New iMac Announced

MrGHemp writes "The new iMac with a flat panel has been offically announced, and can be seen on the Apple website. According to Steve Jobs the top 3 things we asked for were put into this new design. 1. Flat Panel screen 2. G4 processor 3. Superdrive (DVD burner on one of 3 models)... Apple also announced other new products like a 14' display on some iBooks, and iPhoto - the iTunes of digital photos." It's definitely unique looking ;) Update: Slashdot author ChrisD was there and has a report too.

Linux and the Macintosh are very different things. I don't want to bore anyone with poor analogies, but when Macintosh has glitz, Linux has power. This isn't about Linux though, it just kept on striking me how much Linux lacks in the desire department.

Steve Jobs is terrific at just that, Creating Desire. This is no surprise to us, for sure, but nothing drives it home as much as sitting in the audience and watching him speak. I could tell you how wonderful an orator he is, and how groovy his products are, but I really want to hear what the Slashdot user communtiy has to say about that. I want to talk about what Apple is doing technically.

First: The new iMac is very attractive. It's cool, it's neat. It will be a very popular machine. It's got a good price/feature spectrum and it looks like a pretty decent machine for the consumer. It isn't, in the end, a machine for the linux die-hard, but that's okay. It's slick, it ships with a bunch of very decent apps to manage your digital media. I want one, it's a cool machine. I don't know what I'd do with it (which is the problem), but it's cool looking. It's not particularly a good deal, I mean, you can pick up 200$ 15" tft displays at Fry's and lets get real, the G4 (Excepting the velocity engine stuff) isn't that fast of a chip at any available speed compared to the x86 world. But boy, this is one slick machine. But we know that already from the previous story. I do worry about it overheating, as I did flash back to the cube's cracking problems a bit.

Second: Photoshop for OS X will be coming out "soon". That was the big news. They had a very impressive working demo, I hope to learn more tomorrow on the expo floor.

Third: iPhoto is a decent cataloging program, and one designed to be used easily and generate more revenue streams for apple in the form of booklets and print costs. But it looks very polished and useful.

Superdrive: You'll see the superdrive in the new imac finally, which is nice. Note that this is not the superdrive that everyone remembers from the 80s' :-)

That's about all. The keynote was terrific, but in the end, not so outstanding. I'll post pictures soon. I'm sure a lot of /. regulars will be doing the same. More Tomorrow!

it's a breast implant dammit!@!@#!

[Wakko Warner]

that's all i needs to say.

Pro users

[centron]

All those folks wanting a new G4 or G5 tower will have to wait. The iLamp is almost as fast and costs less.

Here's hoping

[NiftyNews]

Here's hoping that with all the R&D and user testing involved, this one will finally come with a decent mouse...

My thoughts on the whole thing

[sebi]

There where times when the Keynote really blue me away. After it was over I did feel a little cheated though. iPhoto looks like a great application. I downloaded it allready, but didn't have a chance to try it out yet. You can get it here [apple.com]. Download size is 13.4 MB.

The new iMac looks amazing and has great specs. It is "Flat out cool". A bigger screen iBook is another great addition to the apple product line. What worries me, is that there have been no changes to the professional line. The PowerBooks got a Combo drive just a couple of weeks ago so that is okay. But having PowerMacs and iMacs with the same processor and more or less identical clock speeds seems like a strange move to me.

This is beyond the rumour sites. All of them that I looked at swore that the gigahertz barrier was to be broken. At this Keynote it wasn't. And I don't think that Apple would just put faster PowerMacs in stores without having at least one Photoshop shootout on stage first.

It was an okay keynote I suppose. But after all that hype some people seem to have expected iTransporter, iEndofworldhunger with iWorldpeace thrown in. And all that running 3 ghz.

sebi

Looks dorky, but makes a great hat!

[Anonymous Coward]

http://sakots.pekori.jp/imgboard/imgs/img200201071 62803.jpg [pekori.jp]

Cute, but ...

[d-e-w]

I keep expecting it to start hopping around like the Pixer desk lamp! ;)

iPhoto - Best...

[Anonymous Coward]

pr0n organizer ever. And now I can turn my favorite pr0n into a real book! With captions! Thank you, Apple!

at least...

[Gehenna_Gehenna]

it didn't turn out like this [bbspot.com]

timecanada

[sinserve]

On my birthday, a representitive of TimeCanada
stoped me as I was about to enter my apartment.
"Don't be alarmed" he said, "Your friends are in
there, awaiting to surprise you."

You're going to be waiting a while...

[Doktor Memory]

Until Apple makes a 1.5Ghz G5, they won't get me as part of thier market share.

You're going to be waiting a while, since Apple doesn't make CPUs of any speed -- that's Motorola and IBM's job.

Re:it's a breast implant dammit!@!@#!

[mosch]

This is not a troll, the damned thing looks like a plastic tit with a flat panel attached. It's a reasonably cool machine in a ludicrously gay housing.

Re:Cooling this thing?

[banky]

the answer should be obvious:

iCe.

Thank you, be sure and tip your waitress.

Re:Some points to actually owning one?

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, you can do all your work with the power of last weeks $2,499 tower w/o monitor. But the most important thing, the thing the iMac is for, is that you kids, wife, & parents can use it to share memories and enhance their life. You can use it for doing things not possible to the average consumer a few years ago. If all you need in a computer is a calculator, then buy a PC and know how to troubleshoot it. If you want to use the computer as an extension of the mind to visually express your thoughts and listen/record to music and view/create movies in a fun way, get the iMac. The iMac is not for everyone anymore, maybe next year it will be again.

Re:it's a breast implant dammit!@!@#!

[nytes]

Hmmm, that would explain that quote from Steve Jobs about wanting to reach out an touch it.

Re:14' display!!!

[Tintin]

So if you play a DVD of This Is Spinal Tap on it, will the Stonehenge monument come out to be the right size?

Re:Overhyped?

[Anonymous Coward]

As I mentioned above, Photosuite does all of this except for the hard cover book. And I actually found a version 3 copy for $1.99 at Best Buy. I also remember there being a rebate on version 4. Photosuite also does Mosaics which is pretty cool.

Re:Mount on wall

[Lars T.]

And when you eject a disk - bluuurp, drop.

Re:it's a breast implant dammit!@!@#!

[plover]

He's right. It's the iTit.

I had Apple figured all wrong. I always thought they were somewhat decent engineers with a creative flair. People defended the G3 by saying "Look, it has doors! Ooo, how novel! How much better than a PC!". Then came the iMac with the least functional cabinet I've ever seen, and those same people said "Look at the styling! Ooo, how cool! How much better than a PC!"

There's no defending this design. As Cartman might say, it's hella-gay.

The really cool thing about the new iMac...

[Brian_Ellenberger]

Is the fact that it, based on the pictures, it doesn't seem to require any form of input! No more clunky keyboards or mice.

I'm guessing all that futuristic talk from Jobs was about the new telepathic interface. :)

Brian Ellenberger

Re:it's a breast implant dammit!@!@#!

[Anonymous Coward]

That's why I'm buying two of them!

Steve Jobs is a genius.

Is it just me

[ReidMaynard]

Is it just me...?
(1) these things won't stack very well on the "bring out yer dead" carts wheeled about during downsizing...

(2) I afraid of the ($0.32 cost) $199.95 monitor arm after a few months and it gets a *little* loose, and *slowly* drifts down...slowly...like a glacier...

Jumbo LCD screens

[Anonymous Coward]

Apple also announced other new products like a 14' display on some iBooks...

Apple Press Release for January 7, 2002 - For immediate and worldwide distribution

Today, Apple is pleased to announce the newest members of the iBoook families featuring the world's largest LCD displays. Thanks to our patented Slashdot-typo ® technology, these new notebooks feature screens 152 inches larger than any PC laptop's display and 144 inches larger than any desktop's screen. The best part is that one can buy these new notebooks for less than $3000. So don't bother upgrading your big-screen television and home theatre system for the soon-to-be-released The Lord of the Rings DVD. Just bring your new iBook into your favorite room, unfold your screen, insert the DVD and you'll enjoy the ultimate home viewing experience. Viewing your favorite web sites will also be an unparalleled experience as CowboyNeal appears life-size and in living color, make sure you take your Dramamine before viewing the biggest and fiercest animated pop-up ads you'll ever see. Our next version of iBooks will be even more amazing, featuring a drive capable of playing 3' and 5' CDs and DVDs as standard equipment.

Re:it's like the lottery!

[jimhill]

So if you gather three of these on a store shelf and select a box, then the clerk opens one of the other two and shows you that it does NOT have a burner, should you buy the one you're holding or take the final box to the register?

Ahhhhh, I see the use...

[gnovos]

The REAL use for this baby would be to mount it upside down from the top of the shelf on my cubicle. Combined with a wireless keyboard and mouse, and my desk will be so incredibly CLEAN!

Re:It's still FUGLY

[Bearpaw]

... like many other Apple products, it's very 3 years ago.

Well, given that the "designs" -- if you want to call them -- of Dell et al are very 10 years ago, I guess that means that Apple is 7 years ahead of the pack!

Re:Am I Now Immune...

[Andy_R]

Can video be sent wirelessly?

Just imagine if this were possible! We could just put the screens in our living rooms, and people could broadcast all kinds of entertainment to us! It would be a sort of Radio but with moving pictures!

Ah, we can but dream of a time when such marvels might be possible!

Re:Nice Stuff...

[4mn0t1337]

I just bought a Sony Cyber Shot DSC P50 for $300 (for my girlfriend, actually)

You bought a camera by trading your girlfriend???
Dude, if you are one of the /. people that actually has one you should know that they are worth a heck of a lot more than just $300.

Re:time to sell volkswaggon golf

[Emil Brink]

It's Volkswagen [vw.com], d0rk. One 'g', and an 'e', not an 'o'. Jazz up your desk with a German dictionary, or something. Mumble.

Re:Is it just me

[himself]

>
> I afraid of the ($0.32 cost) $199.95 monitor
> arm after a few months and it gets a *little*
> loose, and *slowly* drifts down...slowly...
> like a glacier...
>
"That's OK honey, it happens to a lot of displays..."

Re:time to sell volkswaggon golf

[BRO_HAM]

As a professional designer, I spell it like that intentionally to add character and individuality to my writing style :)

As a designer, I have this drive to constantly set myself apart from the rest and do things completely differently. For instance - black, square-framed glasses are an essential to giving off that "designer image". It's hard for people to take you seriously as a designer when you're looking at them with naked, square-frameless eyes.

You might be saying: "well if all designers are wearing these square-framed glasses, you aren't too different are you?", which is a valid point, but it's all about what makes YOU feel different and individual. If all designers want to drive the same 'volkswagen', compute on an apple, wear the same glasses, talk the same talk, etc - it doesn't mean they're trying to fit into one particular stereotype - it means they're trying to be individual at the group level - don't you get it - it's artistic that we all look the same, and therefore - it's different. duh.

They should have called it...

[irregular_hero]

Judging by its looks alone, I'm wagering that someone in Apple's marketing department MUST have suggested calling it the "iStalk"...

iMaLamp!

[bentobox]

Pixar must be proud.

Mounts on a Ginger / Segway !

[billstewart]

That's the real secret of this device, is that it was designed with mounting brackets to attach on top of the Ginger aka Segway scooter. Just think about what you want to compute, and it'll go do that, as well as displaying the output of your digital video camera so you can see where you're going on the screen.

that imac reminds me of something

[Daspek]

does the product's pic at apple.com [apple.com] remind anyone else of the south park episode, 'cartman gets an anal probe?' in particular, the scene in which a satellite portrudes from cartman's ass.

"cartman, there's a 15-inch active matrix lcd screen sticking out of your ass!"
"sure, you guys, whatever."

Re:New iMac

[AnimeFreak]

That is "Aqua," it is a hell of a way different than CDE.

I like how the Aqua bar "inflates" the icons on the bar whenever you put your mouse over it.

Re:That's not a benchmark

[NilObject]

"Another activity that can't be performed, would be using a mouse with more than one button."

Uhh... Damnit, why's this Microsoft 4 button mouse here if I can't use it with Macs... Wtf!!! What's that printer doing too!?!? And the scanner, dot matrix printer, mp3 player, cd-burner, and hard drive dangling off my USB chain!?!? Or that TV screen mirroring my DVD movies... What's going on?!? Macs are supposed to be useless!

And oh crap! Look out! There's the webpages I've made, the magazine I run, the relational database I made for the magazine, or those apps I've written, or even the giant spreadsheets I've made!!! Look out! Well shit... Why do I have a 802.11 connection?!? And then there's the upgraded HD, the 4 hours of DVD watching on battery, my instant messengers, and... Games?!?! Deus Ex, Myth 3, Quake 3, UT, Oni, Survivor, Rogue Spear, The Sims, Tony Hawk, Baldur's Gate II, Red Faction, Giants: Citizen Kabuto, etc etc etc...

And darnit, why do I have UNIX under the hood!?!? With Apache serving some personal pages, I must be stupid! Damn Macs! They're useless!

Really, list ONE task that the Mac can perform. One useful task. Remember, Macs are useless.