APPLE UNVEILS NEW MAC PCS

Apple Inc., the maker of Macintosh computers and the iPhone, updated its desktop models for consumers, packing in better graphics and more memory and lowering prices on some models.

The new 24-inch iMac, with twice the memory and storage, is $1,499, the same price as the previous-generation 20-inch iMac, Apple said yesterday in a statement. The 20-inch iMac is $1,199. The new $599 Mac mini adds faster graphics.

The iMac, an all-in-one computer that helped spur Apple’s comeback when it debuted in 1998, is its most popular desktop. It accounted for 25 percent of Mac sales last quarter, according to Shaw Wu, an analyst at Kaufman Bros. in San Francisco.

While the updated models should help sales, Apple might have won over even more buyers with “more aggressive price points,” Wu said yesterday. He recommends buying the shares.

Apple rose 43 cents to $88.37 in Nasdaq trading. The stock has gained 3.5 percent this year.

Other than adding faster chips to the iMac last year, Apple hasn’t introduced a new version since August 2007, when CEO Steve Jobs unveiled an aluminum and glass model.

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