The highlights of today's announcements are the Magic Mouse, a 27" iMac, and a Mac Mini designed to be used as a server. There's also a new plastic MacBook, for people who are allergic to aluminium.
The new buttonless mouse is best summed up thusly: ZOMG. But this ZOMGness arises in large part by comparison to its dismal precedessors. Apple's mice have for at least a decade been its design blind spot--an ugly but usable Logitech is a common substitution in otherwise unsullied Mac setups--so this is a must-see item for anyone who cares about that sort of thing. Multitouch!
Apple's new iMacs offer a 16:9 aspect ratio, 4GB of RAM as standard, terabyte hard drives and SD card slots. The 27" model is today's best of show: despite being about the same price as a 30" cinema display (which has the same horizontal resolution and 140 more lines) you get a decent all-in-one computer with the option of a gaming-ish-caliber Radeon HD 4850 video card. Furthermore, it has video-in, meaning it'll still be useful as a display after the system within falls into obsolescence. If only it had Blu-Ray and a TV tuner!
The Mac Mini server drops the optical drive and gains dual 500GB hard drives: hello, redundant backups. Folks have quietly hankered for this for a long time, and its a popular hack. Now you can buy it off the shelf for $1,000, a good deal for the IT crowd considering the bundled OSX Server software, but way too steep for home users who just want a RAIDable storage box with real HTPC chops.
Also announced today were better-performing routers and Time Capsules (Joel Johnson reports that buying a router from Apple is the final point where you've basically given it all up to them) and new aluminum remotes.
As for the white MacBook, it has no SD card slot, no FireWire, and no budget price tag. Considering that its 13.3" metal sibling is the best mainstream laptop in existence, what's the point? Correct me, plastic fans. Press release [Apple]
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Blah, blah, blah. When do I get my magic Apple Tablet!?
Also, 27" iMacs are quad-core and can hold up to 16GB of memory. This is quite a bump in performance compared to the previous models. At this point, the only non-negotiable advantage that I can see in a MacPro is upgradable graphics.
iMac: still not available with SSD.
Why does Apple hate FireWire? They used to be its champion!
Unfortunately, the Mini still doesn't have ECC. Waah!
Also announced today were better-performing routers and Time Capsules (Joel Johnson reports that buying a router from Apple is the final point where you've basically given it all up to them) and new aluminum remotes.
Why's that? Is the airport administration software not all that spiffy?
wrt Mac routers:
I had been having terrible experiences with wireless in my home. I kept switching routers and tried a number including ones by Linksys and Belkin. Finally in a final, desperate act, i bought and AirPort Extreme. Now my wireless works flawlessly. I have no idea what the problem was or why it works now, but it does.
No parallel port? I am appalled. A-P-P-A-L-L-E-D!!!
On the other hand, it is $199. Might that be a tad too much to pay for a router that "just works?" The time capsules, on the other hand, will over heat and die.
Book Pro's all have FireWire.
Everyone seems to be missing one new feature of the iMac: you can use it as an external display for your MacBook Pro or other Mini DisplayPort-enabled system/device.
From Apple's iMac Features page: http://www.apple.com/imac/features.html
"The Mini DisplayPort lets you connect an external display, including the Apple LED Cinema Display, to your iMac. On the 27-inch iMac, the same port offers input, too. So you can connect any external source that has DisplayPort output — including a MacBook or MacBook Pro — and use your iMac as a display."
For those of us running dual desktop/laptop configs, that's a pretty nice feature.
Typical Apple product announcement:
APPLE: We've shipped a new mouse that has lasers and multi-touch, just like Microsoft's demo last month, only for reals.
BLOGGER 1: It's not the tablet that we've been PROMISED for 800 YEARS!!! WAHH!!!
BLOGGER 2: Why doesn't it have the following 137 other ports? BUT DELL....
BLOGGER 3: This was exactly like what the rumors sites predicted. Except that they predicted that the mouse would recharge itself wirelessly, and didn't predict the multi-touch, laser part. YAWWWWNNNNN!!!!
BLOGGER 4: Everyone who likes these things is a mindless Appal Fanboi!!!!!! And Windows 7.5, which comes out sometime in the next decade, will have killer new features, just like that product mockup that MS leaked last year.
@haineux: Brilliant. You are the Messiah. That is exactly what happens, every, single, time Apple releases anything.
There's also a new plastic MacBook, for people who are allergic to aluminium.
I hear Boeing is also working on a new product along these lines ;]
I had really hoped they would price the new macbook in the range on ordinary consumers. I've always been a model or two behind because I buy them used at a price I can afford. I think I'm switching to a PC next time.
So wait... why is the new MacBook not as good, if not better, than the 13" MacBookPro?
Let's look at the stats. The MacBook has:
2.26GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
2GB DDR3 memory
250GB hard drive
8x double-layer SuperDrive
NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics
Cost: $999
While the MacBookPro has:
2.26GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
2GB Memory
160GB hard drive
SD card slot
NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics
Cost: $1199
So, the differences here are that the MacBook has an extra 90GB of hard drive space but is missing the SD card slot, and the MacBook is $200 less. Again, I ask, why is the new MacBook not as good, if not better, than the 13" MacBookPro?
Are there details anywhere on what's different about the new Airport Extreme?
Of course it's as good. But for those buying an apple they are buying it for looks. Therefore they must have the metal one.
haineux QFT.
reading these specs makes me sad, as i type on my 5 year old Powerbook with 512 MB of Ram.
Grant: because it's plastic.
Grant: The MacBook Pro also has more better ports: FireWire 800 and SD card slot, and an optical digital line in port (the regular MacBook "just" has an analog line in -- but both will do optical digital audio out, and audio over USB). Also, the pro has a slightly larger battery.
Is all that worth $200? Luckily, you get to decide for yourself for a change, instead of having One Single Config That Everyone WILL Buy And Like, So Says Steve Jobs.
Anonymous: Some people REALLY LIKE the white plastic. I'm guessing they'll like the more-rounded edges even better, too. It's KAWAII-ier.
Adam: The big difference is that the new Airport Extreme does MIMO, which is some kind of buzzword magic that makes wireless connections go faster and work further away. Other than that, it's the new version of the same product. Probably has different innards, but the same feature set -- at least for now.
Adam: I hear the antenna placement is different, which is why reception should be better.
MIMO has been part of the AE for almost two years, apparently:
http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2007/01/09apextreme.html
The MacBook doesn't have firewire - that's an issue.
10 years ago, the top-of-the-line iMac was the 15" CRT iMac DV SE.
10 years later, the top-of-the-line iMac has a 1440p 27" widescreen flat panel, comes default with wireless networking, wireless keyboard, and wireless multi-touch mouse, and makes even sci-fi computers in 1999 movies look kludgy in comparison.
And according to the US Dept. of Labor Statistics' CPI calculator... the new one is cheaper.
Here's a reference on the new AirPorts on Ars Technica.