form over function?

[Freyqq]

Every mac upgrade they've announced since i've owned a mac has been something I'd want to buy. That is..until yesterday. The most recent set of updates have been a disappointment.

iphoto - update doesn't look terribly significant at all. You can already make albums..this just does it automatically saving at most 10 seconds of your time. Not a significant improvement. If anything it seems like bloat..b\c making albums manually gives you 100% control on what you want in the album and is entirely drag and drop. Unfortunately, this seems to be the only improvement worth mentioning that I saw from the demo. Moving on..
imovie - worse in my opinion than the last version. While it looks prettier and you can arguably make movies faster, you don't have the same control over your project that you did with the older version. The timeline looks less detailed. You have to select clips by dragging your mouse and you can no longer cut your clips to the frame as with the previous version.

.mac - slight improvement but still not worth $99 a year..

imac - aesthetics wise..the color choice makes it look more like a dell or an HP than an apple. Look at the color scheme of this dell vs the imac http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/xpsdt_410?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs. I thought the white imac looked simpler and better. If you look at the iphone versus the imac..the design scheme and color are similar. The imac is obviously influenced by the iphone..and frankly it just doesn't look good on the imac. Beyond simple looks, the video card in the imac is horrible compared to what they could have gotten for a mere $50 more..and thats not even including bulk discounts i'm sure. The HD 2600XT is far better than the pro. Compared to the x1600 and the 7600, i don't think we'll see much of an improvement at all on the graphics end. On such an expensive machine, you'd expect more from apple.

mac mini - ..a $400 system sold for $600..but that's nothing new

bluetooth keyboard - i mean..come on...Though I'm sure its great to type on..there was absolutely no reason to cut off the keypad. Beyond that..its $20 more than the old version was...and by many accounts it is a WORSE keyboard.


i just hope they don't screw up leopard

 

[yoyo5280]

The iLife app updates are small yes, but I just can't help think you are exaggerating.

Have you USED iMovie? I tried at the apple store (held up huge line) and it is really easy to use, with more professional interface. It only lacks themes and effects (though the titles resemble the themes, and there is video tweaking to make it look nice.)

Have you SEEN the iMac in person? I thought it was ugly in pictures, saw it and my jaw dropped. It is amazing. and yes, the graphics suck.

.Mac is acutly a pretty good deal, just needs to be updated a little.

Mac mini is to expensive. should go back to old prices.

 

[smiddlehurst]

Beyond simple looks, the video card in the imac is horrible compared to what they could have gotten for a mere $50 more..and thats not even including bulk discounts i'm sure. The HD 2600XT is far better than the pro. Compared to the x1600 and the 7600, i don't think we'll see much of an improvement at all on the graphics end. On such an expensive machine, you'd expect more from apple.

No I wouldn't. Seriously, this update makes perfect sense when you consider the target market for the iMac. It's aimed squarely at digital media creation and general computing plus the so-called casual gaming market. It's a policy that's been working spectacularly well for them the last year or two and it's a policy that is likely to continue working for them in the future. The HD 2600 series is targeted more at HD video than high performance gaming (though let's wait and see how it performs in OSX rather than relying on windows benchmarks, hmm?) and as such is a good choice for the new iMac.

This is something that annoys the hell out of me, and I apologise for venting here, but if you're going to criticise a machine for not doing what you want it to do you also need to consider the target audience for that machine. I hate analogies at the best of times but it'd be like complaining that a Ferrari can't fit a wardrobe in the boot. Not what the machine is designed for.

Also, as yoyo pointed out, virtually no-one has actually used this stuff yet, at least not in anger or for any serious time. Basing opinions off demos and photographs is never going to be a substitute for getting your hands on something and using it yourself.

Bottom line - Apple targets the iMac at users who want an all-in-one machine that will do most things well and give them easy to use software tools for the current trends of creating, displaying and managing digital media. The old iMac proved to be superb at this and I see no reason that the latest one and the new iLife and iWork suites won't carry on the tradition.

 

[Freyqq]

No I wouldn't. Seriously, this update makes perfect sense when you consider the target market for the iMac. It's aimed squarely at digital media creation and general computing plus the so-called casual gaming market.

then explain the glossy screens..can't do photoshop on that accurately

it's designed for home users who want to osx experience but don't want a mac mini because it's horribly overpriced for what it is (a last gen macbook without a screen, keyboard, or mouse)

and about your comment about windows benchmarks...it's the card we're comparing not the os. OSX isn't going to make the card run any faster. If anything, i'm sure its underclocked.

the imac does what it does..fine..but i'm more concerned atm with the progression of imac generations then the line itself.

 

[-kritter-]

pointless banter, i dont get what people were expecting in these updates, i think what we were given was amazing, apple really did deliver, they took awesome software and smoothed it out, i mean you can only improve upon already awesome sofware so much. and as for the imac, drop dead gorgeous, what? is apple not allowed to use the "color" black in their computers???
the white polycarbonate plastic looks to toyish as many people say, i think its awsome that the outside is now all aluminum and glass, its a step forward...
and as for the keyboard, im typing on my macbook right now, and seeing as the imac keyboard took on the design and feel of the macbook keyboard, i can honestly say its gotta be awesome, i love my macbooks keyboard alot...

oh yah and the glossy screen debate, even in well lit places you get NO glare when your viewing the screen at a normal angle, even at this moment there is a lamp to my right and o whats that, no glare on my glossy screened macbook, the only time i ever got any glare was outside on a sunny day or in school were the whole cealing was covered in florescent lighting(even then the glare wasnt that bad when i had the backlight at its brightest setting), its a non issue, and one would not be using an imac outside, and i would like to think most people who use phtotoshop on a glossy screened imac arent doing it in places with extreemly bright lighting, you shouldnt even be doing that on a mac with a matte screen...

change is good...

 

[Igantius]

Wouldn't the Apple, Industry and Internet Discussion forum be a more appropriate place for this type of thread?