unveil their new notebook line. Apple announced a new Macbook, Macbook Pro, and Macbook Air. I was especially interested in the announcements because I am in the market for a new Mac and I was leaning towards a laptop.
Nvidia Graphics
One of the larger announcements made at the event was how the new notebooks were going to include the new Nvidia mobile chipset and graphics chip. The new chipset should give a nice speed boost for many high end graphics applications (like the new Photoshop CS4) and allow for more gaming capabilities on the Mac platform. While I welcome the new chipset I am not going to be doing much graphics work on my laptop so I am not that interested.
Aluminum Enclosure
Another big announcement made was about the new manufacturing process for the notebooks. All three of the notebooks are now being made using a unibody construction technique. They made the cases out of solid aluminum to make them stronger and more durable. I really like the new aluminum cases and I am all for a stronger, durable laptop. I am glad I waited to buy a new mac because these cases are much nicer than the plastic ones of the previous generation.
Glass Trackpad
One feature I am going to have to try before I buy is the new mouse trackpad. I have been wishing Apple add a right-click button on their laptops (or all Apple computers for that matter) for a long time. But instead of adding a button, they decided to take away mouse buttons all together. Apple made the entire trackpad a button and made the it even larger to support multi-touch gestures like they have on the iPhone. I have an iPhone and iPod touch and I like the touch gestures but I don’t know how well they will work on a notebook. I plan on going to an Apple store to try out the new trackpad before I make any decisions on the notebook.
24 Inch Cinema Display
Another announcement they made was a brand new 24 inch monitor with a built in web cam, microphone, and USB hub. It’s a very nice monitor but it is still much more expensive then other monitors of the same side. I don’t think a web cam is worth an extra 200-300 bucks.
Disappointments
I was disappointed with the lack of Blu-Ray support for any of Apple’s computers. I could care less if they put the drives in the computers but I at least want the ability to play them if I put my own drive in. Steve Jobs said that they are holding off until licensing issues are resolved and demand picks up. While I agree that Sony needs to ease up on some of these absurd licensing and DRM restrictions but I don’t think Blu-Ray will take off until a company like Apple makes it easy.
I was also disappointed with the lack of a real price cut. Apple did technically reduce the cost of the laptops but that is only for an under powered machine with the old plastic case. The new notebooks with all the great features are still rather expensive and I think that is a mistake. But I can’t say that I am surprised since Apple never has any really affordable products.
Final Thoughts
Overall I am pleased with the new notebooks. As I said earlier, I am definitely going to try before I buy any notebook so I guess I am off to an Apple store this weekend.