The Apple Stores worldwide were offline for many hours this morning, and much speculation came from it. Would it be because of the pre-order of iPads to the rest of the world? Or perhaps for the highly-awaited new MacBook Pro models?

In fact, a few hours ago the Apple Stores were put back online, and showed exactly the latter: the new MacBook Pro models, with the Core i5 and Core i7 processors. It was about time.

Yesterday, Apple had taken the Apple Store offline for a few hours. Generally that’s the procedure Apple takes when introducing new models for their products, or new products in general. So many (including us) were hoping that the downtime would be for the introduction of the new MacBook Pros.

But apparently not. At least not yet. Nothing seems to have changed on the Apple Store, except for the launch of Aperture 3, the new version of Apple’s picture editing and manager.

The online Apple Stores have been offline for a few hours now. It makes us think that perhaps it’s time for the new MacBook Pro line to be launched. At least we hope.

It’s been rumored that the new MacBook Pros will have the new Intel processors, more specifically the i7 M620 2.66Ghz for the 17″ models. We’ll have to stay tuned and see.

Intel is preparing to launch their new mobile platform processors. We’re talking about the lines that are currently called Arrandale and Calpella, and one of the features on these new processors is the integration of a graphic CPU. Apple has clearly manifested their disagreement on that choice and has already started to ask for processors that do not feature an integrated GPU.

The reason behind Apple’s decision is simple: they want to be free to install nVidia or ATI components, that currently present better performances thanks to the great compatibility obtained with OpenCL (one of the technologies that are currently featured on Snow Leopard). Currently, the problem is only seen on mobile processors, hence, all the Apple products that use it: the next Mac Mini, MacBook and MacBook Pro.

Apple has released the Boot Camp Drivers Update 2.2 for Windows, an update that will correct some malfunctioning in Mac portable hardware with Boot Camp installed. More precisely, the trackpad precision was enhanced and the red led from the audio port now turns off when not used.

Besides, that, the update also introduces support to the new Magic Mouse and Apple Wireless Keyboard for Windows XP and Windows Vista users. Boot Camp Drivers Update 2.2 for Windows is recommended for all Boot Camp users and it’s available here.

All the users that recently bought a MacBook Pro might have noticed that every now and then, the process elaboration icon appears for 20 seconds up to a minute, without any apparent reason. In those seconds, the processor temperature rises abruptly and it’s impossible to use the computer.

THe problem seems to be with the EFI 1.7 firmware, and although Apple hasn’t yet announced any fixes, it’s likely that the problem will be solved with an update soon. In the meantime, a thread in the official Apple forums teaches how to downgrade the firmware, going from the 1.7 version to the 1.6, although the procedure could permanently damage the computer, so it’s not recommended.

It might be best to wait for Apple to release an update.

A rumor that appeared on the SemiAccurate website says that in the next Mac computers to be produced in the next two years, no more nVIDIA chips will be found. The chips, according to the rumor reported on the website, wouldn’t guarantee the quality standard that Apple requires on their products.

In particular, there would be two reasons for this: first, the lawsuit from Intel against nVIDIA. According to Intel, nVIDIA was never authorized to design chipsets with an integrated memory controller, and that could prevent nVIDIA from manufacturing Nehalem -based chipsets, which are currently present on the Mac Pro line, and are expected to be launched on the portable lines as well. The second reason is the malfunctioning of a few graphic cards which hit a few number of MacBook Pro users, and that forced Apple to give a special extended warranty.

Of course, this isn’t good news for end-users, especially on the low-end range: the introduction of nVIDIA chipsets on the entry-level MacBooks and iMacs have brought these computers to rather decent video performances, especially when compared to the integrated Intel solution, which is still not compatible with some videogames. Also, nVIDIA was the first one to be prepared for the OpenCL, the technology integrated in Snow Leopard, that would divert part of the workload from the CPU to the GPU.

We think that if the rumors are true, it could be a big issue. We’re hoping they’re not.

Apple has released the update for the MacBook Air firmware. The MacBook Air SMC Firmware Update 1.2 is recommended for all the MacBook Air owners that have the Mac OS X 10.5.7 installed.

The update was released to solve some software problems that would come up after removing the battery. It can be downloaded through the Software Update or the support page on the Apple website.

More information about the update can be found on this site.

Last night, Apple released a firmware update for the new MacBook Pro presented during the WWDC 2009. The update brings the firmware to the 1.7 version and enhances the hard disk’s access speed.

Before the update, the SATA speed on the MacBook Pro was strangely limited to 1.5GBps even though the theorical speed was 3Gbps. This software limitation was removed and the users that install high-speed drivers will now be able to fully take advantage of their SATA drives.

As usual, it’s possible to download the update through the Sofware Update or directly from Apple’s support site.

With the presentation of the new notebook line, Apple has definitely put an end to the era of the removable battery for the professional notebooks. In the current line, in fact, all notebooks feature batteries that can’t be removed.

Although it might look like a disadvantage for the final user, this fact has allowed the engineers to take advantage of the internal spaces on the case to enhance the power capacity. The charging and usage of the battery has become more stable and complex, and it’s managed by an autonomous chip installed on the motherboard. The whole battery has gone from a total capacity of 5500 mAH to 6700 mAH, losing 200 g.

The battery lifetime goes from the 500 recharge cycles to 700. Obviously, that’s all in theory. In order to test this data, it takes one or two years. But even in theory, it’s a good step forward.