Week in Apple: Updated white MacBooks, Aperture 3 review

Finally, after so much hubbub about iPhones and iPads, some of Apple's Macs got some love this week. That's not to say there wasn't talk about iPhone OS 4.0 and what it means for competing companies, though. Read on for the bite-sized summaries of this week's top Apple news.

Fans of Apple's most diminutive professional notebook were let down this week when the newest 13" MacBook Pro revision didn't get an upgrade to Intel's latest processor architecture. The update to Nehalem-based cores, as well as a die shrink to 32nm, gives these Core i3, Core i5, and Core i7 mobile processors clear performance advantages over the Core 2 Duo that Apple retained for the 13" MacBook Pro.

Aperture 3.0 came out a few months ago, so you're probably wondering why this review is so late. I had hoped to do a simultaneous review of Lightroom 3 and Aperture 3, but I was thinking that Lightroom 3 would come out at the same time as the CS5 applications, which came out just recently.

The same Vietnamese forum that detailed a fourth-generation iPhone prototype last week has also obtained a model of what it claims is the forthcoming update to the entry-level MacBook. The specifications have been slightly improved over the last iteration of Apple's sub-$1,000 notebook, which got its rounded, unibody shell last October.

After a long wait, Apple has released the next major update to its pro-class photo workflow application, Aperture 3. The new version boasts over 200 new features, including the addition of the successful facial recognition and geotagging features, Faces and Places, that were introduced with iPhoto '09. Version 3 also adds edge-detecting adjustment brushes for non-destructive localized editing and touch-ups.

After an unusually long wait, Apple has finally released updated models of its MacBook Pro line of notebooks. The 15" and 17" models offer the latest Core i5 and i7 processors, though the 13" model still uses a Core 2 Duo processor. But new processors aren't the only improvement; Apple has also seen fit to increase the base RAM configuration to 4GB on all models and bump the hard drive and SSD options.

Apple unveiled revised MacBook Pro models last month, but the MacBook Air has yet to receive the Arrandale treatment. A new rumor out of Australia says that an updated MacBook Air may be revealed as soon as this Tuesday. However, Intel's hardware roadmap and Apple's current configurations suggest that an update to the lightweight portable is still some distance away.

It was a tumultuous week for Apple, what with iPhone antenna issues, analysis of what's really going on, and Apple's explanation of the problem. We also published our in-depth iPhone 4 review, gave a look at iMovie for iPhone, and played around with an updated version of the Kindle software. Read on for a holiday weekend roundup of recent Apple news: