Filed under: Hardware, Rumors, Mac mini, Macbook Pro
Macworld Expo '09 rumor roundup
As we draw ever nearer to Phil Schiller's Macworld keynote, we've been privy to more rumors than a high school cafeteria. What's the fun of a juicy tidbit that you can't share? Here's our roundup of the latest Macworld Expo rumors. Just don't tell anyone we told you.
AT&T Tethering A little birdie flew into TUAW headquarters earlier this morning and suggested that tethering between an iPhone and an Apple laptop was imminent. Specifics were sketchy, but MacBlogz suggested that a 5 GB data cap and $30/month supplementary cost is likely. For an additional $30/mo, I'll wait until I find a Wi-Fi hotspot. But I'm a cheapskate.
MegiPod Techcrunch suggested that a larger touch-based iPod is in the works. Supposedly all current apps will run on it, which suggests resolution independence or serious hocus-pocus. That's a technical term.
Unibody 17 inch MacBook Pro This one seems likely, as the 17 inch MBP is the only Apple laptop without a sleek, new body. The juicy part of this rumor is the addition of a slim, non-removable and long-lasting battery. That should get the community fired up.
New iMacs The iMac has been the star of many Macworld Expos, and we wouldn't be surprised if it happened again this year. It's a consumer show, the iMac is Apple's consumer desktop and it's certainly due for a makeover. Rumors suggest that the new iMac will feature a similar form factor and a new 65W, low-power, quad-core desktop chip from Intel. There are also questions about a new cooling system, but we couldn't learn any more about that (read: the Magic 8 Ball said, "Ask again later.").
New Mac mini Probably the most reliable rumor of the bunch is the new Mac mini. We're glad that rumors of its discontinuation have been greatly exaggerated, because the diminutive mini is a great little workhorse. This rumor is twofold. First, it seems that the internal optical drive will changing to a SATA optical drive, which can be replaced with a second SATA hard drive. Secondly, the new mini will sport an aluminum body topped with black plastic.
Update: SeeFile pretty much spilled the beans on the new mini.
We've also compiled a wish list of things not necessarily floating around as rumors. First, an update to the AppleTV would be nice, especially if it came with Hulu support (think of an Apple version of Boxee). iLife '09 seems likely as well, though we haven't heard any rumblings. The iPhone nano case leaks are interesting but we haven't seen anything definitive there.
I hope we get a full demo of Snow Leopard and a release date. Sure, it won't have a lot of demo-friendly, whiz-bang new features, but we feel certain the changes that make the cut will please just about everyone.
That's what we've got so far. If you want to pass us a note in study hall, we're all ears.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
jollyllama said 4:44PM on 1-05-2009
I'd love to see Aperture 3. It's been about a year (February to be exact).
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alf said 4:51PM on 1-05-2009
i'll say it now out loud.....they need to just combine the mini and apple tv into one unit! the end.
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Byran Newell said 10:25PM on 1-05-2009
You too? It seems so simple, right? How 'bout this: Have separate units, but make the AppleTV software available for the Mac Mini. Too easy, I know.
Tim said 12:40AM on 1-06-2009
I agree with Byran. It's just too impractical to take what's meant to be an entry level consumer desktop and have it work as both a set-top box and a desktop, depending on the user's situation.
With that scenerio, it will either be an overly expensive set top box, or a severely underpowered desktop. I don't expect an Apple TV update tomorrow. However, a Mini update is near-certain.
Also, consider that the Mini comes with Front Row, a remote, and the ability to stream media from other iTunes libraries on the network. To me, it sounds like it's almost entirely already there for people who want such a thing. Couch-side movie rentals would just take a patch and provide feature parity between the two, as far as I can tell.
The Apple TV is still too expensive, in my opinion. It needs to be cheap and sold at a loss, to be made up in Apple Movie Rental revenues. I think the next box (in 6-12 months) should use the Nvidia Ion chipset and an Intel Atom chip along with a dedicated decoding chip or a beefed up version of the Ion chipset to stream 1080p video. For people who want true high-def picture for their big screen TV, it would sell. Also, the smaller motherboard might make it slimmer or otherwise easier to mix in to an existing AV setup.
kieran said 10:54AM on 1-06-2009
I'm hoping for iWork 09'. A weird thing to want I know but the rumors about enabling it for use in the cloud would be great as I could use iWork at home and then edit my docs in school which uses Windows. I hate using MS Office.
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Norman said 4:58PM on 1-05-2009
What about new displays? I reeeeeally want a 30'' LED display!
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WDWGolfer said 4:59PM on 1-05-2009
Any more word on the rumors of the quad core 17 inch MBP? There had been reports on that over the past few days, but they seem to have been drowned out by the non-replaceable battery rumors and reactions. The comparisons to the new Acer quad core laptop seemed apropos.
A 2.53 Ghz quad core 17 inch, with a higher capacity battery would be awfully nice and I would be first in line for one... :-)
Looking forward to the coverage tomorrow.
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David H. said 5:05PM on 1-05-2009
Oh goody...a new Mac Mini nine months after I wanted to buy one and settled for something else ;) Geez they took their sweet time updating this model.
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artifex said 6:14PM on 1-05-2009
If it wasn't worth it when you bought it, why did you buy it?
And if it was worth it to you, why complain now?
I still need to sell my G4 Mini, otoh... :)
Alex McKee said 8:56PM on 1-05-2009
How much you thinking for the mac mini? Just wondering.
David H. said 9:45AM on 1-07-2009
Well, like I said, I didn't buy a Mini (I ended up with a MacBook, which I really like, BTW). From a bang-for-the-buck perspective, I just couldn't justify the $799 for the "higher end" model.
Give me a new Mini with an updated CPU, 2 GB RAM, at least a 160 GB hard drive, and a *decent* graphics chipset @ $599, all of which would be quite do-able for Apple, and I'd be all over it ;)
fishbert said 5:30PM on 1-05-2009
Nothing about an iPhone bump to 32GB?
I'd say that's pretty much a certainty (if not at Macworld, then before the end of Feb.)
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Greg said 6:06PM on 1-05-2009
I think that the Snow Leopard is much much closer to being released than people think. Since there are no "new features" there aren't as many people bootlegging the OS and leaking information - but I think its far far closer than people realize.
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artifex said 6:12PM on 1-05-2009
5GB limit? Once again I'm glad I got a free (tetherable) 3G Nokia when I renewed w/AT&T, instead of paying for the iPhone. My "unlimited data plan" has no stated cap, and if they try to put one on later, then that gives me an out on my contract. Oh, and the data plan I think was $20 a month. I'm paying around $70 total for everything including a bucket of 200 SMSes (I don't SMS much, and shouldn't need to, with unlimited data)
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Rob said 6:19PM on 1-05-2009
"Update: SeeFile pretty much spilled the beans on the new mini."
Hardly - Common sense (and a bit of FACT checking) says the opposite, and this is a pure publicity stunt.
"oops, we pushed publish on the damn press release promoting our $500 software that goes nicely with a rumored Apple Mac mini...we totally spoiled it." - SeeWhatever their name is is laughing and enjoying the traffic.
Wow, I didn't know so many media outlets can be duped these days, or is it just bloggers?
Have you guys seen the Red iPhones, OMG...those are amazing. hahaha.
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Benjamin said 6:26PM on 1-05-2009
I wish I had the kind of money you do, Norman. :)
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Kai Cherry said 7:10PM on 1-05-2009
About Snow Leopard:
Do not be fooled; generally, the run up dev seeds of OS X releases to not have final "OMG!" features in them before they are publically revealed...the subsequent releases do.
Early releases typically have the backend (libs and apis) sitting underneath the current release UI and such.
Check the history on this. If SL is demo'd, it will very likely be with some things you haven't seen before :)
-K
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Rylin said 8:34PM on 1-05-2009
I just hope the Mini and the iMac get to keep the FireWire port.
For the Mini, FireWire is widely used with audio gear and high-end local storage, so it's usable for HTPC purposes.
For the iMac, the iMac is both a consumer and a prosumer machine.
QuadCore and 4GB RAM is ideal for photo editing and a fair bit of video editing, so they can't really afford to remove FW from it.
I'll probably be proven wrong though :(
Other changes I'd love to see:
Two harddrive bays in the iMac to allow for RAID (or even just OS disk + scratchdisk).
More harddrive bays in the Mac Pro -- 4 just isn't enough for a pro machine.
Either way, the trusty ol' debit card will be nearby, pending any good refreshes.
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Meeno said 6:03AM on 1-06-2009
There is no way Apple will make Hulu available for AppleTV. Why should they do that? So that you can watch free stuff instead of purchasing those expensive shows from iTunes? It's pretty much the same reason why Apple hasn't made flash available for iPhone.
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huth.sebastian said 6:59AM on 1-06-2009
My list of "wanna see"s:
- iWork '09
- iLife '09
- new Mighty Mouse
- Snow Leopard demos
- MacBook updates
Maybe a little much, but the Mighty Mouse has been sucking ever since it exists. There'd also be a nice way to introduce it, during demoing the new iWork Phil tries to scroll down and his scrollball is stuck (surprise, surprise), so he interrupts to present the multi touch Mighty Mouse. It would be a 100% Apple introduction a la Steve, having a nice way to show the new product and also completely ripping apart the old product. But I don't really think that's going to happen, I still hope though…
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