New iMac design unveiled by Apple

Apple's new iMac line includes three models, all of which feature a 15-inch LCD flat screen that 'floats' in mid-air, allowing users to adjust its height or angle with just a touch.

In addition, the iMac has been dramatically upgraded with either a 700 MHz or 800 MHz PowerPC G4 processor and Apple's revolutionary SuperDrive for playing and burning CDs and DVDs.

The company's director of sales and marketing, Middle East, Elias Abou-Rustom, claimed it will usher in the age of flat-screen computing for all: "The traditional screen display is now officially dead," he said. "And with iMac's powerful G4 processor and SuperDrive, personal multi-media facilities have arrived in the Middle East giving everyone an opportunity to affordably create and burn their own customised DVDs and CDs."

Twice as bright and three times as sharp as old-fashioned CRT displays, with zero flicker, the LCD flat screen has a resolution of 1024 by 768 and offers approximately the same viewing area as a 17-inch CRT display.

Other features include a hard drive of up to 60GB plus NVIDIA GeForce2 MX graphics with 32MB of DDR memory, which triples the 3D performance over previous models.

As well as its unique design, the iMac breaks new ground in its multi-media capabilities, running Apple's award-winning suite of software for digital photography, music and video.

All new iMac models include iMovie2, designed as the world's easiest video editing software, as well as iTunes2, the versatile digital music software that lets users put an entire music collection on their Mac(R), burn CDs and seamlessly sync to Apple's new iPod portable digital music player and other MP3 players.

In addition, models with SuperDrive also feature iDVD2, enabling users to create and burn their own customised DVDs to play in consumer DVD players.

For today's onscreen photographic needs, the iMac runs Apple's new iPhoto software - often deemed the missing link in digital photography (and available as a free download at www.apple.com).

This software enables images to be downloaded directly from digital cameras and displayed with greater clarity on the new LCD screens, as well as managing photograph collections containing 1,000s of images and setting up relevant web pages.

The new iMacs are scheduled for distribution through authorised Apple resellers, with the 800 MHz iMac with SuperDrive available as the launch model, followed by the 700 MHz iMac with Combo drive and the 700 MHz iMac with CD-RW drive.

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