Apple’s Consumer Mac Line-up for the Holidays
Some notable items from today’s new product introductions.
iMac
- The 27-inch version is an absolute knock-out. The silly little things they refine — like taking the screen all the way to the edge and removing what was only a tiny sliver of aluminum framing, swapping in alumium on the back, integrating the SD slot in the perfect way, etc. — make an already great design that much better.
- It’s amazing it took Apple this long to throw a wireless keyboard and mouse in with the machine.
- At some point, perhaps when the line gets a 30-inch model, the iMac’s “chin” will completely disappear. It’s gone from a Leno-sized chin in the early white 17-inch days to a petite Jacko-style nub.
- There’s no doubt in my mind there will be an Apple-branded television sitting in your living room in the future. Whether it’s a year or 10 years from now, there’s a team who’s working on executing that vision. As it is, even though it’s complete overkill, the 27-inch sucker is just screaming to be hung in every Mac lovers bedroom.
- Lastly, if you’re the Mac team at Apple, doesn’t it piss you off that the iPod gets its own event each September for playing the same “refine the line and add in a cool feature or two” game? I’d be mouthing off big time if I were Bob Mansfield and Scott Brodrick. I hope Phil Schiller buys them a round of drinks or at least gives them a really tight hug.
MacBook
- Nothing spectacular here. They took a razor to the body, trimmed off some corners, added unibody, hit the bottom with a touch of the rubber undercoating from the AppleTV and AirPort Extreme/Time Capsule and killed the trackpad button forever. Is that bad? Not at all. This is a great machine for a grand.
- Considering it’s still plastic, I will be curious to see what kind of impact the unibody will actually have on the machine’s rigidness and creak-ability.
- Oh, let’s not forget the integrated battery. With the amount of portables Apple’s selling, they’re going to see a nice chunk of revenue from replacement batteries in the next few years.
Mac mini
- The price on this guy should have really dropped to $449. You would think that with $34 billion in the bank, Apple would share the love with its customers. Instead you can get a nice machine for a little too much.
- That being said, I do like that Apple is showing a little more commitment to the line and are adding new models. If I was running a small business, I would have already purchased the server configuration.
Magic Mouse
- I don’t know about this. Yes, it looks beautiful (except for the weird, sled-like runners on the bottom). But Apple doesn’t really have a pedigree for making good mice. Matter of fact, no one in the history of the computer industry has consistently made worse mice than Apple. Even without picking it up, I’ll tell you that the “flick-scrolling” is nice and going by Engadget’s video, the two-finger swiping will suck ass.
AirPort Extreme & Time Capsule
- I don’t even want to look at what’s new with the AirPort Extreme. Somehow I’ll convince myself that I need to own this. My network already runs pretty well — I can do 1080p streaming from a Drobo running off an iMac to a Mac mini running Plex, and I’ve got the dual-bands covered — but I’m sure there’s something in there that will give me the itch.
Apple Remote
- What’s there to say about this, other than it’s probably just as bad as the previous version? There is the $20 pricetag, which might make this the only Apple-branded accessory that is priced right.