Today’s announcements by Apple were good news for those waiting on updates to the MacBook, iMac, and the Mac Mini. All three were given major updates.

MacBook

The past few updates to the MacBook line have been uneventful, but that hasn’t stopped the MacBook from being the best-selling computer in the company’s history. The new design and $999 price point will probably insure that it stays that way.  Here are the basic stats:

iMac

The new iMac has undergone some nice changes. Both the 21.5- and 27-inch screens give it the feel of a home entertainment center, instead of a merely a desktop PC.  The standard hard drive on the high-end iMacs is now 1 Terabyte (TB). That’s a lot of room for downloaded video and music, but if it’s not enough, you can purchase the optional 2 TB drive and up to 16 GB of RAM.  The fastest 21.5-inch model has a 3.33GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 6MB shared L2 cache, while the fastest 27-inch iMac has the 2.8GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor with 8MB shared L3 cache. Remember that 2.8 is a QUAD-CORE chip. That’s some major number-crunching.

Mac mini

With either 2GB or 4GB of memory, Mac mini has twice as much memory as the previous generation. You also get a 2.26GHz or a 2.53GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, a blazing-fast 1066MHz frontside bus, and 3MB of L2 cache.

As usual, Amazon all the new goodies with no shipping charges (and no tax, depending on what state you live in!)

The New MacBook

The New iMac

The New Mac Mini

Looks like T-Mobile in the Netherlands spilled the beans on the specs for the iPhone.  Found this on Wired’s Gadget Lab, and it’s already been pulled from the T-Mobile site.  Here is the graphic that has now been edited to remove specific chip speed and RAM:

Rumors of an iPhone Nano and a new Mac Mini abounded before the 2009 MacWorld Expo, but they were just as absent as Steve Jobs.  This led to disappointment from some onlookers, but there was plenty of interesting new stuff.

Here were the main announcements from the keynote:

• iLife 09 announced. ability to tag your photos by places or face. Auto face detection.
• iMovie 09 announced
• GarageBand 09 announced includes some instrument instruction
• iWork 09 announced ships today
• iWork.com announced, An online sharing tool
• 17″ MacBook Pro announced, $2799 one configuration
• iTunes DRM free
  

A close second in the “Top Announcement” award goes to the iTunes announcement that all songs will be available DRM-free by March.  It’s about time.

My favorite announcement was the 17″ MacBook Pro.  With the thinness, the long battery life, and the screen real estate, this MacBook is miles beyond other laptops in its class.

Have been shopping around for a 500GB hard drive for backups, and stumbled upon this Rocstor Rocpro 225 at Amazon.com for $86.32, plus there is free shipping since it’s over $25.  I’ve heard great things about the reliability of this drive so this is a very good price (retails at $147).  Buy.com has it for $98 (which seemed cheap before I found it at Amazon).

Looks like Amazon as 2 left as of today–after I ordered one .

Features

Data Transfer Rate 480Mbps Maximum External Storage Capacity 500GB Manufacturer Rocstorage, Inc Rotational Speed 7200 rpm Interfaces/Ports 1 x USB 2.0 USB Manufacturer Part Number G155K2-01 Standard Warranty 2 Year Limited Form Factor 3.5″ External Hot-swappable Dimensions 1.6″ Height x 5.8″ Width x 8.7″ Depth Manufacturer Website Address www.rocstor.com Weight 2.9 lb Product Name Rocpro 225 Hard Drive Product Type Hard Drive

Tech Specs

Storage Capacity 500GB Data Transfer Rate 480Mbps Maximum External Package Contents Rocpro 225 Hard Drive Carrying Case Stand for Vertical Mounting Quick Installation Manual User Manual on CD USB Cable AC Power Cord Manufacturer Rocstorage, Inc Rotational Speed 7200 rpm Standard Warranty 2 Year Limited Form Factor 3.5″ External Hot-swappable Manufacturer Part Number G155K2-01 Compatibility USB 1.1 Plug n Play Manufacturer Website Address www.rocstor.com Dimensions 1.6″ Height x 5.8″ Width x 8.7″ Depth Interfaces/Ports 1 x USB 2.0 USB Brand Name Rocstor Buffer 32MB Product Line Rocpro Weight 2.9 lb Product Series 225 Product Name Rocpro 225 Hard Drive Platform Support PC Mac

New MacBooks are on the way.  This is not in question by most Apple observers.  The mysterious part regards the rumors of a new manufacturing process whereby the main shell of the laptop is created out of a “brick” of aluminum using lasers and water.

Another mystery revolves around the price point.  Duncan Riley is reporting at The Inquisitr that Apple will be releasing a sub-$800 MacBook.  This would be a great time for it and it may help Apple’s stock rebound in the midst of so much economic uncertainty.

Apple is expected to clear all of this up with an announcement some time this month.

Apple’s third quarter financial Conference Call on Monday once again proved their skill in using vagueness as a tool to create buzz.  Look for the mysterious product reference in the paragraph below…

We expect gross margin to be about 31.5%, reflecting approximately $23 million related to stock-based compensation expense, down from 34.8% in the June quarter. This sequential decline is expected due to three primary factors; first, the full quarter impact of the back-to-school promotion; second, a future product transition, which I can’t discuss today; and third, the one-time true-up of our contract manufacturer deferred margin that we realized in the June quarter.

Then there was more:

We are working to develop new products that contains technologies that our competition will not be able to match. I cannot discuss these new products, but we are very confident in our product pipeline.

- Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer, during Apple’s Q308 Financial Results Conference Call, July 21, 2008

“A future product transition” is all they are going to give us?  That’s just pure marketing genius.  So now the speculation begins (which is part of the fun, of course).

Look for one of the following from Apple in the next 60 days:

1. Revamped MacBook Pro.  Images have surfaced showing a possible new casing for the MacBook Pro, though these images don’t tell us very much.  The MacBook Pro is due for change, so this is probably the most likely of announcements for the next 60 days.

2. A Touch-Screen Mac.  I believe the rumors about the “MacBook Touch.”  The timing seems perfect for this kind of product from Apple and if anyone can pull it off, they can.

3. An Updated Mac Mini.  This one is least likely, but this is a product that is due for some excitement with a design change and perhaps some cheaper prices on Apple’s monitors to create an even more attractive bundle.

When Apple launched MobileMe last Friday, most of the focus was on the activation problems everyone was having with their new or newly updated iPhones.  However, the iPhone problems weren’t the only thorn in Apple’s side that day.  Many MobileMe subscribers were not able to login at all on Friday.  Others were couldn’t sync or found out that the “push” service, which was promised to push updated info on your calendar to all your devices instantly, was seeing a 15 minute delay on all your devices except the iPhone.

Fortunately, Apple made an announcement on Wednesday that acknowledged the problems.  With their apology they are “giving all current subscribers an automatic 30-day extension to their MobileMe subscription free of charge.”

This move is more evidence that Apple is still taking the right steps when it comes to taking care of their customers.  Anyone can search for and find horror stories on the Internet that are the exception, but the MobileMe situation makes it clear that they want to keep the masses happy, even after closing the sale.

Here is the email that MobileMe subscribers received:

We have recently completed the transition from .Mac to MobileMe. Unfortunately, it was a lot rockier than we had hoped.

Although core services such as Mail, iDisk, Sync, Back to My Mac, and Gallery went relatively smoothly, the new MobileMe web applications had lots of problems initially. Fortunately we have worked through those problems and the web apps are now up and running.

Another snag we have run into is our use of the word “push” in describing everything under the MobileMe umbrella. While all email, contact or calendar changes on the iPhone and the web apps are immediately synced to and from the MobileMe “cloud,” changes made on a PC or Mac take up to 15 minutes to sync with the cloud and your other devices. So even though things are indeed instantly pushed to and from your iPhone and the web apps today, we are going to stop using the word “push” until it is near-instant on PCs and Macs, too.

We want to apologize to our loyal customers and express our appreciation for their patience by giving all current subscribers an automatic 30-day extension to their MobileMe subscription free of charge. Your extension will be reflected in your account settings within the next few weeks.

We hope you enjoy your new suite of web applications at me.com, in addition to keeping your iPhone and iPod touch wirelessly in sync with these new web applications and your Mac or PC.

Thank you,

The MobileMe Team

If you have an iPhone and haven’t downloaded Remote, stop what you are in the middle of and do it now.

When I first read of the iPhone as a remote, I imagined a limited but functional remote control which would allow stopping/playing and skipping to previous or next song.

Remote goes a few steps further by allowing you to view playlists and control the volume. When a song is playing, it shows you the album art and the controls you need to go to any point in the song.

The only setup required involves having iTunes open and giving you a special code that you will need to type into iTunes to make the link to the iPhone. After that, you are ready to remotely control iTunes with your iPhone or iPod Touch.

The app requires Wi-Fi, and can control any iTunes-loaded computer on the network. It works great with a Mac, and I just confirmed that it also works on a Windows PC.  It’s available for free in the App Store.

Two terrific articles for those of you considering a move from a Windows PC to a Mac.

First, Walt Mossberg posted a helpful article with some basic tips to help a new Mac user who has been accustomed to the Windows way of doing things.  It’s at All Things Digital.

Second, if you want a more complete article about making the switch, Peter Bright is in the middle of a multi-part series at Ars Technica about his “conversion” from Windows to Mac.  If you want the behind-the-scenes story, including some Apple and Microsoft history, check it out.  It is lengthy, but so far it has been worth the read.

Without diving into the frustrations surrounding the activation problems that 99.9% of new iPhone owners experienced, I am glad to report that I now own a 16GB black iPhone 3G. Overall I am thrilled with it and don’t regret joining the line in Nashville at 5:45 a.m. yesterday morning. It was actually fun, thanks to my wife who came along and some terrific people next to me in line.

The iPhone 3G feels great in your hand, it’s size being a good balance between providing enough screen real estate and not being too large to carry around. The new iPhone design is not much different from the first version, but this one has even more of that intangible Zen-like quality to it.

The screen has the capability to be very bright. I’ve kept it at about 70% indoors, which is plenty of brightness for viewing photos, movies or the internet. When going outside, the auto-brightness feature cranks up the meter, and I was able to see my contact list without a problem.

The GPS is amazing. I tracked myself on the way home from work and it followed me perfectly. This feature alone is worth the upgrade!

3G is obviously much faster than the EDGE network, so the speed increase was clear. Safari loaded pages at a much more tolerable rate and Mail pulled in about 70 messages from my various accounts in a very short time. Surfing the internet on the 3G network will be a completely different experience for you if you currently have the original iPhone.

I’ve surfed enough of the App Store to realize that it will be a great addition to the iPhone experience. There are plenty of useful, free apps available to get you started along with others which can be had for a small charge (usually around the $3-$10 mark, though I’ve seen a one as high as $79.99).

The only negative was a problem I had with Wi-Fi which required a complete system restore. For some reason, the iPhone would not switch to a Wi-Fi network that I was clearly connected to already. Once I restored the original system and wiped it, Wi-Fi worked as advertised.

Now that the activation problems are over, get your hands on the new iPhone if at all possible. It’s some of Apple’s best work.