Mac OSX Lion – “The new king of the desktop”

Mac OSX Lion

Apple has released its latest and greatest Operating System overnight, welcome to Mac OSX “Lion”, or “The new king of the desktop” as Apple likes to call it.

The idea for Lion was to pull in all of the iOS features that Apple has introduced with the iPhone and iPad and implement them into the desktop. New features for Lion focus on multi-touch gestures, allowing you to interact with your desktop with gestures, swiping and pinches. Apps can now support a full screen mode so you can focus in on what you are currently using. Mission Control brings together Dashboard Exposé and spaces into a more useful interface. Autosave (for supported Apps) and the Resume feature will keep you working without you having to think about what you had open before you restarted your Mac.

There are many other features deeper down in Lion that don’t grab the headlines, we will be detailing these in future blog posts.

More info here

 

MacBook Air

Apple also introduced new Macs along with Lion,  all of the new Macs get Thunderbolt support, Apple’s new faster replacement for Firewire that will hopefully getting some devices out in the marketplace for it.

The new MacBook Air was released featuring faster Intel Core i5 or optional i7 processors, a return of the backlit keyboard and flash storage. These Macs will be very quick for such a little device.

More info here

Mac Mini

The new Mac Mini also features faster Intel Core i5 or optional i7 processors and better graphics performance.

More info here

Apple Thunderbolt Display

Possibly the most interesting hardware that was released overnight is the Apple Thunderbolt Display allows you to plug in your USB and Firewire 800 devices into the new monitor and have them connect back to your Mac via the single Thunderbolt cable that is also used for your display. You can even piggy back a second Apple Thunderbolt Display so you can connect two external displays to your supported MacBook Pro or iMac. The Thunderbolt cable also branches off a MagSafe connector so you can power your MacBook Pro.

More info here

 

 

 

Apple’s “Back to the Mac” event roundup

Apple has announced and demonstrated a number of its new products today.

Mac OSX Lion
The new version of Apple’s Operating System will be better known as ‘Lion’.

Taking many cues from iOS that runs on Apple’s iPhones, iPodTouch’s and iPads, Lion will include many multi-touch gestures, full screen Apps, auto save and resume. It will also see the introduction of a Mac App Store (it wont be the only way to get Apps onto your Mac), a new ‘Mission Control’ feature that appears to integrate an improved Expose, Spaces and Dashboard. The new LaunchPad feature looks like a way of launching and organising your Apps like you can on your iOS devices.

Expect to see Lion sometime around mid 2011, more features should be revealed between now and launch.

FaceTime for Mac
Apple has also introduced FaceTime for Mac. This will allow video calling with other FaceTime users, including those iPhone 4 and iPodTouch users.

More information here.

MacBook Air
Apple introduced new MacBook Air’s with updated 13-inch and a new 11-inch model. All models feature flash storage, multi-touch trackpad gestures, and better battery life. They look like impressive machines in a highly portable, compact size.

More information here.

iLife ’11
Updated versions of iPhoto, iMove and GarageBand feature in the latest iLife. People who have bought a new Mac in October can get the upgrade for the cost of postage. All is quite on the iDVD and iWeb front though.

iPhoto features;
- Full screen mode
- Improvements to Facebook and Flickr integration
- Improvements to slideshows, bookmaking, and the introduction of letterpress cards.

iMovie features;
– New “People Finder” face identification
- Improvements to audio controls and video effects
- New movie trailer mode

GarageBand features;
– New Flex Time and Groove Matching feature that focus on getting your rhythm and timing right
- More guitar amps and stompbox effects
- Improvements to lessons

More information here.