Apple's WWDC 2013 keynote takes place today (we'll be there liveblogging it, of course), and we've heard a lot of chatter about possible refreshes happening to the MacBook line, as well as the Mac Pro, which has been neglected in recent years. However, the iMac is said to be receiving new internals courtesy of Intel's new Haswell chips that are expected to arrive either this month or next.
As I sat here today thinking about what I should write for my latest column here on SlashGear, I was distracted. I didn’t look at the latest news, like I usually do, and I wasn’t particularly interested in anything in particular. My mind was entirely dominated by one thought: the computer I was about to write the column on.
As I write this, I’m working on a Mac Pro that I bought several years ago. At the time, the computer was state-of-the-art and capable of handling all kinds of tasks. For me, it was a perfect solution: it offered me the flexibility to run three monitors, had the power to handle some video editing, and was running OS X – an operating system, I believe, is superior to Windows.
If you're in the market for a new iMac and want it to be as fast as possible, naturally a solid state drive is the way to go, and Apple seems to agree with that. The Cupertino-based company has added 256GB and 512GB solid state options in the online Apple Store, allowing customers to boost the speed of their new rig if they don't need a lot of storage space.
If you've been thinking about purchasing an Apple iMac, but haven't been able to pull the trigger due to its expensive price tag, here's some good news for you. Apple is now offering refurbished versions of its current-gen iMacs. The refurbished iMacs boast a 15-20% discount from its normal price-tag, and it also provides you a 1-year warranty for your product, so if your computer acts up, you'll be covered.
One problem with the new iMacs was that there was no easy way to mount the all-in-one to the wall, since they didn't support a standard VESA mount. A lot of users like to save desk space and stick their displays to the wall, but there was really no easy way to go about that with the new iMac, unless you could do a bit of clever hacking. However, Apple has released an option specifically for that niche and is now offering iMacs with a built-in VESA wall mount adapter.
Earlier today, the folks over at MacRumors spotted an updated 21.5-inch iMac marked as an "education only model" with a $1,099 price tag. No one is certain when the updated model was rolled out, as Apple did it quite on the sly with no fanfare or announcement. The updated version features, among other things, a 3.3GHz dual-core Intel Core i3 processor.
If you're in the market for a new Apple iMac computer, some good news on shipping has turned up. It appears that Apple has finally caught up with the demand for its new generation iMac computers. Until a few days ago, ship times for a new 21.5-inch and 27-inch iMac computers were listed as two to four weeks depending on the size.
Today an announcement has been made that the cider and apple-related food and goods store "The Apple Shop", located in Norwich, England, will be changing its name after several years of calls by Apple computers users looking for technical support. And yes, today is indeed a slow news day, if you were wondering. The owner of this institution Geoff Fisher has spoken with the BBC saying that he's making the name change after 20 years with the same name of his own accord - and he's not mad about it. On the contrary, he's actually been quite amused, for the most part.
This year's State of the Union address included no less than a shout out by President Obama to Apple for bringing manufacturing jobs back to the USA. In addition to speaking about several other big companies that will be doing similar things in the near future, Obama noted the positive influence Apple's move will have on the United States. Apple CEO Tim Cook sat in the First Lady's box for the speech, a traditional area in which guests mentioned in the address are invited to sit.
This week Apple's Tim Cook made no effort to hide his excitement over the success Apple has had over its first fiscal quarter of 2013, letting investors know that it's largely because of the products of 2012 that this good time for the company is driven into the future. Back when Cook promised us big things in 2012 early last year, we saw new iterations of essentially every product Apple had on the market, along with a couple new ones to boot. Cook's affirmation here at the beginning of 2013 could very well mean big things for the company through the next 12 months as far as production goes - just as long as the supply chain Apple relies on doesn't get in the way.
Yesterday Apple announced new record results for their financial Q1 2013 including sales of iOS devices as well as overall revenue, and with those announcements came an invite from Tim Cook to employees for a town hall meeting being held this morning. This town hall meeting will likely be extremely similar to the meeting held last year at this time after the company released its 2012 Q1 financial results, question and answer session included. At the moment we're not entirely sure if we'll be seeing the results of this session or if it will be closed-door employees-only in the end.
Today, Apple announced its Q1 2013 earnings (calendar year Q4 2012) today, and the company made a boat-load of cash -- $54.5 billion in revenue and $13.1 billion in cold, hard profit. The company also sold 47.8 million iPhones and 22.9 million iPads during the three-month period. However, Apple only sold 4.1 million Macs, down from 5.2 million a year ago.
