Apple Updates Almost Everything; Settles Rumor Mill Down

[Vincent Ferrari]

<p>Well, suprisingly, the rumor mill did very well.&nbsp; While they didn't get the timing right, they definitely got the updates right.&nbsp; Apple refreshed a bunch of hardware yesterday, and here are a few of the highlights.</p><h1>The New iMacs</h1><h1><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/at/auto/1236170984.usr18053.jpg" /></h1><p>The new iMacs are a solid deal.&nbsp; The 20" inch model is nicely priced now at $1,199 and the 24" monster is perfect for power users at $2,199.&nbsp; While I'm not convinced there's a big market for desktop computers any more, if you are a Mac user and want some oomph on your desk, this is the place to get it.&nbsp; Another notable is that even the base configuration now has 2 gigs, and most of the desktops have 4.&nbsp; That's definitely in preparation for Snow Leopard.e</p><p>Cosmetically, nothing's changed aside from the keyboard, which is utterly baffling to me.&nbsp; Apple seems to be phasing out numeric keypads, now, and even the wired one now doesn't have a numeric keypad.&nbsp; I wanted the Bluetooth wireless keyboard really badly for my MBP so I sucked it up and tolerated the fact that it didn't have the keypad, but I just don't get this move at all.&nbsp; In some ways, this adds fuel to the fire of people who hate Apple and their "our way or the highway" approach to computer design.</p><p><MORE /></p><h1>The New Mac Pros</h1><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/at/auto/1236171412.usr18053.jpg" /></p><p>Every Mac owner's dream machine, the Mac Pro is just a freakin' monster.&nbsp; I'll never have the disposable income for this one so I won't even bother trying to get my hands on one even though I know I would beat the stuffing out of it every single day.&nbsp; These machines just scream fast, and despite their lofty price, you can bet the professionals who have been waiting for a product line refresh will be ordering theirs immediately.</p><h1>The New Mac Minis</h1><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/at/auto/1236171589.usr18053.jpg" /></p><p>The rumor mill got this one pretty much right and a lot of the product and packaging shots floating around the internet for the past few weeks have proven to be true.&nbsp; The only problem is that they didn't account for the insane price!&nbsp; Come on Apple, do you really expect people to shell out $799 for a system that doesn't even have a keyboard, mouse, or monitor?&nbsp; And honestly, why make the $599 model at all?&nbsp; This one is a true puzzler as far as I'm concerned, so I would welcome any input you guys might have.&nbsp; Maybe I'm just disappointed that Apple didn't go more competitve, but I guess the reality is they'll never try and compete on price.&nbsp; Big opportunity missed here.</p><h1>The New MacBook Pros</h1><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/at/auto/1236171828.usr18053.jpg" /></p><p>Nothing really spectacular here; just a speed bump for the 15" models.&nbsp; Of course, the big buzz is about the new BTO option: a honkin' fast 2.93 Ghz Core 2 Duo processor for an additional $300!&nbsp; No need to update to this one for folks like me who sprung for the 15.4" when it came out; that's pretty much the same machine.</p><h1>New Time Capsule and Airport Extreme</h1><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/at/auto/1236172037.usr18053.jpg" /></p><p>The new Airport Extreme Base Station has the one feature that made me get a Cisco 610N instead of an Airport in January: dual band radios.&nbsp; If you were to add a G device to an N network, the N network would slow down to G speeds.&nbsp; With a dual band radio, you can have a 2.4 Ghz G network and a 5.8 Ghz N network acting independently of each other and adding a G device won't slow it down.&nbsp; For me, that was the deal maker for the Cisco 610N because my wife still has a first gen BlackBook and I still have plenty of devices (phones, and gaming consoles, for example) that haven't adopted the N standard yet.&nbsp; Apple also added something they call "Guest Networking" which they define thusly:</p><p><em>"Now you can set up a separate Wi-Fi network with a separate password for your visitors. Simply enable the new guest networking feature, and your guests can use the Internet but can't access other parts of your private network, such as your computers, printers, and attached hard drives."</em></p><p>Excellent idea.&nbsp; Honestly, even though the Airport Extreme Base Station has always been overpriced, the dual band option now puts the price in line with other offerings like the Cisco 610N which runs at around $149 on Amazon and $189 at Best Buy.</p><p>The Time Capsule also got the dual band radios and guest networking feature, and is still priced at $499 for 1 Terrabyte and $299 for 500 GBs.&nbsp; Still, in my opinion, a hair overpriced, but you're paying for convenience, I guess.</p><h1>Now it's your turn</h1><p>So here's the question.&nbsp; What do you guys think of the new updates?</p><p>Me?&nbsp; I'm okay with them.&nbsp; I won't be running out to the store to get anything they announced, but they're nice updates.&nbsp; I'm happy with my MBP and I may consider the Mini even though I think it's grossly overpriced because the Laptop as a Desktop experiment isn't working so well now that I have to take my Laptop to work every day and I have to set it back up at home no matter what so I can bring you all the latest and greatest Apple news!</p><p>Seriously, though.&nbsp; Anyone ordering?&nbsp; Now that we know nothing is in the pipeline (except for maybe a new iPhone and some refreshes to the iPod line) did this refresh put you over the top and make you take out the card and order something you were holding off on?</p>

[doogald]

My Mac Mini is about 15 months old, my iMac about 14 months, my Airport Extreme about 17 months (and I use it in bridge mode only anyway, and don't really need a 'guest' band radio), and I have no need for a Mac Pro. I do have only 20 GB free on my Mac Mini, so I'm thinking about hiring a certified tech to install a bigger hard disk in it, but we'll see.

So, nope, this won't change a thing, for me.

[Jeff Campbell]

I may be dipping into the wallet for a couple things. We have as our desktop one of the last PPC iMac G5s which we have needed to update for awhile now. I'm thinking a Mac Mini since we also have a MBP and a Macbook in the house that are used more often then the old PPC anyway. And it will free up some room on the desk since I can mount one of my collecting dust monitors to the wall and use my existing keyboard and mighty mouse with the mini.

I may also get the Airport Extreme due to the dual networks option since my 1TB Time Capsule keeps dropping the connection, still haven't figured that one out and it gets pretty annoying having to mess with it everytime I want to use the Apple TV (the TC is my n network).
:)

[crimsonsky]

Thanks to an unexpected sum of cash from my job, I went and bought the newest low end Mini yesterday and I'm HAPPY! The FW800 port means I can run my WD Half-T at 800 instead of 400. The extra USB port comes in handy. The increased graphics are nice. Finally a built-in SuperDrive and most of all the ability to run up to 4 gigs at higher bus speeds.

Even though my previous Mini (1.83 C2D model) is only a year old, I couldn't pass up the new Mini. I've ordered 4 gigs of RAM from Crucial and it should be here Friday. Can't wait. Even with only the stock 1 gig, it's definitely a peppier machine, although the page outs are horrific with such constrained RAM.

Even though I run this Mini wired, it's good to see that they finally included 802.11N in the Mini at last as well. Good job, Apple!

My son is going to be happy as well as he gets to inherit my "old" Mini. :D

BTW, the Mini's price point hasn't changed since the 1st PPC model. $599 and $799 have always been the Mini price points but you get more for your $$$ with each iteration. I've never considered the $799 much of a deal over the lower cost model which is why I've always opted for the cheaper one. I have 1.5 Terabytes of external storage hanging off my Mini and an external DVD writer and have always upped the RAM for way less money than Apple charges. (My 4 gigs from Crucial cost a whopping $65). Folks might be disappointed that the Mini isn't cheaper, but at least Apple is consistent in its pricing and offers more with each iteration.

[Dyvim]

I'm pretty happy with the updates, but won't be buying. The Mini refresh is welcome and long overdue. No complaints about the Mini pricing since it's always been $599+ and now you get a lot more for your money than you did 2 days ago. If they had refreshed the mini last year, I would have bought one. But this year, we're currently down 1 job so Apple purchases will have to wait at least until we're a dual income family again.

[Islanti]

I've already ordered one of the dual radio Extremes. I have two of the old ones running now extending my wireless. I can't justify replacing both but I don't need the guest network and 5.8GHz upstairs (as much) anyway.

I am also looking to pick up a Mini at some point in the next month but I can't decide what configuration makes the most sense. The $800 option is overpriced compared to a do-it-yourself job on the $600. The Mini isn't friendly to open, though. I'd really have liked to see a 500GB drive in the more expensive model. The 2GB of RAM should be sufficient for my needs (media server and kids computer) but more RAM is always nice and not terribly expensive. The CPU upgrade seems very pricey at $150. Of course that's not something I'd be doing later myself (unlike a drive or RAM bump). By then I'm up to almost $1000, though, which seems like a lot for the Mini vs. the low-end iMac.

Tough call.

[Jason Dunn]

I've been pondering a Mac Mini for a while, since it's the only type of Mac I can easily integrate into my current office setup, but the fact that it hadn't been updated in forever turned me off one. Now that is has, I can only scratch my head at the pricing of them. $729 CAD is the local price for the low-end Mac. $729 for a computer with 1 GB of RAM and a 120 GB hard drive? You couldn't buy a Windows PC or laptop with specs that bad if you tried. Everyone has told me that 1 GB of RAM just doesn't cut it, so tack another $50 on there to get it up to 2 GB and you've got a machine that's pushing $800.

I know it's not "fair" to compare Macs and PCs, but $599 CAD gets me an HP Pavilion Slimline, which while taller than the Mac Mini, is narrower, so it fits anywhere with a bit of vertical clearance. The Slimline comes with 3 GB of RAM, a 2.6 Ghz AMD X2 CPU, 320 GB hard drive, built-in memory card reader, a DVD burner, etc. Oh, and for $879 CAD it comes with a 20" LCD monitor.

It seems like Apple wants to maintain their "premium" brand even on the Mac Mini, which I think is unfortunate - if they relaxed that a bit on the low end, I think they'd make it easier for people to switch. It also seems like Apple is strict with their RAM segmentation - RAM is so cheap now, the Mini should come in 2GB and 4GB flavours - but instead Apple segments the 4 GB RAM for the 24" iMacs.

[doogald]

I think that Apple wants to remain a premium brand product - they will never be able to compete completely on price, and the amount of cash that they have on their balance sheet and their ever-increasing market share in the last decade suggests that it's not a stupid plan on their part, either.

They are a BMW or Mercedes in this market, and they continue to say that they will sacrifice market share for adequate profits. The good news about this business plan is that when it stops working, you have plenty of room to cut your prices to pick up some more volume, while a company that is already competing at the edge of profitable margins is obviously constrained.

I greatly prefer Macs now, and would never go back. The added value to me is worth the upgrade in price. I can see why others would feel otherwise, though.