Apple Redesigns the MacBook, iMac, Mighty Mouse

On Tuesday, the Apple Store went down, leaving only the much-anticipated “We’ll be back soon” sticky note. When the Store came back up, there were new MacBooks, iMacs, and a new mouse, along with other refinements to the traditional line-up of Apple products. The new MacBook basically brings it up to par with the MacBook Pros. The new iMac is thinner and has a better display. The replacement for the Mighty Mouse is called the Magic Mouse; but why the change in name? Because another company, Man & Machine, had won the trademark to it. The Mighty Mouse is mostly dead; it’s been rechristened the “Apple Mouse” and is available at the Apple Store for 50 USD.

New MacBook:

• Curvy unibody polycarbonate shell
• Button-less glass trackpad
• New LCD display
• Built-in 7-hour Li-Ion battery
• Faster 2.26 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor
• No Firewire (sob)
• Combined audio-in/-out
• Rubberized bottom panel
• Starts at $999

New iMac:

• Awesome display in 27- and 21.5-inch varieties with 16:9 aspect ratio
• Intel Core 2 Duo processors up to 3.33 GHz, option for 2.66 GHz Core i5 or 2.8 GHz Core i7 in November
• Integrated NVIDIA GeForce 9400M or high-end ATI Radeon HD 4670
• 4GB of RAM, upgradeable to 16GB
• Disk storage up to 2TB
• SD card slot below optical drive
• Black and silver remote that looks like an iPod design reject
• Starts at $1199

Magic Mouse:

• Touch-sensitive surface; gestures for scrolling and going back in browser history; still clicks like old Mighty Mouse
• Powered by two AAs, which can last up to four months
• Bluetooth only; no wires
• $69

Other new things include a spec-bump on the Mac Mini, a new configuration for the Mini that acts as a server with two HDDs instead of an optical drive, a spec-bump to Time Capsule that should make it 60% faster, and a new MagSafe adapter that’s silver instead of white.

If you were waiting to get a MacBook Pro because you can’t afford it, I’d just get the MacBook; it has the same specs and it’s $200 cheaper. But sooner or later, the Pros will be getting Core i5/7 processors, so keep that in mind.