New iMac, MacBook, Mac mini, new mouse and new remote.

The Mac mini comes in a "server" edition which seems to be the top end desktop version but with an extra HD instead of the DVD drive and slot.

The mouse has no buttons or the scroll ball thing either. It comes with a multitouch pad instead.

The remote is the same as the old one except it is now metal.

The Mac Mini server is interesting, since it also comes with the server OS, clearly a move to try and get more small business customers into the Apple fold. $1000, and you have a box that provides e-mail, calendar, collaboration, web hosting, and file storage.

The new 27 inch iMac is interesting in that the displayport is both a video output and input. And the higher end config shipping next month uses desktop Core i5 and i7 processors. Both iMacs are moving to 16:9, with the 27 inch going to a 2560x1440 resolution.

New Macbook again kills the firewire port, and lacks the SD port. Rubber bottom, and the same sealed in 7 hour battery the Pros are offering.

Still no Blu Ray support.

Yeah. The input feature is very nice. They should extend it to the smaller models though. The ability to plug in your laptop or reuse the iMac as a regular display is handy.

Clever. I used to have a Bluetooth mouse, but I ditched it. A wired mouse is something you never ever have to worry about charging. I'm pretty happy with my Logitech cheapo laser mouse.

I'm currently using a 24" iMac, and it's done everything I've ever asked of it, save that the glossy screen glare sucks. I have the Photodon anti-glare film installed, which makes it substantially better, but still not as good as a proper matte display. Why won't Apple offer such an option on the iMac 27"?

I do like that Apple has finally begun to recongize that having an SD card slot is a no-brainer. Next thing you know, they'll discover that a side-mounted USB port would also be a good idea for everybody carrying around USB memory sticks.

Personally, the mac mini server is by far the most interesting news of the day. Apple owns the unix desktop, but the unix server market has been left to Windows and Linux. Windows Small Business Server is a surprisingly compelling product, and Ubuntu is cheap and works well if you know what you're doing. However, if I was setting up an office now, iMacs and a mac mini server would definitly be a great way to go. Apple's never been one to try the foot in the door technique, but it seems this is exactly that.

I'm curious as to how reliable the Mac mini in a server role is. The old C2D Mac mini I've got gets quite hot even when it isn't really doing much. The current story going around is that the Time Capsule devices have a design flaw and are prone to overheating and dying.

The HDs inside the Mac mini are also laptop drives so again, unsure about the reliability of them.

They're also covered under AppleCare if you have that for an Apple machine. I suspect some people don't know this (Tom's mentioned it before here though).

I may just pick up AppleCare (from eBay of course) before the 1-year due date anniversary of my MacBook Pro. Then when my Time Machine dies hopefully Apple will send me a replacement with the new antennas they just released today.

I manage about 10 mac mini's that are on all the time, most of them semi-enclosed in steel security brackets. We've had one hard drive failure in the bunch over the last two years.

It's not "server grade", but with two drives you can easily set up software raid. I'd much rather have a Mac-Mini-Tower also, but it's not going to happen. The xserve and mac pro are there if you need the reliability and part swapability.

The Time Capsule problem seems to be related to the internal power supply they have, while the Minis use an external one. So if it does blow up, replacing it should be easy.

From my personal experience, the Minis have been rock solid. From the initial G4, to the Intel Core, Core 2, and now the newest ones with NVidia chipsets, none have ever given me or family members any grief. The only laptop drives I've had problems with have been installed in actual laptops. As far as heat, it's never been something I've noticed, and the fan rarely goes above the stock level even when pushing the system with a VM and some other heavy activity.

Based on the hardware price, it looks like the OS X Server license with the Mini Server winds up to be $200 or less of the cost. Pretty nice discount on what normally is $500 standalone.

Ah nice. I've only got a sample set of 3 Mac minis but my original PowerPC one has a dead/dying HD in it.

I guess the casing is doing its job and dissipating heat.


Hmm. Yeah. That is a good point. If something breaks it is going to be annoying to open it up.