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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Next Tuesday’s event will come just over a year after the company released the original SDK at the iPhone 2.0 software event. Apple has mentioned that this will be an “advance preview of what were building,” so nothing is really expected to be ready to go. The invitation did not make mention of who would be leading the event, but with CEO Steve Jobs still on leave, it may be safe to assume Phil Schiller or iPhone software chief Scott Forstall will be taking the reigns.

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World of Apple claims to have been informed of the upcoming event and believe that it will be similar to Apple’s notebook event held last October. My Apple Guide appears to have obtained similar information from multiple unconfirmed sources that express the same date for such an event and state that Apple will be announcing “new Mac minis, iMacs with the new NVIDIA chipset, Mac Pros with Xeon processors along with a pleasant ’surprise’”.

While World of Apple’s source has been unable to confirm any specific details regarding the event, they too expect to see Mac Mini, iMac and Mac Pro refreshes. Speculation of upgrades to Apple’s desktop hardware have been circulating for quite some time. Digital Daily’s John Paczkowski had speculated about just such an event yet was under the impression that it would be held in February, which has now come and gone. MacBlogz had previously taken an in-depth look at what we can expect over the next couple of months and maintain that all three machines are due for a refresh.

Despite a host of rumors surrounding a Mac Mini refresh even prior to Macworld 2009, we still have seen nothing tangible. Last month, Tom’s Hardware released information pointing to a March upgrade around the time of Cebit as they believe that Apple may use Intel’s Atom processor, which is typically used in netbooks. Additionally, a rather questionable image and video of a Mac Mini sporting an impressive 5 USB ports has made recent headlines, yet the validity of it remains unclear.

Apple’s professional class desktops have not been updated in over a year, leading many to believe that a refresh is imminent. Last month we had caught word that Apple may be ditching the Mac Pro’s cheese grater front for a sleeker micro-perforated face allowing us to mockup up what this could potentially look like. Back in November there was word that Intel’s new Nehalem class (Xeon 5500, 3500) CPUs would launch in the first quarter of 2009, and a Mac Pro update may be in line with this roadmap.

Small bits of information had emerged about an iMac refresh prior to Macworld 2009, as a possible announcement was said to be made, yet of course nothing came to fruition. We have previously explained that, “Currently, Apple’s iMacs use a dual-core setup, which for an all-in-one machines makes sense. However, the iMac in general still lacks in terms of serious multi-tasking power and processing performance. A move to desktop class processors could make the machine appeal to a much broader range of users. Apple would need to restructure the way cooling works on the iMacs though. The Core 2 Duo chips that are used now produce low power and low heat, which the iMac’s casing depends on.” linking to such rumors, Intel had readied some new processors, the Q8200s (2.33GHz/4MB L2), Core 2 Quad Q9400s (2.66GHz/6MB L2) and Core 2 Quad Q9550s (2.83GHz/12MB L2) with prices at US$245, US$320 and US$369, respectively.

While it is certainly plausible that all three machines will be upgraded in the near future, the validity of a March 24 desktop event remains speculative as all sources of information remain unconfirmed.

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What Came True

Macbook Pro

Most notably, Apple unveiled the brand new 17″ Macbook Pro. It has adopted the unibody design and also brings with it some major innovations in battery life. When Apple first unveiled the new unibody notebooks back in October, early speculation pointed towards a Macworld ‘09 release. This prediction was looked at as relatively natural, and Apple even murmured a few notes pointing to a “few month” delay. As Macworld grew near, 9to5mac was first to announce anything noticeably major surrounding changes to the 17″ Macbook Pro. They specifically pointed to the embedded non-user replaceable battery, and a major jump in battery life. MacRumors also heard similar whispers, and prior to the event was able to reaffirm the legitimacy of the information. The design changes that the 17″ Macbook Pro got were obvious, but nobody new Apple would offer a $50 anti-glare option.

iTunes Loses DRM, Three Tier Pricing & Over the Air Downloads

Cnet correctly reported a good amount of information regarding Apple’s then unannounced iTunes update. Information about new tiered pricing, over-the-air downloads and massive updates to the DRM free catalog of music were all correct.

iLife & iWork

While it may have seemed easy to assume these update were coming. MacRumors found a nice piece of confirming evidence before the official announcement. Up until then, mentions of iWork (or parts of it) moving into the cloud, were all that was reported about.

Strong Cloud Computing Push

9to5mac brought the first word that this was happening. In fact, they even new the name would be iWork.com and called the launch date. After we found out what might be coming, we did a little investigation ourselves and were able to completely confirm the rumor, along with some new pricing and presentation info. Specifically, we had the name iWork Online thrown at us, but it ended up just being iWork.com. Additionally, our sources revealed that this would be free from Apple, which also turned out to be correct, only in the form of a beta tag. Parts of the information both 9to5, as well as ourselves received about iMovie cloud updates were a little blurry, and no significant updates to a web based version of iMovie were announced.

What Did Not Come True

Mac Mini

A few weeks back, Wired introduced the notion that Apple would be updating the Mac Mini in time for a Macworld appearance, even providing some rather detailed specs from what was noted to be a trusted source at Apple. Leading up to the event several others followed suit as Apple Insider was under the impression that the low-end desktop would receive dual display support. While Ars Technica did buy into the indication that the Mac Mini would receive updates, they remained weary of the dual display support. TUAW provided there own take regarding the purported changes, yet were stifled by an opposing report. Bottom line: no updated Mac Mini appearance at Macworld 2009 and the future of the desktop remains unclear.

32GB iPhone

Back in November we received word from an unconfirmed and anonymous source that a memory bumped 32GB iPhone would be making an appearance in January. The tipster stated, “That rumored red iPhone… It’s not happening. The only iPhone news I know for certain is that it’s getting bumped to 32GB in January.” While 32GB iPhone rumors have surfaced before, information pertaining to Apple’s stockpiling of NAND flash pointed toward larger capacity devices. Macrumors was able to solidify a technical explanation of what was possible for this. It’s important to note that the tip clearly states “January” as the launch month, and not Macworld specifically, so there are still three weeks for this to happen which would make the tip accurate. Here at MacBlogz, unconfirmed sources and tips remain just that: unconfirmed.

Snow Leopard Demo

Digitimes was first to report about a possible Snow Leopard demo at Macworld. AppleInsider hammered home the notion of a Snow Leopard demo at Macworld. Both were wrong. Information first made public by MacRumors is perhaps the only solid information from a proven source regarding Snow Leopard and a tentative launch date.

iMac

Last October, claims supporting the notion that Apple’s all-in-one iMac would be getting speedbumped in time for the holiday season, proved to be incorrect. Following these reports, Digitimes, who tout a relatively accurate track record (lately), reported that updated iMacs would make a January appearance. Additionally, AppleInsider vehemently sided with a PC Perspective report that detailed expectations of a 28″ iMac. This was also inaccurate. Whether we see this in the future remains unconfirmed, but it did not show up at Macword.

Be sure to read our Rumor Roundup which was put together before the Macworld keynote.

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It is a common perception that Macworld can be rather gender-biased event as upon first glance you may notice more individuals possessing a Y chromosome. Ahh, but this myth has now been debunked as we present you with the Macworld 2009 booth bunnies. What’s a booth bunny? In keeping with many basic principles of sales 101, the old adage of sex sells, remains as present as ever. Lets have a look at this year’s contenders.

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The new 15″ Modbook Pro is set atop an existing Macbook Pro. Prior to this Modbook Pro, Axiotron only offered standard Macbook configurations so this new Pro model is definitely a step up. If you send them your existing Macbook Pro to get modded, you’ll be looking at a $3,049 pricetag. If you opt for a brand new setup directly from Axiotron you’re looking at a more hefty $4,999 pricetag.

The Modbook Pro is much more seamless than the regular Modbooks. The screen lies flush with the surrounding bezel as apposed to bulging up on the outside.

The images above are of a prototype in a clear plastic case. Axiotron only had one model out of the case and we were able to get a few minutes to privately talk about the device and see how it looked first hand. In our time at Axiotron’s booth, it was apparent that by taking Wacom tablet technology, they were able to bring some really interesting input concepts to market.

Axiotron Modbooks in general are much more widely accepted than many other third party manufacturers. Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak fully endorses and supports Axiotron and he was at their Macworld booth today, and should be nearly everyday for the rest of the week.

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Beginning today, all four major music labels—Universal Music Group, Sony BMG, Warner Music Group and EMI, along with thousands of independent labels, are now offering their music in iTunes Plus, Apple’s DRM-free format with higher-quality 256 kbps AAC encoding for audio quality virtually indistinguishable from the original recordings. iTunes customers can also choose to download their favorite songs from the world’s largest music catalog directly onto their iPhone™ 3G over their 3G network just as they do with Wi-Fi today, for the same price as downloading to their computer. And beginning 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 most albums still priced at $9.99.

“We are thrilled to be able to offer our iTunes customers DRM-free iTunes Plus songs in high quality audio and our iPhone 3G customers the ability to download music from iTunes anytime, anywhere over their 3G network at the same price as downloading to your computer or via Wi-Fi,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “And 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.”

See Apple Press Release

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iPhoto ‘09
iPhoto ’09 makes it even easier to browse and search photos, not only by when they were shot (Events), but by who appears in them (Faces) and where they were taken (Places). iPhoto automatically scans photos to detect people’s faces and when you assign a name to any face iPhoto will automatically find more pictures of that person. The library can be searched by name or browsed using the new Faces View. Places automatically imports photo location data from a GPS-enabled camera or any iPhone™ or you can manually assign a location to any photo, group of photos or event. Once iPhoto knows where photos were taken, you can easily explore them with a simple search or an interactive map. iPhoto ’09 lets you easily publish photos to Facebook or Flickr. Photos published to Facebook include assigned names, and name tags added on Facebook sync back to iPhoto. You can also share photos by creating a themed slideshow to play on your Mac, iPhone or iPod®, or create a beautiful travel book, complete with customized maps of your journey.

iMovie ‘09
iMovie ’09 adds powerful, yet easy-to-use new features to let you create a movie quickly, or add refinements and special effects to your project if you have more time. Drag and drop one clip on top of another to reveal new advanced editing options, including replace, insert, audio only, and even picture-in-picture or green screen. With the revolutionary Precision Editor, you can skim and click on a magnified filmstrip to view clips up close and fine tune any edit, like identifying precisely how much to keep, where to cut, use sound from one clip with video from another and more. iMovie ’09 analyzes video and reduces camera shake in clips when added to your project. New titles, transitions, cinematic effects, speed changes and animated travel maps add professional polish to your movie.

GarageBand ‘09
GarageBand ’09, the updated version of Apple’s popular software used by millions to play and record music, now gives budding musicians a fun new way to learn to play piano and guitar. Basic Lessons let you learn the fundamentals at your own pace with Apple instructors in beautiful HD video synchronized to animated instruments and notation. Artist Lessons feature original artists showing how to play their hit songs with everything from finger positions and techniques to the story behind the song. Choose from lessons by popular artists including: Sara Bareilles, Colbie Caillat, John Fogerty, Ben Folds, Norah Jones, Sarah McLachlan, Fall Out Boy’s Patrick Stump, OneRepublic’s Ryan Tedder and Sting. Artist Lessons are sold separately at the new GarageBand Lesson Store, available inside the GarageBand ’09 application. GarageBand ’09 also includes exciting new guitar amp and stomp-box effects, and Magic GarageBand Jam that lets you play along with a virtual band that you create.

iDVD ‘09
iLife ’09 includes iWeb ’09 for authoring custom websites and iDVD ’09 for creating DVDs. iWeb ’09 adds new iWeb Widgets, such as iSight® video and photos, a countdown timer, YouTube video and RSS feeds. New integrated FTP publishing allows you to publish your website to virtually any hosting service and updates to your site can now be automatically added to your Facebook profile.

Pricing and Availability
iLife ’09 will be available this month for a suggested retail price of $79 (US) through the Apple Store®, Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers. The iLife Up-To-Date upgrade package is available to all customers who purchased a qualifying new Mac system from Apple or an Apple Authorized Reseller on or after January 6, 2009 for a shipping and handling fee of $9.95 (US). Artist Lessons are available through the GarageBand Lesson Store for $4.99 (US) each.

See Apple Press Release

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The scene seems very excited and we expect Phil Schiller to deliver a solid keynote. Meanwhile, here is a first batch of photos as we get settled into our surroundings.

During our stay, if there’s anything you want to specifically see, drop us line. For tomorrow’s keynote, be sure and check out our favorite places to get our liveblogging fix.

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