Macworld and the lack of Steve

Wow. Just got through possibly the worst coverage of Macworld I have ever seen. One can see that Steve Jobs is truly the dynamic force behind the scenes in Cupertino. To wit: No Steve = No live video feed No Steve = No Snow Leopard update No Steve = No Blu-ray support announcement No Steve = No Mac Mini refresh No Steve = No netbook sized MacBook (MacBook Mini? MacNote?) No Steve = No vid card refresh for Mac Pro No Steve = No Cinema Display refresh Top that all off with MacRumors' live coverage getting hacked ("STEVE JOBS JUST DIED" was inserted into their comment stream by person(s) unknown) and then their site went down. Now, don't get me wrong, I know better than most people how dangerous anything happening to the pancreas is (I am a survivor of necrotizing pancreatitis - which has a 2% survival rate in 1 month vs, pancreatic cancer's 20% the first year), and I do not begrudge Mr. Jobs looking after his health. It just without Steve, Apple loses quite a bit of its zing. On a positive note, two new MacBook Pro models were introduced and the 17-inch unit looks amazing. I am going to have to head over to my favorite Apple store to get a gander at one. The thinness and high-gamut display bode well for photographers in the field, especially with photographer-centric Windows laptops already on the market (expect my review of the Lenovo W700 this week). The new iLife and iWork are worthy upgrades considering the amount of utility people get for the price and I am glad to see that Apple finally realizes that there is more to the net than MobileMe.

Lenovo Unleashes Monster Notebook for Photographers

Delivers Industry’s First Built-in Digitizer and Color Calibrator Along with Ultimate Power, Multimedia and Display Technologies Lenovo today introduced a monster notebook aimed at photographers. This 17-inch beast includes an Intel Core2 Extreme processor, up to 8GB DDR3 RAM, a 400 nit WUXGA (1920x1200) monitor that displays 72% color gamut, has a built-in color calibrator by X-rite (embedded Huey Pro), Nvidia Quadro graphics (up to 1GB), RAID 0/1, Blu-Ray burner, and built-in Wacom tablet. A 7-in-1 card reader is included and you can add a CF card reader as well. The notebook supports 802.11 BANG, Bluetooth, ultra wideband, and will add Wi-Max support later this year. Pricing starts at $2,978 USD. With everything mentioned above, the price is over $5,000 USD. At first glance the W700 certainly contains all of the desired buzzwords: high res/high gamut monitor, color calibration, Wacom tablet, card readers, Quadro graphics, oodles of RAM, built-in RAID, Blu-ray burner, all of the 802.11's, WiMax, Ultra-wideband (does anyone use this yet?)... The list goes on and on. All this in an 8.3 pound package. Ouch. Be ready to hire an additional sherpa for lugging this baby. Still, photographers have been longing for a mobile workstation that meets their needs and this one appears to fit the bill. I am currently trying to get one in for review and I will let you know how usable this beast is. You can read the full press release here.