Apple Fulfills Patent with the iMac's New Fusion Drive
Three years ago we called for an ultrathin iMac and today Apple delivered it. The new thinner iMac design was mainly accomplished by eliminating the optical drive as they did with their MacBook Air and other MacBooks over time. Yet to be fair to Apple's industrial design team lead by the fanatical Sir Jony Ive, they sweated over the details to refine the LCD process and even used a new welding process called "Friction Stir Welding" in order to get the thinner design just right. And in the heart of this new beast lies an all-new hybrid hard drive that Apple calls a Fusion Drive; a drive that fulfills a 2011 patent application.
The iMac's New Fusion Drive Fulfills a 2011 Patent
On September 29, 2011 we posted a report titled "Apple is working on a new Hybrid Drive System of their Own," and today Apple's '887 patent application was fulfilled with the introduction of the Fusion Drive.
According to Apple, the new iMac storage option called Fusion Drive combines a high-capacity hard drive with high-performance flash storage. Fusion Drive automatically and intelligently manages your data so that frequently used apps, documents, photos, and other files stay on the faster flash storage, while infrequently used items move to the hard drive. You'll enjoy shorter boot times, and as the system learns how you work, you'll experience faster application launches and quicker file access.
The new optional Fusion Drive will add $200 to the base price of the new iMac.
Other patents that came to life in 2012 could be found in the following reports: Apple Intros New App Features Fulfilling Patents; Apple's iPhone 5 'EarPods' & other Patents Come to Light; and Apple's iTicket, Siri & Mapping Patents Rock in iOS 6. Some of the technologies covered in those reports include: integrated touch built into the iPhone 5 display; Beamforming; next-gen Image Sensor Processor ISP; Apple's Classic "Ticket" patent via Passbook; Siri for vehicles under Siri patent covering hands-free operation; 3D live mapping; iMovie Storyboard; iPhoto for iPad Brushes app, iPad color boosting feature and more.
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Side Note: Thanks to MacDailyNews' for the heads-up about Apple TV's new channel called "Apple Events" prior to the Apple Event. I was able to watch the event live on my HDTV and that was very cool. When you get a moment, check out this new channel on Apple TV. If you love Apple events, then it's a must.
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