Macintoshes are the BMWs of the computer world. Everyone wants one (okay, not everyone), but not everyone can afford one. They look great and generally work very well. When you look at things like “total cost of ownership”, a Mac may actually save you money in the long term, but not everyone can pony up the upfront money so that they can save in the long term. Even if you can, it’s nice to save a few bucks if you can.

Apple exercises tight control over Macintosh hardware prices, so you won’t usually find a new Mac discounted by more than a few dollars. But you may well find decent rebates and bundles and special pricing from Apple itself. Here are a few of the things I’ve seen that may be helpful to you.

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Macworld is coming up in a couple of days, and although I will be on a plane during the breathlessly awaited keynote, I still have some thoughts on what may be coming up… about 95% of people writing online have thoughts on it, too.

After last year’s fantasy-fulfilling iPhone announcement, expectations are high for this Macworld. It seems very unlikely that Apple will top that, but here’s what I think you may see.

We’ll see hardware refreshes. Now that Apple is using Intel chips, we know a lot more about the release schedule of the processors they’re using, since Intel publishes a processor roadmap and is very vocal about new chips. Intel is in the process of pushing out new CPUs, the “Penryn” line, mobile, desktop and server, and I think we’ll see some new Apple machines using them - specifically new MacBook Pros and likely MacBooks as well, and an iMac speed bump.

The iMacs just had a significant refresh last summer and I can’t see Apple doing any major changes to them beyond giving them new CPUs. The MacBook and MacBook Pro lines, however, haven’t had any significant changes in a while. In fact, Apple followed a very clever strategy when they switched to Intel chips - they didn’t make major changes to the appearance of the machines. An end-generation PowerPC iMac or PowerBook doesn’t look much different from a first generation Intel iMac or MacBook Pro. This was a great way to subtly tell people that they were still the same machines.

The MacBook Pro/Power Book has looked the same for a long time now, and while it’s still a great looking machine, I expect that Apple will update it to bring it more in line with the appearance of the new iMac.

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The uber-gadget will be released at 6PM local time on Friday July 29th. You can barely read a Mac, computer or gadget blog without being overwhelmed by articles about it.

This article outlines what you need to know if you want to get one. And - stuck with a cellular contract for another year? Wired has a helpful article listing some slightly shady ways to get out of that contract - but let’s face it, if you can’t stick it to your cellular company, who can you stick it to?

Also - think it’s too expensive for you? If you have a Crackberry, you might actually find the iPhone cheaper.

Here are things you should know about buying the iPhone:

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Today Apple launched “iTunes Plus” - iTunes Store music that’s not protected by DRM. About a month ago, Apple and EMI announced that they were going to do this, and today it’s finally arrived and we can now see what form it takes.

I think this is a particularly bold experiment by Apple and EMI. It may not seem that way to the average user, but this is EMI taking a chance on consumers not pirating the hell out of their music, and this is Apple taking a chance on selling music that will play on devices other than iPods. Both are risky. Of course there’s been a lot of unprotected music sold already, but this is the first time one of the major labels has been willing to try it. And they’re not just releasing a bunch of dusty old music that no one wants to listen to. Music by Coldplay, Gorillaz, Air, Goldfrapp, Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones and Frank Sinatra is available - staples of EMI’s catalog - so I have to conclude that they’re sincere and they’re really putting themselves out there.

Here’s how it works:
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Amazon is offering Tivo’s 80-hour Series 2 recorder for $170 - with a $170 rebate, it’s free, with free shipping. You still have to sign up for Tivo’s service, of course, with a year-long commitment (but without Tivo service turned on, it’s a free door-stop).

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These folks seem to specialize in disturbing USB devices. At their web site you can find USB sushi, USB duckies, USB creepy… things…, and, let’s not forget, FATBEAR.

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Apple is now shipping their new, long-awaited Apple TV. Like many Apple products, they’re shipping individually via Fedex from China. Ours is supposed to arrive on Friday. With any luck I’ll write it up by early next week.

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You decide.

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For the truly elite power user I present - the Happy Hacking Blank Key Top Keyboard - available in white or gray. This USB keyboard should be equally usable on PC, Mac and other systems. On sale now for only $259, why pay less when you can pay more for less?

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I would have posted about this sooner had I run across it sooner. This deal ends today - December 20th. Buy.com offers Cables To Go’s iPod retractable travel kit for $50. The kit includes a retractable sync and power cable with USB and Firewire ports, retractable earbud headphones (which look like they take up more room than non-retractable ones would), an A/C adapter and a car power adapter. No FM transmitter or cassette adapter. It’s compatible with dock connector iPods - fourth and fifth generation models, the iPod nano, video iPods and photo iPods and the U2 iPod. You can find out more about it at Cables To Go’s web site.

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