MacMost Now 211: New iMac, Mac mini, Mac Pro

Apple releases new versions of all of its desktop machines: the iMac, Mac mini and Mac Pro. Also new versions of the Airport Extreme, Time Capsule and Apple keyboard.

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Video Transcript: Hi, this is Gary with MacMost Now. Well, today Apple announced new Mac minis, new iMacs, and new Mac Pros, and a bunch of other stuff. Let's go and take a look. 
So Apple updated all of their desktop machines today. Let's start by taking a look at the new iMac. So Apple has four basic configurations for the new iMacs. The first one is for a 20-inch screen, and this one comes in with a 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 2 gigs of RAM, 320-gig hard drive, and also a new video chipset, the 9400M GeForce chipset from NVIDIA. Now from there you go to the 24-inch screen models, and these come with a 3.06GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, comes standard with 4 gigs of RAM, comes with a 1-terabyte drive, and also the NVIDIA GeForce 130 GT video chipset. So the price for the low end starts at $1,199 and it goes up to $2,199 for the base model high-end one that I just mentioned.
So Mac mini fans everywhere can rejoice. There's finally a new version of the mini out. This one has a 2.0GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, it's got some extra USB ports, it also continues to have FireWire. It's got a FireWire 800 port, and it's using a new NVIDIA GeForce chipset, the 9400M, just like the laptops and the iMacs. The mini also continues to have the mini DVI port, and in addition it gains the new display port adapter that's used in all the new laptops. The prices stay about the same--$599 for the base price and you can get an upgraded one for $799 with a bigger hard drive and a little bit more base memory. 
Now there's a lot of new stuff in the new Mac Pros. They feature all new Xeon processors--the cutting edge ones. There's also four different FireWire ports now. And in addition to that, there's also a new chipset. You can start anywhere from the GT 120s and go up from there. There's a lot of build-to-order options for the Mac Pros, of course, so your price is going to vary greatly, but they start at about $2,500.
In addition to the Macs, both the AirPort Extreme base station and the Time Capsule base station have been updated. There's been some minor changes. For instance, the AirPort Extreme now has two antennas; that means you can run both the 802.11g and 802.11n frequencies. What this means is basically with all the new Macs you can use the 'n', which is better for high-speed connectivity. But you need the 'g' because if you have an iPhone or an iPod Touch, they don't have 'n'. With the current models you couldn't do that. You had to run one or the other, but with the new ones you can basically run both at the same time and have different devices connecting at different speeds. Time Capsule also has some neat features in the new version. One is the ability to use MobileMe to access the stuff on the hard drive for the Time Capsule. So if you have MobileMe and a Mac you can go ahead and hook up to your hard drive via a network and access stuff there. It might be very useful for some folks.
Now there are also new AirPort Extreme base stations and Time Capsule base stations today. There's a couple of new upgraded features, like there's two antennas in the AirPort Extreme so you can run 802.11n and 802.11g at the same time. The 'g,' of course, would be for your iPhone or iPod Touch, and the 'n' would be for all the recent Macs. Also, the Time Capsule has the ability to use MobileMe to access the contents of the hard drive, which could be useful for some folks. Another interesting thing was a new keyboard that was put out today. This new keyboard will come with all the new Macs unless you upgrade to the old one, which has a numeric keypad. So the new keyboard is a lot smaller, more compact, without the keypad and you can still upgrade to the older with-keypad keyboard.
It's interesting that Apple is showing a recommitment to FireWire with all these new releases. All of these machines have FireWire 800 ports, and the Pro has four of them. Now if you have FireWire 400 devices, it's just the difference of having a cable that goes from 800 to 400. They all still work. So now the only machines that Apple has that don't have FireWire are the plain MacBooks and the MacBook Air. Everything else sticks with FireWire, in fact takes it to FireWire 800.
Also with the releases today, Apple shows a big commitment to its new display port technology. All of these machines have a display port port, even though they also include the older mini DVI ports as well. So the new 24-inch Cinema Display that Apple released last year will now work on all of these machines.
So you can go to the Apple.com web site, of course, to see all these machines, see pictures of them, and see all the build-to-order configurations. I'd love to know what you think of the new offerings. You can send me a message via twitter if you like, or leave a comment to this post at MacMost.com.
'Til next time, this is Gary Rosenzweig with MacMost Now.

Comments: 5 Responses to “MacMost Now 211: New iMac, Mac mini, Mac Pro”

Kenneth Lund

16 years ago

Hi!

Great video!

At 3 minutes, it repeats the same thing twice, so you might want to reedit (two similar cuts on the new double antennas) :)

Thanks :)

rosenz

Yep. I see. That's the trade-off for getting a post like this up as quickly as possible. Mistakes will be made.

Also, it ends too soon - it suddenly just cuts of :)

Not seeing that.

Daniel

Great video, thanks! So they're bringing back the Firewire? Damn, Apple is so weird. I was quite mad when they took the Firewire out of the MacBook (which I own), and now the bring it back? What's up with that, it's not fair! At least we don't have to pay extra for the keyboard with the Numeric Keypad. Yap, Apple is weird.

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MacMost Now 211: New iMac, Mac mini, Mac Pro

Comments: 5 Responses to “MacMost Now 211: New iMac, Mac mini, Mac Pro”

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