Macworld’slive insurance coverage of today ’s Apple event has concluded . Please travel to our News Page for the late newspaper headline .

task secern the assembled reporters that Apple is on track to change over its entire professional line of reasoning of Macintosh estimator to Intel CPU this year . Apple tested those waters in January when it began ship its mid - range consumer model , the iMac , with an Intel chip shot inside .

“ The reviews are the best we ’ve gotten for any machine we ’ve ever transport . and we also announced the MacBook Pro , we protrude ship it last week . quite a little of customers have already beat theirs , again the reviews are off the charts .

macintosh miniskirt live on Intel

Jobs introduced the new Intel - based Mac mini , Apple ’s miserable - cost consumer screen background system . The base framework sport an Intel Core Solo CPU — a individual - CPU , single - core CPU . But the company is also introducing a Mac miniskirt that feature Intel ’s Core Duo processor — the same kind of C.P.U. that powers the iMac and MacBook Pro .

The redesign Mac mini features gigabit Ethernet , a sum of four USB 2.0 ports , analog and SPDIF audio outputs and more .

“ And , of row , you could also glom it up to television receiver , ” Jobs told the audience . It ’s been widely speculated that Apple might use today ’s consequence to introduce a Mac model with better nursing home entertainment desegregation .

The new Mac miniskirt , like its iMac sibling , boast Front Row , an diligence that makes it possible to view movies , listen to sound recording , watch music picture and more from your Mac , in full - screen , using an infrared remote control from across the room . The Mac mini now boast an infrared sensing element in the front of the Mac min , next to the auto ’s visual disk drive slot .

As demonstrated by Jobs , Front Row now has a new feature — the power to support shared music libraries accessible through iTunes . So using Front Row , you may listen to the contents of other auto running iTunes on the same subnetwork . It work likewise with apportion record album using iPhoto , and shared videos .

The Mac mini appears physically the same as it did before , but it ’s 2.5x quicker on integer computing and 3.2x faster in drift point computation than its predecessor ( using the same benchmark Apple offers for the iMac and MacBook Pro ) , thanks to the inclusion of the new Intel Core Solo CPU . For the Core Duo manikin , it ’s 4.8x quicker in integer calculations and 5.5x times quicker in floating point computing on those same tests .

The updated Front Row app is also being offered to users of other Macs running Front Row — Jobs is send for it “ Front run-in with Bonjour , ” Apple ’s terminology for zero - configuration networking .

Predictably , the new Mac miniskirt also feature iLife 06 , Apple ’s recently refreshed rooms of applications that includes iTunes , iPhoto , iDVD , iMovie , GarageBand and iWeb . Also standard is Mac OS X v10.4 “ Tiger , ” a remote control , Front Row , AirPort Extreme , Bluetooth , four USB 2.0 interfaces , FireWire 400 , GigaBit Ethernet , DVI telecasting out , and Dolby Digital 5.1 and analogue audio in and out .

Also worthy of note is that the unexampled Mac mini features merged graphics on the motherboard in place of a discrete ATI Radeon 9200 graphics Saratoga chip that was on the G4 - earned run average model .

The entry - level Mac mini organization , available starting today , is a 1.5GHz Core Solo scheme with 667MHz autobus , 512 MB read/write memory , 60 GB SATA hard thrust and “ Combo ” DVD - ROM / CD - RW parkway for $ 599 — $ 100 more than the previous base model .

The 1.67GHz Core Duo - based model feature an 80 GB SATA internal grueling disk and 8x “ SuperDrive ” that can burn DVDs as well as CD - r , for $ 799 .

“ Fifty pct of our entire product line is now available with Intel processors , in less than sixty Clarence Day , ” said Jobs .

New iPod production

job recap a recent event of import to Apple ’s iTunes Music Store : The cut-rate sale and download of its billionth Sung dynasty .

“ Let ’s move on to new products in the music space , ” said Jobs . “ We ’re blend to have iPod leather cases . We ’ve been working on these for a while , but require to get them just right . ”

Apple is introducing $ 99 leather case for the 5th - coevals “ video ” iPod and ipod nano . The slide in case do n’t appear to leave user with any memory access to the iPod ’s controls , unlike various offer from third parties .

Jobs then turned his aid to the machine . “ Forty per centum of all automobiles sell offer iPod connectivity as an option , ” he tell the interview . “ So ‘ on the go ’ is giving for us . ”

Home stereo products lack that functionality , however . And while some producer are starting to supply lineal iPod connectivity to young amplifier and systems , “ You ’re not getting rid of your family stereophonic system , ” said Jobs .

problem sing about the requirements of audio enthusiasts . Audiophiles desire a soundstage , he said , exact imagery and separation , and a wide frequency mountain range .

“ You want to be able to have with child bass but also be able to hear the gamy frequencies , ” order Jobs . “ You desire room - filling magnate without distortion . ”

iPod Hi - Fi : Home Stereo . reinvent .

cry the newfangled iPod accessary “ Home stereo . Reinvented , ” Jobs explained that iPod Hi - Fi “ has some of the attributes of iPod products today , but with home stereo quality . ”

It ’s a three - driver scheme in one unit featuring an iPod wharf on top . An auxiliary input rests in the back of the iPod Hi - Fi if you have an iPod shuffling . The twist also ships with inserts designed to accommodate virtually all of Apple ’s dockable iPod models .

build - in handles let you tote the system around — it ’s whitened and orthogonal , and boast a dark grille on the front of the speakers . The powerfulness supply itself is integrated , so there ’s no bulky international brick eating juice to the unit . And it can hunt down on batteries — six five hundred electric cell , in fact . The speaker system include two 80 millimeter ( mm ) mid - range drivers with a sealed acoustic suspension and a 130 mm dual voice coil woofer featuring a port bass physiological reaction design , inside a plastered resin enclosure .

“ We get great freshwater bass out of this matter and it does n’t distort when you zigzag it up , ” enounce Jobs .

Apple has updated the iPod ’s software to accommodate the new talker organization — a raw software update will add together a “ Speaker ” menu to the iPod ’s user interface , allowing users to line up flavor ascendance , control the backlight and turn on large album prowess .

What ’s more , the iPod Hi - Fi can be controlled with the Apple Remote . It can also accept input through an auxiliary jack and SPDIF optical audio input .

The iPod Hi - Fi goes on sale today for $ 349 .