Apple product and processor refresh - by Abinyah Walker

Analyst's wedge partners predicted in mid September an Apple redesign and price drop.  Appleinsider points to shortages of mac mini apple hardware by World of Apple as evidence of new models on the horizon. Also a slew of new advertisement on Google for apple products, pointing to redesigned macbooks and iMac.  On October 21 Canada received word of a new iMac.

iMac
iMac features bigger LED-backlit displays, a bright 21.5-inch or 27-inch LED-backlit display with a widescreen 16:9 aspect ratio—perfect for HD video.  Now with dual-core Intel processors starting at 3.06GHz and available quad-core processors that boost performance up to 2x, The new iMac is ENERGY STAR 5.0 and EPEAT Gold certified, free of many harmful toxins, and made from highly recyclable materials.  They are enhanced with the latest Intel processors

• 2.66GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 processor with 8MB shared L3 cache; Turbo Boost dynamic performance up to 3.2GHz

• 2.8GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor with 8MB shared L3 cache; Turbo Boost dynamic performance up to 3.46GHz; Hyper-Threading for up to eight virtual cores and memory that includes 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM in four SO-DIMM slots for up to 16GB of RAM.

MacBook
The Macbook also received some refresh love with a new unibody enclosure, a mere 1.08 inches thin.  This seamless, more durable unibody enclosure features rounded contours made of tough polycarbonate more than suitable for traveling. Covering its entire surface is a nonslip material to keep the 13.3 inch LED backlit glossy widescreen display in place.  1280x800 pixel resolution is powered by an NVIDIA GeForce 9400M.  A 2.26GHz Core 2 Duo processor, support for 4GB of RAM and a 500GB Hard Drive with a 7 hour battery means you won't need to bring your power adapter with you.

Mac Mini Server

From the Corporate Consortium (theCC

Mac mini now comes in a server format. This is in response to the growing use of mac minis in server farms and co-location offices around the world. It now comes pre-installed with OS X Snow Leopard Server.  It replaces the installed SuperDrive with a second 500GB hard drive.  It is a perfect server for small business, retail or professional offices, classrooms and studios.  With the mac mini server you can reduce technology costs by bringing email, iphone, synch, wiki, calendar support and podcasting back into the office.  Mac Server is extremely easy to setup, administer and use, Learn more about the features of Snow Leopard Server here.

The new Mac mini with Snow Leopard Server features a 2.53GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and 4GB of memory. It also has two 500GB hard drives built in or if you want increased performance think about replacing the drives with Intel solid state. If you ever want to burn discs or install additional software, consider the external USB-based MacBook Air SuperDrive. It takes up very little space and easily connects to Mac mini with a single USB cable — there’s no separate power adapter.
Mac mini with Snow Leopard Server uses less than 16 watts of power when idle. That’s 4.5 times less than a similarly equipped tower server. It’s also made from highly recyclable aluminum. So it has a big impact on the way your office works and a tiny impact on the planet. Learn more about Mac mini and the environment. The mac mini server also features the following wireless productivity:

• Built-in AirPort Extreme 802.11n Wi-Fi wireless networking⁴; IEEE 802.11a/b/g compatible 
• Built-in Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR (Enhanced Data Rate)
• Built-in 10/100/1000BASE-T Gigabit Ethernet (RJ-45 connector)

World of Tablets
Apple is expected to revitalize the print industry with a new tablet, with speculation also from World of Apple. They expect it to be running hardware from recently purchased P.A. Semi fabless semiconductor company. The P.A. semi powered Apple tablet is expected to be due the beginning of 2010 with the following rumor report posted in September before the Apple refresh:  

The tablet PC features a 9.6-inch screen, finger-touch function and built-in HSPDA (high speed download packet access) module, and adopts a P.A. SEMI processor chip and long lasting battery pack, selling for between US$799 and US$999. DynaPack International Technology Corp. has been exclusively contracted to supply up to 300,000 units of long lasting battery packs a month for Apple`s newest tablet PCs.

Even if this rumor proves to be untrue it is a pretty good guess as to what Apple would release if it was building a tablet for the news-print and design industries.  Although the specifics are not mentioned, Apple would add a little more market focused gadgets to the launch. By really addressing what the alternative-media-philes, designers and professional would really want in a tablet to drive purchases of an Apple tablet to eventually drive down cost.  For example, those in the news-print would need a folding tablet or a tablet with advanced software to allow them to cut-copy-paste stories, email, highlight and search.   Designers would need to use a tablet more like a canvas with video and photo capabilities, along with the ability to control their various technological gadgets, send and receive information seamlesslet and remotely. This would involve some serious software connectivity through the use of MobileME, wireless/bluetooth and firmware support from various hardware vendors.  But the biggest success to a tablet is the requirement that it be mobile for up to 12hours or more.  Either that or it be rechargeable by sunlight with built in photovoltaic cells. Still Apple has been moving well and under good direction and we can expect them to continue to solve some nagging technology gaps.