FOXNews.com: Apple shows new MacBook, 'most beautiful computer we've ever made'

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Apple shows new MacBook, 'most beautiful computer we've ever made' Jun 11th 2012, 18:30 SAN FRANCISCO –  "How many developers does it take to change a lightbulb?" With that geeky joke (the answer? "None, that's a hardware problem"), Apple's Siri voice-control system opened the company's annual Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco. But the real star of the show was a razor-thin new MacBook Air that Apple called its most beautiful computer ever. Apple CEO Tim Cook took the stage after the warm-up jokes ended, to begin with a bit of hype about the popularity of software on Apple's gadgets. The App Store has some 650,000 apps and over 30 billion downloads to date, he said. He quickly segued into the real highlights of the show: the updated Mac computers. "Today we're announcing new changes in our notebook lineup, and new versions of our OS and iOS," Cook told the assembled programmers and enthusiasts from around the world who gathered at the Moscone conference center for what some called "the biggest event Apple has held in years." New software isn't much of a surprise: Apple has used its WWDC to announce new iPhone software for the past few years. How close are we to "Prometheus" technology? More interesting is the next-generation MacBook Pro, unveiled by Phil Schiller, senior vice president of worldwide marketing. "[It's] the most beautiful computer we've ever made," Schiller said. The MacBook Pro has a high-definition Retina display, weighs about 4.5 pounds, and comes with a new Intel chip. Prices will start at $2,199. "There has never been a notebook this thin, this light, and this powerful. It's an engineering breakthrough," Schiller said. The Pro measures just 0.71 inches thick, the company said, putting it on a par with the Air. The company also showed smaller versions of the Pro starting at $1,000.  But speaking of the Macbook Air, Apple also showed a revamped version of the superthin laptop that was largely responsible for the ultrabook invasion currently sweeping out all the old, fat laptops and ushering in an era of envelope-slim notebooks. '[It's] the most beautiful computer we've ever made.' - Apple's Phil Schiller The new Air comes with up to a 2.0-GHz dual-core i7 chip -- an ultrafast "Ivy Bridge" processor newly unveiled from CPU giant Intel -- as well as up to 8GB of 1,600-MHz memory. It also includes fast new USB 3.0 ports. The Air is on sale today, and sells for $999 to $1,499.  Pirated Game of Thrones more popular than TV show? On the Mac software side, Apple already demonstrated most of the features of OS X 10.8 "Mountain Lion" in February and said it will go on sale late this summer. Developers are already able to download a version of the software. It narrows the gap between the PC and phone software packages, making Mac personal computers work more like iPhones. Apple on Monday announced three new apps for Mountain Lion -- Messages, Reminders, and Notes -- as well as tighter integration with the iCloud online storage system and integrated voice control, though not through Siri.  Microsoft Corp., Apple's chief competitor in PC software, is on a parallel course. It's set to release Windows 8 later this year, bringing the look and user interface of Windows Phone to PCs. What's not known is what new features will come with iOS 6, or when it will be released to consumers. Usually, the new software becomes available for download around the time a new iPhone model appears. Apple-watchers expect the next version of the iPhone, the iPhone 5, to appear this fall, about a year after the launch of the 4S model. In 2010, Apple demonstrated the new iPhone 4 at the WWDC, but analysts don't expect the company to show off a phone model this year. With the launch of iOS 5 last year, Apple added many features already found in competing smartphone software, including the Siri virtual assistant. This year, there are fewer "catch up" features to add, so Apple watchers expect more modest improvements. Some speculate that Facebook could become more tightly integrated, in much the same way that Apple baked Twitter functions into its software last year. That could make it easier to post Facebook status updates from within Apple's apps. The 18-inch Windows tablet that could crush the iPad The biggest mystery surrounds Apple's ambitions in television-making. Late company founder Steve Jobs told biographer Walter Isaacson that he wanted to remake the TV. Apple does sell an "Apple TV," but it's small box that connects to a TV to display movies from iTunes. There's much speculation that Apple plans to make a full-blown TV set, integrated with iTunes. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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