Although some time ago Apple dropped “Computer” from its name let’s not forget that its record earnings are generated not only from iPods and iPhones, but also from its computers. With the holliday season closing in, an updated line of iMacs is more than welcomed.

During his speech CEO Steve Jobs reminded that computers are still very important to the company and announced that the company’s sales have gone higher with 36 percent, representing "more than three times the industry growth rate", he said.

"The iMac has a tremendous amount of momentum," Jobs said. "We'd like to make it better."

The old white plastic of iMacs is now replaced by "aluminum and glass" and as a consequence the improved iMac weights less, has a glossy look and is more environmentally friendly, due to the recyclable materials used.

The 17-inch iMac was removed from the offer and Apple sells only a 20-inch or 24-inch chassis that includes the monitor and all the components, with an external keyboard and a mouse.

The lowest price one can purchase the new iMac is $1,199 for the 20-inch one, coming with 2-GHz Intel processor, 1 gigabyte of memory and a 250-gigabyte hard drive. The one with the larger screen costs 1,799 dollars and these prices are remarkably lower (200$, respectively 300$) than their predecessors’.

The new iMacs proved much more skilfull also due to the improvements and innovations packed into Apple iLife software, capable of organizing and editing digital photos, music and movies too. Also the spreadsheet software “Numbers” was launched to make business easier.

During the conference the Cupertino-based company also launched a "Web Gallery" where people can easily share videos and images online. The software also lets people use Google's AdSense to profit from online advertising on blogs or other personal websites. Also the vdeos can be posted on Google’s YouTube.com, thanks the one-touch ability.

In fact, Apple has already a partnership with the video-sharing site YouTube. Beginning with mid-June, Apple TV streams videos directly from YouTube and play them on a user's TV set. Also, the newly-launched iPhone is compatible with YouTube.

"The overriding message here is, there is an Apple ecosystem," said Jupiter Research analyst Michael Gartenberg."It's not just iPods and iPhones. Sometimes people forget that Apple still makes great computers too."

Also is very likely that the new iMacs will be an interesting choice for the “switchers” as the American Technology Research senior analyst Shaw Wu wrote in a research note quoted by MacNN. The term “switcher” defines the users who are giving up their PCs in the favor of Macintosh computers.

Analysts welcomed the new computers which are expected to boost sales from a record 1.76 million units in the third quarter to more than 1.9 million.