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UPDATE: 10.18AM - At 10.08am, Apple Australian PR reps started releasing their first local press release - on the MacBook Pro 15-inch Retina model. Presumably more are to come. As always with Apple, unexpect. Read on for the rest of the story...
ORIGINAL STORY CONTINUES:
However, Apple likes to avoid having people take it for granted, and so while you can read all the Apple US press releases on Moutain Lion, iOS 6, the new MacBooks, and a new 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display at the PR section of Apple’s US site, Apple’s local PR people have been both characteristically – and uncharacteristically silent.
That apparent dichotomy is in place because Apple’s PR people speak only when they want to, or presumably, when ordered to by their superiors, and so it was both surprising and unsurprising when there were no local announcements.
Heh… Apple… the only company on the planet where you can expect, unexpect, expected the expected, expect the unexpected, unexpect the expected, unexpect the unexpected and all that known unknown knowns stuff, all at the same time.
It’s like Schrodinger’s cat, or something, except this time maybe it’s Steve Jobs inside the box.
Anyway, the facts are that Apple has finally, as expected, launched its latest MacBooks with 3rd-gen Core processors inside, and has surprised by finally including USB 3.0 ports as well – despite all the Thunderbolt hoopla.
USB 3.0 is fantastic because there are USB 3.0 drives on sale in stores, and have been for some time, but unless you have a USB 3.0 port, you can’t take advantage of the super fast speeds.
Now, despite the lack of any local PR announcements, Apple’s Australian online store, over here, http://www.apple.com.au has all the new Macs on sale, although the iMac range doesn’t have USB 3.0 yet, and appears to not yet be updated.
Mac Pros, however, are reported to be updated, although in an unexpected twist, there are no press releases about it.
Anyway, there’s plenty that has been updated, including options in the MacBook Air line to finally have 8GB of RAM, as well as a 512GB SSD option, although if you choose the highest end stuff as we’d all like to do, the price does rise dramatically – massive SSDs still aren’t cheap!
A 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display, 768GB of SSD, 16GB of RAM and the fastest 3rd-Gen Core processor will set you back just a tad under AUD $4300, ensuring that you definitely can spend $5000 or thereabouts on a top of the line computer today, if you wanted to and can afford it, just as has been possible for the last couple of decades.
That said, the cheapest MacBook Air starts at AUD $1099, so all price points are covered.
iOS is also coming sometime in October, or at least, that’s the unexpectation, and when it comes to definite release dates, or timeframes, Apple says its Mac OS X 10.8 “Mountain Lion” is coming in July.
So – the new MacBooks are finally here, and while the wait for new iMacs and iOS 6 continues, Mountain Lion is just a few weeks away, with upgrades to that OS set at US $19.99, which probably means something like AUD $21.
I’ll bet Apple’s virtual and “physical” cash registers are ringing hot today, with far more excitement at Apple stores than at your local Harvey “Boreman” store over PC-based Ultrabooks.
Ah, Apple. 2012 is your year, yet again!
