Apple refreshes its consumer line, still not quite everything you’re hoping for.

Apple today released a refresh to the iMac, Mac Mini and Macbook lineup.

The iMac now sports a 16:9 LED-backlit display at 1920×1080 (21.5″) and an extremely impressive 2560 x 1440 (27″), making it one of, if not THE, largest AIOs available (commercially, at least).

Under the hood you’ll find a 3.06ghz Intel C2 Duo (upgradeable to a 2.8ghz Quad Core), at least 4gb RAM (but room for up to 16…that’s right, 16), at least 500gb of HDD space, and a variety of video options depending on which model you go with; the 21.5″ offers either an Nvidia GeForce 9400M or ATI HS4670, while the 27″ offers the 4670 or an ATI HD 4850 with 512mb RAM. The prices have been dropped a touch as well; you can carry home an as-advertised 21.5″ iMac for as little as $1299, while the flagship 27″ quad-core rings in at $2099.

Of particular note is the quiet inclusion of Apple’s new multitouch “Magic Mouse”, which is likely the most innovative non-announcement of the day. Conjuring up memories of Mouse 2.0, the entire surface is multitouch and gesture-based, requiring no trackball or scrollwheel.

BluRay is, sadly, conspicuously missing, but anyone who’s been holding out for BluRay on a Mac hasn’t been doing their research. With Apple’s proclivity for removing “unnecessary” optical drives, and with their desire to direct traffic to the iTunes movie store, it’s highly unlikely we’ll see a BluRay drive included in an Apple product any time soon, if ever.

Also unavailable is the oft-requested matte screen option. Personally I like the glossy glass display, but my iMac sits in a place where I can control the lighting conditions easily. I’ve worked in offices that use iMacs exclusively, and I can tell you, sitting in an open-concept, harshly lit office makes working on a glossy screen a pain in the ass at best and near impossible at worst. (for my part, I was sitting with my back to a west-facing window, so every day around 4:PM the glare would get so bad that I would just get up and leave.)

Apple has also chosen not to include the MiniDVI port, going instead with the new Mini DisplayPort, rendering useless all the various MiniDVI-to-DVI adapters everyone had to buy to make use of their old machines’ dual-display features. (Does that sound bitter? Sorry.)

The Mac Mini saw a refresh in the form of modest performance boosts to 2.26 or 2.53Ghz Core 2 Duo procs and Nvidia GeForce 9400m graphics, for $649 and $899, respectively. Also now available is the Mini with Snow Leopard Server, a version of the mini that lacks an optical drive and is, according to the Apple website, “Exactly what you’d expect — a Mac mini specifically designed to be a server with Mac OS X Snow Leopard Server preinstalled. Instead of a SuperDrive, there are two 500GB hard drives that give you all the power and storage you need to help your group work more efficiently than ever.” For $1099, it better, but considering you can pick up the 4-drive-bay, 4tb-capable Acer Aspire Easystore home server for around half that, the cost to value just doesn’t add up, unless you’re willing to pay a 100% premium to run your server with Snow Leopard, an OS that is, by all accounts, buggy as all Hell.

Finally the lowly White Plastic Macbook, Apple’s 13″ “budget” lappy, got a makeover both inside and out. Cosmetically, it now sports a softer-looking, rounded unibody enclosure and glass multi-touch trackpad. Inside it’s been boosted to a 2.66ghz/250gb machine with 2gb memory and Nvidia GeForce 9400m graphics. It also now features a battery that promises 7 hours of battery life, though that claim is accompanied by a whole paragraph of legal disclaimer.

Though LED backlit, the MacBook also sadly sports a glossy screen, a feature that is forgiveable on a desktop but that often proves extremely frustrating on a portable device. Considering the Macbook Pro machines have glossy and matte display options, it’s a shame that option wasn’t offered in this product refresh.

Finally, it’s noteworthy that the FireWire port is missing from this macbook. AGAIN. Apple removed the FW port from the Macbook line a while ago only to replace it when consumers cried foul. Why it’s missing now one can only speculate, but it’s fair to guess that this will be the last refresh we’ll see for this machine before it’s retired in favour of the 13″ Macbook Pro. With a price difference of only $200, it would be a non-issue for Apple to drop the price of the 13″ Macbook Pro and eliminate the white plastic model altogether.

All of these new products are available immediately at www.apple.ca.

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