Apple Special Event – iMacs, iLife 08, iWork 08, Mac Mini, Airport Extreme updates, AVCHD iMovie support

So, Apple’s special event took place on Tuesday at its headquarters in Cupertino, California. There were plenty of interesting updates announced:

Picture of iMaciMacs: Shiny new aluminium and glass construction, it appears recycling was a priority in their construction. There’s no more 17" model, just 20" and 24" sizes, but amazingly the prices are very competitive, starting from £799 which is pretty amazing. I have to admit I am strongly considering selling my G5 Tower and getting one of these! Not so keen on the glossy screen but I think I would get used to it. There’s also a completely redesigned keyboard to accompany them too.

Picture of iLife 08iLife 08: Updates to the whole iLife suite, mostly incremental updates for iPhoto, iDVD and GarageBand. But there’s actually a completely new version of iMovie. Interestingly this now includes AVCHD support so now there’s an option inbetween either simply converting AVCHD footage using VoltaicHD or going the whole hog and using Final Cut Studio. Good news for Mac using Sony / Panasonic etc hard-disk based HD camera owners! Now you can edit AVCHD footage using iMovie!

Picture of iWork 08iWork 08: The main update for iWork 08 is a new application that rounds off the whole suite – a spreadsheet application called Numbers. Numbers basically does for spreadsheets what Keynote did for presentations. There’s a 30 day trial available too, I’ve given it a quick little spin and it looks pretty cool.

Along with those announcements there were also a few updates that weren’t announced:

There’s also a video stream of the Special Event available from the Apple site now too.

Now, anyone want to buy a G5 Tower? ;)

~Rick

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