Well, they're here, the new Intel based Macs have arrived. With the occasion of the Macworld Expo, Steve Jobs introduced the next generation of Macs.

The new models are an iMac and a Powerbook, dubed 'MacBook Pro', both of them featuring Intel's Core Duo chips. The Dual core processors make the iMac twice as fast as the previous model, released just a few months ago, while the Mac Book Pro is four to five times faster than the old Powerbooks.

"Well, the transition is happening. These are mostly evolutionary products, not revolutionary but they point the way to the future. Look for more coming the rest of the year as Apple drives the line forward. This obviously not the last word and Macworld has evolved to one place where Apple makes announcements, there's much more to this story ahead," says Jupiter Research analyst Michael Gartenberg.

And the transition is well underway indeed. Apple delivered the new machines well within their initial timeframe (which was to have the first Intel Macs shipping before June 2006) and the transition will be over much faster than anyone expected. Steve Jobs said during his keynote that all Macs will be Intel-based by end of calendar year 2006, a whole year earlier than the initial timeframe by which all Macs were to make the transition, before the end of 2007.

Although the new models are indeed not truly revolutionary, they are a testament to Apple's policy of delivering nothing but the very best. The machines offer much more than their forefathers, while maintaining the same price. Furthermore, they come bundled with the new iLife suite that contains everything one needs for their digital lifestyle.

"The iMac is a great transitional machine and the performance is excellent, making it a real first class choice as an iLife platform. The MacBook delivers to Apple's audience a mobile machine that's finally worthy of the platform. No more waiting for the G5 to ship," said Gartenberg.