Top 10 Points to Ponder on iMac, New Keyboard, iLife, and Others
| by Joe Leo, Columnist |
COMMENTARY: 8.08.07-- The new thinner and sleeker iMac is finally here and even longer of a wait, a matching aluminum keyboard to boot! (Which now complements all current Macs, unlike the all-white one). There are a bunch of questions to ponder in regard to these and the other product announcements made yesterday, but instead of giving empty answers with only some factual basis, we present them here to let you come up with answers yourself.
Or, feel free to write in and express your thoughts verbally via e-mail instead of keeping them to yourself and in your own head!
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1) Did anyone notice that this new iMac is sort of the "black" iMac people were looking for? (When the iPod was available in white and black, and then the MacBook done the same, people wished they'd make the iMac black too. Images of the new iMac's backside appear to be black because of a shadow, but no, it's not a shadow... it's definitely black! Although not completely black, it's a start).
2) Could the glass display be a precursor to eventual touch-screen interface for the iMac, similar to the iPhone? (AppleInsider only compares the new iMac's look to the iPhone design... can you see the new ad for the new iMac already? iPhone in front/at left and iMac in back/at right?).
3) Any options for a matte screen, maybe a special anti-glare glass coating? (Though the glass display precludes any notion of that. Yet another PC-like quality... glossy displays).
4) Why did Apple choose to leave out the iconic logo on its keyboards? The Apple logo on the command key? (We can live with removing the word "computer" from the company name, but the keyboard's Apple logo gone?).
5) Since there is no keypad on the wireless version of the new slim aluminum keyboard--the wired full-sized version has a keypad--why did they not include the numeric keypad function combo? (Where you hold the num lock key down and type the small numbers on the lower right of your regular keys).
6) They made the iMac even thinner but why couldn't they trim the "beard" off it's "chin"? (Still had to keep that "lower lip" underneath the iMac).
7) Where did the versions of iLife '07 and iWork '07 go? (Did Redmond, WA steal ideas from it and Cupertino, CA was forced to throw the '07 version out completely?).
8) Why the skip to iLife '08 and iWork '08? (Or at least, why not wait until Macworld 2008?).
9) Why no lighted keyboard function with an ambient sensor on these sleek and slim new aluminum keyboards? (There's an easy answer to this, but let's leave it open for debate).
10) Speaking of lighted keyboards, where is our ultra-portable Mac notebook already, rumored to come out yesterday? (Preferably a MacBook Pro version in 12-inches or smaller).