Both 21.5″ iMacs sport a 3.06 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor and come with 4 GB RAM. The higher priced option (MC413LL) gets you a dedicated ATI Radeon HD 4670 with 256MB DD3 instead of the integrated NVIDIA GeForce 9400M. You also get a bigger hard-disk (1 TB instead of 500 GB).

The lower priced 27″ iMac (MB952LL/A) is basically the same machine as the higher priced 21.5″ iMac with a bigger screen. The higher priced 27″ option (MB953LL/A) gets you an Intel Core i5 quad-core processor and a better graphics adapter (ATI Radeon HD 4850 with 512MB of GDDR3 memory). The thing I really like about the 27″ machines is the fact that they now have a video input allowing you to use them as a external display.

The machines are expected to be available in 2 weeks’ time; except for the Core i5 iMac which might take till mid-end of Nov to arrive.

There is still no word on the pricing or availability of Core i7 variant – but then it is not something that Apple is selling as a ’standard’ option even in the US (you need to customize your machine to get it).

I recently helped my parents move to a Mac Mini. Here are some observations:

1. Power Adapter: The machine was purchased in the US. While Apple’s notebook line comes with univesal adapters that work both in India (220V-240V AC) and the US (100-120V AC), the power adapter that comes with a Mac Mini is geography-specific. Which means that I had to arrange for a 220V to 110V step-down transformer so that I could use the Mac Mini brought in the US in India. Also the adapter is quite big – almost like a brick. You’ll never see it in Apple’s Mac Mini marketing material.

To be fair to Apple, the specs clearly mention the voltage rating – it’s just that given my past experience with several notebooks (Apple and non-Apple) and iMacs, it didn’t occur to me to check if Mac Mini had a US specific voltage rating.

2. Video Adapter: Mac Mini has both Mini-DisplayPort and Mini-DVI video connectors. It comes bundled with a Mini-DVI to DVI convertor. That might be fine if you have a relatively new monitor but if you purchased your monitor 2-3 years ago, there is a good chance that it’ll only support VGA input. Since we had an old Samsung 17″ LCD, we had to buy a Mini-DVI to VGA adapter separately.

3. Keyboard: Microsoft makes and sells PS2 keyboards to date. While their mouse line has moved to USB and comes with a USB to PS2 adapter, that is not the case with a lot of their keyboards that are sold in India. Although we had brought a new Keyboard just last year, it had to be discarded because it only came with a PS2 interface (no PS2 ports exist on the Mac Mini).

4. Ethernet: For some weird reason the Mac Mini’s Ethernet port was incompatible with the old MTNL branded ADSL modem that we had at home. At first I thought that the machine had come with a DOA (dead on arrival) Ethernet port – since the old machine was working fine with this modem. Connecting the Mac Mini to my MacBook over an Ethernet cable quelled that doubt (I am used to using a cross-over cable for connecting two PCs from my PC days, but for some reasons both Macs could “see” each other on a normal Ethernet cable without any issues! See this Apple KB article for more details.) So our modem had to go as well. Its replacement – a relatively recent, Beetel ADSL2 modem, worked like a charm.

All of these things meant that the slender price advantage of getting the machine from the US ($599 = Rs. 29,950 @ Rs. 50 to 1 US$ vs. Rs. 33,530 – the retail price in India) came to nought. Not to mention a day spent troubleshooting/acquiring the various pieces.

Moral of the story – if you are thinking of moving to a Mac Mini, do your research. If the reason behind your move to a Mac Mini has anything to do with the squirrel’s nest of wires behind your desktop, seriously consider an iMac.

iWork’09 is also expected to be here on Wednesday and will cost roughly Rs. 4,320 as well.

The refreshed MacBook White is also available in Bangalore now. At around Rs. 56,580, it was always the choice for the buyers on a budget. With the recent upgrade to NVIDIA GeForce 9400M, it is absolutely the best value for money. No wonder then, it is doing quite well in the market here. I wish it still came in Black. Most cities in India tend to be on the dusty side and the White MacBook picks grime in no time.

MacBook White
Old Model: 2.1 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 1 GB Memory 120 GB Hard Drive Intel GMA X3100 Combo Drive	Rs. 49,900	New Model: 2.1 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 1 GB Memory 120 GB Hard Drive Intel GMA X3100 Super Drive	Rs. 56,580	Rs. 6,880
MacBook
Old Model: (White, Polycarbonate Plastic Body) 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 2 GB Memory 160 GB Hard Drive Intel GMA X3100 Super Drive	Rs. 59,500	New Model: (Unibody Aluminum) 2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 2 GB DD3 Memory 160 GB Hard Drive NVidia GeForce 9400M Super Drive	Rs. 72,910	Rs. 13,410
Old Model: (Black, Polycarbonate Plastic Body) 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 2 GB Memory 250 GB Hard Drive Intel GMA X3100 Super Drive	Rs. 68,100	New Model: (Unibody Aluminum) 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 2 GB DD3 Memory 250 GB Hard Drive NVidia GeForce 9400M Super Drive	Rs. 88,280	Rs. 20,170
MacBook Air
Old Model: 1.6 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 2 GB Memory 80 GB Hard Drive (4200 RPM) Intel GMA X3100	Rs. 87,900	New Model: 1.6 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 2 GB Memory 120 GB Hard Drive (4200 RPM) NVidia GeForce 9400M	Rs. 97,890	Rs. 9,990
-	-	New Model: 1.86 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 2 GB Memory 128 GB Solid State NVidia GeForce 9400M	Rs. 1,36,310	-
MacBook Pro 15″
Old Model: 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 2 GB Memory 200 GB Hard Drive NVidia GeForce 8600M GT 256 MB Video Memory Super Drive	Rs. 89,200	New Model: (Unibody Aluminum) 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 2 GB Memory 250 GB Hard Drive NVidia GeForce 9400M + 9600M GT 256 MB Video Memory Super Drive	Rs. 1,09,410	Rs. 20,210
Old Model: 2.5 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 2 GB Memory 250 GB Hard Drive NVidia GeForce 8600M GT 512 MB Video Memory Super Drive	Rs. 1,11,300	New Model: (Unibody Aluminum) 2.5 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 4 GB Memory 320 GB Hard Drive NVidia GeForce 9400M + 9600M GT 512 MB Video Memory Super Drive	Rs. 1,36,310	Rs. 25,010
MacBook Pro 17″
Old Model: 2.5 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 2 GB Memory 250 GB Hard Drive NVidia GeForce 8600M GT 512 MB Video Memory Super Drive	Rs. 1,24,800	New Model: 2.5 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo 4 GB Memory 320 GB Hard Drive NVidia 8600M GT 512 MB Video Memory Super Drive	Rs. 1,48,800	Rs. 24,000

The prices have left me scratching my head. While I can understand that Apple would want to command premiums over the new Unibody Aluminum enclosures and the new NVidia 9400M chipset, I don’t know if I can justify paying more for a slower processor. This is precisely the case with the older ‘mid-end’ white MacBook. Not to mention the ‘entry level’ for an Apple notebook in India has moved from about Rs. 50,000 to Rs. 56,580. For something that became cheaper by 100 dollars in the US, we are paying even more!

MacBook Air also gets a refresh and incorporates the new NVidia chipset.

In case of the 15″ MacBook Pros; in addition to the Unibody Aluminum enclosure and improved NVidia chips, you are also getting better Front Side Bus speeds, and the new glass touchpad but then you are paying dearly for it. A lakh is a huge psychological barrier even for a ‘Pro’ lineup.

The 17″ MacBook is largely unchanged and a Unibody Aluminum ‘refresh’ is expected in a few months. The ‘new’ model merely adds 2 GB RAM and increases the capacity of the hard-drive to 320 GB. You pay Rs. 24,000 for this generous upgrade. Heist is the politest word that I can think of here. Update:The refresh also gets you a better 1900×1200 display – up from 1680×1050 that was standard on these machines. Now you could upgrade the earlier models to 1900×1200 for a hundred dollars so I still think that the Rs. 24,000 is not justified.

And don’t forget the taxes and local levies that you’ll pay on top of these prices. The new MacBooks aren’t available in stores yet and are expected in 2-3 weeks.

It is evident that Apple is not serious about the Indian market. Prices like these will seriously impair Mac adoption in Indian, and make sure that Apple’s name remains synonymous with words like – premium, pricey, rich and yuppy.

p.s. All prices and model details are from Apple’s Indian website.

Update: Here is how these prices compare to the prices in US.

The 2nd generation iPod touch continues to be unavailable. Apparently the shipment of the iPod touch has already landed in India but some last moment price negotiations between Apple and their resellers are holding up their broad distribution.

Our information is true for Bangalore. While the situation should be indicative of other cities in India, you might just get lucky if you are in another city. Do let us know in the comments if you spot the iPod touch.

Personally, I am very disappointed at Apple. Even in a downbeat economy, the festival season in India is a good opportunity to sell a decent number of units. It is increasingly beginning to looks like Diwali will come and go and we’ll not see 4th generation 16 GB iPod nano in other colors. Apple will do well to at least get the 2nd generation iPod touch in the hands of their resellers soon.

p.s. Thanks to the decline in the Rupee’s value, the prices that we had reported earlier suddenly don’t look marked-up at all!

Update: The 16 GB nano is now available in Green, Blue and Purple (in addition to the previously mentioned Black and Silver). The 2nd gen iPod touch continues to elude most stores in Bangalore!

The new aluminum Macbook and Macbook Pros are beautifully designed but there are some decisions that I find a little hard to digest:

Rise and shine: Apple has decided not to offer matte screen on any of their new models. As an owner of a MacBook and an iMac, I can vouch for the reflection on glossy screens as being distracting. Apple seems to suggest that the additional brightness of the LED backlit displays, will counter it to some extent. Or, as Mr. Schiller would like us to believe: “One of the great things about a notebook is you can turn it however you want!”. Then why did you ever offer it Apple? Just because you switched to glass and cannot do anything about it doesn’t make it a feature! While they are usable (the Macbook being borderline usable when outdoors on a bright day), it is not something I would have picked out of choice.

We did indeed start the Firewire (but now the flame is fading): Almost all the low mid-end camcorders available in India use Firewire to transfer video to computers. Considering that Macbooks – thanks to the new NVidia graphics adapter, are more capable of handling video editing chores than ever, this seems like a boneheaded move.

Two USB ports ought to be enough for anybody. Wrong. Most USB powered hard-disks come with a Y-USB cable for a good reason. They perform better when they can draw power from two USB ports. If I am using one, where do I put a mouse? Or my iPod? Or my Wacom tablet? Or the bazillion other devices that can be (and have to be) used simultaneously? Three is the absolute minimum that a machine these days must have. Two ports will make you miserable sooner or later.

No I am not bummed about DisplayPort – there are adapters that allow you to go from DisplayPort to VGA and DVI. So for that old projector in your office just make sure you keep this adapter handy.

I have mixed feeling about this generation of MacBooks and MacBook Pros giving Blue-Ray a miss. Put in Blue-Ray into a system and you increase the complexity of both software and hardware (thanks to the wonderful, consumer friendly standards like HDCP and HDMI). Blue-Ray discs have only 3 regions (as opposed to 6 for DVDs) and for a change, India and US share the region code (1, as opposed to 1 and 5 for US and India in the DVD world). This makes Blue Ray discs very attractive for Indian consumers; considering that you don’t have to worry about your drive’s region – whether you are picking up a DVD in India or US. Still, they are expensive (1800-2000 Rs a pop) and not very readily available. I can live without them for a year.

The big point for most of us in India will be their pricing. Considering where Rupee stands today, I expect the prices to be marked up by 30-35% over the dollar prices. A report already seems to suggest this, but we are not losing our hearts yet. As they say, we’ll cross the bridge when we get there and given how slowly iPods from the September event are trickling into the stores here, I’d say we are still far far away.

Update: Apple’s official price list for India is out. For us, It is by far the biggest letdown.

As expected, the new iPods finally made their debut in India today. The 8 GB, 4th Gen iPod nano (aka ‘nanochromatic’) is available in all colors except Red – i.e. Silver, Black, Purple, Blue, Green, Yellow, Orange and Pink and is priced at Rs. 8,300. Considering a conversion rate of 46.5 Indian Rupees to a US dollar, that is a premium of about Rs. 1,372 (20%) over the US price of $ 149 (Rs. 6,928)

As we had speculated, the 16 GB nano is not yet available in India and is expected by 2nd/3rd week of October. It’ll be priced at Rs. 10,800. This means we pay a premium of about Rs. 1,547 (17%) over the current US price of $ 199 (Rs. 9,253). I hope it hits before Diwali or Apple will miss a major opportunity to push some decent numbers.

The new iPod nanos look really svelte. If you don’t think you need one, go see one in person and your views might just change a little! Of all the colors, Blue, Orange and Green looked most beautiful, but I found Black (more like dark-slate-grey) the best. Color choice is a matter of personal taste, so I am sure some of you will like White, Purple and Pink too.

The 6th gen 120 GB iPod classic is available too. It retails for Rs. 14,300 – a markup of about Rs. 2,722 (24%) over the current US price of $ 249 (Rs. 11,578).

We didn’t find much about the 2nd gen iPod touch except the usual vague “expected by 2nd, 3rd week of October”. The details on pricing are sketchy at the moment, but given what we are seeing with the other iPods, expect a mark-up of 17-25% over the US price.

If I were to read into these margins, I think Apple expects maximum volumes on the 16 GB Nano. The iPod classic has only one thing going for it – storage – not something that I expect to appeal to many in India, and so it should be moving off the shelves rather slowly.

Finally a note on the iPods of older generation – they are very much around at most shops (both iStore and other retailers) and in good numbers too. They aren’t discounted deeply, but at least in case of the 3rd gen (aka ‘fatty’) 8 GB nano, the price has been slashed from Rs. 9,300 to Rs. 8,300 to match the pricing of 4th gen Nanos.

Update:(27 Oct): the 3rd gen iPod nanos are now deeply discounted.

In short:

^*Limited stock only.

Update: We still don’t know when the new iPod touch will come to India, though end Oct/first week of Nov seems likely.

Update (2 Nov): The news on iPod touch availability is not looking good. Looks like they’ve run into some kind of licensing/bureaucratic tangle.

Update (9 Nov): iPod touch is now available in stores.

A day later I found out that the MacBook Pro adapter (model A1172) works for MacBook too. The fact is mentioned in fine print on the packaging but none of our local Apple resellers knew about it. Although both MacBook Pro and MacBook power adapters share the same MagSafe “head”, their power ratings (at 85W and 60W respectively), vary by over 25W! So obviously I was concerned about frying my first generation Intel MacBook. However, the MacBook Pro adapter gracefully “degenerates” and supplies only 60W (3.6A, 16.5V) when connected to a MacBook. Sure it is bulkier (taller by about an inch and a half) it’s better than having nothing at all.

The MacBook Pro Power Adapter retails in India for around Rs. 4,800. Now considering that a USD is approximately Rs. 42 these days, and that Apple sells it for USD 79 (~ Rs. 3,300) in the US, this feels steep. So if you have someone coming over from the US, you are better off having them pick it up for you. Sadly, this is true for Apple gear in general.

Should you pick one in India, be wary of counterfeits. The real thing comes in a white cardboard box with green labeling, extension cord, plug-head, a small plastic lid to keep dust from getting into the MagSafe head and carries a 1 year worldwide limited warranty. Phew!

Update: Here are the phone numbers and addresses of Apple stores in India in case you need to buy one!