(Image courtesy of 9to5Mac)
The day of reckoning is finally here -- or at least Apple’s “Back to the Mac” event anyway, which kicks off at 10am PST at the company’s Cupertino campus. Late Tuesday, some last-minute leaks and rumors surfaced regarding the event, and here’s a peek at all of them.
AppleInsider is reporting that Apple’s official online support forums have given us some not-so-subtle clues as to what CEO Steve Jobs may be unveiling at today’s “Back to the Mac” event, including not one but two models of MacBook Air and an updated iLife ’11, as MacLife.com an others have already predicted.
The Apple Discussions forum pages were updated overnight, adding new sections for iMovie ’11, iPhoto ’11 and GarageBand ’11, all key applications in the traditional iLife suite. However, the listings also include a forum entitled “MBA (Need official name),” which is assumed to be a new discussion area for the MacBook Air refresh.
If you recall, Steve Jobs promised during Monday’s fiscal Q4 2010 conference call that there would be “a few more surprises” this year, and apparently at least one of them has a new placeholder on Apple Discussions. Carrying the nondescript title “Reserved 10 20,” the “mystery space” is presumed to be something else that all of the tech pundits may not have guessed already.
Meanwhile, Engadget has collected even more details on the pending MacBook Air refresh, which seems to have indeed been split into two models -- the traditional 13-inch size as well as a new, smaller 11.6-inch display. Full details are as follows:
- A smaller 11.6-inch display.
- 2.13GHz Intel Core 2 Duo (with a 2.33GHz option possible).
- 2GB of memory in the base configuration.
- No optical drive.
- Mini DisplayPort, USB, and SD card reader on the left side; USB and power on the right.
- The trackpad has been updated to match that of the new MacBook Pros.
- Although smaller due to the 11.6-inch display, it's still about the same thickness as the current MacBook Air.
- A black power key now sits immediately to the right of a smaller eject key on the MBA's keyboard -- the round aluminum power button is gone. A design decision that might support the MBA's rumored instant-on capabilities though our source didn't see this functionality exhibited (possibly because it was running OS X 10.6.4).
Stay tuned for MacLife.com’s liveblog and full coverage of Apple’s “Back to the Mac” event which begins at 10am PST (1pm EST).
Follow this article’s author, J.R. Bookwalter on Twitter
