World of Apple

MacBook

It would appear that Apple is heading into a period of multiple Mac refreshes, this week signs have appeared that Apple is likely to refresh the MacBook Air and rumours point towards a Mac Pro refresh. Now it is being reported that supplies of the white MacBook have become constrained at some third-party retailers.

Last refreshed in May 2010 Apple’s white MacBook is showing out of stock at a number of authorised resellers with may others reporting low inventory with no sign of any replenishing units.

In recent weeks no rumours have pointed towards any kind of MacBook refresh with attention focused on the upcoming MacBook Air refresh and the release of OS X Lion which is likely to occur towards the end of July.

In line with recent changes to other Macs, Apple will most likely add Thunderbolt connectivity to the MacBook; murmurings in from sources suggest that Apple will slash the current $999 price tag of the MacBook significantly.

White MacBook expected to be scrapped in upcoming refresh

Following on from intense speculation on when the MacBook Pro will see a refresh we are now presented with a selection of rumoured specifications. French site MacGeneration has published specs which are purported to belong to the new MacBook Pros:

• no more white MacBook (Apple goes back to two lines of 13″ inchers)
• 16 GB SSD mSATA drives on all models to store the system
• Core i3 and third USB port on the 13″ model
• Matte screen option on the higher-end 13″
• Option to replace the SuperDrive with a SSD on the 15 and 17″ models
• HD screens on all models : 1440×900 on the 13″, 1680×1050 on the 15″
• 200 to 300 grams lighter : 1.8 kg for the 13″, 2.3 kg for the 15″, 2.65 kg for the 17″
• Better battery life : 12 hours on the 13″, 10 hours on the 15″
• 8 GB of RAM on the 17″

The MacBook Pro update is widely rumoured to arrive this coming Thursday and will reportedly coincide with Intel announcing its new Light Peak data transfer technology. MacGeneration quotes another source who says that the new MacBook Pros will include a “new technology” which could possibly refer to the inclusion of Light Peak.

Previous rumours around the MacBook Pros from this week have looked at larger glass trackpads, some models weighing up to half a pound less and the reduction in number of models from six to five.

Apple has recently begun surveying MacBook Air owners on how and where they would use a 3G connection. The survey spotted by AppleInsider is an unusual tact for a company that almost always does internal research.

The survey questions are wide ranging and touches on many subjects including “use of USB ports and external disc drives, Web-based file storage and syncing, and use of certain function keys on the keyboard.” The survey also touches on 3G connectivity, something that is not currently present in any of Apple’s mobile computers.

Some of the questions related to 3G connectivity include, “In general, what would cause you to use a 3G connection instead of a wireless connection?” “What type of 3G connections do you use for your MacBook Air?” “How often do you use 3G with your MacBook Air?”

MacBook

Although leaked over the weekend by a Vietnamese website Apple has today quietly updated the low-end MacBook with a faster processor and update graphics capabilities.

The new polycarbonate MacBooks spec is:

• 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
• 2GB DDR3 memory
• 250GB hard drive
• 8x double-layer SuperDrive
• NVIDIA GeForce 320M graphics
• Built-in 10-hour battery
• Polycarbonate unibody enclosure

The new low-end MacBook is available immediately for $999 (£849).

The Vietnamese site Tinhte who posted last weeks second iPhone HD leak have posted images and a video (below) of an unreleased MacBook.

The MacBook packs a 2.4GHz processor, LED backlit display and NVIDIA 320M graphics and is presumably due for release in the coming weeks, possibly alongside the rumoured MacBook Air update.

The MacBook was last refreshed in October of 2009 with the addition of 7-hour battery life and a mulit-touch glass trackpad.

Last week it was rumoured that the MacBook Air would see an update, although the timeframe of that rumour has passed it is likely to occur within two weeks.

MacBook Air

If rumours are correct it looks like Apple will release a whole new line of notebooks later this month. The rumour from the Taiwan-based Apple Daily suggests that Apple will release new notebooks later this month whilst offering some specific details of updates.

Rumours of updates to the MacBook, MacBook Pro and MacBook Air have been circulating for several months whilst the report from Apple Daily claims that a constrained supply of 32nm Arndale parts was to blame for the delay.

Apple Daily also mentions that the update notebooks will likely offer drives up to 640GB or SSDs up to 248GB. Battery life will be pushed up to eight hours across the whole line. The article refers to the introduction of Intel i3, i5, and i7 processors earlier in the year but doesn’t assign any to particular models of MacBook.

Apple has begun a MacBook Repair Extension Program for Hard Drive Issues to repair or refund owners of black or white MacBooks sold between approximately May 2006 and December 2007 who have suffered faulty hard drive issues.

Symptoms are described as a flashing question mark on the screen at which point Apple will “examine the hard drive to confirm if it is eligible for a replacement, free of charge, under this program.”

More specifically the issue that seems to effect MacBooks with Seagate hard drives is said to only prevail on 13-inch MacBooks with a processor speed of 1.83GHz, 2GHz, or 2.16GHz and one of the following hard drive capacities 60GB, 80GB, 100GB, 120GB, or 160GB.

AirPort Client Update 2009-00 – 13MB

This update is recommended for all Macintosh computers running Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.2 and includes fixes for the following:

• Inability to turn AirPort on or off in some cases after upgrading from Mac OS X Leopard
• An occasional loss of network connection when using Wake on Demand
• Inability to create a computer-to-computer network, or share the Internet connection on some MacBook, MacBook Pro, and Mac mini computers

SuperDrive Firmware Update 3.0 – 18.4MB

This update will eliminate the noise made by the optical disk drive during system startup and wake from sleep on your Mac. This update works with the following EFI updates:

• iMac EFI Firmware Update 1.4
• Mac mini EFI Firmware Update 1.2
• MacBook EFI Firmware Update 1.4
• MacBook Pro EFI Firmware Update 1.8

MacBook Pro EFI Firmware Update 1.8 – 3.4MB

This update eliminates the noise made by the optical disk drive during system startup and wake from sleep on MacBook Pro computers. When installation is complete, please run Software Update again, and install SuperDrive Firmware Update 3.0.

MacBook EFI Firmware Update 1.4 – 3.1MB

This update eliminates the noise made by the optical disk drive during system startup and wake from sleep on MacBook computers. When installation is complete, please run Software Update again, and install SuperDrive Firmware Update 3.0

iFixit has posted complete galleries of tearsdowns for all the Apple products released earlier this week.

As with most teardowns, iFixit has discovered some key points about the products released this week.

27-inch iMac

• 27-inch iMac must be fully powered on to make use of the video in feature
• CPU and GPU situated on opposite sides of the machine, both with large heatsinks
• AirPort antenna is routed towards the large plastic Apple logo on the back, giving better signal strength
• Power supply is 310 watts, the largest used in any iMac ever

MacBook

• Battery offers 9% more capacity than previous generation 60wh vs 55wh but Apple claims a battery life of 7 hours versus the previous 5.
• Hard drive is no longer easy to replace, but can still be done.
• Bluetooth antenna is routed through the display housing.

Magic Mouse

• Touch area is from the Apple logo forward.
• Top of mouse is translucent.
• Uses the Broadcom BCM2042 “Advanced Wireless Keyboard/Mouse Bluetooth Chip.”

Mac mini

MacminiColo offers several side by side shots of the new Mac mini and Mac mini server introduced on Tuesday.

Apple today updated the MacBook with a new polycarbonate unibody enclosure featuring a brilliant LED-backlit display, a glass Multi-Touch trackpad and Apple’s innovative built-in battery for up to seven hours of battery life. The new MacBook is still available for $999 (£799).

“The new MacBook includes many of the great features found on the innovative MacBook Pro, such as an LED-backlit display, glass Multi-Touch trackpad and built-in long-life battery,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “With the only lineup of notebooks all featuring unibody enclosures, LED-backlit displays and long-life battery technology, there’s never been a better time to switch to a Mac.”

The new MacBook features a unibody, polycarbonate enclosure that makes it lighter and more durable. The new design includes a unique non-skid bottom surface and at just 4.7 pounds, the sleek MacBook slides easily into a backpack or briefcase. MacBook comes standard with a bright, LED-backlit display with the same wide-angle viewing technology used in the MacBook Pro line. The new MacBook has a 2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB RAM, a 250GB hard drive, and powerful NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics.

The new MacBook is available immediately.