Since Apple first unveiled the new unibody designed notebooks, they were received very well by the industry and consumers. The design was refined, and the entire transformation into such an evolutionary defining product was successful. However, when Apple showed off some of the configurations available for the 13″ unibody Macbook model, people weren’t pleased. They had removed Firewire all together, only leaving USB built into the notebook, and it seemed that the higher level Macbook Pro’s were what Apple really wanted you to buy. Even though the Macbook is what consistently delivers Apple’s blockbuster Mac numbers quarter after quarter.

With today’s announcements, any remaining confusion over Apple’s intentions with their notebook family are diminished. By adding the 13″ Macbook to the Macbook Pro family, you can say hello to the 13″ Macbook Pro. Finally, a notebook that can outright replace the 12″ Powerbook G4 so many of us developed a debilitating addiction to a few years ago.

The new 13″ Macbook Pro comes with a built in SD slot (card reader), alongside the welcome addition of Firewire 800! When Apple initially removed Firewire from the 13″ Macbook, consumers were furious, and many people, including myself, who wanted a new unibody Macbook, held off on purchasing one. Apple is correct in their assertion that digital cameras are standardizing across SD cards, and including a SD slot is a great perk if you’re doing any photo work at all. I’m pulling the trigger on one of these bad boys as soon as possible.

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Just an icon.

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The new shuffle depicted in the leaked photo below, has wireless syncing built right in.

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Apple today has released an upgrade to its professional line desktop, the Mac Pro. Alongside redesigned interiors that make it easier to expand the machine, the new Mac Pro includes Intel “Nehalem” Xeon processors capable of running at speeds up to 2.93 GHz.

“The new Mac Pro is a significant upgrade and starts at $300 less than before,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “The Mac Pro features an advanced system architecture, new faster processors and our best-ever graphics options to deliver a faster, more powerful system that our professional customers are going to love.”

“An optional ATI Radeon HD 4870 is available for even more performance. With both a Mini DisplayPort and DVI port, the new Mac Pro provides out-of-the-box support for the 24-inch Apple LED Cinema Display, the 30-inch Apple Cinema HD Display, or other DVI based displays. ”

iMac

Apple also released updates to its all-in-one desktop machine, the iMac. Perhaps the most impressive feature is the machine’s price. For $1,499 you can now purchase a 24-inch iMac for the same price as the previous generation 20-inch model.

“Our flagship 24-inch iMac with twice the memory and twice the storage is now available for just $1,499,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s COO.

“The elegant, full-featured iMac line starts with the 20-inch iMac for only $1,199 with a 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB of 1066 MHz DDR3 memory, a 320GB Serial ATA hard drive and NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics. The 24-inch iMac features a beautiful 1920-by-1200 pixel widescreen display that offers 30 percent more screen real estate than the 20-inch model, and starts at just $1,499. The 24-inch iMac includes up to a 3.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 4GB of 1066 MHz DDR3 memory, a 640GB or 1TB Serial ATA hard drive, and a variety of graphics technology from NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics to the NVIDIA GeForce GT 130 or ATI Radeon HD 4850 discrete graphics for ultimate performance.”

Mac mini

And for those fearing the end of the Mac mini, Apple rekindled some old flames by giving some much needed attention to the Mac mini in the form of sweet upgrades. The new Mac mini “features the same groundbreaking NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics introduced with the aluminum unibody MacBook family.”

“The Mac mini is not only our most affordable Mac, it’s also the world’s most energy efficient desktop computer,” said Apple COO, Tim Cook.

“Starting at $599, the Mac mini is an innovative, tiny desktop measuring only 6.5 by 6.5 by 2-inches. Available in two models, Mac mini features a 2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, up to 4GB of DDR3 1066 MHz memory, up to 320GB Serial ATA hard drive, five USB 2.0 ports, FireWire 800 and a SuperDrive®. The Mac mini features NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics for up to five times better graphics performance than before* and now with dual display support can drive two Apple or third-party displays with Mini DisplayPort or DVI connections. Using less than 13 watts of power at idle, up to 10 times less power than a typical desktop PC, the new Mac mini is the most energy efficient desktop in the world.”

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HardMac reports:

The new iMac models and their corresponding references:
- MB417: Entry level model
- MB418: “Mass market” model
- MB419: high-end model
- MB420: ultimate model
The entry level model should come with a 20″ display, while the three other models will feature a 24″ panel.

For the Mac mini, the references are the following:
- MB463: entry-level model
- MB464 high-end model

MacRumors explains that HardMac.com is an english sister site to MacBidouille, and can be considered “trustworthy.”

OneMoreThing.nl reports: (translated from MacRumors forums here)

Mac mini
- 5x USB
- 1x FireWire 800
- 1x mini DVI
- 1x Display poort
- Nvidia chipset (net als de nieuwe MacBooks)
- vanaf 2.0 Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo
- 1 of 2 GB DDR3 ram geheugen (max 4 GB)
- 120 GB harde schijf (max 320 GB)

iMac
- 1x 20″ model, 3x 24″ modellen
- Intel Core 2 Duo (géén quad core dus): 2.66 Ghz, 2.93 Ghz en 3.06 Ghz
- 1x Display poort
- 20″ 2 GB DDR3 ram geheugen, 24″ 4 GB DDR3 ram geheugen (max 8 GB)

Of note, March 24th has been pegged as a date for the next Apple press event

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Notably, Amazon’s sharp discounts were what initially spurred 9to5mac to start pondering the notion that these devices might see some updates in the near future.

“We think they are going to see a bit of an upgrade this month. Sure, the 1.5TB/750GB point makes sense, especially with drives at up to 2TB starting to hit store shelves. But we’ve heard there might be some more to it than just that. Our sources informed us a few months ago that Apple was experimenting with caching Apple software updates on the Time Machine devices. That would not only save some bandwidth (your whole office/family would only need it to be downloaded once), it would also make the updating process much much quicker on each client machine because the download would be local.”

“Software Update caching has been available on Leopard and Tiger server for years but this kind of easy setup/low cost of entry would put the software update caching in many more hands. There is nothing to indicate that current Time Capsules wouldn’t be able to add this type of functionality with a firmware update,” Seth Weintraub reports for 9to5mac.

9to5’s thoughts may be more than just speculation. Apple has been trying to figure out ways to consistently and reliably deliver updates to Mac OS X without hangups and continuous issues. The updates can be quite hefty and we have heard some pretty unfortunate horror stories with OS X updates freezing in the middle. By integrating a Software Update caching mechanism, Apple could store the update on the user’s wireless network, which would be available anytime at the user’s convenience. Now if only they could do this with the most popular tv shows and movies on the Apple TV.

Some FCC documents containing Authorization letters, requests for confidentiality and test reports regarding both devices can be downloaded here (zip package).

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The image consistently depicts previously circulating rumors, however the image only shows the rear-facing side of the packaging. While some believe the image to stille be a fake, the evidence is piling up.

Image via MacRumors

This also correlates with a previously leaked image and video of the rumored Mac mini. A rumored March 24th Apple press event has been pegged as well.

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The issues seem fairly widespread with Macbook Air owners explaining what is going wrong both in Apple’s Discussion Threads, as well as the MacRumors forums.

Image via flickr user landung2008

“I have recently noticed my 3 month old MacBook Air has 1/2″ to 1″ “play” or “slop” in the hinge. In other words, the screen will move 1/2″ to 1″ with little or no resistance. The hinge does not seem to have any adjustment or an easily fixed remedy,” one frustrated owner explains on the MacRumors forums. “…my apple air has a defect with the hinge. could apple please change your policy to accept hinge as warrant on apple air models,” another owner explains in Apple’s threads.

Both videos shown here address the issues, which Apple says are not covered under warranty. This makes for an unfortunate situation given Apple and CEO Steve Jobs’ level of pride when unveiling “the skinniest notebook in the world.” The level of attention to detail Apple claimed went into the notebook’s hardware design and manufacturing was staggering. They painted a picture of the Macbook Air as if it were chiseled by da Vinci himself. Now that the issue seems moderately spread, we’re curious to see how Apple responds, if at all.

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Specifically around the forty minute mark, the interview shifts towards Amazon’s business model and how the kindle contributes to its growth. Both Rose and Andreessen feel that the kindle is a giant leap in technology and undoubtedly generates a tremendous amount of success for Amazon. However, like the continuous elephant in the room, when competition from Apple is brought up in the form of a “scaled up iPhone” or 7″ touch tablet, Andreessen and Rose seem mesmerized by the topic.

For those that are not aware, Andreessen is the co-founder of Netscape and has successfully sold two companies for over $1 billion each. Aside from currently being the co-founder of social networking site Ning.com, he is also beginning to dabble in venture capital. The interview touches upon many interesting subjects going on today, as well as opinions on Facebook, Twitter, Google and more.

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The image below was the first spyshot to circulate the web, which was originally posted to the Macrumors Forums. Interestingly, some raw investigation work done by a 9to5mac reader, who confidently determined that this was all a hoax.

Now the original source of the image has made this video available, and although the entire situation seems a bit strange, one can’t help but wonder why anybody would go through the trouble of making this video, only to show a fake Mac mini with five USB ports.

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