Apple Notebook Media Event October 14th.


Recommended Posts

nvidia_macbook.jpg

With a new MacBook announcement now just days away, speculation is unsurprisingly at a fever pitch as to exactly what Apple in store, and the folks at PC Perspective have now pieced together a few clues to whet your appetite in anticipation of the big event. Most of those are drawn from mounting evidence from the NVIDIA camp, including the image above that made an appearance on the company's website a few days ago and, most importantly, word that NVIDIA would be releasing its GeForce 9400 and 9300 chipsets based on the MCP79 integrated chipset design on October 15th (conveinently not stepping on Apple's toes the day before). The implication there being that the GeForce chipsets would replace the relatively underpowered integrated Intel graphics on the current MacBooks, with the new MacBook Pros supposedly getting an additional boost from a discrete G92-based mobility GeForce 9600. As PC Perspective points out, if true, that would be quite a coup for NVIDIA, especially considering that it wasn't all that long ago some were talking about it quitting the chipset business altogether.

Source: Engadget via PC Perspective

MacX.cn has posted a series of higher quality images of the new MacBook and MacBook Pro cases that were originally posted last week. While there had been some doubts about the details of the blurry photo, these new images show every angle of both the MacBook and MacBook Pro cases.

Additional photos depict the left, right, and underside of the cases. A few observations

- The optical drive appears to be on the right side (when facing the laptop)

- All the ports are on the left side (when facing the laptop)

- Case does not appear to be tapered like the MacBook Air

- Power button is in the far top right corner

- Large trackpad like the MacBook Air

- Appears to be "latchless"

Edited by kraized

The pics that are leaked only show the top and sides of the case. The bottom part of the case is separate and may be tapered like in the screenshot pic.

Well it's confirmed that both macbooks and pros are getting refreshed. http://download.info.apple.com/Apple_Suppo.../073-1223-A.pdf

Picture%201.png

Doesn't say very much asides from the fact that there is gonna be a new MacBook...

One of the most debated issues is the analysis of the ports on the side of the upcoming Apple laptops. The two laptop enclosures photographed actually show two different port arrangements, which has caused some confusion.

The larger (presumed MacBook Pro) enclosure contains an additional port which is believed to be a Firewire port:

035124-mbp_425.jpg

While the Magsafe connector is not shown on this image, the remainder of the ports are believed to be (from right to left): Ethernet, Firewire, USB 1, USB 2, Video Out, Audio Jack, Headphones, Express Slot, and possible additional port (covered by tape).

035124-mb_425.jpg

This photo of the presumed MacBook enclosure shows the following ports from (right to left): Magsafe, Ethernet, USB 1, USB 2, Video Out, Audio Jack, Headphones.

If these images are believed to represent the upcoming machines, that would mean that Apple has eliminated Firewire support from the MacBook. Firewire (also known as IEEE 1394) is a common method for connecting external hard drives and digital camcorders to Macs. One interesting possibility mentioned, however, is that the newest Firewire specification does allow for the use of Firewire over Ethernet connectors, but Apple would have to specifically support this implementation. If they did, then users could theoretically use Firewire devices using a special adapter to connect to the Ethernet plug.

Other points of debate which have not found any consensus include:

- The exact video out plug standard. Though it may simply be an Apple-proprietary plug that requires a special adapter.

- The presence of a possible additional port on the MacBook Pro enclosure. Some have suggested that this could predict the iMac docking station in which a notebook would slide into an iMac-shaped dock. While the presence of a right sided optical drive would fit nicely with this design, this possibility still seems improbable.

Today is the day...

2008-10-13mbpleak-4.jpg

2008-10-13mbpleak-5.jpg

Well, maybe -- we're not calling it official until Steve pulls the cloth off himself tomorrow morning . Still, there's no denying the similarities between this image and all those other case leaks we've seen, and the list of specs we've been given matches up as well -- that "metal and glass" enclosure now houses an NVIDIA GPU, but no FireWire 400, and video-out is apparently through a connector "more compact" than MicroDVI. We'll find out soon enough -- oh, and just to amp up expectations, Boy Genius says he's confirmed the existence of an $899 part number in Apple's retail systems. Counting down...

Update: Our source just hit us with another pic, this time from the side -- it's after the break. We're also told that there's not one, but two NVIDIA GPUs inside -- we're guessing an integrated / discrete setup like in the VAIO Z, but we'll find out for sure tomorrow.

Update 2: Our source just hit us again to say that it's two full-on NVIDIA GPUs -- sounds like a hybrid SLI setup to us, which is pretty wild. Wilder still, they say the MacBook and 17-inch MacBook Pro aren't getting refreshed tomorrow, which we find hard to believe, but we'll see when we see.

Engadget posts two photos of what appears to be the new MacBook Pro. The new Macbook Pro has a black bezel similar to the iMac. Also, of note is that there are no buttons on the MacBook Pro trackpad, indicating the use of a "tap" system instead....that "metal and glass" enclosure now houses an NVIDIA GPU, but no FireWire 400, and video-out is apparently through a connector "more compact" than MicroDVI.

There are said to be two NVIDIA GPUs inside, indicating both integrated and discrete graphics chipsets.

They have since updated and say that the MacBook and 17" MacBook Pro will not be refreshed tomorrow and that the notebook containts "two full-on NVIDIA GPUs". While no 17" MacBook Pro would not necessarily be a surprise, it's hard to believe the MacBook will not be updated tomorrow.

Update: Confirmed legitimate by AppleInsider.

MacNN adds more details and confirmation that the leaked MacBook Pro photos are legitimate. They are also able to add a few additional tidbits which tie together some of the circulating reports.

Most noteworthy is that the new MacBook Pro will support Hybrid SLI from NVIDIA. NVIDIA describes the technology:Hybrid SLI? technology, based on NVIDIA?s industry-leading SLI technology, delivers multi-GPU (graphics processing unit) benefits when an NVIDIA motherboard GPU is combined with an NVIDIA discrete GPU. Hybrid SLI increases graphics performance with GeForce? Boost and provides intelligent power management with HybridPower.

Such a configuration will also be beneficial when Apple introduces OpenCL with Snow Leopard in 2009. OpenCL will allow applications to offload processing to GPUs.

Other features described for the new MacBook Pros include speeds up to 2.8GHz, improved wireless connectivity, 7200 RPM hard drives, HD displays, 128GB SSD option, user-serviceable hard drive and an extra long battery.MacNN also confirms that Firewire will be a feature reserved for MacBook Pros and the MacBooks will not contain Firewire. However, they do believe that MacBooks will be announced during the event, despite a curious footnote by Engadget indicating otherwise.

Readers should note that the price list represents products currently in-transit to the Apple Store. As a result, those products should have near immediate availability. The low end MacBook appears to be absent from that list, which may mean it will not ship until later. At this point, we don't know what the price of the entry level MacBook will be.

Separately, we have heard that the new DisplayPort technology will support an adapter for Dual-Link DVI to be able to drive existing Apple's 30" monitors.

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Posts

    • Same Internet Archive seemed to grab the new version https://web.archive.org/web/20...d/Setup_MakeMKV_v1.18.4.exe
    • Windows 11 KB5094126, KB5093998 bugging out Office apps but it may not be Microsoft's fault by Sayan Sen Microsoft last week released Windows 11 KB5094126 and KB5093998 as the latest Patch Tuesday updates. Following that the company also published the accompanying dynamic updates under KB5094149, KB5095971, and KB5094156. Although the tech giant did not acknowledge any major problems, some users online reported various issues ranging from OneDrive and Dropbox access problems, BitLocker recovery lockouts, to blue screens and BSODs. You can read about them in this dedicated piece. While there is still no confirmation about those problems from Microsoft the company has admitted to another bug which we did not report on. The tech giant has confirmed it has received reports of an issue in which certain third-party applications may be unable to launch Microsoft Office apps or open Office documents after installing the Patch Tuesday. This affects both Windows 11 as well as Windows 10. The company says the problem impacts a subset of applications that rely on OLE (Object Linking and Embedding) automation to communicate with Microsoft Office programs. According to Microsoft, affected scenarios involve third-party software attempting to open Office applications or documents from within their own interface. In such cases, the Office program may fail to launch altogether, or the requested document may not open. Oddly there may not be any error message, which probably makes the issue difficult to diagnose. The bug affects several Office products, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, and other apps in the Microsoft Office suite when they are launched through the affected software. These include tax and accounting software such as CCH Engagement and Workpaper Manager, dental practice management solutions like Dentrix and Softdent, as well as the popular research and reference management tool Zotero. Microsoft adds that other applications using similar Office integration methods could also experience the same problematic behavior. To understand the issue it is important to look at OLE, the Microsoft technology involved. OLE allows different applications to work together and share data, while its Automation feature lets one program control another. Thus this enables third-party software to launch Microsoft Office apps, open documents, and perform tasks automatically without requiring users to switch between programs. Because many accounting, healthcare, research, and business applications rely on OLE automation to interact with Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and other Office apps, any disruption can break those workflows. As a result, affected software may be unable to open Office documents or launch Office applications even though the programs themselves continue to work normally. At the moment the company has not provided a permanent fix though it has confirmed that engineers are actively working on a resolution, which will be delivered through a future Windows update. As such additional details will be shared once more information becomes available. In the meantime, Microsoft recommends a simple workaround for affected users whic is to open the Office application or document directly rather than launching it through the third-party program. For enterprise customers and organizations managing larger deployments, Microsoft says an additional mitigation is available. Admins experiencing the problem on their managed devices are advised to contact Microsoft Support for business to obtain and apply the workaround.
    • It saddens me when cars are such dull colours now. Mine is bright metallic blue and I absolutely adore it for standing out in contrast to that depressing backdrop of traffic.
    • Sparkle 2.20.0 by Razvan Serea Sparkle is a free, open-source Windows optimization tool designed to make your PC faster, cleaner, and more private. With Sparkle, you can easily debloat Windows by removing unnecessary apps and services, disable Microsoft tracking to enhance privacy, and apply performance tweaks to boost speed. Its cleaner removes junk and temporary files, while every change is safe and fully reversible. Sparkle also features a modern, user-friendly interface with automatic updates, making system maintenance simple. Explore over 39 tweaks, from disabling telemetry and hibernation to optimizing network and game settings, all aimed at customizing and enhancing your Windows experience. Sparkle supports Windows 10 and 11. Sparkle 2.20.0 changelog: Debloat Tweak has animated border New homepage loading UI New Tweak Modal (Markdown Supported) Refactored GPU Detection Added Tests with vitest Added foobar2000 to apps Added Localsend to apps Updated Modal Styles Added styles for disabled inputs Added Animated Border to debloat-windows tweak Bumped dependencies Refactor System info logic for speed Tweak info modals now support Markdown Added Clear System info cache to settings Redesigned Home Page Loading UI Changed Some Icons around the app Download: Sparkle 2.20.0 | Portable | ~100.0 MB (Open Source) Links: Sparkle Website | Github | Screenshot Get alerted to all of our Software updates on Twitter at @NeowinSoftware
    • lol it was a typo, fixed! haha imagine an actual 4TB Gen4 NVMe for $40 in 2026
  • Recent Achievements

    • Reacting Well
      Dys Topia earned a badge
      Reacting Well
    • Conversation Starter
      NovaEdgeX earned a badge
      Conversation Starter
    • One Year In
      Console General earned a badge
      One Year In
    • Week One Done
      Twozo Technologies earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • One Month Later
      Twozo Technologies earned a badge
      One Month Later
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      517
    2. 2
      +Edouard
      184
    3. 3
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      106
    4. 4
      Steven P.
      88
    5. 5
      ATLien_0
      68
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!