For Me, A Disappointing Stevenote

Update: these two apps
http://www.equinux.com/us/products/mediacentral/
http://www.mh1.de/page5/page5.html
are the same. From http://www.mh1.de/index.html:
"I decided to move the MediaCentral project to my employer equinux Inc..."
In any case, it's an awesome project. I work two jobs and am not home enough to give it a thorough going-over, but I've spent a few hours with it and it's totally awesome.

TUAW team: what's up with the extra line spacing in comments?

I was really hoping for a Mac mini media center too.

However, from a marketing perspective, it makes sense to announce a media center mid-year since it's sure to be a hot Christmas gift item and more of an impulse buy. That way the excitement crescendos in December not June. Otherwise, the product may seem stale by the time the holiday pocketbooks begin to open.

Also, Apple may be wise to let Intel prove its viiv technology a bit before launching the media Mac.

Apple is smart to stick to "meat and potatoes" in January. The MacBook and iMac are products that will gain interest anytime of the year.

2 things:

There are TWO projects named 'MediaCentral' (with the same case and spacing):
http://www.equinux.com/us/products/mediacentral/
and
http://www.mh1.de/page5/page5.html

I only discovered the first from the earlier link. Personally, I'm a huge fan of the second one. Damien, I highly recommend you check them out. In particular, the second works with ElGato products.

And to answer your other question--"Did we really need another iMac Rev? ... The Powerbook I completely understand..."

Actually, *both* were recently revved (remember the powerbook higher-res screens?) and I had the exact same thought--"Noooo! Those were just revved! Where's my new iBook and Mac Mini?!?!?"--BUT, in hindsight, it makes perfect sense: I think the products were updated a few months ago in anticipation of the Intel move. BUT, the "shells" were ready before the CPUs were. So, Apple released the new bodies with the old CPUs a few months ago, and now we're seeing the completed products.

Damien...because they moved to intel processors? Maybe thats why they released a new verision of the iMac just 3 months after there latest rev. as you put it. I think u are asking to much of them when they needed to put out at least some machines with Intel Inside...then they can work on a media center mac to fulfill your needs using intel. I mean come on give the boys a break.

People, people, people! I seem to remember seeing a bazillion posts on every Mac website on the planet crying out for a G5 powerbook for the past 2 years. Any of you ever see a post like that? Maybe you wrote the post? Hmmmmm? Come on, admit it.

This is HUGE news. I did not think they would have the PBs ready until mid year. This is really fantastic.

And if you're not interested in a MacBook, that's cool. Just remember that historically the Powerbook and the iMac have been Apple's bread and butter...after the iPod of course. These MacBooks are going to fly off of the shelves. Lots of people have been holding off on buying a PB and now there's no reason to. What that means for everyone else who isn't interested is more revenue for Apple which means more R&D which means media centers, wireless iPods, iPhones, you name it.

I think this was a great keynote and I can tell you that a MacBook is coming my way sometime this year, once I start seeing reviews and letting the pioneers work the bugs out.

So to quote Mr. Rourke, "Smiles everyone, smiles!". This is going to be a great year for Apple and therefore a great year for us.

And that there iLife 06 looks very, very sweet. I've already ordered mine.

G

No one's seemed to notice that I've focused specifically on critiquing the hardware releases from the Keynote. I've said nothing about the software releases, which I think are fantastic.

And also, just a reminder that people are allowed to have different opinions. The title of the post even says this: FOR ME, a disappointing Stevenote. My expectations for a stellar hardware release from Apple were not met. Therefore...I am disappointed.

It does not mean that Apple's not doing good work. And I agree that Apple might still release an ultralight and/or a media center. So maybe there's still hope in that respect.

But did we *really* need another iMac Rev? Didn't Apple just rev this thing 3 months ago? The Powerbook I completely understand, but why not spend time building something to fill a vacuum instead of building a new rev to replace something just now barely making it onto shelves...

#13- well said.

Every keynote/announcement now disappoints when compared to the false rumours and wishlists- so much so that a line-up that would have been considered outstanding a couple of years ago generates little other than whinging from mac zealots (and commentators) among others.
Apple, I'm pretty sure, have their strategy in place for the Media Center market (if it turns out there is one), and also for the mobile market beyond iPod... They're also well aware of the frenzy that their launches are generating in the mainstream media, so they're scheduling them more than the previous twice a year. I think we'll see the precedent created by the nano and video stuff last year extended into '06..

Scrolls like butter, tastes like chicken.

I too would like a mac mini running frontrow but I'll just wait and not moan - it is coming for sure. Somehow we seem to overlook the fact that the powerbook (and I like the new name too) has finally been upgraded, people have been griping about no G5 powerbooks for a long time so now apple deliver, and 6 months early too. I would reckon most of the engineering effort has been channeled in this direction. So lets get realistic here, there is only so much that can be done in any given period of time.

And if you are disappointed - and lets face it there are always plenty of people disappointed after every keynote presentation, in fact this happens so often it is just getting plain boring - then put the blame squarely on the rumor sites or even on yourselves for the feeding frenzy of speculation that has unrealistically raised your expectations. Nobody promised a mac mini with intel inside based media center, so why should you be so upset when what wasn't promised doesn't happen?

Hmmm I agree with your post for the most part. I do take offence to you saying that Media Center sucks. It is a helluva lot more than Apple has done. It has a PVR function, nice UI and even my grandmother could navigate the interface. Sometimes Mac people can be so one sided its sickening. I have a 20" iMac and a media center PC. The mac is pretty and easy to use. THe Media Center PC chugs along beside it doing all the media processing I need it for...and guess what...90% of the software I use on it to process my media is FREE. I am not posting to start a flame war just letting commenting on your post about it sucking.