Apple, Inc's (NASDAQ: AAPL) lineup of Macbooks hasn't been updated in quite a while. A refresh in the line has been speculated about for a long while, and now Apple has invited the media to an October 14th event in San Francisco, as our sister blog The Unofficial Apple Weblog points out.

Rumors online have flown about aluminum laptops coming out from Apple that look similar on the outside to the Macbook Air, the popular small form factor laptop. The Air, while expensive, proved to be a more popular form factor than critics expected during its launch. The second internet rumor is that the laptops will have an $800 price tag, a smart move for Apple as the financial crisis keeps people nervous. Offering a laptop with a price tag under the $1,000 magic point can't hurt.

It may not be the best environment for a new line of laptops, but bringing the price down is a solid first step for Apple in keeping its momentum going. And with its stock down to yearly lows due to the worries about consumer spending and economy, it'll be interested to see if this keeps Apple notebook sales going as strong as they have been.

[Disclaimer: I own Apple stock]

In order to drive up market share in those niche PC categories, Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) is joining the fray of the miniature laptop PC with the new "E" and "E Slim." Wow, those are catchy names. Many manufacturers offer ultraportable mobile PCs designs, but many have also failed miserably. Now Dell wants to get in on the action of those who would love to purchase a high-margin, tiny laptop for all those internet tasks. These are dubbed "netbooks."

Dell joins fellow competitors Hewlett-Packard Corp. (NYSE: HPQ) and Taiwan's Asus in making a tiny laptop PC that uses flash memory instead of an actual hard drive and comes with a display that is less than 10 inches measured diagonally (standard laptop screens are 15.4 inches). HP unveiled its miniature notebook just a month ago, so Dell did not waste a bit of time here. In addition to the "E," Dell's "E Slim" takes aim at the larger, ultra-thin laptop market made famous by Apple Inc.'s (NASDAQ: AAPL) MacBook Air, and followed up with HP's recently announced Voodoo Envy.

What are all these manufacturers trying to do with all the slim-n-thin and tiny laptop designs? First of all, find some margin playroom now that the popular laptop PC category has seen shrunken retail prices as of late, although the Dell "E" will start at $299 when it debuts later this summer. Also, to continue finding those niches, there is pent-up demand. The "pocketable" laptop PC has been forever elusive, but some of these designs are getting very close to finding the perfect balance between usability and portability.

Altogether now:

I'm a new soul
I came to this strange world
Hoping I could learn a bit bout how to give and take

Well, if Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) has been listening to Yael Naim singing in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL)'s MacBook Air ads, I hope it concentrated on the above first part only when it decided to bring a new soul to the ultra-thin portable notebook computer market.

The Voodoo Envy, which is about 0.7 inches thick and weighs some 3.4 pounds, was introduced at an event in Berlin today. To compare, the MacBook Air weighs three pounds and its sloping design makes its thickness varying from 0.16 inches at the thinnest part to 0.76 inches at the thickest. Both have a 13.3 inch display and while the Mac starts at $1799, the Voodoo starts at $2099.

Just getting back into the thick of things after spending a wonderful week in a place called Costa Rica on a forced vacation of sort. Everything -- the people, the sights, the sounds and the weather -- were great. I missed so much excitement on Wall Street, and in Washington. I missed some interest rates and market fluctuations, and followed events sporadically in between our family adventure. I only managed one post about interest rates, cause even though I spent some time at a surfer hotel, the market was a way more narley dude.

Of the many market themes I have observed recently, I have noticed a gap between the Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) faithful and those who think the jig is up. On July 5 2007, almost seven months ago, I was challenged to speculate about where the stock might be one year out. I do not usually participate in such folly, and often enough when I do, it ends up just that. However, I thought Apple might be worth up to $150 and a month later was willing to consider $160 and that is where I stood.

While I was willing to consider a small increase in my target, one of our frequent commentors, and Apple followers, Beltway Greg, thought Apple would reach $200 in the same time frame or sooner. History proved that he was right because we all know now that one month ago -- six months early -- Apple stock did just that. However, yesterday Apple closed at $132.18 and it may turn out that I will be correct as well. We we will see soon enough. It is interesting to me that though Beltway's views and mine may differ, they both can be correct; perhaps this is the diference between a trader and a longer term investor?

Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) fans are what I generally call "fanatics" in every sense of the word. Apple consumers are a breed apart -- they have a love of their PCs and gadgets and defend them with the fervor I would expect from a mother for an infant. What other tech company inspires that kind of following? None in the main spotlight that I can think of.

Apple products have the world's best design and user friendliness from many respects, a result of the company's obsession on the art of the user's experience. Compare that to the attitude of selling a product and you'll see the light. But, there are some things that even Apple fans get miffed about on occasion. The love many Apple fans have about its co-founder and CEO, Steve Jobs, comes from Jobs' obsession on perfection within every Apple product. Jobs can't possibly shake the hand of every Apple fan, can he? That's an unrealistic expectation, but those who have a cult attitude about the CEO, sometimes can't help themselves.

Although Apple, Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL)'s Macworld keynote address by CEO Steve Jobs was followed by millions of eyeballs yesterday, the biggest "wow" product was the announcement of the MacBook Air, the world's thinnest and perhaps most advanced miniature laptop computer. While the MacBook Air stole the show, an announced enhancement to an existing Apple product should have been highlighted more.

Yes, I'm talking about the Apple TV. That product, which has aged nicely but has seen disappointing sales results, will now be able to download movies, music, television shows and other podcasts directly over the Internet -- no PC required. This is a paradigm shift from the Apple TV's recent presence, which limited the capability of such a promising product sharply. The good news: existing Apple TV products will be upgraded soon to allow for the new functionality for free. Also, the product's price has dropped from $300 to $230.

The Apple TV product, as it will be in a few weeks when the software update becomes available, will become arguably the best equipped product to pull entertainment content from the internet directly to a small box that's connected to the living room TV. All products thus far just haven't had the user interaction finesse or the entertainment catalog Apple harbors on its iTunes store, and the steps to get that content from the internet to the television involved too many steps.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) stock is falling this morning as speculators and even some investors were disappointed with CEO Steve Jobs' keynote address yesterday at the MacWorld conference. Jobs introduced the iTunes movie rental service as well as the MacBook Air laptop. He could not live up to the expectations he built after the introduction of the iPhone at last year's conference, as well as many of the iterations of the iPod which also debuted at MacWorld. If you think this stock won't be rising too far in the coming months, then it could be a good time to look at a bearish hedged play on AAPL.

After hitting a one-year low of $82.86 in February, the stock hit a one-year high of $202.96 in December. This morning, AAPL opened at $165.11. So far today the stock has hit a low of $160.68 and a high of $169.01. As of 10:35, AAPL is trading at $161.89, down $7.15 (-4.2%). The chart for AAPL looks bearish and steady, while S&P gives the stock a positive 4 STARS (out of 5) buy rating.

Oooh, ahh, oh. Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) announced its newest luscious piece of hardware, the MacBook Air, today at the MacWorld conference. Every one of my geeky friends on Twitter wants the newest, thinnest, most desirable piece of hardware since the iPhone (one of my friends has already purchased one, in fact) -- but most of us can't afford it.

Could it be because we're just not Jobsian enough?

I was ooh-ing and ahh-ing over the MacBook Air on Engadget's hands-on photo gallery when I saw this photo, above. Notice something? Each and every MacWorld attendee allowed to touch the super-light laptop is wearing a variation on Steve Jobs' trademark black mock turtleneck. Sure, there are a few button-up shirts, a sport coat, a crewneck or two, but all is a sea of black. Note to self: If I go to MacWorld next year, wear orange! And see what happens. All that conformity could be key to Apple's stock price (seriously!): Apple followers, both spiritual and financial, tend to behave a bit like lemmings.