PC makers, however, will be revving their models soon. Advanced Micro Devices will release Athlon64, a version of its Opteron chip for desktops, in August. Hewlett-Packard has already said it will use the chip. Chip giant Intel plans to release Prescott, an enhanced version of the Pentium 4 with new instructions for multimedia processing, sometime in the second half of this year. Typically, Intel rolls out major revamps in October or November. Benchmark comparisons can be tricky, and competitors will no doubt be combing through the details. The new Apple desktops will also be capable of running 32-bit software -- the kind found on desktops today -- and 64-bit software, which is used by high-end workstations. 64-bit software can take advantage of more memory, which improves performance, but developers have to recompile their operating systems and applications for that to happen. Adobe said it would recompile its software to take advantage of the capability and release products with this feature at about the same time that the new Macs emerge. It is unclear when Apple will perform a similar task. To cool the new hardware, the new Apple machines have nine fans, but Jobs said that, because they are individually controlled and placed right where they are needed, the machines make only half as much noise as the Power Mac G4 systems that they replace. As promised, Jobs also showed off Panther, the next version of the Mac OS X operating system, which he said will go on sale by the end of the year. Jobs said the new operating system boasts more than 100 new features, including an improved finder and a new way of managing multiple open windows. One of the more significant features that Jobs previewed was a new version of iChat that allows for audio and video conferencing. The software, which will also run on Jaguar, uses any FireWire camera for sending video and any USB microphone for sending audio to another similarly equipped Mac. The software was made available on Monday in beta mode. The beta can be downloaded from Apple's Web site. Apple will bundle it with Panther and sell it to Jaguar users who don't want to upgrade to the new OS. Apple is also selling a video camera, dubbed iSight. The developer conference, always a popular event in the Mac universe, has taken on added importance this year with July's Macworld Expo being replaced with a scaled-back event with no Jobs keynote. Jobs also announced that version 1.0 of Apple's Safari browser is now available as a free download. Apple is also making available a development kit that will let programmers add Safari functions to their programs. And Jobs said that more than five million songs have been purchased from the iTunes Music Store in its first eight weeks of operation. Also, later on Monday, Apple expects to ship its one-millionth iPod.
What will Apple come up with next? For full Mac OS coverage, see ZDNet UK's Mac News Section.
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