You have, of course, already seen those Panther screenshots, and that snazzy new cheese grater it runs on. And you do, of course, already know how I feel about the brushed metal interface.¹ My position on the GUI hasn’t changed, but I do admit it matches the new case - which, I’m told, is more impressive in person. I think that’s probably true, given that the close-ups of the front and rear panels look much more rivet and much less Martha. And for that matter, the case could be a beige box for all I care - look at those specs! Sign me up for the dual 2Ghz (with a little 8Gb RAM on the side, if you don’t mind). Thank you, educational discount.

¹ Well, since you asked: I think the brushed metal interface is the most depressing design decision to come out of Apple in the time I’ve been a Mac user, and we’re going back to elementary school here (so that includes the entire Performa series). When Aqua first appeared (specifically the graphite version), I thought it was the sleekest, cleanest, prettiest windowing system I’d ever seen. It was fast, it was translucent, it was positively delicious. Brushed metal, on the other hand, is slow, clunky, awkward, and old-fashioned. These are not qualities I associate with Apple, or with OS X. I’ve hated brushed metal since it was first introduced with Quicktime player, years before OS X, and I still hate it now. Please, make it go away.