Good Guys Expects Apple's iPod to be Extremely Strong

-- Weekend, November 22-23 --

[Update 3:30p EST] Apple's First Retail Store--Tysons Corner in McLean, VA--Grand Re-opening with Photos: After being closed for remodeling just before Mac OS X 10.3 (Panther) was released, the first Apple retail store re-opened today at 10 a.m. and is giving away an iSight every hour through Sunday. Shown at right is the beaming Ilene Magee, the first and only manager of the very first Apple retail store, in front of her new store (click for a larger image).

The original design was a black entrance with a pair of lighted Apple logos. The floors were light wood, the walls were white and the display stands, including the check out stand, were black. Here is an example photo at left.

The new look is a brushed aluminum entrance with a single Apple logo overhead. The floors are light gray stone, the walls are still white and the display stands are light wood (see photo at right). All in all, the new design of the Tysons Corner store makes it look a bit larger and projects a much warmer welcome in our opinion. The design, while new to Tysons Corner is the same as more recently opened Apple retail stores.

For more photos, click here.

The store was very busy when we were there, near its capacity. The staff said it had been like that most of the day. Everytime a free iSight was announced (on every hour), a lot of people in the store scrambled to sign up for the drawing. You don't have to be present to win.

We took the opportunity to check out the gorgeous new 20" iMac and the new G4 iBooks. We thought the 17" iMac was stunning but the 20" iMac beats it by a long shot in visual impact. Despite it's size, the 20" screen moves around just as adroitly as the original 15" screen.

The keyboard and surrounding top plate of the new G4 iBooks are the same grayish off white color rather than white keys on a silver plate. The G4 iBook's keyboard is really solid. We like it much better than those that came with previous models. As noted by others, the case is now solid white plastic rather than clear with white background paint. The other major improvement is slot-loading optical drives.