MacWorld Expo, New York City
July 19-21, 2000

Another MacWorld Expo brought together thousands of Mac aficionados from all over the world to the bi-annual celebration of all-that-is-Apple. Scads of developers, vendors, and Mac geeks crowded into the Jacob Javits Center to see and hear what Steve Jobs and the design team at Apple had to show off this summer. I think I can safely say that none of us was disappointed with Apple’s bag of new and remodeled goodies. I have listed them in order of my personal gee-wiz response; yours may vary. All of the images my be clicked for larger versions.

While Apple announced several new products, including a new optical mouse and pro keyboard that will ship standard on every Mac made, the coolest would have to be Apple’s new mid-range G4: the Power Mac G4 Cube. A cross between a space-age toaster and a 450MHz G4, the G4 Cube is another design triumph for Apple (see all the specs at Apple.com). This 8" cube is a quarter the size of the G4 mini tower, but has all of the computing power of the first generation of G4s, and runs it all without a cooling fan. While the machine essentially cannot be upgraded — except for RAM, of course — its small footprint, aesthetic appeal, and virtual silence make it a machine that many will want on their desks right next to a new flat panel monitor.

Apple also added two new monitor offerings: a $1000 15" flat panel (pictured with the cube above) and a retro-looking, $499 17" Diamondtron CRT. These new monitors, including a revised Cinema Display (still priced well beyond the reach of the normal user at $3999), have all combined the power cord and video signal cord into a single small cable that plugs directly into the CPU — very slick. However, we learned that Apple’s new monitors will not work with older machines, since the standard VGA plug has been replaced, and the new ATI Rage 128 chips will not, at least for now, be sold after market. The Expo was my first time experiencing the Cinema Display. Let me tell you: if you can afford the $3999 price tag, get one of these monitors. They are staggeringly beautiful with enough screen real estate for graphic designers and multiple application users. While all of these displays are bright and crisp, Apple has left an obvious gap: we have nothing between 17 and 22 inches. I would have liked to see a 19 or 20 inch CRT or flat panel. Maybe in January with a 17" iMac display.

The coolest part about the four new flavors of iMacs is the lowered price entry: $799. Yes, that’s $799 for the coolest computer on the planet in a new jewel-like Indigo. Leaving the candy metaphor behind, Apple continues their new gem/elemental line with Ruby, Sage, Snow, and a darker Graphite. The iMac DV’s price has dropped as well, to $999! Apple has made these new gems even harder to resist. They also come standard with Apple’s new Pro Mouse and Pro Keyboard. Steve was also pushing iMovie 2, showing us how easy it is to make a movie in a couple of minutes with selected clips for your DV camera through the iMac DV’s FireWire ports.

Steve also pitted a 500MHz G4 against a 1GHz Pentium, and the former outperformed the latter by about 20% in performing a series of common Photoshop tasks, making the 500MHz G4 equivelant to a 1.2GHz Pentium. That demo was only the beginning: a 500MHz, dual-processor G4 was wheeled out, and the same demo was performed. The G4 MP was twice as fast, making it as fast as a 2GHz Pentium (“If one were even available,” said Jobs), at least in Photoshop. While the body style of the G4 mini towers did not change, what’s inside them certainly did: the 450MHz and 500MHZ G4s now come standard with a dual-processor configuration and 1000BASE-T ethernet at the same price as the current models. Now that’s fast.

Giles and I attended the Users’ Conference and the basic panels that were included in that package. Most of these panels were for newbies to the Mac, but David Pogue and Joe Schorr’s “Best of the MacWorld Mac Secrets” was a delight. Steve’s keynote, as you can imagine, was the highlight of the show for me, especially since every one in attendance received a Pro Mouse. Thank you, Steve. The rest of the show, including the Microsoft announcement of Office 2001 for the Mac, was truly a good time and a Mac-user’s heaven. There’s just something heart warming about seeing hundreds of people at a time using their PowerBooks and iBooks on wireless networks throughout the Javits center without a peecee in site. Ah.

07.22.00