My ApplNion

At the beginning of November 2009, Apple announced their new line up iMac. At that time I had a white iMac 24″. I liked it, and I upgraded the internal disk a few month before to a 1.5 Tb. So, was I to change it for one of the newest model? Sure, hey, 27 inches! Not only it added 3 more inches to the screen, but the high definition resolution of 2560×1440 (vs 1980×1080) was almost 30% more screen estate! That was sold for me at that point.

So I put my 24″ iMac on sale, and ordered the 27″ iMac with the Core i7 processor. That specific model was only available by the end of November, and mine was shipped in early December. I received it something like December 12, and installed it as soon as I can.

There, I got a into some problems: the wireless keyboard and mouse were not working. So, to setup the computer’s initial launch, I had to hook-up a wired keyboard and mouse. After investigating a little bit, I realized that in the System Preferences there were no Bluetooth’s icon. I looked into System Profiler, not Bluetooth module detected.

I then called Apple Care, and they offered me a replacement unit, which I accepted. The representatives I talked to, very nice persons by the way, told me it may take 1 or 2 weeks to received the replacement. I returned the iMac and waited for the replacement to come in.

I was, like always when waiting for a new Apple product, looking at my Apple Store account to watch what was happening with the replacement. I saw that the representative made a mistake: they issued a replacement for the (free) printer I ordered at the same time of the iMac. I called Apple care again, and they corrected it. Then, I awaited for the replacement to be received by Apple. It took almost a week before it was entered as returned in my account. And then I saw the probable shipping date for my replacement: December 24th! We were near December 16 at that time.

On December 25th, I received an Apple gift: a note stating that my iMac shipment was delayed until January 6. Then, it finally shipped from China on December 31. I finally received the iMac on January 11th, after some problems with the carrier.

So, to be honest, at some point I was asking myself if I did the right thing ordering it just after the release date. I must say, after two weeks of working on it, I’m happy. I guest my experience is what happen when you order a revision one of a product. That’s a risk to assume, and I’m happy to have taken that risk. The computer is just fantastic and I love it.

I was looking in the last few days at the pricing versus the hardware of the new Mac offering, and I must say, the price is right!

It is the first time in many years that I see the Apple offering to be just right. Normally, when I looked at any of the Mac’s offering, I always felt that a BTO was necessary to have something right. Normally, say, the HD capacity was very low, and the upgrade price of the second best HD offering was just OK to suggest you should go there. For example, Apple used to put a 250 Gb HD in the computer, and have the 320 Gb offered at only 75$ more. At that price, go for it. But when you pay, you end with a computer that is 200-300$ more expensive that the price you saw on the site.

Now, for example, in the base iMac offering, there is not even a hard drive upgrade available. Meaning, somehow, if you need more disk space, this is not the computer you will buy anyway. In the higher ends iMac, there is a 1 Tb HD as the base, and the second option is a 2 Tb, no offer for a 1.5 Tb, something that exists on the market. And the 2 Tb option is not at a price that will appeal everyone.

I think Apple may have decided at this point to increase the base offer so that most people will be happy with it. In a way, it is better for everyone. The customers, that buy in brick and motor stores, won’t feel like if they did not get all they wanted from there. Most of those stores have the base offering available in the back store. And the customers that buy from the Apple online store, can just make their buy happen in 2-3 mouse clicks. Basically, most people won’t badder even looking at he BTO offers, the base models will be what they want. And the price is what you saw on the web site.

Everyone must have seen the announcement from Apple today. Everyone can see what have been announced on Apple site, so no need to describe them again in here.

I was looking forward to see if Apple would finally make the quad-core chips enter the iMac and consumer models. It is done. The high end model now have a quad-core i5 at 2.66 Ghz standard, and can be upgraded to an i7 at 2.8 Ghz.

The new iMacs also have more resolutions on almost the same sizes as before. The lower 21.5″ models have the resolutions of the previous generations 24″ models, while the 27″ have a resolution that is near, if not equals, to the Apple 30″ Cinema display. This means the fonts and icons will be smaller on the new display. But for me, I think it is more space to play with in my applications. I always was a guy who liked screen estate!

I was not in a market to upgrade my current iMac, but I must admit the 27″ and quad-core iMac are very tempting. Tempting enough to look at what I can get for my 2 years white iMac.

I’m especially impressed by the price. Hey, 1,999$USD for this, it is a bargain! Normally to build a Mac to my desire, I need to add a few BTO options, which make the price climb out of my budget (HD upgrade, memory, etc). The new iMac base configs are just what I want, no more BTO! I remember that the first white 24″ iMac model, when it was announced, was around 2400$, with a too small HD, a need to upgrade the video card, memory and so on.

Two weeks ago, I finally upgraded my PowerBook 12″ to a MacBook Pro 15″. Quite an upgrade I can say! But it is not one of the latest Apple’s offering, but the previous generation of MBP Unibody, late 2008.

I found this Mac in an authorized Apple reseller in Quebec city. This was the store’s demo. It is the 2.4 Ghz Intel C2D with 250 Gb 5400 RPM HD and 2 Gb of RAM. It also have the ExpressCard/34 expansion slot and the dual video card with dedicated memory (9400M shared and 9600M with 256 Meg).

For the price I payed it, I’m very happy with my choice. First, I have a model that is more upgradable with the ExpressCard than the newer models with the SDHC card reader. Second, even if I got the base 15″ model, I have a video card with dedicated video RAM. The new base 15″ model only have the 9400M video card with shared memory.

One thing I can say about this new 15″ MBP, is that while it is bigger than my 12″ PowerBook, the weight is about the same. The 12″ is thicker and very heavy for its size.

Now, I’m waiting for a few upgrades for it. I ordered a 500 Gb 7200 RPM hard drive and a 4 Gb memory upgrade kit. With such an upgrade, this MBP should be a very nice and usable Mac for the portable usage I need for it. And it will have cost, in the final run, the same price, if not cheaper, that the basic mid-2009 15″ MBP, and I’ll get a better video card.

This model also have the glossy screen. This is one thing I’m not sure what I will do with it. When in controlled situation, I can manage to diminish the glare to a usable level. But sometimes, it is more difficult to control to environment, and the glare is very apparent on the screen.

So far, I think I got a great computer deal…