One more thing....

So then. There it is. The Apple Expo in California. An eagerly anticipated event for anyone passionate about Apple products, as they invariably launch new software and hardware. In the past, even if we've had a pretty good idea about what Apple are going to launch, they always seem to have a trick up their sleeve.

So then. How did they do this time? Personally I thought the event was pretty tame for Apple ... but that's not to say the updates weren't interesting. They just didn't have the 'Oh my, look at that', heart racing, giddy as a schoolboy, dreaming about how this new box will change my life .. kind of effect.

To jump in at the deep-end: Apple released their first ever Intel-based Mac. This in itself is a major milestone for Apple ... but it was overshadowed by the hype they gave the shift to Intel in the latter part of 2005. We were all expecting at least one member of the Mac family to replaced with Intel hardware for this event. Yeah, OK. So they surprised us by having not one, but two members of the family upgraded: The iMac and a complete revamp of the Powerbook (now called the MacBook Pro, thus dropping the IBM/Power association). They're nice looking machines, and they're faster than their IBM counterparts ... but I'm hesitant to start dreaming about owning one :o)

This is the first time that the Intel-based version of the Mac OS-X operating system has been made available to the public, and there are bound to be teething troubles. Especially since any software that has not been recompiled for the Intel CPU will be run through a subsystem named 'Rosetta'. In theory this is great, as it means older applications will always run on these new systems. In reality, however, any application running through Rosetta is bound to suffer some performance degradation, which may frustrate new owners of these super-fast machines. I think I'll wait for a while :o)

The other thing I find suspicious is the lack of information about the new Intel 'Core Duo' chip. Is it a 64-bit chip? Yes, I know the benchmarks show this thing is almost twice the speed of the G5 ... but in order to achieve this has Apple / Intel taken a backwards step?

There were other semi-interesting updates today too: A new iLife suite (iLife 06), which had some pretty tame new features for a major update. The addition of a web authoring package, iWeb, looked more promising ... but it's not clear whether it's only for .Mac subscribers.

With so many recent updates to the iPod, it was hard to believe they'd come up with anything new .... but they managed to squeeze in an iPod remote/radio adapter which allows you to listen to FM radio on the iPod. Great. Just what I always wanted .... oh, wait. It's only available for the new iPod video :o(

All that aside, I think that the shift to Intel looks promising. If anything I would guess that Apple are making a point by keeping the design of the new iMac and the laptop almost identical to the previous model. They're saying "Look. We've shoved Intel chips in these things, any everything stays the same. We're still Apple". I'm sure there'll be many more innovative Apple products over the next 12 months, but for now they're playing it safe.

There'll be more Expos. (Fingers cross for NAB and Final Cut 6 :o)

UPDATE: Apple have posted a TV ad they've made about the Intel switch.