Apple Products 2009-2010
The Apple product line has expanded to such a degree this year that consumers considering a purchase may be overwhelmed by the options. Even when it comes to the iPod, how do you decide which one is right for you? Use MacTribe's awesome product guide to get the skinny on the whole lineup and make the best choice for you.
2009 has seen its share of surprises so far with the debut of Apple's new iPhone 3GS, MacBook Air, MacBook and MacBook Pro lines, and the new Snow Leopard OS that shipped in September. Apple's fall iPod event just gave us a new set of goodies too, and we're excited to be able to run it all down for you.
iPhone 3GS
 “Twice as fast, same price.”
Since its very first incarnation (the now "collectors item" 4GB version of the iPhone from the summer of 2007), new releases have followed a path of building anticipation like no other phone out there. With all due respect to others in the category of ultimate smartphones, like Google's Android, or the new Palm Pre, new iPhone releases are in a league of their own in terms of generating interest, media buzz and loyal followers.
The question really is what's changed in this new version since the last round? When we iPhone lovers got our 16GB version with upgraded software last summer, we were feeling pretty good. This new release easily surpasses the older version with much more than superficial upgrades.
With its high-resolution 3.5-inch diagonal touchscreen and crisp 480 x 320 pixels resolution, the iPhone 3GS has increased processor speed and a longer battery life. It now supports the new OpenGL ES 2.0 standard for gaming apps and also includes built in, user friendly video recording that's easy to upload to YouTube or Flickr. Another nice upgrade is the punchy three megapixel autofocus camera on board for better images. IPhone 3GS also includes the new iPhone OS 3.1 mobile operating system with many new features such as Cut, Copy and Paste, Spotlightª Search, landscape keyboard and more. iPhone 3GS customers of course have access to more than 50,000 iPhone applications from Apple's ever growing App Store.
The iPhone 3GS features are very impressive, with fast wireless technology, GPS mapping, and the new App Store. Like the original iPhone, it combines three products in one: a chic phone, a widescreen iPod, and a convenient Internet device with rich HTML email and a state-of-the-art web browser.
It is available with a maximum of 32GB of storage space for music, video and photos, and has a multi-touch user interface unlike any other touch screen technology we have seen. Competitive service plans are available through an exclusive deal with AT&T.
- iPhone 3GS 32GB: $299
- iPhone 3GS 16GB: $199
- iPhone 3G 8GB: $99
Apple TV
 With the 40 GB model recently eliminated, Mac fans now have one choice and one choice only for their Apple home entertainment. Apple TV is not a substitute for a computer but is a great accessory; it syncs to your computer's iTunes library of videos, TV shows and music over a wireless network. Watch YouTube on your big screen TV or rent some HD movies with a few clicks of your remote. Apple's Front Row interface allows you to control your media with a remote control right on your TV screen. Watch HD movies, HD TV shows and HD podcasts all in your living room. There's even an app for controlling your Apple TV from your iPhone or iPod touch. The only hitch is that it connects solely to widescreen enhanced-definition or high-definition TVs, so if you don't have one of those, you'll have to update your television before indulging yourself in Apple TV. There's good news, though: with the recent price cut, you effectively have a hundred dollar credit toward that new 52" screen!
iPod
From its first incarnation in 2001, the iPod has taken the music world by storm. With four distinct models to choose from, consumers have it easier than ever--all you have to do is think about how you want the device to function: fancy some gaming? Go for the iPod touch. Rather have your life on YouTube? The new nano is for you.
iPod touch
 Touted by Apple reviewers as the iPhone without the phone, the iPod Touch is the first-ever Wi-Fi iPod. The iPod touch features the same innovative interface as the iPhone and boasts newly upgraded 3.1 software. Now you can use cut, copy and paste and peer-to-peer gaming right out of the box, and a large 3.5-inch display with its multi-touch interface lets you control everything using only your fingers. Browse the web with Safari and watch YouTube videos, check email, view Google Maps, stocks, and weather, or watch a movie while you travel. The new 32GB and 64GB models feature OpenGL ES Version 2.0: with it, games launch faster, and your gaming experience becomes more lifelike than ever. If you want the future of all media players and communication devices in one, this is it. Depending on the model, the iPod touch holds up to 14,000 songs and up to 80 hours of video, and the new additons to the games at the app store--like Madden NFL 2010!--make the iPod touch the go to device for mobile gaming.
- 8GB: $199
- 32GB: $299
- 64GB: $399
iPod classic
 Unlike the first generation iPod, this one is full color and holds photos and videos as well as music on its hard drive. You can set up slideshows with background music just like you would in iPhoto and buy a special USB adapter to transfer pictures directly from your camera to your iPod. With a 2.5 inch color screen, it's not widescreen yet but the rectangular display on the video iPod is surprisingly bright and clear. And let's face it, kids: if you're buying the classic, it's for ease of storage more than media options. They're not really lacking though, especially with the Genius feature, which creates a playlist of tracks in your library that play off each other stylistically. The new Classic models ship with a USB 2.0 cable, which will charge your iPod when connected to your computer. A dock adaptor for Apple's Universal Dock (sold separately) is also provided. The newly updated behemoth holds about 40,000 songs and 200 hours of video.
iPod nano
 The first generation of the iPod Nano came in black or white, was the size of a business card, and could fit it into a wallet. A serious update went down at the 9-9-09 Apple iPod event, and today's new nano has a bright 2.2 inch diagonal color display, video capture with fifteen real-time effects, FM radio with a tagging feature, and a pedometer. The video camera--no still photos, mind you--caused the biggest splash, and here's why: ease of access through a quick scroll down menu opens the camera app and allows you to record video in portrait or landscape at a size perfect for email or YouTube uploading. A built-in mic lets you capture audio, too, and the video playback lets you hear the recorded audio with it because of the brand new internal speaker. While you record you can add one of the fifteen effects offered, but beware! Once you add them there's no going back. The new nano received a Voice Over make over, too. iPod Nano comes in nine new vibrant colors but keeps its sleek aluminum and glass design. Since it's sturdy, cute and reasonably priced, this is the best iPod for the kids. You can carry 2,000 songs and eight hours of video or 4,000 songs and sixteen hours of video depending on model.
iPod shuffle
 The latest addition to the iPod family is the new iPod Shuffle. It looks like a piece of chewing gum at only 1.8 x 0.7 x 0.3" but holds up to 1,000 songs with its 4GB flash drive. The media player now comes with Apple earphones with a built in remote, which allows users to easily access menus while also enabling the best new feature, VoiceOver. With a simple touch of the button on the earphone remote, VoiceOver will announce the title and artist of the song you're listening to in its correct language (it knows fourteen), and the technology is revolutionary--for the first time, visually impaired users can navigate through their collection seamlessly. It will also tell you the name of each playlist as well as letting you know when your battery needs to be charged, although with the new battery life of up to 10 hours, you shouldn't hear this one too often. The design of the Shuffle is sleek and smooth aluminum, and it now comes in five bright colors. The front is completely flat with the only controls being on the top in three switches: shuffle, straight through and off. The clip, on the back of the device, is made from stainless steel.
Computers
Since Apple switched from the PowerPC to Intel Processors, the Mac is now truly superior to other computers. The switch not only allows them to run faster, it also enables users to boot the computer in OSX or, with Parallels, as a Windows machine. Today's Macs are faster and more versatile than ever thanks to the partnership with Intel, and they come in various forms and sizes to suit every user's needs.
MacBook Air
 Yes, all the Thinnovation hype about Apple's latest laptop is true. At three pounds, the MacBook Air will just about fit into a manila envelope, and it's thin enough to conceivably slip beneath your office door. Yet it still has a fine 13.3 backlit LED display and full size keyboard and a multi-touch trackpad. A truly innovative design, the MacBook Air comes with a USB 2.0 port, a headphone jack and a mini-DVI port that supports DVI, VGA, composite and S-video output. It's base configuration is a 1.86GHz Core 2 Duo processor with a 120GB Serial ATA hard drive, 2GB of memory and NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics. Painfully missing are a firewire port and CD/DVD combo drives, but Apple compensates on these points by providing a truly remarkable design that is ultraportable and relies heavily on its built in Wi-Fi capabilities. If the trade-offs make sense, and you're willing to use external drives for CD/DVD burning, then the MacBook Air is off and running toward wild success (sales so far indicate it is). Many upgrade options.
- 1.86GHz: $1,499
- 2.13GHz: $1,799
MacBook
The new MacBook is a fantastic 13 inch personal computer. As one solid piece of aluminum, it is both thin and light. It comes with a 2.13GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and large hard drives from 160GB to 500GB are also available with optional upgrades, making it great for music and photo storage. Now with Multi-Touch technology, a spacious glass trackpad makes moving and clicking a breeze. Upgrading RAM is also super easy so if the deciding factor between the low-end model and the next level is RAM based, it's cheap and easy to buy a stick and pop it in. All models are Bluetooth equipped and have a built-in Airport Extreme card. They also all have an ultra-thin 1280x800 LCD screen and come with mind-numbing NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics processor. In the final analysis, the new MacBook is a high performance treat for the eyes.
MacBook Pro
The new MacBook Pro is bound to satisfy the creative professional and consumer switcher alike. A new unibody aluminum enclosure houses the goods, and the laptop comes in a 13, 15, or 17 inch model complete with an ultrathin LED-backlit display that is uniformly bright and brilliant. The MacBook Pro also has a lighted keyboard and ambient light sensors. The latest version now includes Multi-Touch technology: you can pinch, swipe or rotate the trackpad to enlarge text, advance through photos or adjust images. This trackpad has no button--it is the button. The advanced NVIDIA graphics processor in the MacBook Pro makes programs like Aperture and Motion come to life while a built-in iSight camera, MagSafe for the power cord connection, Bluetooth and an Airport Extreme card round out the features. The low-end 15 inch has a 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, a 1440 x 900 px display, 2GB of RAM, a 250GB hard drive and a 8x double-layer SuperDrive. The high-end 15 inch has the same options as the low-end model with a few upgrades including a 2.8 GHz processor and 4GB of DDR3 SDRAM. The 17 inch features similar specs to the upgraded 15 inch with the bonus of having a battery life of up to eight hours. The new MacBook Pro also offers a solid-state drive option, which uses technology similar to that in flash-based products and offer greater durability and improved resistance to data loss in the event of an accident.
- 13 Inch 2.26GHz: $1,199
- 15 Inch 2.53GHz: $1,699
- 17 Inch 2.8GHz: $2,499
Mac mini
 In addition to being the most affordable Mac available, Apple goes so far as to claim the Mac Mini as the world's most energy-efficient desktop computer. Using 45% less energy (only 13 watts of power when idle), the Mac Mini uses 10 times less power than the average desktop PC. At only 6.5 x 6.5 x 2 the computer is truly miniature; nonetheless, it has giant power. The current model has five times better graphics performance than before, using Mac's NVIDIA GeForce 9400M. The low-end Mac Mini comes with a 2.0GHz processor, 1GB of RAM and a 120GB hard drive. The 2.26GHz high-end Mac Mini has 2GB of RAM and a 320GB hard drive. Upgrades include up to 4GB of memory and up to 320GM of storage. The unit does not ship with a keyboard, mouse or display, so those will have to be purchased separately (or salvaged from old machines). It's fantastic for entertainment, mainly music and movies, serious creative professionals and gamers will likely need the iMac or Mac Pro for work and play.
iMac
Recent upgrades make the iMac more powerful with the added bonus of being more affordable than ever. An Intel Core 2 Duo Processor with up to 3.06 GHz doubles the memory (up to 4GB) and storage (up to 1TB) of the previous version. The new iMacs give users high-definition precision with up to six times faster graphics performance than before thanks to NVIDIA. It also features a flat-panel LCD screen with 1680-by-1050 resolution in the 20-inch version or 1920-by-1200 resolution for the 24-inch. The Intel iMac has an amazingly thin anodized aluminum frame whose storage, power and style make it an excellent component on the work desk of any creative professional. Print designers or video editors, however, may need something with a bit more oomph, and that's where the Mac Pro comes in. The iMac comes with the amazing new iLife and the full selection of software that comes with Mac OS x v10.5. The iMac ships with a keyboard, the much-debated Mighty Mouse, and the Apple remote. Keep in mind that one advantage of the iMac in terms of pricing is that it ships as a complete system: With the display built-in, there's no need to for single-display users to purchase a separate monitor. Video chat is a breeze with a built-in iSight camera and mic, and the sum of all these parts is a truly phenomenal in an all-in-one desktop.
- 20 Inch 2.66GHz: $1,199
- 24 Inch 2.66GHZ: $1,499
Mac Pro
Professional users, meet the new Mac Pro. It's what's on the inside that counts, right? Well, the redesigned interior of this mega-machine is where all of the magic happens. The inner beauty lies in the Quad-Core Intel Xeon Nehalem 5500 series processor (2.26GHz, 2.66GHz, or 2.93GHz), giving users two times the performance. Expanding is easy with simplified access to memory (up to 32GB), storage (up to 4TB) and expansion cards. The Mac Pro employs the latest in graphics technology with high performance graphics cards by AMD and NVIDIA, and Apple claims this model is the fastest Mac ever. Operating on MAC OS X Leopard, this system means business for serious creative professionals in film, photography, music, animation or design. This computer is not a toy; it's a powerhouse system with good stock graphics capabilities (upgradeable to something truly awesome) and the ability to connect up to two displays.
Mac Product Images used courtesy of Apple.
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