New iMac Announced

MrGHemp writes "The new iMac with a flat panel has been offically announced, and can be seen on the Apple website. According to Steve Jobs the top 3 things we asked for were put into this new design. 1. Flat Panel screen 2. G4 processor 3. Superdrive (DVD burner on one of 3 models)... Apple also announced other new products like a 14' display on some iBooks, and iPhoto - the iTunes of digital photos." It's definitely unique looking ;) Update: Slashdot author ChrisD was there and has a report too. Linux and the Macintosh are very different things. I don't want to bore anyone with poor analogies, but when Macintosh has glitz, Linux has power. This isn't about Linux though, it just kept on striking me how much Linux lacks in the desire department.

Steve Jobs is terrific at just that, Creating Desire. This is no surprise to us, for sure, but nothing drives it home as much as sitting in the audience and watching him speak. I could tell you how wonderful an orator he is, and how groovy his products are, but I really want to hear what the Slashdot user communtiy has to say about that. I want to talk about what Apple is doing technically.

First: The new iMac is very attractive. It's cool, it's neat. It will be a very popular machine. It's got a good price/feature spectrum and it looks like a pretty decent machine for the consumer. It isn't, in the end, a machine for the linux die-hard, but that's okay. It's slick, it ships with a bunch of very decent apps to manage your digital media. I want one, it's a cool machine. I don't know what I'd do with it (which is the problem), but it's cool looking. It's not particularly a good deal, I mean, you can pick up 200$ 15" tft displays at Fry's and lets get real, the G4 (Excepting the velocity engine stuff) isn't that fast of a chip at any available speed compared to the x86 world. But boy, this is one slick machine. But we know that already from the previous story. I do worry about it overheating, as I did flash back to the cube's cracking problems a bit.

Second: Photoshop for OS X will be coming out "soon". That was the big news. They had a very impressive working demo, I hope to learn more tomorrow on the expo floor.

Third: iPhoto is a decent cataloging program, and one designed to be used easily and generate more revenue streams for apple in the form of booklets and print costs. But it looks very polished and useful.

Superdrive: You'll see the superdrive in the new imac finally, which is nice. Note that this is not the superdrive that everyone remembers from the 80s' :-)

That's about all. The keynote was terrific, but in the end, not so outstanding. I'll post pictures soon. I'm sure a lot of /. regulars will be doing the same. More Tomorrow!

Comments

it's like the lottery!

[Bjarke Roune]

"DVD burner on one of 3 models"

Wow! I hope I'm lucky and my maschine comes with a DVD bruner! I mean, the chance is 33%, so it's not that unlikely... If I don't get lucky the first time around, I'll just have to try again... really want a DVD burner!

14' display!!!

[mrroot]

Apple also announced other new products like a 14' display on some iBooks

Wow! a 14' display, and my laptop only has a 14" display. Just imagine playing your favorite video game on a 14 ft display.

While many business application users will not enjoy having a 14 ft screen, I think this will be great for gamers.

I wonder what the max resolution on that will be... 1,280,000 x 1,024,000 pixels?

Reason for PowerMac and iMac processor situation

[Infonaut]

The new, faster G4s (or call them G5s - same chip, regardless) have been in the pipeline for some time. My guess is Jobs wanted to put the new iMacs front and center right now. In three or four months, we'll likely hear about the new processors being placed in updated desktop machines.

Some specs

[90XDoubleSide]

Now that the keynote is finished, apple.com has been updated with sections on the new iMac , the new iBook and iPhoto, including the download (13.5MB).

Here are the official specs on the new iMacs from Apple's page:

The two bottom models have a 700 MHz G4, with the top one having an 800 MHz chip. All feature 256K processor speed L2 cache, but all have a 100 MHz bus, slightly slower than the towers. Bottom model has 128 MB RAM, all others 256; lower two models have 40 GB drives, top model has 60; bottom model has CD-RW, top two have DVD-R/CD-RWs, and finally the top two come with a set of Apple Pro Speakers.

All models have: GeForce 2MX/32MB DDR, 2 FireWire ports, 3 USB 1.1 ports on the machine and two on the keyboard, Mini-VGA output port, 56K modem, 10/100 ethernet, and a typical software bundle with all the iApps, Quicken 2002, Otto Matic, World Book Encyclopedia, AppleWorks, and a bunch of free browsers and readers preinstalled.

The screen is a 15" viewable TFT at 1024x768 at millions of colors.

Apple will continue to sell CRT iMacs starting at $799; the new models cost $1299, $1499, and $1799, respectively.

The new iBooks received more of a speed bump than a revolutionary upgrade like the iMac, but are still a great deal in consumer portables. They now stand like this:

500 MHz G3 in the bottom model, 600MHz in the others; bottom two have 128MB RAM, top has 256; 66MHz bus in the bottom, 100 in the top two; CD- ROM in the bottom, DVD-R/CD-RW in the top two; 15 GB disk in the bottom, 20 in the top two; and of course a 12.1" display in the bottom two and a 14" in the top one.

All the iBooks have 1 FireWire port and 2 USB 1.1 ports, a VGA out and a composite video out (w/ adapter), 56K modem, 10/100 ethernet, the small white power adapter, and the same bundle as the iMac.

The dimensions are 11.2x9.06x1.35" and 4.9 lbs. on the 12.1" models, and 12.7x10.2x1.35 and 5.99 lbs. on the 14" model, and the 12.1" models have a 42 watt-hour battery for an advertised 5 hours of power, with the 14" model having a 55 watt-hour battery with an advertised 6 hours of power.

Apple has done it again, offering the flat screen iMac starting at $1299 with a G4, even as many were doubting they could offer any flat screen desktop below $1499!

Re:it's a breast implant dammit!@!@#!

[neafevoc]

How else are they to improve model a few year's ago?

Wow - that's a big screen.

[nemesisj]

"Apple also announced other new products like a 14' display on some iBooks"

A whole fourteen feet of screen for an extra 200 bucks? Wow - and the battery even lasts an hour longer!

No USB 2.0?

[qurob]

Well, just put it on the list of upgrades for the next iMac.

It also doesn't have gig ethernet, like the other G4's do....

2 words... UG LY.

[vermicious]

Not the coolest looking device to say the least, I guess I'd have to stand in front of it and give it a few torqes and see how that arms stands up.