It's really not bad once you get used to it. With a little salt and
pepper, it almost tastes like chicken. At least I'm not dining alone.
Macworld has come and gone, and the top of the line TiBook is still 800
MHz, not the 1 GHz that many (yours truly included) predicted. I
am gathered 'round the table with other Mac pundits, enjoying our
dinner of crow.
I am proud that I did get a few right, though. As I boldly (and
perhaps foolishly) promised last week, we will
revisit my pre-Macworld column and see how I did.
Prediction: The G3 line would remain untouched; no G3 products upped
to G4. The G5 would not appear.
- Scorecard: A+. A home run all the way around! Hooray! Okay,
so taking credit for being right about predicting that the G5 would not
appear may be a little bit lame....
Prediction: The G3 iMac product line would remain unchanged. Wishful
thinking: The price would be lowered.
- Scorecard: A-. The phase out of the G3 CRT iMac that some
predicted did not happen (at least not yet). My pipe dream of seeing
the price reduced did not materialize, however.
Prediction: No significant movement on the iBook. Wishful thinking:
Introduction of a bare-bones, $999 entry-level iBook.
- Scorecard: A. No significant movement on the iBook. Wishful
thinking: Still wishful thinking.
Prediction: No changes to the eMac.
- Scorecard: B. While there were no product changes, the
previously education-only eMac with a Combo drive is now available for
purchase by the general public.
Prediction: Power Mac G4 speed bump.
- Scorecard: F. Power Mac G4 at 1 GHz and holding.
Prediction: iMac (flat-panel): Revved up to 1 GHz.
- Scorecard: F. Swing and a miss. Flat-panel iMac revved, but
to 17" not 1 GHz.
Prediction: TiBook reaches 1 GHz.
- Scorecard: F. Strike 3! TiBook still at 800 MHz.
Prediction: OS X Jaguar will be officially announced, and it will be
called OS X 10.2.
- Scorecard: A+. OS X Jaguar officially announced, and it will
be called OS X 10.2. Oh, and welcome back spring-loaded folders,
we've missed you.
Prediction: AppleWorks and iTunes receive major upgrades; updates to
some other software titles; maybe a surprise addition or two.
- Scorecard: A-. AppleWorks untouched, but iTunes 3 announced.
Best new iTunes feature: Sound Check, which normalizes sound and makes
all songs playable at the same level. Sherlock updated as well.
Greetings to the newest members of the iFamily: iSync and iCal.
Prediction: A misc. surprise or two.
- Scorecard: P (for pass). Predicting that Steve Jobs has a
surprise or two up his sleeve is such a gimme as not to deserve the
award of a letter grade that would actually figure into your GPA! Let's
see, where do we begin here.
- The 20 GB iPod was introduced, and the price was lowered on the 5
and 10 GB models. Although there was no "Newton II," some software
upgrades to the iPod hint that it may one day evolve into just that.
iPod for Windows now available. Hooray!
- Free to fee: iTools is going away to be replaced by the fee-based
.Mac. Boo!
- Rendezvous: Automatically discovers other devices over an IP
network with no configuration necessary. It's like plug-and-play,
except you don't have to plug.
- QuickTime 6: MPEG-4 comes to Apple. Now, only Microsoft left
behind.
Report Card: Debatable, but I passed! The other half of the fun will
be reading the debates and analysis for the next few weeks. The demise
of iTools could turn out to be a very sore subject.
eMac Test Drive Follow-up
I had several readers inquire about user-upgradeability of the eMac.
It is almost identical to the CRT iMac. There is a user-accessible
panel on the bottom that allows the user to upgrade or change RAM. This
is pretty much all that is user-serviceable.
I did not take the case apart, mainly because the eMac wasn't mine.
Although I have changed a hard drive on my tangerine iMac, it is not a
task I recommend for the beginner. It involves removal of other
components as well as a number of screws that look alike, but in fact
are not, something you will discover only if you get them mixed up and
start putting the thing back together.
