Latest Apple Macs ship with OS X

Apple has started to ship its Mac OS X operating system pre-installed on all systems two months ahead of schedule, but it will be in a dual-boot configuration with Mac OS 9 as the default option.

Chief executive Steve Jobs made the announcement at the Apple Worldwide Developer Conference in San Jose last week, saying that a combination of customer demand and the desire to build up a user base for new applications had been behind the decision.

All new Macintosh systems will now have the OS X operating system pre-installed alongside the old-style OS 9.1. The older software will remain the primary option for the time being, but Jobs added: "It is going to be so easy to change the default to OS X that we think a lot of customers will."

Mac systems that have already been manufactured but are awaiting sale will be sold with a free copy of Mac OS X on CDRom.

The continuing lack of drivers to support OS X is believed to be the reason why Apple has not yet fully switched over to the new operating system on its new Macs.

Bloor Research analyst Mat Hanrahan said: "Switching over to OS X has been no simple task and there are bound to be some teething problems with the technology." He added that giving users the option to dabble with OS X, while providing a reliable system to fall back on, offers the best of both worlds.

Also at the conference, Apple launched a revamped OS X Server priced from £340 to £680. It also revealed price cuts for Apple flat-panel screens, coinciding with the announcement that its range of CRT monitors will be discontinued.