World of Apple

Apple has today updated the Mac Pro workstation and its Xserve server range. Both machines now feature Intels “Harpertown” processors.

The Mac Pro combines two 45-nm Quad-Core Xeon processors running up to 3.2GHz and up to 4TB of internal storage. The standard 8-core configuration starts at $2799.

“The new Mac Pro is the fastest Mac we’ve ever made,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “With 3.2 GHz 8-core Xeon processing, a 1600 MHz front side bus and 800 MHz memory, the new Mac Pro uses the fastest Intel Xeon architecture on the market.”

Every Mac Pro comes standard with the ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT graphics card with 256MB of video memory. The Mac Pro includes a new PCI Express 2.0 graphics slot that delivers up to double the bandwidth compared to the previous generation, and supports the latest generation of graphics cards from NVIDIA, such as the NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT with 512MB of video memory, or NVIDIA Quadro FX 5600 with 1.5GB of video memory and a 3-D stereo port for stereo-in-a-window applications. With support for up to four graphics cards, the new Mac Pro can drive up to eight 30-inch displays at once for advanced visualization and large display walls.

The standard 8-core Mac Pro, with a suggested retail price of $2,799, includes:

• two 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon processors with dual-independent 1600 MHz front side buses;
• 2GB of 800 MHz DDR2 ECC fully-buffered DIMM memory, expandable up to 32GB;
• ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT with 256MB of GDDR3 memory;
• 320GB Serial ATA 3Gb/s hard drive running at 7200 rpm;
• 16x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW);
• two PCI Express 2.0 slots and two PCI Express slots;
• Bluetooth 2.0+EDR; and
• ships with Apple Keyboard and Mighty Mouse.

The Xserve range was also updated today to include up to two Quad-Core 3.0 GHz Intel Xeon processors for 8-core performance.

“With the latest Intel processors and no client access licenses, Xserve offers unbeatable server performance and value for under $3,000,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “Xserve’s power, storage and Leopard Server make it ideal for supporting Mac clients and mixed platform workgroups.”

The Xserve standard configuration, with a suggested retail price of $2,999, includes:

• a single 64-bit 2.8 GHz Quad-Core Xeon processor with 12MB of L2 cache and a 1600 Mhz front side bus;
• 2GB of 800 MHz DDR2 ECC FB-DIMM RAM, expandable up to 32GB;
• a single 80GB SATA Apple Drive Module;
• dual Gigabit Ethernet on-board;
• internal graphics;
• two FireWire 800 and three USB 2.0 ports; and
• an unlimited client license for Mac OS X Server version 10.5 Leopard.

As per the rumours yesterday Apple has updated its professional line of notebooks to include faster Core 2 Duo processors using Santa Rosa technology, support for up to 4GB of RAM, LED backlit displays and 17-inch models can have a high resolution displays up to 1920×1200.

“With Intel Core 2 Duo performance, more memory and state-of-the-art graphics, this MacBook Pro is a portable powerhouse for creative and professional users,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “Apple’s notebooks have always led the industry in innovation with features like built-in 802.11 and the MagSafe Power Adapter, and now the industry’s first 15-inch LED-backlit display is another step toward completely eliminating mercury from our displays.”

Every MacBook Pro model includes an Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 4MB of shared L2 cache, an 800 MHz frontside bus and 2GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM memory, running professional applications like Final Cut Pro 6 and Logic Pro 7 more than 50 percent faster than the original MacBook Pro with Core Duo. Delivering more realistic graphics for animation and gaming, every MacBook Pro now includes the state-of-the art NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT and is more than 50 percent faster than the original MacBook Pro with Core Duo.

The MacBook Pro’s lightweight, aluminum enclosure is just one-inch thin and is available in three models: 2.2 GHz and 2.4 GHz 15-inch MacBook Pro models, and a 2.4 GHz 17-inch MacBook Pro model. The new 15-inch MacBook Pro models feature a brand-new, power-efficient LED-backlit display and are the first of Apple’s notebooks to transition to LED backlighting as part of the company’s effort to eliminate the use of mercury in its products. The 17-inch model now offers a new optional 1920-by-1200 high-resolution display, providing over 30 percent more screen real estate than the standard 1680-by-1050 display.

The specifications are as follows:

• $1999 (£1299) 2.2GHz Core 2 Duo. 2GB RAM, 120GB HD, 15″ LED. GeForce 8600M GT 128MB
• $2499 (£1599) 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo. 2GB RAM, 160GB HD, 15″ LED GeForce 8600M GT 256MB
• $2799 (£1799) 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo. 2GB RAM, 160GB HD, 17″. GeForce 8600M GT 256MB

Apple has finally released the long-rumoured 8-Core Mac Pro.

Apple describes the machine as;

Meet the latest addition to the Mac Pro family: The world’s first 3.0GHz, 8-core Intel Xeon-based Mac Pro. Consider the bar officially raised.

The officially specification on the new systems are:

• Two 3.0GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon 5300 series “Clovertown” processors
• Intel Core microarchitecture
• 8MB of L2 cache per processor (16MB total; each pair of cores shares 4MB)
• 128-bit SSE3 vector engine
• 64-bit data paths and registers
• Energy efficiency optimization
• 1.33GHz, 64-bit dual independent frontside buses

Apple today quietly bumped the the maximum capacity if the Xserve RAID. A build-to-order option has been added allowing the RAID units to be configured up to 10.5TB, up from 7TB, across a total 14 drives.

A price drop also appears to have taken place, the top two models have dropped by $300 and $600 dollars respectively as well as add-on 500GB modules have decreased from $649 to $599.

Xserver RAID Admin tool

To accompany the hardware updates Apple has also released a new version of Xserve RAID Admin tools. Version 1.5.1 adds support for the new drive capacities and addresses multiple other issues.

The update is download-able from Apple’s website.

Apple today quietly updated its Airport base stations, featuring 802.11n, giving up to five times the performance of previous Airport base stations and twice the coverage.

“The new Airport Extreme is the most powerful and easy to use Wi-Fi base station that we have ever made,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “With five times the performance and twice the range, now you can transfer bigger files faster and get access to the Internet and your favorite digital media from many areas in your house you couldn’t reach before.”

Using MIMO (Multiple In Multiple Out) smart antennas and 802.11n technology, AirPort Extreme now delivers greater data throughput and extends the reach of wireless connectivity to more areas of the home, business or school. With the ability to operate in either the 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz wireless frequencies, AirPort Extreme also reduces the possibility of interference from appliances and cordless phones that operate in the 2.4 GHz frequency. AirPort Extreme is backward compatible with Macs and PCs using previous generation 802.11b/g wireless technologies.

The AirPort Extreme Base Station features a simple, new design that is just 6.5 inches square and 1.3 inches tall, and a built-in USB port allows users to print wirelessly to a USB printer or turn any external USB hard drive into a shared drive so they can share files or backup valuable data from multiple computers on a network. New AirPort Utility software included with every AirPort Extreme makes it very easy to set up a secure, wireless network for up to 50 simultaneous users within minutes. Users can also set security restrictions, including Internet access limits on their childrens’ computers.

The AirPort Extreme Base Station also includes:

• 802.11n Wi-Fi wireless networking;
• MIMO (Multiple In Multiple Out) smart antennas;
• dual-band antennas for 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz frequencies;
• three 10/100 Ethernet LAN ports;
• one 10/100 Ethernet WAN port;
• one USB port;
• Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA/WPA-2), 128-bit WEP encryption; and
• a built-in NAT firewall.

Airport Extreme Base Station (Front)

Airport Extreme Base Station (Back)

Along with the iPhone Apple also introduced Apple TV, we already knew the product by the name of iTV.

“Apple TV is like a DVD player for the 21st century—you connect it to your entertainment system just like a DVD player, but it plays digital content you get from the Internet rather than DVDs you get from a physical store,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Apple TV plays the same iTunes content that users enjoy on their computers and iPods, so now they can even watch part of a movie in their living room, and watch the rest later on their iPod.”

Apple TV has a 40GB hard drive to store up to 50 hours of video, 9,000 songs, 25,000 photos or a combination of each and is capable of delivering high-definition 720p output. Apple TV is easy to connect to a broad range of widescreen TVs and home theatre systems and comes standard with HDMI, component video, analogue and optical audio ports. Using high-speed AirPort 802.11 wireless networking, Apple TV can auto-sync content from one computer or stream content from up to five additional computers right to your TV without any wires.

Apple TV takes advantage of 802.11 b+g+n wireless networking.

Apple TV is priced at $299 or £199 for release in February.

View photographs of the Apple iPhone

At todays Macworld Expo opening Keynote CEO Steve Jobs announced that the company will begin shipping a new mobile phone known as the iPhone in June 2007.

iPhone is a revolutionary new mobile phone that allows users to make calls by simply pointing at a name or number. iPhone syncs all of your contacts from your PC, Mac or Internet service such as Yahoo!, so that you always have your full list of up-to-date contacts with you. In addition, you can easily construct a favourites list for your most frequently made calls, and easily merge calls together to create conference calls.

iPhone’s pioneering Visual Voicemail, an industry first, lets users look at a listing of their voicemails, decide which messages to listen to, then go directly to those messages without listening to the prior messages. Just like email, iPhone’s Visual Voicemail enables users to immediately randomly access those messages that interest them most.

iPhone includes an SMS application with a full QWERTY soft keyboard to easily send and receive SMS messages in multiple sessions. When users need to type, iPhone presents them with an elegant touch keyboard which is predictive to prevent and correct mistakes, making it much easier and more efficient to use than the small plastic keyboards on many smartphones. iPhone also includes a calendar application that allows calendars to be automatically synced with your PC or Mac.

Apple iPhone

iPhone features a 2 megapixel camera and a photo management application that is far beyond anything on a phone today. Users can browse their photo library, which can be easily synced from their PC or Mac, with just a flick of a finger and easily choose a photo for their wallpaper or to include in an email.

iPhone is a quad-band GSM phone which also features EDGE and Wi-Fi wireless technologies for data networking. Apple has chosen Cingular, the best and most popular carrier in the US with over 58 million subscribers, to be Apple’s exclusive carrier partner for iPhone in the US.

iPhone is a widescreen iPod with touch controls that lets music lovers “touch” their music by easily scrolling through entire lists of songs, artists, albums and playlists with just a flick of a finger. Album artwork is stunningly presented on iPhone’s large and vibrant display.

iPhone also features Cover Flow, Apple’s amazing way to browse your music library by album cover artwork, for the first time on an iPod. When navigating your music library on iPhone, you are automatically switched into Cover Flow by simply rotating iPhone into its landscape position.

iPhone’s stunning 3.5-inch widescreen display offers the ultimate way to watch TV shows and movies on a pocketable device, with touch controls for play-pause, chapter forward-backward and volume. iPhone plays the same videos purchased from the online iTunes® Store that users enjoy watching on their computers and iPods, and will soon enjoy watching on their widescreen televisions using the new Apple TV™. The iTunes Store now offers over 350 television shows, over 250 feature films and over 5,000 music videos.

iPhone lets users enjoy all their iPod content, including music, audiobooks, audio podcasts, video podcasts, music videos, television shows and movies. iPhone syncs content from a user’s iTunes library on their PC or Mac, and can play any music or video content they have purchased from the online iTunes store.

iPhone features a rich HTML email client which fetches your email in the background from most POP3 or IMAP mail services and displays photos and graphics right along with the text. iPhone is fully multi-tasking, so you can be reading a web page while downloading your email in the background.

Yahoo! Mail, the world’s largest email service with over 250 million users, is offering a new free “push” IMAP email service to all iPhone users that automatically pushes new email to a user’s iPhone, and can be set up by simply entering your Yahoo! name and password. iPhone will also work with most industry standard IMAP and POP based email services, such as Microsoft Exchange, Apple .Mac Mail, AOL Mail, Google Gmail and most ISP mail services.

iPhone also features the most advanced and fun-to-use web browser on a portable device with a version of its award-winning Safari™ web browser for iPhone. Users can see any web page the way it was designed to be seen, and then easily zoom in to expand any section by simply tapping on iPhone’s multi-touch display with their finger. Users can surf the web from just about anywhere over Wi-Fi or EDGE, and can automatically sync their bookmarks from their PC or Mac. iPhone’s Safari web browser also includes built-in Google Search and Yahoo! Search so users can instantly search for information on their iPhone just like they do on their computer.

iPhone also includes Google Maps, featuring Google’s groundbreaking maps service and iPhone’s amazing maps application, offering the best maps experience by far on any pocket device. Users can view maps, satellite images, traffic information and get directions, all from iPhone’s remarkable and easy-to-use touch interface.

iPhone employs advanced built-in sensors—an accelerometer, a proximity sensor and an ambient light sensor—that automatically enhance the user experience and extend battery life. iPhone’s built-in accelerometer detects when the user has rotated the device from portrait to landscape, then automatically changes the contents of the display accordingly, with users immediately seeing the entire width of a web page, or a photo in its proper landscape aspect ratio.

iPhone’s built-in proximity sensor detects when you lift iPhone to your ear and immediately turns off the display to save power and prevent inadvertent touches until iPhone is moved away. iPhone’s built-in ambient light sensor automatically adjusts the display’s brightness to the appropriate level for the current ambient light, thereby enhancing the user experience and saving power at the same time.

iPhone will be available in 4GB and 8GB versions priced at $499 and $599 respectively.

iPhone will ship in June of 2007 in the United States, Q4 in Europe and 2008 in Asia.

As was widely expected Apple today released new MacBook Pro notebooks feature Intel Core 2 Duo processors, updated optical drives, .

The 15″ model will ship now with the 17″ model following next week.

Apple is also shipping its MagSafe Airline adaptor for $59.

Now you’ll never lose your work or interrupt a DVD movie because your battery runs out at 35,000 feet. The MagSafe Airline Power Adapter will keep your MacBook or MacBook Pro juiced throughout your flight. Sleek and light, it works with in-seat DC power ports available on many commercial airliners — both EmPower ports and 20mm ports with the included adapter. Check with your airline regarding availability of in-seat power ports.

Apple updates the MacBook Pro with Core 2 processors

“With an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, greater storage capacity and FireWire 800 connectivity, the new MacBook Pro delivers unprecedented performance and mobility in an incredibly thin and light design,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing. “We are thrilled that our notebook sales are growing twice as fast as the overall notebook market, and we hope these new MacBook Pro models continue that success.”

The 2.16 GHz, 15-inch MacBook Pro, for a suggested retail price of $1,999 (£1,349.01), includes:

• 15.4-inch widescreen 1440 x 900 LCD display with 300 cd/m2 brightness;
• 2.16 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor;
• 1GB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM, expandable to 3GB;
• 120GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm, with Sudden Motion Sensor;
• a slot-load 6x SuperDrive™ with double-layer support (DVD+R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW) optical drive;
• PCI Express-based ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 with 128MB GDDR3 memory;
• DVI-out port for external display (VGA-out adapter included, Composite/S-Video out adapter sold separately);
• built-in Dual Link support for driving Apple 30-inch Cinema HD Display;
• built-in iSight video camera;
• Gigabit Ethernet port;
• built-in AirPort Extreme wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.0+EDR;
• ExpressCard/34 expansion card slot;
• two USB 2.0 ports, one FireWire 800 port, and one FireWire 400 port;
• one audio line in and one headphone out port, each supporting optical digital audio;
• Scrolling TrackPad and illuminated keyboard;
• the infrared Apple Remote; and
• 85 Watt Apple MagSafe Power Adapter.

The 2.33 GHz, 15-inch MacBook Pro, for a suggested retail price of $2,499 (£1,699), includes:

• 15.4-inch widescreen 1440 x 900 LCD display with 300 cd/m2 brightness;
• 2.33 GHz Intel Core 2Duo processor;
• 2GB of 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM, expandable to 3GB;
• 120GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm, with Sudden Motion Sensor;
• a slot-load 6x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD+R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW) optical drive;
• PCI Express-based ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 with 256MB GDDR3 memory;
• DVI-out port for external display (VGA-out adapter included, Composite/S-Video out adapter sold separately);
• built-in Dual Link support for driving Apple 30-inch Cinema HD Display;
• built-in iSight video camera;
• Gigabit Ethernet port;
• built-in Airport Extreme wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.0+EDR;
• ExpressCard/34 expansion card slot;
• two USB 2.0 ports, one FireWire 800 port, and one FireWire 400 port;
• one audio line in and one headphone out port, each supporting optical digital audio;
• Scrolling TrackPad and illuminated keyboard;
• the infrared Apple Remote; and
• 85 Watt Apple MagSafe Power Adapter.

The 2.33 GHz, 17-inch MacBook Pro, for a suggested retail price of $2,799 (£1,899.00), includes:

• 17-inch widescreen 1680 x 1050 LCD display with 300 cd/m2 brightness;
• 2.33 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor;
• 2GB of 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM, expandable to 3GB;
• 160GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm, with Sudden Motion Sensor;
• a slot-load 8x SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD+R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW) optical drive;
• PCI Express-based ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 with 256MB GDDR3 memory;
• DVI-out port for external display (VGA-out adapter included, Composite/S-Video out adapter sold separately);
• built-in Dual Link support for driving Apple 30-inch Cinema HD Display;
• built-in iSight video camera;
• Gigabit Ethernet port;
• built-in AirPort Extreme wireless networking and Bluetooth 2.0+EDR;
• ExpressCard/34 expansion card slot;
• three USB 2.0 ports, one FireWire 800 port, and one FireWire 400 port;
• one audio line in and one headphone out port, each supporting optical digital audio;
• Scrolling TrackPad and illuminated keyboard with ambient light sensor;
• the infrared Apple Remote; and
• 85 Watt Apple MagSafe Power Adapter.

Apple’s new iPod Shuffle music player

Amongst other news, Apple today updated their popular iPod Shuffle music player.

The new iPod Shuffle (above), is available in one universal size (1 Gigabyte) and can hold up to 240 songs. Its enclosure is made entirely of aluminium, and battery life remains at approx. 12 hours.

The iPod Shuffle retails at $79/£55 and includes a new-style iPod Shuffle USB dock.

On a side-note, Apple have reportedly sold 10 Million iPod Shuffles since their release in January 2005.

Apple today quietly updated the default processor speeds on new Intel Mac minis, at no extra cost. Of note the Mac mini did not receive an upgrade to the Core 2 processors but continues to use Yonah chips.

The base model now features a 1.66Ghz Intel Core Duo processor (formerly a 1.5Ghz Core Solo) and retains its £399/$599 pricetag.

The higher specification model has had its 1.66Ghz Core Duo processor upgraded to 1.83Ghz and also retains its pricing at £529/$799.

World of Apple previously reported on speculation that Mac minis could be receiving an update soon.

[Update] With the addition of today’s Mac mini update Apple has added a 160GB hard drive upgrade as a Build-to-Order option, although the upgrade pushes back deliveries by 1-2 weeks.