In a few weeks, Apple will unveil the next generation iPad, John Packowski of AllThingsD confirms today. If history (and carrier code) is any indication, it should go on sale shortly after that. Maybe even just a few days later. And that’s interesting because it doesn’t give developers a lot of time to prepare. And they’ll want to prepare for the higher resolution “Retina” display that the device will pack.

The situation is similar to the Summer of 2010. That year at WWDC, Apple unveiled the iPhone 4, the first device to feature a Retina display. That conference took place on June 7. The iPhone 4 first went on sale on June 24 — two and a half weeks later. That timeframe allowed some developers to get their apps Retina-ready, but for many it took quite a bit longer. Again, this year, the window may be even more condensed.

But as Steve Jobs noted at the iPhone 4 unveiling, the Retina display made existing apps “look even better”. One reason for this is that the version of iOS that shipped with the device automatically rendered text to be optimized for the new display. Expect the same for the Retina iPad. But Jobs also noted that apps which updated to higher-resolution artwork would look “stunning”. “We suggest that you do that,” he said at the time.

And that will undoubtedly be the suggestion again. Luckily, because the Retina display iPad has been rumored for a long time and because many developers remember the initial Retina transition, some developers have jumped the gun and prepared the graphics in their iPad apps to be Retina-ready as well.

The first two iPads had a resolution of 1024 x 768 — which actually isn’t all that far from the Retina display iPhone resolution of 960 x 640. The new iPad will have a resolution of 2048 x 1536. Earlier this week, it was revealed that Apple was now requiring developers to submit Retina-level screenshots of their apps to the App Store (for new apps, at least). Some assumed this was related to the gradual fade out of the iPhone 3GS. But it may also be related to this new iPad. Because Apple allows the iPad to run iPhone/iPod touch apps with the option to scale them up 2x, non-Retina iPhone apps (480 × 320) will undoubtedly look pretty bad on the Retina iPad.

Given how many visually-focused apps there are for the iPad, some developers are worried how their apps will look on the new device. Apple, of course, isn’t talking yet. While there may be a handful of larger developers that will get an early peek at (or a heads up on) the Retina iPad, most will get to see the thing the same time the rest of us do — on stage in early March.

Some aren’t just worried about the iPad either. Rumors have been circulating for a few months that Apple may also be on the verge of launching high-resolution Mac displays. It’s looking increasingly likely that Apple will do a one-two high-resolution punch with high-res Macs (probably MacBook Pros or maybe even a new MacBook Air) and Retina iPads in the coming weeks.

Recent code changes in OS X with added HiDPI support suggest the former may be coming very soon.

If you think a 2048 x 1536 iPad sounds great, think about a 2880×1800 MacBook. Unlike resolution changes in the past, elements on the screen wouldn’t get smaller, they’d just get crisper. But to take advantage of all those pixels, Mac developers will also have their work cut out for them updating all the graphical elements in their apps.

My suggestion is that developers get ready. The future is looking crisp.

Habitual component-stream eavesdropper Digitimes says that “a small volume of components” that fit the spec for a 15-inch ultra-thin notebook have shipped, and March of 2012 is their estimate for full-scale device shipping.

We’ve talked about Macbook Air DNA being injected into the Pro line, and this is just more evidence of that. The latest update to the notebook line was minor and the design is getting a little long in the tooth.

The new notebooks would likely eliminate the optical drive and may have some kind of hybrid storage solution that combines a super-thin 2.5″ HDD with an SSD or flash storage. This is an untenable feature proposition for the Air, which is subject to both space and price restrictions, but the Pro line would be more spacious and less cash-conscious.

Shipping in March would fall in line with existing Apple scheduling, putting the notebooks just about a year after the last significant MacBook Pro update. It’s impossible to say, however, how long Apple has been developing and testing the new notebooks, so to call the dates optimistic or otherwise would be fruitless.

This first break of the supply line seal, however, might start a trickle of new information about the new gear, so we’ll keep our ears to the ground.

Apple has updated its MacBook Pro offering on the Apple Store, reports This Is My Next, after 9to5Mac earlier leaked details of the notebook product line-up refresh.

Don’t expect to see spectacular changes, as the tweaks are relatively minor. They include faster processors, more storage and a number of small graphics updates.

Confirming earlier leaks of the new line-up, the entry-level 13-inch MacBook Pro now comes with a 2.4 GHz dual-core processor (before: 2.3 GHz) and a 500 GB hard drive (before: 320 GB).

The basic 15-inch MacBook Pro now sports a 2.2 GHz quad-core processor (before: 2.0 GHz), while the 17-inch MacBook Pro has been upgraded with a 2.4 GHz quad-core processor (before: 2.2 GHz).

Both the 15-inch and the 17-inch machines have been given some graphics upgrades as well (the change: from AMD Radeon HD 6750M to HD 6770M – learn more here).

The prices of the slightly upgraded models have not been changed.

The Sandy Bridge update to the Air line has been enough to make some feel the lightweight laptop is ready for prime time (I’m convinced, personally), but it’s still not enough for some. MacBook Pro users are accustomed to more storage, more screen real estate, and a greater number of ports. If rumors are to be believed, the best of both worlds might be on its way, with Air-style design making its way to the Pro line.

The sources are obscure, referred to only obliquely (MacRumors “has learned” and TUAW is “hearing”), so take this with a grain of salt. But even sans source, it makes sense, while leaving room for plenty of speculation. What will the compromises be?

For one thing, the optical drive will almost certainly be eliminated. Luckily for Apple, that particular item is not a priority among their users. iTunes and the Mac App Store are popular, and Apple Stores themselves are increasingly bereft of boxed software.

Furthermore, Thunderbolt presents an extremely easy way to add a high-speed peripheral. No optical drive? No problem: $100 external drive operating with no loss of speed compared to the wired-in original.

Storage is a bit more complicated. As popular as streaming solutions are, local storage is still very important for editing media, something Apple has been pushing on consumers hard with the iLife suite — though pros may be jumping ship after the poor reception of Final Cut X. 256GB of flash storage is nice, but people want terabytes. Yet 2.5″ laptop drives are still too thick to include in an Air-like body. Or are they? Some laptop drives with a terabyte of space are coming in at under 10mm thick. You couldn’t fit that at the sharp end of the Air but there might be room for a 2.5″ right at the top right edge, where the optical drive would go. Apple is happy to customize PCBs to optimize space.

Only a spinning HDD would mean a performance hit, though. So I’m guessing they’ll ship with a hybrid SSD-HDD volume, with system, applications, and temp kept on SSD and bulky media kept on HDD. It’s not so hard to segregate data like that, and as Apple likely can’t commit to only one storage type or another, they’ll have to do something interesting with both.

Let’s not forget the ports. Apple will want to push Thunderbolt, and while shipping with only that port might be a daydream of theirs, my guess is they’ll go with two Thunderbolt and two USB ports. 2.0 or 3.0? I wouldn’t put it past Apple to limit their USB capabilities in order to make Thunderbolt accessories more enticing. And as other have pointed out, Thunderbolt-connected I/O hubs will handle USB 3.0 speeds with ease, though the ports on the new Cinema Display are indeed only 2.0.

A holiday release (as suggested by TUAW) would prevent them from adding a next-gen processor (coming in 1Q12), but to complement the Air styling they’ll probably want to market long battery life as well, and switching from the old Core i7s to Sandy Bridge might have been enough for Apple’s purposes. Want the latest hardware? Get a PC (I did).

So: no optical drive, hybrid SSD/HDD storage, and 2xTB, 2xUSB ports (and an SD slot and Ethernet, of course). Maybe something more for the 17″, but I don’t think these specs sound at all unlikely.

It appears that the new MacBook Pros (introduced in February) aren’t quite fully baked. Or rather, they’re a bit overdone: there seems to be a pervasive overheating issue related to the new discrete Radeon GPUs.

The crash occurring during times of high heat and CPU load, when the GPU is switched on to handle graphics that are just too much for the CPU alone. The computers are freezing up quite completely, and a hard reboot seems the only universal cure. One person suffering from this issue even reproduced it in every susceptible model on the floor at an Apple store, baffling (and hopefully disillusioning) one of the “geniuses.”

Apple has noted the issue and claims it is a software problem, fixable via updated drivers. Of course, they say that about everything, and of course if you severely limit use of the GPU and blast the fan at all times, technically that is a software solution. But iFixit pointed out in their teardown that the thermal situation of the processing units isn’t exactly the neatest (above), and suggested this sloppy slathering might cause issues down the road. It’s too early to tell whether that’s the case, but it’ll sure be embarrassing if it is.

[via MacRumors]

Here’s a quick heads-up for you on this Monday afternoon. MicroCenter will shave off up to $200 on your purchase of one of those new MacBook Pro laptops. That’s handy.

There’s no “catch” nearest I can tell. No having to buy a year’s magazine subscription, no having to pay for some additional warranty.

That means you can get an entry-level MacBook Pro for $1,099 (down $100), or the top-of-the-line model for $2,299 (down $200).

I’d point out that you could probably build two gaming PCs for $2,300, but that’s neither here nor there.

The Skinny Sleeve is a lightweight sleeve designed for the MacBook Air 11″. It’s waterproof (at least the parts that cover the laptop are) and has a little padding so your poor little lappy doesn’t get dinged. It’ll set you back $40.

The Clutch (top) is designed for a 13″ Air or MacBook Pro, and is made of coated canvas, with leather trim. I like the material, and the metal buckles.

Nice waffle print! Note that this one also has space for a few pens and such, and sports a strap. In person it’s probably something of a man-purse, despite the masculine construction. It’ll set you back $100, which is enough to make a grown man cry.

Remember! Only available at Apple stores. They should be there now.

Well, just as they sort of quietly announced with the new MacBook Airs late last year, Apple has begun using a new method of battery life testing. And they feel it’s much more accurate in real world scenarios. Specifically they call this the “Wireless Web protocol testing”.

Essentially what it means is that they set each device to 50 percent display brightness and go surf the 25 most popular websites. Apple tells us that they do whatever is the main function on those websites over and over again, including playing Flash video. Yes, real-world testing for Apple means testing Flash performance as well.

Apple notes that results may vary still based on configuration and your usage patterns. But unlike with previous ratings, that has the possibility to be a good thing too (as in battery life could actually be better than stated). ”We want this to be as realistic as possible,” a spokesperson tells us.

As you’re undoubtedly aware by now, tomorrow (in just a few hours, really), Apple is expected to unveil their latest line of laptops. News has already started to trickle out about what’s getting upgraded and what’s changing. Noticeably absent in this talk is the MacBook itself. And that begs the question: is it the end of the line for the product?

Simply put: it should be.

Given last year’s significant upgrades to the MacBook Air, the MacBook is now a lame duck. It’s not the smallest Apple laptop, it’s not the most powerful Apple laptop, and it’s not even the cheapest Apple laptop anymore (the 11-inch Air has tied it at $999). And given the specs leaking out about the new 13-inch MacBook Pro, it’s hard to imagine a scenario in which someone would buy a regular MacBook anymore. Well, unless they’re really into white plastic.

Sure enough, one report has the white MacBook going away. And the truth is that Apple has seemingly been slowly phasing it out for sometime now.

It used to be that the MacBook was a flagship product. It was one that sold extremely well to students and first-time Mac buyers since it was introduced in 2006 to succeed the iBook. In 2008, it even got the aluminum unibody upgrade that enticed some MacBook Pro users (like myself) to get one. It really seemed as if it was more of a “Pro” machine — a natural successor to the old, popular 12-inch PowerBook G4.

And as such, by mid 2009, Apple essentially decided to elevate the 13-inch unibody MacBook into a MacBook Pro. That left the 13-inch white plastic model as the only remaining MacBook. Apple gave it a small makeover and continued to give it spec upgrades, but it clearly only existed to satisfy the bottom of market (well, the bottom of Apple’s market) — it existed so that Apple could say that had a laptop for under $1,000.

But again, the new MacBook Air models changed the situation. The 11-inch model was far more portable for the same $999 entry-level price. And the 13-inch model was just as powerful and also much more portable. These are now the low price-point models. But they don’t exist just to be cheap. Apple has effectively killed off that option while maintaining the “cheap” price point. It’s now a price point tied to arguably the best laptops Apple has ever made.

With the MacBook Pros now about to gain faster Intel chips and new technology like Thunderbolt (the Intel-created high speed port formerly known as “Light Peak”), but maintaining elements such as large (but slower) traditional hard drives and optical drives, they’re more clearly differentiated from the Air line.

At the same time, the 13-inch Pro model will likely keep the $1,199 price point (thanks to less powerful graphics options, among other things) and it will allow those who really want something like an optical drive, a chance to get one for relatively cheap. And again, it will be much more powerful than the 13-inch MacBook.

Just about the only reason Apple would have for keeping the MacBook alive at this point is if they wanted to offer a really affordable laptop. The MacBook only makes sense as at a price point around $700 at this point, in my mind. But Apple has been reluctant to go that low in the past; I doubt they will now.

And so we may be left with a MacBook line without an actual MacBook.

Update: Well the new MacBook Pros are out and sure enough, the MacBook wasn’t touched. It’s still available to buy for now, but it would seem that the writing is indeed on the wall.

There is no confirmation of this other than a vague email from a charming New Zealandee to his customers, but it seems that someone let slip that new MacBooks with SSD “hard drives” and Sandy Trail chipsets are in the offing in the next 20-25 days. Considering the guy who sent this presumably sells MacBooks in New Zealand, his advice to “place your order on hold, but also advise us of your plans so we can place you on our wait list” is pretty bold, pointing to either generally reduced stock or a real belief this rumor is real.

I always say if you’re in the market for cameras or Apple gear, buy what’s available and don’t wait for some nebulous possible upgrade, but this email points to a fairly solid change in hardware so I’d advise listening to this kiwi.

Read his note after the jump.

We have received notice that it is very likely that new MacBook models will be announced in the next 20-25 days. FYI: All Apple announcements occur on a Wednesday morning NZ time.

They are likely to be based on the new Intel chip series and have other upgrades like SSD hard drives available.

As usual, there will be very limited quantities of base model units immediately available. We are currently preparing a wait list as demand will be very high for the first month or two. There is also likely to be a 2-3 week delay following product announcement to ship date.

If you are thinking of purchasing any Apple laptops in the next few weeks, we would recommend you place your order on hold, but also advise us of your plans so we can place you on our wait list. We will then be able to jump the queue and source your laptop ASAP.

Probably not, but a girl can dream. Why does it look fairly convincing? Well, as 9to5mac points out, Intel has leaked future MacBooks before and there is some evidence of new MacBooks in the pipe for Best Buy and others.

However, from the pixels and having seen a few Photoshops in my day, I suspect this is a placeholder laptop. The Air-like styling and black case are two huge red flags for me – they probably wouldn’t dump the styling during a routine update – and Intel couldn’t be that stupid, could they?

via 9to5

The latest iMac refresh was just a spec bump, so we may actually see some changes to the design this time around. The size? I would say 24 inches, since that fits nicely between 21.5 and 27, but taking the middle road hasn’t always been Apple’s thing. They tend to start from the middle and work outwards. So I’m not sure.

The MBPs also got a spec bump this year, and Digitimes hears we’ll see some changes to the chassis. I get the feeling we’ll see some of whatever the iPad 2 has got going on. Let’s hope for a new webcam; Apple is way behind on that, and if they want to push Facetime they need to step up the hardware. And of course you’re going to get Lion on them. Digitimes mentions four models, though… 13, 15, and 17-inch make three, so what’s the fourth?

Looks like Apple will be messing with my bank account again. May’s going to be a hard month.

Last Wednesday, I got my hands on one of the new MacBook Airs. I haven’t touched my MacBook Pro since. It’s six months old. RIP.

I know that sounds outrageous. Or like hyperbole. But it’s not. When I wrote up my initial thoughts, it was after only a few hours of usage. I hadn’t even used it outside the house yet. But now I have. I’ve used it almost everywhere I’ve been for just about a week now. There’s no question in my mind that this has replaced my MacBook Pro as my go-to machine.

But here’s the really crazy thing. It’s not just the size of the thing that I love so much (I have the 13-inch model) — which is amazing — it’s the speed. This thing boots up in less than 15 seconds, ready to go. My i7 iMac with 8 GB of RAM takes something like 2 minutes. My i7 MacBook Pro takes at least 30-45 seconds, and it has an SSD drive.

Applications seem to load quicker. Files transfer quicker. The thing shuts down in about 3 seconds. Macworld has the initial benchmarks. They don’t lie. It just screams.

And by speed, I also mean “power”. Remarkably, for the first time that I’ve used one, this MacBook Air doesn’t feel underpowered. At all. Again, for the past 6 months I’ve been using a combination of an i7 iMac and an i7 MacBook Pro. Judging from processor, clock speed, and amount of RAM, both should be significantly faster than this Air. For certain tasks, they undoubtedly are. But for pretty much everything I’ve done this past week — basically, my regular work and play habits — I really can’t say I notice a difference. This definitely surprised me.

Again, Macworld’s initial benchmark numbers seem to at least partially back up such a crazy claim. I have the baseline 13-inch MacBook Air with a 1.86 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 2 GB of RAM, and a 128 GB flash storage hard drive. Their tests have this thing performing better than the 13-inch MacBook Pro with a faster Core 2 Duo processor and double the RAM. And it’s not that far off from the i5 Pro model.

They largely credit the flash storage hard drive. And that’s undoubtedly a huge part of the performance. But another part is likely that previous MacBook Airs have run underclocked to deal with heat issues. That doesn’t appear to be happening with these models. So they can purr along at full speed. And it shows.

Earlier tonight, Daring Fireball’s John Gruber wrote a post wondering where this new Air fits into Apple’s MacBook lineup? It is a good question considering the base model is the same $999 price as the base MacBook model. He thinks it might fit in as a secondary computer. I agree — for now.

There is one thing holding back the Air: storage space. Thanks largely to Apple themselves, we live in a world where we have digital music, photos, movies, and TV shows that take up dozens, if not hundreds of gigabytes of storage. Because of this, a 128 GB hard drive isn’t enough for many people these days if they’re going to be using the Air as their primary machine. Increasingly, even 256 GB isn’t enough. Hell, I’m nearing 1 TB of media on my iMac.

But. We all know that Apple has aspirations to move all of this media to the cloud. If they can do that and cut the chains around these machines, they’re going to fly. Off the shelves. In a hurry.

Here’s how I see it: if storage didn’t matter, I think this 13-inch MacBook Air would almost immediately be Apple’s best-selling Mac. It’s that good.

I can’t speak to the 11-inch model, as I haven’t used it, but it’s getting rave reviews as well. The 13-inch model I’m talking about here is the base model which is $1,299. The 11-inch models start at $999.

It’s funny that I haven’t really even talked about the size of the machine yet — that’s the glittering lure that ropes people in. But the Air has always had that. What it didn’t have previously was a great price and killer performance. Now it does. Just in the past six days, five people that I’ve showed this thing to have already bought one. That’s the stuff iPhones and iPads are made of. It has the “wow” factor.

And regardless of if storage capabilities hold it back or not, I have no doubt that the Air does point to the future of the MacBook lineup. They’re soon all going to lose their optical drives, gain flash storage drives, and work for hours on end. In fact, the only machine I can think of that I might enjoy more than this one is one that lasts even longer. To get that, I’d accept a model that’s slightly larger (15-inches), slightly heavier (maybe 3.3 pounds), but had 10 hours of battery life. That’s the future MacBook Pro right there.

Speaking of battery life, again, this thing shines pretty nicely in that category as well. Apple says it will get 7-hours, and based on my usage, that’s close. I’m usually seeing between 5 and 6 hours depending on what I’m doing and screen brightness. A couple times I have gotten about 7 hours.

As for the supposed 30 days of standby time? It’s hard to imagine me not using this thing for 30 days at a time, but I will say that I’ve gone to bed with it at 50 percent power and woken up several hours later with it at 49 percent power. And yes, the thing wakes up from sleep instantaneously. The only thing you have to wait for is for your WiFi to connect.

As for the screen? Again, I thought it would be an issue switching from a 15-inch MacBook Pro to this, but it’s really not. This thing has the same 1440-by-900 resolution as the standard 15-inch MacBook Pro screen, so, there you go.

People also can’t seem to believe when I tell them it doesn’t run hot. But it doesn’t. The only times I’ve felt it getting a little bit warm is when I’ve run — surprise, surprise — multiple Flash movies. But the heat doesn’t come close to my MacBook Pro. That doesn’t come close to my old MacBook Pro which was an upside down stove at points.

It’s hard to know what else to say. This is the computer I’ve been waiting for. It makes me feel foolish for spending almost three grand on a brand new souped-up MacBook Pro six months ago. I just can’t think of a time I’ll ever want to or need to turn it on again.

Goodbye, MacBook Pro. Your candle burned out long before your hard drive ever did.

I’ve done it. I’ve worn the battery completely down on one of the new MacBook Airs. As such, I thought I’d post some initial thoughts about the machine. This isn’t a huge all-encompassing review — I haven’t even used it outside of my apartment yet — but rather my initial thoughts for those of you thinking about rushing out to buy one.

All day, I’ve been testing out the 13.3-inch model. After playing around with the 11.6-inch model in the demo area after Apple’s event today, I decided that while it is freakishly, insanely small, I’d rather carry the extra .5 pounds and get the extra 2 hours of battery life that the slightly larger model offers. And I think that was the right choice, I’ve been using it all day and the battery just wore out.

The iPad has spoiled me. I often look at my 5.6 pound MacBook Pro with dread now. It’s simply too bulky. And considering I have never used the optical drive on the thing, I can’t figure out why I need some of that bulk. This new MacBook Air eliminates it.

Bottom line: so far, I love this thing.

In my initial view, the MacBook Air is a killer product both literally and figuratively. The optical disc is now all but dead at its hands for the reasons I laid out here. But the Air is also a killer product because I think it’s the type of computer that a lot of people are looking for. Namely, an ultra-portable Mac that’s affordable.

Some people will point to the fact that the original Air wasn’t a huge success as a reason why this won’t be either. But while they may look similar, the two are really two different machines. The original MacBook Air was underpowered and overpriced. This new MacBook Air definitely has enough power for most consumers and with prices starting at $999, it is priced to move (this model costs $1,299).

After using it pretty much non-stop for the past 7 hours or so, I’m happy to report that I couldn’t find one task in my regular routine that the Air wasn’t able to handle with ease. I did some work, I did some regular browsing, I edited some pictures, I played some videos, etc.

To be honest, it makes me feel a little silly. Why on Earth have I been lugging around a machine that’s twice as heavy if I didn’t need it? I’m not sure. The lure of the 2.8 GHz i7 chip, 8GB of RAM, and dual graphics cards got to me, I guess. But I really don’t need that. And I’m sure most people don’t either.

Of course some people will. And that’s why Apple sells the various MacBook Pro models. But at this point, I’m thinking Apple should just replace the standard MacBook with the Air. It’s better in pretty much every way. Unless you’re an optical disc aficionado, I’m not sure what the reason is to buy one.

The 13-inch Air’s 1.86 GHz Core 2 Duo with the standard 2 GB of RAM and single NVIDIA 320M graphics chip seems to hum along. I keep thinking I should look into the model that has been upgraded to the 2.13 GHz chip with 4 GB of RAM, but again, all day this configuration has been just fine.

In fact, the only thing that ever seemed to stress the system out a little bit was, what else, Flash. But that only meant that a few times when I had a couple YouTube windows open, the machine started to heat up a bit. When I closed those windows, it cooled right back down. Humorously, Apple doesn’t include Flash in its pre-installed software on the Air, so you’ll have to download it on your own if you want to use it (or download Chrome, like I did, which has it built-in).

Speaking of heating issues, Flash heat-ups aside, the Air sits noticeably cooler in the lap than the MacBook Pro does. And the thing runs absolutely silently. Even when I had Flash blaring, there was just heat, no noise.

As promised, the boot up time of the machine is awesome. I find that from power-on to computing takes about 10 to 15 seconds — significantly faster than any of my other Macs, by far. This, of course, is due to the machine’s new flash (not to be confused with Flash) memory. This also allows the device to go to sleep and wake up instantly as advertised. In fact, the only thing you have to wait for is for your WiFi to reconnect.

The keyboard and trackpad are both rock solid. If I didn’t happen to be sitting here with 2.5 pounds less of machine on my lap, it would seem just as if I’m typing on my MacBook Pro.

And the most surprising thing about the 13-inch Air may be the screen. At 1440-by-900, the screen basically matches the one on a standard 15-inch MacBook Pro. I even opted for the higher-resolution screen on my MacBook Pro, and this smaller screen still seems to suit me just fine. I was pretty surprised by that. I thought I’d miss the extra real estate, but I barely notice it’s gone.

One thing I will say is that because there is no glass in front of the screen as there is on other MacBooks, the Air does feel slightly cheaper if you touch the screen. Of course, that lack of glass also helps keep the weight down and eliminates a lot with the glare problems that the other MacBooks with glossy screens have.

The 13-inch Air also comes with an SD card reader built in to the side. This is a nice perk over the 11-inch and I’ve used it a few times already — that’s how I pulled in the images for this post.

Basically, after one day, this new MacBook Air seems to be the exact laptop I was looking for. At least in my daily workflow, it’s just like using my MacBook Pro, but much, much lighter. It’s hard to exaggerate just how light it really is. I already can’t see myself going back to the MacBook Pro.

We’ll see how I feel in a week. Maybe I’ll feel cramped by then. Maybe I’ll feel the need for more horsepower. Maybe I’ll really want a way to play that old Gin Blossoms CD. But I doubt it.

More: Goodbye, MacBook Pro. The New MacBook Air Is That Good.

We have here what appears to be a new touchscreen interface for a Mac. Exactly what type of Mac, or when it’s due, or whether it’s even real, not sure. The leading candidate, however: a touchpad display for the MacBook Pro. Tenterhooks, people, tenterhooks.

The photos appeared on the Internet by way of a Taiwanese Apple site, a site that’s struggling to stay online right now. Go figure.

It’s a 3×3-cm touchscreen, yes, but for what? Again, nobody really knows, but guesses include an iPod touch nano (perhaps related to the new iPod mentioned yesterday?) and some sort of MacBook Pro dealie, perhaps a new touchpad.

It should be noted that the site where these photos come from does have a record of providing bona fide Apple hardware leaks, so make of that what you will.

It’s a fact that no one uses optical drives anymore and so why not replace the one in your late-model MBP with something a bit more useful like an SSD. It doesn’t really seem that hard as long you’re comfortable totally disemboweling your MacBook Pro. The SSD and optical drive both use SATA so it’s really plug and play and only requires a special adapter plate to properly hold the SSD in place.

It’s really up to you whether you use this speedy new drive as your primary (that’s what I would do) or as a secondary drive. You can always decide that after all the real fun is done and the mac is back in its original assembled state.

And I thought my new monitor was fancy! (It certainly cost enough…) Here we have a plain ol’ MacBook Pro using a series of 28 projectors to create a 22-megapixel display. That works out to 7168×3072. Borderline insane, yes.

The project was put together by a group of students at a Norwegian university, led by one Daniel Stødle.

Aside from the fun video, the more interesting part is reading how Mac OS X handles all those windows. Apparently the window server has no problem handling up to 32 (!) displays. Actual performance isn’t so hot—you need a hefty amount of memory to handle all those pixels—but the fact that it works this well is impressive enough.

Suddenly, Modern Warfare 2 on six monitors doesn’t seen like such a big deal.

Come to think of it, there are no terrible secrets. Just a bigger battery and new wireless antenna.

Interestingly, there really weren’t any surprises in this teardown. It’s only three pages long – 17 steps – and looks quite easy to reproduce. It’s nice that Apple is making it a bit simpler to swap out broken parts like drives, mobs, and memory.

Battery life is really the only compelling feature — besides OS X of course — in the refreshed MacBook Pros. Apple is claiming that the 15- and 17-inch can see between 8-9 hours while the smaller, Core 2 Duo-equipped 13-inch can rock for 10 hours straight. That’s impressive even if Apple exaggerated those claims a bit.

Take the HP Envy 15 for example. I’m typing this on one right now and it’s a beast. The $2500 rig has a quad-core Core i7, a 1GB ATI 5830, 8GB of RAM, 1900 x 1080 screen all wrapped up in an aluminum case that could disguise it as a MBP if it wasn’t for the HP logo on the lid. It’s my main computer and I love everything about it (Windows 7, really) except the battery life. I’m lucky if I get a full hour out of it on the battery-saving mode. It’s about 35 minutes when I select the High Performance mode.

The Envy 15 isn’t the only PC like this although I’ll admit it’s probably the worst. Most other machines with the same sort of specs get between an hour or two out of the standard battery. Thankfully all of these have a user-replaceable battery unlike the MBPs, but that’s not the point. Apple clearly went with less powerful hardware in favor of a longer battery life.

It’s a case of good enough, really. The dual-core Core i5 and Core i7′s available in the new MacBook Pros are just that — good enough. The same thought applies to the GPUs, too. It’s not like Apple is marketing these machines as gaming solutions as the dual-core CPUs and switchable graphics should be able to handle nearly anything else. Besides, Intel’s quad-core CPUs do not support the Intel HD Graphics, which these notebooks use to save battery life when a resource-intensive task doesn’t call on the power-hungry Nvidia GeForce chipset.

We’ll likely see real-life reports on the new MBPs’ battery life in the coming days from consumers. Chances are users won’t find that the battery life lasts as long as Apple claims and that’s fine. Manufacturers have always touted unrealistic battery levels and most consumers are used to it by now. But the batteries should still last longer than the previous generation and worlds better than the MBP’s PC counterparts, totally compensating for the less power hardware. It’s clearly an interesting but smart move by Apple. I’m jealous.