Who said Apple's event was all about the little things? Apple just unveiled its first redesign to its iMacdesktop in three years. The new all-in-one makes the widely expected leap to Intel's Ivy Bridge Core i5 and Core i7 processors, but also represents a much leaner and meaner replacement for the 2009-era template -- its edges just 5mm thick, and it's constructed with "friction stir welding" as well as a gapless, less reflective display that's laminated together with the glass. Screen sizes remain the same and include both a 21.5-inch, 1080p model and a 27-inch, 2,560 x 1,400 model -- sorry, no Retina displays this year. They share 720p-capable front cameras with dual mics as well as NVIDIA's GeForce 600-era graphics, up to 3TB of spinning storage (or a 768GB SSD) and a maximum 32GB of RAM.
[Source: Engadget]
Apple's smallest desktop, the Mac Mini, is getting a spec update just one year after its last refresh. Apple's rolling out two new Mac Minis with varying storage and processing capabilities -- first a $599 model with 2.5GHz spec with 4GB of RAM and 500GB HDD, and second a $999 server model with a 2.3GHz Core i7 with 4GB of RAM and dual 1TB HDDs.
[Source: Engadget]
If the 15-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display was feeling lonely up there on its high-resolution pedestal, it needn't any longer. As expected, Apple just announced a 13-inch version to keep it company. The 2,560 x 1,600 resolution means that 13-inch screen offers a ppi of 232, marginally more than its larger brother's 226. While this might not be the primary focus of the day, it will definitely be one of the more hotly anticipated reveals from the company's San Jose event this afternoon. In the meantime, keepyour retinas locked right here for our hands on.
[Source: Engadget]
Apple CEO Tim Cook took to a San Jose theater stage today to unveil a new version of the company's literature-based digital storefront, iBooks. Cook says it integrates better with iCloud, allows for quote sharing on Facebook and Twitter, and has support for "over 40 languages." It'll be available today on the iOS App Store.
Techie Buzz posts a gallery of photos from the California Theatre in San Jose where Apple will be hosting their Media Event. The choice of the California Theatre is a bit unusual for Apple. According to Mercury News, Apple last used this venue to introduce new iPod products back in 2004 and 2005.
[Source: MacRumors]
When Seagate launched its PC/Mac Backup Plus offering that could safeguard not only your folders but your Facebook or Twitter content, too, it seemed like a nice idea. But conspicuously missing from the Mac side of that equation was a USB 3.0 port to hustle transfers along at a much less pedestrian 5 Gbps -- likely because until recently, no Macs directly supported it. Now, Seagate has launched a USB 3.0 version of the device for those shiny new Macbook Pro Retina and Air models that pack it, while offering the option to upgrade to Thunderbolt or FireWire 800 "as the need presents itself." Prices go from $110 for the 500GB model up to $180 for the 3TB version -- check the PR after the break to see the entire range.
[Source: Engadget]
The popular Kindle Fire and Nexus 7 are about to enter their biggest challenge yet, the iPad Mini. Apple have sent out invitations telling people that they have “got a little more to show you” – a smaller tablet. Likely to be between seven and eight inches in length, they hope it will help capture even more of the market share.
Already 70% of the April to June quarter was controlled by Apple but the popular one hand tablets still hold some value to the company. Steve Jobs had questioned the idea of a smaller iPad, but with more and more people taking up mobile phone recycling or enjoying a product you can hold in one hand there is a gap there for them. Let’s take a look at the likely features:
Before the product is actually launched it can be hard to distinguish what will be the top features. But, with mobile phone recycling on the rise and tablets likely to get better specs and battery it is a step that Apple needs to take. Their halo effect on products will mean that this is useful for market share, especially as the iPod seems to be getting phased out.
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The popular Kindle Fire and Nexus 7 are about to enter their biggest challenge yet, the iPad Mini. Apple have sent out invitations telling people that they have “got a little more to show you” – a smaller tablet. Likely to be between seven and eight inches in length, they hope it will help capture even more of the market share.
Already 70% of the April to June quarter was controlled by Apple but the popular one hand tablets still hold some value to the company. Steve Jobs had questioned the idea of a smaller iPad, but with more and more people taking up mobile phone recycling or enjoying a product you can hold in one hand there is a gap there for them. Let’s take a look at the likely features:
Before the product is actually launched it can be hard to distinguish what will be the top features. But, with mobile phone recycling on the rise and tablets likely to get better specs and battery it is a step that Apple needs to take. Their halo effect on products will mean that this is useful for market share, especially as the iPod seems to be getting phased out.
Apple and Samsung’s legal fight continued on the world stage this morning, where the Britain Court of Appeal upheld a previous ruling that Samsung’s Galaxy Tab does not infringe on the iPad’s patents because it is not “as cool.” Reuters reported that after losing the appeal this morning, Apple has been instructed by the court to apologize to Samsung by running ads on its website and in newspapers saying Samsung did not infringe on patents in at least Arial 14 font.
[Source: 9to5Mac - Click here to read the full story]
Apple will double its current built-to-order RAM configurations for the upcoming Mac minis, and perhaps the new iMacs according to sources familiar with the upcoming product releases. The current version of the iMac includes four RAM slots, and Apple’s top RAM configuration is four 4GB chips for a total of 16GB of RAM. The new iMac, however, will be sold with an options for 16GB of RAM across two chips (2 X 8GB) of RAM. Assuming that the new iMac retains 4 slots, users will be able to buy up to 32GB of iMac RAM from Apple. However, if not, it is still notable that Apple will be selling iMac RAM in pieces of 8GB chips for the first time. Up until this point, you could buy and use 8GB RAM chips from third parties for both the Mac mini and iMac.
[Source: 9to5Mac - Click here to read the full story]
Rumors suggest Apple's upcoming October 23 event will also bring a much-needed refresh of the company's iMac and Mac mini line of computers. Adding some credence to the rumor is the observation from AppleInsider that iMac inventory is declining in some Apple online stores in Europe. Both the German and UK stores now have ship times of 1-3 days on their two iMac models. It's fair to note that this is not a widespread decline in supply, so it's possible this is an isolated incident, and the timing is coincidental.
[Source: TUAW]