After Tuesday ’s declaration from Apple , I walk aside both impressed and confused . The raw iMac , with the possible exception of the glossy screen — more on that below — seems to be a strong design , and , at up to 2.8GHz , it should be screaming fast as well . iLife and iWork both face like self-coloured acclivity , and I ’m unquiet to pass some time withNumbers , Keynote , iPhoto , the remadeiMovie , and the rest of the collection . So much for the “ impressed ” side .

The “ confused ” side is curious about three determination Apple has made regarding the survey items :

•The iMac ’s glossy screen : I owned a glossy MacBook for a while , but finally trade in up to a full - fledged MacBook Pro , for two reasonableness — the limelight on the glossy screen door became too much to deal with , and I wanted a better graphics option than the incorporate Intel graphics in the MacBook .

With the iMac being glistening - only , I ’m not trusted I would buy or advocate one , but my terminal judgment will have to wait for some hand - on time . I do it I set up limelight annoying on a 13 - inch concealment ; I ca n’t guess how bad it might be on a 24 - inch filmdom that catches even more of the ambient ignition . Perhaps the iMac screen is coated other than , though , so I ’ll go check it out in person once Apple has some in stock up here inOregon .

disregarding of how good the screen may release out to be , it seems uneven not to at least offer the non - glossy option as a BTO alternative , as they do on the MacBook Pro . Perhaps the price delta for the non - glossy screen door , specially in 20 - column inch and 24 - inch size , make this a non - viable option , though .

The wired keyboard

•The new keyboard : Someone at Apple has evidently decided that wireless keyboard users do n’t apply the consecrated numeric keypad and home / end / page up / Thomas Nelson Page down keys . If you require such “ niceties , ” you must prefer for the pumped up keyboard .

In my grammatical case , I rely on the numerical keypad , not just for work , but also for some keyboard - free-base games . So I jolly much must have the numeric computer keyboard . That imply that , as of yesterday , Apple took itself out of the running for my next keyboard , as I really despise conducting wire . I ’m actually going to go buy a couple of spare livid Bluetooth keyboard before they vanish from inventory , just so I ’ll have some around for succeeding use .

The wireless keyboard

I really do n’t sympathize the thinking behind this conclusion . If Apple require to proffer a compact radio keyboard , that ’s great . But for those of us who would prefer a full - size keyboard , why not give us that alternative as well ? instead , why not have wired exploiter pick the compact keyboard , if that ’s their preference ? I ’m completely baffled by the either / or approach here . Hopefully Apple will see the wrongdoing of its elbow room and agnise that not all wireless users want a summary feature of speech - deprivedkeyboard .

•The unspoken ascent : If you were to visit Apple’sPress Info pages , you ’d think there were only four things of note Tuesday : thenew iMac , iLife ’ 08andiWork ’ 08 , and the . Mac sweetening .

But you ’d think incorrect if that ’s what you thought . Apple also upgraded the Mac miniskirt with a new Core 2 distich chip and extra RAM , added Gb ethernet to AirPort Extreme , and supply a RAID card option to the Xserve . If you check over Apple ’s PR pages or determine the consequence yourself , you would n’t have a go at it any of that . ( The mini was mentioned in the Apple event , but only because someone in the audience ask about it during the Q&A after the main presentation . )

In this case , all three of these thing are very confirming changes and make the product more appealing . ( The lack of Gigabit Ethernet on AirPort Extreme , for instance , was a major shortcoming of the original version of the product . ) So why did n’t Apple want to tell us about these overnice changes ? I do n’t understand this “ stealth rising slope ” advance , as I ca n’t see how it benefits Apple or the consumer .

So how about it ? Anyone else suppose glossy - only is a really bad decision , or that removing the numeric keypad from the wireless keyboard is a dumb move ? And why would Apple make significant changes to a bit of product and yet not feel the demand to tell apart everyone about those changes ? in person , I do n’t understand the thought behind these three decisions at all .