With the new year under way and the holidays on the back burner, CNET's first big coverage extravaganza of 2008 was CES. The annual Consumer Electronics Show, which runs through the end of this week, was predictably brimming with cool gadgets and new technology. Many of our editors were on hand to give their take on all the sleek new products. Check out our extensive coverage of CES here. Though I was jealous to see all of the cool new items coming out of Las Vegas while I remained in San Francisco, I knew the next week would be the Mac users' turn.
In only a few days, the Macworld expo will once again descend upon San Francisco's Moscone Center, and Steve Jobs will take the stage to announce the latest Apple products. With last years release of the iPhone, this year is sure to be closely watched for the next big thing from Apple. Our very own Tom Krazit's One More Thing blog will have updates on new products, and we're going to have a CNET Macworld landing page (still in the works) for all the latest news from the show floor. One of our editors, Daniel Terdiman, was so excited, he was actually inspired to write some Macworld haiku.
So what's in store for this year's keynote? The speculation has reached a feverish pitch around Mac rumor sites with some people saying we're going to see new slimmer Mac laptops, while others are sure something else even bigger will be released. To add to the excitement (and maybe to remind CES attendees that theirs isn't the only conference in January), Apple released new Mac Pro desktops this week in advance of Macworld. Some rumor sites speculate the early release means Apple has enough great stuff to announce at the keynote that they can afford to let out some big news early. We'll just have to wait and see, but you can bet I'm excited to find out! Make sure to check this space next Tuesday for a breakdown of the new hardware and software releases from the keynote speech.
In other Macworld news, I will be joining the VersionTracker team in booth 4810 in the West Hall, so if you're at Macworld, drop by and say hello! We'll have all the latest news about VersionTracker, MacFixIt, and iPhone Atlas, and we'll have a great show special for new and renewing VersionTracker Pro customers.
The Greener Apple might change the face of the MacBook.
(Credit: CNET Networks)A lot of people I've talked to recently (both Mac and Windows users) have been talking about getting a Mac laptop. It's pretty evenly split between MacBooks and the more expensive MacBook Pros, with some of my friends looking for a portable computer to bring with them for common tasks, while others need that extra processing power for music recording and film editing. Whenever I've been asked about getting a new Apple laptop though, my answer more recently has been the same: wait a little bit longer.
Judging from the rumor mill, Apple may announce new MacBooks and MacBook Pros as early as next week. This will probably mean a significant bump in power for both laptops, but what's getting the most buzz at the rumor sites is the possibility of LED backlit displays. In an effort to listen to the eco-friendly Mac community, Steve Jobs announced that the company is trying to become a Greener Apple. This would fit perfectly with the rumor from DigiTimes (via MacLife), saying Apple has recently certified the "greener" 13.3-inch and 15.4-inch LED panels by Taiwanese companies. So are LED backlit screens on MacBooks much closer than we think? Steve Jobs said that LED screens were definitely coming in the future when discussing the Greener Apple initiative, so this rumor might just turn out to be true.
Clearly, with the possibility of new and better MacBooks and MacBook Pros in the very near future, prospective buyers should wait just a little bit longer. At the very least, the new laptops will probably make the last generation cheaper, so anyone in the market for a MacBook has good reason to see what happens in the near future.
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