Today was the start of Apple's World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC), and today's keynote started off the week-long event with a bang. There were so many announcements that we could easily spend all day sharing every minute detail of the upgrades and new products in the Apple family. We'll leave the nitty-gritty stuff to someone else, so here's a quick recap of everything you need to know about Apple's latest announcements:

Faster and Cheaper Portables

• Upgraded 15-inch MacBook Pro: The new 15-incher uses the same uni-body construction and non-removable battery as the 17 inch MacBook Pro Apple announced in January. The Pro line gets an SD card slot (finally, a way to capture our images without lugging around camera wires), but at the expense of the ExpressCard slot (this means you will lose the ability to add devices, like an internal 3G data card, to your laptop). On the plus side, the Pro line is getting a $300 price cut -- the 15-inch MacBook Pro starts at $1,699.
• Aluminum MacBook is now the 13-inch MacBook Pro: The sleeker looking MacBook will become a member of the Pro line and get a boost in specs with more RAM and a faster processor (more multi-tasking, better video performance, overall faster computing). The 13-inch MacBook Pro also gains an SD card slot, and gets a price cut to $1,199, down $100 from it's October 2008 launch.
• MacBook Air: The Air is also getting a spec boost, but, more importantly, is seeing a drastic price cut to the tune of $700. The base model with a hard disk (as opposed to the fancy solid state drive) will now start at $1,499.

There seems to be a recurring theme here: person goes into store to buy expensive new electronic item, goes home, opens package and finds rocks instead. According to Tampa's WTSP-TV, Lake Wales, Florida resident Jodi Wykle's son got quite a birthday surprise when he ripped open the wrapping of his new Nintendo DS, only to find assorted rocks and a Chinese newspaper. Wykle immediately took the box o' rocks back to Wal-Mart and demanded a refund but, as she put it on TV: "They don't want to do nothing."

According to the report, Wal-Mart told her to take it up with Nintendo, which told her to take it up with Wal-Mart, of course. Turns out that the same item had already been returned by another customer for the same reason. Once this surprising fact was brought to its attention by 10 Connects, Wal-Mart begrudgingly gave Wykle a refund and $20 gift card.

Apple may want to consider dropping their prices a teency weency bit.

According to the industry research firm NPD Group, Mac sales dropped 16-percent in February compared to sales the same month in 2008. Many people have wondered if Apple would make concessions considering the state of the economy, but they seem content at the moment, so keep dreaming about a new $1500 MacBook Pro. Apple's seeming complacency has resulted in a boom for Windows PCs, which saw sales jump 22-percent compared to the same month last year.

Sure, Apple produces beautiful, quality products, but this economy may force them to flinch just a bit when it comes to pricing. PC manufacturers, of course, are hoping that Apple stays the course. [From: pcworld]

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Apple just confirmed the totally expected yet eagerly anticipated unibody 17-inch MacBook Pro. They're calling it the world's thinnest and lightest 17-inch laptop. It features a 1900 x 1200 LED backlit display, with a 700:1 contrast ratio, wider color gamut and a glorious $50 matte option. Most of the specs are otherwise quite similar to the 15-inch MacBook Pro, but unfortunately Apple went with a MBA-style non-removable battery, claiming that the lack of removable mechanism allowed for more battery -- they're speccing it at 8 hours of lithium polymer juice on integrated graphics, 7 hours on discrete, and it's rated at 1000 recharges. There will also be an exchange program, like with the iPod. The base model hits at $2799, spec breakdown and more shots after the break.

Don't forget that Apple's laptop-centric event is today at 10am, 1pm eastern, and, as usual, the rumor mills have been going full steam in preparation for the announcement. So what can we expect from from Mr. Jobs today? Well, we've broke down each major rumor circulating and the likelihood that each one will turn out to be true.

• $900 MacBooks with an aluminum case. Odds: 4-1

MacBooks are in need of a stylistic update, and a move towards brushed aluminum, as on the MacBook Pro and Air, makes sense. A lower price would also help Apple continue to build market share, especially in these questionable economic times.

• Discrete NVIDIA graphics for MacBook Pro. Odds: 2-1

MacBook Pros are aimed squarely at mobile graphics professionals. The fact that they has continued to rely on Intel's under-powered built-in graphics is absurd. NVIDIA graphics will make the MacBook Pro a viable gaming PC and greatly speed up things like Photoshop and video-editing.

• Blu-ray comes to MacBooks. Odds: 12-1

Apple has to adopt the next generation of optical disc at some point, but it's never tried to market its laptops as entertainment platforms (they don't have built-in TV tuners, either). Apple is probably not rushing to cram an expensive drive for an HD format with limited movie and TV titles into its laptops just yet.

• LCD screen touch pads. Odds: 40-1

Ever since the iPhone hit the market rumor mongers have been talking about Apple replacing traditional touch pads with a multi-touch display. Maybe one day, but certainly not today.

• iTablet. Odds: 200-1

This rumor just wont die. It's been circulation for years that Apple is prepping a touch screen tablet style laptop. Don't count on it. Ever. Tablet style PCs haven't been very popular for Microsoft, so why would Apple make one?

• Apple branded Wi-Fi HDTVs. Odds: 4,000,000,000-1

Ha! Weblogs Inc. (our parent company) founder, Jason Calacanis, made headlines when he speculated that Apple would unveil a line of HDTVs that could stream content from your Mac over Wi-Fi. Sounds like a great replacement for the Apple TV in theory, but the price would simply be too high. Phasing out the $229 Apple TV in favor of a $2,000 all-in-one HD monitor just simply doesn't make sense.

Don't forget to check back here later to see what Apple announces. And to keep abreast of live developments, check out our sister site Engadget's live blog of the event around 1pm EST. For additional rumor coverage, head on over to TUAW. [From: TUAW, Engadget, and Ars Technica]

Sure, none of it makes any sense, but we can't shake the feeling that there's something a little weird going on here. We've received a number of tips that T-Systems -- a division of the same company that owns T-Mobile -- has got pics of some variation of a MacBook Pro that we've certainly never seen before. The appearance of a new model would fall right in line with those rumors we've been hearing, but this seems a little too easy. In fact, the specs of these devices appear unchanged from the current lineup of laptops. The likely explanation is that there's been a photo mix-up -- someone got their proper MBP pictures crossed with one of those "wishful thinking" renders. Then again, given Apple's recent propensity for leaked photos... maybe there's something more to this.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

If we're to believe a report out today from Citigroup analyst Richard Gardner, Steve Jobs may be taking his "one more thing" to its logical -- and lengthy -- conclusion. According to Gardner (via Barron's) "field checks" on Apple's movements have "confirmed shipments" of "new MacBooks." Gardner goes on to detail stand-out features of the new laptops, saying the currently-en-route devices boast a "very thin aluminum casing, an LED backlit display and an aggressive entry-level price point." Sure, this crazy talk does happen to fall somewhat in line with recent tips we've received suggesting that a new MacBook Pro will be headed onto store shelves come September 23rd, but that doesn't change the fact that all of this information is being reported by lone sources (Citigroup affiliation notwithstanding) with absolutely no evidence to back up their claims. We won't argue that it would be great to see a much-needed update to MacBooks and / or Pros in the very near future, but we don't recommend placing any bets... not until we see some more of those juicy Apple leaks.

[Via Electronista]

According to reports, Apple is encouraging its retailers to stock up on more popular models of laptops and iPods as supplies from the factory are expected to slow in August. Usually, when Apple issues warnings such as these, it is because production is being scaled down in preparation for a product update.

The memo suggests retailers order three weeks worth of stock for laptops and four weeks of iPods. This would place the product refresh around the end of August or early September, which is right around when Apple usually announces its iPod line refresh (usually either July or September).

What are the rumor mills predicting for this latest product update? Everything from a return to the narrow form factor for the Nano (which is good -- that squat thing the company released last year is quite hideous), to glass touchpads and custom chipsets for the MacBook and MacBook Pro. We're sure the Internet will kick in to full-on Apple rumor frenzy soon, and we'll bring you every bad Photoshop mockup and cockamamie theory out there. [Source: TUAW]

It's no shock that Apple plans to update the MacBook Pro sometime soon, and these casing designs are starting to look like the real thing. AppleInsider says that it has received confirmation that the leaked images are in fact authentic, and we can safely say that the new design will include some minor, yet welcome design tweaks.

Of most interest is a release latch that provides access to both the battery and hard drive. AppleInsider speculates that the easy HDD access could lead to an available SSD for the MacBook Pro, which would only make sense. Finally, the illuminated Apple logo remains, and a more tapered design a-la MacBook Air is in the cards. [Source: AppleInsider]

Not content to sit back and bask in the praise for Leopard, Apple has given its MacBook line a bit of a freshening. None of the specs are a huge boost, but they will bring some welcome performance increases to the slick portables, and, like so many of Apple's surprise updates, will be enough to make anyone who purchased last week wish they'd waited.

All the MacBooks have moved to the Santa Rosa architecture. This is a new(er) offering from Intel that offers a better blend of performance and power efficiency for mobile computers.

More important, though, is the shift to a new graphics processor, the GMA X3100, which should offer much better performance in games and other graphics-intensive applications than the GMA 950 processor found in older MacBooks.

Finally, the MacBook Pro series top speed has been upped to 2.6-gigaherz from the previous 2.4-gigaherz, though that upgrade comes at a $250 premium. The base MacBook still starts at a quite economical $1,099. The MacBook Pro starts at $1,999, though if you want that 2.6-gigaherz chip, you'll have to spend at least $2,749.

So, if you were thinking of moving on to a new MacBook, now would probably be a good time -- before Apple upgrades again and you're one of the poor suckers who bought a week too early.

From Engadget

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