Appletell

This is part one of a five part series leading up to MacWorld.

Mac desktop predictions:

Mac Pro- There is a near 100% chance that there will be a new Mac Pro released this MacWorld. Rumors are that it will sport Penryn processors up to 8-core 3.2 GHz. It owuld be nice to see a case change, but it looks very good as it is, and a case change would have to be in tandem with a Cinema Display Update, which we’ll talk about in a minute. Apple will most likely tout a 32 GB RAM ability as a new feature, even though the current Mac Pros can handle 32 GB of RAM since the introduction of 4 GB RAM Modules. Hard Drive Space will most likely be expanded to a 4 TB Max, perhaps more.

Cinema Displays- First, let’s talk about a case change. If the Mac Pro gets a case change, these will get one to match. If not, the Cinema Displays will still be changed up a bit. As of right now, the Cinema Displays are about the same thickness as an iMac. And the iMac has an entire computer inside. If the Mac Pro remains aluminum, then the Cinema Displays will probably look the same from the front, except with any luck they will have an iSight camera built in (perhaps a BTO option.) The sizes of the new displays are up in the air. Personally, I think the two most likely options are 24”, 27” and 30” displays, or perhaps cutting off the 20” and leaving just a 24” and 30.“ I have a feeling that the current 23” display will be replaced by a 24” because they use 24” panels in their iMacs. The new displays will probably have a glossy option, like the MacBook Pro displays, but it is highly unlikely that they will make glossy mandatory.

iMac- Not much to say here. As these were only released in August, the only update I would expect is a bump in the entry-level speed: from 2 to 2.2 GHz. A far out hope is hat they might make a matte screen option, but then there would have to be some sort of redesign, because there would have to remove the lass, so I’d call that one a 5% chance of happening.

Mac Mini- I don’t think much will heppen here either. The best I think we can hope for is for it to be brought up to par with the MacBook. This means an entry level machine at 2 GHz, Intel GMA X3100 Graphics, 80 GB HDD, and a higher end 2.2 GHz with a 160 GB HDD. There is also the possibility of the Mac Mini being killed and (hopefully) replaced with a mini tower.

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