Well: we didn't see that coming. I'm just back from a two-hour Jobs keynote here at MacExpo, where the Apple CEO left the sceptics and the gossips confounded with an array of updated software and a couple of new computers for good measure.
The new machines first: Apple have launched a little and large combo, with a 17-inch PowerBook leading the portable line and a tiny 12-inch PowerBook bringing up the rear. The bigger model, with the same display as the 17-inch iMac, still manages to be thinner than the current inch-thich models, and has 4.5 hours of battery life. There's a 1GHz G4 processor inside, and rather nifty auto-sensing keyboard lighting, which realises when it's dark and lights up the keys. It ships in February, and will cost $3299, including built in DVD-burning Superdrive, Bluetooth and 802.11g networking.
The smaller machine is 1.2 inches thick, weighs 4.6 lbs, and has a 867Mhz processor. Apple claims it is the world's smallest "full featured" notebook, whatever the definition of that is, and will cost $1799 (or $1999 with a DVD-burning Superdrive). It ships in two weeks, also with Bluetooth built in and Airport Extreme (the new 802.11g version) as an option.
On the software front, Apple has introduced a charge for its iApps (now known as iLife) digital media suite, as predicted, but three of the four components of the suite remain free to download. Only iDVD, which was never available to download anyway (it's much too large), has to be paid for, or acquired with a new Mac. Apple has more tightly integrated the suite (iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie and iDVD), added some nice new features and will sell the lot - boxed - for $49. Having been sold on the new features, the conference took the new charge surprisingly well.
Finally, there were two new software products which we can file under "minor irritation to Microsoft". There's Safari, a lovely-looking new web browser that appears to run much faster than Internet Explorer and has some neat integration with Google. And there's Keynote, a presentation package which has some very impressive TV-quality effects, and a nice interface to boot. Both work only on Mac OSX 10.2 or later.
Finally, there's a new version of Final Cut - Final Cut Express - which Apple hopes will bring Pro quality video editing (including lots of special effects and colour correction) to consumers, and sell for $299.
I'm off to give all this stuff a go - more details (and UK pricing, I'd hope) should appear on Guardian Unlimited tomorrow.
