News, info, and opinion by Mac users, for Mac users.

August 7, 2007

events

Expectations from the upcoming Apple event

Posted Aug. 7, ’07, 7:24 AM PT by Derik DeLong
Category | Apple » Events

Steve Jobs We’re mere hours away from an honest to goodness Mac event. This isn’t an iPhone event (thank Heavens). This isn’t an iPod event (it’s sad, but I’d take one of those just to avoid the iPhone for a bit). Given that this is a special event, it shouldn’t be a rehash either. We’re going to see new Mac product. It’s MacUser’s bread and butter. Like any Apple event, the coverage wouldn’t be complete with a rundown of speculative expectation.

  • The iMac hasn’t had an update in so long, Apple might as well bundle a white beard to go with the computer. It’s starting to preach to the young’ins about the day when desktops were the choice of most consumers. The form factor is also lacking that freshness we all expect out of Apple. It seems pretty likely we’ll see both a hardware refresh and a form factor update.

  • The Mac mini is the most neglected Mac perhaps ever. It’s the only Mac left with a Core Duo processor. It has its price hiked with the addition of Intel processors and it hasn’t gone back down despite age. It’s time Apple either update it or put it out to pasture.

  • Putting the Mac mini out to pasture opens the door for a return of the cube. It could serve as that mid-level Mac model that so many users have been whining about for so long. It could also serve as an excuse for Apple to drop the mini all together. Between you, me, and the entire business world, Apple hates serving the low end of the market. It’s a losing game.

  • The MacBooks and MacBook Pros have gotten loving, the latter more recently. The MacBooks could definitely use even updated integrated graphics boost, but with the way they’re selling, I don’t expect Apple to be jumping at the prospect of adding cost to the laptop low end.

  • That serves as the perfect segue back into my favorite rumor (and Merlin Mann’s as well), the return of a tiny laptop. The death of the 12” model was a sad day for me. I sit here still typing away on a 12” G4 Powerbook. I love the form factor and despite all the extras in the MacBook, I’d still the smallest possible laptop. Travelers and dual machine owners alike appreciate the smaller form factor. Please, please, please let this be it.

  • The Mac Pros may be long in the tooth, but it’s still a very capable machine. Outside a minor revision and some new options (like an optional Blu-Ray burner), I think this won’t be the venue for the powerhouse.

  • I wrote earlier about the possibility of .Mac getting upgrade. I’m hoping they finally enable IDLE support on their mail servers, vastly improved storage capacity, and finally a server side spam filter (that doesn’t just bounce things aggressively, like my Netflix and Vonage notifications).

  • Finally, it seems in the rush to push out the rumors, no one is willing to step out on a limb and take a wild, completely unsupported guess. How about this? Apple releases Leopard early and announces immediate availability. The .Mac maintenance could simply be changes to support already announced new .Mac features included with Leopard. Ok. That was silly, but so totally worth putting it out there.

As always, the comments are open and ready for you to vote on the theories I’ve put forth, or suggest your own (go ahead and say that Apple’s finally going to take on Office proper).


1 Comments

jayH said:

i think the new iMacs are so expected that apple might just not announce them hahaha

anyway, early release o leopard would be nice... andan excuse for me to buy my new laptop finally...

i'd hate for the mac mini to die. i think it's an incredible machine, although slow. so a speed bump and price reduction would be welcome, and it could co exist with the cube, version 2008 (please make the darn thing fast)

i would also love for apple to drop shared graphics memory from it's entire line. hate that.

August 7, 2007 8:11 AM

Leave a comment

 



IDG IDG NETWORK:   CIO   Computerworld   CSO   GamePro   GamerHelp   IDG Connect   Infoworld  
   JavaWorld   LinuxWorld   Macworld   Network World   PC World   PC World Canada   Playlist   Techworld