Apple had a busy week of product announcements, in an unusual format. Instead of an in-person event, or a single keynote-style video presentation, three classes of products were announced over three days via press release and 10-15 minute videos.

Monday: iMac (video):

Apple today announced the new iMac, featuring the powerful M4 chip and Apple Intelligence, in its stunning, ultra-thin design.

The new iMac now offers a $200 nano-texture option for the display; I have it on my M4 iPad Pro and it’s fantastic for eliminating reflections and glare. As with the iPad Pro, though, it’s not an option on the entry-level configuration, so you’ll also pay at least another $200 just to unlock the nano-texture, technically making it a $400 upgrade, assuming you weren’t already in the market for the extra CPU power, gigabit ethernet, and four total Thunderbolt 4 ports.

The new colors are very pretty (if muted); great for those who, unlike me, want a pop of color in their computer. As before, the mouse/trackpad/keyboard accessories are color-matched, and now sport USB-C instead of lightning (finally!), although the mouse still charges from the bottom—a location I’ve never understood. I did appreciate John Gruber’s recent defense of its placement, though.

The iMac can also drive two 6K external displays alongside the built-in 24” display, which makes for a phenomenal battlestation. If I was an all-in-one person (rather than a laptop-and-monitor person), this would be a great system.

Tuesday: Mac mini (video):

Apple today unveiled the all-new Mac mini powered by the M4 and new M4 Pro chips, and redesigned around Apple silicon to pack an incredible amount of performance into an even smaller form of just 5 by 5 inches. […]

For more convenient connectivity, it features front and back ports, and for the first time includes Thunderbolt 5 for faster data transfer speeds on the M4 Pro model.

The big story here is that the new Mac mini is mini-er: Less than half the desk footprint of the previous mini (though a tad taller).

This is a device for which I have zero need yet desperately want to buy, simply for the cool factor. I have a barely used M1 Mac mini that I may have to trade in. The boost in CPU and data transfer might make it a phenomenal Blu-ray ripper and in-home video streamer.

Wednesday: MacBook Pro (video):

[…] the 14-inch MacBook Pro includes the blazing-fast performance of M4 and three Thunderbolt 4 ports […]

The 14- and 16-inch models with M4 Pro and M4 Max offer Thunderbolt 5 for faster transfer speeds and advanced connectivity. All models include a Liquid Retina XDR display that gets even better with an all-new nano-texture display option and up to 1000 nits of brightness for SDR content, an advanced 12MP Center Stage camera, along with up to 24 hours of battery life, the longest ever in a Mac.

I’m a huge fan of the 14” MacBook Pro. The Liquid Retina XDR display on my M2 MacBook Pro is stunning, and as I mentioned above, I love the nano-texture display on my iPad Pro; having it on my laptop would be fantastic. Good news: The $150 nano-texture option is available on the base model MacBook Pro.

Adding Thunderbolt 5, a nano-texture display option, a brighter display, and 24-hour battery life makes this a near-perfect laptop. If I could only have one computer, it would be the 14” MacBook Pro. I find it the perfect combination of portable and powerful.

All it needs is cellular capabilities. (Maybe next year.)

Apple Intelligence

Each press release touted—via the same boilerplate—support for Apple Intelligence:

Apple Intelligence ushers in a new era for the Mac, bringing personal intelligence to the personal computer. Combining powerful generative models with industry-first privacy protections, Apple Intelligence harnesses the power of Apple silicon and the Neural Engine to unlock new ways for users to work, communicate, and express themselves on Mac.

I’m excited to experience Apple Intelligence, though most of the features I’m interested in—primarily those driven by “personal context”—won’t come until (I presume) 2025.

My experience so far with the available Apple Intelligence features has been ho-hum. The notification and email summaries are interesting, though not terribly useful in most instances.

For example, a pair of Amazon notifications, the first telling me a package is 10 stops away, the second saying it was delivered, was summarized as “Package delivered, currently 10 stops away.”

I know Apple Intelligence will improve over time, so I’m not going to ding it just yet, except to say Apple is really pushing it as a reason to buy new hardware, and I think most early purchasers will be disappointed, at least initially.

Remember: Never buy hardware for the promise of what it will do in the future. Buy for what it’s capable of doing today.

M4 Power

The new M4 looks pretty damn powerful, and it wouldn’t surprise me if most people buying one won’t need to upgrade it for many, many years. (I wonder what impact that will have on Apple’s sales in the long-term?)

If you currently have an Intel-based Mac (or PC), even the most entry-level M4 Mac will be a massive upgrade in speed. For some, like a medical student I was speaking with recently who owned a 2017 Intel-based Mac, even a refurbished M1 or M2 Mac would be noticeably faster (not to mention lighter and less noisy) than what they now use.

Apple hardware has never been more powerful and capable, and with such low power and cooling needs. I’m salivating at the possibility of some radically redesigned computers in the near future.