The Mac Pro and Mac Mini lines get the least interesting updates. For the Mac Pro’s there are bumps in memory, storage, and video, the latter being NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 graphics boards at all model levels. CPU updates are the highlight of the Mac Pro upgrades, though. The now lower cost entry level model, priced at US$2,499, sports Intel’s newest Nahalem Quad-core wafer running at 2.66GHz. What Apple should dub the “Ass Kicker Deluxe”, the 8-core model, gets two of the Nahalem’s, all for US$3,299. For the Mac Minis, the bumps are for newer processors, the most recent Core 2 Duo, and more storage space for prices starting at US$599. The new 2.0GHz C2D chips are much faster and more efficient than the previous 2.33GHz models, as well. 

Probably the single largest aspect of this sweeping upgrade is what didn’t come to the party: FireWire 400. As of all desktop models its clear that Apple has ditched FireWire 400, instead opting to only support FireWire 800. All new systems, however, have loads of USB 2.0 ports.

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iLife ’09 gets a new iPhoto which incorporates geotagging and face recognition for automated image tagging. iMovie gets a new interface layout, image stabilization, and some other geegaws. GarageBand took the cake, though, with the integration of musical training courses. Some are included and more can be purchased online for a very reasonable fee (US$5). They also got some rather big names to teach people how to play including Sting and Sarah McLachlan. This alone is well worth the price.

iWork ’09 also gets some significant updates. Personally, I’m a huge fan of Pages. Keynote and Numbers not so much, but then I’m not out doing presentations or crunching figures. The big updates are to Keynote and Numbers. Keynote gets a range of new transitions and animations as a new animation tool which automates movements of objects. Numbers get over 250 new calculations and functions to better round it out. Pages gets updated, too, but its was already kick ass to begin with.

iTunes gets a few new tricks, too. The big thing people will like is that you can now download music from the Apple Music Store directly via Wi-Fi or 3G. Apple is also taking the entire catalog DRM-free. Most of them are there already, but they’ll have the rest done by the end of the year. There’s also a new pricing scheme, now offering tracks at US$0.69, $0.99, and $1.29, depending on what the record companies want to charge.

Finally, there’s a new 17″ unified chassis MacBook Pro. It looks just like the 15″ model, just bigger. Apple decided to embed the battery into the case and made it 40% larger to compensate for the fact that you can’t change it out. Schiller went on to suggest that you could eek 8 hours out of the lappy. The new US$2800 17″ lapmonster sports a 2.66GHz Core 2 Duo CPU, up to 8GBs of RAM, a 320GB HDD (with 256GB SSD optional), and NVIDIA’s GeForce 9600M GT video chipset.

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There has been rampant speculation that Jobs will not appear because of failing health. Apple, on the other hand, claims that Apple is selling well enough to no longer require attendance at the show to hawk its wares. One other idea is that Apple is trying to avoid the annual dip in stock values that consistently follow the keynote, indicating that people are disappointed when the products they want don’t materialize.

Whatever the truth is, this is a big change for Apple, and I don’t think its a smart one. Despite their significant lead over Apple, Microsoft still maintains a presence at a wide range of shows, including MacWorld. Microsoft gets the Mac Business Unit down to the show and hosts a blogger’s lounge. Unlike Microsoft, Apple’s products and all that is associated with Apple is the singular focus of the MacWorld show. I would really liked to have been a fly on the wall in the board meeting that decided this.

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In line with that, Apple’s über haüt iPhone has been moving significantly forward in the Smartphone category, now holding a 16.6% share. Interestingly enough, Symbian-based devices from Nokia have been steadily losing ground, mostly to the iPhone, but in some small way to Windows Mobile and Blackberry devices, as well. Palm doesn’t even show enough to remain in this group, and the first Android phone, the T-Mobile G1, hasn’t been around long enough to start making a dent. It might be interesting to see if Nokia’s new N97 will start to level off the Finnish handset makers drop in the rankings.

Finally, Apple’s plans for a liquid cooled lappy have come to light, thanks to the ever vigilant US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). The technology outlines a method to cool lappies by adding a circulating liquid system to what looks like a standard heatsink arrangement. Who knows. This may just work and we might see a quad-core lappy before too long.

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That’s the new 15″ MacBook Pro in 2.4 and 2.53GHz models, 250 or 320GB drives, 2 to 4GB of DDR3 RAM, NVIDIA graphics with 256 or 512MBs of VRAM, and glass, buttonless touchpads for US$1,999 or US$2,499. The 17″ model has not been updated.

That’s the new 13.3″ MacBook, much the same as the new MacBook Pros, are encased in a milled unibody case. They come in 2.0 and 2.4GHz models, 2GBs of DDR3 RAM, 160 to 250GB drives, and the glass, buttonless trackpad. They now feature NVIDIA integrated graphics and are priced at US$1,299 and US$1,599. The white model remains in a 2.1GHz form, but at US$999.

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