It’s fair to say that the fairly decent price reductions of the MacBook Pro series will have an impact. People who complain that Macs are too costly will have less ammunition to assert their case. Microsoft will have to recast its lame laptop buyer spots to recognize the new reality. Or maybe not.

While not unexpected, it’s encouraging to see Apple keep the 8GB iPhone 3G in the lineup, for just $99. Former Apple hardware executive Jon Rubenstein, who now heads Palm, is going to be under severe pressure to somehow match that price cut with the new Palm Pre, and it’s not as if Palm is in terribly great shape these days.

Regardless, I suppose some of you will feel Apple listened to those Microsoft spots, and the price reductions will spark a trend, that Apple will soon do precisely the same with its desktop line. Cheap Macs — what a concept!

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In the wake of what seemed to be significant announcements from Apple, it’s clear Wall Street wasn’t super impressed, but does anyone take the financial community seriously anymore after the recent economic debacle? And don’t get me started on some members of the tech media.

Take an article I read the other day that suggested that, by relabeling all unibody notebooks as MacBook Pros, Apple had suddenly left a gaping hole in its product line. I suppose that’s because there’s a lone white MacBook available for $200 less. The author failed to consider the full impact of the price reductions, which clearly make Apple’s portables far more competitive with the Windows variety and make claims about an Apple Tax sillier than ever.

Of course, it may take a few days for Microsoft to comprehend the changed state of affairs. As of Tuesday evening, their notorious laptop ads were still running, and it was curious to see someone again dismissing a $1,999 MacBook Pro as too expensive, then buying, for less than $1,000, something more comparable to the $999 MacBook. Stupid is as stupid does.

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So I recall all those lurid commercials of many years ago from certain high-power electronic retailers promising that they positively won’t be undersold. Of course they had so many terms and conditions in those offers that few people who requested a price match or a refund for overpayment were ever actually compensated for their efforts.

It’s a game, really, meant to reassure the customer, not a promise that they expect to have to fulfill very often.

With the economy in shreds for this holiday season, folks are talking up the claim that Apple’s own retail stores have been given the marching orders to match prices from third-party retailers.

Now I suppose you really can’t complain. After all, you will, I’m sure, take a lower price wherever you can get it for your new Mac or iPod. But, sorry folks, the iPhone 3G isn’t part of the plan.

However, according to published reports, Apple has traditionally told its managers that they do indeed have the authority to meet the competition head on, only that policy apparently hasn’t been given much publicity.

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Apple has confounded the rumor sites once again. While nearly everyone was focusing on the “Showtime” press invitation for a September 12th press meeting, Apple got some other updates out of the way. The iMac line has been updated to feature Intel’s new Core 2 Duo processors, and has been expanded to include a 24-inch version. Starting at $999, there’s a 17-inch model, with a 1.83GHz processor and 512MB of RAM, which sacrifices little but the graphics, which are provided by an Intel GMA 950 integrated chip. All the other models, except for the 24-inch version, feature ATI Radeon X1600 chips and 1GB of RAM. The 24-inch model, with a 2.16GHz processor, lists for $1,999 and also includes an NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT graphics chip and FireWire 800. There are a number of ways to customize the package, including substituting a 2.33GHz processor, and a NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT graphics chip. The price reductions, expanded performance, and the larger flagship model are likely to make the iMac even more attractive to business users who find the Mac Pro a little bit of overkill. Of course some will still claim that Macs are more expensive than comparably-equipped PCs. And one more thing: Without any fanfare, the Mac mini went Core Duo across the board, with the $599 version getting a 1.66GHz processor, instead of the 1.5GHz Core Solo featured previously. The $799 model is bumped from 1.66GHz to 1.83GHz. So now, with the first round of Intel hardware upgrades out of the way, attention returns towards next week’s announcements, which seem clearly more media related. Then again, there are those expected updates to Apple’s notebooks, so stay tuned.

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