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New Macs Pull Hard on the Heart, Harder on the Wallet
by Joe Wilcox
Editor, Apple Watch
The new iMacs feature a smaller keyboard, without numeric keys. Good thing Apple bundles iLife and not iWork with the new Macs. How will you use Numbers without a numeric keypad?
People looking for a cheaper 24-inch iMac will pay $1,499—$300 less than the earlier model. But Apple held firm on entry-level pricing. The 20-inch iMac is still $1,199. Sorry, bud, if you've already maxed out the credit card.
The Mac Pro is now brawnier, packing Intel "Nehalem" Xeon processors. Please, stop drooling. It's disgusting.
The Quad-Core Mac Pro model, with 3GB of DDR3 (double data rate 3) memory, 512MB Nvidia GeForce GT 120 graphics and a 640GB 7200-rpm hard drive, is $2,499—that's $300 less than its predecessor. Cash and carry from the Apple Store. You supply the forklift.
Apple's low-cost Mac Mini is boxy and scrawny. For $599, you get 1GB of memory and a puny 120GB hard drive. Say what? Your smartphone is more computer and costs less?
What would you pay for more USB ports? Apple launched the original Mac Mini in January 2005 with two USB ports on both $499 and $599 configurations. Four years later, there are five USB ports on $599 and $799 models. Don't you just love the price of innovation?
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What company but Apple would be so audacious as to introduce new desktops—iMac, Mac Mini and Mac Pro—during a recession and when PC sales are declining? Gartner forecasts a 32 percent year-over-year decline in desktop PC shipments during 2009. The desktop is a dying category, but not one Apple is yet ready to abandon. The new Macs were available starting March 3.