Complete Roundup of Everything Apple Did Today

It was a big day for Apple. No, there was no keynote, no dramatic unveiling on a stage somewhere in the bowels of a massive convention center in San Francisco, but the Cupertino company still managed to make a lot of waves. From new hardware to the—at last!—official release of its latest desktop OS, Apple took many of its traditional products to the next level today, coincidentally (or was it?) just hours after the company reported record profits (and possible put its foot in it on the whole App Store trademark matter). Here's a complete roundup of all of today's Apple news:
New MacBook Airs
Apple's ultra-thin laptops got an upgrade, now boasting better processors (Intel's Sandy Bridge Core i5 chips, up from Core 2 Duos) and Thunderbolt, the new high-bandwidth connector technology. The new MacBook Airs look almost identical to the previous generation (which is to say gorgeous—check out this unboxing), though they now have backlit keyboards similar to their MacBook Pro brethren. Most other features are untouched, except of course the included OS, now Mac OS X Lion.
Speaking of which, Apple's revamped operating system is now available to everyone. Well, everyone running Snow Leopard, that is, the previous iteration of the software. The features of OS X Lion, which borrow heavily from Apple's mobile platform, iOS, have been known for some time, but Lion is the first major OS update that won't be sold in stores. Instead, users must download it from the Mac App Store (and pay $29). The 4GB file is a fast download, though, and it only took us half an hour to install.
The End of Boxed Software
Lion portends a new era for Apple—one where software isn't primarily sold in stores anymore, at least not brick-and-mortar ones. Apple reportedly told resellers not to expect any more boxed copies of applications such as Aperture, iWork, iLife, and Garageband.
New Mac Mini
Apple's entry-level "desktop" machine got an upgrade, now also including Thunderbolt tech. Its processor bumped up to an Intel Core i5 or i7 chip (depending on your configuration). That should add up to twice the performance of the previous generation, according to Apple, and you can max out the hard drives to 750GB. It starts at $599. Check out PCMag's unboxing.More....