Apple Briefs

Today the Scan Snap stopped working. The computer just wouldn’t recognize when the lid was open. So, like I do every few weeks, I went to Google and searched on “scan snap snow leopard”. And what did I find? Fujitsu released an update on Friday for Snow Leopard. Scan to folder works again. That means no more messing around in Adobe Acrobat.

Within a couple of minutes I had shut down Scan Snap Manager and run the updater. And no dice. The scanner still wouldn’t work. It turns out that the Scan Snap (I tried both the S510M and S300M) just wasn’t comfortable working through our USB hub anymore. It had been fine for months, but decided to stop just in time for me to go find the Snow Leopard update. Thanks USB hub! And thanks Fujitsu!

Apple released new Macs today, and these new models offer more than just a trifling speed bump. The new 27″ iMacs are shrinking the previously large gap between the iMac and Mac Pro lines. It won’t come cheap, but a 27″ iMac can sport 16GB of RAM and a quad-core Intel processor, along with a 2TB hard drive.

But probably the biggest news of the day (apart from a multi-touch mouse – which I’ll really have to stop into the Apple Store and play with to get some impressions on it) is the server Mac Mini. For $999, you can get a Mac Mini loaded with Leopard Server. It also has a second hard drive in place of the optical disk player for a total storage of 1TB. If we ever decide to move away from Dropbox for more control over our file storage, it will definitely be worth a look.

Apple released new iPod Shuffles today. They’re tiny. And they also talk. I admit that I was wrong about whether Apple would implement such a feature.

Apple sidestepped the need to add hardware (other than a button) to the shuffle by generating the voiceover on your Mac (one of those, *smack head*, “I should have thought of that” moments). I still can’t see the benefit of speaking the song name. Maybe other people just aren’t as into their music as I am. On the other hand, if you’re going to add playlists and speak the playlist name, you might as well go all the way.

Apple announced new Macs across the entire desktop line yesterday (Mac Pro, iMac, and Mac Mini). I’ve been in the market for a new iMac, so these updates are very welcome (although with the economy being the way it is, the rush to buy one has subsided just a little).

Still, there’s lots to like about the updates. I am most impressed with the changes to the Mac Mini. The Mini has long lagged the iMac in four key performance-related areas: processor, memory, memory speed, and hard drive speed. Now it looks like we’re down to three. The Mac Mini and the iMac both sport a 1066MHz front side bus. Prior to Tuesday’s updates, the iMacs raced along at 800MHz while the Minis were saddled with a 667MHz FSB. Unfortunately, the Minis are still limited to 5400rpm hard drives. That may have made sense at one time, but now 7200rpm hard drives are even available on Macbook Pros. It’s time to let the Mini catch up.

The iMacs saw a nice boost too. The big shock for me was the switch from two 20″ models and two 24″ models to a single 20″ model and three 24″ models. For me, the 24″ model never made sense before. For the price of the cheapest 24″ iMac, you could almost buy a 20″ iMac and a 20″ Apple Cinema Display (this model has since been discontinued but it was still available when I purchased my current iMac). If you’re willing to step outside the Apple Store and buy a non-Apple display, you could definitely have made that purchase. I would much rather have two 20″ displays side-by-side than a single 24″ display. The reason for this seemingly crazy pricing situation is that Apple bundled better processor and graphics into the cheapest 24″ iMac. If you don’t need that extra horsepower, the larger monitor becomes a very pricey upgrade.

Now things are entirely different. The cheapest 24″ iMac comes in at $1499 with a larger hard disk and more memory. But I can see lots of people wanting to upgrade to 4GB of RAM (a must in my opinion!) and 640GB hard drive (320GB is becoming “small”). Upgrading the 20″ iMac to comparable RAM and hard drive brings the price to $1374. In my opinion, $125 is a small price to pay for the larger screen real estate.

I don’t have much to say about the Mac Pros. My last true desktop was an 867MHz Mirror Drive Doors PowerMac. I can get so much done on a laptop or iMac that I would be wasting my money to buy a Mac Pro. Still, I enjoy pricing one out occasionally to see what kind of ridiculous specs and prices are available. A dual 2.93GHz, 32GB RAM, 1TB HD model currently rings up at just over 12 grand. At least there is free shipping.

Ever since I have owned a Mac, I have always considered Macworld to be like a second Christmas. I can’t wait to find out what goodies Apple has for us under the tree. Even though we knew we wouldn’t get to see the showmanship of Steve this year, expectations were still pretty high. 17″ MacBook Pro? Mac Mini? Time capsule turned into some kind of home server? There were more misses than hits in the predictions, but we made out pretty well. This is what caught my attention:

• iWork 2009. I use Pages for quite a bit, and have been looking at Keynote and Numbers more and more. Even incremental updates are much appreciated. Status: Ordered and already shipped!
• iLife 2009. iView Media Pro (now Microsoft Expression Media) was one of the first programs I bought for Mac OS X when switching. Back then iPhoto seemed little more than a toy. It’s been making progress now, though. And, while it still doesn’t seem to be a “serious” photo database, it’s starting to have enough toys that I am getting interested. On top of that, my pile of miniDV tapes is growing, so iMovie has some appeal also. Status: Still thinking.
• FileMaker Pro 10. Okay, this one slipped out a little before Macworld, but it’s close enough to count. I am excited about this update. Script triggers. SMTP mail. Themes! (a 21st century interface – if you’re a close reader of this site you’ll know how much that means to me) Status: Ordered, but hasn’t shipped yet.

Hopefully we’ll see the Mac Mini updates in a few days. Historically Apple hasn’t announced minor updates like that at big events like Macworld. So we still may see a Mini bump soon. Has anyone come across third party announcements at Macworld that excited them?