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Intro

OS X Lion is the eighth major release of Mac OS X, and it brings to the table several ideas from iOS, like Launchpad (a matrix display of installed applications, similar to the iOS Home Screen — and the Mac App Store) which is being used to deliver the new OS.

Despite the iOS inspiration, Lion’s not a huge shift from previous versions, and it won’t turn your Mac into a faux iOS device. Rather, it borrows some of iOS’s best ideas and uses them to polish the core Mac experience, making Lion the most attractive, cohesive, user-friendly and idiot-proof OS X yet.

It’s a big accomplishment overall. Lion not only looks cleaner and nicer, it fixes a surprising number of long-time niggles. But it also adds some nice new features, and while there are some changes that will cause consternation, like reverse scrolling, almost everything added is for the better.

The question isn’t whether you should spend $29 on Lion, because that’s just a no-brainer. No, the real question is: now that we’re in the post-PC age, how will Lion change the way you use your Mac, and how does it set the stage for the Mac of the future?

Apple’s upcoming Mac mini refresh is expected to drop sometime this week, and will introduce 500GB hard drives as standard, Intel’s latest Sandy Bridge processors, and the company’s high-speed Thunderbolt technology to the smallest Mac desktop. Here’s what else you can expect.

Apple has held its earnings call for the third business quarter, and there’s plenty of new information and speculation to glean from what was said. The rumor mills are always churning, but rarely does the industry get as much actual hard data from Apple as it does during one of these earnings calls.

Apple’s success up to this point is phenomenal, but what’s even more interesting is the future of Apple’s business. We’ve gathered the main highlights from this last earnings call to give you a good idea of where Apple is headed in the coming months.

When the doors of Apple retail stores close tonight, some employees will be arriving for an overnight that is expected to see preparation for the launch of Mac OS X Lion tomorrow.

It’s almost here, folks! After weeks of anticipation and rumors about OS X Lion’s public launch, we’ve heard word that copies of Lion are shipping to Apple Stores for the Mac demo units on the store floor. Additionally, Lion is also getting installed at AppleCare support centers.

Lion is rumored to be dropping this Wednesday morning at 8:30 AM ET.

Apple has leaked an upcoming LED Cinema Display on its website that boasts a Thunderbolt connection. The new display looks exactly like the current model, but features Thunderbolt I/O technology on the back.

While there’s still hope that OS X Lion will drop today, the chances are slim. Previous speculation was that Apple would announce Lion alongside new Mac hardware today, but that hasn’t seemed to pan out just yet.

So when is it coming? We’ve received a tip that claims a July 26th Lion launch date, seemingly confirming a similar report earlier today… and our tipster received his word straight from an Apple Store Genius’s mouth.

We wouldn’t put a lot of stock in this one yet, but a new internal component has leaked out of Asia, and given certain key differences in item number and color, it’s said to be the dock connector for the upcoming iPad 2 Plus/iPad 3, the rumored Retina Display upgrade for the iPad 2, also rumored to have a release later in this year.

Contrary to rumor, OS X Lion did not launch on the Mac App Store last night. I know, I know: trust us, we’re as frustrated by it as you are. You didn’t type your fingers away to pulps of meat and shards of bone trying to get a 7,000 word Lion review done on time!

There’s still hope that Lion could be released today, in which case, the best guess is around 10am PDT. However, a growing number of people like Ars Technica’s John Siracua are saying that Lion’s not coming at all this week.

So when? If you believe Amazon and Best Buy, the tail end of July… along with new white MacBooks an Mac Minis.

Remember that new Mac hardware we told you about? Apple is planning on releasing some new Macbook Air, white Macbook, and Mac mini models tomorrow.

While that’s good news, there seems to be even better news for international customers: price cuts!