apple-store news & reviews

The new iPod shuffle is jaw-droppingly small. It’s half the size of the previous generation. Yet there’s room for so much more. With 4GB of storage, it now holds up to 1,000 songs,1 and lets you enjoy multiple playlists, too.

To create the world’s smallest music player, we moved the controls from iPod shuffle to the earbud cord. This allowed us to make the new iPod shuffle dramatically smaller, but not just for dramatically smaller’s sake. It’s also easier to use, with the controls located where you can access them quickly.

Easy access controls.

The controls of the new iPod shuffle are located on the right earbud cord. With command central now strategically placed in this more convenient location, you can navigate your music — and activate the VoiceOver feature — without taking your eyes off your run, your ride, or whatever you’re doing.

Your music library. To go.

There was a time when limited storage meant you had to leave a lot of your songs on the sync-room floor. But now that iPod shuffle has 4GB of storage, you have plenty of room to store hours and hours of music — up to 1,000 songs.* With room for multiple playlists, too.

Fashion tech-cessory.

Even the iPod shuffle clip gets the rock star treatment. Now forged in stainless steel, the clip attaches securely to your shirt, jacket, workout gear, even your backpack. And the sleek, durable, anodized aluminum case — available in silver or black — makes iPod shuffle a wardrobe essential. And yes, there’s still room for personalized engraving.

iMac line – Introducing the all in one for everyone:

The new iMac line includes a 20-inch model and the flagship 24-inch iMac, both of them priced more affordably than ever before. For the same price as the previous generation 20-inch iMac, the new 24-inch iMac delivers a 30 percent larger display, twice the memory and twice the storage. The entire iMac line comes with faster Intel Core 2 Duo processors up to 3.06 GHz, the latest graphics technology, double the memory and up to one terabyte of storage as well as Apple?s new innovative iLife ?09 suite of applications. Every iMac features a glossy display with a built-in iSight® video camera, mic and speakers in a thin aluminium and glass design.

20-inch iMac key features:

- 20-inch widescreen LCD display – 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor – 2GB memory – 320GB Serial ATA hard drive – NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics – Price is £949 (inc. VAT) – Available today

24-inch iMac key features:

- Beautiful 1920-by-1200 pixel 24-inch widescreen LCD display – Up to a 3.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor – 4GB memory – 640GB or 1TB Serial ATA hard drive – Variety of NVIDIA graphics technology – Starts at £1,199 (inc. VAT) – Available today

Find out more about the new iMac

New Mac mini line: The most energy efficient Mac ever

The Mac mini is an innovative, tiny desktop. Available in two models,

Mac mini’s key features include:

- World?s most energy efficient desktop, drawing less than 13 watts of power when idle – Measures only 6.5 by 6.5 by 2-inches – 2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor – Up to 5x faster NVIDIA graphics performance – Up to 4GB of DDR3 1066 MHz memory – Up to 320GB Serial ATA hard drive – Five USB 2.0 ports, FireWire 800 and a SuperDrive®. – Starting at £499 (inc. VAT) – Available today

Find out more about the new Mac mini

New Mac Pro: the fastest Mac ever

The new Mac Pro, uses Intel ?Nehalem? Xeon processors running at speeds up to 2.93 GHz and a next-generation system architecture to deliver up to twice the performance of the previous generation system and features the latest graphics technology and an updated interior for hassle free expansion. The new Mac Pro is available in 2 models: quad-core and 8-core. Starting at £1,899 (inc. VAT), the new Mac Pro will be available next week through the Apple Store.

Find out more about the new Mac Pro

The latest 2009 version of the Mac Mini is expected any day now, with announcements from Apple all though the week of March. The first one on Tuesday the 3rd of march. Images and video have been leaked to the web in the past couple of days. The specs for the all new Mac Mini are expected to be…

- Intel Core 2 Duo – 2GHz – 3MB L2 cache – 2GB RAM DDR III, 1066MHz – Super Drive is SATA

The port configuration is consistent with previous rumors that the new Mac mini would bring improved specs. Specifically, the new Mini was described to have 5 USB ports, FireWire 800, and two Display ports (Mini DisplayPort and Mini DVI).

Apple has unveiled MacBook Air, the world’s thinnest notebook. MacBook Air measures an unprecedented 0.16-inches at its thinnest point, while its maximum height of 0.76-inches is less than the thinnest point on competing notebooks. MacBook Air has a stunning 13.3-inch LED-backlit widescreen display, a full-size and backlit keyboard, a built-in iSight video camera for video conferencing, and a spacious trackpad with multi-touch gesture support so users can pinch, rotate and swipe. MacBook Air is powered by a 1.6 GHz or 1.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor with 4MB L2 cache, and includes as standard features 2GB of memory, an 80GB 1.8-inch hard drive, and the latest 802.11n Wi-Fi technology and Bluetooth 2.1.

“_We’ve built the world’s thinnest notebook—without sacrificing a full-size keyboard or a full-size 13-inch display,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “When you first see MacBook Air, it’s hard to believe it’s a high-performance notebook with a full-size keyboard and display. But it is._”

MacBook Air has a vibrant 13.3-inch LED-backlit glossy widescreen display that is energy efficient, and its spacious trackpad offers multi-touch gesture support for pinch, rotate and swipe, making it more intuitive than ever to browse and rotate photos or zoom into web pages in Safari™. MacBook Air features a full-size keyboard design in a sleek and durable aluminum enclosure. The backlit keyboard makes it ideal for dimly lit environments such as airplanes, studios or conference halls, and a built-in ambient light sensor automatically adjusts the brightness of the keys as well as the display brightness for optimal visibility.

MacBook Air delivers up to five hours of battery life for wireless productivity and includes AirPort Extreme® 802.11n Wi-Fi networking, which delivers up to five times the performance and twice the range of 802.11g*. Apple’s Migration Assistant software now enables users to quickly transfer files, applications and preferences from your old Mac® to MacBook Air right over your wireless network.

MacBook Air users can buy the companion MacBook Air SuperDrive, a compact external drive designed for MacBook Air, for just. The MacBook Air SuperDrive® is powered by MacBook Air’s USB port, eliminating the need to carry a separate power adapter. Many MacBook Air users will not find a need for an optical drive now that they can wirelessly rent movies from the iTunes® Store, wirelessly backup files with Time Capsule and access the optical drives on remote PCs or Macs to wirelessly install software applications on MacBook Air.

MacBook Air is powered by Intel Core 2 Duo processors running at 1.6 GHz or 1.8 GHz, and includes as standard 2GB of memory and an 80GB 1.8-inch hard drive. An optional 64GB solid state drive contains no moving parts for added durability. Every MacBook Air includes a micro-DVI port so users can connect to Apple’s gorgeous 20-inch or 23-inch Cinema Displays to extend their desktop or connect to projectors and other displays via DVI, VGA, Composite and S-video adapters. MacBook Air includes USB 2.0 for plugging in peripherals or charging an iPod® or iPhone™, a headphone jack and Apple’s acclaimed MagSafe® Power Adapter designed especially for mobile users.

Every MacBook Air comes with iLife® ‘08, the most significant update ever to Apple’s award-winning suite of digital lifestyle applications, featuring a major new version of iPhoto® and a completely reinvented iMovie®, both seamlessly integrated with the new .Mac Web Gallery for online photo and video sharing. The new MacBook Air also comes with Leopard™, the sixth major release of the world’s most advanced operating system. Leopard introduces Time Machine™, an effortless way to automatically back up everything on a Mac; a redesigned Finder that lets users quickly browse and share files between multiple Macs; Quick Look, a new way to instantly see files without opening an application; Spaces, an intuitive new feature used to create groups of applications and instantly switch between them; a brand new desktop with Stacks, a new way to easily access files from the Dock; and major enhancements to Mail and iChat®. .Mac members can use the new Back to My Mac feature to browse and access files on their home computer from a MacBook Air over the Internet while out on the road.

The new MacBook Air embodies Apple’s continuing environmental progress with its aluminum enclosure, a material highly desired by recyclers; Apple’s first mercury-free LCD display with arsenic-free glass; and brominated flame retardant-free material for the majority of circuit boards as well as PVC-free internal cables. In addition, MacBook Air consumes the least amount of power of any Mac, and its retail box, made primarily from 100 percent post-consumer recycled material, is 56 percent smaller by volume than the previously smallest MacBook packaging.

Apple has announced that iLife ’09 will be available tomorrow, January 27, and features major upgrades to iPhoto, iMovie and GarageBand®, with breakthrough new ways to organize and manage photos, create movies and learn to play music. iLife ’09 is included with every new Mac and is available as an upgrade for existing users through the Apple Store (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers.

iPhoto ’09 builds on the ability to automatically organize photos into Events by adding Faces and Places as innovative new ways to easily organize and manage your photos using face detection, face recognition and GPS geo-tagging technologies. iMovie ’09 expands on the revolutionary super fast movie creation introduced in iMovie ’08 by adding the depth users want through powerful easy-to-use new features such as the incredible new Precision Editor, video stabilization, advanced drag and drop, and animated travel maps. GarageBand ’09 introduces a whole new way to help you learn to play piano and guitar with 18 basic lessons and optional lessons from top artists such as Sara Bareilles, John Fogerty, Norah Jones and Sting.

iLife ’09 also includes iWeb™ ’09 for authoring custom websites and iDVD ’09 for creating DVDs. iWeb ’09 adds new iWeb Widgets, such as iSight® video and photos, a countdown timer, YouTube video and RSS feeds. New integrated FTP publishing allows you to publish your website to virtually any hosting service and updates to your site can now be automatically added to your Facebook profile.