Q8mug.com

Notably absent from the new MacBook Pro releases yesterday was an refresh of the 17″ MacBook Pro. Instead, Apple provided a minor upgrade to the high-end MacBook Pro but with no change in external casing:

The updated 17-inch MacBook Pro keeps its original aluminum design, and now comes standard with a high resolution 1920 x 1200 LED-backlit display and a larger 320GB hard drive or an optional 128GB solid state drive.

As a result, there had been some uncertainty surrounding the fate of the new 17″ MacBook Pro.

AppleInsider says, however, that the 17″ MacBook Pro will see a refresh in the next few months to bring it in line with the latest MacBook Pro designs. The next opportunity for Apple to release new machines falls in January 2009 at Macworld San Francisco.

Sources : Macrumors - AppleInsider

Notebook Breakthrough
Steve held the Apple Event on 14th of October where he introduced a couple of new things. Here is a summery of the event.
Steve and Co talked about how the design and the manufacturing process evolved. They specifically highlighted the unibody design in which a single piece or aluminum is carved to create a single body frame to increase rigidity and reduce cost as well as protect the environment.
Key features are:
-Unibody enclosure made from a single piece of aluminum

-Glass Multi-Touch track pad with no buttons

-One, Two, Three, and Four finger gestures
-New Nvidia Graphics chipset 9400m 5x faster graphics and Nvidia 9600M GT Combined so the user can select the level of performance wanted.

The screen is LCD LED which provides instant on capabilities as well as save a considerable amount of power. The complete top lid is laden with glass from the inside as to provide a crisp color and depth. Another feature that is introduced is the Mini-Display Port that provides connectivity for a variety of screens and outputs. It can drive DVI, VGA, and video outputs depending on the cable you purchase. Apple also did away with the mechanical latch and instead opted for the magnetic latch which is similar to current model Macbooks. You also get the super drive, the Mic, and the built-in iSight camera and also a backlit keyboard. The new models ship with a 2.4 GHz with 3MB L2 Cache or 2.53 GHz with 6MB L2 Cache with and option to upgrade to a 2.8 GHz with 6MB L2 Cache, 2 GB DDR3 Ram or 4 GB DDR3 Ram, 250GB or 320GB Hard Drive with an option to upgrade to Solid State 128GB Hard Drive. What is interesting to note is that you can also swap the Hard Drive and the Battery just like the Macbook so people who need to upgrade their drives later can do so without voiding the warranty and without going to an Apple Genius.

New Macbook Air

Steve also updated the Macbook Air with better graphics. The new Air, which ships in early November, will come with an Nvidia GeForce 9400M Graphics Chip. Two models are offered:
-1.6GHz or 1.86GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 1066MHz frontside bus
-2GB RAM
-120GB SATA Hard Drive or 128GB Solid State Hard Drive
-Nvidia Geforce 9400M Graphics
-New Mini-Display Port

New Macbook

Steve, before introducing the new Macbooks went ahead and reduced the price of the white, plastic, macbook to $999.

Then he unveiled a new Macbook which is exactly a Macbook Pro but is 13.3″ in size. Everything from the housing, the keyboard, the Graphics chipset, to the screen is exactly the same as the Macbook Pro. They are offered with either a 2.0GHz or 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo CPU, 2GB DDR3 RAM, 160GB or 250GB Hard Drive, Nvidia GeForce 9400M Graphics Chipset, and the 2.4GHz model has a backlit keyboard. The Glass Multi Touch track pad is also included as well as the LED LCD Display with instant on. We also get 5 Hours of Battery Life.

New Screen Display

His holiness also, and finally I might add, introduced a new Display. The LED Cinema Display comes in 24″ and supports a resolution os 1920 by 1200 pixels, 16.7 million colors, 178 Degrees viewing angle for both Horizontal and Vertical, and 1000:1 contrast ratio.

It also comes with three connectors. A Mini Display port to connect your laptop, a Universal MagSafe to Charge the laptop, and USB2.0 to connect to its iSight camera, USB hub, and Stereo Speakers.

The Event in its entirety is available online for your viewing pleasure. Watch this event and pay close attention to the design and the manufacturing process that was used to build these notebooks. Click Here to Watch The Event!

Source and Images: Apple.com

In a couple of hours, Apple will be holding its NoteBook event which they will “Hopefully” reveal the new set of notebooks, rumors are flying here and there about looks and features of the upcoming MacBooks/Pro’s that Steve will announce to the world. 

 So hang on tight and stay tuned to Q8mug.com where we will bring the latest updates and announcement as they’re out. 

Apple Just released a new Security Update “Security Update 2008-07″ that can be downloaded from software update under the apple logo pull down menu from your mac : 

Security Update 2008-007 is recommended for all users and improves the security of Mac OS X. Previous security updates have been incorporated into this security update.

For information on the security content of this update, please visit this website:http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1222.

Source : Apple.com

Apple, through an email invitation, announced that they will be holding a special media event on October 14th to introduce new products. The invitation had a picture of a Laptop Mac meaning this event we will most likely see new models of Macbooks and Macbook Pros.

اعلنت شركة ابل انها ستقوم باقامة حدث اعلاني في يوم ١٤ من اكتوبر الحالي وقد وزعت الشركة دعوات خاصة عن طريق البريد الالكتروني و قد حمل البريد صورة للاجهزة المحمولة من ما يشير بان الحدث هو لطرح اجهزة محمولة جديدة

Source: Macrumors.com

Apple has also released the Apple TV 2.2 update tonight. Apple TV owners can download the new updates from their Apple TV’s by accessing the “Update Software” menu option in their Apple TV’s settings. 

Aside from addressing some security issues, Apple has also included support for features introduced in iTunes 8.0, including Genius playlists. Features discovered by our forum members include:

- Music Video playlists
- Genius playlists
- On-the-Go Playlists
- Standby Option
- HD TV Show Playback and Purchase

Apple has released an update to iTunes to version 8.0.1. The update is available in Mac OS X’s Software Update and provides the following features:

iTunes 8.0.1 improves stability and performance and provides a number of important bug fixes, including:

• Seamlessly plays the current song when creating a new Genius playlist.
• Improves syncing spoken menus to iPod nano.
• Addresses an issue of deleting HD TV episodes when downloading.
• Improves checking for updates from the App Store
• Improves accessibility with VoiceOver.
• Addresses problems syncing Genius results to iPod.

عيدكم مبارك و عساكم من عواده
Happy Eid!

With the iPhone v2.1 software out of the door, Apple is hard at work on v2.2. From this first glimpse it looks like Apple, now that the major bugs have been squashed, is adding some new features.

The screenshot, unearthed by iPhone Atlas, shows a new Safari interface. Above you see a  picture of the new v2.2 Safari. In the new browser, Google gets its own search bar (instead of popping up when you hit the regular URL bar) and the reload button has been moved the address bar, a purely aesthetic change which helps the text-entry areas to look bigger.

Source : Wired