Apple limps away from MacWorld - bit-tech.net Forums

CardJoe · 7th Jan 2009, 13:04

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2009/01...rom-macworld/1

Apple's last MacWorld keynote was frankly full of disappointments and no shows - the most interesting news came from outside the keynote arena.

Shepps · 7th Jan 2009, 13:04

It was pretty dull.

"Look - new features 8D!"

Tomm · 7th Jan 2009, 13:22

I guess people use their laptops differently. I've had my laptop 3-4 years now, and the battery has been fixed in there the whole time, except for just after I bought it (I was being nosy). If I could get 40% more life or whatever Apple claim, that would be a brilliant trade-off for me. On the other hand, if you need your laptop for ~~watching DVDs~~ working on transatlantic flights, I can imagine that having a non-replaceable battery might irritate. I reckon the biggest problem is that you can't change RAM/hard drive as easily as on other models. That's a shame for sure.

Presumably it's not that hard to crack the case open and replace the battery anyway? Perhaps for the average user, but I doubt that will affect too many people reading this.

kenco_uk · 7th Jan 2009, 13:37

I can see GPS-enabled cameras (finally) taking off this year.

bubsterboo · 7th Jan 2009, 13:40

I can't believe they charge 50$ extra for the matte finish. I mean you're already paying a lot for the computer... Isn't the base model 2800$?

liratheal · 7th Jan 2009, 13:43

I do love Apple pricing schemes.

"Bend over the table, sir/madam."

DougEdey · 7th Jan 2009, 13:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by kenco_uk

I can see GPS-enabled cameras (finally) taking off this year.

My phone camera does that already.

Gareth Halfacree · 7th Jan 2009, 13:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by DougEdey

My phone camera does [geotagging] already.

Arp - same as mine. Nokia N95 8GB, which uses the in-built GPS to add geotagging data to the EXIF information.

Jumeira_Johnny · 7th Jan 2009, 14:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tomm

I guess people use their laptops differently. I've had my laptop 3-4 years now, and the battery has been fixed in there the whole time, except for just after I bought it (I was being nosy). If I could get 40% more life or whatever Apple claim, that would be a brilliant trade-off for me. On the other hand, if you need your laptop for ~~watching DVDs~~ working on transatlantic flights, I can imagine that having a non-replaceable battery might irritate. I reckon the biggest problem is that you can't change RAM/hard drive as easily as on other models. That's a shame for sure.

Presumably it's not that hard to crack the case open and replace the battery anyway? Perhaps for the average user, but I doubt that will affect too many people reading this.

Well, I have 17" MBP and use it fairly hard. Tethered shooting, on location review with clients, rough editing for placement to name a few. And then I am occasionally out of touch with a power socket for a few days, and need my MBP to upload images. So I routinely swap batteries. The loss of FW800 as stock (15") and an encased battery are a shame, it's 2 of the reasons I like my MBP.

DarkLord7854 · 7th Jan 2009, 14:55

Lol.. 8Gbs DDR3 = 1,200$ upgrade. Wow.

Anyone got screen caps of the hacked feed? Sounds much more entertaining than the keynote.

You'd have thought Apple would go down with a bang instead of a whimper.

And although I agree that most people don't remove their laptop batteries, the Pro line is aimed at professionals, and that means they generally use their laptops a LOT and most carry 1 or 2 spare batteries so as to be able to continuously work even in the event they can't get to a wall socket for a day or two.

DougEdey · 7th Jan 2009, 15:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gareth Halfacree

Arp - same as mine. Nokia N95 8GB, which uses the in-built GPS to add geotagging data to the EXIF information.

I've got a fair few cycling programs that use it to upload photos from my route to google.

identikit · 7th Jan 2009, 15:10

Yep agreeing with the last 2 posters. The 17" is a big seller to Pros who will pay a premium for the best for their job. Having to pay for a matte screen, no FW and the lack of a removable battery kills off so many decent points. Fail!

edit; Doug!! I'm agreeing with JJ and Darklord

GoodBytes · 7th Jan 2009, 15:19

Actually if you look at Dell new Latitude series 8 GB of RAM option is about the same price (DDR2 (latitude E6500, E6400 and E6400ATG) or DDR3 (latitude E4300, and E4200).

What I don't' get is many people from comments on other site that does this Apple coverage are impressed by the 8 hours. For less expensive, my laptop (Dell latitude E6400) which has 4GB of RAM, Quadro NVS 160M, 5200RPM HDD, Intel wireless N 5100, Vista 64-bit with Aero and transparency, ... has 9 hours of battery life surfing the web (get SSD HDD and apparently you can pass the 9 hours). 8 hours and half at worst, 3 hours and half playing Crysis. The is, of course with the 9-cell battery. And a second battery (12-cell) could be added at the bottom (like a plateau of the size of the machine) for a claimed 19-21 hours of battery life. And its not like you have less features with that laptop. You have a metal alloy base and screen cover lid, ambient light sensor, backlit keyboard, normal Display port, VGA, eSATA, power a device using the specific USB while the machine is off, 4 USB, two mouse setup, anti-glare screen, MINIMUM 3 year warranty with a guy that comes to your place when you what, at the time you want. The one thing I can think off that is not there is the as small PSU and even higher resolution... but it's 17inch than the Dell is a 14inch one. Anyway, my point is that such laptop is just moved away on news, and leave more room to show the less impressive Apple machine. Again, I am talking about in general.

Sifter3000 · 7th Jan 2009, 17:10

Given that this was Schiller's first go at doing a whole keynote - and the first for a very long time with no Steve - I can see the wisdom of giving Schiller a comparatively dull set of products to deliver. It was a soft intro, and all the focus is on the dull (but worthy) updates to the software, not that "ah, Steve would have been so much better."

Plus, had Apple shown off anything amazing, surely questions would have been asked about why it was quitting MacWorld.

Jojii · 7th Jan 2009, 17:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by MacRumors' live feed unfortunately getting hacked

STEVE JOBS JUST DIED:

That laugh was hard to stifle at work.

Lepermessiah · 7th Jan 2009, 17:44

Apple is pretty dull, in other news, the sun will come up tomorrow.

DarkLord7854 · 7th Jan 2009, 18:09

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jojii

That laugh was hard to stifle at work.

I didn't manage to stifle mine, burst out laughing

Dodge · 7th Jan 2009, 21:11

Rather disapointing tbh. Been waiting to see apple update their mac mini for a while now. Now I have to decide do I carry on waiting or get a pc.

DarkLord7854 · 7th Jan 2009, 21:28

What, you don't think 1.8Ghz Core2, 1Gb RAM, and an 80Gbs HD is worth 600$?

harveypooka · 8th Jan 2009, 19:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by liratheal

I do love Apple pricing schemes.

"Bend over the table, sir/madam."

Indeed.

"The MacBook Pro comes in at one price point - expensive."

7th Jan 2009, 13:04	#1
CardJoe Player Character bit-tech Staff Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 7,940	Apple limps away from MacWorld http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2009/01...rom-macworld/1 Apple's last MacWorld keynote was frankly full of disappointments and no shows - the most interesting news came from outside the keynote arena. __________________ this is joe's non-bit-tech blog

7th Jan 2009, 13:22	#3
Tomm I also ride trials :¬) Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Fallowfield, Manchester Posts: 2,233	I guess people use their laptops differently. I've had my laptop 3-4 years now, and the battery has been fixed in there the whole time, except for just after I bought it (I was being nosy). If I could get 40% more life or whatever Apple claim, that would be a brilliant trade-off for me. On the other hand, if you need your laptop for ~~watching DVDs~~ working on transatlantic flights, I can imagine that having a non-replaceable battery might irritate. I reckon the biggest problem is that you can't change RAM/hard drive as easily as on other models. That's a shame for sure. Presumably it's not that hard to crack the case open and replace the battery anyway? Perhaps for the average user, but I doubt that will affect too many people reading this. __________________ Carrot cake cheesecake Shuttle SN85G4V2 \| A64 3200+ / Apple PowerBook 12

7th Jan 2009, 13:37	#4
kenco_uk glourious bacon? Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Bourne, Lincolnshire, UK Posts: 6,292	I can see GPS-enabled cameras (finally) taking off this year. __________________ MSI X58M - i7 920 4Ghz - 6GB Corsair - GTX260 648/2520 ::: Vote for bit-tech T - theevilelephant - "it sounded like bouncing around on a pogo stick, screaming in chinese while occasionally throwing a cat at a door."

7th Jan 2009, 13:40	#5
bubsterboo Hypermodder Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Canada Posts: 781	I can't believe they charge 50$ extra for the matte finish. I mean you're already paying a lot for the computer... Isn't the base model 2800$? __________________ DFI LANPARTY UT P35-T2R - Q6600 @ 3.4ghz - 8GB OCZ Platinum - evga 9800gx2 - 2x500gb seagate, 1x250gb hitachi, 1x320gb seagate, 1x1tb samsung - Benq FP241W

7th Jan 2009, 13:43	#6
liratheal Just got a great book on tape Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: High Wycombe, UK Posts: 3,551	I do love Apple pricing schemes. "Bend over the table, sir/madam." __________________ Gigabyte MA790FX, X4 9950 Black Edition, 8gb Geil Black Dragon, 2x4870 512mb, Antec TruePower Quattro 850w I game, Do you?

7th Jan 2009, 13:04	#2
Shepps Slacking off since 1986.. Join Date: May 2002 Location: Stourbridge Posts: 1,407	It was pretty dull. "Look - new features 8D!"

7th Jan 2009, 14:55	#10
DarkLord7854 Web Developer Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: West Palm Beach, Florida Posts: 3,822	Lol.. 8Gbs DDR3 = 1,200$ upgrade. Wow. Anyone got screen caps of the hacked feed? Sounds much more entertaining than the keynote. You'd have thought Apple would go down with a bang instead of a whimper. And although I agree that most people don't remove their laptop batteries, the Pro line is aimed at professionals, and that means they generally use their laptops a LOT and most carry 1 or 2 spare batteries so as to be able to continuously work even in the event they can't get to a wall socket for a day or two. __________________ Current Computer: eVGA 780i Motherboard \| Q6600 Core2Quad \| eVGA GTX260 896Mbs 216-core \| 2x Seagate 500Gbs \| 8Gbs OCZ Platinum DDR2 800 \| Creative XtremeGamer X-Fi \| Thermaltake Armor Case Custom WordPress, ZenCart, Joomla, vBulletin, etc installs and skinning, PM/E-Mail for a quote

7th Jan 2009, 15:10	#12
identikit Ultramodder Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: London Posts: 1,182	Yep agreeing with the last 2 posters. The 17" is a big seller to Pros who will pay a premium for the best for their job. Having to pay for a matte screen, no FW and the lack of a removable battery kills off so many decent points. Fail! edit; Doug!! I'm agreeing with JJ and Darklord __________________ www.crushed-core.com \| Folding @ Home \| CPC & Bit-tech folding stats (team #35947) \| My Heatware

7th Jan 2009, 15:19	#13
GoodBytes mother into a board?! Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Canada, Montreal Posts: 3,451	Actually if you look at Dell new Latitude series 8 GB of RAM option is about the same price (DDR2 (latitude E6500, E6400 and E6400ATG) or DDR3 (latitude E4300, and E4200). What I don't' get is many people from comments on other site that does this Apple coverage are impressed by the 8 hours. For less expensive, my laptop (Dell latitude E6400) which has 4GB of RAM, Quadro NVS 160M, 5200RPM HDD, Intel wireless N 5100, Vista 64-bit with Aero and transparency, ... has 9 hours of battery life surfing the web (get SSD HDD and apparently you can pass the 9 hours). 8 hours and half at worst, 3 hours and half playing Crysis. The is, of course with the 9-cell battery. And a second battery (12-cell) could be added at the bottom (like a plateau of the size of the machine) for a claimed 19-21 hours of battery life. And its not like you have less features with that laptop. You have a metal alloy base and screen cover lid, ambient light sensor, backlit keyboard, normal Display port, VGA, eSATA, power a device using the specific USB while the machine is off, 4 USB, two mouse setup, anti-glare screen, MINIMUM 3 year warranty with a guy that comes to your place when you what, at the time you want. The one thing I can think off that is not there is the as small PSU and even higher resolution... but it's 17inch than the Dell is a 14inch one. Anyway, my point is that such laptop is just moved away on news, and leave more room to show the less impressive Apple machine. Again, I am talking about in general. __________________ AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ S939 \| 3GB of Corsair/Kingston (mix) RAM @ 400Mhz 3-3-3-8-2T \| ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe \| Geforce 260 GTX \| X-Fi XtreamMusic \| Western Digital 250GB SATA-II 16MB of Buffer \| Corsair HX620W \| Antec SOLO case \| Monitor: 24inch Dell U2410 \| Win 7 64-bit Go for Pro!

7th Jan 2009, 17:10	#14
Sifter3000 Editor @ CPC bit-tech Staff Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: The South Sea Bubble Posts: 748	Given that this was Schiller's first go at doing a whole keynote - and the first for a very long time with no Steve - I can see the wisdom of giving Schiller a comparatively dull set of products to deliver. It was a soft intro, and all the focus is on the dull (but worthy) updates to the software, not that "ah, Steve would have been so much better." Plus, had Apple shown off anything amazing, surely questions would have been asked about why it was quitting MacWorld. __________________ Alex Watson. CPC and bit-tech. My weblog is The Wired Jester. Photos on Flickr.

7th Jan 2009, 17:44	#16
Lepermessiah Banned Join Date: Feb 2008 Posts: 566	Apple is pretty dull, in other news, the sun will come up tomorrow.

7th Jan 2009, 21:11	#18
Dodge Ultramodder Join Date: Oct 2003 Posts: 1,182	Rather disapointing tbh. Been waiting to see apple update their mac mini for a while now. Now I have to decide do I carry on waiting or get a pc.

7th Jan 2009, 21:28	#19
DarkLord7854 Web Developer Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: West Palm Beach, Florida Posts: 3,822	What, you don't think 1.8Ghz Core2, 1Gb RAM, and an 80Gbs HD is worth 600$? __________________ Current Computer: eVGA 780i Motherboard \| Q6600 Core2Quad \| eVGA GTX260 896Mbs 216-core \| 2x Seagate 500Gbs \| 8Gbs OCZ Platinum DDR2 800 \| Creative XtremeGamer X-Fi \| Thermaltake Armor Case Custom WordPress, ZenCart, Joomla, vBulletin, etc installs and skinning, PM/E-Mail for a quote