Apple Support Document 300225: Photo Sync creates iPod photo Cache:

When using iTunes to sync photos to iPod photo, iTunes creates a folder called iPod photo Cache in the top level of the folder you selected for your photos. Picking another folder to sync does not erase the previous iPod photo Cache.

Depending on how many photos are being synced, the hard drive could fill up.

Drag the folder named iPod photo Cache to the Trash or Recycle Bin.

Sure enough, poking around in there I found cache files from 2005. so I moved some of that clutter over from my old PowerBook to the new MacBook Pro.

Juggling free space is always an issue for me, deleting this folder recovered almost 3 GB.

I noticed this folder while showing Disk Inventory X to a friend.

So Final Cut Studio is now available as a Universal Application, with less than 48 hours left in March. I have zero credibility talking about software release dates, so I’ll stop there.

Apple’s crossgrade tracking page doesn’t show mine as shipped yet.* Looking forward to being able to move Joe’s Filters development over to my new MacBook.

* It shipped a few hours after posting this, now I’ve really got to get this documentation online so I can use it… (I’m not transferring everything to the MacBook until the new docs for Joe’s Filters are online)

Apple is offering a $49 Pro Applications Universal Crossgrade, which is a remarkable deal, especially compared to Adobe’s “you will wait and pay for CS3” approach. Of course Apple does have an obligation to make everything work with Intel, but they could very easily have rolled this into the FCP 6 announcement at NAB (assumed, I have no prior knowledge, am not beta testing anything and don’t have a current NDA).

What Apple neglected to mention on that page is the archaic process users must go through to get that upgrade. This is the order form PDF, here are the actual steps:

1. Try to remember how to write by hand, fill out a paper form, with pen.
2. Calculate our own sales tax, (it really says “Please consult your local chamber of commerce for your applicable sales tax.”) Hope that’s correct.
3. Photocopy the four key original disks and order form (The DVDs should be backed up. They’re dual-layer DVDs, making duplication a bit more trouble.) The DVDs will be replaced, these four are gone forever.
4. Take the whole thing to UPS/Fedex (or schedule a pickup)

I don’t remember the last time a software upgrade was that much work.

The customer service people at Apple Software Exchange said the disks could be sent via UPS or Fedex to the following address:

5681 W. Cleveland Road
Back of Building 2
South Bend, IN 46628

Considering the value of these disks is $1,299 new, it would be somewhat silly to just drop them in a mailbox without any means of tracking.

Hopefully I filled out the form correctly. Despite the “back of building 2” address, talking with Apple’s software exhange office made me feel a lot more comfortable about sending in my disks. The only bad news was the ship date for the universal pro apps is still listed as “end of March.”

The good news: The CPUs were just upgraded to 1.83 and 2.0 GHz (from 1.67 and 1.83 GHz).

The bad news: This will likely delay existing ship dates by up to two weeks.

The interesting option: For an additional $300, the processor can be further upgraded to 2.16 GHz.

I just got off the phone with the Apple Store and was told that there would be a 2-3 week delay in shipping the 2.16GHz MacBooks. I was also told that my ship date was pushed back to Feb 28 on the existing order. So I sprung for the upgrade. Hopefully my math is right and the extra shipping on the faster CPU doesn’t stack with my existing delay. Final Cut Pro won’t work until sometime in March anyway, so it’s not a huge crisis for me to wait. Now I can take a few weeks off from checking Apple’s order status page three times a day.

The new computer I don’t even have yet is almost 20% faster than when I bought it. Not too shabby.

On my previous MacBook Pro post, Ted asked, “Will the new intel Apple computers allow us to load our current version of Final Cut Pro 5?”

Probably not, but I ordered one anyway.

Jobs said in the keynote that all Apple’s pro apps would be universal binaries in March. Also on Apple’s MacBook Pro Core Duo page they list an FCP benchmark with an footnote indicating they tested with beta apps.

Apple will be offering a $49 crossgrade for pro apps.

Universal applications are designed to run flawlessly on both Intel- and PowerPC-based Mac computers. Universal versions of Final Cut Studio, Logic Pro, Logic Express, and Aperture will be available by March 31, 2006.

If you own a current PowerPC version of one of these products, you’re eligible for a low-cost “crossgrade” to the Universal version when it becomes available.

“Not supported” doesn’t mean “doesn’t work”, but for $49 (yes, another $49) the apps should be good to go. Based on past history, whatever new thing is announced at NAB will be another paid upgrade (there are already FCP6 rumors). So if you’re not going to be immediately updating your hardware to Intel, it would probably be wise to wait until April to see what’s next for FCP. That $49 could be put towards the next upgrade.

I’m guessing March is when we’ll see the pro towers refreshed. I’m also expecting to see new 17 and 12 inch MacBooks sometime in February, maybe just after the MacBook Pros start shipping, much like the iPod Video was announced on October 12th, only 5 weeks after releasing the iPod Nano on September 7th. My longshot prediction has the end of the iBook brand as well, with iBooks becoming sans-pro MacBooks based on single-core Intel chips. Too bad, I liked the name iBook much more than MacBook.

Here’s the page: MacBook Pro

First thoughts:

• The top of the screen looks thicker in some photos, kind of out of balance with the sides. The little extra bit of material up there makes the whole machine appear a little bit squat, despite being almost identical to my current machine’s dimensions.
• FireWire 800 is gone. Expected that, but not quite so soon.
• Express Card 34 (for 34mm width) is the successor to PCMCIA cards. It’s much smaller and apparently related to PCI-Express. I didn’t even know these were on the horizon. Oh well, my 6-in-1 PCMCIA memory card adaptor just crapped out anyway. ExpressCard is significantly faster than the PCMCIA interface, hopefully we’ll see some SATA interfaces soon.
• Love the new power connector. I’ve seen so many power jacks break, probably more than any other part on a PowerBook. This plug probably costs 10x more than the previous one, but Apple’s going to save a fortune in AppleCare power-jack repairs.
• These are Fast. I’m currently using a 1.25ghz PowerBook, which was already bettered by the grey-bar 1.67 G4 Apple’s new numbers are trouncing. I’m probably looking at something like an 8x speed boost come February. Glad I waited, also glad I didn’t steer everyone wrong by advising them to wait on purchases.
• The name feels a little goofy, especially the “pro” caboose. It’s going to take a while to get used to how that one feels in the ears.
• This release begs the question about the rest of the intel portables. Is the iBook going away? When, if ever, are 17″ MacBooks going to be released? What about twelves? Six Powerbook models have been sort-of replaced (they’re still for sale?) with two models. iBooks just went from near-parity with PowerBooks to remarkable suckiness.

Other thoughts:
John Gruber agrees that the name is sort of goofy, though less charitably:

[The MacBook Pro] name is terrible I mean just horrible, like some crappy Mac accounting software from 1987″

Cabel Sasser’s already posted MacBook Pro Pics

Engadget, “We think we’re in love”

Michael Tsai: “I can’t think of an Apple product name that’s worse than ‘MacBook Pro.'”