Rumours are coming in thick and fast about all sorts of new and refreshed Apple products. It would seem that they may just carry some weight as well. With many rumours about the release of a new iMac to be coming our way seemingly any moment now, it would seem appropriate that a facelift on the iMac would come with new peripherals – wouldn’t it?

AppleInsider mentions in this post on their website a few very notable points which certainly lead to a new release of an iMac, there’s news of supply lines for the current model being restricted. Now in the past when this has been the case with other products such as the iPhone, iPods & Laptops it has almost certainly meant that there’s a new model on the way. To complement this it has been just over two years now since Apple first released the aluminium iMac in it’s current shape, all of these things say to me that it may just be time for an update.

What really catches my eye though is the thought that there may also be new peripherals such as an updated Mighty Mouse and Keyboard to go along with it. Personally I love the aluminum keyboard that was released with the original aluminium iMac. I find it easy and quick to type on, while also being nice and quiet, however I am considerably more excited about the possibility of a new mighty mouse.

Endgadget posted an article the other day about how Apple applied for new patents on the Keyboard and Mighty Mouse, these details were released on the American FCC’s website just long enough for keen eyes to grab some screen shots with pictures and all. I really do find the current Mighty Mouse a great mouse to use, and I think that it complements OS X very well. The ability to use and customise so many different buttons on the mouse in such a user friendly way is something that I seen on many other mice out there to-date. My one and only complaint about the current mouse however is that of the scroll ball. When it works it is genius, but give it some time and some frequent use and this thing gets so gunked up it renders it almost unusable.

The patents that were released seem to hint towards the new mouse containing some sort of multi-touch technology, if this is something that can replace the scroll ball while still maintaining the great user experience then I say bring it on! Given that one of our mighty mouse has a scroll ball that needs cleaning every second day I say that it is definitely time for a new model to come out.

One of the big advantages that Apple has over every other computer maker out there in the market is that when you buy a mac you know that the system you purchase is a well tuned machine! What do I mean by this? Well ever since Apple has been around, they have controlled every aspect of their product, from all of the hardware through to the software that you get with your computer. This is a huge contrast to other computer companies that need to run Windows – and an even bigger problem for Microsoft. This is due to the fact that Microsoft can be installed on computers with infinitely different combinations of set up, with different hard drives & monitors & mother boards. It is a nightmare for them to have to be compatible with each and every computer out there.

This is the beauty of a Mac, because apple controls everything you know that they have optimized their operating system to run optimally on the hardware you have in the computer because there is only one set up available and that’s the one Apple put in the computer to start with. This is where they good stuff comes in for the home user: say for example you just purchased a new digital camera heres two scenario’s:

Windows: Plug it in, please install drivers, muck around finding drivers, install, doesn’t work because driver is too old, find the right one, install, restart, ensure you have the chunky memory hogging software that came with the camera to get your pictures off, and then finally get your pictures off the camera

Mac: Plug the camera into the computer, give it 5 seconds, your photo software opens and you can do what you please with your photos.

As Apple knows the hardware in your computer they can bundle all of the drivers necessary on the computer and ship it so when you plug in your device it works!

The other advantage of this is that OS X (the apple operating system) is designed specifically for this platform, this means that your system is a very stable system. You will notice that even if a program stops responding (which is inevitable on any computer) it won’t crash your whole system, that single affected program will shut down leaving the rest of your work space in tact. Its these nice little things that make using your personal computer a pleasure and not a task.

Security is such an important thing for us all when we are using a computer, especially given that we are essentially connected to our computers 24/7, one of the biggest advantages of running a Mac is the Security of the system. You would have certainly heard the good old argument ‘Mac’s don’t get Viruses’. Well this is pretty much true, let me explain:

Mac’s are not immune to viruses, they can get them! The thing is that Mac’s make up such a small segment of the overall computer footprint in the world that from a virus authors point of view – why would we bother spending all that time writing a virus for mac when we can write one for windows and have such a bigger effect. At this point in time there is essentially no reason to run anti-virus software on a mac, in fact the anti-virus software that is out there only scans for windows viruses anyway!

One of the other reasons Mac’s are less vulnerable to these attacks is due to the way viruses and other malware works. In order to get onto your system in the first place viruses and malware need to ‘trick’ you, they are like a mini program that has to install itself on your system to run. Now one of the great things about the Mac OS is that whenever any program try’s to gain access to change or install something on your system the Mac will request you enter the administrators username and password. This not only stops a hacker from taking over your computer and installing at free will but it makes you actually think twice about what you are installing. Now having said all of this, Windows is (finally) learning this and thats the reason Vista always asks you allow or deny, and why windows 7 will take a similar route as Mac OS for your approval before installing.

There are a number of other reasons as well such as the difference in file types that a mac can open and use and so on, but I think that at this stage the biggest benefit is that they just aren’t a target for the ‘bad guys’ as there isn’t a huge penetration of Macs in the over all computer market making them less of a target.