September 2000 || Volume 01, Issue 02

What's New from MacWorld New York 2000

It's been over a month since MacWorld Expo 2000 in New York. I didn't have the chance to appear in person but I do plan on attending the 2001 expo in San Francisco. Should be a hoot! We saw some exciting new technologies and some enhancements to the current line of Apple products. I thought we would take a look at those enhancements and get into what they could mean for the everyday Mac user.

New Mouse and Keyboard

Since the introduction of the first iMac and the mouse that came with it people were not happy. The term "hockey puck" comes to mind when you see it and use it. Shortly after it's appearance peripheral companies started to make their own USB-based mouses for the Mac (I even bought one). People were also not very happy with the standard keyboard. It felt cramped. Apple has come through with some great new products in the Apple Pro Mouse and Pro Keyboard. The keyboard is a lot like the Apple Extended Keyboard from days long ago. It looks and feels great. The Pro Mouse is unlike anything out there. The first noticeable difference is the lack of a button. Many people would like Apple to put out a mouse that has multiple buttons on it, even a scroll wheel. These can be very handy for applications ranging from gaming to desktop video to publication. For whatever reason Apple decided to go with the no-button optical mouse. I had the chance to play with one of these over the weekend and was surprised with how usable it was. To click you just apply pressure on the front half of the mouse. It is almost like using a regular mouse. The movement of the mouse was great. The use of a laser instead of a rubber ball makes a huge difference in the accuracy and motion of the cursor on screen. Very cool. You can purchase these online for your USB based system for $59 each.

iMacs

We really didn't see anything earth-shattering in the technology department here. The primary difference in the newer models would be the speed increase from a 400Mhz G3 to a 450Mhz G3. Other than that there isn't much to speak of. There was some increase in the hard drive space on the higher end models. I have to admit that I absolutely love the new Indigo while my wife loves the Ruby. We currently have a Blueberry iMac DV. If you know of a source where we can get just the color part of the shell to swap out what we have currently let me know! What most people wanted to see in the new line of iMacs was a G4 processor. I personally don't think Apple will do this. The iMac is for the consumer. The G3 at 400-450Mhz is a consumer level processor. It will do all of the things the iMac is built to do for the consumer (iMovie, internet access, etc.). Everything above the low-end $799 model still has FireWire, DVD, USB, modem, 10/100BaseT Ethernet all built in. All new iMacs come with Apple's new pro mouse and keyboard. The G4 is a professional-level processor that appears in Apple's pro line of hardware, the Cube and the towers.

The Cube

What can I say but, dang what a cool looking computer! The scale and design are the most outstanding technological features of the Cube. The only noise you hear from it is that from the hard drive and the CD/DVD drive (if you can consider that noise). The system is air-cooled. There are vents on the top and bottom of the cube. Hot air rises out of the top which draws cooler air in from the bottom producing a continuous flow of air. The G4 processor has a massive heat sync. A heat sync is a piece of metal with fins coming off of it that is directly attached to the processor. It draws heat away from the processor allowing it to run more efficiently. This air flow through the Cube draws that heat away. Very neat and very quiet. You have the option of a 400 or 450Mhz G4.

One new technology that appears in the Cube (and is also in the new towers) is the Apple Display Connector (ADC). This is a proprietary plug from Apple that combines power, video, and USB in one cable to your desktop. Your keyboard/mouse, speakers, and monitor all go through this one wire which removes a lot of the clutter that can take over your desk. But what if you already have a nice 19" monitor with a standard plug on it? Don't worry, Apple hasn't let you down. There is a standard 15-pin PC style monitor plug on the Cube. If you have an older Apple-made monitor that has the wide 15-pin plug on it you will need an adapter.

The Cube also has standard FireWire, USB, and 10/100 Ethernet on board. However you do have the option of 1000BaseT or Gigabit Ethernet (more on that later). The Cube comes standard with Apple's new mouse and keyboard. It also comes with these cool great sounding little speakers from Harman/Kardon, the folks who designed the sound system in the iMacs and the iSub. One of the most common complaints to arise almost immediately (not coming from me though!) is that the Cube isn't expandable. To me this is a moot point. People, Apple didn't design the Cube to be expandable. If they had made it with some PCI slots in it the cube would explode from an 8in attractive unit to a 15x15" monstrosity. The Cube could become your desk! (Remember that Disney movie Tron where the guy had the desk with the built-in keyboard and the Master Control Program spoke to him? That was cool.) If you need a bigger internal hard drive you could swap it out. With the fire wire you can get external drives that fit in the palm of your hand and are in the 80GB range. There are hundreds of FireWire and USB based peripherals. And, word has it that the AGP graphics card in the Cube can be replaced with a higher performance card if the included one isn't good enough for you. The Cube was designed to be what it is, nothing more. If you need room to grow, read on.

The G4

We saw some very exciting technology enhancements in the G4 department. Amazingly, Apple kept the same pricing scheme in place for the speeds of 400, 450, and 500Mhz with one major difference: the 450 and 500Mhz models have dual processors in them! You get another processor for the same price standard. At the moment there aren't a ton of multi processor (MP) aware applications out there. Rest assured that they will start coming in drives if not standard from software developers. (I can't wait to see the speed of an MP G4 running OS X.) On all three models you also get the ADC port on them as well as the 15-pin monitor port, the new mouse and keyboard and Gigabit Ethernet.

Gigabit Ethernet is amazingly fast networking. 100BaseT is replacing 10BaseT as the normal for office networking. Gigabit Ethernet (GE) is what many offices use to connect their hubs and switches which connect all of their networked computers. Another common application of GE is with a graphics or desktop publication workstation and a printing press environment. The files generated are huge. The GE allows them to be copied very quickly making work go faster.

Displays

Apple has enhanced some existing displays, and discontinued some others. In the area of CRT monitors (the large TV like ones) Apple has re-created the 17" Studio Display. The shell is totally transparent as is the stand it comes on. It's a very stunning design. From the front it has the same lines and colors as the 15" and Cinema Displays. Apple has discontinued all other CRT monitors to the sadness and frustration of some. This 17" display comes standard with the new Apple Display Connector described above. The 15" Flat Screen Studio and Cinema Displays have also been retro-fitted with the ADC.

That about sums it up for what is new from Apple. To get the details from the horses mouth head on over to http://www.apple.com/hardware/ and check things out. The next big announcements from Apple: certainly the public beta of OS X -- due in just a few weeks, and perhaps a new laptop or two.

Corby Stephens - corby@macosjournal.com
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