Early Macworld Arrivals Hoping For Ultra-Light MacBookEarly Macworld Arrivals Hoping For Ultra-Light MacBook

Early arrivals at Macworld Expo on Monday had their wish lists at the ready, hoping that Steve Jobs could somehow top last year's blockbuster announcement of the iPhone.

With only a few hours to go until Jobs' keynote address, the Moscone Center here was lightly populated, primarily by vendors setting up their booths on the show floor, as well as some IT managers, consultants, and end users taking tutorials on the conference track.

"How can Apple follow up on 2007? That was such a banner year for them," said Jacobe Foster, a Charlotte, N.C., IT consultant specializing in small and medium-sized businesses. "I'd like to see them come out with an ultramobile PC -- tablet or Flash-based."

information buttonholed about a dozen attendees at the conference on Monday, and most of them hoping it would be true that that Apple will introduce an ultralight notebook or tablet computer at Tuesday's keynote. No details are available about the device -- if it even exists.

Other than the ultralight MacBook, conference-goers had their own wish lists for what Apple might introduce this week. And most of the people we talked to were vendors, who had their own products and announcements to promote.

Ryan Richards, product marketing coordinator for Creative Technology, said Creative plans to introduce the XDock HD, designed to make the iPod into the hub of a home entertainment systems, with connections for high-fidelity audio and video output.

As for what he hopes to see from Apple, Richards said, "I'm hoping for something I'm not expecting." While not staffing his own company's booth, Richards said he hopes to check out Microsoft Office 2008 and offerings from Belkin and Griffin Technology.

Carl Slawinski of Agile Web Solutions said his company is about to launch beta-testing of a Web version of its 1Password, Mac software for managing passwords and automatically filling in Web forms on any browser on the Mac. The Web version will allow users to store logins and passwords on the Internet, and access the information from any browser on any operating system -- the Mac, Windows, Linux, and smartphones. And a new bookmark applet will allow users to automatically fill in passwords and fill out forms -- again -- from any browser on any operating system.

As for Apple: "I have no idea what Apple will announce," Slawinski said. "I don't want to speculate."

And then he proceeded to speculate.

"I hope they release something Mac," Slawinski said. "Last year, it was all about the iPhone and Apple TV."

He noted reports that Apple will introduce a midrange headless Mac, for users who want a midrange system but don't want to buy an iMac. He said he hopes Apple will introduce an iPod Touch with 30-Gbyte to 60-Gbyte capacity. Right now, the iPod Touch maxes out at 16 Gbytes, making it more of an iPod nano replacement than a replacement for bigger iPods.

As for other vendors, Slawinski said he's looking forward to seeing Skitch, software that is in a quiet public beta. Skitch is designed to allow users to quickly capture, annotate, and share screenshots. Slawinski says he now uses Snapz Pro X, which is great for taking screencasts or a large number of screenshots, but Skitch is great for taking one fast screenshot and shooting it out in e-mail to someone -- for example, sending out a quick e-mail to illustrate a tech support response.

Foster, the consultant from Charlotte, N.C., said he spent Monday attending tutorials on telework using Macs, beefing up on VPN technology, and setting up wireless networks. "I'm excited to learn about all the features of Mac OS X that I didn't know about," Foster said. "We talk about how simple everything is, but we don't think about how powerful it is." For example, you can plug in a Wi-Fi router and automatically all the machines on the wireless network will be able to share a printer. "It's not supposed to be that easy," he said.

Foster said he uses Macs himself, but mostly recommends Windows to clients. Many of them ask him what he uses and then question why he's not recommending Macs for them.

And Nancy Sheridan, a nurse from Boca Raton, Fla., was one of the users hoping for an ultralight notebook or tablet. She said she attends the conference with her son, who works at Palm in Mountain View, Calif. She said she came in for the Apple User Group's wine and cheese reception, and hopes to see Apple announce upgraded iPod equipment. "I'd love to get an iPhone, but they're too expensive," she said.

She describes herself as a "novice" Apple user -- but said she bought her first Mac in 1985, with 125 Kbytes of memory, priced at $2,000 with her daughter's student discount.

Jobs' keynote is just a few hours away, but if you can't wait that long, you can read our Mac expert John Welch's predictions for Macworld, or a roundup of predictions from the top Apple blogs and news sites. Hungry for more? Find out what third-party vendors are announcing at the show -- including the new version of Microsoft Office for the Mac -- and get Welch's prescription for what Apple needs to do to become IT-friendly.

Macworld Expo runs all week.