With all the fuss over Tiger, little fanfare has accompanied the availability of new PowerMac, iMac, and eMac models. Well, we can’t have that, can we?

TUM-TA-DA-DUM! Ladies and Gentlemen! Announcing the arrival of new Macs, just in time for the “Tiger Buying Season”! First, the “big guns” of the pro-oriented PowerMac line. The clock speed of the G5 processor gets a small bump, up from 2.5 GHz to 2.7 GHz at the high end. The other noteworthy new feature is the move to a 16x double-layer CD/DVD-burning SuperDrive.

Double-layer DVDs are becoming the standard in optical storage. Don’t confuse double-layer with double-sided. Double-sided DVDs have information on both sides of the disk, and they have all but disappeared from the marketplace. Double-layer DVDs have two “layers” of information on the same side of the disk. Double-the-layers, double-the-capacity. Up to 8.5 GB of data versus 4.7 GB of data. Actually, double-layer DVDs have been around for some time. How do they get the letter-boxed and full screen versions, plus the Special Features, plus Previews (although I could do without them), on a DVD you rent from the video store? You guessed it – double-layer DVD.

Next on the recent “upgrade parade” is the iMac G5. 1.8GHz and a Combo drive in the $1299, entry-level 17-inch model. 2.0 GHz with an 8x double-layer SuperDrive in the $1499 mid-range 17-inch and $1799 (a reduction of $100) high-end 20-inch models. A welcome 512 MB of RAM standard on all models, plus an upgraded Radeon 9600 GPU (with 128 MB video memory) to handle Tiger’s Core Image and QuickTime 7 requirements. With these additions, the iMac G5 becomes an even sweeter way upgrade that aging iMac (or Performa).

If your budget is smaller, the eMac line got a speed boost to the 1.42 GHz G4 processor, the Radeon 9600 GPU (the 64 MB video RAM version, but still twice the video RAM of previous models), and 512 MB RAM and the 8x double-layer SuperDrive in the $999 high-end model.

As you’ll note in the article that accompanies this column, the dedicated GPU, specifically the programmable GPU, is the future of computing. What’s left in the current Apple line that needs an upgraded GPU? The GPUs in the current crop of iBooks and the Mac mini don’t support Core Image. Expect those updates sometime soon.

© 2005 Peter F. Zimowski