New iMac Now Available to Order in the U.S.

Galatian · Nov 30, 2012

ChuckG said:
I went with the astronomically priced 768 SSD no-nonsense approach as opposed to the experimental Fusion Drive solution since failure of SSD or HDD means total failure.

http://macperformanceguide.com/macmini2012-dual-drives-vs-fusion.html

They are showing the Fusion option of the Mac Mini and not of the new iMac. The new Mac Mini used two standard 2,5" drives. You can add two 2.5" HDD (like with the server version), two SSD or you can put in both one SSD and one HDD and combine them (or not) for a fusion drive.

The new iMac uses one 2.5" HDD drive on the 21,5" version or one 3.5" HDD drive on the 27" version and if you go for the Fusion drive you will get a Retina MacBook Pro styled SSD stick with it. You are right about the failure, but that is inherent to the working principle of the Fusion drive, because it combines two physical drives into one logical one while intelligently shuffling much/less used date between both drives.

But you can always just turn Fusion off (see the ArsTechnica article on that). So if you really want to save money, just get the base version and the graphic card you want to get and purchase an aftermarket SSD stick from OWC for the Fusion drive or in your case both the SSD stick and a 2.5" SSD drive, for even higher all SSD storage space at a cheaper price. Of course you need to take the iMac apart, but since the screen is laminated this should be easier then before...The 786 GB all SSD option is just waaaayyyy overpriced...

offwidafairies · Nov 30, 2012

ordered. i figure if i don't like the fusion drive i have 14 days to return it

Lancer · Nov 30, 2012

Blue Sun said:
These new iMacs are much cheaper in Australia than the previous gen.

Yeah the top 27" is $100 less, i7 is cheaper as is the upgraded graphics. So Fusion aside the price is over $100 less with better CPU, more RAM and USB3, plus better LCD. Okay we loose the DVD but really if you need that then just get it now or wait and see, pickup a 3rd party BluRay or the Apple DVD later.

I did a check and with 1Tb Fusion (2012) v 2Tb HDD (2011) I'll pay just $50 more for a much better 27" iMac.

turtlez · Nov 30, 2012

JordanNZ said:
Why would he be 'risking applecare'? The 27" has user replaceable ram.

screen, GPU, CPU, Fans, Motherboard lol

offwidafairies · Nov 30, 2012

turtlez said:
AUD$3157 with 8GB of ram. Oh sheeee

you risking no Apple care?

i thought you could buy Apple Care any time within the first year? And isn't everything covered within that time anyway?

Reason077 · Nov 30, 2012

clunkmess said:
opted for ram over fusion. Hope I made the right choice.

SSD (or Fusion) makes far more difference to overall system performance than extra RAM (the only exception is if you're doing extremely memory-intensive tasks that really need it).

Looking at the teardown, however, it doesn't appear to be too difficult to upgrade the HDD to an SSD later if you want to.... and SSD prices are, of course, dropping all the time.

Lancer · Nov 30, 2012

I like the idea of Fusion but it looks to be a stop-gap measure until SSD comes down in price IMO.

Also I think the reason we are limited to 128Gb SSD in the Fusion is that SSD is on the mainboard, there appears to be no separate slot or 2nd SATA bay, and it's probably also the reason the 768Gb SSD option is separate to and HDD options. The 768Gb SSD uses the HDD bay.

offwidafairies said:
i thought you could buy Apple Care any time within the first year? And isn't everything covered within that time anyway?

Yes, that's what I'm planning on doing in November 2013.

JayJayAbels · Nov 30, 2012

clunkmess said:
opted for ram over fusion. Hope I made the right choice.

On a 21.5" iMac... you did make the right choice. 16gigs of RAM is more precious on that specific machine than the Fusion Drive. With the TB ports you could always pick up a faster HD/SSD etc.

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Is now a good time to safely say that Apple desktops aren't going to be EOL'd?

Ordering my iMac next month. Cheers to those who, FINALLY, got theirs today!

:apple:

turtlez · Nov 30, 2012

offwidafairies said:
i thought you could buy Apple Care any time within the first year? And isn't everything covered within that time anyway?

yah you can i was just wanting to know if he was gonna risk not getting it at all.

BSoares · Nov 30, 2012

What the hell? No EPP discount? I see 6% off in all Macs but the new iMac

That better be a mistake...

vmachiel · Nov 30, 2012

Says it'll ship in 1-3 days... so thats not bad at all

Monkeydude · Nov 30, 2012

clunkmess said:
opted for ram over fusion. Hope I made the right choice.

You did NOT.

iglobe · Nov 30, 2012

get last

CHRIST DENN said:
Apple fanboys must order fast due to supply constraints.

please show him the door to get out from here...

FFuzz · Nov 30, 2012

turtlez said:
AUD$3157 with 8GB of ram. Oh sheeee

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because it would stop you from upgrading too soon

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I have been waiting since March and now I can't afford it lmao

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you risking no Apple care?

Yeah, taking the risk.... Can always buy it within the first year. Been using Macs since 1996 and have never had any issues.

pontelad · Nov 30, 2012

Just ordered mine here in the UK, delivery 2 to 3 weeks...... Hopefully in time for Christmas!

Merry Christmas to MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE (27" model)

21.5" is 1 to 3 days

Stvno · Nov 30, 2012

EPP Discount and Bootcamp

Hey guys,

just had a call with the apple support. The EBB Discount shows up wrong now and they try to fix it until the evening or monday

If you order right now, you pay the full price. So I wait for it.

I have a question about the fusion drive and boot camp:

I need bootcamp for playing games on the windows system. But there is a hint that the 3TB option doen't support boot camp right now because of the fact that windows doesn't support more than 2.2 GB over bootcamp.

So better take the 1TB or just hope that they will fix it through software updates for the 3TB?

darcyjames · Nov 30, 2012

Mobster1983 said:
Wewt!! Ordering mine now.

27" with 3.4 GHz Core i7 and 728 GB SSD. Will use my external thunderbolt for more storage and buy aftermarket RAM.

Anyone know why you can't get a fusion drive with the 728 GB SSD and 3 TB HDD. Would work much better for me (yes, I would use most of that storage).

You're crazy...I mean, I am too...just saying...

(ordered base 21.5 cause it's for my wife and I have my rMBP/mac mini combo going, but man, your thing is sweet...that's what she said...oh man I got to get to bed...)

Curren~Sea · Nov 30, 2012

Also available from apple.ca (Canada).

jeutie · Nov 30, 2012

When they announced it a while ago I drooled and thought this would be an insta-buy. The screen not being retina isn't a big deal ever since you sit further away from it, but I'm kind of disappointed that I can't opt for a 256GB or 512GB SSD. I have external storage via Thunderbolt and have no need for the 768GB SSD nor the fusion drives. Guess I'll skip this one. (I know I could tinker with it myself, but I refuse to do that.

)

darcyjames · Nov 30, 2012

Lancer said:
I like the idea of Fusion but it looks to be a stop-gap measure until SSD comes down in price IMO.

Yes, you are exactly right...if you substitute "stop-gap" with "perfect-compromise" (I really do think we agree).

benjalamelami · Nov 30, 2012

I wonder where all this heat from these chips will go? I think I will wait just a month more

darcyjames · Nov 30, 2012

benjalamelami said:
I wonder where all this heat from these chips will go? I think I will wait just a month more

Yeah, that's what I said about the rMBP, and, after a couple SW fixes, the heat is no issue.

The aluminum and fan system, along with current i5/7 chips, will be fine in that thing - plus you don't even have to sit it on your lap.

RobertMartens · Nov 30, 2012

CHRIST DENN said:
Apple fanboys must order fast due to supply constraints.

what is a fanboy? and why do they have to order fast?

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darcyjames said:
Yes, you are exactly right...if you substitute "stop-gap" with "perfect-compromise" (I really do think we agree).

I think fusion is going to be around for a long time because it allows hard disks to be gigantic. I bet it is still here 5 years from now.

BSoares · Nov 30, 2012

Ok, I won't wait for EPP discount to be fixed, I ordered one using ShopDiscover so I'll get 5% back instead of the 6% off, almost the same. Better than waiting and a ton of orders getting in front of mine. 27" high end with 1TB Fusion.

Pakaku · Nov 30, 2012

asiga said:
There's a paradox now at the Mac: The iMac has worse disk options than the Mac Mini, but the Mac Mini cannot be configured with a discrete GPU. This drives us into an scenario where there's no really interesting desktop (no matter if you choose the Mac Mini or the iMac, you have to decide if you prefer to drop the GPU or the (pure) SSD... you cannot have both).

This would be the perfect time for them to consider a mid-level tower, something some people have been wanting for forever. Maybe a sort of 'Mini Pro'. But no, Apple wouldn't do such a thing.

New iMac Now Available to Order in the U.S.

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