It's a very specific problem, too — the tool still runs, and users who have a pre-modified firmware created on another Mac or Windows machine are able to 'restore' their devices to a jailbroken state without any trouble. It's the creation of modified firmware, which is the central purpose of the Pwnage tool, that has been kneecapped.

Though the hardware is where one sees the most conspicuous changes in the new MacBook, this problem most likely stems from a subtle software modification. It's not clear what specifically changed, but a new build of iTunes, unique to the new MacBooks, seems like a likely culprit. Of course, this news comes just after we're once again reminded of the App Store's awesome competition-busting rules. Your move, Dev Team. [Howard and iPodTouchFans — Thanks, Charles]

Before Tuesday, there was no way a MacBook and a MacBook Pro could appear in a single review. Too much separated the two systems, from outer appearance (build materials and backlit keyboard) to inner nitty gritty (graphics processors, etc.). To group the two classes together would have been like simultaneously reviewing a Ford Focus and a Ford Mustang. But the new MacBook and MacBook Pro are far more similar than they are different. From the glass-bezel screen to the front side bus, these computers finally deserve to share the name MacBook. They're brothers, one a pro, the other a vastly accomplished amateur. Here's our verdict, after two days of thorough nonstop testing.

Build

Stylistically, distinguishing the new MacBook from the MacBook Pro is nearly impossible. They are both cut from a single piece of aluminum in what looks to be an identical manner, save for the MB obviously being smaller.

This new "unibody construction" process does make for a more solid laptop, too. The chassis is one piece, made stronger by its lack of connecting corners—and less prone to manufacturing flaws, according to Apple.

The case is indeed more rigid, flexing less while carrying the notebook one-handed and supporting our wrists better during typing. (The old MBP supported wrists just fine as well, but only because the weight was distributed from the case to the hard drive and optical drive. Carrying it would cause it to give a bit.)

Side beveling distinguishes the laptops as part of the MacBook Air generation, ditching the clean box design of yesteryear. But unibody construction has updated the design in subtle ways, recessing the keyboard through a formerly impossible non-welded aluminum curve—and a similar rounded chunk has been cut from the front of the system to make for easy opening.

When you open the new MacBooks, be careful not to smudge your iSight lens. It's positioned right where your fingers go—and ours is now covered with grease. In fact, the entire black gloss surrounding the screen is in pretty poor shape. Closing the computers is vastly improved, however. Instead of the bang of plastic and click of the hook lock, it's a gentle impact, soft like felt, held closed by invisible magnets. Setting down the laptop is more pleasant as well, as both the MB and MBP feature the Air's larger rubber pads.

Unfortunately, the new aluminum build still interferes with Wi-Fi signals. Historically aluminum laptops have had shorter ranges than their plastic counterparts and the new MacBooks are no exception. Stretching the limits of the new MacBook, the old MacBook (above left) located hotspots where the new MacBook (above right) did not. That's not to say the metal laptops are particularly bad and there's no indication that they're worse than current MacBook Pros.

The MB is half a pound lighter than its predecessor, and that's a weight difference you'll notice. It's significantly thinner, too, shaving off 0.13 inches, while retaining the same footprint. The MBP, however, is 0.2 inches wider and longer than its predecessor, while only losing a minor 0.05 inches of thickness. It is also 0.1 pounds heavier. (You can read more about these differences in our Sizemodo.) These adjustments help unify the design: Both new MacBooks share a thickness of 0.95 inches, which appears all the thinner due to the design's narrowed edges.

To many MacBook users, the greatest change will be the updated, clickable Multi-Touch trackpad. It's said to be made of glass, but it doesn't look or feel like glass, so don't expect the iPhone's screen to be transplanted below the keyboard. It feels almost the same as the old MBP trackpad, and the finish offers a perfect level of resistance, allowing the finger to slide around easily but not in a skating-on-ice kind of way. As for the clicking, it's the source of mixed feelings for us.

The base of this controversy is that the entire pad doesn't click. Instead, the surface sort of pivots like a springboard from the top edge. In turn, users will find the bottom part of the pad to have the most give when clicking, so much so that it almost feels like the old trackpad button is still there. Unfortunately, the springboard design also causes a dead zone in the middle where clicking takes a good deal of effort.

From a design perspective, the clicking allows the trackpad to be sleeker. The joke is that Jobs, long a proponent of single-button mice when most people favor two, has finally gone to zero buttons. From a usage perspective, not much changes. You can drag and drop with one finger by firmly pressing as you move, but there's a better chance you'll still use two fingers like you did with the old trackpad.

The new four-finger gestures, like sliding down for Exposé or sliding right to swap programs, are a win, but it can be awkward to make that four-finger claw while typing. We'd argue that Exposé is such a useful function that we'd like to reassign it to a less awkward three-finger slide, perhaps. Unfortunately, remapping gestures is not an option—boy, would it make a great firmware update.



On the laptops' underside you'll notice a big difference. The removable battery has been tucked under a panel next to an easily removable hard drive. Apple is offering a lot of expensive drive upsells, including a 128GB SSD for the Pro, but who cares? Replacing a MacBook hard drive with your own Newegg purchase no longer requires the complicated dissection of one's laptop. Held in by just a few screws, it's easier to replace than some tower hard drives. Of course, this elegant solution is like a gateway drug. Why not have another hatch for replacing the memory?

To the chagrin of at least a few long-time MBP users, the keyboards of both the MB and MB Pro have also been influenced by the Air as they're black, separated and intensely backlit. There's a ton of side light spill, which looks neat until it gets distracting. (Note: the entry-level silver MB does not have a backlit keyboard.) The function keys have been rearranged a bit as well.

But while the keyboards look indistinguishable from one another, they feel different. The MacBook's is softer and similar to the former MacBook. The Pro's is clickier and similar to the former Pro's. See a pattern? Not visible with the naked eye, you can feel the lineage of these systems, evidence that Apple has not forgotten its history or the taste of its various demographics.

The screens, too, are deceptively different between the MB and MBP. Both share LED backlighting and the shiny screen coating that can be quite a distraction—a user will find himself staring at his reflection with any decent amount of ambient light. But it's important to note that, beyond the spec-sheet distinction of the 13-inch screen's 1280x800 pixels and the 15-incher's 1440x900, these are not identical LCD technologies in different sizes.

The difference is clear when demoing an MPEG4 of Batman Begins. The MBP screen is warmer than the MB's to the discerning eye, but any dunce will catch the massive differences in contrast and viewing angle. Our shots in the dark exacerbate the MB's less impressive black levels, but this photo really is close to what we saw. As for the unwatchable distortions in image quality when five feet out or standing at a not-so-unthinkable viewing angle, those are just as bad to the naked eye as they are to camera. Notice the MBP screen remains unblemished from any angle/distance.

One design element of note: Both screens now tilt back another 10 to 15 degrees over previous generations. If you've ever sat there watching a Windows person pushing your MacBook display past its rotation point, you'll recognize just how important this update will be.

Connecting to an old external screen, however, could be problematic. The DVI port has been replaced by a mini DisplayPort in both new laptops. As for your old monitor, no biggie, if it's 24-inches or smaller just use a mini-DisplayPort-to-DVI adapter ($30). But if you're driving a 30-inch monitor, you'll need a mini-DisplayPort-to-dual-DVI adapter, which isn't bundled with either laptop and runs $100 on its own. Ouch. We're hoping for an aftermarket solution.

In terms of other ports, the MB offers gigabit Ethernet, two USBs, mini DisplayPort, mic and headphone jack. Note the one major omission: FireWire. Even the $1000 plastic MacBook has FireWire, though in truth there isn't a lot of FW support these days beyond professional applications—even new iPhones and iPods have ditched it completely. Upgrading to the MBP gives you all the ports in the MB but adds FireWire 800 and an ExpressCard slot. (FW400 devices need to track down a FW400-to-FW800 cable.) Plus, both new MacBooks have the snazzy battery-life indicator on the side next to the ports.



Operation and Performance

Examine the MB and MBP under the hood, and it quickly becomes apparent that the similarities are more than skin deep. For instance, while the MB starts at 2.0GHz, its processor reaches 2.4GHz in the $1600 configuration. This processor is the exact same one that you'll find in the lower-tier $2000 MBP—including the same 3MB L2 cache and 1066MHz front side bus. In fact, the only MBP to reach a 6MB L2 cache starts at $2,500. In other words, there's not much CPU benefit in that $700 gap between the baseline aluminum MB and the entry-level MBP. Oh, and no matter what you're willing to spend, both the MB and MBP hold a maximum of 4GB of memory.

So where's the power difference? Aside from the optional 2.53 and 2.8GHz CPUs, it's mainly in the video processing. The MB features a GeForce 9400M integrated graphics card that promises to be 5X faster than similar offerings from Intel. The MBP features that same integrated graphics card, but then adds a 256MB or 512MB GeForce 9600M GT alongside of it. Just make sure to note that the MBP doesn't run its dual graphics cards simultaneously. Only one runs at a time—the low-power one when the MBP is in "Better Battery Life" mode, and the amped one when in "Better Performance" mode—and you need to log out of the system in order to switch from one card to the other. Some notebook makers such as Alienware allow a computer to do this on the fly, and even use both video cards at once for full-throttle performance. (For more on this, check out Giz Explains.)

Next-gen GPUs used to be of consequence for only gamers, but the next generation of OS X, Snow Leopard, promises to use the GPU for lots of subtasks, especially anything math intensive like encoding video. We're already seeing individual apps like those in Adobe's new CS4 making use of the GPU for non-gaming tasks. A faster GPU with the new OS just over the horizon won't just do 3D faster—it'll make your whole computer faster. (More here, here and here.)

To test out the CPU and GPUs, we put the new MacBook, last generation MacBook Pro, the new MacBook Pro with power savings and the new MacBook Pro running at full speed through XBench and Geekbench performance tests.

From a CPU standpoint, the metal MB really is just a tiny MBP (our tested processors have nearly identical clock speeds). So unsurprisingly, performance gains between our MB and MBP test systems were negligible. GeekBench confirmed that basic and floating point processing were pretty much the same across the board.
In XBench especially, you'll notice that the old MacBook Pro has an edge. Most of this performance gap can be explained by its slightly faster 2.6GHz processor. However, in real world application, when dealing with big chunks of data the newer MB's 1066 MHz front side bus will offer benefits not seen in this graph. Notice the small performance spike in the memory task in current gen laptops. That's because the new memory is clocked at a faster speed.

Still, benefits from the previous generation to this one, or from the MB to MBP are slim, often falling below 5 and 10% even in the limited GPU benchmark tests. The differences are there, sure, but the performance gains between the $1600 MacBook and $2400 MacBook Pro are not astounding.

But benchmark programs can be deceiving with simple tasks that don't take into account how the whole system fits together, especially when we're talking about graphics. So we tested the systems in a real world application that could most accurately judge its GPU power, 3D gaming. We loaded Spore.

Spore demoed on MacBook. 1280x600 resolution, all settings maxed.

Spore demoed on MacBook Pro. 1440x900 resolution, all settings maxed.

Admittedly, Spore may not be the best graphics benchmark as its animations are a bit rough to begin with. Still, the MB has noticeably more pop-ins and seems to be struggling loading complete textures. Then toward the end of the MacBook clip as the ship zooms back to land, the MacBook's integrated graphics, even while rendering the scene at a far lower resolution, can't compete with with the MacBook Pro and its discrete graphics. Unplayable choppiness ensues.
Just for kicks, we ran Spore with the MacBook Pro in "Better Battery Life" mode to see what it would look like on the integrated GPU. Draw your own conclusions, but we still consider the performance a half step above that of the new MacBook—especially as the MBP is running the game in 1440x900 resolution. We'd attribute the performance gains to the slightly faster processor and extra 2GB of RAM. (On a side note, does anyone else notice that despite us cranking all test settings to high detail, there's obviously a software automated detail curve? The MB has fewer objects and less intricate textures than the power friendly MBP. And there's a similar jump between the power friendly MBP and the normal mode MBP.)

We'll be testing the GPU more in the future, but where the benchmarks came up short our eyes cannot be fooled. That integrated graphics card just doesn't compete.

According to Nvidia, those using Boot Camp should note that whatever power/graphics setting was last used in OSX will be applied to Windows. UPDATE: According to Apple, Boot Camp can only utilize the more powerful discrete graphics on the MBP.

But no matter how quickly these laptops are crunching numbers, the great news is, they're doing it with less lap heat. Both the new MB and MBP operate with cooler bottoms than before. Heat seems less likely to pool in the rear of the system now, and that's probably because of the unibody construction: Without rivets, screws or seams, it makes a great half-pound heatsink. This thermal update is critical, since Apple recently recalled a great number of their last-gen notebooks for heat-related video-card failures.

As for battery life, we tested the laptops under identical operation settings playing back an H.264 movie and then a DVD movie. (Screens were set to medium brightness, Wi-Fi on and keyboard backlighting on low.)

As you see, be it a digital download or an optical disc, it's tough to make it through any movie on the MBP. The DVD playback was worse even than older versions of the MBP. However, disabling discrete graphics in Power Saver mode buys over 40 minutes of DVD playback. So the good news is you'll make it through a movie. The bad news is that you'll have to neuter your MBP to get there.

So Who Needs The MacBook Pro over the Macbook?

In one word, pros. (Suiting, we know.) Video professionals will need the MBP because the MB no longer has FireWire, still a big deal for video guys. USB is fast, but its speeds aren't sustained. Those who use FireWire require predictable transfer rates, a connection that won't drop during realtime video playback from an external hard drive or capture from a video deck.

Anyone who requires an ExpressCard, too, will need to spend the extra cash on a MBP. Many 3G peripherals use this slot—and some correct Apple's willful memory-card ignorance by filling it with an SD/MS reader—but there are just as many USB peripherals, so its omission in the MB probably isn't as damning as FireWire's.

And then, of course, there's the group that requires the MacBook Pro's discrete graphics card with a half-gig of dedicated RAM. Large textures and massive Photoshop files require a level of performance that the basic MacBook's integrated graphics, even Nvidia's most boastworthy—just can't replace.

In this regard, we see the line drawn in the sand between the MacBook and the MacBook Pro. Similar processors, different graphics and FireWire and ExpressCard only if you pay up.

Through the course of this review, we've focused on what makes the new MacBook different from the new MacBook Pro. We've sifted every detail we could find in what we're sure looks like a lot of nitpicking. So let us make it clear: The new MacBook is our favorite MacBook to date, and the same can be said about the new MacBook Pro. If you respected Apple build quality before, know that the latest unibody construction takes that quality to the next level with systems that are both durable and extremely comfortable to use.

But better still, the people who in the past might have been suckered into paying extra for the MacBook Pro's superior design now have the chance to buy a standard-priced MacBook and still glow with pride. It's not the huge price drop some were hoping for, but it's certainly savings for some.

The class boundary remains, but it's blurrier than ever. [All the New MacBook Details]

MacBook above.

• The optical drive is identical in the MB and MBP, and it's SATA
• MBP RAM isn't tough to replace, but hard drive requires a Torx screwdriver
• The keyboards can be user-serviced, but require removing 56 screws first
• "Unibody" construction is "elegant"
• "The new MacBook is really a 13" MacBook Pro. It uses the same design, and same manufacturing quality"

Read the full play-by-play over at ifixit. And be glad that isn't your computer that they ripped apart...or was it? [ifixit]

Two graphics cards? It sounds crazy, preposterous, retardiculous. It's actually not. It's not unique to the MacBook Pro at all. PC users might be more familiar with Nvidia's Hybrid SLI, which pulls similar dual-card wizardry. In a nutshell, it lets you use the less power-hungry integrated graphics processor when you're doing lighter stuff to save battery, and then when you want a lot of video-crunching Mr. T powah, you can flip on the discrete graphics card. Of course, there's balls-to-the-wall full SLI too, which uses two entirely separate graphics cards in one notebook for Hulk power and about 45 seconds of battery life, like in one of Alienware's beasts.

Nvidia's standard hybrid SLI for PC actually uses both the integrated and discrete GPU at the same time when it goes into turbo mode, and it'll let you switch on the fly or have it automatically flip between the two depending on the power source. But the MacBook Pro uses Apple's spin on Nvidia's tech that simply lets you pick one or the other (not both, booooooo) and you have to manually flip the switch in system prefs, log out and back in, pretty annoying. Battery life is apparently an issue with the new MacBook Pro, considering that the integrated 9400M card now nets you five hours of go-time, the same as the separate, more power-hungry 8600M GT in the previous model, whereas the new discrete 9600M GT now gets you only four.

The other major reason for the huge upgrade to more proficient graphic cards in both the MacBook and Pro is Snow Leopard, which will be big on parallel processing and offloading work to the graphics card—graphics cards are particularly adept at parallel processing because of the way they're designed and the fact that they have a buttload of cores. (Here's a more in-depth explanation of that.) And if graphics cards are driving more and more of the general computing experience, the truly shitty ones in the last generation of MacBooks just won't cut it.

Nvidia's been heavily investing in "General-purpose computing on Graphics Processing Units" (GPGPU)—again, using the graphics card for more general applications—on its own for a while, actually. When they demoed their latest, most badass cards for me a few months ago, it was heavily tilted on those types of applications, including in-game physics and Folding@Home. They actually have their own development kit called CUDA that lets programmers leverage graphics cards using a standard programming language—PhysX, a physics gaming engine, is probably the most well-known application of it so far. (Nvidia isn't sure when PhysX come to Mac, but they're looking at it.) Not so coincidentally, CUDA for Mac came out in August. These cards also support Apple's own graphics programming language, called OpenCL.

So even if you're the type of person that browses the net, edits Office docs and fiddles around in Photoshop rather than the type that plays WoW: Wrath of the Lich King or cuts video, graphics cards will matter to you almost as much as it does to those people: They're going to be critical not just in a lot of the awesome stuff you'll see coming out in the next couple of years but increasingly so in the way operating systems run, whether it's from Apple or Microsoft or anyone else. So get ready to hear a lot more about them.

Something you still wanna know? Send any questions about games, snow kitties or pancakes to tips@gizmodo.com, with "Giz Explains" in the subject line.

The new MacBook and MacBook Pro may be molded by hand from a single piece of adamantium or whatever, but how do they size up to their previous versions? The new MacBook Pro actually has a larger footprint (X Y) than the old MacBook Pro, but it's also slightly thinner (tough to tell in person). But the new MacBook, on the other hand, has a nearly identical footprint (X Y), but seems much thinner than the old MacBook. And the numbers agree.

In other words, to the naked eye, big improvement on the MacBook dimensions. Minor improvement Maybe a wash or even a step back on the MacBook Pro dimensions.

0.13 inches doesn't sound like much, but combined with beveling, it makes the new MacBook look and feel much more like premium device.

It defies Apple convention. MacBook Pros, MacBook Airs and PowerBooks—those systems don the silver finish of aircraft-grade aluminum. iBooks and MacBooks? They can settle for plain old white.

That was, until today when Apple presented their redesigned MacBooks featuring the new "unibody enclosure" manufacturing process. So is a new finish and more rugged build enough to make the budget laptop feel like its premium counterparts? In one word, yes.

The new MacBook feels exactly like the new MacBook Pro, just smaller. Literally, if there was not a "MacBook" label on the front, you could not tell the difference without closely examining the ports. The same buttonless trackpad, the same glossy black frame, the same beveled edges, the same keyboard with back-lit keys, the same conveniently side-mounted battery display and the same optical-drive placement make this look a lot like the fabled 12-inch MacBook Pro we've been waiting for...even though it technically isn't—especially since the firewire port is gone. (The ports left include two USB, mini Display Port, ethernet, mic and headphone jack).

Let's talk about that buttonless glass trackpad for a moment. It's really fantastic. The finish is just right, providing that perfect balance of tactile resistance generally reserved for the MacBook Pro trackpad.

The feeling of physically clicking the trackpad (like a mouse button), while it sounds awkward for sure, is something I unconsciously adjusted to in seconds. The only oddity was when I used a two finger press for right clicking. On my current MacBook Pro, right clicking is a simple two finger tap and I caught myself tapping as opposed to pressing frequently when I right clicked. (If you can't adjust to the clicking pad, you can simply turn the click feature off and default to touch settings alone).

The 4-finger awareness is better than I thought. A simple swipe of four fingers pops up Expose. So could I fool it? Maybe if I only used 3 fingers. Maybe if I slipped in a thumb. Nope. It was too smart for me.

A quick tour of Spore outputted on the new 30-inch Cinema Display showed that while the MacBook's new NVIDIA GeForce 9400M is decent, it doesn't make for a flawless, unbelievable gaming machine. The system achieved passable framerates while running at 1280x800 resolution at mostly medium settings (like shadows and textures). Not horrible, but not great either.

It'll be interesting to hear the final verdict on the new metal MacBook when we have time to sit down and test it fully. But for now, as a premium computer for the average Apple user, I'm digging it.

Update: We have edited this post to reflect the real hardware/price comparison between the Dell and the Apple laptops. The bottom line: They are not comparable. Our apologies for the mistakes in the original article. —J.D.

Let's just look at the 13-inch MacBook that was just announced, for example. For $1,300, it comes with a 2.0GHz Core 2 Duo, 2GB of RAM and a 160GB hard drive. Over at Dell, I can grab an Inspiron 13 laptop with a 13.3-inch screen, a 2.0GHz Core 2 Duo, 3GB of RAM and a 250GB hard drive. For $750. For those of you keeping score at home, that's a $550 difference, and the specs are better on the cheaper Dell.

Update:

Actually, the specs on the Dell are not better, as reader Giz James Topoleski pointed out. In fact, the MacBook seems like a much better machine than the Dell except for the 1GB of extra RAM and larger hard drive.

• The Dell uses Intel graphics instead of the much better NVIDIA GeForce 9400M, which is currently unavailable in any other computer.
• The Dell uses a 802.11g Mini-Card as oposed to the MacBook's Wireless N card.
• While it has 3GB of Shared Dual Channel DDR2 RAM at 667MHz, the 2GB of RAM in the MacBook is 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM.
• The Dell has an Intel Core 2 Duo T5750 with 667MHz bus and 2MB cache as opposed to the Intel Core 2 Duo with 3MB on chip and 1066 MHz bus on the MacBook.
• The Dell has no Bluetooth by default.
• There's no HD video output on the Dell and no option for one.
• There's no gigabit Eithernet.

So as you can see, the price difference is quite reasonable, and that's without counting on things like the multi-touch no-button glass trackpad or the iLife multimedia suite, both things not included in the Dell. It's like comparing last year's car model with this year's.

-

And it's not like Apple is offering anything great for my $550. You have a fancy new manufacturing process, awesome. Your trackpads are glass. OK. I'd rather have $550 and a plastic trackpad, thanks. I'm not sold on no physical buttons anyways. (Update: The whole trackpad is a physical button. —J.D.)

Apple has always put a price premium on its products, and people pay it, which is great for them. But for people who aren't already on the Apple bandwagon and for people who aren't having their computers bought for them by rich parents, like the college kids who snap up these laptops every August, there's no incentive to switch.

Maybe Leopard is way better than Vista. I don't know, I haven't extensively used either. But when the time comes to buy a new computer that comes loaded with one or the other, one thing is going to make my decision for me, and it isn't shiny glass things or funny commercials. It's the price. And I don't think I'm alone on that one.

Note: While this last point may be arguable, it's certainly not the case of the MacBook. Even while the MacBook has less storage space and memory than the Dell, it seems competitively priced looking at the technologies including in the package. —J.D.

Blu-ray is a bag of hurt. I don’t mean from the consumer point of view. It’s great to watch movies, but the licensing is so complex. We’re waiting until things settle down, and waiting until Blu-ray takes off before we burden our customers with the cost of licensing.

Takeaway? Huge battery drain, likely replaced by digital downloads in the not-too-distant future, so we'll hold off on the big price jump, thanks. Me? I still love 'em on my PS3, but I'm going to have to start using "bag of hurt" way more often.

Joining the MacBook Pro, Apple's MacBooks, their best-selling mac ever, also received a complete hardware re-tooling today, with rejuvenated hardware packed inside a brand-new aluminum case, thus putting one of the final stakes in the heart of white and black plastic in the computer line (the original plastic MacBook is still available, at a reduced $999 price) and linking the consumer and pro notebooks under the same design vocabulary for the first time.

(More pics by Mark Wilson from our liveblog are here.)

•Built with the "Brick" manufacturing process that casts the entire notebook's frame from a single piece of aluminum (removing cut-out pieces, rather than bolting on additions), the Air-inspired chassis takes the formerly dorm-roomy vibe of the previous iteration and fully wraps it into Apple's more grown-up polished-aluminum-and-black-glass design philosophy that Mr. Ive has been cranking on of late.

•The rumored Nvidia chipset is now in, with a brand new Nvidia 9400M integrated GPU replacing the previous Macbook's Intel integrated graphics. It has 16 parallel graphics cores, pushes 54 Gigaflops and runs up to 5 times faster than Intel Integrated graphics (huge). It's the same card found in the MacBook Pros, but without the secondary Nvidia unit.

•The 13.3" LED-backlit screen features the same corner-to-corner glass cover as the MBP. The LED 30% more power efficient.

•Like the MBP, the MacBook also meets EPEAT Gold certification for energy and manufacturing green-ness, and has 42% smaller packaging size.

•5 hours of stated battery life.

•It's a "half-pound lighter" than the previous MacBooks and 0.95 inches thick, and weight is 4.5 lbs.

•Also brand new is Apple's next generation glass multitouch trackpad, which eschews a traditional button in favor of making the pad itself the only button. New four-finger multitouch gestures (four!) for exposé and app switching, and multi-button clicks are done via software.

•The low-end $1099 model has been dropped (old MBs available now for $999), leaving only the 2.0GHz/160GB/2MB RAM/Superdrive for $1299 and the 2.4 GHz/250GB for $1599—much to the chagrin of those looking for the rumored sub-$1000 NEW notebook. A 128GB SSD is available on the top end, with no price mentioned.

•Shipping TODAY, and available in-store tomorrow. It seems like they're hyping the MacBook hard, with a new commercial showing the fabrication process and the powerful new Nvidia graphics.

•“In many ways I think it’s more beautiful internally than it is externally” - Ive.

Full, incredibly long press release covering both the MacBooks and MacBook Pros:

New MacBook Family Redefines Notebook Design

Industry’s Greenest Notebooks

CUPERTINO, California—October 14, 2008—Apple® today unveiled an all new MacBook® family that redefines notebook design, and at the same time dramatically lowers the entry price for advanced notebook features including all-metal enclosures and pro-performance notebook graphics by $700 to make them far more affordable. The new MacBook and 15-inch MacBook Pro both have a precision unibody enclosure crafted from a single block of aluminum, resulting in thinner, more durable and incredibly beautiful designs. In addition, every member of the new MacBook family includes state of the art NVIDIA graphics, brilliant instant-on LED-backlit displays and new large glass Multi-Touch™ trackpads that offer almost 40 percent more tracking area and support more Multi-Touch gestures. The entire new MacBook family meets stringent Energy Star 4.0, EPEAT Gold and RoHS environmental standards, and leads the industry in the elimination of toxic chemicals by containing no brominated flame retardants, using only PVC-free internal cables and components, and using energy efficient LED-backlit displays that are mercury-free and made with arsenic-free glass.

“Apple has invented a whole new way of building notebooks from a single block of aluminum. And, just as important, they are the industry’s greenest notebooks,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “The new MacBooks offer incredible features our users will love —like their stunning all-metal design, great 3D graphics and LED backlit displays—at prices up to $700 less than before.”

“Traditionally notebooks are made from multiple parts. With the new MacBook, we’ve replaced all of those parts with just one part—the unibody,” said Jonathan Ive, Apple’s senior vice president of Industrial Design. “The MacBook’s unibody enclosure is made from a single block of aluminum, making the new MacBook fundamentally thinner, stronger and more robust with a fit and finish that we’ve never even dreamed of before.”

The new MacBook line features the powerful new NVIDIA GeForce 9400M, a revolutionary new 3D integrated graphics processor that features 16 parallel processing cores and delivers up to five times the 3D graphics performance as previous MacBook and MacBook Air™ designs. Apple has worked together with NVIDIA on this groundbreaking graphics processor and is the first to bring it to market in the new MacBook family.

The new smooth glass Multi-Touch trackpad on the MacBook and 15-inch MacBook Pro gives users almost 40 percent more tracking area than before, making it even easier to use Multi-Touch gestures like pinch, rotate and swipe. New gestures allow users to activate Exposé® or switch between applications at the touch of a fingertip. The entire trackpad surface is also a button, allowing users to both track and click virtually anywhere on the trackpad. Users can easily enable multiple virtual buttons in software, such as right-clicking.

Every member of the new MacBook family features an LED-backlit display for brilliant instant-on performance that uses up to 30 percent less energy than its predecessor and eliminates the mercury found in industry standard fluorescent tube backlights. The ultra-thin displays provide crisp images and vivid colors which are ideal for viewing photos and movies, and the edge-to-edge cover glass creates a smooth, seamless surface. Every display in the new MacBook line uses completely arsenic-free glass.

The new MacBook delivers the top three features that MacBook customers have told us they want in a new MacBook—an all metal enclosure, high performance 3D graphics and LED-backlit displays—at an entry price that is $700 less than the $1,999 price of the MacBook Pro. At only 0.95-inches thin and weighing just 4.5 pounds, the new 13-inch full featured aluminum MacBook is an incredibly compact and durable notebook starting at just $1,299. Featuring the new NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics processor, MacBook delivers outstanding 3D game play on a consumer notebook, with up to five times faster graphics performance than the previous generation. The new MacBook is available in two models: the 2.0 GHz MacBook with a 160GB 5400 rpm hard drive, and the 2.4 GHz MacBook with a 250GB 5400 rpm hard drive and a backlit keyboard.

The powerful new 15-inch MacBook Pro at only 0.95-inches thin and weighing just 5.5 pounds offers ultimate performance and extensive expansion features in a remarkably portable design. Starting at $1,999, the MacBook Pro uses the latest Intel Core 2 Duo processors available, running up to 2.8 GHz, and a new graphics architecture that allows users to switch between the NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics processor for better battery life and the powerful NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT discrete graphics processor for higher performance. The new MacBook Pro is available in two models: a 2.4 GHz model with a 250GB 5400 rpm hard drive and a 2.53 GHz model with a 320GB 5400 rpm hard drive.

Today Apple also updated MacBook Air and the 17-inch MacBook Pro. MacBook Air, measuring only 0.16-inches at its thinnest point, 0.76-inches at its maximum height and weighing just three pounds, now includes new NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics and a faster architecture to provide robust support for 3D games and enhanced performance. Starting at $1,799, MacBook Air is available with a 120GB 4200 rpm hard drive, a 50 percent increase from the previous generation, or a new 128GB solid state drive. The updated 17-inch MacBook Pro keeps its original aluminum design, and now comes standard with a high resolution 1920 x 1200 LED-backlit display and a larger 320GB hard drive or an optional 128GB solid state drive.

Setting a new standard for environmentally friendly notebooks, every model of the new MacBook family achieves EPEAT Gold status.* Each MacBook unibody enclosure is made of highly recyclable aluminum and comes standard with energy efficient LED-backlit displays that are mercury-free and made with arsenic-free glass. The new MacBook family meets stringent Energy Star 4.0 requirements, contains no brominated flame retardants and uses internal cables and components that are PVC-free.

The new MacBook, 15-inch MacBook Pro and MacBook Air include a next generation, industry-standard Mini DisplayPort to connect with the new Apple LED Cinema Display featuring a 24-inch LED-backlit widescreen display with a built-in iSight® video camera, mic and speakers in an elegant, thin aluminum and glass enclosure. Part of the next-generation DisplayPort industry standard, the new Mini DisplayPort delivers a pure digital signal that can drive up to a 30-inch widescreen display. The Mini DisplayPort is ultra-compact at just 10 percent the size of a full DVI connector, perfect for the sleek design of the new MacBook family. Adapters are available for using the MacBook’s Mini DisplayPort with older generation VGA, DVI/HDMI and Dual-Link DVI displays.

Every Mac® in the Apple lineup comes with iLife® ‘08, Apple’s award-winning suite of digital lifestyle applications, featuring iPhoto®, the easiest, fastest way to organize and share digital photos, and a completely reinvented iMovie®, both seamlessly integrated with the MobileMe™ Gallery for online photo and video sharing.** Every Mac also includes Leopard®, the world’s most advanced operating system which features Time Machine™,*** an effortless way to automatically back up everything on a Mac; a redesigned Finder™ that lets users quickly browse and share files between multiple Macs; Quick Look, the best way to instantly see files without opening an application; Spaces®, an intuitive feature used to create groups of applications and instantly switch between them; and major enhancements to Mail and iChat®.****

Pricing & Availability

The new MacBook, 15-inch MacBook Pro and 17-inch MacBook Pro are now shipping and the new MacBook Air will be available in early November through the Apple Store® (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers. An updated 13-inch white MacBook featuring 2.1 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processors, a 120GB 5400 rpm hard drive and a slot-load 8X SuperDrive® is now available for $999 (US).

The 2.0 GHz, 13-inch aluminum MacBook, for a suggested retail price of $1,299 (US), includes:

* 13.3-inch widescreen LED-backlit 1280 x 800 glossy display;

* 2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 3MB shared L2 cache;

* 1066 MHz front-side bus;

* 2GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM, expandable to 4GB;

* NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics;

* 160GB serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm, with Sudden Motion Sensor;

* a slot-load 8X SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW) optical drive;

* Mini DisplayPort for video output (adapters sold separately);

* built-in AirPort Extreme® 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;

* Gigabit Ethernet port;

* built-in iSight video camera;

* two USB 2.0 ports;

* one audio line in and one audio line out port, each supporting both optical digital and analog;

* glass Multi-Touch trackpad; and

* 60 Watt MagSafe Power Adapter.

The 2.4 GHz aluminum MacBook, for a suggested retail price of $1,599 (US), includes:

* 13.3-inch widescreen LED-backlit 1280 x 800 glossy display;

* 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 3MB shared L2 cache;

* 1066 MHz front-side bus;

* 2GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM, expandable to 4GB;

* NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics;

* 250GB serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm, with Sudden Motion Sensor;

* a slot-load 8X SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW) optical drive;

* Mini DisplayPort for video output (adapters sold separately);

* built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;

* Gigabit Ethernet port;

* built-in iSight video camera;

* two USB 2.0 ports;

* one audio line in and one audio line out port, each supporting both optical digital and analog;

* glass Multi-Touch trackpad and illuminated keyboard; and

* 60 Watt MagSafe Power Adapter.

Build-to-order options for the MacBook include the ability to upgrade to 4GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM, a 250GB 5400 rpm, 320GB 5400 rpm hard drive, a 128GB solid state drive, Mini DisplayPort to DVI Adapter, Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter (for 30-inch DVI display), Mini DisplayPort to VGA Adapter, Apple USB Modem, Apple Remote, Apple MagSafe Airline Adapter and the AppleCare® Protection Plan.

The 2.4 GHz, 15-inch aluminum MacBook Pro, for a suggested retail price of $1,999 (US), includes:

* 15.4-inch widescreen LED-backlit 1440 x 900 glossy display;

* 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 3MB shared L2 cache;

* 1066 MHz front-side bus;

* 2GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM, expandable to 4GB;

* NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics;

* NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT discrete graphics with 256MB GDDR3 video memory;

* 250GB serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm, with Sudden Motion Sensor;

* a slot-load 8X SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW) optical drive;

* Mini DisplayPort for video output (adapters sold separately);

* built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;

* Gigabit Ethernet port;

* built-in iSight video camera;

* two USB 2.0 ports;

* one FireWire® 800 port;

* ExpressCard/34 expansion card slot;

* one audio line in and one audio line out port, each supporting both optical digital and analog;

* glass Multi-Touch trackpad and illuminated keyboard; and

* 85 Watt MagSafe Power Adapter.

The 2.53 GHz aluminum MacBook Pro, for a suggested retail price of $2,499 (US), includes:

* 15.4-inch widescreen LED-backlit 1440 x 900 glossy display;

* 2.53 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 6MB shared L2 cache;

* 1066 MHz front-side bus;

* 4GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM;

* NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics;

* NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT discrete graphics with 512MB GDDR3 video memory;

* 320GB serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm, with Sudden Motion Sensor;

* a slot-load 8X SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW) optical drive;

* Mini DisplayPort for video output (adapters sold separately);

* built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;

* Gigabit Ethernet port;

* built-in iSight video camera;

* two USB 2.0 ports;

* one FireWire 800 port;

* ExpressCard/34 expansion card slot;

* one audio line in and one audio line out port, each supporting both optical digital and analog;

* glass Multi-Touch trackpad and illuminated keyboard; and

* 85 Watt MagSafe Power Adapter.

Build-to-order options for the MacBook Pro include a 2.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, the ability to upgrade to 4GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM, 250GB 7200 rpm, 320GB 5400 rpm or a 320GB 7200 rpm hard drive, a 128GB solid state drive, Mini DisplayPort to DVI Adapter, Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter (for 30-inch DVI display), Mini DisplayPort to VGA Adapter, Apple USB Modem, Apple Remote, Apple MagSafe Airline Adapter and the AppleCare Protection Plan.

The 1.6 GHz MacBook Air, for a suggested retail price of $1,799 (US), includes:

* 13.3-inch widescreen LED-backlit high resolution 1280 x 800 glossy display;

* 1.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 6MB shared L2 cache;

* 1066 MHz front-side bus;

* 2GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM;

* NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics;

* 120GB serial ATA hard drive running at 4200 rpm, with Sudden Motion Sensor;

* Mini DisplayPort for video output (adapters sold separately);

* built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;

* built-in iSight video camera;

* one USB 2.0 port;

* one headphone port;

* Multi-Touch trackpad and illuminated keyboard; and

* 45 Watt MagSafe Power Adapter.

The 1.86 GHz MacBook Air, for a suggested retail price of $2,499 (US), includes:

* 13.3-inch widescreen LED-backlit 1280 x 800 glossy display;

* 1.86 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 6MB shared L2 cache;

* 1066 MHz front-side bus;

* 2GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM;

* NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics;

* 128GB solid state drive;

* Mini DisplayPort for video output (adapters sold separately);

* built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;

* built-in iSight video camera;

* one USB 2.0 port;

* one headphone port;

* Multi-Touch trackpad and illuminated keyboard; and

* 45 Watt MagSafe Power Adapter.

Build-to-order options and accessories for the MacBook Air include the MacBook Air SuperDrive, Apple USB Ethernet Adapter, Mini DisplayPort to DVI Adapter, Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter (for 30-inch DVI display), Mini DisplayPort to VGA Adapter, Apple USB Modem, Apple MagSafe Airline Adapter, Apple Remote and the AppleCare Protection Plan.

The 2.5GHz 17-inch MacBook Pro, for a suggested retail price of $2,799 (US), includes:

* 17-inch widescreen LED-backlit 1920 x 1200 glossy display;

* 2.5 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 6MB shared L2 cache;

* 800 MHz front-side bus;

* 4GB 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM;

* NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics with 512MB with GDDR3 video memory;

* 320GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm, with Sudden Motion Sensor;

* a slot-load 8X SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW) optical drive;

* DVI output port for video output (VGA adapter included);

* built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR;

* Gigabit Ethernet port;

* built-in iSight video camera;

* three USB 2.0 ports;

* one FireWire 800 port and one FireWire 400 port;

* ExpressCard/34 expansion card slot;

* one audio line in and one audio line out port, each supporting both optical digital and analog;

* Multi-Touch trackpad and illuminated keyboard; and

* 85 Watt MagSafe Power Adapter.

Build-to-order options for the 17-inch MacBook Pro include a 2.6 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, a 320GB 7200 rpm hard drive, a 128GB solid state drive, anti-glare display, Apple USB Modem, Apple Remote, Apple MagSafe Airline Adapter and the AppleCare Protection Plan.

*EPEAT is an independent organization that helps customers compare the environmental performance of notebooks and desktops. Products meeting all of the 23 required criteria and at least 75 percent of the optional criteria are recognized as EPEAT Gold products. The EPEAT program was conceived by the US EPA and is based on IEEE 1680 standard for Environmental Assessment of Personal Computer Products. For more information visit www.epeat.net.

**The MobileMe service is available to persons aged 13 or older. Annual membership fee and internet access required. Terms and conditions apply.

***Time Machine requires an additional hard drive (sold separately).

****Video chatting requires a broadband Internet connection; fees may apply.

Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system and iLife and professional applications. Apple is also spearheading the digital media revolution with its iPod portable music and video players and iTunes online store, and has entered the mobile phone market with its revolutionary iPhone.

One of the biggest new features in the new MacBooks that Apple just unveiled is the glass trackpad, one that ditches the button in favor of turning the entire trackpad into a button. It also works with a bunch of new gestures, using up to four fingers to make doing things like switching between applications and flipping through a photo slideshow easier. It's pretty cool, but definitely not as cool as the concepts we've seen with a screen underneath, making the whole trackpad-is-the-buttons much more logical. Where's the screen, Apple?

Anyhow, this new trackpad has 39% more of a surface area than the old ones. As for the new gestures, some of them will include things like a two finger gesture to pinch and rotate for zooming and panning, a three finger gesture for swiping between photos or a four finger gesture for expose and app switching. Of course, all of this could have been done with the old plastic trackpads, making me wonder what, exactly, is the benefit of a glass trackpad with no screen underneath. I personally prefer the feel of my plastic trackpad to the screen of my iPhone for dragging my finger around on, as there's less resistance and fingerprint-gunkery on plastic.

From the press release:

The new smooth glass Multi-Touch trackpad on the MacBook and 15-inch MacBook Pro gives users almost 40 percent more tracking area than before, making it even easier to use Multi-Touch gestures like pinch, rotate and swipe. New gestures allow users to activate Exposé® or switch between applications at the touch of a fingertip. The entire trackpad surface is also a button, allowing users to both track and click virtually anywhere on the trackpad. Users can easily enable multiple virtual buttons in software, such as right-clicking.

[Live.Gizmodo.com]

• Print out the bingo card.

• Follow our MacBook 2008 liveblog event and take note of the timestamp as the event in the bingo card happens.

• You can shout bingo if you fill out one line or, alternatively, one of the 2 x 2 brick groups.

• When you get a bingo, quickly send us an email including the events and their timestamps to tips@gizmodo.com.

The first person who sends us a bingo wins the prize, which—in case you are a girl—it will be a dinner for two with me at Good Enough to Eat or—if you are a boy—a dinner for two with Jason at his lair. OK, I just made that up. But you will get our respect and love. Tons of it.

And one free pizza (if there's pizza internet ordering where you are located, that is). Nothing like an edible prize to warm up my heart and my stomach. In fact, we should make this a tradition for each event: The Giz's Liveblog Pizza Bingo. I like how it sounds.

Two bits on the Pro side: There isn't a new 17-inch model. Whether it'll show up later (like the original 17-inch MacBook Pro) or will fade into history is unknown, but the current one will hang around for a bit. The biggie, though, is that the Pro has TWO graphics cards—a GeForce 9400M and a 9600M GT. It'll use the 9400M when it needs to conserve battery juice, and kick on the 9600M when it needs raw power. CPU is going to be about the same. Oh, and it's go glossy or go home, there is no matte option.

For the new MacBooks, they'll look just like 13-inch Pros, but they'll cost ya on that level too: The cheapest aluminum MacBook will be $1299, come with a 2GHz processor, 2GB RAM and 160GB HDD. Yeah, that CPU is a bit slower than the old one, but supposedly the GeForce 9400M inside will make up for it. The white MacBook will stick around, and drop to $999 for the base model.

And for the Airs, more storage, 120GB HDD and 128GB SSD. Woohoo. Of course, we'll find out soon, as we bring to you live. [Daring Fireball]

Most Apple buyers are fully aware that they could purchase a cheaper computers from another manufacturer — after all, Apple's hardware specifications aren't exactly closely guarded secrets. Telling them this again and again won't win any converts, but it will, in a way, "rally the base" of fervent Apple critics online and elsewhere. If you also take into consideration that fact that Microsoft isn't promoting a specific new competitor to the new MacBook or even saying many positive things about any of their products, it is pretty clear what this is: an old-fashioned attack ad.

Unfortunately for Microsoft, it's doubtful that it will change anything. With or without these ads, new MacBooks will inspire a hoard of people — most of whom would have never purchased one anyway — to write about how overpriced the hardware is. Shouting "COMMODITIZED PCS ARE CHEAPER" over and over again and throwing around phrases like "Apple Tax" isn't a marketing strategy — it's political entrenchment. For computers. Partial text of the email below.

The economy is impacting consumer choices, but Macs, due to their high upfront, won’t sell in a more conservative market. On Sept. 29th, Morgan Stanley noted: “PC unit growth is decelerating and the remaining source of growth is increasingly the sub-$1,000 market where Apple does not play.” Even if Apple were to drop pricing, the Apple Tax still prices Macs well outside of the sub-$1000 range.

You can get a PC laptop with a bigger hard drive, more RAM, a media-card reader, more USB ports, and a bigger screen, for much less than a Mac. See the comparison chart below for just a few examples of what you can get today…we’ll send out an updated comparison chart after Apple’s announcement tomorrow.
You can upgrade just about any Windows desktop PC, but the only significantly upgradeable Mac is the Mac Pro listed at $2799.00.

Repurchasing software to make your Mac do all the things your PC does will cost you hundreds of dollars. Buying a Mac means scrapping your software and buying new applications (for up to $1,100) that run on Mac, just to do what you can still easily do on a new PC with the applications you already have. We’ve listed a set of common applications below.

HDMI, Blu-Ray, eSATA, MediaCard Readers, built-in 3G, Fingerprint readers, TV Tuners, all have been shipping as built-in features on PCs for years, but none are available on a Mac. Not only does this mean you get to use the latest and greatest now, but since it’s so easy to upgrade PCs, it also means that your computer is more future-ready…you can get today’s technology now, and tomorrow’s technology the minute its available.

Here's a crystal clear image of the new MacBook Pro 2008. At least, if you trust yesterday's alleged spy shot. I created it using that image as a guide for those of you too impatient to wait until tomorrow's Apple event, like myself.

Just like it happened with the iPod nano mockups, let's hope this one is also right on the money. Why? Because 1) I love the design and 2) I'm in the market to buy a replacement for my aging PowerBook 17. I can't wait to get this 15-inch beauty.

Is this thing real? Are the all those rumors going to be true? What about the last minute rumors?

The facts

• There's an Apple event on October 14 and we will be there to liveblog the pants out of it.

• Long overdue, a new MacBook line will be unveiled, with newly-designed MacBooks and MacBook Pros.

• Remember that Apple told resellers not to stock MacBooks or iPods (this was just before the Let's Rock announcement).

The logical and probable rumors

• The MacBook Air, being a recent design, will probably get a features bump, but not a redesign. This could to be supported by price cuts during the summer.

• The new MacBooks may abandon Intel's chipset—not the central processor, but the supporting circuitry—in favor of an Nvidia chipset. Nvidia delayed the launch of their new laptop chipset to October 15, which apparently provides faster built-in graphics and superior HD capabilities, after it was delayed from its original September 30 intro date.

• Despite the pretty mock ups, the MacBook and the MacBook Pro will probably look like the MacBook Air, but on a different scale. In previous generations, there was always a new model that introduced a new look, then the rest followed up.

• Several images of the base top, the base bottom and the display frame of the MacBook Pro have surfaced. It is still not clear if these images are real or not, even while they do look real indeed.

• Some people alleged that these images show a shell carved out of a single piece of aluminum, using a new and revolutionary manufacturing process code-named "Brick".

• However, there are several reasons to believe this may not be the case, starting with an Apple patent detailing a new welding process. However, both manufacturing techniques may have been combined for this product.

• The MacBook in the teaser invitation may be the 13-inch model. Assuming the Apple logo is the same size as before, that is. They have changed its size before.

• Following Apple's commitment for greener computers, all displays in the upcoming MacBook line may be LED-based.

Crazy rumors and wishful thinking

• The usual blurry MacBook spyshots have appeared, some of which, like this one, have been proven to be fake.

• The glass iPhone trackpads are most probably just that, fake.

• Some crazy people really wish to see a touch notebook.

• There's even more crazy people that think that a semi-transparent MacBook Pro may appear, based on an Apple patent.

• Some really really crazy people have been dreaming about tablet Macs since 2007 and before. Maybe the whole brick thing really refers to the fabled "son of Newton" that every fanboy has been dreaming about since forever, the subnotebook-tablet. After all, a pure tablet with no keyboard is really the only device that could be actually carved from a single piece of aluminum.