New Stuff!!

Alright, sorry I'm a little slow but I've finally gotten around to putting up the update on everything new that Apple announced Tuesday. Of course, as was highly anticipated a new iMac was announced, and I must say it looks fantastic. Here it is pictured with the brand new iMovie (and terribly sorry to whoever's bandwidth I'm stealing here). Anyway, I'd say the only new hardware bit I don't really like is the new keyboard. It just doesn't look that great IMO. A desktop keyboard should be just that, a desktop keyboard, not a laptop keyboard slapped onto a sheet of metal to be a desktop keyboard, but then I haven't actually tried it yet so it could feel great and me not realize it yet. The glossy screen seems to be a good move even if it has made a few people angry. I see why they're angry; glossy screens are more prone to glare, but they have to remember that this is a desktop, it can be put anywhere where there isn't much of a glaring light source and it will look great, and the added benefits of the glossiness will be reaped. The aluminum casing looks great to (though, like I said, I still haven't got a chance to see it in person yet, so I cannot fully say.

The other two this Apple announced were iLife '08 and iWork '08. iWork ''08 actually excites me a lot more than iLife '08. This is because they have added Number to the iWork suite. Finally, a spreadsheet application from Apple! It certainly looks to be a good one too. Again, I haven't tried any of this in person so i can't say a whole lot but from what I've seen and heard it looks fantastic. iLife doesn't excite me all that much except for GarageBand. I personally think they killed iMovie with the new version. I guess it's great for making a quick easy movie, but I liked the advanced editing features in iMovie HD, so I'm glad they left the option to keep the old iMovie installed as well. GrageBand does have some great new features that I'm looking forward to trying as well, but I still probably won't get iLife '08 until I get my MBP later this year, which will come with it, and I'm not sure when I will try iWork '08 (probably later in the school year when I can really put it to the test. Essentially, it was a very exciting Apple Tuesday.