As with all Apple product refreshes, there is the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly...
Apple has released updates to their Mac Pro, iMac and Mac Mini ranges. Some models, such as the Mac Pro, have been without serious update since January 2008.
What's the Good News?Apple have finally got rid of the Intel GMA950 and Intel X3100 integrated 'graphics processors', moving everything at least to a nVidia 9400M. iMacs and Mac Pros have been upgraded to nVidia GT 120 and 130s, which is effectively 9500 and 9600 models rebadged under nVidias new naming scheme. The Mac Pro has an optional "ATI" Radeon HD 4870 upgrade, and with 10.5.7, older Mac Pros will be able to purchase this GPU as an upgrade. Likewise the iMac now has an HD 4850 optional upgrade.
Generally most models have gained a speed bump, with the biggest being the Mac Pro moving to "Nehalem" or Core i7. With up to two quad-core Intel Xeons at 2.93Ghz, the Mac Pro packs some serious punch! Each processor has 8MB of fully shared L3 cache, and is hyper-threading enabled, meaning a dual-quad mac pro should support 16 threads running at full speed! The Mac Pro's standard GeForce 120 now has a dual-link DVI output as well as a new mini displayport, allowing it to run two 30-inch displays (albeit with a $200+ adapter for the mini displayport). Apple is advertising that with four such cards, 8 30-inch displays can be used at once!
iMacs got a far more mild speed-bump, with the range still topping out at 3.06Ghz (Core2Duo) while the new minis run at 2Ghz with an optional 2.26Ghz upgrade available.
For those worrying about their carbon footprint, the idle (but running) drain of the entire Mac Mini unit is only 13 Watts. This of course doesn't include the draw of the screen, but it's impressive what a small desktop running laptop parts can achieve, and a feat Dell and others will no doubt emulate in the near future.
What's the Bad News?Apple's iMac, Mac Pro and Mini have joined the ranks of their laptop line, with each having mini displayport output. This means full HDCP compliance which while it takes Apple one closer to Blu-Ray support (especially combined with the simplification of the Blu-Ray licensing requirements) also means iTunes now imposes HDCP on the end user for protected videos downloaded from the Apple Store.
The 'entry' level 20" and 'basic' 24" iMacs have had a GPU 'downgrade' from ATI's 2600HDs to nVidia's 9400. Machines running screens of those sizes and resolutions really need more powerful GPUs if any 3D work or play is to be done on the machine.
What's the Ugly News?The Price. Apple, like all 'premium' brands doesn't compete at the low end of the price scale. As of late, their prices have been reasonable, given what you get in the package, and the form factor. Unfortunately, due to the change in AUD, and a change in the basic US cost, the price in Australia has gone up. Using the current exchange rate, Australia is better off in terms of iMac pricing, similar in terms of the new mac mini, and behind the US slightly for the Mac Pro.
When the Australian dollar stabilises at a higher exchange rates, then the next refresh will take that into account. Until then the effective price of the 20 inch iMac has climbed from $1599 rec retail to $1999, and while that comes with a spec-bump it's a change in price out of proportion with any gains.
Oh well, I guess that's what a stable price around 61 US cents to the dollar will do to tech prices. While Apple continues to buck the IT trend of cuts to profit and sales, the prices will probably stay up. The Mac Mini's basic price has gone up to $1049 and the basic 'quad core' mac pro has jumped up to $4499, a climb of $500 over the previous model!
Issue: 133 | February, 2012