Worst Macworld Ever

[Rick Darge]

Where are my new Mac Pros?

Where are the new Mac Minis?

The new iMacs?


What a waste of time if you ask me..

[Justin Anderson]

So what DID they announce?

[Ethan Cooper]

Like Mom use to say, "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all."

Large media events and keynotes tend to get people's expectations up a bit too much. Maybe they should only save those for brand new products (like the iPhone when it was announced) from now on.

[N_Villers]

So what DID they announce?
A new 17" Macbook pro. But wtf -- no quad core processor, no new external HDD interface, same graphics option as the 15", non-changeable battery, no firewire 3400.

It does have few nice features -- expanded color gamut, anti-glare screen option, longer battery life, 8gb ram.

BUT apple seems more and more to be a consumer oriented company leaving the pro market to micros(shit)oft based computers. WTF apple - get it together. I so much wanted to replace my laptop stolen in July but this sucks. Mabye RED needs to reexamine its mac centric philosophy.

[Jeremy Neish]

I suspect many of those announcements are forthcoming earlier rather than later this year. I think Apple was tired of fitting somebody else's schedule (IDG/Macworld), and are sending that message home by announcing very little at this year's show and announcing they won't be doing Macworld anymore. (A mistake in my opinion).

Those products will be announced when they are ready. Just because they didn't announce much at this show, isn't a reason to jump ship.

[Brandon Fraley]

are the new mbp displays still 6 bit?

[NateWeaver]

But you won't be expecting much at the next Macworld, will you?

I think Apple is trying to get away from having these 1 or 2 events every year where a crapload of expectation is put upon them. These days, people expect crazy things from them. They know they need to put a stop to that. Expectation management.

I believe Red has had to do a little of that as well with the recent product announcements.

[Andrew Walker]

Why the hell a built in battery. If the 17'' was water proof I could see something like that being useful.

[Brandon Fraley]

Why the hell a built in battery. If the 17'' was water proof I could see something like that being useful.

they say in the video that the battery being built in, is what allows it's large capacity.

[Wil Klassen]

but it'll set you back $179 when it comes time to replace it, plus time without the MBP when its in being worked on. Seems like the build in battery (and all ports on the left side?) is going to be a deal breaker.
http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2009/01/apple_confirms_179_battery_swap_cost_for_17_macboo k_pro.html

[Brandon Fraley]

why no FW400?

[Jay A. Kelley]

A new 17" Macbook pro. But wtf -- no quad core processor, no new external HDD interface, same graphics option as the 15", non-changeable battery, no firewire 3400.

It does have few nice features -- expanded color gamut, anti-glare screen option, longer battery life, 8gb ram.

BUT apple seems more and more to be a consumer oriented company leaving the pro market to micros(shit)oft based computers. WTF apple - get it together. I so much wanted to replace my laptop stolen in July but this sucks. Mabye RED needs to reexamine its mac centric philosophy.

Bang on Microsoft all you want, but you're screaming for Mac to get it together and you have nowhere else to go until they do. As for RED being mac centric, look around.. That's not what I see.. What I see is a big release with Adobe Premiere and native plugins that are being worked on as we speak. I see Cineform allowing real time 2K or better with 4:4:$ bit depth.

No my friend, RED was mac FIRST not mac centric.

Vista sucks. No doubt about it. Even Microsoft admitted it. They learned.. I feel strongly things will improve.

Me? I'm still on XP :)

Jay

[Ivan G]

It's been down hill ever since. I've been watching the shows since 2000 and they would reveal all kind of goodies! I even remember that one of the shows were aired live on satellite. I've said it before and I'll say it again, Apples focus has been ipods and phones for sometime now. Pro market doesn't look priority at the moment.

New mac book pro and still no blu-ray? That's not consumer enough for you? WTF!

[NateWeaver]

why no FW400?

Because you can get FW800 to FW400 cables.

[Andrew Walker]

It's been down hill ever since. I've been watching the shows since 2000 and they would reveal all kind of goodies! I even remember that one of the shows were aired live on satellite. I've said it before and I'll say it again, Apples focus has been ipods and phones for sometime now. Pro market doesn't look priority at the moment.

New mac book pro and still no blu-ray? That's not consumer enough for you? WTF!

The blu-ray is an excellent point to bring up. Why is this nowhere to be found. Maybe next year when burners come down a little in price.

[Gunleik Groven]

My thoughts exactly. Where are the new MacPros....

[Jason Murphy]

The blu-ray is an excellent point to bring up. Why is this nowhere to be found. Maybe next year when burners come down a little in price.

If you're being generous, it's because the drives are still too expensive and the security features are a pain to implement.

If you're being cynical, it's because Blu-Ray will be directly competing with iTunes' HD movie downloads.

[Matthew Rogers]

There's really no reason to have FW400 when FW800 to 400 works great. Now, only having 1 FW800 port sucks. I don't understand why Apple keeps pushing so hard to have the thinnest notebooks. Having a notebook that as thin as a piece of paper still doesn't help it fit on an airline tray table any better. Plus, it seems like the thinner they get, the more delicate they get. Now weight...that's a different story.

Matthew

[Andrew Kimery]

If you're being generous, it's because the drives are still too expensive and the security features are a pain to implement.

If you're being cynical, it's because Blu-Ray will be directly competing with iTunes' HD movie downloads.

And if you believe Steve Jobs it's because there are too many hoops to jump thru to license the technology.

Personally, my vote is for the 'cynical' option.


-A

[Martin Weiss]

Hey, but iPhoto now gets face racognition. And finally I can download videos that show me how to play the piano...

I think we'll see two types of announcements in the future - consumer and pro stuff. Today was clearly the former (where the most money is made).

[Jeff Kilgroe]

MacWorld looks pretty uneventful.. What a shame.

To those looking for updated Mac Pros, etc.. All this shows is that Intel is not ready with their new chips. Which that wasn't a secret. Kinda hard for Apple to announce new Mac Pro systems when the processors to put in them won't ship for another month or two, maybe, if all goes well.

Quad-core mobile processors are still 5 to 8 months away at best.

The new 17" MBP looks nice. I don't understand why people are upset over the built-in battery. It looks like a great concept to me. This allows for a larger capacity battery without affecting the structure of the system. And it's not like the battery can't be replaced, it's just not easily removable. Whothefuck cares anyway. I've only removed the battery from my MBP twice in the 2.5 years I've owned it. Once because I forgot to charge it and I borrowed one from someone else in a pinch and the second time was just a couple weeks ago when I took the damn system apart to upgrade the hard drive. The only thing I'm upset over with the new MBP systems is the lack of Blu-Ray drives. But this is all political as in iTunes vs. Blu-Ray content sales. I can't see that one any other way as there's no other good explanation I can come up with. Slimline internal BD drives are under $250 from LG and Samsung, both are suppliers of Apple's "SuperDrives". No reason a Blu-Ray drive can't be an upgraded configuration option, just like adding more RAM or a larger HDD. I bet we don't see Blu-Ray authoring in FCS3 either... If no, then I probably won't be buying FCS3.

[Kenneth Elkington]

And if you believe Steve Jobs it's because there are too many hoops to jump thru to license the technology.

Personally, my vote is for the 'cynical' option.


-A

This I think is actually a perfectly valid excuse. There is no group licensing agreement yet for the blu-ray standard, but it is forthcoming.

What I don't understand is the mac pro gripe. Honestgly, there's nothing to release yet. Xeon-flavored Core i7s aren't even out yet so Apple would be hard pressed to upgrade the mac pro.