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Apple Delivers New Macs, Multi-Touch Mouse

Oct. 20, 2009 Paul Thurrott | Paul Thurrott's Supersite for Windows

Apple today unleashed a number of consumer computing products, all of which look quite interesting. The refreshed products include:

iMac. Now available with 21.5- and 27-inch (!!!) 16:9 widescreen displays, the new iMacs look impressive.

Apple today unveiled an all new iMac line featuring brilliant LED-backlit 21.5 and 27-inch widescreen displays in a new edge-to-edge glass design and seamless all aluminum enclosure. The new iMac line, starting at $1,199, is the fastest ever with Intel Core 2 Duo processors starting at 3.06 GHz, and Core i5 and i7 quad-core processors for up to twice the performance.*

Where "*" means "cough, cough". Twice the performance. Oh, Apple.

Mac mini. There's no separate press release for this one, but Apple also revamped its entry level Mac mini (and in Apple land, "entry level" of course means $600 to $1000, and not $299 as in the PC world).

The Mac mini is now faster, offers more storage and comes standard with double the memory. Starting at $599, the entry level Mac mini features a faster 2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and 2GB of DDR3 1066 MHz memory, a 160GB hard drive, five USB 2.0 ports, FireWire 800, NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics and a SuperDrive. The $799 Mac mini features a 2.53 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 4GB of memory and a larger 320GB hard drive. Apple now offers a $999 Mac mini that is specially configured with Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server. Mac mini with Snow Leopard Server features two 500GB hard drives for a total of 1TB of server storage in the tiny 6.5-inch square by 2-inch tall Mac mini enclosure.

That last option is really interesting, though I'd like to see an optical disc-less Mac mini for the desktop too. And I'll spare you Apple's claims about the "world’s most energy efficient desktop." OK, maybe I won't.

And last, and potentially most interesting...

Magic Mouse. A new multi-touch mouse. There's no mention of Windows compatibility anywhere, but this one looks good.

Multi-Touch allows customers to navigate using intuitive finger gestures. Instead of mechanical buttons, scroll wheels or scroll balls, the entire top of the Magic Mouse is a seamless Multi-Touch surface. Magic Mouse comes standard with the new iMac and will be available as a Mac accessory at just $69 ... Magic Mouse features a seamless touch-sensitive enclosure that allows it to be a single or multi-button mouse with advanced gesture support. Using intuitive gestures, users can easily scroll through long documents, pan across large images or swipe to move forward or backward through a collection of web pages or photos. Magic Mouse works for left or right handed users and multi-button or gesture commands can be easily configured from within System Preferences.

Magic Mouse isn't available yet, saving me a trip to the Apple Store. ("Dodging a bullet," as I say.) I am curious to see one in action.

Discuss this Article 116

mikegalos@msn.com
on Oct 21, 2009
Logjamming I guess you missed Paul's blog post from Monday (two whole days ago) titled "Mac Market Share is now 3.86 Percent". It's at http://community.winsupersite.com/blogs/paul/archive/2009/10/19/mac-mark... To save you having to read all that text - it IS six whole paragraphs - here is the key item that was bolded in the original, "the Mac now has 3.86 percent market share worldwide" So, please, let us know how you came up with Windows being down to 85% and the Mac at 8-10%. While you're at it, you might explain who has the remaining 5-7%. Linux? BeOS? TRS-DOS?
mikegalos@msn.com
on Oct 21, 2009
Dude (re: Adobe CS4 64-bit for Mac OS X being unavailable while Adobe CS4 64-bit is available for Windows) "Which is due to Adobe's foot dragging not Apple's " No. Which is due to Apple cancelling the 64-bit version of the "Carbon" libraries at the last minute. Apple partners, including Adobe, had been given early release copies and assurances that they could move their Carbon apps to 64-bit without a rewrite by using those 64-bit Carbon libraries. Then, long after the projects were already in development, with no warning and very little publicity, Apple just dropped 64-bit Carbon with no workarounds but to either not do a 64-bit version or rewrite from scratch in Cocoa. Once again, Apple told their developer partners to "pound sand" (as Scoble put it) and the user is the one who paid the price.
Mum
on Oct 21, 2009
"It's also way too small, making this an ergonomic nightmare." If you ask someone who knows something about ergonomics, they'll tell you that the flatter a mouse is, the better it is for your wrists. There's just the compromise to be made that a completely flat mouse is not easy to move around. "Photoshop CS4 on Windows is available as a full 64-bit application. That's not so on Mac." It remains to be seen whether Windows 7 offers a reliable color workflow, because Vista never did. So yes, you can do exactly the same things on the PC as on the Mac (except sometimes marginally faster), and you only need a Mac with a calibrated screen to check the results are accurate. "Also, Mac's graphics offerings are now a complete joke." Care to elaborate? I just happen to have 25 minutes to shoot down all your answers while Snow Leopard update is installing on my work machine.
mikegalos@msn.com
on Oct 21, 2009
Mum "If you ask someone who knows something about ergonomics, they'll tell you that the flatter a mouse is, the better it is for your wrists. " Well, no ergonomist I've ever talked to says that. In fact they say pretty much the opposite, so perhaps you might want to hold back that claim that everybody agrees with you. For an example of a Mouse designed with ergonomics in mind, see the Microsoft Natural Wireless Laser Mouse 6000 at http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/ergonomics/natmouse.mspx Or you could see what Dr. Dan Odell, an actual Ergonomist, has to say at http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/ergonomics/drdan.mspx
tayme
on Oct 21, 2009
More of the same old WinSupersite, He said/She said show...love it. It seems to me that some of you have an awful lot of spare time. Must be due to the rising unemployment problem in the U.S. --tayme
panache1023
on Oct 21, 2009
multi-touch mouse is a joke... except the freaky ones ms has in their labs...those are good. right mike?
Waethorn
on Oct 21, 2009
"Care to elaborate? I just happen to have 25 minutes to shoot down all your answers while Snow Leopard update is installing on my work machine." All the marketing spin they put into "SUPERIOR NVIDIA Chipsets" and they criticized Intel's power management about a year ago. Now they're using Intel chipsets on all the new product revisions (aside from the products that haven't changed) because NVIDIA doesn't make Core i5/i7 chipsets, and ATI Radeon 4800 cards running as totally discrete options means it's nothing other than back to Intel for chipset solutions. There is no more 9400M chipset onboard video on new models (except the low-end iMac and the MacBook, which are using the old architecture) and no optional addition of discrete 9600M GT's. The ATI Radeon 4600 series is no replacement for a 9600, and they don't offer 9800's where the 4800 series is inferior. Look at the Mac Pro video options too - GF GT 120's are OEM-only cards, and are quite frankly, a joke. The 220's are much better, but they don't offer them. The GT 120's are the lowest-of-the-low for GeForce 100/200 series graphics cards. The only other option is a single 4800 series Radeon card. No pro cards any more on Mac Pro. That's a total laugh. No Quadro cards at all, and they never even thought to carry pro-level FireStream GL cards from AMD. They fumbled this release with inferior and incomplete graphics offerings on all their new models, and the Mac Pro (and new model iMac's) is now just an underpowered toy and can't be taken seriously for any amount of GPU-heavy graphics work.
Mum
on Oct 21, 2009
Mike, we've had this discussion before... The ergonomic mice you get in the shops that force your hand in some sort of compromised position are better suited for people who don't use mice much and thus don't need to learn the proper techniques involved. However, you'll quickly notice that efficient working is impossible with them. Using a mouse resembles playing an instrument; like you swing drumsticks with your fingers, not your wrists or elbows. And a symmetrical (i.e. predictable) mouse shape is best suited for both precision and ergonomy. But it's true that your everyday ergonomics guy might recommend stuff like you above. Specialists won't agree, though.
Dude1313
on Oct 21, 2009
mikegalos@msn.com said: blah, blah *********** Actually Mike if Adobe had gotten their butts in gear in 1999/2000 this wouldn't be an issue but the major players at the time balked and Apple had to appease them. Apple had enough of Adobe slacking and forced their hand. If they hadn't Adobe would still be writing PS in Carbon. Thanks for playing.
Waethorn
on Oct 21, 2009
Apple's year long partnership with NVIDIA (and subsequent b1tch-slap to Intel with critical marketing against them) over chipsets and GPU solutions has come to a sudden close. And people say that Microsoft abuses partners....
Mum
on Oct 21, 2009
Oh, right, I thought by graphics you were referring to graphics software other than Photoshop. You know, the GPU graphics work you're referring to mostly means gaming, so I'd go for a console anyway.
mikegalos@msn.com
on Oct 21, 2009
Mum, Yes, we've gotten into this before and yet you still insist that anyone who disagrees doesn't know anything about ergonomics including professional ergonomists. I have no problem with you having opinions and it's quite possible that, for you, a flat mouse works better. But it is just arrogant to insist that yours are the only opinion that matters and that anyone who disagrees doesn't know what they're talking about.
mikegalos@msn.com
on Oct 21, 2009
Dude Apple said Adobe could do the 64-bit port in Carbon. Adobe trusted Apple Apple pulled the rug out from under Adobe and their users
ShinyNugget
on Oct 21, 2009
http://marketshare.hitslink.com/operating-system-market-share.aspx?qprid=8 I've never understood all the hype about market share in the computer world. No one cares in other product markets. Volvo, Subaru, Mercedes, Audi and BMW all have less than %2 market share in the states according the wsj.com. Each company has its own business model designed around its product lineup. Apple has a very focused product lineup for good reason. Companies that try to offer too many disparate designs end up wasting resources, confusing customers and competing against themselves. Exhibit A is General Motors and their overlapping brands and vehicles. Virtually none of Apple's products compete with another in their lineup. Price, performance and features of each is targeted to a specific niche in the market. In general their products work as advertised with minimal intervention from the end user. The idea that someone needs to a proficient in computer software and hardware knowledge in order to be a 'good user' is ludicrous and a major reason why many good OS's continue to lag behind in adoption or died altogether. Computers intended for use by common 'civilians' (non-geeks) need to strive harder to being appliance simple in operation as they possibly can. A good example of this is the iPhone in the smart phone market. No other smartphone has been as widely adopted at this device. Yes the marketing machine of Apple bears some credit(or blame depending on your feelings....) but much is also due to its design and operation. If my 60 year old mother who is a serious technophobe can use one proficiently it must be somewhat intuitive and simple. I will modify a statement from a previous poster to say about TV's what they stated about PC's and users. Tell me it sounds logical. Who would want to buy a TV if the amount of time spent learning how to configure and manage a TV were expected of users? Remember most PC users are not professionals but average people that are not interested in understanding the inner workings of a device just how a apply its functions to be able to do their work. "....Operating a television is something that you invest time in....Learning the skills to understand how to be safe on the cable and airwaves, how to configure and install DVD players, how not to destroy the remote control and so forth - these all are something that should be learned.. Learning HOW a television works and WHY it works, so that when a problem arises you can face it - this is part of being a television user... Most long time television users have at one point or another built their own television or upgraded a component.. Am I saying it's a virtue to have done this? No, of course not because there are just as many people who have never touched the television and just ordered from a vendor but I am saying that there are lessons to be learned from doing this..."
ShinyNugget
on Oct 21, 2009
Oops forgot this link on last post. Believe whichever figures you like. I say who cares use what you like. http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9124718/Windows_market_share_dive...
anonymous
on Oct 22, 2009
This post was mentioned on Twitter by EverythingMS: Apple Delivers New Macs, Multi-Touch Mouse http://bit.ly/22zsCc

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