Apple's new iMacs will likely sell well amongst potential 'switchers' as well as college students hoping to acquire new computers before heading back to the classroom, according to American Technology Research senior analyst Shaw Wu. Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled the sleek new systems yesterday during a special event at the company's campus in Cupertino, CA. "We find the new iMacs impressive with their thinner and sleeker aluminum and glass enclosure (similar to iPhone), new Intel Santa Rosa platform with faster Core 2 Duo processors, advanced ATI Radeon HD graphics, and lower price points," Wu wrote in a research note obtained by MacNN. The analyst notes Apple's timing, choosing to release the consumer-oriented iMacs during the peak of the college back-to-school buying season, and believes the company's 20-inch widescreen iMac -- priced at $1,199 -- will sell particularly well among 'switchers' from other platforms. Shaw Wu is reiterating his "Buy" rating on Apple shares with a 6-12 month price target of $185.

Wu says MacBook and MacBook Pro sales are also staying strong, and remains comfortable with his forecast of 1.95 million Macs for a jump of 11 percent quarter-over-quarter and 21 percent year-over-year. Apple's updates to its iLife and iWork software suites won't hinder the company's progress either, says Wu, as both products help to distance the Cupertino-based company from its competition in the software market.

"We find the software updates including iLife '08 and iWork '08 interesting; what intrigued us the most is the new iPhoto with its new 'events' sorting/grouping capability for very large photo libraries and long awaited Numbers spreadsheet application to complete its productivity suite."

"While we do not anticipate iLife and/or iWork to be large stand-alone revenue contributors, we do believe both updates help further differentiate Apple from competitors (particularly iLife with its digital lifestyle applications)."