MacWorld 2008 Recap

Rumors surrounding Apple’s announcements at MacWorld 2008 expo turned out to be true. Apple has launched iTunes Movie Rental along with the ultra-slim MacBook Air which claims to be the world’s thinnest notebook.

MacBook Air

Apple has unveiled the world’s thinnest notebook at MacWorld 2008 expo. Steve began his presentation by pulling out MacBook Air out of a manila envelope.

These are the few good things about MacBook Air:

• World’s thinnest notebook. Only 0.76 inches in it’s thickest part and 0.16 inches at it’s thinnest.
• Intel Core 2 Duo Processor 1.6 Ghz (1.8 Ghz optional)
• 2 GB of memory.
• 80 GB hard drive (64 GB Solid State Drive optional)
• 5 hours battery life
• Multi-touch trackpad which allows you to use the same gesture as iPhone or iPod Touch.

Few bad things about MacBook Air:

• Battery is not user replaceable
• Only 1 USB 2.0 Port
• Memory cannot be upgraded because they are soldered into the main board.

Owing to the slim form factor, Apple had to cut down on several features. Ethernet Port and disk drive are missing from MacBook Air, but an external SuperDrive will be separately sold for $99 to complete this void. Additionally, Steve also told that MacBook Air will have the ability to borrow SuperDrive from a nearby Mac. Sounds cool, but is it convenient? Only time can tell.

MacBook Air will start from $1,799 and it will be available in two weeks from now. Pre-orders are accepted from today. Product overview page has been put up here.

iTunes Movie Rental:

Besides MacBook Air, Steve Jobs also announced iTunes Movie Rental, which had been rumored from quite a long time. They’ve signed with Fox, Walt Disney, Universal, Paramount, Sony, MGM, and many others to rent movies. By the end of February, 1000 films will be available on iTunes for rent.

A movie will be available for rent only after 30 days of its DVD launch. Movies can be viewed instantly as its being downloaded, but you’ll require a high speed internet connection to do that. You can watch the movie on your PC, Mac or on other Apple devices such as iPod, iPhone or Apple TV.

Once a movie has been rented from iTunes, you’ll have 30 days to watch it. After you start watching, you need to finish watching by 24 hours. Newly released movies will be rented for $3.99, whereas regular movies will be rented for $2.99.

Software Update for Apple TV, Prices Dropped:

Apple has released a new firmware for Apple TV which will support movie rentals from iTunes Store. Apple TV can rent movies directly from the TV, without using the computer. Users can either rent movies in regular DVD-quality format or in HD quality with 5.1 Dolby Surround Audio for a premium of one dollar (which makes it $4.99 per movie).

The cost of the unit has been dropped from $299 to $229. All existing users will get new firmware in about two weeks from now.

Software Update for iPhone and iPod Touch

An updated iPhone firmware brings Google Maps with My Locations, which can approximate your location based on cell tower footprint. They’ve also included the ability to text message multiple people in one time. iPhone users can also create upto 9 different home screens and customize the home buttons.

Along with iPhone, its distant cousin iPod Touch also receive a software update. The latest firmware gives you new apps like mail, weather, stocks, maps and notes. Ironically, Apple has decided to sell this firmware update for $20. I think it’s pretty absurd to sell a firmware, but since its Apple anything will go!

[Image Credits: Engadget]