Remember when Leopard came out in 2007? Apple quickly refreshed their line of MacBooks to include a new keyboard layout to accommodate the changes made in Lion. The Exposé and Dashboard keys were added, and integration with OS X 10.5 and 10.6 has remained until now. As of Lion and the new MacBook Airs, Apple has introduced Mission Control and Launchpad keys, while removing the Dashboard key from its F4 spot.
MacTrast is giving us a glimpse at Apple’s new packaging for their MacBook line that reveals the Lion desktop, Andromeda Galaxy. Manuals are also being updated to accommodate the new OS and Apple is removing the install disc. As for MacBooks (and as spotted before), Apple is tweaking keyboards to fit the new functions. Previous Macs should soon be updated to come with Lion preinstalled. As before, Apple is keeping the packaging elegant and is pursuing reducing the amount of clutter to be found in box.
One concern that MacTrast noted is that while MacBooks are coming without the install disc, they don’t include the ability to install Lion over-the-air (likely this ability will come with a hardware revision to the MacBook Pro line). Apple will offer a USB thumb drive in the future for $69 to users who want to maintain their own machines, and only the current MacBook Air and Mac Mini include Internet Recovery for users who need to reinstall OS X in case of a failure — Apple is encouraging users to visit the Apple store for hardware failures.
