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Next-gen iMacs to hit 700MHz

And more MacOS X features revealed

Mac Rumour Roundup No sooner did news of Apple's declaration that the current iMac line has reached the end of its sales life than hints of what the next machines will contain.

CD-RW drives, obviously, though MacOS Rumors notes that the entry-level iMac won't contain one. Not a big surprise, that - the basic iMac is primarily aimed at the education market, where price is more important than functionality.

What else? The site's sources note the inclusion of a new audio system (related to the new Power Mac G4's audio unit, we reckon), AGP 4x, more RAM and clock speeds of up to 700MHz using the relatively new G3-class PowerPC 750CXe.

Interestingly, MacOS Rumors also describes and updated iBook sporting a larger 13.3in LCD (for a 1024x768 resolution), 100MHz system bus and a lighter, slimmer enclosure. The new iBook will weight in at 5.3lbs and be around 1.25in thick.



Meanwhile, MacOS X's final feature list is slowly filling out thanks not only to Steve Jobs' MacWorld Expo demo, but the odd leaked beta. A

Think Secret

report notes the return of the Restart option to the Special menu, a command available in the Public Beta but hidden away from view.



Apple continues to clean up the System Preferences panel, primarily adding a Dock module. Presumably, Desktop and Finder modules will appear too, placing all the OS' options in a single, centralised location. The Monitors module now supports multi-screen configurations, presumably a nod toward the extra PCI slots in the new Power Mac G4.

Finally, the Classic environment - aka Blue Box - can be started up with extensions off (which should reduce load times) or with a number of start up options found on MacOS 9 systems, such as zap the PRAM, rebuild the desktop and open Extensions Manager before loading extensions. ®

Related Link

Thin Secret on MacOS X build 4F8

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