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It's been a long time coming - and looks pretty much like you'd expect. It makes sense for SB to rationalise their design, particularly in light of the MEs unusually over-machined construction.
No surprises in the changes to the instrument panel, though most ME owners have long solved the idiosyncrasies of an instrument panel that provides a parallel port in a world that has used USB CCD cameras for many years. Still, an obvious and welcome change for new purchasers. As is through the mount cabling without disassembly - particularly for permanent and robotic installations.
Load capacity is an interesting one. The ME was released in an era when the C14 represented 'large' (in fact, SB used to sell them). The appearance of 24" and larger instruments mounted on them and the subsequent release of the extension counterweight shaft hinted at the need for something with larger capacity - particularly with respect to balancing. If anything, it wouldn't have surprised me to see a slightly larger successor.
Tracking well past the meridian has never really bothered me, I get nervous about pier strikes. Still there does seem to be a lot of photographers out there that have desperately wanted this for a long time.
Notable improvements in motor size and torque - though I've never heard of any problems with the current motor, except in poorly deployed examples (a larger motor may not necessarily cure issues associated with user error).
Bigger bearings too. Same as above. (In short, a very nice german equatorial capable of carrying a large telescope).
RA gear is still 11.4", so perhaps not much will actually change in the default performance and accuracy of the drives. I'm betting it will have the same advertised range of default PE and pointing (the latter dependent more on software these days).
PEMPro can get my 4" peak to peak ME down to 0.4" without much trouble, so the jury is still out with respect to the optional on-axis encoder - though much will depend on the cost of that option. Plus everyone (except me) guides these days. Back in the old days, PE actually meant something.
In short, a worthy, slightly overdue and not totally surprising successor to the ME - certainly a nice companion to the smaller MX on the Bisque showroom floor.
Paul
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