Macworld Keynote Predictions: Hits and Misses Edition

I’ve got a few educated guesses from a few years of Keynote-watching. Last week’s stealth introduction of new Mac Pros takes that product out of the running, so here’s what’s left:

1. MacBook Pro updates - speedbumps through the line, maybe bigger HDs, but nothing essentially new here Nope. But soon, most likely.
2. Similarly, some boosts to the MacBooks, but no change in form factor Neither.
3. Speed-boosted Aluminum iMacs. Outside chance that we will see one high-end version with a “lite” quad-core processor. I’m wondering when we’ll see a 30″ iMac, with LCD prices falling.Darn. But soon, I’m betting.
4. Slight updates to iWork and iLife, possibly. Does multitouch trackpad support count?
5. iPhone gets a software update with some new features. Maybe a memory boost as well. YES!
6. NEW - monitors. No. But probably before the end of the year?
7. “MacBook Air” ultra-thin 13″ laptop based on Flash memory. This replacement for the old 12″ PowerBook is the one most people are expecting. May dispense with Ethernet ports altogether, using WiFi for all networking. May include a multi-touch trackpad as the first in a series of products other than the iPhone and iPod Touch to support it. Cha-CHING! Big yes on all counts. Although the surprise is that the base model has a 1.8″ HD; the solid-state-disk version adds a whopping $1200 to the price tag.
8. Phenomenon, the long-awaited replacement app for Shake. No, but it was a long shot.
9. The Mac Mini is end-of-lifed. Surprisingly, no. No updates, either.
10. Existing Apple TVs get new firmware to support iTunes Movie Rentals and to support direct purchasing / downloading from the Internet, similar to the iTunes WiFi Music Store on iPhone. YES. New Apple TV is introduced with more horsepower, HD support, HDMI connections My bad, I forgot Apple TV already had this. ability to work as standalone portal to ITMS rather than merely as client box for Macs and PCs. YES. Hopefully, also has kick-ass PVR functions and onscreen programming guide, done in a typically Apple-esque “why don’t all devices work like this?” fashion. Nope.