MWSF Tomorrow. Keynote Eminent. - Talk Root - PC Hardware, Software and Web Development forums

imported_Errant · 01-10-2005, 06:23 AM

For those of you who do not already know, MWSF (MacWorld San Fransisco) , is hitting off tomorrow, and many rumors are flying about a bevy of Mac products and updates that will be revealed at this conferance.

If you want a full run-down of the rumors, and why they are possibly accurate, I'd direct you here:

http://www.macrumors.com

One of the most interesting things that developed today involved a few spies (ha), who took pictures of the conferance hall where Jobs will be delivering his speech. Apparently, the crew slipped once or twice, letting the banners unroll before they installed them (you can see them attempting to roll it back up). The banners contained the following bits of information:

"Life is Random", a new Apple Slogan..hmmm.. and a picture of the new Flash iPod. While the picture of the iPod had to be deleted, apparently its very small, sleek, and has a control device on the front. The crew apparently let them keep the picture of the slogan. Apparently, it holds 240 songs. That places its storage capacity at about 1gb. And its price? 149, apparently.

So that rumor is pretty much confirmed, but of course we will have to wait for tomorrow to see the specifics and the pricing table.

The other ones may happen tomorrow, may happen later, or may not happen at all.

The sad thing is, there isn't going to be a live feed. But it is suggested that Apple will post a feed a day after the convention, many are speculating that this is an attempt to create extra interest.

Of course, we will still know tomorrow exactly what happens...it wont take long for the "agents" in San Fransisco to relay the news to the rest of the world. Faster than Apple can update its site, I bet ;) Haha. Maybe not :)

imported_Spencer · 01-10-2005, 06:55 AM

There was a rumor that the keynote would have a web cast live, but this was shot down by Apple. I'm upset about that, because I've always liked to watch the keynote addresses that Steve Jobs gives. He's very good at them -- much better than Bill Gates. Let's hope they at least put up a movie of the keynote afterwards.

imported_Errant · 01-10-2005, 08:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spencer

There was a rumor that the keynote would have a web cast live, but this was shot down by Apple. I'm upset about that, because I've always liked to watch the keynote addresses that Steve Jobs gives. He's very good at them -- much better than Bill Gates. Let's hope they at least put up a movie of the keynote afterwards.

Agreed. Jobs is a great presenter, almost theatrical, really. Plus, its funny to see him hide his inner joy, when you know he wants to jump up and down and scream "BOOO YEAH".

imported_Spencer · 01-10-2005, 08:33 AM

I know what you mean. When watching him you really can tell that he is ecstatic about the products he is showing. He is so damn happy. He wants to spread the joy to everyone watching. If he had his way he would just give them out for free, but then he wouldn't be CEO for long. :)

imported_Spencer · 01-11-2005, 07:28 AM

So today is the great MacWorldSanFrancisco?

Let's keep this thread hopping with all the cool stuff that comes out of it. :)

imported_Spencer · 01-11-2005, 12:44 PM

Mac Mini

iPodShuffle

imported_Spencer · 01-11-2005, 01:16 PM

Here's the news from SlashDot:

Quote:

A number of announcements from the Mac World keynote this afternoon. The iPod Shuffle is pack-of-gum sized, no screen, weighs less than an ounce. Ships today, $99 for the half gig, $149 for a gig. The Mac Mini is the headless iMac... 6x6x2.5 with all the expected plugs, starting at $499. Lot's of tiger bits, spotlight, virtual folders in Mail.app. iLife '05 will ship Jan 22. iPhoto gets folders and video support. iMovie supports HD. GarageBand gets 8 channel recording. iWork includes Keynote 2, and 'Pages' the new word processor and ships the same day as iLife.

imported_Errant · 01-11-2005, 04:28 PM

For anyone wishing to watch the keynote:

http://stream.apple.akadns.net/

I'll give some more comments later, right now I can't view the keynote because the computer I'm using is pretty damn slow.

First impressions:

The Mini is impressive, as is Shuffle. Clearly some combined technology going on. I'm glad they finally broke the 500 dollar barrier. The fact that its also small and sleek is an added bonus. I hear Shuffle is the size of a pack of gum. Well done, there ;)

iWork seems to be , at first glance, impressive but needing of further investigation. I will have to personally see what Pages can do.

The iLife updates are not unexpected...

What is very unexpected is the fact that the Powerbooks have not been upgraded. My bet here, however, is that they are going to wait for the technology for a G5 chip to be installed within a laptop design. Makes some sense.

The Final Cut Pro update was excellent as well.

The Tiger previews were pretty nice too.

I suggest everyone check out MacNN.com, because they have a very detailed report of the show floor, and many of the floor releases are just about as signifigant as the Apple announcements. Namely, a new rendering card for hardcore 3d junkies with integrated Alias Maya support.

My bet is that Tiger will be introduced at the next MacWorld.

imported_Max · 01-11-2005, 05:44 PM

I can't say I am very impressed. I'm happy to see them trying.

As far as the iPod Shuffle, no screen? I would have bought it if it had a damn screen! What are you supposed to do if there is no screen? I have to be able to scroll through my music through some sort of interface so that I can choose what song I want to listen to. I'd also like to see how much battery is left, etc.

That new iMac is pretty nice but 1.4GHz, 40GB HD, and 256MB of RAM for $500? You can buy a dell with a 3.0GHz processor for $500. It just doesn't make sense to me.

imported_Spencer · 01-11-2005, 06:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Max

That new iMac is pretty nice but 1.4GHz, 40GB HD, and 256MB of RAM for $500? You can buy a dell with a 3.0GHz processor for $500. It just doesn't make sense to me.

You have to remember that they're different chips. A G4 chip isn't best measured by megahertz, but I understand what you're saying. Dell, etc., are still cheaper, but Macs bring other things to the table.

imported_Max · 01-11-2005, 06:59 PM

Yes. I should have mentioned that I do understand the whole concept but I still don't believe the actual value is close to a PC's value.

imported_Errant · 01-12-2005, 10:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Max

I can't say I am very impressed. I'm happy to see them trying.

As far as the iPod Shuffle, no screen? I would have bought it if it had a damn screen! What are you supposed to do if there is no screen? I have to be able to scroll through my music through some sort of interface so that I can choose what song I want to listen to. I'd also like to see how much battery is left, etc.

That new iMac is pretty nice but 1.4GHz, 40GB HD, and 256MB of RAM for $500? You can buy a dell with a 3.0GHz processor for $500. It just doesn't make sense to me.

On your first point: I don't know if this is for you, Max? There are groups of people who just want to listen to randomly mixed music as they walk through a city, and they actually enjoy the prospect of a randomly picked song correlating to something hilarious in their metropolitan life. I think you can also load playlists, but I haven't checked this out yet, and you can skip between them. But I know people who are rather afraid of carrying an expensive electronic device through a city and fiddling around with it...even the mini is noticeable... something like a Shuffle would work very well for people who live/work/go to school in places like New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, Detroit, San Diego, Los Angeles, etc, etc...

Also, some people just don't care enough to pick a specific song :) These people would be buying a Shuffle as if it were their own radio station (and probably listen to radiostations more than the people who buy full iPods).

Not saying your wrong Max, and its not for everyone, just like the Mini isn't for everyone, but Apple is expanding its angles of attack.

I would have liked a *small* screen, admittingly. I'm not always in the random mood. Maybe something that displayed the track name, at least?

On your second:

True enough I guess, PC's are still cheaper. But (but!) consider this; most people already own a computer, so a mouse, keyboard, and monitor won't really be a problem (it works with mostly everything). If they are your average computer user who gets suckered into SpyWare and AdWare and Viruses 24/7, the Mini might be a big, big option. Just imagine, you can use your dell monitor, dell keyboard, dell mouse, with a computer that does everything you want it to, with no hassles. Not for a gamer, no, nor for anyone who builds their own computers, but for your run-of-the mill jane and joe america/european who want web access and a word processor, that might be perfect. Also consider, that many parents with younger children don't want them to be able to play very violent games...the omission of many games might even be considered a POSITIVE point in this case! (Not saying their aren't violent games for your Mac), but , if Johnny 8-year-old knows Scottie and Scottie has a violent game that just doesn't have a Mac port or isn't hybrid...problem solved. Sure, he can play the game at Scottie's house, but not all the time. I'm sure parents would love that. And with an already-strapped wallet, and no time to want to hassle with buying Norton Antivirus or AdWare or even worry about that, with a incredibly hasty start up time... I can see it being very attractive to certain markets!

Another good point about the Mini is that its extremely portable. It's cheaper than a laptop. It has a DVI/VGA port. It's even cheaper than some external harddrives! And its got a processor! I can see people falling in love with this.

System Administrators might want to carry one around for their Mac-crowds, and even for their Linux-based ones!

Sweet Jaysus, its also so very small. Retail kiosks, anyone? (Low maintenence, a slightly higher overhead...enough power to do exactly what you want?)

As far as the processor speeds are concerned; again, consider the target market. That's really all they need. The Velocity Engine is perfectly fine on the G4, they don't need 64-bit ;) And if your planning to use Photoshop on this, your nuts. :) It has just as big as an L2 Cache as a 2ghz dual, and it doesnt need an L3.

Also consider that the g4 has many more operations when you compare it to an x86. Thats why there is something known as the "Megahertz Myth".

Summary:

Apple has always had very specific target markets. Multimedia, Education, and Ease-of-use have always been up there. These releases don't surprise me given their traditional attack method, because they have already lost the internet-gamer war.

Fin ;)

imported_Spencer · 01-12-2005, 11:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Errant

Another good point about the Mini is that its extremely portable. It's cheaper than a laptop. It has a DVI/VGA port. It's even cheaper than some external harddrives! And its got a processor! I can see people falling in love with this.

I agree with almost everything you write. I think this is a wonderful point, though, that I wanted to comment on. It really is very portable (even maybe more than a laptop?) and would be great for bringing places as long as you were guaranteed a monitor/keyboard/mouse to work with. It would be great techs that were fixing computers, etc.

imported_Max · 01-12-2005, 12:56 PM

I'm not going to quote everything Errant said but I'll respond.

As far as the whole "city" idea where people may just want to listen to a random playlist, that is true. I can see many people buying this but in my opinion, I would have went out and bought this in a second if it had a small LCD screen.

As far as the new Mac, now that I think about it, its pretty nice. I can see it being used at kiosks like you said or even at schools where they need to buy multiple computers.

Complex · 01-14-2005, 09:04 AM

Those new products from Apple looking really amazing. I prefer the MacMini over the new iPod, though. Without a screen, I just don't see myself buying one. The MacMini on the other hand seems really portable and powerful for its small size. I could potentially see myself getting one of these some day.