This time round, Apple will detour from the usual hoopla, fanfare and drum rolls that surround a product launch. But, the absence of a big event notwithstanding, there could be a bonanza of new products to look forward to on July 14.
Top billing goes to Lion, the latest iteration on the Mac OSX. First announced at Apple's World Wide Developers Conference in June, industry insiders and tech journalists expect Lion to hit the Apple apps store this Thursday even though Apple themselves have not confirmed an official release date. For all you Mac owners, a software update is already available which updates your Mac OSX to 10.6.8. This update prepares your system for OSX Lion, as this iteration of Apple's OS will be available through digital download only via the Mac App Store. That's right, you will not be able to walk into an Apple store and pick up the OS on a disc. The OS is expected to be around 4GB (the downloadable file size is still unknown). The new OS boasts of over 250 new features.
The look and feel of the new OS, which is Apple-desktop-meets-Apple-mobile, begs a solid platform to show off its capabilities. That's where the hardware launch comes in, possibly in the form of the next iteration of the MacBook Air, a revamped Mac Mini and a new line of Mac Pros.
According to Applewatcher blog, 9to5 Mac, the new MacBook Air may not feature cosmetic upgrades but will definitely see an impressive internal hardware in the form of Thunderbolt I/O. We're keeping our fingers crossed for a backlit keyboard, a feature conspicuous by it's absence in the late 2010 refresh of the lineup. How will this thinness of the size zero Mac? All will be revealed this Thursday.
Speculation also suggests that the new MacBook Air will feature a screen with a better resolution. Even though the 2010 lineup did have impressive resolution (with the 11-incher supporting 1336x786 and the 13.3-incher supporting 1440x900), what we'd really like to see is a beautiful 1080p display. With Apple's FaceTime supporting HD video chat for the MacBook Pros and iMacs, we suspect an HD web cam too will make an appearance here.
Last but not least, the most disappointing aspect of the 2010 MacBook Air line up was that they ran on Intel's Core 2 Duo processors. We suspect that Intel's latest Sandy Bridge processors will make an appearance on the device too. The Sandy Bridge processors have been credited with helping in reducing the size of a laptop and being more power efficient which helps increase the battery life. The onboard graphic will help in playing 1080p videos with absolute ease.
Importantly, we are also expecting a full voltage processor rather than a low voltage one which was previously seen in the MacBook Air. We have already seen companies like Samsung employ these in their laptops such as the Samsung Series 9 and there is no reason for Apple not to do the same. This would also mean the end of the dedicated Nvidia Graphics on the MacBook Air, as the latest generation Intel Sandy Bridge processors are more than proficient at handling HD content.
Another Apple product long overdue for a revamp is the classic white 13.3-inch MacBook, largely considered the most affordable of Apple's portable computing devices. Last revamped in mid 2010, we expect to see some tweaks under the hood of this device. Although the classic white MacBook generally features some entry level yet decent specifications, we hope to see a display of the device bumped up from 1280x800 to 1366x786 with an HD webcam for video chatting and the latest Sandy Bridge processors. Like the MacBook Pros, the classic
White MacBook got a full sized glass trackpad in its last revamp, a very impressive addition.
Yet another product that we expect to see revamped is Apple's tiny little desktop replacement - the Mac Mini. The Mac Mini was literally redesigned in 2010 and we really liked its new avatar. It got rid of the power brick completely, changed its look to match the unibody MacBook Pros and finally supported HDMI out. We doubt whether Apple will really change its look in a year although we hope the device gets a bit slimmer. Again, under the hood, we expect the processor to be upgraded to Sandy Bridge.
If Apple does revamp the MacBook and the Mac Mini, we suspect that the device will run the Latest OS Lion straight out of the box.
For the Mac Pros, 9to5 Mac reports a massive upgrade. Some of these upgrades will include provision for a rack mountable version and support for up-to 16 cores. A new Mac Pro Server edition model is also expected.
For more on the new releases, visit us again on Thursday, July 14. We'll be running an Apple special all day.
For our first impressions of the new
Mac OSX Lion click here.UPDATE: According to Apple blog MacRumors, it seems that we
may not see the launch of the new OSX Lion today after all. Speculation suggests that we may not see the new hardware launch either. We'd like to emphasise that all these reports are based on rumour only, and there has been no information from Apple about whether there will or won't be a launch