Notebooks Announcements

Well the Spotlight on Notebooks announcement just ended and we came up with a quick list of the good and the bad.

Things We Love

-The new eco-friendly aluminum enclosures. White plastic was so 2001, and the iMac like black border looks surprisingly good.

-Multi touch trackpad has us excited, but we wonder if "switchers" will miss the mouse button?

-The Revenge of the Graphics Card! Macbook users can play games too! Now we just need some games.....

-User replaceable hard drives all around.

Things We Hate

-Where is the affordable pricing that was rumored for so long. The $999 Macbook is last years gimped model. Kinda like when Apple sold a $799 Snow iMac G3 after the G4 was introduced. No one will want this model.

-Pricing all around was poor. $899 for a display, even one with snazzy Mag-Safe connectors is too much in today's economic climate. The base model of Macbooks went from $1099 to $1299. Somehow Steve decided this was a $700 SAVINGS?!?!

-The lack of options for Bluray or HDMI. Despite what Apple may think, these technologies are mainstream. Steve mentioned licensing issues with Bluray in his Q&A. HP and DELL has managed to work it out.

Overall we'll give today's announcement a C+, but we get the feeling Apple is slightly out of touch with today's consumer when it comes to pricing. Are they now the John McCain of computers? Steve doesn't own seven houses right? Or does he.

Is Apple Tone Deaf To The Economy?

With today's announcements, the price for the low-end new MacBook increased $200. Increased. In recent days, analysts have expected a low-cost option from Apple. Something in the $800-900 range to stoke demand, and open new markets. Given the global economic situation, it would seem to make sense to offer something more attractive at a lower price for consumers.

Instead, Apple is keeping around the old Mac Book at $999. You can buy last year's model for more than analysts expected the entry point of the new one to be.

The only saving grace here is there's an old saying it's always easier to drop the price. I would expect to see a price drop on these units before the holidays. Otherwise, Apple will be squandering a chance to open an entirely new budget market. Then again, maybe that's not where they want to go at all.

The Obligatory Apple Store is Down Post

Title says it all, as the kids say. Well, the kids in 2006. At any rate, the Apple Store is now down, so it looks like, gasp! something could be announced today. Don't forget we'll have a live video recap at 2PM ET /11AM PT

While We're Waiting For The Apple Announcements

Looking for something to tide you over until Apple announces the shiny new products of the day? Well, here's your chance to get caught up on all our logical, and illogical (Apple Store within a Store at Walmart) prognostications for today's announcements and beyond:

Just a few hours to go

Apple's latest stop-the-tech-world, we have something to say event kicks off at 1PM ET /10AM PT. We will have live reaction and take your iChats (tdllive) at 2pm ET.