Just when you thought Apple had fallen into the digital music “deep end” and was forsaking their core computer-making business to deliver Britney and Christina to iPod-toting minions, along comes a serious spate of software and hardware updates.

Last weekend the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Convention came to a close. Prior to the show, in their usual secretive style, Apple issued a cryptic invitation to journalists to attend a special presentation that would feature “Moving Pictures. Moving Sound”. Immediately, Apple rumor websites began buzzing that the invitation was to the unveiling of a “video iPod”, or an Apple version of the Media Center PC system. As usual, the rumor sites were off base.

At NAB, Apple announced major upgrades to Final Cut Pro and their other professional video production tools to be at the forefront of the coming high-definition (HD) video revolution. You’re saying, “what coming revolution? They’ve had HDTVs at BestBuy and Circuit City for years”.

True, dear reader, true. However, with more and more content being delivered in HD, you’ve got to be able to edit it, right? Without getting into the technical differences between good ol’ digital video and HD (we’ll do that in an upcoming article), it should be obvious that manipulating and editing HD video will require very high bandwidth, really fast computers, and lots of storage space.

Admit it. Some of you rolled your eyes whilst I was extolling the virtues of Apple’s PowerMac G5 with its blazing 64-bit processors. You thought, “who needs 64 bits. Why, the 32-bit processor I have is more than I’ll ever need”. You know, you’re probably right. But video pros will need all the “oomph” (technical term for fast processors, huge data busses, and boatloads of RAM) they can muster to deal with all that deliciously good-looking HD data.

Speaking of the G5 processor, it appears that those chomping at the bit to see it in a PowerBook will have to wait awhile longer. In the meantime, Apple announced this week speed bumps to its PowerBook and iBook lines. The 17-inch and high-end 15-inch PowerBooks get a 1.5GHz processor, with the low-end 15-inch and the 12-inch climbing to 1.33GHz. Video processors get a boost as well, with a 128MB VRAM option available. The 14-inch G4 iBook also gets an optional SuperDrive.

© 2004 Peter F. Zimowski