Seybold Keynote: new Power Mac G4 announced; new Cinema Display

Steve Jobs gave the Keynote Address at Seybold San Francisco today. Much of the talk was a replay of what Steve said at Macworld Expo last July. Here are the highlights of what's new: Color

Mac OS 9 was again confirmed as scheduled to be released in October. Mac OS 9 features that were shown included Sherlock II and multi-user login, including voice-activated passwords. Also highlighted were a collection of enhanced Internet/network capabilities:

• You can now share files over the Internet in the same way as you do over a local network.
• AppleScript can now run over TCP/IP.
• Network Browser has enhanced server searching.

Power Mac G4 The big announcement was in hardware: the new Power Macintosh desktop with a G4 chip running at up to 500MHz (400 and 450 MHz models will also be available). Steve explained the new Macs can have a sustained performance (floating-point operations per second) of 1 Gigaflop (1000 MHz) and a peak performance of 4 Gigaflops. It comes with a 128-bit execution unit, called Velocity Engine, for "supercomputer-level" processor performance. AirPort wireless capability will be built into the higher end models. The case comes in a new color combination: silver and graphite. Perhaps most exciting are the prices: $1599 for the 400MHz version, which is shipping today. The 450MHz model is $2499. The basic 500MHz model (which will come with a DVD-RAM drive) is $3499. The latter two versions should ship within the next month or two. BTO models will also be available. Tech specs are available.

Cinema Display Apple also announced a new monitor: the Cinema Display, a "22-inch LCD display, offering the same viewing area as a 24-inch digital flat CRT display and featuring a letterbox format with 1600 x 1024 pixels and 16.7 million true colors." It has "zero-flicker." But it's not cheap. It sells for $3999. And, for now (actually not until October 1), you can only order it from the Apple Store bundled with either a 450MHz or 500MHz G4. Apple's other monitors also have new enclosures to match the new G4. Tech specs are available.

The iBook is still scheduled to ship in mid-September.
No new iMac was announced.

Check this press release for a summary of Apple's announcements. Other Apple press releases cover specifically the Power Mac G4 and the Cinema Display. Two other press releases (a and b) cover developer support of the new G4.

Of related news, Apple QuickTime Streaming Server Update 1.0.2 is out.