Daily Deals: 24″ iMac for $1399, 15″ MacBook Pro for $2099, 8GB iPod touch for $180

Still not recovered from the sugar-laced holidays? What better way to recuperate and get ready for 2010 by perusing some great deals on gadgets? We start off with a trio of Apple products, ranging from iPods to iMacs. If you didn’t get an iPod touch for Christmas, there’s still time to nab an 8GB version of the popular touch for $180. Do you want to update your desktop? There is a deal on a 24-inch iMac (2.93 GHz Core 2 Duo) with three years of AppleCare for $1,399. Or, maybe you’re in the market for a MacBook Pro? Expercom has a 15-inch 2.93 GHz MacBook Pro laptop with three years of AppleCare for $2,099.

Along the way, there are bargains on iPhone cases, storage and assorted gadgets and services. For details on these and other items, check out CoM’s “Daily Deals” page after the jump.

B&H Photo-Video offers the 3rd-generation Apple iPod touch 8GB MP3 Player, model no. MC086LL/A, for $179.99 with free shipping. (Amazon.com charges the same.) [That's the lowest total price we could find by $8, although we saw it for $10 less back in November (since expired).] It touts a multi-touch interface, 3.5″ widescreen display, built-in Wi-Fi support, up to 30 hours of battery life, and support for Apple’s iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store.

Expercom offers the Apple iMac 24″ Intel Core 2 Duo 2.93GHz 24″ Desktop, model no. MB419LL/A, with three years of AppleCare for $1,399 as part of its After Christmas Sale. (With shipping around $17, it’s $37 more than what Apple charges for a refurbished unit, this model is new and is the lowest total price we could find by $53.) This iMac features an Intel Core 2 Duo 2.93GHz dual-core processor, 24″ 1920×1200 widescreen LCD, 4GB RAM, 640GB Serial ATA hard drive, NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 graphics, SuperDrive, Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, AirPort Extreme, iSight, Apple Mighty Mouse (wired), Apple Aluminum Keyboard (small), and Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. Deal ends December 31.

ExperCom offers the Apple MacBook Pro Intel Core 2 Duo 2.93GHz 15″ Notebook, model no. MC026LL/A, with three years of AppleCare for $2,099 as part of its After Christmas Sale. (With shipping around $11, it’s $110 more than our previous mention of the laptop alone and the lowest total price we could find for the bundle.) This 6.6 lb.-notebook features an Intel Core 2 Duo 2.93GHz dual-core processor, 15.4″ LED-backlit glass display, 4GB RAM, 320GB 7200 rpm Serial ATA hard drive, 8x SuperDrive, NVIDIA GeForce 9400M on-board video and 9600M GT 512MB graphics card, built-in iSight camera, 802.11n wireless, Bluetooth, and more. Deal ends December 31.

B&H Photo-Video offers the Canon VIXIA HF S100 1080p Flash Memory HD Camcorder, model no. 3569B001AA, bundled with a Pearstone BP-827 Lithium Ion Battery Pack and Delkin 16GB Pro SDHC Card for $799. [With free shipping, that's the lowest total price we could find for the bundle by $179.] (We saw the camcorder / battery combo without the SD card last week for the same price.) The camcorder features up to 12 hours (3 hours full HD) recording time on a 32GB SDHC memory card (not included), 10x optical zoom, 1920×1080 (1080p) recording, 8-megapixel still photos, face detection, 2.7″ widescreen LCD, HDMI output, and USB connectivity. Deal ends January 16.

Walmart offers this Aiptek PenCam Trio HD with Bike Mount for $143 with $11.91 for shipping. (Choose both items and click the “Add to Cart” button.) [That's the lowest total price we could find for each of these purchased separately by $5.] Sales tax is added where applicable. The PenCam Trio features 4GB of internal memory, 720p recording, 5-megapixel digital stills, MP3 player, and more. It is available in red, blue, purple, or silver.

Today only at MidnightBox.com, click the “Deal 1″ tab to find the refurbished iLuv Clear Crystal Case for Apple iPhone 3G or 3GS, model no. ICC74, for $1.95. (With $3.99 for shipping, it’s $7 under the lowest total price we could find for a new, factory-sealed unit.)

Skype.com continues to offer its unlimited calling plans starting at $2.95 per month. (That ties our mention from last month as the lowest price we could find for a VoIP service of this kind.) The base plan allows you to make unlimited calls to any phone within the US and Canada from your Skype phone. Unlimited calls to Mexico or international calling plans cost $5.95 and $12.95, respectively.

Of note, to receive calls to your Skype phone, you must sign up for an online number. Subscribers to one of the unlimited plans pay $30 per year; otherwise, it costs $60.

OfficeMax cuts up to 92% off a selection of headsets, as listed below. Shipping starts at $7.95, but orders of $50 or more qualify for free shipping. (Even with shipping, each is at the lowest total price we could find.) Sales tax is added where applicable. The deals:

Jabra GN8120USBDT USB Adapter for $10
Jabra JX-10 Wireless Bluetooth Headset for $20
Disco Jabra GN8120USBLT USB Adapter for $20
Jabra GN2000 USB Headset for IP Telephony (pictured) for $20
Jabra GN 4800 Series Wideband Stereo Headset for $40
Jabra GN 4800 Series HiFi Stereo Headset for $50

Dell Small Business offers the Netgear ReadyNAS Duo 500GB Gigabit Network Attached Storage, model no. RND2110-100NAS, for $349.99 with free shipping. This $100 mail-in rebate drops it to $249.99 ($0.25/GB). [That's the lowest total price we could find by $85.] Sales tax is added where applicable. This enclosure features room for two hard drives (it includes one), built-in BitTorrent client for Internet downloads, Gigabit Ethernet, three USB 2.0 ports, and more. Rebate ends December 31.

Dell Home offers the Sony BRAVIA S-Series 52″ 1080p Widescreen LCD HD Television, model no. KDL-52S5100, for $1,039. [With free shipping, that's the lowest total price we could find by $83, although it was $19 less back in November (since expired).] Sales tax is added where applicable. It features a native resolution of 1920×1080 (1080p), 30,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, three HDMI inputs, and VGA, component, and other video inputs.


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The year has been a sweet one for Apple

In spite of the nation's economic woes, Apple had a very good year in 2009.

To recap:

In January, the company introduced iLife '09 and iWork '09, substantial upgrades to the digital lifestyle and office productivity suites. It also introduced a 17-inch MacBook Pro model with eight-hour built-in battery technology that has since proliferated to almost all Apple notebooks. And it announced record revenue and net quarterly profit for its first quarter.

In March, Apple introduced bigger, better and faster iMacs as well as new Mac Pros with up to twice the performance of previous models.

In April, the big news was that more than 1 billion apps had been downloaded from the App Store in its first nine months of existence and that Apple had had the best second quarter revenue and earnings in its history.

The iPhone 3GS and Safari 4 came along in June. In their first three days, Safari 4 was downloaded over 11 million times and more than a million of the iPhone 3GS were sold.
Download milestone

In July, the App Store celebrated its first birthday with over 1.5 billion downloads. And Apple announced third-quarter revenue and earnings that were its best ever in a non-holiday quarter.

August brought the seventh major upgrade to our favorite operating system: Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard and Snow Leopard Server.

In September, Apple unveiled its latest iPod lineup, including new and improved versions of the iPod touch, shuffle and nano as well as its new iTunes 9 software, which added support for iTunes LP, Home Sharing and Genius Mixes. And App Store downloads surpassed the 2 billion mark.
Record profit

In October, Apple announced its most profitable fourth quarter, citing record Mac and iPhone sales. The entire Macbook product line was updated with LED backlit displays, multitouch trackpads and seven-hour built-in batteries; the innovative multitouch Magic Mouse was introduced; and the iMac lineup was refreshed (again) with new 21.5 and 27-inch models, including the first iMacs to sport quad-core processors.

The only major news in November was that the App Store now features more than 100,000 apps. And while there have been no major announcements thus far in December, there are still a few days left. So anything could happen…

There is one last thing. Apple shares began the year on Jan. 2 at $90.75, bottomed out on Jan. 20 at $78.20 and then hit the all-time record high Monday of $213.95 before settling at $211.72.

I think you'll find it hard not to agree that 2009 was a very good year indeed for Apple.


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27-inch iMacs gets Firmware Update

Earlier this month, 27-inch Apple iMac was rumored of facing flickering, yellow-tint and cracked display issues. Apple later clarified with us that they're trying to fulfill new 27-inch iMac orders and have now released a firmware update for these 27-inch iMacs.

Now, according to web designer Scott Pronych's website, the majority of issues with iMacs (released at Fall 2009) were regarding flickering displays. This new 27-inch iMac Graphics firmware update 1.0 is for Mac machines bearing ATI Radeon HD 4670 and 4850 graphics. The support note states that the issues causing image corruption or display flickering will be solved.

Download the 683kb file and save your 27-inch iMac from flickering or image corruption issues. It's no time to play the blame game but to look forward to how Apple will meet the demand for 27-inch iMac models globally.


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Apple refurbs: 27-inch iMac now available

This week the 27-inch iMac hit the refurb. shelf at Apple's online store. The 3.06Ghz model with 4GB of RAM and a 1TB hard drive has been reduced from $1699 to $1449, a price drop of $250. The previous-generation 24-inch iMac with the same configuration is also available for $100 less, $1349, after a massive $850 price cut. A 21.4-inch iMac is also featured with the same configuration as well for $1299.

A wide variety of iPod models are also available in refurbished condition at Apple's online store as well starting as low as $39 for the second-generation 1GB iPod shuffle, or $59 for the 2GB Shuffle. The previous-generation iPod nano is available starting at $99 for the 8GB model, or $129 for the 16GB Nano. For $199 you can pick up a previous-generation 160GB iPod classic. The first-generation 8GB iPod touch is available for only $139, while the second-generation 8GB touch falls at $10 more, $149. Second-generation 16GB and 32GB iPod touch models are also available for $199 and $249 respectively.


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Apple's iMac sales jump 74% in U.S.

Even Apple couldn't have expected a sales jump this big, says analyst


Computerworld - Sales of Apple's iMacs in the U.S. jumped 74% during October and November over the same period last year, a retail research firm said today, making the desktop line refresh "a very big success."

iMac sales during the first two months of the final calendar quarter were up so dramatically that it had to take even Apple by surprise, said Stephen Baker, analyst with the NPD Group. "They've reaccelerated that [desktop] segment for Apple," said Baker, noting that the 21% jump in overall Mac sales were largely due to iMac sales. Sales of Apple's laptops -- the MacBook, MacBook Pro and MacBook Air -- increased by just 5% year-over-year during October and November.

"It's hard to imagine Apple could have predicted those iMac sales, especially of the 27-in. models," said Baker.

Although sales of the less-expensive 21.5-in. iMacs were greater than those of the pricier 27-in. version, the big boost in sales of the latter, when compared to previous sales of Apple's top-of-the-line iMacs, was the big surprise to Baker.

"Apple often gets a big jump in sales after a refresh," noted Baker, "and we're on the cusp of that six- to eight-week period. We saw a big jump in March when Apple tweaked the internals of the iMac, but that didn't have the legs that this one seems to have."

Apple launched its revamped iMacs on Oct. 20, replacing the earlier 20- and 24-in. displays with 21.5- and 27-in. screens, and offering quad-core processors on the larger models for the first time. The 21.5-in. model starts at $1,199; the 27-in. version starts at $1,699, with the quad-core model going for $1,999.

When asked why the iMacs have done so well -- a turnaround of sorts for Apple, which has seen desktop sales drop steadily over the past several years -- Baker said simply, "I wish I knew."

But he was certain that Apple's problems in delivering 27-in. iMacs was not solely due to technical issues with the computers' graphics cards, a claim some authorized resellers have made after users began reporting major problems with new 27-in. iMacs.

"The [graphics problem] is probably not the only reason for the delays," Baker said, referring to Apple's current two-week span between ordering a new 27-in. iMac and shipping the unit. "Sales have been so strong that they've had to scramble for more product. But just because the 27-in. is outperforming Apple's expectations doesn't mean the [graphics] problems should be dismissed."

Apple has declined to answer questions about whether the 27-in. iMac delays were caused by an unacknowledged hardware glitch, but the company has issued a statement apologizing for the iMac's availability problems, and put the blame on sales. "The new iMac has been a huge hit and we are working hard to fulfill orders as quickly as possible," the company said in a statement released to several news outlets.

The Mac mini, which was also revised two months ago -- including a $999 model that operates as a cut-rate server -- has experienced a sales spike as well. "That's one of the other hidden points in the October-November data," said Baker. "We've seen some decent increases in the Mac mini, which is doing pretty well."

Baker declined to ascribe the smallest desktop Mac's sales gains to the "Mac mini with Snow Leopard Server" offering, but acknowledged that that model was the biggest difference between the line before and after the Oct. 20 refresh.

"They're making some money on that model," Baker said. "The server edition adds another product to the line."

Apple's sales for the quarter will be solidly within the company's expectations, Baker predicted, and the Cupertino, Calif. computer maker is well placed heading into the new year. "They're sitting pretty good going into 2010," Baker argued. "Macs won't look as overpriced next year, especially in the back half of the year, as they did in 2009. The price declines of Windows PCs, especially netbooks can't continue to come down 25%, like they did this year."

Apple won't release its official sales figures for the final calendar quarter of 2009 until its conference call with analysts sometime in the second half of January 2010.


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MacSpeech Dictate fixes new iMac audio input issue with update

Macworld Awards winner MacSpeech, has introduced MacSpeech Dictate 1.5.8, an update for the only speech recognition solution for the Mac, with the award winning Dragon Naturally Speaking Engine at its core.

According to the MacSpeech Dictate 1.5.8 Release Notes, the company has fixed and addressed an "audio input issue with the iMacs introduced in October of 2009."

The update should be available when launching the application.

A recent update also added "exclusive support" for the Plantronics Calisto Bluetooth Headset. which allows freedom of movement during dictation.

The headset promises a range of up to 10 meters - up to 33 feet - from headset to adapter and offers up to 8 hours of talk time, and up to 240 hours of stand-by time.

The Plantronics Calisto Bluetooth Headset costs £119.95 while MacSpeech Dictate software/hardware bundles start from £279.95 for MacSpeech Dictate rising to £599.95 for MacSpeech Dictate Medical or MacSpeech Dictate Legal with headset. MacSpeech Dictate International with headset costs £329.95.

More information can be found at www.macspeech.co.uk/calisto.

Users can enter UPGRADEDISCOUNT when upgrading to MacSpeech 1.5 to receive a discount, an offer which runs until the end of December.


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Graphics issues force Apple to delay iMac orders, resellers report

Apple has delayed shipping new 27-in. iMacs until it can figure out the cause of flickering screens and other display problems, according to reports from authorized resellers.


Apple has delayed shipping new 27-in. iMacs until it can figure out the cause of flickering screens and other display problems, according to reports from authorized resellers.

The move came just days after a Web designer created a site that tallied issues with the 27-in. iMacs , including screens broken in shipment, on-again-off-again flickering displays and screens that showed a jaundice-yellow tint.

Two Apple resellers -- independent dealers approved by Apple to sell Macs -- contacted the Apple iMac (Fall 2009) Issues site to report that all shipments of iMacs had been pushed back at least two weeks as Apple replaces the machines' graphics cards.

Canadian Web designer Scott Pronych built the tracking site after he received a 27-in. iMac with a shattered screen, saying he wanted to document the display problems. By digging through Apple's support forum and taking reports directly from others via a form on his site, Pronych has identified more than 600 users who have had issues with their new machines.

A thread on Apple's support forum dedicated to the flickering screen problem boasts nearly 1,200 separate messages and has a view count of over 173,000, making it easily the most-read of those on the iMac forum.

The resellers who contacted Pronych are in Europe. "I think they are feeling a bit frustrated as a lot of customers are blaming them for slow delivery, and likely they see my Web site as proof that there are some real problems with the graphics system of the new iMacs," Pronych said in an e-mail Friday.

On Saturday Pronych reached out to the resellers on Computerworld 's behalf, but both declined to comment on the record. "I don't want to hurt my ties with the Mac community," one of the resellers said in an e-mail to Pronych that he forwarded in part to Computerworld . "As you may or may not know, Apple is strong-arming resellers since opening their own Apple Stores," the reseller continued.

Earlier this week, Apple changed the shipping status on its online store for both 27-in. iMac models from "Ships: 5-7 days" or "Ships 7-10 days" to "Ships: 2 weeks." Although high volume sales could account for the change, Pronych said he had been told by some users that Apple had pushed back the projected ship dates for their already-ordered iMacs.

Some U.S. resellers were out of stock. A Mac Connection sales representative, for instance, said that the e-tailer's next shipment of 27-in. iMacs was expected Dec. 18. "I don't have any information regarding a reason for the delay," the representative said in a live chat Saturday. Amazon.com reported that a new 27-in. iMac would ship "within 1 to 2 months." ClubMac.com , meanwhile, said it wouldn't have 27-in. models until the end of the month. A sales representative from the California-based e-tailer said only that "Apple is not able to get us our shipments."

Both the dual-core and quad-core iMacs are affected by the flickering screen issue, according to reports filed with Pronych's site. Those models use AMD's ATI Radeon HD 4670 and Radeon HD 4850 graphics cards, respectively.

The 27-in iMacs were introduced in late October , when Apple refreshed its desktop lines. According to Pronych's data, fewer than 10% of the total reports are from users of the less-expensive 21.-5-in. iMacs. The entry-level $1,199 machine uses the NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics chipset rather than an ATI graphics card.

If the problem is, in fact, traced back to the ATI graphics cards, it won't be the first time that AMD's hardware has been blamed for iMac troubles. More than two years ago, Apple began investigating screen lockup problems with the then-new iMac line that sported ATI graphics cards. Several weeks later, Apple issued a firmware update that seemed to solve the problem for most users.

This year's new iMacs have also been plagued with performance issues. Within days of their Oct. 20 introduction, users complained about extremely sluggish playback of Flash video. A Nov. 9 update to Mac OS X 10.6.2 targeted the problem, which was resolved for some, but not all, users.

Apple has not responded to multiple e-mails asking for comment on the 27-in. iMac screen issues, including one Friday requesting information about the two-week shipping delay. Apple typically refuses to comment on hardware issues, preferring instead to quietly publish a support document to its site.


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Apple Updates Mac Pro and Xserve Configuration Options

Apple has quietly updated its Mac Pro and Xserve lines with new high-end configurations. The Mac Pro quad-core model now includes an option to replace the base configuration's 2.66 GHz Intel Xeon processor with a 3.33 GHz Intel Xeon. Price? $1,200 for the processor swap.

Newly available in both the quad-core Mac Pro and the eight-core model is the option to replace each of the base configuration's hard drives with 2 TB 7200 rpm drives. This brings the maximum capacity of the Mac Pro up to 8 TB, from 4 TB, and does so at the price of $350 for the first drive, and $550 for each subsequent drive.

Apple's Xserve lineup sees the same 2 TB hard drive upgrade option, at the price of $450 for the first drive and $550 for each subsequent drive. (Xserve drives are more expensive than Mac Pro drives due to the drive carriers and other reasons; see "Going Deep Inside Xserve Apple Drive Modules," 27 March 2009.) The new option brings the Xserve's maximum capacity to 6 TB, up from 3 TB.

Also, new to the Xserve quad-core model is the option to configure the machines with 24 GB of RAM, or 4 GB per slot, at the hefty price of $2,850. (The eight-core Xserve models feature 12 RAM slots instead of the quad-core's 6 slots.)

Now that the iMac boasts substantial specs (see "New iMac Models Receive Larger Screens, SD Card Slot," 20 October 2009), high end upgrade options such as these help further define the Mac Pro and Xserve as the powerhouses of Apple's product line.


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