NOTE: We'll be offering live coverage of the conversations popping up online surrounding today's Apple event here along with posts and product pages regarding any new products announced.  All information in this post past this point will be in reverse chronological order with newest information up top. All times are presented in Eastern time. 

SUMMARY EVENT WRAP-UP: Apple announced a redesigned 15-inch MacBook Pro, a price reduction in the base-level white MacBook to $999, and two new MacBook models. Interesting features announced today included the long-rumored aluminum "brick" manufacturing process, a multi-touch glass trackpad, and dual NVIDIA graphics cards in the MacBook Pro line.

Click on the continue reading link to see the full live coverage of the event.

2:06pm: Apple Store is back up and the event is over.

2:00pm: Questions so far have been about why there aren't Blu-Ray drives and HDMI ports on the machines. Someone else asked about the 17-inch MacBook Pros, and they answered that they're still being refreshed.

1:53pm: Steve Jobs confirms that the video of this event will be live later in the day and shows a slide with his blood pressure (110/70), a clear joke about all the bad health rumors that have been floating around. He then opens up for a Q&A session with Phil Schiller and Tim Cook joining him on stage.

1:49pm: Apple is showing a video of their new manufacturing process that will most likely be available later online.

1:44pm: The new MacBook features a precision aluminum unibody enclosure, a LED-backlit display, the improved next generation graphics, a multi-touch glass trackpad, a Mini Display Port connector, and again, according to Apple, is environmentally responsible. Old white entry level MacBook is still available for a reduced price of $999. The new MacBook comes in two models priced at $1299 and $1599. $1299 will buy you a 13.3" LED-backlit display, 2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor with 3MBs of L2 cache, an NVIDIA GeForce 9400M for graphics, a 160GB hard drive, and a slot-loading SuperDrive DVD-RW/CD-RW. For $300 more, the $1599 model will include a faster 2.4Ghz processor, a larger 250GB hard drive, and a backlit keyboard.

1:40pm: Already got to "One more thing..." which means this event is going to close in under an hour. New MacBook announced. 

1:38pm: MacBook Air gets an increase in specifications, specifically the processor and graphics card, but no redesign.

1:37pm: New 24-inch LED backlit external display with a 1920x1200 pixel resolution, built-in iSight camera and microphone, built-in stereo speakers, MagSafe charging connector, Mini Display Port connector, and three USB 2.0 ports for $899 and available in November.

1:34pm: Our Apple MacBook Pro product page is live. $2499 will buy you a MacBook Pro with a 15.4" LED-backlit display, 2.53Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo with 6MBs of L2 cache, 4GBs of 1066 Mhz DDR3 memory, NVIDIA GeForce 9400M and a NVIDIA 9400 M GT with 512MBs of RAM for graphics, a 320GB hard drive, and the standard slot-loading SuperDrive DVD-RW/CD-RW.

 1:32pm: If you have spare mini-DVI connectors lying around, it doesn't look like they'll be of any use with these newer model MacBooks as they've replaced the mini-DVI port with a Mini DisplayPort.

 1:27pm: Evidently they passed the aluminum frame for the MBP around the audience. Gizmodo got to hold the frame and try to bend it with no luck: "we tried fairly hard to bend it. It was definitely rigid and didn’t bend at all, at least on the places we pushed at."

1:25pm: The new MacBook Pro features a precision aluminum unibody enclosure, LED-backlit display, next generation graphics via the earlier mentioned NVIDIA GeForce 9400MT, a multi-touch glass trackpad, mini display connector, and, according to Apple, is "environmentally responsible."

1:21pm: Multi-touch glass trackpad. The entire trackpad is the button. Interesting how they've been revealing everything section by section leading up to the big reveal of the new MacBook Pro. 

1:20pm: Steve Jobs takes back the stage to discuss how they are also moving away from the Intel graphics cards they've been using to an NVIDIA GeForce 9400 M for up to five times faster graphics.

1:16pm: Ive is talking about milling the shell for the laptops from a solid block of aluminum. From Engadget: "Through each stage we're cleaning, collecting, and recycling the material. We started with a 2.5lbs piece of metal and end up with a piece that weighs a quarter of a pound."  So it sounds like they're taking an environmentally-friendly approach to this new manufacturing process, but I'm sure someone will look closely into it soon and let us know for sure.

1:14pm: Jonathan Ive, an award winning Apple designer, takes the stage to talk about the new manufacturing process for their new notebooks (via Gizmodo). This sound like the "brick" rumor that everyone has been talking about as of late.

1:10pm: Ars Technica reports that Cook states Macs at major Universities are 47% in 2008.

1:05pm: According to Engadget, Cook is going through reasons why Apple has been outperforming market growth: Superior computers, superior software, compatability (Boot Camp allows Mac users to install and reboot into Windows), Vista's failure, the Mac vs PC television ads, and success of the Apple Retail Stores.

1:01pm: Steve Jobs welcomes everyone and asks Tim Cook, Apple's COO, to take everyone through the "state of the Mac."

1pm: scheduled start time for the "The spotlight turns to notebooks." Apple event.

12:52pm: Gizmodo is running a poll on their liveblog asking what Jobs will announce first. What do you think? Let us know in the comments.

12:45pm: Obsessable staff is ready to start building event-related product pages.

Pre-event: The Unoffical Apple Weblog has a nice list of the sites providing live coverage from the event.

  

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