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By Bob LeVitus
On Tuesday Apple announced two new Mac models—an iMac
with a 20-inch flat panel display and a dual 1.8 GHz processor
Power Mac—and lowered the price of the entry level
1.6 GHz single processor Power Mac G5 to $1,799, $200 less
than at its introduction last August. Free upgrades to new,
faster, G5-optimized versions of Final Cut Pro, Shake, and
DVD Studio Pro became available Tuesday as well.
The new 20-inch iMac includes
the largest flat-panel display ever offered in an all-in-one
desktop computer and offers twice as much screen real estate
as the 15-inch iMac. The 20-inch widescreen display, with
a native resolution of 1680-by-1050, is ideal for tasks
such as video editing, creating or watching DVDs or using
any application with multiple windows open at once. Better
still, this size allows you to work on two full pages side-by-side
in page layout or graphics applications.
Apple’s press release featured this statement from
Phil Schiller, the senior vice president of Worldwide Product
Marketing: "The new iMac builds upon the revolutionary,
all-in-one, adjustable design that remains unmatched in
the industry. By offering a huge, gorgeous 20-inch widescreen
display, Apple has once again raised the bar on what customers
can expect from an all-in-one desktop."
I wanted to know more so I got Phil on the horn late Tuesday
afternoon and asked if the white half-globe iMac base was
larger on the 20-inch model than on the 17-inch or 15-inch.
It seemed to me it would have to be, but Phil tells me it’s
exactly the same size, though some additional weight was
added in order to counterbalance the heavier display. The
biggest challenge, he said, was re-engineering the articulated
neck that connects the display to the base, so you can adjust
the height or angle of the larger display effortlessly.
Before I hung up, Phil tossed me one last zinger: “The
20-inch iMac is an innovative breakthrough product—it’s
better, faster, and has a larger flat-panel display than
any other consumer PC.”
Now for the heavier metal: The new dual
processor 1.8 GHz Power Mac G5 replaces the short-lived
single 1.8 GHz processor Power Mac G5 and costs just $2,499,
which is just $100 more than the single processor model
cost before its untimely demise. At the same time the price
of the entry-level single processor 1.6 GHz Power Mac G5
was reduced from $1,999 to $1,799.
"Our customers told us loud and clear that they love
dual processors, so now two of the three Power Mac G5 models
feature lightning-fast dual processors," said Greg
Joswiak, Apple's vice president of Hardware Product Marketing.
"And with the entry level model now starting at just
$1,799, the Power Mac G5 lineup is more affordable than
ever."
To recap, the new iMac lineup includes three models. The
20 and 17-inch models have PowerPC G4 processors running
at 1.25 GHz; the 15-inch model has a G4 running at 1.0 GHz.
All three models include 256MB of 333 MHz DDR SDRAM and
an 80GB Ultra ATA/100 hard disk drive running at 7200 rpm.
The Power Mac G5 lineup still includes three models: A dual
processor 2.0 GHz, a dual processor 1.8 GHz, and a single
processor 1.6 GHz. All three offer memory expansion up to
8GB. And both new models, of course, ship with Apple’s
latest system release, Mac OS X version 10.3 “Panther.”
If you’re in the market for a new Mac, there have
never more excellent choices, nor have prices been lower,
than they are today.
Nice work (again), Apple.
20-inch iMac,
S.R.P. $2,199.
Dual 1.8 GHz Power Mac G5. S.R.P. $2,499.
Apple Computer, Inc. Cupertino, California
www.apple.com
Bob LeVitus
is a leading authority on Mac OS and the author of 41 books,
including The
Little iTunes Book and
Mac OS X for Dummies, 2nd Edition. E-mail comments to
doctormac@boblevitus.com.
Copyright © 2003 Bob LeVitus
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