Real Kato Blog: Apple Watch: October 19th Announcements

New PowerMacs, New PowerBooks, and a pro-level photo application, all as predicted.

Here we go again.

There are new PowerMac G5s based on the dual-core 970MP processor. There are two "PowerMac G5 Dual" models with a single dual-core G5: one at 2.0 GHz, and one at 2.3 GHz. That's the same clock speed as the previous single-core dual-processor designs, but because of improvements in memory bandwidth and cache efficiency, the new machines should be slightly faster than their older counterparts.

At the top end is a dual-processor dual-core machine, the "PowerMac G5 Quad", at 2.5 GHz. Despite the somewhat lower clock speed compared to the previous high-end model (the dual-processor single-core 2.7 GHz G5), this machine should be significantly faster for many tasks, thanks to its four-core design.

All the new machines feature PCI-Express slots, a big improvement over the PCI and PCI-X slots in the previous models. The machines also all have 533 Mhz DDR2 SDRAM (up to 16GB), compared to the 400 MHz DDR SDRAM (up to 8GB) from before. The standard graphics card is now an Nvidia GeForce 6600, optionally upgradeable to the GeForce 7800 or the Quadro FX 4500.

With the exception of the top-end model, the improvements are modest. And so as you might expect, the prices on the PowerMac G5 Dual 2.0 GHz and 2.3 GHz remain at $1999 and $2499, respectively. The high-end PowerMac G5 Quad 2.5 GHz is $3299, $300 higher than the old Dual 2.7 GHz model.

Oh, and if you look carefully, you can still find the old Dual 2.7 GHz model available. That's probably a bone to buyers who've got a large investment in older PCI cards.

So there you have it. There's now a machine out there that's four times faster than my current machine, and that's usually my trigger to upgrade. But if I got the configuration I wanted (with 2GB of RAM and the Nvidia GeForce 7800), the sticker price is approaching $4000. I know that by January, we'll probably see a significant price drop. So maybe I'll wait just a bit. My current machine is running fine, so I have no urgent need to empty my pocketbook.

There are new PowerBook G4s, with higher-resolution displays than before. The 15" display now provides 1440x960 pixels, and the 17" display provides 1680x1050. The displays are also significantly brighter than their older counterparts, alleviating a common complaint among some PowerBook owners.

All the models, including the 12", now have a SuperDrive as standard equipment (dual-layer on the 15" and 17" models). There are no other changes on the 12".

The only other changes on the 15" and 17" models are improved battery life, a VRAM bump to 128MB, and optical digital audio in/out. Still, the display improvements alone make the 15" and 17" models more reasonable desktop replacement machines than their older space-constrained counterparts.

These will probably be the last PowerBook G4s we see; the next PowerBooks are generally expected to sport Intel CPUs.

Finally, there's a new photography workflow application called "Aperture". It's designed not just for photo-editing, but for organizing, cataloging, and publishing as well. Apple is really breaking new ground here; I don't think there's another application that handles the entire workflow like this. There's plenty of cool features, particularly native support for RAW image formats, and the CoreImage-based non-destructive editing capabilities. The Loupe magnifying tool and the lift-and-stamp tool (to apply image effects from one photo to another) are also cool innovations. Apple is finally learning how to harness all its great graphics technologies. The PC world will be years behind on this.

The biggest question on people's lips is whether this will be a PhotoShop competitor. In some ways, the applications overlap. But Aperture doesn't tackle all of Photoshop's layering and compositing features. You might say Aperture is for photographers and Photoshop is for graphic designers, and perhaps the two applications will be complementary.

* * *

Once again, it's Christmas in Apple-land. There's some grumbling and griping that the updates weren't more significant, but I think you'll see a lot of photographers snapping up the PowerMac G5 Quads, with four 30" displays each... and they'll use Aperture with delight, tossing aside their light tables and mechanical tools.

Apple's stock jumped up $2.73 (5%) on today's news.

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