A Fool Looks Back

The Mac daddy speaks
The new MacBooks are here. Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL  ) finally updated its line of laptops on Tuesday. Many of the rumors calling for Blu-ray playback, touch screens, and an $800 MacBook proved to be bogus.

Everything else was pretty much on the money, with the new lightweight aluminum MacBooks featuring a new NVIDIA (Nasdaq: NVDA  ) graphics chip and a bold new navigational wrinkle in the form of a glass trackpad that doubles as the click button.

Somewhat sensitive to the economy, Apple did also lower the price of its entry-level MacBook by $100 to $999. It's the first time that Apple has marked a portable computer that low since the 2002 iBook. Sure, that's still more than twice what the new wave of slim non-Apple netbooks are fetching these days, but Apple fans know that they are paying a premium for the company's exclusive and stylish wares.

So what does this mean for Apple? It validates its resilience from a week earlier, when Apple shares were essentially flat as the market cascaded with a double-digit dive. It also positions the company well for the critical holiday selling season. The new MacBooks -- along with the cheaper 3G iPhones and recently refreshed iPod line -- should serve Apple well in what promises to be a very difficult time for retailers.

Briefly in the news
And now let's take a quick look at some of the other stories that shaped our week.

• Let's hope that The Olympia -- the "no Coke, Pepsi" Greek diner of Saturday Night Live lore -- doesn't get into the investing advice business. Coke (NYSE: KO  ) delivered healthy quarterly results, shortly after PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP  ) posted a surprising dip in profitability. I guess we know who won this round of the cola wars.  
• The Motley Fool turned 15 this week, not that anyone was counting the candles.
• Did you think the Fed-fueled bailout would grease over the tight lending markets? Well, Bankrate.com (Nasdaq: RATE  ) has some grim news on that front, announcing that mortgage rates experienced their biggest weekly increase since 1987. The already frigid real estate market isn't going to like that. The same goes for banking concerns like Citigroup (NYSE: C  ) , which this week posted its fourth consecutive quarterly loss.

Until next week, I remain,
Rick Munarriz