Apple Revamps iMac, Mac Mini, iLife
Just as the rumors expected, Apple updated the iMac line with a substantial design refresh - aluminum & glass body, black accents and a slimmer physique. While I appreciate the move from using plastic for the body to aluminum, such as with the MacBook Pro, I’m not sure if the black accents win me over. Regardless, the new iMac line comes in 20-inch and 24-inch flavors; the 17-inch model is no longer offered.
More interesting for me though, is the new Apple keyboard based on the MacBook’s keys. It’s slim, light and oh so tactile. However, there is something that just doesn’t feel right about bundling a laptop-esque keyboard with a desktop.
There are 4 BTO iMac options at the moment: two 20-inch models and two 24-inch models, at $1199, $1499, $1799 and $2299 respectively. The first three models feature 1GB of RAM and an 8x SuperDrive as standard. The lower-end 20-inch model is powered by a 2.0GHz Core 2 Duo processor, an ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT video card, and features a 250GB hard drive. One step-up and you’ll get a 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo, an ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro and a 320GB hard drive. The lower-end 24-inch model as stock only features a larger screen compared to the higher-end 20-inch model.
The higher-end 24-inch model is more pro-oriented than the rest with 2GB of RAM, an impressive 2.8GHz Intel Core 2 Extreme processor and a 500GB hard drive.
The new iMac supports up to 1TB of hard disk storage and similar to the recently updated MacBook Pro, up to 4GB of RAM. As usual though, these upgrades are ridiculously overpriced and you’re beter off doing them yourself if you’re up to it. For example, upgrading the high-end 24-inch model from a 500GB hard drive to a 1TB drive costs an extra $450 (a 1TB drive by itself costs ~$380, and subtract from that the price of the 500GB drive..). When I got my 24-inch iMac (since sold) in late ‘06, it retailed for $1999, so kudos to Apple for somehow being able to drive the price down to $1799.
Mac Mini updates seem largely restricted to just a bump up to the Core 2 Duo processor and 1GB of RAM as standard. The Mac Mini wasn’t even mentioned in today’s Apple event aside from when someone asked.
The bulk of the Apple announcements today dealt with iLife ‘08 and the .Mac update. iPhoto received a considerable feature update with the ability to sync web galleries with .Mac, which now includes 10GB of storage and 100GB of monthly bandwidth as standard. iPhones also get some love in the mix with the ability to upload photos directly from the iPhone to the aforementioned online photo gallery. For the rest on all of the iLife ‘08 features, be sure to check out Engadget’s top-notch coverage.
Now it’s your turn to chime in. What do you think of all this? I will be picking up the new keyboard as soon as I get back to Atlanta, but I’m not sure if I want the Bluetooth version which has no numeric keypad, or the corded version with a numeric keypad.
You don’t want the bluetooth version, nor the corded one. What do you then want? For me the presentation gave me everything I have been waiting for for more than a year. This is THE product line.
You forgot about the 2.8 Ghz Core 2 Extreme version.
Hey Paul. :)
One thing other that the 24″ iMac has over the 20″ is that it has the possibility to upgrade it to 2.8GHz Core 2 Duo.
Thanks for the corrections guys, I wrote this hastily as I was about to head out to lunch. =)
Mac mini upgrade is disappointing, no major change like including a dedicated video card and I still don’t think it supports multichannel audio. Also, has Apple made a stance on blu-ray or HD-DVD? It would have been great to see a mini with one of these two drives, while still being priced reasonably as a media center PC. With these very marginal bumps, there is still the possibility of a major overhaul, or more likely, Apple killing it off completely in favor of continuing the crippled AppleTV line.
I’ve been itching to pick up a Mac Mini to act as a media center/home computer while the MBP is my main machine. Anyone think this is worth it? I’ve heard various things about it being discontinued, no Santa Rosa, etc.
I still can’t see anything with so few upgradeability options a la iMac as being a ‘Pro” range machine.
The Mac mini is ’significant’ in that people had started to write it off, so it seems that there is life in the little dog yet :-)
iLife 08 and .Mac are cool, but only ‘catching up’ with what is already available elsewhere in the market.
For me the most significant thing is the almost total move away from Consumer (white) computers to Pro (aluminium).
I see the business motive, but the lack of Video In port on the iMac continues to make no sense to me as a customer. I find it ridiculous that I’m being asked to buy a monitor along with my computer and then being forced to throw that monitor away when I upgrade. The monitor I’m looking at now is *eight* years old and just as good as the day I bought it.
The new aluminium and glass seems to be as much a “because we can” change, than any principled move. It also seems strange to go to a glossy screen (pro-family user, anti-pro user) and then simultaneously move to the aluminium and raise the baseline price, as a pro-pro user repositioning.
Also boo-hiss - the top-level model is the same price in dollars as the mid-level model is in pounds.
That has always been my beef with the iMac, Chris. Lack of upgradeability and especially with the 24-inch iMac - in 5 years the computer will be obsolete but the screen will still be good. Since it’s integrated though, you’ll be stuck without it.
I like the new keyboards, but until they make a wireless version of the full-size one, I’m sticking with my Logitech wireless desktop.
I’m really happy that they didn’t kill off the Mac mini too. Thinking about picking one up for a media center like solution this year.
@ Paul: My wife has a 20″ iMac and i can’t see her out growing it - getting bored and wanting the newest yes, but as a ‘pro’ machine I would never go with an iMac - we agree :-)
@ Andreas: I can recommend that option, have had that set up here for a while now and I love it.
Yawn, this is really boring even compared to some of the lackluster Mac announcements. I’m still saving my pennies for a MacBook Pro, and I wish they’d fix its extreme heat issues in the meantime.
Paul,
I agree with you…I’m not sold on the black accents. I need to go in to the Apple Store and see/play with it in person before making any judgments. My G4 is aging, so a few minor aesthetic issues probably won’t keep me from upgrading in the next few months.
I think this pic says it all:
http://techdumpster.com/macvsdell.jpg
I thought the updates to iPhoto and iMovie were impressive. The reset of the iLife suite was a disappointment to me. The iWork updates also look nice but I will have to use the software before I really make a good comment about them.
The iMac seems like a nice update but like Mike, I will need to see one in the store to fully decide. I was really hoping for a LCD MacBook.
Apple also updated their Pro computers with optional PCI Express RAID Cards.
Some very slick new updates, but I dunno, I am just not feeling the whole black borders
I don’t know about you all, but the back of this iMac is nothing but disgusting. All the black accent will definitely keep me from upgrading my 20″ C2D. Not that I needed an upgrade, but I was hoping for an all aluminum casing.
As for the keyboard, I need to see it and try it out before I think about purchasing it.
Nice update, but where’s the new Ipod Steve ?
Nice update! Coool
Paul, I think you’re right on this one. The black accents are a terrible idea. The aluminum is nice and they should have just used that. I’m pretty sure the black accents will disappear in the future. The black distracts your eyes from items on the screen.
ok so are they offering a wireless keyboard with number pad?. I suppose its intended for sofa surfing but what about large desks.
@David - the only keyboard with a number pad is the wired one, not the BlueTooth one.
I think it’s safe to say that this iMac refresh hasn’t gone down too well with some people, but if you think of the problem Apple has with the iMac, I don’t think they’ve done too bad.
When the All-in-one iMac G5 came out it was like the ultimate ‘wow, how can you better that?’ moment, and that’s their problem. Where do you go from the most logical design solution there is? Until there are such things as translucent displays on the mass market or something radical like that, there isn’t anything more you can really do with the iMac concept in my mind.
The Alu case is a nice touch, and the black details are growing on me. I’ve read elsewhere that the black bezel is born from a constraint with the way the glass is attached to the rest of the screen. I’ve been waiting for this iMac to come along before I made the switch to Mac, and I just hope that glossy screen is okay. Hopefully once calibrated and in a correctly lit environment the gloss shouldn’t be too much of a problem.
I can’t help thinking that the lack of the numeric keypad on the wireless keyboard could somehow be a hint to some kind of Media Center Mac coming from Apple. Couldn’t that be?
That’s the only use where I wouldn’t miss a numeric keypad and where I think that this design would make sense.
Im going for the wireless keyboard Paul. The only time I use the number pad is when I do online banking, but Im sure I’ll get used to using the number keys along the top. Plus you still have all the multimedia keys like volume, screen brightness etc
Hi Paul,
When will iLife ‘08 start shipping with the MB and MBP?
And next will be this:
http://www.appleresource.net/new-large-ipod-aluminium
i want to know if the apple computer or desktops can burn dvd and i’m asking becuse i saw the images and did not say it