MacRumors.com Apple Expo Paris 2003 coverage. Here's what piqued my interests:
- New Powerbooks (Steve: 42% of Macs are mobile. PowerBooks are 80% thinner than PC Laptops.) They all have the 7457 Chip and are available today:
1. 17" PowerBook: 1.33GHz, 2GB RAM Max, $2999 Euro. Mobility Radeon 9600. 2x Superdrive.
2. 15" PowerBook: Aluminum casing like the new G5s. Slot Loading Drive. Backlit Keyboard. Actually 15.2" TFT. 1.25GHz, G4. Up to 2GB DDR RAM 333MHz. Radeon Mobility, DVI, FW800, 2 USB, Airport Extreme. $1999 Combodrive model. Superdrive for $2499. One config has 1GHz, 60GB, 256MB. 1.25GHz has 512MB RAM and 80GB HD.
3. 12" PowerBook: 1GHz with 512k Cache, $1599 Euro. GeForce fx go, usb 2.0. $1799 Euro 12"/Superdrive.
- Panther to be available by end of the year. 150 new features, works better with windows, smb printing is supported, freebsd 5.0
a. A new finder that is not computer-centric. Very fast search for documents, files.
b. FileVault: on-the-fly encryption of the home directory.
c. New Pixlet codec: high definition, 48 bit, no artifacts, great sound
d. Improved Preview: much faster than any other PDF reader. A scroll test using a 1600 page document results- 20 sec with Preview/71 sec with Acrobat
- New wireless, bluetooth powered keyboard and mouse set. "Adaptive frequency hopping," new technology provides better connection and includes128-bit encryption.
[recent iPod upgrades, iChatAV, iSight, the success of the outgoing Jaguar (OS 10.XX), etc., mercifully omitted]
I'm not overly impressed, nor disappointed. Despite the post title. Really, I don't expect very exciting news before MacExpo SanFran early 2004. After that showcase, I hope to buy my first laptop (*fingers crossed* because my iMac is on its last legs and I can't afford to purchase hardware at this time, although if forced...) and eventually make the transition to a G5. Jobs promised 3Ghz G5s by the end of Summer 2004. That would be perfect timing for me and my biz.
Jobs & Apple tempering announcements and software/hardware rollouts is a good thing. Overload would hurt the company in this economic climate. Besides, it just wouldn't seem right to not do it on American soil.
Posted by ronn at September 16, 2003 05:35 AM