Apple has announced enough new Macs to merit a keynote from, well, from whoever does them these days. Instead, all we get is a press release. Here we run down the spec-bumped desktop machines. Those of you who recently bought MacBooks can breathe easy — no changes to the notebook lines have been made today. UPDATE: Yes they have. The $2500, 15" MacBook Pro gets a faster 2.66GHz processor and the option to upgrade to 2.93GHz for an extra $300.
iMac
First we have the new iMac. The leaked specs we posted yesterday appear to be dead on: One 20” and three 24” models, with Intel Core 2 Duo (not quad) processors ranging from 2.66GHz to a blistering 3.06 GHz. The machines ship with either 2GB or 4GB RAM and can be upgraded to 8GB.
All the iMacs now have the faster NVIDIA graphics — the two cheaper models have GeForce 9400M integrated graphics and the GeForce GT 120 with 256MB memory and the GeForce GT 130 with 512MB. Needless to say, these are some fast machines. Otherwise things remain much the same, except for a lowering of prices: the 24” iMac now starts at a reasonable $1500. At the top end you’ll pay $2200, but this machine will out perform even fairly recent Mac Pros.
Mac Mini
Also rumored was the Mac Mini, and the leaked specs are again accurate, right down to the photograph we saw detailing its five (count ‘em!) USB ports. Apple is touting this as a green machine, calling it “The world’s most energy-efficient desktop computer” and at rest it apparently sips just 13 Watts.
That’s good news for the whales and the rain forests, but even better news for the home cinema buff — low power means that the fans stay off, which means the Mac Mini stays quiet. And home cinema is where this thing is aimed: The back sports two kinds of display outputs — Mini DVI and MiniDisplayPort. It also has FireWire 800 in there.
Inside, the differences between the the two models is slight. Both have a 2.0 GHz processor, both have the new NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics and both have a SuperDrive. They only differ on memory size (1GB vs. 2GB), hard drive size (120GB vs. 320GB) and graphics memory (128MB vs. 256MB). They’ll cost you $600 or $800.
Mac Pro
Finally we have the new Mac Pro, which features Intel’s latest Nehalem processor. This can be had in quad-core or 8-core variants. Both models come with NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 cards with 512MB. Memory is either 3GB or 6GB and both come with a 640GB HD and the display options have grown to Mini DisplayPort and dual-link DVI.
But the Mac Pro is all about the expandability. Here are the maximums: 32GB RAM, 4TB storage, three PCI-X slots and two 2.93GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon processors. The interior design has also been tweaked to fit it all in.
Stock models are priced at $2500 and $3300. As is now traditional, I specced out the most expensive options. How much? Leaving out extra software, I managed to hit $14,150. Ouch.
Solid updates all, and no real surprises. The only odd thing about this whole affair is that Apple can release so much new hardware on one day and not hold even a press conference. Still, that might be a waste of money. After all, it’s Apple. We’ll all be writing about it anyway.
Product page [Mac Mini]
Product page [iMac]
Product page [Mac Pro]
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