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Apple Launches Magic Trackpad, Updates Displays and Desktops

by Terrence O'Brien on July 27, 2010 at 10:55 AM

Apple Updates

Apple went a little retail happy this morning, updating its iMac, Mac Pro and Cinema Display lines, all while introducing the new Magic Trackpad (for those who want to experience all the frustration of using a laptop while sitting at their desktop). While there was no hyped-up event this morning to announce the news, none of it came as a particularly big surprise; the aforementioned products were long overdue for an upgrade, and the Magic Trackpad poked its head out from under Apple's brushed aluminum curtain all the way back in February. Click after the break for details.

Magic Trackpad
Today's biggest announcement is certainly the Trackpad, which brings two- and three-finger gestures, including pinch-to-zoom, to the desktop experience. The multitouch surface functions exactly like a larger version of the input device on the company's laptops. Apple clearly understands the limitations of the trackpad design, and is offering it as an option on new iMac and Mac Pro machines, but only when packaged with a Magic Mouse. Those who already own a Mac can pick one up for $69. And, don't worry, the Bluetooth-tethered gadget blends perfectly with the Apple Wireless Keyboard.

Magic Trackpad



Cinema Display
Apple's in-house family of monitors gets a new model in the form of a 27-inch display that ditches the 16:10 ratio for a more TV- and movie-friendly 16:9. The LED back-lit display boasts a stunning 2560-by-1440 resolution and a wealth of superfluous but appreciated features. The new display comes with an in-built iSight camera, but also packs three powered USB 2.0 ports, a MagSafe connector for charging your MacBook while it's connected to the display, a pair of speakers, and an ambient light sensor for adjusting screen brightness. The 27-inch Cinema Display will be available "soon" for $999.

LED Cinema Displays



Mac Pro
Apple's high-end desktop machines have gotten a mild speed boost in terms of raw MHz, but the real news is the $4,999 model, which boasts a pair of hexacore Xeons for a total of 12-cores of processing power. Graphics also get an upgrade, courtesy of a Radeon 5770. You can also add a second card, or jump to a 5780 with 1GB of dedicated graphics memory. Available RAM options now climb to 32GB, and those with a fetish for storage can max out at either 4TB of traditional hard drive space, or opt for four 512GB SSDs. (We don't know how much that option will cost, but we're sure it's well beyond most people's means.)

2010 Mac Pro



iMac
Apple overhauled the entire iMac all-in-one line, wedging Intel's latest Core i3, i5 and i7 processors inside the shiny aluminum chassis. The base model ($1,199) boasts a 21.5-inch HD display, 4GB of RAM, a discrete 4670 graphics card and a 500GB hard drive. A new mid-tier model at $1,499 bumps up the speed of the Core i3 processor found in the low-end model, adds a much more capable graphics card in the form of a Radeon HD 5670, and boosts the hard disk to 1TB. The full-featured, 27-inch model comes with a 2.93GHz Core i7 processor, 16GB of RAM, and compatibility with a 256GB SSD -- in addition to a traditional hard drive.

2010 iMac Line

Tags: apple, apple cinema display, AppleCinemaDisplay, cinema display, CinemaDisplay, imac, mac pro, MacPro, magic trackpad, MagicTrackpad, trackpad

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