Apple released a bunch of new products today at Macworld 2006, in San Francisco. Here’s the scoop on all the new products, including the intel-based iMac and MacBook Pro, and the new revisions to iLife and iWork.
New Software
iLife ‘06
- iPhoto
- Can now support 250,000 photos
- Full screen photo editing.
- Can now create and print Calendars and Cards (greeting and post) in addition to Books (which are much improved)
- iMovie
- new animated motion themes, that can be used for photos and movies.
- iDVD
- Widescreen menus and menu creation
- “Magic iDVD” - grab a theme, add a movies, pictures, etc. and it will automatically create a DVD of them.
- Support for 3rd party external DVD burners
- Garageband
- Podcast studio, with nice features for audio and video creation such as sound effects, ability to add pictures, etc.
- Supports recording from iChat for remote interviews
- new JamPack instruments - World Music
- iWeb
- Lets you build beautiful websites easily
- 1 click publishing to a .Mac account
- Can be used to create web pages, photo slideshows, videos, blogs, podcasts, and with full RSS support
iWork 06
- 3D Charts and tables with calculations
- Masking, and freeform shapes
- Lots of new templates
New Hardware
iPod Radio Remote
- You can hook this into your iPod nano or video, and you can use the iPod’s screen to control the radio.
- Also recieves song and station information that is sent over the airwaves
iMac
- Exactly the same form factor, and prices than the previous G5 iMac
- Uses the newIntel Core Duo - dual core processor running at 1.83 Ghz or 2.0 Ghz, which is 2-3 faster than it’s G5 predecessor.
- Can use the monitor out port to drive another DVI or VGA monitor, unlike previous iMacs that can (out of the box) only mirror their display to the external display.
- Shipping today.
MacBook Pro
- 15.4″ screen, with 1440×900 pixel resolution, as bright as current cinema displays
- MagSafe power connector - easily disconnects if the power cord is accidentally pulled
- Comes with a built in iSight camera, for videoconferencing
- Has FrontRow media experience, with IR remote control
- Serial ATA hard disk interface, even faster than before
- ExpressCard 34 slot - this is for newer PCI Express + USB 2.0 expansion cards. The version in the MacBook Pro is narrower than the current PCMCIA standard (there’s also an ExpressCard 54 slot which supports wider cards).
- Only has Firewire 400 - the previous 15″ PowerBook has Firewire 800
- Shipping in February.
Also, both the new iMac and MacBook Pro use a PCI Express system architecture, and have Radeon X1600 graphics processors - which is a big improvement from the previous Radeon 9700 or X600 graphics in previous PowerBooks and iMacs respectively.
The new intel-based macs also use Rosetta technology, which allows existing programs to run on the intel-based Macs with a minimal performance reduction.
If you want to see a streaming video of the keynote speach by Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO, you can find it Here.
As always, Artisan Computer Services is ready to support Apple’s newest products, and if you have any questions, feel free to Contact Us. Thanks!
