Sadly, I didn’t get to see the dog and pony show that went with the announcements today.   When I was able to get back to a computer, I hit the apple.com website to see what the big releases were.

Looking over the new Macbook and Macbook Pro, so far I like them.   If they really mean it when they say 5 hours of battery life, then I’m very impressed, if not interested.    The LED backlit displays are supposed to be very nice, and I like the look of the new case.   Beyond that, there isn’t much to report.    It’s a little faster.   It’s got better graphics.   They both still only top out at 4GB of ram.    It’s a nice update, but not an earth-shattering one.

I have since had the chance to actually touch and play with one of the new macbooks, and I confess that I’m impressed.    I hadn’t previously be aware of the fact that there is no “traditional” mouse button any more.   It’s gone completely, and the touchpad is now much larger.   To “click” you simply press down where you normally would have pressed on the touchpad button.  The laptop is well built, nicely engineered, and really nice to look at.  The LED-lit screen is bright and crisp.   It’s noticeably lighter than the previous generation.  I’m also very impressed with the big boost in battery life, now allegedly around 5 hours.     But above all, as with many things Apple, it all just works.

Now if only they would update the mac mini!