In their review of June’s upclocked, marked-down MacBook Air, MacWorld noticed some odd benchmark results. Compared to the Late 2008 MacBook Air, clocked at 1.86GHz, the new top-end model, clocked at 2.13GHz, couldn’t quite keep up. This is odd, since the rest of the specs have remained basically static, and the only difference between the processors is clock speed.

Confirming their suspicions, they found the June 2009 1.83GHz Air to be markedly slower than the Late 2008 1.83GHz model, despite nearly identical specs. So, what the hell?

The obvious answer here would be some kind of firmware change, since it doesn’t make sense from a hardware perspective. MacWorld speculates that the newer Airs could have more aggressive thermal management features, which throttle the processor when it gets too hot—a theory somewhat supported by the fact that high-stress benchmarks showed a proportionally greater performance decrease than easier ones.

Another possibility in the same vein: Underutilising faster processors simply gives Apple better power consumption and heat results. Problem is, that doesn’t explain why the matched processors perform differently. Also, Apple’s whole pretense that the new Airs are faster than the old ones would have been a intentional, egregious lie.

Until these benchmarks are replicated and examined, we’ll have to remain a little bit sceptical. But if they can be, then Apple’s got some splainin’ to do, I think. [MacWorld via MacRumors]

As John mentioned yesterday, it’s an update that resembles Windows 7’s amazing Taskbar, in that you can get at more windows and files from the Dock itself, currently considered more of an app launcher than an app manager. Here are the new key attributes for Exposé, and how it works within the Dock:

• Exposé itself has a new look: Windows are arranged in a grid rather than in whatever open space is available, and the title of each window appears underneath. (You can see this in the video below, if you pay attention.)

• Stacks, those folder contents that pop up from the Dock, also got tweaked. Most notably, you can scroll to see all the stuff in a stack without clicking the “More” arrow, and folders that appear in stacks can be opened and browsed, too.

• If you click and hold an app icon in the Dock, all the windows open in that app will reveal themselves in the Exposé grid, lined up neatly. Using some key command or cursor gesture (which I don’t know), you can even zoom in to one of the open windows, and check it out without leaving Exposé.

• If you grab a file, you can drag it to the dock and hold it over an app icon. This springs open App, and arranges the open windows of that app in Exposé, so you can easily drop the file where it needs to go. (I currently do this by holding the file with my mouse while doing a combo-keystroke to bring the window back into view, so I can see how this will make life easier.)

[Apple's Snow Leopard "Refinements"; Snow Leopard Full Coverage on Gizmodo]

I’m downloading it as I write these lines. Will tell you how the install goes in a few minutes.

Apparently it’s not quite real-time, but the effect is extremely slick. Grouping the icons by their approximate colours creates a subtle gradient, which is a nice touch. That said, Apple should probably chill a little bit with the WE HAVE SO MANY APPS marketing strategy a little, and focus on the good ones: in a random crop here, which has about a hundred apps, I see maybe two that I’d even consider downloading. [Techcrunch]

iPhone 3GS
• iPhone 3GS Complete Feature Guide
• iPhone 3G vs. iPhone 3GS Comparison Chart
• iPhone 3GS Video Walkthrough
• iPhone 3GS Gets Voice Control

iPhone Pricing Issues: The Untold Story
• iPhone 3G Owners Will Have To Pay $US200 Extra To Get iPhone 3GS Early
• Old 16GB iPhone 3G to Sell for $US149
• The Not-So-New $US99 8GB iPhone

iPhone OS and Apps
• iPhone 3.0: The Whole Story
• “Find My iPhone” Is a Relief to Us Forgetful Types
• App Roundup: iPhone 3.0

New MacBook Pros
• New Amazingly Priced 15-Inch MacBook Pros
• All-New, Low-Priced 13-Inch MacBook Pro, Plus Great Price Reductions for MacBook Air

Mac OS X Snow Leopard and Safari
• Mac OSX Snow Leopard: The Whole Story (Including $US29 Upgrade Price!)
• Safari 4 Available, Dubbed “World’s Fastest Browser”

The Whole Damn Keynote
• Wish You’da Been There, Elbow To Elbow With Bloggers, Feeling Chen’s Hot Breath On Your Neck? Watch This, and Imagine

iPhone Rumours
The biggest batch of rumours had to do with the phone, and man were some of them off base:

• “iPhone Video” name? NOPE

• “iPhone 3GS” name? YEP

• Video shooting? YEP

• iPhone matte black finish? NOPE

• iPhone front camera and videoconferencing? NOPE

• $US99 iPhone? YEP

• Glowing Apple logo? NOPE

• Autofocus 3-megapixel camera? YEP

• Magnetometer/compass? YEP

• OLED screen? NOPE

• iPhone Speed and Memory Boost? YEP

• aluminium “unibody” iPhone? NOPE

• Verizon iPhone or some other Apple phone? NOPE

• iPhone Nano, whatever that is? NOPE

Other Apple Rumours:
It was easy to dismiss the tablet rumour early on, but there were other speculations that were a little easier to swallow:

• Apple tablet? NOPE

• 13-Inch MacBook Pro? YEP

• Marble look-and-feel for Snow Leopard? NOPE

• 64GB iPod Touch? NOPE

• Steve Jobs appearance? NOPE

(Note: If I left any out, go ahead and throw them into comments. There’s no way I can verify that I got ‘em all above.)

So, did we get took? Or did we take home quite a bit? From this tally, out of 19, only 7 came true, but when you factor that in with some unexpected fun, like the Find My Phone remote MobileMe feature, or the voice controls, or the MacBook Pro’s new SD card slot (which is nice, though not an HDMI port), it was a decent haul despite any disappointment. In case you haven’t had enough, here’s the full coverage from WWDC. [WWDC 2009 on Gizmodo]

Speaking of the 3.0 update – it will be released in Australia alongside the rest of the world on June 17, not the June 26 date stated in the original press release. Free for iPhone users (naturally) and $14.95 for iPod Touch owners.

Moving onto those MacBook Pro announcements – the MacBook category has been decimated, with only the white MacBook still available. The Unibody MacBook has morphed into the 13-inch MacBook Pro, which has a starting price of $1,899. The new 15-inch MacBook Pro starts at $2,699, while the MacBook Air is back to $2,399.

Snow Leopard will launch in September – just like the US, although we won’t know pricing details until closer to launch. However, if you do happen to buy a new Mac before Snow Leopard launches, you can upgrade to the new OS for just a $14.95 handling fee.

And that’s pretty much it. Obviously expect to hear more as the networks start trumpeting the 3GS over the next couple of weeks. But in the meantime, is there anything in particular you want answered about the Australian implications of the WWDC announcements?