Katie MarsalAn updated to Apple's MacBook line on Tuesday came bearing price reductions for Europeans. Meanwhile, Apple appears as if it will miss a self-imposed ship deadline for the new Final Cut Studio 2 software suite. And separately, the company has promised a software update to patch a chronic speaker glitch in Mac OS X.
Italians who received news of the spring 2007 MacBook update directly from Apple may have also been tipped off as to a change in the 13.3-inch displays used for the systems.
In its announcement, Apple Italy listed a 250cd/m2 brightness figure for the top 2.16GHz black model. The company has previously refrained from mentioning the display's specifications in the past, suggesting that the brightness was a selling point for at least the top system.
Europe as a whole also saw the price of the systems drop despite the change, with each system dipping 70 Euros to 1,049, 1,249, and 1,449 Euros respectively.
Final Cut Studio 2 shipping delayed
Apple has given signs that its Final Cut Studio 2 video editing tools will slip past their intended May release window.
Visitors to Apple's online Apple Store who place new orders are told that both the full version and its two upgrades will ship within 2-3 weeks, putting deliveries into early June. And despite showing an intended release date of May 15th, Amazon as of this writing is currently listing a 1-3 week shipping timeframe for new buyers.
No explanation has been given by Apple for the delay.
Update: Apple on Wednesday began shipping new license copies of Final Cut Studio 2. However, upgrade packages still reflect estimated ship times of 2 to 3 weeks.
Apple vows to fix speaker issue
Meanwhile, Apple is aware of and intends to fix a problem with the volume of the internal speakers on at least some Macs, including last fall's Core 2 Duo iMacs.
Owners of affected systems have complained that the built-in speakers have become too loud since the Mac OS X 10.4.9 update issued earlier in the year. The problem has become chronic and some customers have complained that Apple has taken a dismissive approach until today, denying that the patch was the root of the problem until the company privately admitted this month that its next software update should provide a cure.
"Not all Apple users enjoy being blown away by their systems nor are they from the generation that believes “loud†is the norm," said one report. "There has been no explanation as to why Apple took the direction it did in regards to this issue."
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45 Comments
Apple's stock has gotten slammed today, no doubt this helped contribute.
"Dammit!" - Jack Bauer
"until the company privately admitted this month that its next software update should provide a cure."
Next software update? Is this implying a 10.4.10???
What are these people smoking? I mean, I noticed as well that the speaker volume on my MBP increased after that update. I actually thought it was a welcome change. And you know what I did to rectify the "issue" if I thought the sound was blaring? I used the volume control and TURNED IT DOWN!
Great, so now I got used to a little volume bump, Apple is going to take it away...
maybe the delay to FCP2 was a reaction like "Oh crap, we forgot about AVCHD!"
Same display.
The old displays on the MacBook were 250 cd /m2 (nits) too. It used to be on one of the pages on the US site too (but not the one I saved before the launch).