Low End Mac Reader Specials
Memory To Go Special: MacPro 8 Core 8GB kit $232 / 4GB kit $116 / 2GB kit $72. New Macbook 2GB DDR3-$65. HARD DRIVES available -- Free shipping / LIfetime warranty.
Download Typestyler, still the Ultimate Styling Tool for Internet, Print and Video Graphics. Works great in Classic with a Native OS X Version on the way. Free Tryout: www.typestyler.com
LA Computer Company: Specials on AppleCare, iMac's, Apple Batteries and Apple A/C Adapters. Also Great prices on Used Apple Computers. Call 1-800-941-7654 Click Here.
Mac users can finally play Party Poker for Mac. Not only that, they can also learn how to play PokerStars for Mac.
Laptop Hardware Provided by TechRestore - Overnight Mac & iPod Repairs.
Compare products like desktop computers, laptops, and LCD TVs side by side! All the information and reviews to make the best purchasing decision for a new cell phone GPS products or MP3 players. The Ciao network makes searching products easy for you.
Cortland
iPhone and Apple TV Make Macworld Expo Crowd Go Wild
- 2007.01.16
This year I visited Macworld Expo in San Francisco for the first time to check out new products from over a hundred companies on the show floor as tech giant Apple unveiled more magical products. Macworld 2007 was the biggest Mac event yet, and attendance had increased since last year.
Macworld amazingly managed to grab as much attention from the media as the Las Vegas-based Consumer Electronics Show. Macworld 2007 was held from January 8th to 12th at the Moscone Center, San Francisco, California.
This year's show was incredible, packed with excitement, new products, and great events. The media went crazy over Macworld Expo this year, and here's why:
Show Summary
- Apple previews, demos, and announces iPhone, a "smart phone" device, for June '07 release in the US.
- Apple releases Apple TV, which streams media from computers wirelessly to your living room (previously known as iTV).
- Apple quietly releases new Airport Extreme, with a similar appearance to Apple TV and 802.11n draft support.
- Apple changes its corporate name from Apple Computer, Inc. to Apple, Inc.
- Apple expands choice of movies on iTunes, announces over 2 billion songs sold.
- Microsoft announces Office 2008 for Mac coming later in 2007, will have Universal Binary support.
- Axiotron's Modbook made a large appearance at the show, the first real Mac tablet.
- Roxio released Toast 8 Titanium at the show, has all new interface and many new features.
- Storyist Software show off their newest product, Storyist for novelists.
- Game makers Aspyr Media, Feral, and Freeverse were at the show with all their latest products.
- Adobe Systems makes appearance at the show with large booth, giving demos of Adobe and Macromedia products. Premiere Pro comes back to the Mac, and Photoshop CS3 shows Universal Binary support.
- Parallels made their first appearance at the show with their
virtualization product Parallels
Desktop
.
- Macworld presented their 'Best of Show' event live on stage for the first time.
- NEC announce new display, the MultiSync LCD2690WUXi-BK.
Not to be missed were the presentations at Macworld this year, such as David Pogue's comical talk show-like event where he interviewed several guests including Phill Ryu, founder of MacHeist and MyDreamApp. Walking around the show, I noticed many excellently presented booths including that of Omni Group, Freeverse, Apple, HP, Microsoft and others.
The major highlight of the show was Apple CEO Steve Jobs' keynote presentation, where he announced that history was going to be made. Jobs performance was flawless. In a different approach from previous keynotes, the major and most anticipated product was not left until last with a "one more thing..." slide. The Apple Store news at the beginning of the keynote was also missing. Jobs' approach also seemed to be more historical, mentioning an Alan Kay quote, the original Macintosh, and also Woz's TV Jammer from college.
In the keynote, Jobs announced two products that were most highly anticipated. Those being the iPhone and the Apple TV (previously known under the code name iTV).
The iPhone
The iPhone fits into the category of products known as smart phones, which means it competes against the Blackberry, Palm Treo, and dozens of other cell phone products which also double as music players and Internet devices. The iPhone is unique, using a high quality multi-touch display and, like the iPod nano, comes in 4 GB and 8 GB models, costing US$499 and US$599 respectively.
The iPhone supports the
Cingular network, and it has not yet been announced which carriers
will be supported in the future. The most exciting feature of
iPhone is the pure elegance and sheer quality Apple have presented
by using OS X technology embedded within the phone itself.
Running Safari, users can browse websites just like they do on
their Mac.
Apple didn't stop there. They also adapted iChat into the phone for text messaging and collaborated with Google to integrate Google Maps into the phone. iPhone also has emailing capabilities, with support for both POP3 and IMAP.
The initial thoughts of the iPhone are extremely mixed across the media and Apple faithful. Some think it is too highly priced, while others think it is a good bargain. Some believe the product will fail because it has a high price and doesn't fall straight into a wide market. I could go on, but here's what I think:
Firstly, the iPhone will be a phenomenal success just as the iPod became - but it will take time, as successes don't always happen overnight. As Apple are entering an extremely crowded market with dozens of competitors, it may take longer to gain serious market share than it did with the iPod. Currently, the iPhone is a wonderful, sexy product with a gorgeous crisp and bright display, but the iPhone is still missing many vital features that phone users want such as built-in games, Java support, an iTunes Store within the phone, 3G support, video conferencing and recording, and more.
However, iPhone updates are already due by the end of this year, and in 2008 a 3G model will most likely appear if it hasn't already.
Apple TV
The Apple TV
has stayed remarkably identical to the prototype we saw in 2006. It
sports the same ports on the back, as well as the same industrial
design and user interface. The Apple TV requires a widescreen
display; it is not compatible with CRT-based televisions. It will
cost US$299 and be available in February.
Surprisingly, there was no sign of iLife '07 or , Apple's lifestyle and office suites for Mac OS X. It's now expected that these products will be announced with OS X 10.5 "Leopard" in the second half of this year.
There were no Mac or iPod updates at the keynote. This left many of the hard-core Mac fans disappointed, some expecting a MacBook mini or a Mac tablet.
For the iTunes fans, over 100 Paramount movies are being added to the iTunes Store, and the 2 billion songs sold mark was crossed.
Comments?
If you want to ask me some questions about this article or
anything Mac-related, just send me a message, as I'm always eagerly
checking my email to hear from you! 
Further Reading
- Macworld Conference & Expo, Macworld
Joshua Coventry's writing can also be found on Silicon User.
Recent Cortland articles
- Apple's Pippin and Bandai's @World: Missing the mark(et), 12.14. Intended as a multimedia player to fit between gaming consoles and full-fledged computers, Apple's Pippin technology just couldn't carve a niche between two already saturated markets.
- Lineform: A familiar, friendly, affordable illustration program for OS X, 01.29. This $80 illustration program could be all a lot of Mac users need.
- Apple as the next consumer electronic giant, 01.17. Apple now has a presence in the personal computer, MP3 player, home entertainment, and cell phone markets.
- Apples from other orchards: The Apple II clones, 12.05. Before the IBM PC spawned compatibles, companies around the world cloned the Apple II - some with more success than others.
- More in the Cortland index.
Links for the Day
- Mac of the Day: Clamshell iBook G3/300 MHz, Sep. 1999 - innovative, rugged, heavy, clamshell laptop introduced AirPort and was a huge hit.
- Group of the Day: Mac Pro List is for those using a Mac Pro.
- November 20 in LEM history: 85: Windows 1.0 - 00: Mac dreams - 01: Stop the upgrade insanity - Good people, good software, good business - The digital lifestyle: Text - 06: To AppleCare or not? - One year with my 'free' Mac mini - 07: Why you want to avoid integrated graphics - Problem with Leopard on a MDD
Recent Content on Low End Mac
- Just Right: Papa Bear, Mama Bear, and Baby Bear MacBooks, Charles W. Moore, 'Book Value, 11.20. Some people like small and light notebooks, others prefer huge desktop replacements, but the best value tends to be in the middle.
- Apple Caves to Hollywood with DRM on iTunes Videos, Frank Fox, Stop the Noiz, 11.20. HDCP on the new MacBooks means that you may never really own those videos you buy from the iTunes Store.
- Virtualization Shootout: VMWare Fusion 2 vs. Parallels Desktop 4, Kev Kitchens, Kitchens Sync, 11.20. Both programs do the same thing, but one runs Windows XP smoothly alongside Mac apps, while the other bogs down everything but Windows.
- Leopard Runs Very Nicely on PowerPC Macs, Simon Royal, Mac Spectrum, 11.19. Some claim that Mac OS X 10.5 is so optimized for Intel Macs that it runs poorly on PowerPC hardware. That's simply not the case.
- No High Definition iTunes Video for You, Dan Knight, Mac Musings, 11.19. The October 2008 MacBooks are preventing users from viewing some high-def iTunes content from being viewed on their external displays. Poor form!
- Every Working Computer Is Useful to Someone, Allison Payne, The Budget Mac, 11.19. Whether it's a PowerBook 1400, G3 iMac, or Power Mac G4, it could be all the computer someone needs.
- 3 WeatherBug Options for Apple Users, Charles W. Moore, Miscellaneous Ramblings, 11.19. Have instant access to current local weather conditions with a Dashboard widget, iPhone app, or Firefox plugin.
- Anticipating Macworld: Nehalem, Snow Leopard, and Updated Desktops, Dan Knight, Mac Musings, 11.18. Intel's Core i7 CPU has to make it way into the next Mac Pro, nVidia GeForce graphics will drive the iMac and Mac mini, and 'Snow Tiger' will unleash the animal within.
- Love My Refurb MacBook Pro, Eudora Forever, and the Lightest AA Batteries, Charles W. Moore, Miscellaneous Ramblings, 11.18. Also questions about nVidia GeForce 8600 problems in earlier MacBook Pro models and importing Eudora mailboxes into Eudora successors.
- More links in our archive.
Recent Deals
- Best Power Mac G4 and AGP Video Card Deals, 11.20. Used 400 MHz, $50; 733, $100; 800, $199; 1.25 GHz, $300; 800 MHz dual, $200, 867, $300; 1 GHz, $350; 1.42, $400.
- Best iBook G3 Deals, 11.20. Used 300 MHz clamshell, $150; 366, $199; 800 CD, $180; 600 CD-RW, $240; 700 Combo, $290; 900, $369; 14" 600, $360; 900, $449.
- Best Power Mac G3 and PCI Video Card Deals, 11.20. Used beige 300 MHz, $25; blue & white 350, $80; 400, $90; 450, $105; PCI video cards from $15; shipping additional.
- Best iMac G4 Deals, 11.18. Used 15" 700 MHz Combo, $243; 800 MHz, $280; 1 GHz, $380; 17" 1.25 GHz SuperDrive, $400; 20", $549.
- Best MacBook Air Deals, 11.18. New 1.6 80, $1,150 after rebate; 120, $1,744 a/r; 1.8 80, $1,794 a/r; 1.6 128 SSD, $2,150; used 1.8 64 SSD, $1,500; new, $2,200 a/r; 1.86, $2,398 a/r.
- Best Mac OS X 10.0-10.3 Deals, 11.18. Mac OS X 10.0.3, $30; 10.1, $20; 10.2, $60; 10.3 CD, DVD, $100; CD, $119; 10.1 Server, unlimited users, $58; 10.3 Server, unlimited, $150.
- Best iPod nano Deals, 11.17. Refurb 3G/4 GB, $79; new, $114; refurb 8 GB, $99; new, $125; 3G/8 GB, from $134; 16 GB, from $189. Prices include ground shipping.
- Best Titanium PowerBook G4 Deals, 11.17. Used 1 GHz with SuperDrive, $478 plus shipping.
- Best Xserve deals, 11.17. Used G4/1 GHz, $999; G5/2 GHz, $1,288; new 2.0 4-core Xeon, $1,900; refurb 3.0 4-core, $2,599; 2.8 GHz, $2,499; 3.0 8-core, $3,499.
- More deals in our archive.
About LEM | Support | Usage | Privacy | Contacts
Have a question?
Ask an expert!
Navigation
Used Mac Dealers
Apple History
Best Used Macs
Video Cards
Email Lists
InfoMac's Low
End Mac Forum
Favorite Sites
MacSurfer
MacMinute
MacInTouch
MyAppleMenu
InfoMac
Macs Only!
The Mac Observer
Accelerate Your Mac
RetroMacCast
PB Central
MacWindows
The Vintage Mac
Museum
DealMac
DealsOnTheWeb
Mac2Sell
ramseeker
Mac Driver Museum
JAG's House
System
6 Heaven
System 7 Today
the pickle's Low-End
Mac FAQ
Abandonware
Petition
Mac vs. PC Info
Affiliates
The Apple
Store
Mac
Connection
MacMall
TechRestore
MacResQ
ExperCom
Crucial
Memory
batteries.com
Advertise
