Apple Intros 17" Unibody MBP, DRM-Free iTunes 1079
Phil Schiller delivered the keynote at MacWorld, the first after the Steve Jobs era of keynotes. Here is Engadget's live blog. The big news, predicted by many rumor sites, was the introduction of the unibody 17" MacBook Pro. As rumored, the battery is not removable, but it's claimed to provide 8 hours of battery life (7 hours with the discrete graphics): "3x the charges and lifespan of the industry standard." $2,799, 2.66 GHz and 4 GB of RAM, 320GB hard drive, shipping at the end of January. There is a battery exchange program, and there is an option for a matte display. The other big news is that iTunes is going DRM-free: 8M songs today, all 10+M by the end of March. Song pricing will be flexible, as the studios have been demanding; the lowest song price is $0.69. Apple also introduced the beta of a Google Docs-like service, iWork.com.
Darn... no Mac Mini update (Score:5, Insightful)
I was really hoping to see an updated Mac Mini.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Darn... no Mac Mini update (Score:5, Funny)
All my music is DRM-free, that's how I was able to get it :D
Re:Darn... no Mac Mini update (Score:4, Interesting)
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Darn... no Mac Mini update (Score:4, Insightful)
What the heck do you use PCI cards for these days anyway?
This isn't a flame/troll. I'm genuinely curious --- what functionality can be provided by a PCI(e) card that can't also be provided via USB or Firewire?
"Expensive laptop parts" doesn't really apply to the Mini. The price premium for USB devices over their internal equivalent is down to a bare minimum. SO-DIMM memory barely costs more than a full-sized DIMM, and replacing the 2.5" hard drive is largely irrelevant, given that you can just as easily add an external device if you really want more storage. Chipsets and CPU sockets change so frequently that you probably also wouldn't be interested in changing the CPU in any machine.
Graphics is the only thing that immediately comes to mind, and there are other ways to accommodate that scenario (socketed GPUs, or ignoring the problem entirely since macs don't really "do" games). I have a Mac Mini, and this is pretty much my only complaint.
Your last point also stands out particularly well. The average person doesn't care about expandability. The average laptop is barely expandable at all (I do have to penalize Apple here for making their laptops unnecessarily difficult to service), yet we see laptop sales dominating the "home user" segment of the market. Apple seems to have hit the "sweet spot" of price and features with the Macbook, which is the only logical explanation for why the things sell so well.
Re:Darn... no Mac Mini update (Score:5, Interesting)
"ignoring the problem entirely since macs don't really "do" games"
Unfortunately, I do games. So do a lot of other Mac users. Recently with the World of Warcraft expansion a lot of Mac users had to turn down their graphic levels to play the game acceptably. This is on fairly recent machines such as the previous generation Macbook Pros and iMacs. Sadly there is no upgrade path aside from getting a new Mac. I guess ultimately that benefits Apple.
I switched back to using my 2 year old PC because the performance was better with a more powerful video card.
Re:Darn... no Mac Mini update (Score:4, Insightful)
Wife acceptance. My wife is much more willing to accept a media centre PC if it is contained within a single box that fits nicely (physically and visually) into the hifi/video equipment stack. Having half a dozen cables coming out of it to various external USB boxes is likely to get it banished to the basement.
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
They are getting rid of the DRM. Only one wish at a time granted, buddy!
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Just checked it out. The prices of DRM free 256 Kb AAC are the same as 128kb DRM aac. so better quality and no drm and same price.
why are they still offering the DRM version??
perhaps there are some caveats. One assumes you are not supposed to give the un DRM versions out for free. but what about using them on more of your computers. perhaps the sale agreement has you agree not to use it on more than one computer at a time? even though nothing technical prevents you from violating the legal contract? O
Re:Darn... no Mac Mini update (Score:5, Funny)
I can just hear artifcats in 128 MP3, but not in 192kb MP3.
Couple more weeks with those earbuds and we'll fix that for you.
I said, COUPLE MORE WEEKS ....
Re:Darn... no Mac Mini update (Score:5, Insightful)
Indeed, not all of us Apple users have iEverything so we can play our AACs everywhere. Hell, my phone has problems with anything other than .mp3 but I wouldn't give it up for an iPhone.
You are aware that AAC is not exclusive to Apple, right? Even the Zune can play AAC-encoded files.
The parent of your post has a valid point in saying that some older players can't handle anything but MP3. But it seems to me that complaining about AAC because of Apple is analogous to saying "I'm sticking with VHS tapes because not all of us can afford those new Sony DVD players".
Re:Darn... no Mac Mini update (Score:5, Informative)
From the wikipedia aac article [wikipedia.org] some interesting entries:
Back in April 2007, wired magazine said that only 10% of mp3 players supported AAC [wired.com]. Nowadays if the freaking Nintendo DS and Sony PSP even support AAC, it's probably safe to say at least half of new MP3 players support AAC, if not more. It's starting to be come a industry standard along with mp3. Who woulda thunk it back in 2007.
Re:Darn... no Mac Mini update (Score:5, Funny)
Yes, but does iTunes run on Linux yet?
*ducking*
Re:Darn... no iPhone update (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Darn... no Mac Mini update (Score:5, Insightful)
How about a DOCK so that people who don't want to work all the time hunched over a laptop screen but DO want the convenience and reliability of a Mac laptop can work without having to place their laptop on a stack of paper reams to get it to eye level?
Frankly, I've never understood why any manufacturer of ANY laptop, Mac or PC, would make a desktop-replacement grade laptop with no way to dock it so you can comfortably work AT A DESKTOP!
Get a clue laptop makers!
Re:Darn... no Mac Mini update (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Darn... no Mac Mini update (Score:5, Insightful)
Monitor + USB Keyboard + wireless mouse >>> Dock
Re:Darn... no Mac Mini update (Score:5, Interesting)
No, docks are so you don't HAVE to waste time plugging and unplugging your monitor, keyboard, mouse, external speakers, USB/Firewire devices, Etc. Just slap down (or slide in) the laptop and fire it up. Business-class laptops have had and still have this feature. For some reason home PC users and Mac users don't get that option.
I have yet to hear a logical reason why beyond "well, you can just manually plug them in." Which isn't a good reason because it doesn't address the inevitable wear and tear (and breakage) on a port that constant removal and reattachment of connectors causes.
Heck, this is why Apple swapped to the magnetic power plug! Why are the rest of the connections less important?
Wireless (Score:5, Insightful)
Because with Apple the AirPort Express is your "dock", as most of what you're asking for can already be done wirelessly. Plug your speakers and your printer into your Express, and you're good to go the second you set your notebook down.
Use a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse. No wires. Do Time Machine backups to Time Capsule. No wires. Actual, physical wires are so... '80s.
Re:Wireless (Score:5, Insightful)
You have a wireless monitor? Where you get it?
Also wireless keyboards and mice use some kind of battery. Which has a bad habit of dying at the worst time. At your office, having a monitor, corded keyboard, and mouse is not out of the realm of possibilities. Being able to go in your office/cube slide in or drop in your laptop. Turn it on and use the regular keyboard, mouse, and monitor is a very good thing. I know a few people that dual monitor their docked laptops while at work.
And exactly is a wireless network your dock? And as others have said, wireless doesn't always cut it for work functions.
Re:Darn... no Mac Mini update (Score:5, Informative)
Heck, this is why Apple swapped to the magnetic power plug! Why are the rest of the connections less important?
They swapped to the magnetic power plug to prevent the problem of people tripping over the power cord causing the laptop to fly across the room.
Apple does offer a close solution if you buy one of their new displays, it comes with a cable that splits to three connections for the laptop: power, display, and USB (goes to a built in USB hub).
The thing you forgot is that lots of docs were used to extend the number of ports available on the laptop, I remember one I had that contained an additional 5 ports (not including display, keyboard, mouse, and ones already present on the laptop) on the dock, so you could plug it in and get it all. There was even an option on mine to have expanded ram on the doc for the laptop to use.
Re:Darn... no Mac Mini update (Score:4, Insightful)
Ok, so you want to force everyone to have yet another port on their laptop that adds to the weight and style just so that they can doc their laptop in one or 2 seconds less.
You claim that the monitor and USB ports are going to get messed up over time but the docs port will likely suffer the same fate.
Yes, docs are ok for business users who use the machine at their desks 90% of the time but Id be that mac laptops are used off of desks more often than on desks. Apple is simply targeting the needs of their users and that means a 2 second inconvenience for the minority.
If a doc really means that much to you, buy a laptop with a doc, but I think the market has show that the majority of users don't really care that much.
So,no more DRM (Score:4, Funny)
What are people going to whine about now?
Re:So,no more DRM (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:So,no more DRM (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:So,no more DRM (Score:4, Insightful)
The _highest_ price is $1.29, and they claim "more songs will be $0.69 than will be $1.29".
Either way with DRM free music the consumer benefits.
Re:So,no more DRM (Score:5, Interesting)
That's about what I'd expect. Karaoke songs, cover bands, independent bar bands, etc, will all probably have their stuff at $0.69. There's no shortage of that stuff on iTunes. The really old (but still not major) mainstream songs will likely be $0.99.
Everything with a bit of popularity and all the new released I'll bet will be $1.29.
Re:So,no more DRM (Score:5, Informative)
upgrading purchased music (Score:5, Informative)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
According to the keynote, this will be easily done. When they went DRM-free for the EMI catalog, iTunes offered an option to pay the (then) 30 cent price difference per track and upgrade all songs that you had previously bought.
Re:So,no more DRM (Score:5, Insightful)
This was a fairly nice development. Let's not cloud it with pointless conspiracies.
BTW, Apple, by definition, can't "sell out". Thanks for playing though.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Perhaps not. I don't think they want any one online music store to have a big enough market share where the retailer can more or less dictate the terms and conditions of online music sales. By continuing to offer favorable terms to Amazon, WalMart*, and friends, they can potentially keep iTunes from having the monopoly they used to.
On the ot
Staying with DRM isn't pro-consumer (Score:5, Insightful)
I'm sorry you don't like higher prices. But you finally own what you buy. If you're still concerned about ITMS's prices, you really shouldn't have been using them in the first place as they've always been outrageously expensive.
-B
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:So,no more DRM (Score:5, Insightful)
In the real world, everything has different prices depending on demand.
In the real world, products are both rivalrous and excludable. Downloaded music is neither.
Re:So,no more DRM (Score:5, Insightful)
I just want to make the point that Bohemian Rhapsody should be free, considering it entered the moral public domain in 2003 (released in 1975, 28 year copyright term). It's high time our community codified our disdain for perpetual copyright by insisting on a moral public domain.
The Birdie Song (I had to look it up) was released in 1981, so we moral people should continue to pay for it (or better, not listen to it) until sometime later this year on the anniversary of the release date.
Re:So,no more DRM (Score:5, Insightful)
Queen, through talent and hard work, created Bohemian Rhapsody. "The public" did nothing to contribute to this, aside from existing, which I suspect they'd do whether Queen made music or not.
What the public did was allow Queen to have exclusive rights to the song for a finite amount if time. If Queen was so intent on limiting others' use of the song, they should have kept it to themselves. It's not like the monopoly granted by copyright is somehow the natural state of things. The public exchanged copyright protection of the work for unfettered access to the work one it started "getting old". Bohemian Rhapsody is now effectively a part of our culture and Queen was payed an enormous sum of money and fame in exchange for it.
Re:So,no more DRM (Score:5, Insightful)
Maybe, maybe not. Do you think the labels would want DRM-free music? Doubtful. My guess is that amazon only got the deal they did without DRM because Apple was doing so well and wouldn't play ball on the tiered pricing. What if the labels only could concede DRM-free music if Apple gave in on the tiered pricing? It's not an unequivocal victory but if I had to choose I'd much rather have tiered pricing and DRM-free music than DRM-ed music and non-tiered pricing. Now if they'd just let me get the songs off my ipod using iTunes and not having to resort to third party software I'll be happy.
I haven't bought a single song from the iTunes music store because of DRM, I might actually consider it now.
Re:So,no more DRM (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:So,no more DRM (Score:4, Insightful)
It's great to see competition in the market for DRM-free music. Until now, the only DRM-free option with a comprehensive catalog was Amazon. I've been using Amazon for a while, and there are definitely some significant pros and cons:
It will be interesting to see if the advent of competition encourages both Apple and Amazon to improve.
Re:So,no more DRM (Score:5, Informative)
The press release at http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2009/01/06itunes.html [apple.com] claims "... in April, based on what the music labels charge Apple, songs on iTunes will be available at one of three price points--69 cents, 99 cents and $1.29--with many more songs priced at 69 cents than $1.29."
This would seem to indicate that the average price should fall, and that there will be no $2.50 tracks.
Re:So,no more DRM (Score:4, Insightful)
Where do you7 get 2.50 from. .69, .99, 1.29
Probably based on download popularity. That's just a guess.
However you do accidentally make another point: People will continue to make shit up so they can whine.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
There will be three prices: $.69, $.99, and $1.29.
According to the keynote, there will be more tracks priced at $.69 than at $1.29.
Re:So,no more DRM (Score:5, Insightful)
Considering that recent stats. show that less than 10% of the full catalog make 90% of the sale volume, price those at 1.29, 70% at 0.99 and the remaining 20% at 0.69 just to show some goodwill, and everyone will pay an higher price.
You will pay more, unless you really are into those rather odd songs.. ;)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
There are a number of words in your post that the average consumer will not recognize, nor care about: FLAC, AAC, OGG, RockBox, Amarok, Magnatune, etc.
Until the masses care, most capitalists will not.
Karl Popper would disapprove... (Score:4, Funny)
3x the charges and lifespan of the industry standard
This is a completely unfalsifiable statement. A Mac user wouldn't be caught dead with this model once the new 17.1" Macbook Pro comes out in six months. No one really knows how long any Apple product "could" last.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
The longest battery life I've ever had -- and I still miss it -- was around 12 hours, even 15. It was a 10" Sharp subnotebook, with a small battery that lasted maybe 3 hours, and a much larger battery (probably weighed more than the notebook) that lasted nine to twelve hours.
Even if you adjust for the fact that I was running Gentoo, I still wasn't likely to get less than 9 hours, even with the thing compiling a lot.
Of course, it was less convenient -- I had to hibernate, swap batteries, and resume. When I h
Re:Karl Popper would disapprove... (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm sure it won't force you to get a new computer. First of all, the new battery is supposed to last much, much longer, so it'll be more like 5 years before you're in the same boat. And if you still want to keep this machine 5 years from now, you can probably take it to a service location to have the battery changed, like Apple does with iPods.
Re:Karl Popper would disapprove... (Score:4, Informative)
Good news, it said right in the keynote they will have a battery replacement program. It can be replaced, just not by you.
Re:Karl Popper would disapprove... (Score:5, Informative)
you can probably take it to a service location to have the battery changed
That's a good point, if I know that the battery can be replaced, I have no problem with the new system, but I can't buy it if I don't know for sure...
<sarcasm>No, the battery is welded to the uni-body laptop frame, to replace the battery costs $4k and your left arm.</sarcasm>
iPods, iPhones, etc. all have enclosed "non-removable" batteries that can be replaced, either through Apple themselves or through third-party replacement kits. The Apple Air laptop has a similarly non-removable battery that can be replaced (only 7 screws between you and the battery, not bad). I really don't think Apple will go to great lengths to make it impossible so it should be similar to iPods and the rest.
Re:Karl Popper would disapprove... (Score:4, Informative)
Without trying to be too snarky or anything, it might help to Google for a few seconds before posting FUD.
Here are all the details for the MacBook Air [apple.com], and I would expect them to be very similar for the new MacBook (that is, $125 for same-day service with appointment at an Apple Retail Store and 3-4 days + shipping time by mail). The price could conceivably be higher because of the new technology, but even 2x the price isn't that bad if the battery really lasts 5+ years as is claimed.
Re:Karl Popper would disapprove... (Score:5, Insightful)
They stated it can be charged 1000 times. That means if you use your laptop every day you will need a new one in 2.7 years.
No, that means if you *charge* your laptop battery every day you'll need one that often (I didn't check your math, but that's not my point). If you use your laptop as a desktop replacement, as many Apple owners seem to do (especially that big honkin' 17" we're talking about), it's probably plugged-in all the time, and I'm hoping that Apple made it not recharge the battery all the time it's plugged in, so it may last much, much longer than that. It depends on how you use it. Not that I'm defending the idea of a non-removable battery (I think it's completely asinine), but let's not go overboard.
I'm more a fan of the ThinkPad way of doing things - one big main battery, with a removable optical drive that you can replace with a second battery. Now *that's* giving a user options.
1000 recharges only drops it to 80% (Score:5, Informative)
Most of the news reports are not getting the complete picture. Apple have posted a dedicated battery page [apple.com] that talks about it in more detail. Here's the paragraph that expands on the 1000 charge info:
So it's not 1000 recharges and then throw it away!
wrong. wrong wrong (Score:5, Insightful)
They stated it can be charged 1000 times. That means if you use your laptop every day you will need a new one in 2.7 years.
if you use it every day, including saturdays and sundays, FOR 8 HOURS A DAY, then in 2.7 years, the battery will be down to an 80% charge or 6.4 hours. Which is longer than your current 5 hour battery lasts.
I seriously doubt many users use a computer 7 days a week, soley on batteries for 8 hours a day!
finally you can replace the battery. There's just no simple pop-out mechanism. But unscrewing the case once in the life of a computer is not a big deal.
Additionally Apple care will cover the battery for 3 years-- that's not something you get on most warantee contracts.
Battery?! (Score:4, Insightful)
Come on, it isn't that hard to make a user removeable battery. Just do it -- people want it. It is a freaking laptop!
Re:Battery?! (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Battery?! (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Battery?! (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Bunk! (Score:5, Insightful)
Well for one, the battery compartment takes space. External shielding takes up space. Most of all, the battery has to be a certain shape to fit into and out of a laptop .
Take a look at any laptop battery. They can't be the footprint of the entire laptop because there would be no way to install it. They have to be brick shaped. By making the battery non-removable, the battery can be optimizied to take as much space internally as it needs. If you at the MacBook Air [anandtech.com], you'd see that 2/3s of the internal space of the machine is battery. You can't do that with a removable battery.
Re:Bunk! (Score:5, Insightful)
How does the fact that it is not removeable affect its shape by 40%?
Here's a hypothetical cross section:
Traditional Laptop:
Laptop Case - Battery Case - Battery Cells - Battery Case - Laptop Case
1mm + 1m + 3mm + 1mm + 1mm
MBP:
Latop Case - Battery Cells - Laptop Case
1mm + 3mm + 1mm
Overall thickness reduced by 2mm. The "Battery" part is reduced from 5mm to 3mm, saving 40%, by not having to give the battery a redundant plastic shell.
The only way I could see that happening is if the battery was the size of a watch battery. After all, all you need to do to make a battery removeable is install some contacts (which would have to exist in some form or another anyways) and a latch mechanism (which could be just a simple screw).
Not really a valid example. Comparing the can requirements of a 1 volt battery that delivers milliamps to a 10-14Volt 1-3amp battery. The much larger and more powerful battery needs more insulation and rigidity etc to prevent it from shorting out, catching fire, exploding, etc. In the MBP this is taken care of by the laptop case. In a removable battery, the battery has to have its own suitable enclosure.
Remember "40%" may seem like a lot, but we're talking about a laptop that's only a dozen mm thick. Removing a couple mm thickness from a single part is a BIG deal.
Re:Battery?! (Score:5, Insightful)
Well, it depends how much volume you use having to create a bay for the battery, with walls to cut it off from internal components, then a way to hold the battery in, so tabs on one side and a mechanism on the other to latch it in (or some other metod to hold it in there), then a study connection point for the terminals inside this bay.
Now you have to engineer your removable battery to be more sturdy than an internal one only (since it has to be able to easily survive in a computer bag, or through repeated handling that an internal-only battery doesn't have to be so concerned with, since it has the external case to protect it and is not subject to removal and handling as often.
Also now, you can create a very oddly-shaped battery to fill awkward spaces that would otherwise be wasted if you had to use a more conventional shape that is easy to remove (and more difficult to damage).
So all together you have a battery that has a) less duplicated protective casing (battery itself and battery bay in laptop), b) capable of being moulded into odd shape to take advantage of extra space, c), no need for latches and other components to hold the battery in and enable it to interface with the DC board (you can just have it fixed inside the case with a smaller system, and just have a couple of flying leads and a simple IC plug to mate it to your power system - no need for quick release terminals.
As soon as these things go on sale you know someone is going to take it apart and see what they've done inside the case. 28% more volume doesn't sound outlandish when you can dispense with a lot of the compromises you have to make when the computer itself has to be designed around the battery being removable - the battery might be really thin and sandwiched very intricately around all the components, which have now been able to spread out a little since there's no defined battery bay any more.
Re:Battery?! (Score:4, Informative)
Removable batteries don't have to be sturdier anywhere other than the connector and one side of the outer casing. The material for any lithium-based battery pack is going to have to be resilient anyway to withstand the heat and pressure the battery will be subjected to in u
You clearly have no clue. Naked lithium batteries are very easily punctured. So, no, you don't just need sturdiness on "one side" of the battery casing. You need protection all around. It sounds as if you've never actually seen a removable laptop battery. They are well armored - they'd be getting sued for all kinds of accidents if they weren't. And that casing, and the connector, takes up a lot of space. I'm not sure what bizarro world you are living in where sturdy casing and connectors don't take up space.
Re:Battery?! (Score:5, Informative)
You should look at the x-ray images they showed. You do indeed lose even more that 30% of your space. And this is pretty obvious too since the fill factor for cyllinders is on that order. They went to flat pack batteries.
So they not only made the battery last longer but it also is thinner.
Re:Battery?! (Score:4, Informative)
Yes you do, you are not thinking of all that is needed to make a battery removable.
ALL OF THE ABOVE TAKE SPACE!!! Space that is free to be used for a bigger battery if the it is non-removable.
Re:Battery?! (Score:5, Informative)
Math correction... 1cm = 10mm
Original dimensions: 200mm x 100mm x 15mm = 300,000 cubic mm
less 2mm in each dimension: 198mm x 98mm x 13mm = 252,252 cubic mm = 47,748 mm^3 lost, a loss of ~16%.
Still considerable, but not 40%.
Re:Battery?! (Score:4, Informative)
To back this up, the video clearly shows the volume gained by not making the battery removable. I've taken screenshots of schematics a laptop with a removable and with a built-in battery. They increased battery volume by 40%.
screenshots here:
http://gallery.me.com/mllaneza/100021 [me.com]
Ok, I haven't seen a me.com gallery recently, I'm kinda impressed.
Re:Battery?! (Score:5, Insightful)
Come on, it isn't that hard to make a user removeable battery. Just do it -- people want it. It is a freaking laptop!
I recall people complaining a lot louder when they lost their floppy drives, LPT ports, RS232, ADB/PS2, etc. Nobody's stopping you from keeping your old laptop, getting one on ebay etc.
I have the previous gen 17" MBP and have never needed to remove the battery except to upgrade RAM/HD. I'd happily trade the feature in exchange for more internal charge capacity.
Well two ways to look at it (Score:5, Insightful)
One is that you do save some space by integrating the battery. There is a non trivial amount of extra material for making it removable since it had to be in it's own enclosure and such. So one could claim that is was done to either decrease size, or to increase capacity (by having larger cells).
The other is that this makes the device much more disposable. Apple is in the hardware market, they make their money on buying new gadgets. It would be best for them if people viewed the gadgets as disposable and simply tossed them after a few years.
Re:Battery?! (Score:5, Insightful)
If it makes the laptop smaller and lighter, some poeple (myself included) happily will give up a replaceable battery.
Thinking back over the last 15 years for the seven or eight laptops I've owned (two Mac, the rest various brands of Linux/Windows laptops) I've bought a new battery I believe twice, both as replacements not secondary batteries.
I've never carried two at a time so I could swap one when it was dead.
Apple isn't a stupid company. They wouldn't make that change if they didn't believe that loud-mouth-whiners-aside, it would impact sales in the least.
Case in point -- they dropped Firewire from the MacBook. That means you can't use your family's DV or HDV camcorder anymore with a MacBook to use the new iMovie to edit your videos... and yet sales took off of the new laptop. That feature excluded that laptop from my consideration, but the fact that I don't like it doesn't mean it wasn't the right decision for them.
Just because you don't like a fixed battery doesn't mean "people want it" or it was a bad decision.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
If you want a removable battery, then don't buy an apple. Buy a Dell, since they have that nifty system where you can plug a battery in to the drive bay giving you two batteries. That also means you can have a big stack of batteries and you can keep on hot-swapping them all day long, since you can hot-swap either of the batteries without losing power.
I suspect other manufacturers so this too.
We're being weened of MacWorld (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
In fact, all the important announcements will come direct from Apple PR events, probably on this new schedule:
April for new Mac Pros and iMacs
June for new iPhones (during WWDC)
September for new iPods
October for new MacBooks
slashvermacment. (Score:3, Funny)
It is extremely important that Slashdot apprise us of every new product coming from Apple Corporation, in near-realtime fashion.
Please slashdot, tell us more about Steve Jobs' health, Apple Corporation mythology, and Mac purchasing opportunities!
Re:slashvermacment. (Score:5, Insightful)
It is extremely important that Slashdot apprise us of every new product coming from Apple Corporation, in near-realtime fashion.
Please slashdot, tell us more about Steve Jobs' health, Apple Corporation mythology, and Mac purchasing opportunities!
Usually I'd agree with you but this news about DRM is pretty important because it completely changes the dynamic of the music industry in relation to the Internet considering iTunes recently surpassed Walmart in music sales. That is clearly stuff that matters and if you can't see that you're geek license should be revoked on your way out.
17" Macbook (Score:3, Insightful)
I simply cannot fathom why Apple keeps making these things without a number pad. If I'm going to lug around the weight of a 17" I feel like a proper keyboard with keypad is a must, especially since almost all of the other brands have no trouble fitting one in.
The weight on this thing is mighty impressive though, I'm not familiar with any 17" laptop that is only 6.6 lbs. Of course, I'm not sure if it's worth the trade-off of not having a removable battery.
Re:17" Macbook (Score:5, Informative)
" simply cannot fathom why Apple keeps making these things without a number pad. "
Probably because the number pad prevents the QWERTY keyboard from being centered.
Should have better video then 9600m for a $2700+ s (Score:5, Insightful)
Should have better video then 9600m for a $2700+ system come on other laptops have SLI at that price.
And $1200 to go from 4gb to 8gb?
I hope apple has a big Superbowl ad to show off the other new hardware.
Re:Should have better video then 9600m for a $2700 (Score:5, Informative)
Well, with all Apple computers...it is best to buy them with minimal RAM, and put it in yourself from 3rd party purchase. Apple has pretty much always been a rip off when having them to upgrade the ram.
Sometimes CEOs are really worth the billions. (Score:4, Insightful)
You know, its pretty fashionable to argue these days that CEOs are just like everyone else, interchangeable parts that you can just get rid of. Steve Jobs isn't one of them, and I don't think Bill Gates was either, for that matter.
But, in the case of Steve Jobs, the dude could walk out onto a stage, show you a product, and you would think, wow, that's really brilliant.
Regardless of how Shiller is, he's not the guy that founded Apple, beat developers into the ground trying to make a product better. Sometimes took the company into the ground chasing after a vision but a lot of times made a mountain of money chasing after the same.
You can't get the same vision from somebody who runs as a company as you can get from the guy that founded it. Even for CEOs, its just a job, but for founders, its a vision, and I'm going to miss the Apple of Jobs old, even as I miss the Microsoft of Gates the Evil.
Re:Sometimes CEOs are really worth the billions. (Score:5, Insightful)
That said, the opposite happens too; HP's stock shot up by billions the day Fiorina departed. So when my dad said, "Jobs proves CEOs are worth their pay," I had to disagree. You can't generalize like that.
Re:Sometimes CEOs are really worth the billions. (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Sometimes CEOs are really worth the billions. (Score:4, Insightful)
"Jobs proves CEOs are worth their pay,"
The Jobs-Fiorina comparison makes almost the opposite point seeing as Jobs's salary is $1 and Fiorina's was ~$8M
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Gates wasn't. He was the only one at Microsoft who could keep all the divisions working together. While the company was much too large for him to control by the end, he at least could make sure the company stayed on one road for the priority projects and that everyone's vision was the same.
Jobs runs a smaller company and has much more vision so in his case the loss is far worse.
So....what about TV? (Score:5, Interesting)
Two semi-glaring points:
-What about TV show and movie purchases? What level of DRM can be expected there (I don't know level of DRM applies now, so feel free to call me a clod who's talking out of an orifice other than stdout ). The verbiage seems to very carefully mention "songs" only, no other iTunes available media.
-What about my current iTunes song library? Will the DRM magically disappear with my next update? Do I need to download my library again, (and thereby lose the totally pointless play count next to my songs? What will I do? That's how I keep score damnit!)
Re:So....what about TV? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:So....what about TV? (Score:5, Informative)
-What about my current iTunes song library? Will the DRM magically disappear with my next update?
You still have to pay 30 cents per song [apple.com] (or 30% of album price) to remove the DRM on previously purchased songs.
No more DRM on music, but... (Score:5, Funny)
Still, it's a step in the right direction, and I applaud the people over at Amazon (and everyone else selling music without DRM) for doing it first. Without that step, I'm willing to bet that Apple would have stayed with DRM on their music catalog. It looks like part of Defective By Design's Anti-DRM wishlist [defectivebydesign.org] came true.
That said, Apple is also now charging if you want to get rid of your DRM (which means upgrading to 256 kbps tracks). From Apple.com:
Yes, just $0.30 per song to get rid of the crap that we forced on you in the first place. Awful.
In other news, I was getting my updates from MacRumorsLive.com, when their feed was cracked by 4Chan. The site crashed half-way through the keynote. Here are some screen caps for anyone interested:
http://www.realfx.com/images/macrumorslive_pwned.jpg [realfx.com]
http://www.realfx.com/images/macrumorslive_pwned2.jpg [realfx.com]
http://www.realfx.com/images/macrumorslive_pwned3.jpg [realfx.com]
Removable Battery (Score:3, Interesting)
I was drooling over the new 17" until I got to the non-removable battery part. On long trips I've always loved the ability to swap through multiple batteries. 8 hours (which surely means 6 real world hours) is very good, but it still falls short of two or three swaps. Probably not something most people care about, so perhaps a good business decision... but I'll be holding on to my old 17" until it croaks, I guess.
Don't bet on 8 real hours... (Score:4, Interesting)
My Libretto was rated for 8 hours with the fat battery pack, but I never got more than 5-6 hours. That was still enough to keep me from having to join the tethered geeks near the wall at conferences, but only because I had two batteries and could leave one charging in my room... then swap it out at the lunch break and before the evening sessions.
Not to mention that you don't want to risk a non-removable "iBattery" turning into something like this [flickr.com] like my original Macbook Pro's did.
constantly-powered battery reliability (Score:3, Interesting)
I am not particularly concerned with the general idea of a non-removable battery. I know that by removing the extra two walls internally, they fit a bit more charge-storing mass inside the slim case. I know that the life span of this new material is able to hold more Amp-hours, which is welcome.
What concerns me is the "stays plugged in" case. Many people with this class of laptop leave the thing plugged in most of the time, but need the ability to untether just often enough to go on the road. I have had bad luck with batteries in the past, even with the best "smart charge" electronics, where the battery loses its peak capacity if it's left plugged into the DC wallwart 98% of the time. I don't discover the problem, of course, until just when I open the laptop in the airport, waiting for my departure flight.
Re:constantly-powered battery reliability (Score:4, Informative)
I have seen this same problem as well, but its worht noting that the current batch of MacBook Pros apparently require the battery to be in place even if they are plugged into the wall because they cant pull enough power through the wall wart for peak performance and need the battery there for when power demands go up.
So while you do have a good point its quite possible that, even if the battery were removable, you wouldn't be able to operate without it.
iTunes DRM-free - But Shell Out To "Upgrade" (Score:5, Informative)
I bought three albums on iTunes this past weekend. At least one of them is DRM-laden. Colour me unimpressed, but I'm not really surprised. I don't have rose-coloured glasses on when it comes to Apple. I sometimes use iTunes when it's 3:00 a.m. and I'm hankering for new music. I fire up the Bands Under the Radar podcast and poke around until something catches my fancy. They made it convenient, so I put up with the conversion process to other drm-free formats.
"It's also easy to upgrade your iTunes library to iTunes Plus. You don't have to buy the song or album again. Just pay the 30 per song upgrade price. (Music video upgrades are 60 and entire albums can be upgraded for 30 percent of the album price.)"
Still too high (Score:3, Interesting)
the lowest song price is $0.69
Still forty cents too high. Back when a single came on vinyl and cost a dollar, the manufacturing, warehousing, transportation, etc. gave them maybe a dime profit at most. Now they want a buck with no manufacturing, transportation, warehousing, or any other costs except profit.
Actually producing and recording the sucker was incredibly exoensive back then too. It's dirt cheap these days, but we're still paying the same inflated prices (well, not "we", I stopped buying RIAA drack back when Napster was illegal).
I blame cocaine, the shit makes people greedy. The labels' own greed is causing their downfall.
Tiered Pricing Welcome Here (Score:3)
I'm all for tiered pricing schemes. Britney's "Womanizer" crap can sell for $1.29 all day long while I'm buying non-crap for $.69 and $.99
The WORST thing about the iTunes store is the Top-10 seller lists. I haven't seen a track on there in years that I'd buy. And since those will be the target of $1.29 tracks, good for them for bilking people with horrible musical tastes.
Turly DRM Free? (Score:5, Insightful)
Still no Linux version (Score:4, Insightful)
While the music itself is now DRM-free, it is still inaccessible to non Windows/Mac users. I realize that we Linux-only households are few and far between, but as a cross-platform version of iTunes already exists, why not make a version for Linux too?
While they're at it, could they just move the store entirely to the web, and let me access it with a normal browser since I don't need to 'activate' the downloaded music at all anymore?
"iBattery syndrome" (Score:3, Funny)
Every cell-phone from entry-level to smart phone has a removable battery, why is there this trend to prevent that?
My old iPaq didn't, and of course the iPhone doesn't.
I hereby dub it "the iBattery syndrome".
I'm glad my original Macbook Pro didn't have an iBattery, or else it would have been trashed when my battery swelled out of its case.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
If the number of rated charge cycles isn't over 800, these things are going to die way too quickly.
The new MBP battery is rated for 1000 recharge cycles, or 5 yrs of typical use.