“Steve Jobs’ Jan. 10, 2006, Macworld Expo keynote marked an important milestone in the history of the Mac platform, but not as big or, frankly, as exciting a moment as I and many others had expected,” Henry Norr writes for MacInTouch. “What made the day historic, of course, was the introduction of the first Intel-based Macs – a new version of the iMac and a new laptop, the MacBook Pro, both featuring Intel’s new Core Duo processor.”
“Two things made the day a bit of a letdown, at least to judge by crowd reactions, as well as my own. One was the absence of hardware the rumor sites and pundits had led us all to expect: lighter, cheaper, Intel-based iBooks; an Intel-based Mac mini or some other “media Mac” with built-in DVR (digital video recorder) and other living-room-oriented features; and an upgraded version of the iPod Shuffle,” Norr writes.
“The other factor was that Apple, in designing the new Intel-based hardware it did deliver, clearly chose to put its emphasis on continuity rather than change. While both the new iMac and the MacBook Pro have a few appealing new features, from the user perspective, they’re not radical redesigns, and they’re no cheaper than their predecessors. In the case of the MacBook Pro, there are even some disturbing steps backwards, compared to the comparable PowerBook,” Norr writes.
Norr writes, “And the one big advance Jobs touted – a huge improvement in processing performance (2-3X in the case of the Intel iMac, compared to the G5 version, and 4-5X in the case of the MacBook Pro, compared to the latest PowerBook G4) – remains pretty abstract for now, because he backed up his claims only with synthetic SPEC benchmark results, not actual application results or live demos, and because we don’t yet have the new machines to try in our own work or play environments. (After listening to Apple for decades dismiss the SPEC benchmarks as all but meaningless, it’s hard not to notice the irony in the company now trumpeting its SPEC scores. I’m surprised it didn’t present at least a few comparisons done with real-life apps, at least the iLife apps.)”
Full article, very highly recommended, here.
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As with past events, I find it funny that everyone relies so heavily on the rumors, only to be let down in the end when they are not 100% reliable. For every rumor that reliably sneaks out of Cupertino, there are probably 10-20 that people are either guessing at, or are making up.
I don’t find it irresponsible of MDN and other sites to report the rumors as such. But these pundits that rely on the rumors as near-fact are doing a disservice to everyone. They come out and expound on what the rumored machine will do, what it will be called, etc. Then, the next day, they decry Apple for not following through.
“I’m surprised it didn’t present at least a few comparisons done with real-life apps, at least the iLife apps.”
It’s not surprising if you believe, like I do, that this product was RUSHED TO MARKET.
I think that Apple doesn’t want to introduce a ton of things all at once, and risk having something lost in the shuffle. I expect Apple will have some special product announcements coming relatively soon. That way each announcement gets it’s own spotlight.
I am also very skeptical of Jobs claims on the speed of these new machines.
rumors are fun.
Apple is now using the same benchmark results to validate the new Macs, that it used to claim as unrealistic comparisons.
at all in Macworld. I’m willing to bet that Apple will have a separate “media” event where it will unveil the “media Mac Mini,” new Shuffle, and related announcements. Reading between the lines, SJ hinted at that when he said “this is Macworld, so for the rest of the day we’re going to talk about Macs”. Why split it? Two theories, not mutually exclusive:
1) Smart PR. Why for one big bang of press coverage when Apple can get two, almost as big, press events. Two is definitely better than one when it comes to press/PR.
2) The media announcements weren’t ready for prime time, so why come out with a half-a**ed media announcement when you could wait a couple of months and wow everyone?
Most likely, both are true.
Jake
G-Spank,
Great minds think alike!
BS. He did the entire demo on the new iMacs, and they flew in real live apps.
He’s not going to geek out and start running benchmark tests in a keynote – what is wrong with people…he showed the benchmarks, real world will vary but that’s actually more than I would expect from a keynote
Geeeshh. Anybody would think that these commentators were industrial designers. They’re not. But they are stupid idiots…
The MacBook is an amazing piece of design that will beat any Dell/HP/Sony/Gateway handsdown. The iMac is the best desktop with new or old processors.
Do these idiots expect the look of things to change radically at every step or what? Their ought to be culling of bad journalists…
something is bound to be annouced near their birthday. April 1st, of course that’s a Saturday.. so on Monday the 3rd? Then again that is four long months away, many things could be announced by then. 2006, the year of bimonthly annoucements/introductions?
“I’m surprised it didn’t present at least a few comparisons done with real-life apps, at least the iLife apps.”
I don’t know about you but I noticed how those iMacs were absolutely FLYING through the iLife demoes BEFORE he mentioned that they were the new Intel versions! As soon as he started talking hardware and displayed the iMac on the screen I made the connection; that the two iMacs on the stage had intel chips. So there you go, a 90 minute flawless demo of the new machines!
What more do you expect?
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No DVR Mac mini and I don’t even miss it. I would have liked to see a mini with 64MB vram though! Oh well, there is always next week.
I loved the announcements. Loved the iLife improvements.
I understand why they kept the form factor.
1) Don’t scare people away with a potential visually failure.
2) They already work hard to come up with the design they like best. How do you replace that unless you happen to have something you like better? Until they find that, than they will continue with what they have.
From the article: “And the one big advance Jobs touted – a huge improvement in processing performance (2-3X in the case of the Intel iMac, compared to the G5 version, and 4-5X in the case of the MacBook Pro, compared to the latest PowerBook G4) – remains pretty abstract for now, because he backed up his claims only with synthetic SPEC benchmark results, not actual application results or live demos, and because we don’t yet have the new machines to try in our own work or play environments. (After listening to Apple for decades dismiss the SPEC benchmarks as all but meaningless, it’s hard not to notice the irony in the company now trumpeting its SPEC scores. I’m surprised it didn’t present at least a few comparisons done with real-life apps, at least the iLife apps.)”
This guy is sooo right. I’ve had my share of beefs with the Macintel transistion, but even I expected some major, verifiable crowing with regard to the improvements to the new laptop. Not only were Jobs performance assertions vauge and even – dare I say it – tepid (at least for him), but there’s absolutely NOTHING being said about battery life, which we were assured was REASON ONE for switching in the first place. I’ve read posts saying that the Mac Books they had for display were hotter than the current PowerBook by far – yet another major claim for Intel, down the tubes.
The fact is that most of the changes made to this new laptop revolve around non-CPU technology – FSB, GPU, PCIx, Serial ATA. Whatever performance improvements to be had have to be understood with that in mind, and with the acceptance that ALL of those things could have been included in the last PowerBook revision. Couple that with the dual core G4 being available for well over a year, and running in the exact same speed range as the Yonah Mac Book Pro, and this new laptop is not looking like a champ.
And don’t even get me started about the higher price when compared to similarly speced Dell machines, no dual layer DVD burner, and no FW800 either! I thought ‘de-contenting’ at the same price was only what the Japanese did to their cars when the Yen when through the roof. What is up with Apple pulling the same thing?
This Expo wasn’t just a letdown to the people at the event; it’s had the same effect among those on the outside as well. As well it should have – this was supposed to be a ‘Shot Heard Round the World’ type announcement, commensurate with such a major change for the company. Apparently someone forgot to tell Steve Jobs.
I don’t think this bodes well for the Macintel future.
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MW = “shot” – I kid you not, this thing is starting to creep me out.
I can just hear this guy mumbling to himself after the expo, “Damn, that burger flipper was wrong.”
a quote from a favorite book of mine.. “expectations ruin relationships”.. i’m still in love with Apple. Let’s slow down, by this time next year, maybe we’ll see that MWSF was just the beginning of great things to come.
is it me or does no one remember Apple’s April 1 30th Anniversary?
I don’t care what they introduce. Great products are in the wings.
Henry Norr has always proved himself an idiot; somethings just don’t change!
I was not at all disappointed with the keynote. Yes, i read all the rumors, but i never took them as gospel.
I think there were enough goodies in the keynote than any more would simply have been too much. As others have already suggested here, Apple will get more bang-for-the-buck by having a series of announcements, instead of everything all at once, where one new product will overshadow all the rest (e.g. Nano and, what was the other one? Oh yeah, the iTunes phone).
I think it’ll be Christmas all year long, and Steve even intimated as much.
Odyssey67….Just wait and see.
What applications would they use for a benchmark? The only available universal binary application is iLife. Do most people who use iLife really care? The people who care use pro applications and there are none available as of yet.
All this hand-wringing. Get a grip on yourselves people. The MacBook Pro is hands down the most feature-rich laptop on the market. It’s fast, light, it’s got a friggin camera, and the best part…it runs OS X. The iMac is similarly the most feature-rich desktop on the market. Sure you can get faster PC’s or just as fast laptops for cheaper but they don’t run OS X – so what’s the point? Are you thinking about switching? NO! You’re already here! So relax, enjoy and feel smug knowing that you’re an Apple user.
You people should see the smug look on my face, it priceless.
Some (kind of) funny comments by Michael “Dell”:
http://www.2manage.de/managementchannel/?p=28
PC World has a review of Intel’s new processors:
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,124230,00.asp#
To sum it up:
Its very good at multitasking but actually uses more watts than the Centrino’s that they replace and battery life is unchanged from previous laptops with Centrino. The HP Pavilion they tested with a 15″ screen got a battery life of 3h 51m, nearly identical to the previous generation 1 processor Centrino.
Already the whiners are coming out.
The thing that really gets my goat, are the whiners who whine that Apple is actually trying to use marketing when selling stuff.
There is no irony in the benchmarks. The benchmarks Apple used in the past were valid for PAST VERSIONS of Intel processors. The problem, as Steve Jobs has said numerous times, is that PowerPC hasn’t kept up with the current crop of Intel chips. Thus, Apple has had no choice but to de-emphasize certain benchmarks.
For those who can’t grasp the concept, it’s like this. When you have a Mustang, you blow up the horsepower and 0-60 times real nice and big. When you have a Focus, you ignore the horsepower and talk big about fuel economy. It’s as simple as that, duh!
Seriously, some people need to get a grip and lose their self-fixated superiority complex about Apple “misleading” people or Apple “fooling” people into buying stuff, as if Apple is the only company in the world not allowed to actually market their products. Find a better use for your time and whine about Papa John’s for claiming they have pizzas that taste better than Pizza Hut or something!