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Apple rolls out new MacBooks, drops prices
- axod 17y agoThe addition of an SD slot is awesome. Much more useful than the current expansion flap thing which I don't even know what you plug in there :/
- pavlov 17y agoOf course the SD slot is not a very welcome change to people who have stuff that plugs in that "flap thing", because now the MacBook Pro apparently doesn't have any means of internal expansion. (Why is it called Pro again?)
- DLWormwood 17y agoThe top of the line 17" still has the ExpressCard slot. Apparently, SD's the new floppy after all, instead of USB thumb drives.
- axod 17y agoI wonder how long we'll still have CD/DVD drives. I've used mine maybe twice :/ Would much rather just have a bigger battery there TBH.
- ori_b 17y agoMy current laptop (Fujitsu T2010 tablet) doesn't have one. The only time I missed it was for installing Linux - I had to borrow a USB drive from a friend. Next time I'll probably just figure out how to put the installer on a USB key.
- pj 17y agoYeah, I used my cdrom drive on my macbook pro about 3 times. Now I need it and it's broken. But I have .ISO's and I can just mount those as a drive, so really the drives are obsolete already. I'd rather see that space dedicated to horsepower.
- DLWormwood 17y agoThen gripe to Steve Jobs (or whomever), he was the one who convinced Apple engineers to remove the dual hotswap bays that used to be standard on the PowerBook line around the time of the marketing transition to "MacBook." A user used to be able to forgo a optical drive to have a second battery installed...
- joeyo 17y agoI've always gotten the flip up SD cards for this reason-- it works works every place an SD card works, then you flip it and it works like a USB stick. Of course the proliferation of mini and micro SD cards has lessened the effectiveness of this plan...
- DLWormwood 17y ago> Of course the proliferation of mini and micro SD cards has lessened the effectiveness of this plan... Not really, it might be hastening it. You can get housings for mini and micro cards that work with full size SD slots, and USB housings that convert the smaller cards into a plug-in drive. I wouldn't be surprised if there's one out there that does both.
- GHFigs 17y agoAccording to the keynote, Apple found that only 1% of users were using the ExpressCard slot.
- pavlov 17y agoAccording to market share statistics, less than 1% of computer users have a MacBook Pro.
- jonknee 17y agoWhich would make it even less of a big deal, applying to less than .01% of computer users.
- access_denied 17y agoLike when with the C64 no one uses the "Expansion Slot" or the Rastport or the PCMIA-Card Slots for the Amiga. The only successfull 'flap thing' was the MIDI on the Ataris.
- DenisM 17y agoIt costs only $25 to add an SD card reader into your express card slot: http://www.xpcgear.com/proexp7.html http://www.xpcgear.com/proexp7.html Apple probably did it so save costs and save space for the bigger battery. These look like fine machines for someone who is buying a new mac, but offer hardly a reason to upgrade from any recent model.
- agocke 17y agoIn fact, it looks worse. Previously, Apple had high end portable machines for the true power users among us. I've had two generations of Apple Intel laptops because I wanted an easy to maintain Unix system. This announcement makes me very disappointed as it appears that Apple is unifying the two sectors in order to cut costs. The hardware quality is still probably superior to most competitors, but this isn't the bleeding edge kind of stuff I expect from top of the line Apple hardware.
- mbreese 17y agoI don't know about that... it looks like they are bringing the older non-metal macbook back to prominence. And they are moving the metal 13" to the macbook pro line, which is where it always belonged anyway. The 13" model straddled the line ever since they went unibody with it. Now they are firmly picking a side.
- carbon8 17y agoI understand why people want the card slot, but the number of people who actually used it must be miniscule (which was apparently confirmed in the keynote). Hell, I've been using powerbooks and macbook pros for a decade for video, audio and programming, and I have been working mobile full time for years, and I still have never used the slot. I know musicians and video guys who have, but that was years ago, before widespread decent quality usb/firewire audio and video devices. Sure some people want it, but this isn't a big deal for the vast majority of users. Honestly, I find it incredibly strange that people still make the pro/consumer distinction. It's been a while now that even low end computers have been more than enough for most people, even most "pro" users. There are plenty of people out there working full time on low-end macbooks (though, in that case, often hooked up to a larger display). At this point, the ONLY reason I've been buying macbook pros rather than low-end macbooks is the screen size.
- whacked_new 17y agoThis, after 6 years of waiting since I started disregarding any laptop that cannot accommodate an internal SD slot, finally gives me a reason to look at the 13"! What took them so long?
- johnnybgoode 17y agoThe Apple site hasn't been updated with these and the online store is down. Doesn't Apple usually make sure the site has all of the new products right when they're announced?
- DLWormwood 17y agoNo. This is Apple's standard operating procedure; the site goes down for a few hours while the presentation is being done. (So that the site doesn't "scoop" the presenters.) The site should be back up soon after the show's over.
- johnnybgoode 17y agoThanks for the info.
- nicara 17y agoSlightly OT, but new iPhone (as mentioned in the OP article) as well. For those who feel like following the liveblog, http://live.gizmodo.com/ http://live.gizmodo.com/
- johnnybgoode 17y agoNow that the online store is back up, I see what they've done with the MacBooks. I thought they were going to discontinue the old white MacBook soon, but instead they've renamed the new one to make it a Pro. And now there's a 15" Pro with integrated graphics only, like the regular MacBooks.
- trjordan 17y ago"Apple also introduced a handy new feature called "Find My iPhone," designed to help iPhone owners who have misplaced their device. Lose the device under the sofa, and users will now be able to send the phone a message ordering it to make a sound. If the device has been stolen, it will now be possible to send an iPhone a command to erase its memory, so that sensitive information is not compromised. " I smell a security risk.
- DLWormwood 17y agoWhich is the bigger risk? To have somebody else steal your information without you being able to stop them? Or to have somebody destroy information on your own device, which you've likely had to load onto that device via a machine under your control anyways?
- dfranke 17y agoApple also introduced a handy new feature called "Find My iPhone," designed to help iPhone owners who have misplaced their device. Lose the device under the sofa, and users will now be able to send the phone a message ordering it to make a sound. What? Is this a parody?
- GHFigs 17y agoIt is a tie-in to Apple's $99/yr. MobileMe service. You can locate the phone on a map and remotely display a message or play a sound. http://www.apple.com/mobileme/whats-new/ http://www.apple.com/mobileme/whats-new/
- dfranke 17y agoAh, alright; that makes more sense. Journalism fail.
- ZeroGravitas 17y agoThe key missing element is that it will make noise even if in silent mode. Obviously just ringing a lost phone has been a standard "feature" since the first mobile was released.
- Timothee 17y agoBig drop in price for the MacBook Air too, especially for SSD: $1,799 with 128GB SSD which was the previous price with a regular hard-drive.
- johnnybgoode 17y agoThere was a rumor about new Air models at lower prices. Does anyone know if there are actually new models planned, or if this is what they should've said - same model, lower prices?
- Glide 17y agoAren't the processor speeds different now?
- johnnybgoode 17y agoYes, so I guess this is all they meant, not a major revision or addition.
- dchest 17y ago"Does anyone know if there are actually new models planned" Aren't we talking about Apple? :)