In February, we took a look at smaller changes in the pre-release version of OS X Mountain Lion that Mac developers are using. These changes are good indications of what we’ll see when the final version goes live sometime this summer. Apple has released two new previews since then with quite a few updates — some significant, some seriously minor, and some that have even undone changes since we last wrote about it.

Here’s what’s new:

General changes

• The App Store now supports automatic downloads, which is one of the things I’d hoped Apple would add. You can also go backward and forward in the App Store and Game Center with two fingers, the same as Safari. Notably, you still can’t do this in the Finder.
• There’s a new popover for choosing avatars, which is used in Game Center and the Users and Groups pane in System Preferences.
• You can no longer remove apps and stacks from the Dock by simply dragging them off. You have to do it by right-clicking, which I expect is going to draw the ire of many power users.
• Launchpad is no longer arranged alphabetically. The “Utilities” folder has also been renamed to “Others”.
• The linen background in Mission Control is slightly darker than in Lion.
• Font Book now has a full-screen mode and two smart folders in the sidebar for fixed-width fonts and monospaced fonts.
• The battery item in the menu bar has been simplified so that the only option is to show the percentage left or not. Showing time left has been removed.
• You can go from one stack to another in the Dock with one click. In Lion, clicking another stack with one already open just closes the current stack. (Updated: Sorry, this isn’t new to Mountain Lion. Turns out, it doesn’t work in Lion when your Dock is hidden — which mine was — but does when unhidden.)

Safari

• There’s a new button for iCloud tabs, which allows access to tabs on other devices.
• There’s a new page-loading animation, which you can see in this YouTube video.
• Web apps can send native notifications through Safari, as evidenced by the new Notification Center tab in Safari’s preferences.
• Reading List has a new look, with a more neutral background color and paper texture instead of linen. It also supports offline reading.
• When you download a file in Safari in Lion, the file flies into the downloads button. In Mountain Lion, it flies into the downloads stack in the Dock, and a progress indicator appears over the stack.
• Safari has a more “responsive” UI: when you resize a window past a certain point, buttons will be hidden to save space.
• There’s a new tab button next to the bookmarks bar when only one tab is open and the tab bar is hidden.

Notification Center

• There’s a new “do not disturb” mode, which disables notifications when active.
• The menu bar icon has a gray dot in the middle, rather than black. It also changes into a moon when do not disturb mode is on.
• There’s a new button in the lower-righthand corner that’ll take you to Notification Center’s preference pane in System Preferences.

System Preferences

• The General perefence pane has been simplified. The options for smooth scrolling and double-click to minimize are gone, with the latter being moved to the Dock preference pane. The three dropdowns for the number of recent items has been consolidated into one. The dropdown for choosing the sidebar icon size has been moved to the top section. Finally, there’s a new checkbox for “Ask to keep changes when closing documents.”
• The preferences for “tap to click” have been moved into the Trackpad pane and are enabled by default.
• The Mission Control pane now has the option to disable grouping windows by application, so all windows will be shown the same way.
• Time Machine’s pane has been updated slightly, with flatter buttons and a simpler explanation of what Time Machine does.

What do you think of the new changes? Tell us in the comments.

Header image via Flicker user sigsegv.

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Sales

First, there are the reasons Apple executives themselves gave for considering shelving the Pro. Reportedly, the sales of these expensive computers have dwindled to the point where making them isn’t nearly as profitable for Apple as it once was. Apple has never been particularly sentimental about keeping a computer around when it isn’t profitable; consider the fate of the G4 Cube, for example, which was introduced to the world in July 2000, and then discontinued just a year later after failing to impress the buying public. Desktop sales in general have been flagging, with notebooks and tablets picking up the slack.

Apple has been cited as bucking the downward trend in desktop sales, but the Mac Pro isn’t the computer whose sales we hear broken out during conference calls or at Apple special events. That honor is reserved for the iMac, Apple’s all-in-one that’s proving there’s still a market for affordable, sleek desktop computers.

The reason the Mac Pro doesn’t get a shout-out during Apple’s events is probably because Apple has nothing to crow about, because if there’s good reason to talk about how well a product is selling, Apple usually isn’t shy about doing so.

Thunderbolt

Apple may also be able to shore up the demand for added expandability using Thunderbolt technology, which is another point reportedly raised in discussion among Apple execs. Thunderbolt expansion devices will soon allow video capture cards and other devices that use PCI Express expansion connectors to be plugged in outside of the case to an iMac, MacBook or Mac mini. Thunderbolt also allows the direct connection of much faster RAID storage devices, and multiple displays, something the internal PCI Express slots in the Pro once provided exclusive access to.

Anticipating the mass market curve

The Mac Pro could still be a very useful piece of tech for a demanding set of niche customers, but those buyers are less and less Apple’s target market. Apple showed it wants to keep focus on the consumer end of its business when it discontinued the Xserve back in Nov. 2010, and it redesigned Final Cut Pro with non-professional end users in mind. In both cases, it eventually made concessions to try to ease the blow for professional users (Mac mini server model and promised updates to Final Cut Pro X).

Apple succeeds mainly because it keeps its product lines tight, so that it can focus on doing a few things very well, instead of many things adequately. This past fall, it even skipped a substantial iPod touch update, which is the biggest seller of its media player line, which indicates it could already be anticipating a future where the iPhone completely scratches that itch. The Mac Pro, which is much farther away from its core business, could hardly merit more attention.

Closing a door, but opening many windows

Shuttering the Mac Pro could understandably disappoint some users, since it would effectively represent the end of significant, Apple-sanctioned internal tinkering by end users, but as I wrote about before, Thunderbolt could introduce many external expandability options where once there for few.

In the long run, it’s better for Apple’s core business (and where its future customers will mostly be) to focus on making products with wide appeal that can also serve the professional needs of the few with somewhat pricey add-ons, than to sell a prohibitively expensive machine that only a select few can justify buying to begin with.

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LaCie’s desktop RAID drives feature either two 500 GB 7200 RPM or two 1 TB 5400 RPM hard disk drives mounted in a single case, and each features two Thunderbolt connectors for attaching to your computer and for daisy-chaining with other Thunderbolt-equipped accessories. Mini DisplayPort monitors can also connect to the LaCie Big Disk Thunderbolt series, but one of those must cap the daisy chain if you plan to use it with other Thunderbolt devices.

The drives are light, at 1.4 lbs each, and can achieve transfer rates of 251 MB/s. If you daisy chain four together, LaCie says you can hit even higher speeds, up to a maximum of 782 MB/s. Note that this would also require four Thunderbolt cables, which Apple sells for $49 each. And the LaCie drives don’t ship with a Thunderbolt cable .

LaCie’s target market with these drives is creative professionals who needs need the speed of Thunderbolt and also a conveniently portable form factor. The Little Big Disk is a much cheaper option than the Promise Pegasus RAID System, which debuted in June and starts at $999 for a 4 TB version. Still, it probably won’t appeal to the average consumer for whom an equivalent 1 TB drive at around $70 or a little more with USB or FireWire connectivity is more than adequate.

If I did just a bit more video and photo editing than I do now, I can see the LaCie being a good option for an external project scratch disk. LaCie also supposedly has an SSD option on the way, but that will likely be even more expensive. Anyone else thinking about grabbing one of these?

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The visuals related to how information might be streamed from your iPhone to your Mac is like something out of my dreams made real. Connected devices would be represented by an icon in your OS X menu bar, and everything from calls, to text message, to FaceTime requests would appear as they arrived in a Growl-notification type window in the corner of your Mac screen. Icons let you know at a glance what type of call or message you’re receiving, and you can take and make calls, plus read and respond to messages right from OS X, over Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and USB, according to the teehan+lax concept design.

iMessage is presented by the design firm basically as built-in feature of OS X mail, and it appears pretty much as it does in iOS 5 on the iPad. Putting it right in the OS X Mail.app is a stroke of genius, but I’d also love an option to break it out and use it more like a separate IM client, while we’re all imagining things.

The post at teehan+lax goes into more detail about each feature, so be sure to check it out in full when you get a chance. Any additional features you’d recommend for greater iPhone/OS X integration?

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First, let me clarify that the machine I’m coming from is a 2008 20-inch iMac, built before the last time Apple changed the external looks of the machine. It closely resembles current models, but has a black plastic back and the bezel around the screen doesn’t fully extend to the edges of the computer’s front surface. That iMac served me well, but this one serves me much better.

Performance Improvements

The new 27-inch iMac is a huge improvement over my old machine. With a quad-core 2.7 GHz Intel Core i5 processor, it handily beats my old machine’s 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo on all measures. But it’s also a big step up even from the previous iMac, released in mid-2010, which boasted only a 2-core 3.2 GHz Core i3 processor on the entry-level model. In my usage, it’s even been better (generally faster and more responsive) than my father’s 2010 27-inch iMac, which he outfitted with all optional bells and whistles.

If you haven’t yet had the chance to use one of the 27-inch iMacs for any length of time, you’ll probably initially be most impressed by the screen real estate available to you. Jumping from a 20-inch screen to a 27-inch one makes a world of difference, and I find that I can accomplish many tasks that used to occupy two screens on only one. This includes watching a video while working (I had opportunity to do this when covering the recent Senate Judiciary Subcommittee hearing on mobile privacy), and even editing photos or videos while browsing the web or managing Steam downloads.

Screens Upon Screens

But if you are a glutton for extra screen space, the 27-inch iMac delivers much more than just its own monitor. Thanks to two Thunderbolt ports with DisplayPort support, you can plug in two extra monitors with no additional equipment or drivers needed (beyond Mini DisplayPort adapters). After years of odd quirks and frequent updates with DisplayLink USB drivers, this is a very welcome addition.

And the iMac has the power to make multi-display workflows very smooth, even in cases where you might require a lot of muscle. For instance, just today I was running Civilization V, while also preparing this post, running about 20 tabs in Chrome, editing a few documents in Photoshop, and controlling my HTPC Mac Mini via Apple’s Screen Sharing app. Not to mention iTunes, Twitter, Mail and the Mac App Store were all open as well, and all of the above were spread across three monitors (the iMac’s own monitor and two Dells, a 20-inch and a 23-inch). Animation in the windowed Civ V remained smooth, and I experienced nary a stutter in my interaction with other open apps.

Thunderbolt and FaceTime HD

I haven’t yet tested out any actual Thunderbolt devices (they’re hard to get hold of currently), but eventually, it’ll be a great thing to have, especially for anyone who works with video and audio. And though the FaceTime HD camera has been nice to use with Skype, and on the one occasion I actually got to try it out with a FaceTime HD-enabled MacBook Pro, it alone isn’t worth an upgrade if you’re happy with your machine in other regards. It does come in handy if you’re recording video along with a screencast using a tool like ScreenFlow, however, so if that’s something you do regularly, it could sway your decision.

Bottom Line

This iMac may look the same as the last one, but the aesthetic similarities hide a major change under the hood. Even my stock entry-level 27-inch model at $1,699 seems to be able to handle whatever I can throw at it, and hasn’t yet choked up the way my old iMac had a tendency to do under the heavy crush of tabs and apps left open for days that makes up my usual workflow. If you’re looking for a machine that eliminates the technical hurdles of your daily grind, while delivering more than enough power to make your leisure-time activities much smoother, too, this is it.

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Did you get one of the new iMacs? Share your early experience with Apple’s latest all-in-one in the comments.

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2010: A Predominantly Mobile Year

Before introducing the iPad at the Apple event in January, Steve Jobs defined Apple as a “mobile devices company.” According to Jobs, Apple made more money on mobile devices (including iPods, iPhones, and MacBooks) than companies like Sony, Samsung, and Nokia did on their portable products. For the fiscal year ending in September, that trend continued.

Net sales for Apple were just over $65 billion, of which approximately $50 billion was divided among four portable product lines, with $6 billion going to Mac desktops. Since the iPad was only available for seven months in FY 2010, the Mac desktop will likely be last among Apple’s top hardware earners in 2011.

Notebook vs. Desktop Trends

That doesn’t mean the Mac desktop isn’t earning money. After a disastrous year in 2009, which saw a 23 percent decline in net sales, Mac desktop sales rebounded in 2010, up 18 percent. The problem is, Mac laptops were up 43 percent in net sales for 2010, and that was on top of a 9 percent increase in 2009.

Looking at Mac unit sales puts the net sales into perspective. While laptops started taking off in 2006, desktop sales have seen fluctuations, and even declines, though 2010 was a big rebound year. Nonetheless, Mac laptops represent a strong growth curve for Apple, which, as with the rest of the PC industry, has come at the expense of desktop sales.

Over the last 10 years, Mac notebooks and desktops have more or less switched positions in unit sales. In 2001, 7 out of 10 Macs sold were desktops. In 2009, the reverse was true. For 2010, strong iMac sales pushed the ratio back down to “only” two out of three Macs in favor of notebooks. With the introduction of the new MacBook Air, consumer dollars will swing even more towards the laptop, if analyst expectations prove accurate.

The State of the Desktop

The question then becomes: At what point do individual Mac desktop products reach a point of diminishing sales returns for Apple? The simple answer is that iMacs are safe in the short term. While Apple hasn’t broken out sales numbers for individual desktops since 2005, back then, the iMac accounted for about two-thirds of Mac desktop sales. Since then, comments in Apple conference calls reference only “strong sales” of the iMac, if desktops are mentioned at all, so the iMac’s role in the desktop picture has likely grown stronger still.

As for the Mac Pro and the Mac mini, a lot will depend on whether Apple continues to develop OS X Server. With the demise of the Xserve, Apple is showing it doesn’t really have that much interest in the enterprise back end. Exiting the server software business might make IT enthusiasts recoil, but Apple remains a consumer-focused business. It’s not going to happen next year, but Apple is clearly gearing itself towards a time when the “mobile device company” descriptor is entirely accurate.

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I’ve used Twitterific in the past, both on the iPhone and on the Mac, and I always appreciate the attention to detail Iconfactory puts into its UI design. But the app never felt robust enough for me, especially as a user who needs more features for managing multiple accounts. However, I’m not a fan of TweetDeck, which, though powerful, frankly just seems ugly and cluttered.

There are other candidates when it comes to Mac Twitter apps, including Nambu, Kiwi and Socialite. While each offers a decent experience, they all either lack the polish I’ve come to appreciate from companies like Atebits and Iconfactory, are missing key features, or just aren’t focused enough for my purposes.

Tweetie’s questionable future means that there’s a space to fill in the Mac Twitter arena. While there’s no firm release date for Twitterific 4, Iconfactory clearly wanted to stake its claim on that spot. And it looks like a strong claim, too. The screenshot they’ve released (yes, there’s only one) shows a window that looks clean and minimalistic, but seems to have multiple account support and easy access to all your basic features.

I’d still prefer a sidebar to a dropdown for account switching, but there’s no way of saying whether or not that might simply be an option not pictured. Either way, it looks promising, and it should at least be much more current in terms of Twitter’s recent changes to its API and features.

Twitterific is a promising start, but it’d be great to see others enter the arena. The gap left by Tweetie’s long hibernation could be the means by which another up-and-coming Mac dev studio makes a name for itself. Neither Twitter nor the Mac are markets lacking in growth potential, after all.

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Apple spends a lot of time on industrial design and usability, so it amazes me that the process to hook up a Mac to an external keyboard, monitor, and mouse consists of five to seven steps, depending on if you’re using a Bluetooth keyboard or not. As I look at the mess of wires coming out of the side of my MacBook, I’ve got to wonder why there isn’t an official Apple-branded docking station.

Docking stations seem like an idea that should have come out of Cupertino, because they reduce clutter and encourage simplicity. All the cables that would normally plug into the side or back of the computer go into the docking station instead, and there’s a single slot that the computer plugs into. Plug it in, and the notebook is now a desktop.

Apple has a patent for an interesting iMac-like dock for a MacBook, which would be amazing if the price was right. However, actually producing docks has been left to third-party manufacturers. Some have avoided the docking station idea by designing holders for the MacBook, and some have designed docking stations that look absolutely ridiculous.

The best bet for a real docking station so far seems to be Henge Docks, which mount the MacBook vertically.  They look gorgeous, but are only available in a 13-inch size as of this writing, with 15- and 17-inch versions in the pipeline. I’ve signed up to pre-order the 15-inch.

I’ve tried just about every combination of desk layout I can think of. I’ve tried MacBook in front, monitor on the side, no keyboard; MacBook on the left, monitor on the right, keyboard and mouse in front (and vice-versa); MacBook in clamshell mode on the side of my desk where the Dell’s docking station used to be, monitor, keyboard, and mouse in front (what I presently use), and a few other setups that just didn’t seem right.

From Apple’s point of view, the solution is to drop a grand on one of their gorgeous LED Cinema Displays. The display doubles as a docking station, providing power, monitor, and USB ports for the MacBook. It’s beautiful, and certainly reduces the cable clutter, but at a cost that’s hard to justify for consumer-grade use.

Browsing through Shawn Blanc’s “Sweet Mac Setups” I find that most of the setups featured go for the “MacBook on one side, monitor on the other, keyboard and mouse in front” rig. For some, this seems to work, for many others the cabling and accessories start to clutter the desktop. This is the point where I become distracted and want to start moving things around.

One of my favorite “setups” remains none at all. I simply open my MacBook wherever I want to work and start doing what needs to be done. But I’m still left wanting a more complete solution. How do you use your MacBook? If you’ve got a setup that works for you, I’d love to hear about it in the comments!

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For a long time now desktops have been in decline, both in the overall computer industry and for Apple. Laptops have become much more powerful and have dropped in price significantly over the past few years. Combined with a laptop’s convenience in terms of mobility, this has driven laptops to the forefront of the computing industry. In fact it is clear that small size combined with small price is a sweet spot for many consumers, which explains the explosion in sales of netbooks.

What Apple has done with the iPad is create a product that is going to compete in large part with netbooks, but will fall short of giving you a complete computing experience. As such Apple expects us to continue buying Macs, while buying an iPad to complement them. If this strategy works, the result in terms of buying strategy for Mac users might change significantly for the laptop versus desktop question.

Let’s take the situation before today. If you were looking to buy a new Mac, the $1,200 MacBook Pro was probably your sweet spot in terms of portability, price and power. Starting yesterday, however, the math could look very different. The best choice from Apple for a mobile device may now be an iPad given it’s light weight and user experience. By itself it won’t match the capabilities of an entry-level MacBook Pro, but if you combine it with a Mac Mini, for example, you suddenly have two devices that probably match the capabilities of a MacBook Pro. And the price? Well, $500 for the iPad plus $600 for the Mac Mini is actually less expensive than a Macbook Pro.

This works as you move further up the market as well, would you rather have a $2,000 MacBook Pro or a $600 iPad combined with a $1500 iMac? The iMac gives you a more powerful and expandable computing platform, while the iPad might be able to fill your mobile computing needs. I don’t think the decision is cut and dry — there is value in having a singe device for all your computing needs — but it is certainly worth thinking about. I know that I’ll be considering the iPad plus Desktop route when the time comes to upgrade my Mac.

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