Apple MacBook event, takeaway (Part 1)

You can pat yourself on the back...

...for thinking that you exposed the "brick" process, but in fact, you got over 90% of it wrong.

Let's look at what you wrote:

"revolutionary process" - fine, that's what Apple called it.

"entirely new manufacturing process that uses lasers and jets of water to carve the MacBooks" - WRONG. Apple used CONVENTIONAL CNC milling to carve Macbook frames into the keyboard topplate. The lasers have been used before to drill tiny holes for iMac iSight cameras and to cut. They do NOT mill, which is 95% of the process. There were NO jets of water. Conventional CNC milling used in industrial mfr always uses a lubricant, like water, to cool the piece being cut. Totally conventional. No water jets, just water spilling onto the workpiece.

"manufacturing with 3D laser and water jet cutting" - WRONG. As above, there was no 3D laser and water jet cutting. There was conventional 6-axis CNC milling with bits.

"Carving out of aluminum eliminates the need to bend the metal" - WRONG. More nonsense. Apple carved out the frame and keyboard top plate. This part never gets bent in the old method. The exterior shell gets stamped/bent out of sheet aluminum in the past, and it still does in the new method.

"There are no seams in the final product, so it is smooth" - WRONG. What, the old Macbooks and MBPs weren't "smooth"? Looked to me like they still have seams seeing as there are now 3 exterior pieces, the two curved/stamped shell pieces, and the one milled piece. Perhaps, you meant that the seams are closer to flawless.

"Screws aren’t needed to tie the products together" - WRONG. So, you didn't see the 8 screws needed to tie the bottom plate on, that you remove to add RAM? You didn't hear about the 56 screws needed to "tie" the keys to the new unibody?

"The shell is one piece of metal so it is super light, super strong and super cheap" - WRONG. The shell is just as before, stamped out of a sheet of aluminum. Perhaps, you wrote "shell", where you mean unibody, which is the frame built into the keyboard top plate. I would not call the unibody "super cheap". Time is money in mfring, and cutting the unibody out of a single billet of aluminum takes alot of time, and is expensive. Notice how gross margins are going down to accomodate this expensive process. Mfring costs hit gross margins.

"You can be a whole lot more creative with the design if you don't have to machine it" - WRONG. Uhm, what they are doing to create the unibody, is called, "machining". Machining gives some additional flexibility, as they can reprogram the CNC machines, if they need to make a quick fix to the unibody design.

"There are still so many questions to be answered. I am sure Steve Jobs will enjoy answering them.
Where does PA Semi fit into this? What about former Segway CTO, Doug Field who was hired as Apple VP of product design a few months ago?" - WRONG. I didn't see Steve answer any of your questions.

So, 8 of the 9 predictions you made, were absolutely WRONG. The only thing right was that Apple called it a revolutionary process, but the details on the process were wrong. And, I didn't even mention the Martellaro mfring plant dream, that was nowhere to be seen.

MacBook = Feature Poor

As one PC Magazine columnist put it:

"Where's the integrated wireless WAN option? Virtually every other major laptop vendor offers this built-in. Where's the Blu-ray option? Again, all the other makers offer models with this, at least as an option. Apple seems to have removed FireWire from the newest models, but why not offer eSATA in its place?"

Also, the MacBook features no HDMI port, no built-in media card reader, and on and on and on.

Heavier??

I have read that the new MacBooks are lighter NOT heavier than their predecessors.

This from Gizmodo: "The MB is half a pound lighter than its predecessor, and that's a weight difference you'll notice."

http://gizmodo.com/5063492/macbook-and-macbook-pro-dual-review

MacBook Processors

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but from what i have read, Centrino 2 is the name of the chipset not a processor so if the new MacBooks use the NVidia chipsetit cannot possibly be classified Centrino 2. However, the processors used with Centrino 2 platform are still the Core 2 Duo processors which are built with a 45nm architecture with the faster bus speeds. These processors are used in the new MacBooks

Firewire

Not having a Firewire port is a major issue for the MacBooks. Apple will have to backtrack on this. I would hold off buying one until Apple remedies this.

Sucking out loud

This was a HUGE disappointment. My photographers and designers are fairly annoyed at glossy screens. I was going to pony up for new 13" for myself, but the lack of FW and gloss annoys the heck out of me. I have read somewhere that trackpad is a physical click, which I'd probably end up liking, but if its that dam "tap" bs, I'll fling it out the window "gorgeous" screen and all. Everyone keeps saying the USB will work just fine and that most DV devices no longer have it... I suppose it will be fine in most cases, like for folks who hook up, like nothing, or their point and shoot and a wired printer, but it will never work as well as firewire. I can do so much cool stuff with FW. U Suck Bus uses more system resources than FW, and is less stable. BUT, USB is cheaper... Apple has to cut costs somewhere to keep the shareholders happy. There is a chance that the strategy is to release minor updates in processors and port options in Jan, which is just plain sleezy. Apple taking advantage of their faithful customers by trickling in features they know we need and suckering in folks who will take anything they dish out... Folks forget Apple can do plenty wrong.. .Mac aka iTools used to be free, "forever." iMovies interface now can no longer be used to teach non-linear editing... Apple killed the clones... they suck bad from time to time.

how about that glass trackpad?

As someone who has never (ever) liked tappable trackpads (on Macs or PCs) I am very interested to know how the new trackpad works. I am very prone to accidental taps on tappable trackpads so the lack of a button is a turn-off to me.

Is tapping action a physical depression of the pad or does the pad have a touch sensor (and how sensitive is it)?

I'd especially like to hear the opinions of those who generally dislike tappable trackpads and have tried the new glass trackpad.

If my local Apple Store can manage to keep them in stock, I'm hoping to give the shiny new toys a good once over this week!