A $9,000 work of Apple art
Macworld Expo Apple Computer CEO Gilbert Amelio will unveil a cutting-edge, limited-edition Macintosh during his Macworld keynote.
Apple representatives confirmed that Amelio will talk about the "20th-Anniversary Macintosh" during his keynote but added that the system won't be officially introduced until Macworld Tokyo in February.
The machine isn't intended for the mainstream Mac market: Apple will make only 20,000 units, and the machine will cost roughly $9,000.
But it will look good enough to be a museum artifact.
According to a report in Macworld Online, the new ultra-slim desktop system is less than four inches thick and weighs about ten pounds. It is housed in a polished metal case and features a 200-MHz 604e CPU, 12.1-inch LCD display, and a vertically-mounted CD-ROM drive.
The system's keyboard will come with leather wrist rests and a detachable TrackPad and can be slid under the main unit. The report also said a separate, miniature 40-watt subwoofer that connects to a Bose sound system.
The design will actually be more revolutionary than the hardware components used. In addition to the 200-MHz PowerPC 604e, the 20th-Anniversary Macintosh will come with a 3D graphics accelerator chip, a 4X CD-ROM, a 2GB hard drive, and 32MB of RAM.