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Macworld Expo '09 rumor roundup

by Dave Caolo Jan 5th 2009 at 4:00PM

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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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...
 

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Kent

I'm guessing (or hoping) they'll put the ol' firewire back on the uni macbooks. The first MBP didn't have FW 800, but shortly thereafter they added it b/c of demand. I've heard nothing but "why?" from my friends on the FW deletion.

My two cents on the macworld keynote:

Unlikely, but would be nice:
-a reduced price for the uni macbook
-can't wait for snow leopard, but in the link above apple said it'd prob be a year from june '08. I'm guessing october '09
-would be interesting to see apple introduce a gaming system at some point, but the competition would be crazy

"doable" updates:
-apple tv improvements (better remote? or maybe a few shortcuts?)
-mobileme improvements (syncing contacts has been problematic)
-iMovie option to return to the "linear" timeline mode (although I use FCP, it's nice to use imovie for quickies)
-Mac Pro/iDVD dual burning option (simultaneously, w/o toast)
-an option to burn my AppleTV movies to dvd so I can take them on the road (I'm quite certain the copyright issues are the problem)

January 06 2009 at 11:16 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Mike

"the only Apple laptop without a sleek, new body"

Did someone forget the entry priced white MacBook? Does nobody else want to see the 2.1Ghz/1GB/120GB MacBook in a Unibody at $999?

January 06 2009 at 9:24 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Yoshimi

I'd love to see a Apple Netbook, running Snow Leopard. Priced at £300 and I'd buy it instantly!

January 06 2009 at 7:34 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Sebastian

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…

January 06 2009 at 6:59 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Meeno

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.

January 06 2009 at 6:02 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Rylin

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.

January 05 2009 at 8:33 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Kai Cherry

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

January 05 2009 at 7:09 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
ben

I wish I had the kind of money you do, Norman. :)

January 05 2009 at 6:20 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Rob

"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.

January 05 2009 at 6:19 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
artifex

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)

January 05 2009 at 6:12 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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