Until now, the miniDP port only transmitted video, even though the DisplayPort spec supports optional alternate signal channels such as audio or USB.

Apple confirmed to Ars that the just-updated MacBook Pros will pass both video and audio signals to an HDTV or receiver when using an miniDP to HDMI adapter.

Those dedicated When Will Apple blog followers will remember our review of the Monoprice Mini DisplayPort to HDMI adapter. It worked great, but even though the Mini DisplayPort spec and the Monoprice adapter  supported audio, the MacBook did not. The good news is the latest MacBooks support Mini DisplayPort audio. The bad is that my hopes for a simple a software update to enable audio are crushed.

(via Rene Ritchie of TiPb)

I’m coming around to the idea that Enderle’s really a genius and his doofus routine is a Stephen Colbert-esque schtick.

Unfortunately Gruber is joking (at least I hope so)…Enderle is not a genius. I pretty much disagree with everything he says in this article with the exception of the Magic Mouse (Apple has never been good at making mice) and when Apple almost went belly up.

Let’s take a look at “Windows 7: A New Hope” section of the post:

Steve Jobs and Apple clearly planned for the same traditional behavior [Windows launch failure] and were completely unprepared for both the quality of Windows 7 and the fact Microsoft has a war chest this time. Their near pathetic recent release of a couple slightly improved PCs and a couple peripherals showcases this. They figured they could easily skate through the next few months because, traditionally, Microsoft would be vulnerable and not able to fight back.

The new updates were just that, updates. They got faster hardware and a few other tweaks with the lone MacBook getting the biggest upgrade. Apple is not “unprepared”, but instead sticking with what works and Windows 7 isn’t going to change that. Not sure what Rob thinks Apple should have released? Apple isn’t going to suddenly start competing in the thin margin budget computer business.

Windows 7 should shake some of the bad Vista press (just as XP did for Windows Millennium), but the problem for Microsoft is all the negative press has pushed Apple into the spotlight…even with their teeny weeny market share. People that have never considered a Mac are now thinking about “the switch”. Add in the success of the iPhone and iPod touch and Apple has gained a much larger audience than they ever have before.

Here is what’s really going to happen for Apple and Microsoft in the Windows 7 world:

• People running XP now will continue using XP for as long as they have that computer, especially businesses.
• At lot of people running Vista will pay the upgrade fee since it will probably be worth the price to get the hell off Vista.
• People on a tighter budget will buy a new cheap PC with Windows 7 just as they would if it still had Vista on it.
• People deciding between a Mac and PC will not be swayed to a PC by Windows 7, they just won’t be pushed to Apple by Vista (so one plus for Microsoft here).

Rob wraps things up with:

Two good lessons here, even when you are on top it is very foolish to under estimate a competitor with Microsoft’s resources because they can actually get it right, and picking too many fights at once can take out the most powerful of entities just as it took out a nearly unbeatable Germany in the second world war.

Not even sure how to respond to this one. The “too many fights” is referring to the Droid (Google, Verizon, and Motorola) in addition to Microsoft. I don’t see how Apple is under estimating anyone? Apple is selling more Macs then they ever have before and have the fastest growing consumer devices ever with the iPhone and iPod touch. Looks to me like they are winning both wars.

It was only logical for Apple to refresh their most popular Mac and the update comes in the form of an unibody enclosure and glossy LED display. Also new to the MacBook is the glass multi touch introduced with the aluminum MacBook Pros, which was to be expected. Gone is the removable battery, just like its aluminum sister, the new unibody MacBook doesn’t have a removable battery.

For complete specs:

http://www.apple.com/macbook/

Talked to a friend that works at an Apple store an even though they don’t get more info than the general public they were convinced that we would get new iMacs today or next Tuesday. Apple store is down this morning…on a Tuesday. I think we have the real deal here.

We are supposed to be seeing new iMacs for sure, but also rumored are updates to the lone MacBook (the plastic one, everything else is Pro now).

According to The iPhone Blog (via Daring Fireball) here is the full list of what we could see:

Redesigned Plastic MacBooks, Redesigned (‘Impressive’) iMacs, Updated Minis (Including One That Ships With Mac OS X Server), the Multi-Touch Magic Mouse, and, as the Wildcard I’m-Not-Sure-I-Really-Believe-It-Myself Out-There Rumor, Maybe Even Some Sort of Mentioned-Nowhere-Else-But-in-This-Very-Headline Multi-Touch Trackpad Gadget for Desktop Macs

AppleInsider has posted some possible part numbers:

The unedited parts list is as follows:

MC207LL/A – K84 BEST BTR- USA
MC238LL/A – MAC MINI 2.26/2×1GB/160/SD/AP/BT-USA
MC239LL/A- MAC MINI 2.53/2×2GB/320GB/SD/AP/BT-USA
MC340LL/A – AIRPORT EXTREME (SIM DUALBAND) – USA
MC343LL/A – TIME CAPSULE 1TB (SIM DUALBAND) -USA
MC344LL/A – TIME CAPSULE 2TB (SIM DUALBAND) – USA
MC408LL/A – MAC MINI 2.53/2×2GB/1TB/NO ODD/AP-BT-USA
MC413LL/A – IMAC 21.5″/3.06/2×2GB/1TB/4670-256MB-USA
MC434LL/A – APPLE VESA MOUNT ADAPTER
MC461LL/A – MACBOOK 60W MAGSAFE POWER ADAPTER – USA

From Touch User Guide, a self proclaimed “ultimate guide to the Apple Tablet”, comes this picture of a screen showing the Apple website homepage with the rumored tablet computer. An interesting thing about this image is at the top where it says “iPhone Apps & OS X living in perfect harmony.” Apparently whomever made this mock screen thinks the tablet will behave as an extra large iPhone running OS X. Now, I say this is a mock screen because I don’t think Apple will let something as big as this slip out into the public.

The image has also sparked a debate among ourselves here at When Will Apple? On one hand Justin thinks it’s fake because the word “touch” in the name is capitalized, his logic is that the iPod touch doesn’t have the capital “T”. I’m not so sure about that though, since Apple naming convention for MacBooks do have capitalized letters, MacBook Pro / MacBook Air. But in both cases our guess for the name seems to be on target.

The question is when will it come? Tell us if you know

Image via touchuserguide.com

Check it out…

So few things I noticed. The production guys on the stage, that I guess monitor the taping, were timing the show with the iPhone stopwatch. Also, one of the guys was twittering on his MacBook…I’d like to have his job. Jimmy Fallon does play with his Mac built into his desk between the show breaks, he is a complete tech nerd. Jennifer Aniston called him out on his cool desk with a computer and they switched places and she started playing with the computer. I’m also pretty sure I saw a MacBook over with The Roots.

The coolest thing in the show had to be the Mom that won a MacBook Pro during the “Cell Phone Shootout” contest. This was the first time someone won the prize on the show! I talked to the winner after the taping to see when she was getting the prize and she said they would email her. The issue being that since no one has won the MacBook before they weren’t sure what to do as they needed to contact Apple first…so it looks like Apple sponsored the prize for the contest.

Other thoughts…  Jennifer Aniston was hotter than I thought seeing her in person, The Roots were awesome, Adel has a great voice, and Donald Faison seems as quirky as he is on Scrubs.

Bye Bye Late Night!

“What can I get for $1000? Windows Vista Home Premium… this is bullshit, real bullshit. I’m poor, but I’m not retarded”

(via Daring Fireball)

Another day, another laptop hunters commercial

Apparently I’m among the lucky, or rather unlucky, ones to have a cracking MacBook… At first I thought it was a somewhat isolated case, but it seems that it’s a big problem among white MacBooks if apple is addressing the issue the way they are now… For me the casing cracked along the bottom edge of the computer, right where the speakers are… And this is my story…

I have a white MacBook circa mid 2007 and I’ve been using it on a regular basis for meetings and presentations. Recently during a meeting for some reason I turned over the computer and noticed some dark lines along the bottom back edge of the computer, upon further inspection I realized they were hairline cracks.

Since I purchased the AppleCare service for the MacBook my reaction was to call the help line and see what they would say about the cracking. They asked me about the palm rest area and the back vents, which are where most of the crackings are happening, but my computer didn’t have any cracks at those locations so they quickly scheduled an appointment for a genius bar visit. Arriving at the scheduled appointment I explained to the genius my problem and he said that he had seen a few computers with cracks but mostly at the palm rest and that my problem wasn’t that common. After he checked the computer he realized they didn’t have the parts in the store to fix my problem, so I had to send in my computer for repair.

The mail in process was actually very quick, I called AppleCare again with my case number, explained the situation at the Apple Store, and they immediately  setup a mail in repair request. The box arrived very early the following day and I sent it out a few hours later. The computer arrived at the center the next morning and by noon the repair was done and the computer packed for return. I got my MacBook back the next day. If I don’t count my visit to the genius bar, my repair was completed in 4 business days and I was without my computer for only 2 days. Overall I’m very happy with the experience.

If anyone has a similar story and want to share it with everyone, just drop us a note…

Before AppleCare:

After AppleCare: