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Apple rolls out 17-inch MacBook Pro, new software, iTunes Store tweaks
At Apple's first Steve Jobs-less Macworld keynote in more than a decade (and the last Macworld for Apple), Apple marketing chief Philip Schiller introduced a 17-inch Macbook Pro, a new version of iWork software, and new capabilities in the iTunes store. Highlights:
The 17-inch Macbook Pro is touted as the world's thinnest 17-inch laptop, has a 1920 x 1200 screen, and Apple claims its batteries will last 60% longer than the current 17-inch MacBook Pro, running for 7-8 hours on a charge. Look for this 6.6-pound MacBook to ship in late January. Read more about it here.
Apple also rolled out its software productivity suites iLife '09 and iWork '09. Notable features are face recognition sorting in iPhoto '09, fancy-schmancy chart graphics in spreadsheet software Numbers '09, and image stabilization in iMovie '09, which was demonstrated by Apple's Randy Ubillos, creator of pro editing apps Adobe Premiere and Final Cut Pro.
The company also announced changes to iTunes and its associated iTunes Store, pricing songs in three tiers, $0.99 , $0.69, and $1.29, and expanded its library of digital rights management (DRM)-free songs 8 million out of the store's total 10 million songs. Apple will also now let iPhone users buy songs via the 3G wireless network, rather than the current Wi-Fi-only purchasing requirement.
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Via Apple
By ron at 5:36 PM ON 01/06/09
Too late. Picasa is here, has face recognition, works better than iPhoto and is free. The event was a overall letdown.
By the Ramen Noodle at 10:24 PM ON 01/06/09
@RON
Except that Picasa only works on Mattels (i.e., Mac PCs with Intel CPUs).
By KokPinLab at 10:42 PM ON 01/06/09
I am not impressed at this products and software at all!
By Al at 1:53 AM ON 01/07/09
Bad Apple! Stop making yourself better! Gates is king! King! Bad Bad Bad Apple! (7-8 hours? Wow!) BAD APPLE!!
By Veyne at 4:07 AM ON 01/07/09
*yawn*
By Peeps McJuggs at 3:38 PM ON 01/08/09
I, for one, freakin' love this design. Apple doesn't joke about those battery lives. I've been able to use my Macbook for cross continental trips to watch movies without my battery dying.
iWork, however, freakin' sucks if you're using it for any work-related production. It's great for making photos, greeting cards, and other multimedia stuff, but you still need Office for Mac to do any useful number crunching.
And I LOVE iPhoto. It's so easy to organize and do MINOR photo editing (anything fancy, and I use Photoshop).
By Lupus at 5:38 PM ON 01/08/09
Peeps, I think you're getting iLife and iWork confused. iLife is the one that does the photos, movies, and multimedia. iWork I find excellent for work stuff - I do my reports, essays, calculations, and research assignments in it. The only issue I have with it is the method of reaching superscript/subscript is a bit clunky. Doing Physics, that's a bit of a problem. But overall I find it runs a lot more smoothly and I've had a lot less compatibility issues with the Microsoft Word documents that I create from Pages than from Word docs made in Microsoft Word itself (and yes, I do have next to most recent version). All my lecturers at Uni were also thoroughly convinced as to the placing of Keynote over PowerPoint.
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Lupus:
Peeps, I think you're getting iLife and iWork confused. iLife is the one that does the photos, movies, and multimed...More »