DigitalSandbox

I wanted to write this up yesterday, but I was swamped at work and had an assignment due that day. So I didn’t get a chance. As you are, no doubt, aware, Apple released a load of new toys yesterday at MacWorld. What follows is a brief write-up of some of my impressions. I will be doing some more thorough write-ups when I get some time.

iLife ‘06

A new release of the iLife suite is usually something pretty good. This one is no exception. While I am not really blown away by any of the new features I do think it looks like a pretty good package. A lot of the new features of the various components revolve around puttting your stuff online. And the addition of iWeb will help those unfamiliar with HTML create a simple website for themselves with all kinds of features. As I am an aspiring web designer and prefer to do my own coding and design I don’t find those features particularly appealing, but I can see how many others would love to create a website, but don’t know how.

I was hoping for a little more from some of the packages. iPhoto, in particular, was a bit dissappointing for me. I really hoped that they might have added some of the features that I have been looking for. One thing that I have really wanted is a true non-destructive editing environment like Aperture, and now, Adobe Lightroom. But I will save that for another post. I think that they are getting to the point with the iLife suite that it is difficult to improve the programs much. iMovie and iDVD especially didn’t get much in the way of updates in this release. They are still great programs, but something truly new and cool for them is getting harder to find.

iWork

Not much to say here. Some nice features have been added, but the lack of a real spreadsheet program makes this update kind of so so. I like that you can mask images in different shapes now. That is a nice feature. There seems to be a lot of new templates which is good, but I kind of hoped that they would have updated the user interface a little. That is really my only complaint about Pages (which is my default word-processing program). The inspector is good, but the buttons along the top seem out of place and lack any sort of context to the rest of the program.

Intel-based iMac and MacBook Pro

It’s hard not to get excited about those two. And I have to say that it was a pretty big shock to see those two models updated. They just released the last revisions of those this fall. Of course the Powerbook was in dire need of a real update. The HD screens were okay last time, but we have been waiting too long for a real speed boost to that line.

It has to be said…MacBook Pro! That is a really horrible name. It is guaranteed that people will just call them Intel Powerbooks. I hope that is just temporary. I just don’t think I can ever say, “Hey check out my new MacBook!” Not that the name will keep me from getting one, I would buy it today if I had the funds.

I don’t want to go over it too much since I plan to study up on each system and give a more detailed write up. So I think I will pretty much leave it there. I think that you have to be satisfied with this crop of goodies. Not everything that was rumored or hoped for materialized, but Apple has been getting away from releasing soley on expo dates so those other products could be just a month or two away. Maybe in a little while that Intel-based Mini Digital Entertainment Hub will be released. It looks like a pretty busy year for Apple.