Notebook Event Rumor Wrapup: Winners and Losers

[MacRumors]

With even more media attention on Apple and the rumors surrounding the latest release, more sites have gone out of their way to call out those who got things wrong. While this has given an opportunity for some to say that you shouldn't listen rumors at all, I think it just goes to show that sources matter and not all rumors are created equal.

Much of the blame is being targeted at the Inquistr site who initiated the false rumor that Apple would be releasing an $800 MacBook based on what they described as a "reliable" source. Since we are unable to question these sources directly, the reliablity and reputation falls on the reporting sites that vet these rumors. As has been shown in the past, sites that have little experience in handling Apple rumors have proven to be less reliable.

The Inquisitr was not the only source to suggest price drops, however. Analyst Piper Jaffray has been expecting price drops on both MacBook and MacBook Pros since July. Initially they expected more modest drops (MacBook $1099->$999 and MacBook Pro $1999->$1799), but in the week before the release suggested the prices would fall to as low as $899 even for the aluminum models. It's no secret that we put less value in analyst reports as its difficult to distinguish what is speculation, original information or simply the reciting of circulating rumors.

Winners

The Chinese/Taiwanese web continues to be a major source of photos of unreleased Apple products. Apple.Pro was the most surprising source of legitimate Apple product images this round. Unfortunately, the site has been inconsistent. While their original MacBook Pro images and aluminum casings were spot on, their MacBook images and video were clearly wrong.

Meanwhile, detailed images of the MacBook Pro "brick" enclosure originated from Chinese forums with high quality images finally appearing on MacHome.com.cn.

9to5Mac proves itself once more with their long-running "brick" rumor. 9to5Mac revealed that Apple had moved to a new manufacturing process for the new MacBook and also first described the inclusion of a glass trackpad. While they did miss a few other details (plastic MacBooks), the specificity of their accurate information is hard to ignore.

AppleInsider remains a consistent source of accurate Apple rumors. They were the first to reveal that Apple's notebooks would adopt aluminum enclosures akin to the iMac and MacBook Air. Early spottings of MacBook Pros on Apple Campus accuratly described the elimination of the Firewire 400 port and "what appear[ed] to be" a mini-DVI port, which turned out to be a mini-DisplayPort. AppleInsider was also the first to report the surprising news that Apple was migrating away from Intel chipsets and was able to later confirm the NVIDIA chipsets.

Daring Fireball's John Gruber accurately predicted that October 14 would be the release date for Apple's new notebooks. Gruber later had a detailed description of the new laptops, though this information didn't come until the evening before their release.

Despite a lively forum debate, it's also clear that Engadget's JR source has had access to photographs of new Apple hardware immediately prior to their launch.

Losers

- Inquisitr - $800 Apple MacBook
- Piper Jaffray - $899 Aluminum MacBooks
- PCPer - MacBook Air shown but not released until January
- PhoneNews - Apple to update MacBook Air with faster processors (August)
- Kevin Rose - Blu-Ray in notebooks (though to be fair, Rose suggested this was from a "bad" source)
- Jason Calacanis - no Apple networked television (though no timeframe was given for the product)
- Fake mockups: one, two, three

Up Ahead

The next major Apple event that is scheduled is Macworld San Francisco 2009 in January 2009, though there has been a suggestion that we may see minor iMac updates prior to then.

Article Link: Notebook Event Rumor Wrapup: Winners and Losers

[iSpoody 1243]

Oh Well, we can always hope for macworld 2009

[Balty]

Originally Posted by iSpoody 1243

Oh Well, we can always hope for macworld 2009

17" MBP update to new design..... hopefully

[donga]

thanks again arn for sorting the truth from the trash

[aven]

Meanwhile MacRumors have proven themselves a winner with their extensive converage of all the preceding speculation. Thanks, at the very least its entertaining!!

[Balty]

Originally Posted by aven

Meanwhile MacRumors have proven themselves a winner with their extensive converage of all the preceding speculation. Thanks, at the very least its entertaining!!

It is great! Isn't it?

Thanks to (the team) at MacRumors!

[Moriarty]

The Air actually did get a faster processor. 1.8 GHz > 1.86 GHz.

"PhoneNews" were actually right

[Dreamer2go]

Originally Posted by Balty

17" MBP update to new design..... hopefully

ew
I miss the old design =(

[Akilah727]

you rule arn.

[Balty]

Originally Posted by Dreamer2go

ew
I miss the old design =(

It's not that bad. If they had kept the old keyboard and matte screen option it would have been better though....

[SchneiderMan]

apple wont have any more new macbooks on macworld right? i just got a new mbp lol

[donbadman]

Originally Posted by Balty

17" MBP update to new design..... hopefully

I hope not, just change what's inside the old one please.

[Mighuel]

What do you think could these current Macbook / Macbook Pro models gain Blu-Ray support via external drive after support is added to Leopard? I was just wondering...

[shortlex]

Yeah take that Kevin Rose!
Your not so big now!!

[Digitalclips]

Originally Posted by MacRumors

notebook-event-rumor-wrapup-winners-and-losers

I admit to being addicted to this site but I have strong reservations about what amounts to espionage being done in the name of journalism. I am quite happy reading intelligent speculation and subsequent discussions on those speculations. However, if rumor sites encourage staff at factories here or in other countries to leak product information that could have an impact on marketing strategies or even share prices it should be discouraged by all reputable sites like this. Whistle-blowing should be encouraged for human rights violations etc. but not product information. The answer of course is to 'Follow the money" I doubt the guy in China photographing products is an avid rumor fan, rather someone some where is paying him.

[The Tall One]

So what are they going to show us at macworld? Hmmmmm????

[Cappy]

A couple of thoughts on this...

1. Awesome job Arn as always. You do it right.

2. iMac revs...I don't see it happening before xmas unless it's very minor and done quietly. Since I'm guessing Apple might move to nvidia in that line I'm guessing after xmas is when we'll see it plus it'll balance out sales better for the two quarters.

3. 17" MBP...I've a feeling we'll be seeing a quadcore in that thing. Apple positions their products so that the upgrade to the next model is attractive and that would be the one thing that we already know is doable and is missing from Apple's laptops.

4. I'm one of the guys who initially felt like I was a loser when I had money in hand and found no firewire in the new Macbook but thanks to Apple's pricecuts on the refurb models of the last gen 15" MBP to $1349, I feel like a winner and arguably have a better machine for the money. So people know I'm moving from a 12" 1.33Ghz Powerbook to a 2.4Ghz 15" MBP. That alone makes me a winner but it's tough to argue that the MB would be a better value than the MBP I'm getting.

[CommanderData]

Originally Posted by The Tall One

So what are they going to show us at macworld? Hmmmmm????

A very good question... Probably can guarantee a 64GB iPod Touch, 32GB iPhone, and "one more thing" will be a new "netbook" style Macbook with 10-12" screen, dual core Intel Atom CPU, 2GB of RAM, and 32GB SSD for $799. Let's see how close I nailed it in 3 months

No tablet models, no intermediate 5-7" device running the iPhone OS, just a simple netbook...

[twoodcc]

thanks for the report. there were more accurate rumors this time, and more inaccurate ones as well.

[TheBigBrother]

If you're going to show the relative price drops for the older macbooks, you should accurately report that the $1999 Macbook Pro dropped to $1599. The $2499 model dropped to the $1799 price point that you reported in the most recent post.

[Moler]

The stock analysts are plain liars who attempt to manipulate the market.

[solaris7]

was waiting for this type of thread to be posted! now we know what to trust when updates are due!

[sampackham]

And from the picture in the article, who can guess what they'll change about the MBA next?

[ThinkBrilliant]

Originally Posted by MacRumors

Article Link: Notebook Event Rumor Wrapup: Winners and Losers

With all fairness to credible sources, who deserve to be acknowledged - What about this.

LINK: http://www.macblogz.com/2008/06/23/m...-keyboard-100/

The specificity of the information and depiction in the mockup is pretty close if
you ask me.

[Eric S.]

Originally Posted by mccldwll

Anyone who has "lots of expensive MOTU interfaces and massive FW HD's for music, storage, back-up and libraries, not to mention DV cams etc" should be in the pro arena. The physical size difference is minimal, and the price is too in the overall scheme of things ["expensive interfaces" and "massive" HDs"].

The size difference isn't minimal to me. I went from a 12" iBook G3 to a 14" iBook G4 and and was dismayed at how much extra weight and volume I had to carry around. That's one of the big reasons I went back to the 13" Macbook. I recently went to the Apple store to check out the new models and there's no way I would choose to lug around one of the new MBPs. I'd pay a premium to get a 13" model, but not 15".