Less than six years ago Apple Computers was pretty much a non-factor in the computer world except for a hand full of graphics design users and a few old school Mac freaks. Then in October of 2001 Apple released the iPod, which was not the first digital music player, but by far the best on the market and started the climb back to the top. When the iPod was released it was an overnight hit because the thing that made it really stand out from the rest was the software on the device and on the computer that made managing and playing music a simple process. iTunes, which is Apples music managing software and online store continued to grow and really g0t the buying of music online to where it is today.
But the iPod was just Apples first big come-back item, the next thing we saw was the move from PowerPC Chips to Intel Processors which sparked a lot of debate as to why Apple would abandon the same chip they had used for years to go with Intel, but for PowerPC chips to gain anymore speed IBM would have to finance a major redesign and obviously they were not willing to do it, so the only logical choice was to move to Intel. The move to Intel really hasn’t done that much for speed but it guarantees the future of Apple Computers and the ability to develop things like Boot Camp. Boot Camp is a program that allows you to install and run Windows XP or Vista on its own partition on a Mac eliminating the need for emulation software which is great if that’s all you have but still not perfect.
I would have probably never bought a Mac if not for Boot Camp because I wasn’t sure if I would be able to get used to OS X so I figured worst-case scenario I would just install XP and have a good story to tell about how I bought a Mac just to use Windows on it. Through all of this Apple continued to update new and improved iPods every so often cementing their 85% market share and managed to sell 3 billion songs through iTunes.
Anyway the next move we saw from Apple was to drop the word Computer from their name and just be Apple Inc. which did seem kind of odd considering they are in fact a computer / software company, but then the big announcement came that Apple would redefine cell phones just as they had done with the iPod by releasing the iPhone. I don’t think I have ever seen more hype about a personal tech item like the iPhone but it is after all a widescreen iPod, cell phone, and internet device all in one. The initial sales show that the iPhone will probably have success similar to the iPod and continue to get better and better with time.
Over the last few years digital media streamers have been attempted by a few companies with little success, but the Apple TV while not perfect does make the process of setting up and sharing media from the pc to the television very easy even for novice users.
The last thing we will talk about today is the upgrades to the iMac. The iMac is Apples all in one desktop computer that has everything built in for very little desktop clutter and massive power for any computer task. This week the new iMac was released with upgrades to the Processor, Video Cards, and the Hard Drive, but the most impressive thing about these new computers is the redesign which will be all aluminum cases with glossy screens and they will be even thinner that the previous all white plastic models. With the new products and upgrades to older products it’s no surprise Apple’s turning record profits and sales of their computers have grown three times faster than the rest of the Pc market.
Before I stop rambling about how much I love Apple products lets recap some things in the last twelve months that have helped Apple Inc. get to this point.
A) Boot Camp
B) Macbook and Macbook Pro
C) Intel Processors
D) Apple TV
E) iPhone
The Toshiba Qosmio G45-AV680 has been released in the U.S. for a price of $3,199, which isn’t bad considering the powerful specs of it. The key selling point for it will be its ability to burn HD-DVDS. This new laptop ships with a glossy white finish and features a 17-inch monitor that plays content back in full 1080p resolution. Other media centered features included with this laptop are a remote control, USB HDTV tuner (for viewing and recording live high definition TV), Harmon speakers, and a built in subwoofer. Having a HD-DVD-R burner means users will be able to store up to 30 gigs of content on one disk compared to 25 gigs with Blue Ray drives. Besides the media features, this laptop is also a powerhouse system with 802.11n Wifi, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, Geforce 8600M GT graphics card (256MB memory), Core 2 Duo 2ghz processor, 2GB of RAM, Windows Vista Ultimate (this is one thing I am not crazy about), a fingerprint reader, and a huge 320 gig hard drive for storage. This laptop seems like a good system for a reasonable price, but I would make sure and check if Windows XP drivers are provided from Toshiba just incase Vista doesn’t work out for you.
