Say hello to the Apple Magic Trackpad, 12 Core Mac Pro and LED Cinema Display

July 27, 2010 - By Justin E. Gehrke

As the Apple Store online went down this morning with the familiar “We’ll be back soon” message, technophiles across the web prepared for the latest refresh of the Apple product lines. When it arose from the virtual ashes, we were met with an entirely new line of Macs, a cinematic display, and an overgrown trackpad. Let’s hit the trackpad first, since it is the only one of the three most people can afford to run out and purchase.

Called the Magic Trackpad, Apple’s latest gadget is a peripheral device that connects to a Macbook or iMac and provides users with a touch-swipe interface, from which they can manipulate their Mac’s actions. Liberally-sized and connectable via Bluetooth, the device will appeal to many who appreciate the touch-swipe functionality on their iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad or Macbook and have longed for the same functionality in the desktop computing environment.

Press release photos of the Apple Magic Trackpad

So why does Apple say Mac users should love the Magic Trackpad? Well, here’s the official Apple word:

“Magic Trackpad gives you a whole new way to control what’s on your Mac desktop computer. When you perform gestures, you actually interact with what’s on your screen. You feel closer to your content, and moving around feels completely natural. Swiping through pages on screen is just like flipping through pages in a magazine, and inertial scrolling senses the momentum in your fingers as you move up and down a page.”

Priced at a reasonable $69.00 (at least when compared to most Apple products), the device is compatible with Mac OS X v10.6.4 (Snow Leopard) or later and requires a software update for the Magic Trackpad, itself. Of course, this is just a peripheral device. What will it really compliment? The new 12 Core Mac Pro, of course!

That’s right. Apple also announced several big ticket items. The first is an entire new line called the Mac Pro. These aren’t for the faint of heart. Featuring up to a quad-core and 6-core Intel processors (both 3.33 GHz), these Macs also include the capacity for (4) 512 GB solid state drives (SSD). Add to that a 1 GB ATI Radeon HD 5770 graphics processor and an option to Turbo Boost the machine’s processing power, and you have an industrial sized Mac. The line will begin selling in August 2010, and, according to Philip Schiller, Apple senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, “…the new Mac Pro outperforms our previous top-of-the-line system by up to 50 percent, and with over a billion possible configurations, our customers can create exactly the system they want.”

So how much will these set you back? Again, they’re not for the faint of heart…or light in wallet. Beginning at $2,499 for the Quad-core, the price increases to $3,499 for the 8-core and $4,999 for the 12-core. Yes, these are truly industrial sized prices, too.

But wait! That’s not all you can get. (We’re starting to sound like Bob Barker.) Apple also unveiled the perfect display to use with your new Mac Pro and Magic Trackpad? It’s the all-new LED Cinema Display from Apple.

Official Apple images of the Mac Pro line and 27-inch LED Cinema Display

This 27-inch display comes with the standard, integrated iSight camera, microphone, and 2.1 speaker system. It provides resolution up to 2560 x 1440 pixels and supports a whopping 16.7 million colors. It too will be available beginning in August 2010 and requires a Mac with OS X v10.6.4 (Snow Leopard) or later. What about the most important question, though? How much is it? The LED Cinema Display will set you back $999.

Apple has obviously dished out a lot of technological goodness today. The entire, maxed-out package is valued at $6,067.00. Yes, it can all be yours…if the price… err…if your bank account can handle it.

Official Product Information:

Apple.com – Apple Magic Trackpad

Apple.com – Apple Mac Pro Line

Apple.com – LED Cinema Display

Official Apple Press Releases:

Apple Unveils New Mac Pro With Up to 12 Processing Cores

Apple Unveils New 27-inch LED Cinema Display