Apple updates Macbook, iMac and Mac Mini ++
As almost expected in conjunction with the Windows7 launch on thursday Apple today updated their consumer line of mac products.
Macbook
The new Macbook will have a polycarbonate shell with design similar to the Aluminum unibody MBP’s. The new model have a 13″ LED screen, a Core 2 Dueo 2,26GHz processor and a hard drive with capacity that starts at 250GB. Price stays the same, US$999.
iMac
The major new update of the iMac is the new LED screens with either a 21,5″ or a 27″ screen size. Both screens have the new 16:9 aspect ratio. The 21,5″ model has the Full HD – 1920 by 1080 screen resolution while the 27″ model have a 2560 by 1440 resolution.
The 21,5″ model will have a Core 2 Duo processor at either 3.06GHz or 3.33GHz. The 27″ model have the same processor options in addition to a model with either a 2.66GHz quad core i5 or a Quad Core i7 at 2,8GHz.
All iMacs ship with 2 memory slots that has a total of 4GB memory at standard. You could upgrade all the way up to a wiping 16GB of total memory over 4 memory slots.
500GB of storage is standard at teh 21,5″ model while 1TB is standard at the 27″ model. Both support up to 2TB of storage. I reckon the iMac are going to support even larger drives once those are available.
The 21,5″ model support either a Nvidia 9400M gpu with 256MB memory or a ATI Radeon HD4670 gpu with 256MB memory. The 27″ model have the option of either a ATI Radeon HD4670 pgu with 256MB of memory or a Radeon HD4850 gpu with 512MB of memory. The quad core based 27″ comes with a ATI HD4850 pgu with 512MB of memory at standard.
The most interesting about this updated is the Intel Core i5 and Core i7 quad core processors. This product cannot be seen on Intel’s rodemaps and it seams like a cross between the i7 Clarksfield and the i5 Arrendale based processors. The iMac model with this processors are going to be shipped a little bit later, in November. This product could be a Lynnfield processor together with a mobile controller chip or a Lynnfield in a m989 socket. Those assumptions are based on Apple using only mobile stuff on previous iMac models.
Mac Mini
The new entry Mac mini still has a price point at US$599 and it has a new 2.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, a Nvidia 9400M gpu and 160GB hard drive. The new premium model at US$799 has a faster processor at 2.52GHz and a 320GB hard drive. Both models have a 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor as option. The entry model has 2GB memory while the premium version as 4GB. 4GB of memory is the max amount the Mac Mini are able to support.
Another new product is the Mac Mini Server starting at US$999. It comes with a Intel Core 2 Duo processor at 2,53GHz, 4GB memory, 1TB storage over 2 drives and a Nvidia 9400M gpu. You get a unlimited version of Snow Leopard server included in the pagage, that is amazing! As you probably already guessed the Mac Mini Server does not have a optical drive since it has 2 hard drives.
Magic Mouse
Apple added the principles from their multi touch keypads to a new type of mouse. You can do things like pinching to zoom in documents directly on your mouse. I reckon it will take some time to get used to this new way of navigation your computer.
This is going to be a huge update if you look at the scroll wheele of Mighty Mouse. I think it is going to be a little bit wierd to since you are used to some feedback when you click on a button.
The Magic Mouse is only available as a bluetooth model at US$69. Thats a premium price on a “entry” kind of mouse.
Macbook Pro
Apple lowered the price on the top of the line 17″ Macbook Pro configuration with US$1000.
Apple Remote
In the shadows of the already mentioned updates Apple today released a new Apple Remote. It is a little bit larger than the previous remote and it has black buttons to follow the design trends on the latest macs. The new remote is available at US$19 in the store.
