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Apple beefs up MacBook laptops, trims prices
2008-10-14
Apple on Tuesday unveiled a revamped line of Macintosh laptop computers made leaner, slicker, faster and a bit more affordable. Along with showing off new MacBook models heading for store shelves, Apple cut the price of the original version to 999 dollars. The price drop marked the first time Apple is selling a laptop computer for less than a thousand dollars. "We sell a ton of these MacBooks and people love it," Apple chief executive Steve Jobs said as he announced that 100 dollars is being trimmed from the model's price tag. "We are going to reduce the entry price today to 999 dollars and make them more affordable. I think we are going to keep on selling these for a long, long time," he said. Enhanced MacBook, MacBook Pro and MacBook Air models boasted improved features in Apple's historic price range of 1,200 to 2,500 dollars. Key upgrades to Macintosh laptop models included custom-designed graphics processors by NVIDIA to enhance computer game play and video viewing as well as glass touch-pads that allow finger gesture controls. Before fielding questions from reporters gathered for the event at Apple's headquarters in Cupertino, California, Jobs flashed "110/70" on a screen behind the stage. "This is Steve's blood pressure," Jobs said in a joking reference to a bogus blogger report that wrongly claimed he had suffered a heart attack. "This is all we are going to talk about Steve's health today. If you want to see that number go higher, just ask some more questions." Sales of Macintosh laptop computers have outpaced the industry average each fiscal quarter for nearly four years, according to Apple chief operating officer Tim Cook. MacBooks have grown to account for 18 percent of US laptop computer sales, according to industry statistics. The new Macintosh laptop computers introduced for the year-end holiday shopping season should pay off for Apple if the economic crisis doesn't make life miserable for all retailers, according to Gartner analyst Van Baker. "If the economy stabilizes or improves, this will be a good holiday for Apple," Baker said. Among the most compelling new offerings is a MacBook built with an aluminium casing, a corner-to-corner glass LED screen, and a glass trackpad with multi-touch control priced at 1,200 dollars. The model takes features from a more expensive MacBook Pro model and puts them into a price category that has been Apple's most popular seller, according to Baker. "That is a vastly improved notebook priced right in Apple's sweet spot," he said. "They sell more at the 1,200-dollar price than any other." Jobs cooed that features in the lower price "next-generation MacBook" were previously only available in MacBook Pro models costing 700 dollars more. "This is a beautiful machine," he said. Jobs said hundreds of Apple engineers worked for months with computer graphics processor specialty firm NVIDIA to tailor a chip for MacBooks. "This thing is a stunner in terms of performance," Jobs said of the NVIDIA chip, which reportedly makes graphics processing as much as five times faster than in previous MacBook models based on only Intel chips. Apple also introduced new MacBook Pro and Air models with NVIDIA chips and other new features, along with solid state drives and increased memory. Jobs also touted Apple's focus on using more recyclable aluminium, eliminating toxins from components, and reducing packaging to be more environmentally friendly. "We are really happy with this," Jobs said of MacBooks going green. New generation MacBook Pro models with a starting price of 1,999 dollars began shipping Tuesday. New MacBook Air models priced at 1,799 and 2,499 dollars will begin shipping in early November. Jobs said Apple has no plans to add Blu-Ray high-definition DVD hardware to MacBooks any time soon because licensing the technology is prohibitively costly and complex. "Blu-Ray is just a bag of hurt," Jobs said. "We are waiting until the costs settle down and it really takes off in the marketplace."
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