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New iMac Set for Tuesday Unveiling? (1 Viewer)

Michael_K_Sr

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According to Gizmodo, Apple has scheduled a Mac-only event for invited guests next Tuesday (August 7) in Cupertino. Will it be the long awaited next gen iMac? Guess we have to wait almost a week to find out.

EDIT: Another confirmation from CNET...

The event will take place at Apple's headquarters in Cupertino, Calif., at 10 a.m. PDT and "Apple executives" will be present, the representative said, declining to say whether CEO Steve Jobs will show up. Presumably, he'll be in the building.
 

Craig S

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Apple Insider is reporting that Apple PR reps are making it clear to invitees that this event is Mac-only - there will be NO iPod or iPhone-related announcements.

With current iMac being three years old, it's almost a certainty that we'll see the long-rumored new models Tuesday. Speculation has been that the "white iPod" look will be dropped in favor of a more iPhone-like black/aluminum finish. It will also be interesting to see if they will really have the already-controversial new super-slim keyboard that was "leaked" last week.

It's also a good bet that Apple will unveil the latest versions of the iLife & iWork suites (the latter is supposed to finally get a spreadsheet). The question is will they be immediately available, or will they require the new core features in Leopard??

If the new iMacs look good I will likely upgrade from my current 20" to a 24" model, although I'll probably wait until Leopard is available preloaded on the new machines.
 

Ted Todorov

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My main question is, what will happen to the Mac Mini?

I doubt iLife/iWork before Leopard.
 

Michael_K_Sr

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New iMacs with same form factor, except a new aluminum enclosure. Glossy screens, which I'm not entirely happy with (I would prefer the option of glossy or matte) and iLife '08.
 

Michael_K_Sr

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Well that is welcome news, although I'm sure someone will show up here whining about eliminating the $999 17-inch model. I also like that all models now will have FW800.
 

Craig S

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Yup, aluminum & glass iMacs. Look nice. Not really a major redesign. They also have the new low profile keyboard that showed up on the web last week. Unfortunately, the wireless (Bluetooth) option looks like they chopped off the numeric keypad to make it extra compact. I don't like that.

iLife looks like it has some nice improvements. The additions in iPhoto look really good. iMovie has been completely rewritten. Big surprise (to me): available today. Like Ted, I thought they would wait until Leopard.

iLife still included with all Macs. Still $79 to buy the box if you're going to upgrade your current version.

iMac bumped to 10 GB storage (nice!). Still $99/yr.

Now he's going over the new iWork (also $79, available today). Improvements to Pages & Keynote. And finally, the long-awaited spreadsheet, Numbers!! Looks slick - a lot of nice presentation features. Yes, it reads & writes Excel.

Apple execs on stage for a Q&A (remember, this is a press-only event), so that looks to be it. Off to the Apple Store... ;)
 

Craig S

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I agree, but the iMacs are squarely aimed at consumers, who overwhelmingly prefer glossy. They want to push the pros to MacPros & the standalone displays (which I'm surprised they didn't update today).
 

Craig S

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Although not mentioned in Jobs' pitch, the Q&A revealed that the Mac Mini is getting a refresh today as well.
 

Ted Todorov

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Boy, this has to be the longest time the online store has been down after an Apple event... Still waiting for the Mini specs
 

DaveF

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Ooh, pretty! I love the image comparing the iMac to a Dell XPS 450 :) I don't like the keyboard (I still don't understand why Apple has such problems with Keyboards and Mice). The specs look great: 24" with 2.8 GHz C2D would be a killer home machine. I wish I could afford to buy this for my wife to replace her dual G5 Aluminum machine from a few years ago.

Will the revised .Mac specs be given to current subscribers automatically?

I'm curious what iLife 08 brings -- should I upgrade from 06? iWork I want to love, but I've not found any use for it yet.
 

Ted Todorov

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Yes -- and for iLife '08 it worth upgrading for the new iPhoto/.Mac album publishing, photo sharing features alone. And if you are into video, probably for the new iMovie alone.

To me the iLife update was the key announcement today -- but I'm not in the market for an iMac.
 

Colin Dunn

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The store is still having issues - HTTP 500 "internal server error" message when I follow the "buy it now" link for the Mac mini to look at pricing / configuration options.

Looks like the mini isn't changing much except for a very slight bump up in speed: 1.66GHz -> 1.83, and 1.83GHz -> 2.0. I was hoping there'd be a Core 2 Quad option, or at least processor speeds more in line with the iMac range (2.6-2.8GHz).
 

Craig S

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For me, the feature in iPhoto that will drive me to upgrade (today) is Events. That's exactly how I organize my photos, only today I have to create smart folders (based on dates) manually. To have the software support this automatically, with split & merge, will be a big time-saver.

I will probably try out iWork. I have a ton of Excel spreadsheets - I'm in Excel every day. If Numbers works well that's one less Windows program I need to use.

The big change is the bump for Core Duo to Core 2 Duo.
 

Craig S

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Store seems to be up & running now.

One big disappointment about the new Minis - unless I'm looking at outdated specs, they're still stuck with wireless G. Surprising considering every other Mac has been shipping wireless N capable for several months now.
 

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