Joe’s Weblog

The dust has only just started to settle after Apple’s iPod event last week, and already the company are tipped to be readying another range refresh.  Research firm Wedge Partners are predicting that Apple will release new iMacs and MacBooks “in the next several weeks”.  The iMac has not been significantly updated since March 2009

The new Apple iMacs are expected to be of a “thinner, organic design, likely with smoothed or rounded edges”, while the MacBooks will see less modification; their redesign “is likely to be limited” suggest Wedge.  It also seems likely that Apple will slot the latest processors into the updated systems; that could even mean a Core i5 or i7 iMac.

Wedge Partners, though, also expect movement at the budget end, predicting that Apple will attempt to head off Windows 7 PCs by adopting some lower price points.  The firm is suggesting Apple will ship three million Macs in Q4 2009.http://www.slashgear.com/new-imac-and-macbooks-incoming-tip-analysts-1656956/

engadget.com review of Apple Snow Leopard - But underneath the customary OS X fit and finish there’s a lot of new plumbing at work here. The entire OS is now 64-bit, meaning apps can address massive amounts of RAM and other tasks go much faster. The Finder has been entirely re-written in Cocoa, which Mac fans have been clamoring for since 10.0. There’s a new version of QuickTime, which affects media playback on almost every level of the system. And on top of all that, there’s now Exchange support in Mail, iCal, and Address Book, making OS X finally play nice with corporate networks out of the box.http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/26/snow-leopard-review/

engadget.com review of the Apple iPhone 3GS -  It’s inside where all the changes have happened, with Apple issuing a beefed-up CPU, new internal compass, larger capacities for storage, and improved optics for its camera. More to the point, the release of the 3GS coincides with the launch of iPhone OS 3.0, a major jump from previous versions of the system software featuring highly sought after features like cut, copy, and paste, stereo Bluetooth, MMS, tethering, video recording, landscape keyboard options for more applications, and an iPhone version of Spotlight. At a glance, what Apple seems to be doing is less a reinvention of the wheel and more like retreading the wheel it’s already got (and what a wheel, right?). So, do the iPhone 3GS and OS 3.0 tweak the details in just the right places, or has Apple gone and gotten lazy on us? Read on to find out.http://www.engadget.com/2009/06/17/iphone-3g-s-review/