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For six years, the Internet Nexus served as my technology blog, but I've since started blogging at the SuperSite Blog instead. If you're looking for the blog, please head there. --Paul

Tuesday, January 13, 2004

Rating MacWorld 2004

MacWorld is the seminal event in the Mac community, of course, but this year's event was largely disappointing. Here's my take on the various announcements Apple made at the event.

Jobs keynote. A snooze-a-thon that featured a mind-numbing 40 minute demo of the utterly boring Garage Band application. Still, better than anything Bill Gates could muster. Grade: C

Final Cut Express 2.0. A long-overdue "light" version of Apple's excellent Final Cut Pro 4.0, and a great upgrade to Final Cut Express, of which I'm a huge fan (and a customer). I'll be upgrading. Grade: A

XServe G5. Sort of an obvious upgrade, but it's a nice addition to Apple's curious rack-mounted server line, which, like Garage Band, seems aimed at a non-existant market. But given the Virginia Tech super-computer, what the heck do I know? Grade: B

iLife '04. Terrible name, awesome product. I've been playing with the updated versions of iPhoto and iMovie that will debut in this suite on Friday, and am looking forward to the other applications, including iDVD 4.0 and iTunes 4.2 (previously available). Garage Band? Please. Still, I'll be in line Friday for the upgrade. You gotta get it. Grade: A+

iPod Mini. It looks great, and it's price way too high. Fans are correct that the capacity issues are irrelevent, as potential customers will be more interested in style than technical issues. However. The problem here is that such people are a niche market, and if Apple wants to hit the mainstream, this thing needs to be a lot cheaper. If it weren't for the price, this would be a firm A. Grade: B

Overall. No new Macs. No faster G5's. No faster PowerBooks. No price reductions on anything (though arguably, the new low-end iPod, with more storage, is better than the previous model it replaces). So what did we get? We got excellent iLife and Final Cut Express upgrades. And that's about it. With the understanding that Steve Jobs has reserved the right to introduce products whenever he wants, MacWorld 2004 was still way too boring. And that's a shame, because the company only gets a couple of chances a year to garner this kind of press. Grade: C

[ Posted at 9:25 PM | Permalink ]