By the time the new iMacs are released...

prism said:

the iMac will become obsolete

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So when Haswell comes out all Ivy bridge Macs will suddenly be slower?

No of course not, the current crop of Macs are more powerful then most people need, while Haswell will be a welcome addition that doesn't mean the current version of Macs will be obsolete.

Get what you need now, and don't worry what the future will bring because there will always be a faster computer around the corner

prism said:

...it will only be another six months time before ivy bridge is replaced by the significantly better haswell which means this particular iteration of the iMac will become obsolete in a much shorter time frame. Lame!

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Yeah, but that's what happens. Things get superseded regularly. Technology moves quickly. Five year turnaround is expected as the maximum.

Also: "obsolete" is nonsense. Apple still supports the 2007 models. PPCs are obsolete.

I think people can still bank on the new iMac to have five years of competitiveness before it really starts showing its age.

If it's much of a worry, people can sell it off after two years and buy a new one. With a year left of AppleCare, it should attract a reasonable second-hand price and it's effectively been a cheap rental for two years.

maflynn said:

So when Haswell comes out all Ivy bridge Macs will suddenly be slower?

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Yes, they will.

Well...I guess it could be possible if Apple make 10.9 only work well on Haswell and force everyone to update.

Well I'm on a 2010 and I feel that ML requires me to upgrade because of the slow down. So it's not impossible

prism said:

...it will only be another six months time before ivy bridge is replaced by the significantly better haswell which means this particular iteration of the iMac will become obsolete in a much shorter time frame. Lame!

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That's part of Apple's plan though; make the first version ****, make the second one better.

First iPhone was ****, second one was...still kinda **** actually.

But take the iPad, first version was ****, second version came with cameras, better processor, better speaker, and even a special cover.

The iPad mini is **** so that the next iPad mini will be good (It only has 512MB RAM, regular display, and A5 processor...A5!!).

I wouldn't be surprised if the next 21.5" base model will have GTX 660M with 1GB VRAM and Fusion Drive.

prism said:

...it will only be another six months time before ivy bridge is replaced by the significantly better haswell!

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What is it about Haswell that you consider *significantly* better than Ivy Bridge. The only significant improvements I know of are
1. Much improved integrated GPU (irrelevant on the iMac which uses discrete GPU's)
2. Lower thermals ( a significant improvement for laptops, maybe a nice to have in a desktop)
3. Lower power requirements ( again, more of a benefit for laptops)

According to Anandtech Haswell will offer a 5-15%, performance boost over IB, nice but hardly significant

I guess nobody's told you that Moore's law is being held together by smoke & mirrors, and is effectively dead...

As just mentioned, Haswell means practically nothing for desktops over Ivy. It will be great for MBAs though.

forty2j said:

I guess nobody's told you that Moore's law is being held together by smoke & mirrors, and is effectively dead...

As just mentioned, Haswell means practically nothing for desktops over Ivy. It will be great for MBAs though.

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I don't agree that Moore's Law is effectively dead. I think that what we are seeing is that that doubling the number of transistors you can fit in a given space offers diminishing returns in some applications. The value of moving to a smaller process in the laptop and mobile space is still significant. That's not to say there is not value desktop CPU die shrinks, just that the value is not as significant as it is in the laptop/mobile space.

reputationZed said:

I don't agree that Moore's Law is effectively dead. I think that what we are seeing is that that doubling the number of transistors you can fit in a given space offers diminishing returns in some applications. The value of moving to a smaller process in the laptop and mobile space is still significant. That's not to say there is not value desktop CPU die shrinks, just that the value is not as significant as it is in the laptop/mobile space.

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It is all about making more power efficient chip's and increasing the performance of integrated graphics which is a purely laptop driven motion. Integrated graphics is redundant on iMacs. As long as there are not any serious flaws with the new machines then there is no real benefit to waiting for Haswell. It will only bring small performance boost for desktops and Nvidia have already given a good performance boost with Kepler. It is a good time to buy once the reviews come out. Haswell will be here in a years time for the next iMac refresh and I can't see it being that potent.

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reputationZed said:

What is it about Haswell that you consider *significantly* better than Ivy Bridge. The only significant improvements I know of are
1. Much improved integrated GPU (irrelevant on the iMac which uses discrete GPU's)
2. Lower thermals ( a significant improvement for laptops, maybe a nice to have in a desktop)
3. Lower power requirements ( again, more of a benefit for laptops)

According to Anandtech Haswell will offer a 5-15%, performance boost over IB, nice but hardly significant

Click to expand...

This is all that needs to be said from the performance standpoint. Haswell is good in laptops but nothing major for desktops.

forty2j said:

I guess nobody's told you that Moore's law is being held together by smoke & mirrors, and is effectively dead...

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Please. Moore's Law is that transistors double about every 24 months (i.e. over an years time and closer to 2 years ). The gap between Ivy Bridge and Haswell is approx 12 months. Even under Moore's law nothing big, revolutionary, would happen in that time. Ivy Bridge and Haswell use the same process technology, 22nm , so there is no shrinkage (or huge increase in transistors).

It has gotten ridiculous how folks go into convulsions on every step on Intel's tick/tock cycles about how old the "old" tech is completely washed up as soon as the next tick (or tock) comes along. A tick+tock or tick+tock+tick is far more likely to produce enough change to label the other "old, ancient".

Apple dropping a new iMac in late July - early Sept would work just fine as far as sequencing goes.

Why not wait for the Haswell iMacs? After all, with how reliable Intel and Apple are at releasing products within a reasonable timeframe, you're sure not to be waiting an extra 6 months from when you would expect them.