Whalen said that the company has been “talking to everybody” about Medfield and that the company first “took a conscious decision to focus on Android,” since “at the moment [Intel's] customers are asking for Android” but that iOS remains a consideration as it continues to grow. But Apple has little reason to want to open its arms to Intel’s mobile processors and plenty of reason to keep them closed, in fact.

It’s not that Intel’s efforts aren’t praiseworthy: The company needs a strong mobile platform, and Medfield looks strong. It’s an SoC that seems like it can hold its own with ARM’s latest, and there is even good reason to believe it will have a strong foothold in the Android market a year from now, not the least of which is Motorola’s endorsement of the platform.

But don’t expect to see Apple’s mobile devices rush to embrace x86 architecture anytime soon. Cupertino has done a lot to make sure that it maintains total control over its chip designs, which are based on licensed ARM architecture. It has acquired two chip-making firms and no doubt worked out extensive, high-volume fabrication contracts with chip-making partners like Samsung to ensure that it can deliver an SoC that is carefully tailored to work with its mobile software and hardware. That affords it advantages when it comes to system performance, power consumption and more; so much of an advantage, in fact, that an analyst recently said Apple had a leg up on Intel when it came to mobile chips.

Apple may have switched to Intel from PowerPC, a tech it helped create, for its Mac line of computers, but the mobile market is not the PC market. Intel still has plenty to prove when it comes to its ability to operate in the realm of smartphones and tablets, and for now, Apple has invested years of development time and huge amounts of money in making ARM-based designs that perfectly suit its software and hardware.

Apple’s recent acquisition of Anobit shows that it wants more, not less control over its product components. That desire for control combined with Whalen’s caginess when talking about Apple specifically lead me to believe it will still be a long time (if ever) before we see Intel architecture in an iOS device.

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Richard mainly compares the two companies to illustrate different approaches to chip making. Intel creates general-use chips that can be plugged into a wide range of devices and focuses on beefing up processing power exponentially. Apple, on the other hand, creates system-on-a-chip (SoC) solutions that are tailor-made for specific uses; the A5 that powers the iPhone 4S and iPad is a perfect example.

Since Apple’s chips are designed specifically for a limited set of hardware, their development is streamlined, according to Richard, and includes perks like “longer battery life, instant on and a fast connection” that require “lower power” and therefore appear to outperform more-powerful processors from the likes of Intel, at least in consumer eyes.

Intel has plans to create SoC designs, however; its Haswell chip, planned for 2013, will embrace an approach more akin to Apple’s, designed for laptops and tablets. Intel is also a chip foundry, while Apple is not. That gives it more of a leg up when it comes to actually getting its chips made, since it isn’t subject to outside market forces like Apple’s legal problems with Samsung.

Even still, Intel may be more in competition with Apple than it might appear at first glance. Apple, of course, will in no way become a chip maker for outside companies and probably will never license its chip designs for use by competitors. But if it makes faster progress with creating hardware-specific SoC processors that provide the benefits listed above (low power consumption, faster boot and better battery life) while also allowing for the kind of performance consumers are looking for in a notebook, we could see Apple shift to in-house designs for future notebooks. It’s something the company is reported to have already actively tested, after all.

Intel is taking lots of steps to improve its mobile presence, including plans to integrate NFC capabilities into its chipsets. But Richard makes at least one good point with his comparison. Apple isn’t waiting around to see how things shake out, especially when it comes to mobile devices, and it has instead been at the forefront of a new mobile processing design charge.

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Entry-level 13-inch MacBook Pros now have 2.4 GHz and 2.8 GHz Intel Core i5 or i7 processors, depending on which base configuration you choose, and each have more storage by default, with 500 GB in the entry-level model and 750 in the higher-end version, vs 320 and 500 before the update.

The 15-inch Pros have faster versions of the quad-core Intel Core i7 chips that power them, and the option to upgrade to a 2.5 GHz option has been added to the computer’s customization selections. Apple has also upgraded the graphics card options, making the more powerful Radeon HD 6750M standard for the base 15-inch, with 512 MB of dedicated memory, and introduced the Radeon HD 6770M with 1 GB of dedicated memory for the more expensive option.

Finally, the 17-inch MBP now has a 2.4 GHz, quad-core i7 processor, with an option to upgrade to a 2.5 GHz chip. The Radeon 6770M is now the standard graphics card option, with 1 GB of dedicated memory. Also, you can now upgrade your custom drive on the 17-inch to a 750 GB 7200-rpm model.

This is actually a very modest update overall, and Apple clearly thinks so too, since there’s no mention of the changes on the company landing page, and no “new” badge on the MacBook Pro category in the Apple Store home page, either. Still, if you were holding out on a MacBook Pro purchase pending updates, this is probably the best you can expect for at least another four to six months. We’ll likely see benchmarks soon that show just how much the under-the-hood changes affect performance.

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Stock shortages and third-party retail inventory systems have traditionally been a fairly accurate barometer of Apple’s hardware refreshes, especially when an update is close at hand. Best Buy’s website revealed new MacBook Pro SKUs ahead of their official release, for example, in February, when the notebooks got updated with Intel’s new Sandy Bridge processors.

A MacBook Air refresh has been rumored for a while now, and part of the update is thought to be the inclusion of Sandy Bridge processor architecture. Intel recently unveiled new low-voltage Sandy Bridge chips, including a Core i5 1.7 GHz variety and two Core i7 versions, one at 1.7 GHz and the other at 1.8 GHz. Current MacBook Airs still use much older Intel Core 2 Duo processors, so the new Core series are a near-certainty for powering any new hardware.

Another change likely in store for the MacBook Air includes the addition of Thunderbolt, Apple and Intel’s new high-speed I/O port. Apple has been steadily replacing the Mini DisplayPort on its new Macs with Thunderbolt. This is because Thunderbolt can handle display output as well as data transfer functions and is compatible with Mini DisplayPort cables and adapters. Other possible additions include a FaceTime HD camera, something else that both the updated MacBook Pro and iMac got this year, and a switch to an AMD graphics processor, since Apple seems to be methodically cutting NVIDIA out of that part of its business.

An updated MacBook Air likely won’t arrive at this point before OS X Lion, which Apple has said will make its debut in July. People who purchase new Macs as of June 6 are eligible for a free upgrade to Lion, so Apple can save itself some money by just shipping new MacBook Airs with the new OS installed, instead of having to deal with the administrative costs of providing a refund. Both Lion and new Airs could ship as early as next week.

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A new report from CNET claims that Apple will be upgrading its Mac Pro and Mac mini computers with the new high-speed I/O Thunderbolt port, and with Sandy Bridge processors. Similar upgrades have already been launched for the MacBook Pro and iMac lines, and one is rumored to be in the works for the MacBook Air, too. If these reports are accurate, all updates are expected to arrive by the end of summer at the latest, which would make Thunderbolt nearly ubiquitous on new Macs, with the exception of the basic MacBook.

Thunderbolt has lots of promise, but there’s a problem: there aren’t really any peripherals out there that use it yet. Apple seems poised to fix that, however, as a recent report by MacRumors suggests that we’ll see a host of Thunderbolt peripherals arrive alongside Apple’s Final Cut Pro X video editing application sometime this week. Apple could well use Final Cut Pro to jumpstart Thunderbolt by showing video pros just how much faster their workflows could be with super high speed data transfers.

But pro Thunderbolt hardware and peripherals with mass market appeal are two very different things. Cost will be a factor with the first wave of Thunderbolt hardware, but if Apple is aiming to have Thunderbolt present across its Mac lineup by summer’s end, I’d argue that we’ll see the first line of peripherals aimed at the average user by fall, too. Count on early entrants to consist mainly of adapters for use with older, more established tech. Adapters have the advantage of being cheap, and working with kit that buyers already have.

Thunderbolt can easily be adapted to work with other high-speed technologies like USB 3.0, and eSATA. Not only that, but it should be easy to make hubs that include these technologies along with older standards like FireWire and USB for docking solutions that truly cover all the bases. Adapters will make Thunderbolt a boon to consumers and accessory-makers alike long before dedicated Thunderbolt devices make the move from professional to consumer levels of affordability.

The real ‘headline’ updates of recent Macs have been Sandy Bridge and Thunderbolt. Improved processors is a great addition, but Thunderbolt is the new feature that’s easier for most consumers to grasp. If Apple does get it on all shipping Macs by the end of the summer, we’ll see an accompanying tidal wave of third-party accessories that should help Thunderbolt prove its usefulness by the time fall rolls around.

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1. Microsoft Office 2004

Let’s face it, Microsoft Office isn’t cheap, and Office 2008 wasn’t that great. Some features in 2004 weren’t in 2008 (though many were reintroduced in 2011), and when 2008 included the new .docx format, 2004 users didn’t want to move to a new format that could cause problems. Because of these issues, it’s not unusual to find users two versions behind. Alternatives: Office 2011, iWork, Google Docs.

2. Appleworks

Appleworks, why can’t we quit you? I’ve been a fan of Appleworks since the Apple II days. You worked equally well on Mac and PC, and included a database that’s easier to use and understand that those used by either Filemaker or Access. In fact, Apple was still selling Appleworks until 2007. Fortunately, iWork will open most files in Appleworks format and Apple has a full transition guide about moving Appleworks files over to iWork. Database users will either need to export the file to spreadsheet format or move up to Filemaker. Alternatives: iWork, Filemaker, Bento.

3. Freehand

Die-hard Freehand users refuse to use Illustrator. Freehand MX was the last version released before the purchase and discontinuation of the product by Adobe. Freehand holdouts might balk at the cost of Illustrator, or at having to relearn using new software, but it’s time to move on, or Lion won’t be able to open your files. Alternatives: Illustrator (this guide will help).

4. Eudora

Eudora was an outstanding cross-platform email program and a longtime Mac standard. It easily imported into Apple Mail, Thunderbird, or Microsoft’s Entourage, but some of us, myself included, were lazy and didn’t import old emails. Instead, if I needed an ancient email, I just opened Eudora. Now’s the time to import those emails before you run into problems with Lion. And if Eudora is still your primary email program, it’s definitely time to move onto something else. Alternatives: Penelope/Eudora Open Source, Apple Mail, Thunderbird, Outlook.

5. Quicken 2007

Although Intel Macs have been out since 2006, Quicken still hasn’t updated the program. And Quicken 2007 is still being sold, because Intuit’s new product, Quicken Essentials, is a scaled-down version of its 2007 predecessor. Essentials lacks features such as bill pay and sophisticated stock tracking. Intuit generally keeps their Mac products somewhat behind the PC versions. Intuit’s suggestions for what to do with the end of Rosetta are laughable. Fortunately, a wide variety of alternatives exist for these users, but be sure to research these carefully, and import your data into a new program before you make the move to Lion. Alternatives: iBank, Moneydance.

What still-in-use programs will you have to say goodbye to when you make the leap to Lion?

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AppleInsider claims Apple has placed an order for nearly 400,000 new MacBook Airs based on Intel’s Sandy Bridge processor architecture, and that production will begin in June, according to an analyst report. The reports claim that just over half of those will be 11.6-inch models, since those are slightly more popular with consumers than their 13-inch counterparts. Both models have reportedly been successful sellers for Apple, in stark contrast to the original Air, which was seen by most as too expensive and too far ahead of the curve in terms of its hardware features.

If interest in and reviews of the new MacBook Air are any indication, we’ve caught up to the curve. But Apple has also done right by Air in terms of finding an attractive price point: The entry-level 11.6-inch model starts at just $999, on par with Apple’s other cheapest notebook, the MacBook.

The MacBook represents Apple’s past; it’s a well-designed traditional notebook that provides users looking for an alternative to Windows laptops with a solid, high-quality, OS X-based alternative. But the MacBook Air represents Apple’s future. It’s a slim, lightweight device with a futuristic design aesthetic, but more importantly, it’s a perfect partner for OS X Lion and iCloud, and like Apple said at its WWDC keynote (as enStratus CTO George Reese suggested to me it should), iCloud is the new center of the Apple universe.

When the updated MacBook Air arrives, it will most likely bring better Core i-series processors that should help it gain even more ground on more powerful Mac notebook offerings, since the current versions use Intel Core 2 Duo chips, which are two generations behind. It will also almost certainly introduce Thunderbolt ports to the Air. Thunderbolt will be a great addition to the Air, since once third-party storage device makers start putting out more compatible drives, it will help alleviate any concerns users might have about onboard storage limitations. Apple might also boost the base storage capacities this time around, as it has already quietly made improvements to the Air’s SSD drives that boost read/write speeds.

The MacBook Air has more in common with the iPad than any other of Apple’s Mac computers, and that’s why it’s such a perfect partner for the iOS-inspired OS X Lion update. I said yesterday that Lion isn’t going to play nice with older Macs, and won’t really shine to its fullest potential on computers with spinning hard disks. In fact, you could say that Lion is designed for the Air, and I think that’s exactly how Apple sees it, too.

In two years time, if not less, when you think “Mac,” you’ll think about the MacBook Air first and foremost. And that’s by design, as Apple continues to have outsized influence in the changing definition of personal computing.

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It’s interesting that Intel looks to the iPad, because Apple uses its own, in-house A4 and A5 processors in that tablet, which are based on technology licensed by ARM, Intel’s primary chip design competitor for mobile devices. Recent rumors have suggested Apple may be considering a move to similar ARM-based designs for its MacBook line, though that wouldn’t be possible for at least another couple of years. Kilroy dismissed such speculation, citing the comparative power of Intel and ARM chips:

Go look at the performance of those platforms. They’re taking our latest and high-end end versions of second-generation core, and ARM doesn’t even come close to any capability there.

He wouldn’t go so far as to guarantee that Intel will be included in future MacBook products, but obviously that’s not something Apple would ever allow a manufacturing partner to do, even if a deal was in fact in place.

Meanwhile, at Intel’s annual investor day yesterday, CEO Paul Otellini addressed the perception that Intel is losing the mobile processing game by pointing out that his company still makes the most money on smartphones and tablets today. He says (via Barron’s) that’s because “the money is in the infrastructure,” and Intel is still very much the leader in supplying data-center oriented processors, which are in high demand to support connected mobile devices.

Otellini also brought up Intel’s role as a chip foundry, noting, “[i]f you look at the profitability around the smartphone chips, it’s mostly going to the foundry guys.” Intel is reportedly interested in becoming a foundry partner for Apple, which seems to want to expand beyond its main processor supplier for the iPad, Samsung. Samsung is arguably Apple’s most significant hardware competitor when it comes to mobile devices, thanks to the successful Galaxy line of smartphones and tablets.

Apple just unveiled new iMacs featuring the Intel Sandy Bridge line of processors, and the company is expected to release similarly equipped MacBook Air notebooks soon. According to all the obvious signs, the relationship between Apple and Intel has never been tighter. Intel could do far worse than hitch its mobile hopes to Apple’s wagon, and between Apple’s NC data center and a foundry deal, it would certainly be doing just that.

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Could this be a WWDC Keynote sent from 2012?

Tech blog SemiAccurate sped up a slow news Friday with a so-crazy-it-might-be-true rumor that Apple will be switching CPU architecture. Again. According to SemiAccurate “moles,” Apple is planning to transition its laptops to ARM architecture in “2-3 years,” and “presumably” desktops, too, though without a time frame. The plan is a “done deal” according to the site.

This seems hard to believe. While it’s arguable the Apple A5, derived from the ARM Cortex-A9, can keep up with Intel’s Atom in a netbook, there’s simply no comparison between ARM chips and the Intel Core CPUs used in Mac laptops. Of course, in 2013 it wouldn’t be the A5 in a hypothetical ARM-based MacBook Air, but a CPU derived from the ARM Cortex-A15.  Based on a 32nm fabrication process, with up to 8 cores and clock speeds up to 2.5 GHz, as well features like virtualization and access to the 64-bit ARM instruction set, the A15 certainly packs enough keywords to qualify for a Keynote presentation on paper. Unfortunately, the most salient benefit of ARM architecture, power efficiency, will diminish as computing potential increases. Is the diminishing difference worth another major architectural transition for Apple, one that would undoubtedly require a vast amount of engineering effort?

Even should the computing potential of the A15 be sufficient for mainstream use in 2013, software written for current x86 Macs would either have to be rewritten or run in some kind of emulation mode. It’s hard to imagine Rosetta 2 running x86 applications on ARM being the engineering miracle the original was when running PPC applications on Intel Macs. That would leave Mac users waiting months, possibly years, for ARM versions of applications like Office for Mac or Adobe Photoshop. Considering the incredible success Macs have enjoyed since transitioning from PPC to x86 architecture, this rumor seems ridiculous.

And yet one can’t discount the possibility of ARM extending beyond mobile; certainly Microsoft isn’t. As much as Apple has grown in traditional computing over the last five years, x86 PCs running Microsoft Windows sell about 19 times as many computers in aggregate. That’s why Microsoft announcing Windows 8 will be available for ARM-based systems matters. If Microsoft sees value in the platform, then Apple, with its growing mobile focus, no doubt does as well.

Also important, if true, is the rumor reported by EE Times that Intel is seeking to become a foundry for Apple fabricating ARM chips. One could argue that Intel doesn’t care what kind of chips it sells Apple, as long as they come from Intel.

Regarding the problem of applications, while current Mac apps wouldn’t run on an ARM MacBook, it could open the library of apps that run on the iPhone and iPad. Imagine a touch-screen MacBook running Angry Birds. Considering iOS devices outsell Macs by a ratio of six to one and growing, there’s a good argument that iOS developers could quickly take up the app slack for ARM-based Macs. Apple is reportedly making the Mac App Store the “preferred” method of distribution for OS X software beginning with Lion, so that could give it greater control when it comes to handling a chip architecture transition with developers.

Finally, there’s something to be said for Apple’s desire to control its own destiny. It banned Flash from iOS, for example. Rants about security and power management aside, Apple doesn’t want Adobe controlling any part of their mobile operating system. Considering Apple’s painful CPU history with Motorola (now Freescale) and IBM, and most recently the GPU spat between Intel and Nvidia impacting Macs, underestimating Apple’s corporate obsession with controlling the “whole widget” would be a mistake. A transition to Apple CPUs would give the company much more control over its own product, in the same way the A4 and A5 chips have done for its mobile devices.

SemiAccurate has proven itself fairly reliable with similar reports in the past, including the prediction that Nvidia would eventually disappear from Mac computers, and that Light Peak would make its way to Apple products. TUAW points out the original story on SemiAccurate is tagged “humor,” but a quick look at how that tag is used in other stories doesn’t indicate that site isn’t serious about the claims made regarding Apple’s intended use of ARM. We contacted Apple for comment, but have yet to receive a response back.

What do you think? Is this latest rumor crazy or conceivable?

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According to the EE Times, Richard says that his sources indicate Intel (which recently made forays into the foundry business) is competing for some of Apple’s chip-making capacity. Apple is reportedly looking around for additional suppliers of the A4 and A5 chips it uses to power its iPod touch, iPhone and iPad devices, in an effort to reduce its reliance on Samsung, its existing manufacturing partner for Apple’s ARM-based application processors. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC) has been cited as a new foundry partner for Apple in the past, but Richard says Intel is another likely candidate.

It does make sense for the two to partner, as Intel would become one of the largest ARM suppliers (and therefore a major player in the mobile device market), and Apple would be able to distance itself from Samsung, which it recently took to court for patent infringement (Samsung countersued in response). Samsung’s Galaxy line of smartphones, tablets and now portable media players are Apple’s closest competition in terms of post-PC device dominance. The cosy supplier relationship between the two companies won’t be as easy to maintain as Samsung’s star continues to rise.

Intel would also benefit, as it owns its own manufacturing plants, which are expensive to build and more economical to run full-out — producing chips even when there is no demand. Additionally, as semiconductor designers make chips that pack in more transistors, the chips themselves become smaller, and more fit on a single wafer of silicon.

Essentially, it means that Intel is producing more and more chips as its semiconductor designs get better. But since it has so far missed the mobile wave, it is faced with a coming future where it has multi-billion fabs producing more and more chips that fewer people want. Sure, the demand for Intel’s PC and server chips will continue, but Intel can’t afford to stay on the sidelines of the mobile revolution, so if it can’t get there with its own silicon, it may decide to get there making someone else’s. Then its capital investment in manufacturing — which has been all but abandoned by most chip design firms who now outsource their chipmaking — will still contribute to the bottom line.

Richard notes that any significant shift in Apple’s foundry supplier relationships will take as much as a few years to materialize. That’s because of how Apple manages its supply chain, part of which involves signing high-volume contracts in order to lock-in prices and create component scarcity for competitor products.

With additional reporting from Stacey Higginbotham.

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1. It Will Change How We Think About External Storage. Do you have any external drives attached to your Mac? No matter how much space you have internally on your machine, you’ll probably always find yourself reaching a point where you need more. And no matter whether you have USB or FireWire drives, transferring and accessing these files will lead to delays, no matter how slight, which make using them for regularly-accessed content a bit of a pain. Thunderbolt will make external storage as fast as internal storage, so that you can expand your machine’s potential storage capacity almost infinitely without making any performance sacrifices. It may take some time for external Thunderbolt devices to become affordable to the average consumer, but it will happen, and it will help make storage space constraints a vague memory.

2. It Will Allow for Everything HD All the Time. Apple’s mobile devices will only get better at high-quality HD video capture, and its strong ties to professional A/V hardware and software companies like Canon, Nikon and Adobe aren’t likely to go anywhere anytime soon. The data demands of photo and video devices will only increase as consumers expect more from them, and moving files between devices (and manipulating that data once it’s there) will require better tools with more muscle. Thunderbolt will make high-quality video transfer and editing quick and painless, and will even help editing after the fact of media by working as a scratch disk or a connection tech for distributed rendering.

3. It Will Extend Beyond Macs. Apple is a self-described mobile device company. Any new technology initiatives it undertakes will definitely also have mobile considerations, and Thunderbolt is no exception. Apple has a patent on the books that will allow its proprietary 30-pin dock connector (the one used for iOS device) to work with both Thunderbolt and USB 3.0. Thunderbolt on mobile devices has amazing potential for improved connectivity, including drastically faster sync, backup and update times; improved handling of video out duties; high-speed camera-to-device transfer; and even multi-display connection possibilities for future, more powerful iPhones and iPads.

4. It Will End Your Connectivity Limitations. The new 27-inch iMacs have two Thunderbolt ports that provide connections for up to two additional monitors, which is double the amount previous iMacs have supported. But it doesn’t end there. Thunderbolt can operate as a true, powerful expansion bus, which should allow it to support network connectivity, USB 2 and 3 and FireWire, and even external video cards thanks to adapters. Basically, anything that can be used with a PCIe expansion slot could work as a Thunderbolt device. No matter what you want to be able to plug into your Mac, you’ll be able to do it, so long as there is enough interest from third-party adapter and device manufacturers. And once Thunderbolt is on all new shipping Macs, it’ll be too attractive a potential audience to pass up.

5. It Will Only Get Better With Time. Intel is said to be already hard at work on the next generation of Thunderbolt technology, slated for a 2015 release. That tech will allow for five times faster transfer speeds, of up to 50 Gbps. But even before that, Thunderbolt could get much faster, since its 10 Gbps speeds is still considerably below its maximum theoretical speed due to the use of copper wires in Thunderbolt cable construction. Fibre optic cables could push the limits much further, though optical Thunderbolt cables won’t supply power initially, but Intel is working on getting around that limitation.

Thunderbolt’s impact isn’t what most end users and buyers will think about when shopping for new Macs, but it is the improvement those interested in the future of Apple and computing in general should be most keen to watch, for the reasons mentioned above. The far future might be totally wireless, but in the meantime, Thunderbolt will have its day.

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The new iMac now offers the Intel Sandy Bridge series of Core i processors, which first made their way to Apple products in the MacBook Pro upgrades introduced in February. They offer better power efficiency, along with improved CPU performance and much better integrated graphics performance than the previous generation.

All iMacs are now quad-core, with 4 GB of RAM standard on each base configuration and built-in FaceTime HD cameras. Here are the detailed specs for each base configuration:

• 21.5-inch, 2.5 GHz Intel Core i5, 4 GB RAM, 500 GB 7200 RPM HD, AMD Radeon HD 6750M
• 21.5-inch, 2.7 GHz Intel Core i5, 4 GB RAM, 1 TB 7200 RPM HD, AMD Radeon HD 6770M
• 27-inch, 2.7 GHz Intel Core i5, 4 GB RAM, 1 TB 7200 RPM HD, AMD Radeon HD 6770M
• 27-inch, 3.1 GHz Intel Core i5, 4 GB RAM, 1 TB 7200 RPM HD, AMD Radeon HD 6970M

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The refresh seems to be an evolutionary update, as reports only assert that second-gen Core i (aka Sandy Bridge) chips are on their way to the all-in-one, along with the high-speed Thunderbolt port that handles both DisplayPort duties and low-latency simultaneous dual-channel data transfer. Big changes to the looks or other components haven’t been mentioned, and AppleInsider couldn’t get any info regarding earlier rumors that iMac screen sizes would change, or that the 6000-series AMD Radeon HD graphics chips would be making their way into the Macs.

But even if Apple’s next iMac isn’t a show-stopper, it should have all the ingredients it needs to spark another leap forward in desktop computing. That’s thanks mostly to Thunderbolt, which so far holds a lot of promise but hasn’t really yet begun to make its presence felt. But it’s a technology that makes the most sense when thought of in the context of stationary workspaces, and that’s why the introduction of Thunderbolt to the iMac line (Apple’s strongest desktop holdout in a market that’s moving further toward mobile and portable paradigms) should result in much wider uptake and use of the tech by third-party device and accessory makers.

Daisy-chained storage, display/storage/USB combo devices, and HD video and photo capture devices all make much more sense combined with a stationary desktop workflow than they do with a mobile workstation. And with iMacs populating creative agencies and development studios worldwide, Thunderbolt will have a much wider reach with an ideal target audience once it gets baked into the iMac. The MacBook Pro is a strong seller, but most accessory makers will be shy about using the spec until it has a wider potential audience. Thunderbolt on more machines should help bring the cost of accessories that use the spec down, too, as manufacturers can count on higher sales volume of those devices.

I may or may not actually end up purchasing a new iMac (my current desktop workhorse is about three years old and starting to show its age) but I’m still excited for them to arrive, if only because of it what it will mean for Apple’s biggest little tech introduction this year: Thunderbolt.

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• A 2011 Infrastructure Forecast

Headed for a Format War?

It won’t be long before pundits are talking about a “format war” between USB 3.0 and Light Peak. I don’t think there will be a format war, and I certainly don’t believe it’s an issue that will even cross the radar of the average consumer. Rather, I think we’ve reached a point in personal computing where blistering speed and capacious storage have become less important (to most users) than ease-of-use and simplicity.

Take a look at USB 2.0. It’s dominant today for several reasons, but mostly because it’s adequate. Widespread adoption of USB was something of a struggle in the early days, and we can thank Apple for having the courage (and stubborn streak) to “aggressively encourage” customers to adopt it. But Apple seems willing to go in the other direction, too, withholding technologies in favor of something simpler – or more popular.

Simple Trumps Flexible

Consider the ExpressCard. Until last year, it was supported in all MacBook Pros. Today, the only model in production sporting an ExpressCard slot is the high-end 17-inch version. Most people buying that model are atypical consumers, and instead tend to be media professionals or power users, for whom ExpressCard is actually useful. For the vast majority of consumers snapping up MacBooks and iMacs, that slot was an idle curiosity. So Apple opted to replace it with an SD card slot. The technology is slower and less flexible so, from a certain point of view, this represented a step back. But for the average buyer, it was a great leap forward.

A process as seemingly straightforward as connecting a digital camera to a computer becomes an exercise in frustration and anxiety for a surprising many: old cables are piled in tangled heaps from the depths of drawers, USB cables are jammed into Ethernet ports, 54-in-One memory card adapters are manhandled and USB keys wrenched unceremoniously from machines.

The experience of the average, everyday computer user varies wildly from that of the tech-savvy individual, as anyone who’s worked at a technical support hotline can attest.

Whose Definition of “Better?”

In light of this, Apple’s decision to incorporate the SD interface into their best-selling computers makes perfect sense. There are no cables involved. There are no similarly sized ports to confuse or confound the uncertain user. SD cards might not represent the cutting edge of technology, but they are the right technology for most people.

But surely people want better? The definition of “better” isn’t static, though. To some, like me, “better” is all about power consumption, bandwidth, pipes, protocols and things like “API’s” and “Controllers”. My mom’s idea of “better,” on the other hand, means “easier,” and though she might not be able to tell you what would be easier, she can certainly tell you what’s not, and ExpressCard is one of those things.

This is representative of the typical user, and Apple not only knows this, but is dedicated to realizing a computing future in which, if anyone is going to be left wanting, it won’t be my mom.

No Wires, Nor Ports

Light Peak, if it is going to be adopted anywhere, will see use as part of the guts of a machine, providing incredibly wide bandwidth between internal components. You’ll never see a Light Peak port anywhere, if Apple’s vision of the future of computing comes to pass.

You won’t, in fact, see any ports. Already SD cards can wirelessly broadcast data to a waiting computer, and it’s only a matter of time before this technology makes its way into most of our portable devices. Apple is bound to lead the way. Let’s face it; the stage is set. Apple has a plethora of portable devices packed with flash-based storage and radio assemblies. The advent of technologies like Wi-Fi Direct make a future without hardware ports even more likely. Wires definitely don’t figure heavily in the streaming future I alluded to earlier this week.

Finally, don’t forget aesthetics; I imagine Steve Jobs pretty much hates those ugly ports breaking the otherwise flawless, minimal lines of his beautiful MacBooks. As notebook internals get ever smaller, the ports themselves will begin to dictate the minimum thickness of future MacBooks. How long do you think Mr. Jobs will tolerate that barrier to better design?

So as the Light Peak story begins to do the rounds once more, ask yourself what Apple is more likely to do: adopt a new standard for which speed is the primary “benefit,” or aggressively pursue a vision of “better” that geeks might lament, but most embrace? I guess it comes down to this: Between moms and geeks, which is Apple’s biggest market these days?

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Previously, there was an option for a Core i7 processor running at 2.66GHz over the standard Core i5, clocked at 2.53 GHz, for an additional $200. That options remains, but for true power users, this may be a nice way to eliminate the need for that Core i7 iMac and simply add a 27-inch Apple Cinema Display to your home office if you’re often working from the road. My preferred configuration is to get a new MacBook Air and go with the Core i7 iMac, but the new Air may not meet your processing needs.

The $400 price is pretty steep for the upgrade, but that’s just a reminder that despite lower prices among its other offerings, Apple still caters very much to the high end of computing market.

Related content from GigaOM Pro (sub req’d):

• Mobile Operators’ Strategies for Connected Devices
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• Company Profile: Intel

In addition to the dodeca-core upgrade, the Mac Pro also features new ATI graphics with the help of the ATI Radeon HD 5770 or HD 5870 graphics processors. Memory isn’t neglected either now that buyers have the option of maxing out their RAM to 32GB and their HDD space to 4TB. Buyers also have the option of configuring it with up to four 512GB SSDs, which should be insanely fast — and insanely expensive.

Speaking of expense, the baseline quad-core model costs $2499, while the 8-core model costs $3499, and the 12-core a whopping $4999. I hope any of you potential buyers out there just got your paycheck.

No word yet on when this monster will be available. These new monsters should be available for purchase sometime next month. You can read the full press release for more specs.