Apple Introduced New iMac

Apple Introduced New iMac

Presenting at an event for invited media members in Cupertino, California, Steve Jobs today
introduced Apple's latest iMac models. As expected, the thinner new case is made of aluminum, and the 17-inch model has been dropped, while Apple also debuted a thin, new Bluetooth 2.0 wireless keyboard
(with special controls for brightness, Expose, Dashboard and media control).

 
Pricing starts at $1199 for the low-end, 20-inch model, with the new 24-inch iMac priced at $1799, and they're said to be available today, though the Apple Store lists "3-5 business days" for availability.

 
The new 20- and 24-inch displays are glossy, driven by ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro graphics circuits with 256 MB of video RAM in the middle ($1499) and top models, ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT with 128MB of video RAM in the $1199 model.
Along with the usual Gigabit Ethernet and USB 2.0 ports, both new iMacs include FireWire 800 ports. Their Core 2 Duo processors range from 2.0 to 2.4 GHz and support up to 4 GB of memory. There's also the option of a 2.8-GHz Core 2 Extreme processor in a $2299 24-inch model.

 
Jobs also announced iLife '08, with major enhancements for iPhoto, including "Events" that help automatically organize your images, plus a feature that allows iPhones to email photos to a ".Mac" web gallery. It's priced at $79 and bundled with new Macs, available today, according to Apple.

 
iMovie gets a major overhaul with AVCHD support and export to YouTube, iPod/iPhone, Apple TV and ".Mac" web pages.

 
Apple's $99.99 ".Mac" service [$79.99 at Amazon] expands to 10 GB of standard storage and integrates with the new features of iLife '08 (e.g. Web Galleries of photos and movies, iPhone picture uploads).

 
Apple is also breathing some new life into its $79.99 iWork application suite, finally adding a spreadsheet, which it calls "Numbers", in iWork '08 to go with the Keynote presentation program and Pages for word processing and layout.

 
Last, but not least, Apple says it has updated the Mac Mini today with better processors, although many expected the company to drop it, given its long lack of attention, and there was no press release about the update.

 
[SlashGear,
Engadget,
and Macworld provided live updates from the event.


Apple today unveiled an all new all-in-one iMac line featuring gorgeous 20- and 24-inch widescreen displays encased in elegant and professional aluminum and glass enclosures. The entire new iMac line features the latest Intel Core 2 Duo processors and a new, ultra-thin aluminum Apple Keyboard, built-in iSight video camera for video conferencing and iLife '08, making it the ultimate digital lifestyle desktop computer for both consumers and professionals. The 20-inch iMac now starts at just $1,199, $300 less than the previous 20-inch model, and the 24-inch iMac starts at just $1,799, $200 less than the previous 24-inch model. [...]

The new 20-inch 2.0 GHz iMac, for a suggested retail price of $1,199 (US), includes:

20-inch widescreen LCD display;
2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor;
1GB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM expandable to 4GB;
a slot-load 8x SuperDrive® with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW);
ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT with 128MB GDDR3 memory;
built-in iSight video camera;
built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking & Bluetooth 2.0+EDR;
250GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 7200 rpm;
mini-DVI out (adapters for DVI, VGA and Composite/S-Video sold separately);
built-in stereo speakers and microphone; and
the new Apple Keyboard, Mighty Mouse and infrared Apple Remote.


The new 20-inch 2.4 GHz iMac, for a suggested retail price of $1,499 (US), includes:

20-inch widescreen LCD display;
2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor;
1GB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM expandable to 4GB;
a slot-load 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW);
ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO with 256MB GDDR3 memory;
built-in iSight video camera;
built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking & Bluetooth 2.0+EDR;
320GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 7200 rpm;
mini-DVI out (adapters for DVI, VGA and Composite/S-Video sold separately);
built-in stereo speakers and microphone; and
the new Apple Keyboard, Mighty Mouse and infrared Apple Remote.


The new 24-inch 2.4 GHz iMac, for a suggested retail price of $1,799 (US), includes:
24-inch widescreen LCD display;
2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor;
1GB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM expandable to 4GB;
a slot-load 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW);
ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO with 256MB GDDR3 memory;
built-in iSight video camera;
built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n wireless networking & Bluetooth 2.0+EDR;
320GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 7200 rpm;
mini-DVI out (adapters for DVI, VGA and Composite/S-Video sold separately);
built-in stereo speakers and microphone; and
the new Apple Keyboard, Mighty Mouse and infrared Apple Remote.

Apple today introduced iLife '08, the most significant upgrade ever to Apple's award- winning suite of digital lifestyle applications, featuring a major new version of iPhoto and a completely reinvented iMovie. iPhoto '08 automatically organizes photo libraries into Events that let users more easily manage their growing photo collections, and iMovie '08 introduces an entirely new way for users to quickly make movies and share them online. Both iPhoto and iMovie integrate seamlessly with the new .Mac Web Gallery, Apple's new service for .Mac members to instantly create and host stunning online websites for their photos and videos. iLife '08 also features iWeb '08, with live web widgets such as Google Maps that let users create even more dynamic websites, and GarageBand '08, with its new Magic GarageBand feature that makes it fun and easy for both musicians and non-musicians to create great sounding songs. [...]

Apple today announced significant enhancements to its .Mac online service, highlighted by the debut of .Mac Web Gallery, a new feature for sharing photos and movies on the Internet. .Mac Web Gallery lets members easily share photos and movies directly from iLife '08 with anyone on a Mac, PC or iPhone in stunning quality. In addition, .Mac Web Gallery visitors can download high quality images for printing and even contribute photos using a standard web browser or email. Other new .Mac features include a tenfold increase in .Mac storage to 10GB, support for personal domains for iWeb websites and enhancements to .Mac Mail. [...]

Apple today introduced iWork '08, a significant upgrade to Apple's productivity software suite featuring new versions of Pages and Keynote word processing and presentation applications, and introducing an innovative new spreadsheet application called "Numbers." Numbers introduces the concept of intelligent tables on a flexible canvas, a new approach that makes it easy to organize information, create calculations, analyze results and make spreadsheets look as great as they work. Pages '08 now features distinct modes for streamlined word processing and flexible page layout, a new contextual format bar and change tracking, and Keynote '08 now includes text effects, transitions and themes that help users easily compose spectacular presentations, and Smart Builds with easy-to-set-up A-to-B animations that make impressive animations easy for anyone to create.

Source : macintouch.com
www.apple.com