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Dyn-tec

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 29, 2012
91
30
Having been wanting imac since...well before the came out.

Now I am getting serious about it. BUT I don't want to have the same feeling I had when I bought my ipad...6mths later a better ipad was out.

So,.....when is everyone thinking refresh will expose itself??
 

mushroomtip

macrumors 6502
Oct 27, 2012
354
0
you will be waiting for a long time to avoid that feeling. just get your machine and don't look back !
 

benwiggy

macrumors 68020
Jun 15, 2012
2,371
179
BUT I don't want to have the same feeling I had when I bought my ipad...6mths later a better ipad was out.
There will always be a better product in the future. If you need one now, get one now. It will handle anything that you need to do with it very comfortably.
 

SMDBill

macrumors 6502
Apr 12, 2013
255
1
There will always be a better product in the future. If you need one now, get one now. It will handle anything that you need to do with it very comfortably.

+1 on that! Those quad core machines with decent standard RAM, or more if you choose, can handle the workload many users will throw at it for years to come. If you're on the top end of users requiring the greatest amount of processing power, perhaps waiting will offer you a machine that may push a little harder, but for many users that quad core processor will handle their needs comfortably for a long time.

Getting hooked on "the new one is faster" kick is unhealthy to your pocketbook. Get what you need when you need it, treat it right and use it as long as it serves your needs. You'll save a lot of money that way.
 

Nightarchaon

macrumors 65816
Sep 1, 2010
1,393
30
Just get one now and dont look back, im REALLY glad i bought mine prior to the 2012 refresh, i can replace the Ram, HDD with an SSD myself (as well as adding my own, larger, faster aftermarket SSD) and i have a DvD drive which , despite apple trying to persuade everyone otherwise, is still needed for an iMac to qualify as an All-In-One unit as much software does in fact still come on those wee plastic disks :D
 

forty2j

macrumors 68030
Jul 11, 2008
2,585
2
NJ
BUT I don't want to have the same feeling I had when I bought my ipad...6mths later a better ipad was out.

Given that the average refresh time of the iMac is about 9 months, umm, you're pretty much never buying one.

Pro tip: The late 2012 models are very nice. The new models will be late 2013, and offer essentially nothing worth waiting for. If you're ready to buy, then buy. If not, wait until you're ready to buy.
 

VideoBeagle

macrumors 6502a
Aug 17, 2010
822
18
App Q&A testing by request.
I'm gonna give a different opinion...

WWDC is in a month. I figure any spec bump would happen around then, then any new model won't be for many months later. So I think I'm gonna wait the 1 month til I buy.
 

Tanax

macrumors 65816
Jun 15, 2011
1,018
335
Stockholm, Sweden
https://buyersguide.macrumors.com//#iMac

The current model was a major change. The next one or two updates should just be a speed bump.

No firm rumors yet but yeah I'd expect it before November. Next speed bump will be about 6 months after that.

Which is exactly why you should wait for the next refresh before you buy it so Apple can sort out all baby-sicknesses. And speed bumps aren't bad...
 

forty2j

macrumors 68030
Jul 11, 2008
2,585
2
NJ
I'm gonna give a different opinion...

WWDC is in a month. I figure any spec bump would happen around then, then any new model won't be for many months later. So I think I'm gonna wait the 1 month til I buy.

What if I tell you the spec bump is in September, and they're going Retina at WWDC June 2014? Now, I don't actually know anything, but that scenario is at least as likely as yours - given Cook's comments, it certainly doesn't sound like they have much hardware at this year's WWDC.
 

VideoBeagle

macrumors 6502a
Aug 17, 2010
822
18
App Q&A testing by request.
What if I tell you the spec bump is in September, and they're going Retina at WWDC June 2014? Now, I don't actually know anything, but that scenario is at least as likely as yours - given Cook's comments, it certainly doesn't sound like they have much hardware at this year's WWDC.

I'd say, there's a difference between waiting a month and waiting 5 months.
 

iSayuSay

macrumors 68040
Feb 6, 2011
3,789
906
iMac is a product line which Apple not really "care" about. Desktop is a secondary product nowadays.

So I wouldn't worry about being left out when buying an iMac. Even if I bought it on a launch day, that would leave me maybe 1 year before the new refresh come up and make my product last.

On the other side, Haswell gives you nothing but a very very minor performance boost on the iMac side. It's all about iGP improvement over Ivy Bridge.
And also for the GPU side, there's no suitable GPU comes out yet from nVidia.
 

joe-h2o

macrumors 6502a
Jun 24, 2012
997
445
Just get one now and dont look back, im REALLY glad i bought mine prior to the 2012 refresh, i can replace the Ram, HDD with an SSD myself (as well as adding my own, larger, faster aftermarket SSD) and i have a DvD drive which , despite apple trying to persuade everyone otherwise, is still needed for an iMac to qualify as an All-In-One unit as much software does in fact still come on those wee plastic disks :D

I have a 2012 iMac, and I too can also replace the RAM, HDD and SSD myself, so no downside there.

I don;t have an internal optical drive though, so I got an external USB one for £10 that I keep in a drawer.

Upsides are that it is more powerful, less power hungry, cooler-running and has USB3 ports.

I am REALLY glad I bought mine after the 2012 refresh.
 

Nightarchaon

macrumors 65816
Sep 1, 2010
1,393
30
I have a 2012 iMac, and I too can also replace the RAM, HDD and SSD myself, so no downside there.

I don;t have an internal optical drive though, so I got an external USB one for £10 that I keep in a drawer.

Upsides are that it is more powerful, less power hungry, cooler-running and has USB3 ports.

I am REALLY glad I bought mine after the 2012 refresh.

You have to un-glue and mess about with a screen that was designed to be sealed, at least mine is still just a pop-off magnetic one.

the removal of the optical drive i think is more driven by the need to sell via-itunes combined with JIs need to turn everything into a work of art and usability be damned, unlike the floppy, whose day has been and gone, DvDs are still with us, and i for one bought an iMac because its "all-in-one", having to add things like DvD drives to it just spoils the form factor anyway by having another box and wires hanging all over the place.

On a side note, i wonder what happens if you create a Fusion Drive with two SSDs I am considering two 256gb SSDs as my upgrade internally, guess ill have to post a thread, if i can get them into a raid 0 stripe that would be awesome., as my main data drive is an external Drobo anyway,
 

Bear

macrumors G3
Jul 23, 2002
8,088
5
Sol III - Terra
...
On a side note, i wonder what happens if you create a Fusion Drive with two SSDs I am considering two 256gb SSDs as my upgrade internally, guess ill have to post a thread, if i can get them into a raid 0 stripe that would be awesome., as my main data drive is an external Drobo anyway,
A fudsion drive created with 2 SSDs (and no HD) is unnecessary overhead.

If you want a size increase use RAID 0. Just remember that if one of the drives fails, you lose all your data - keep backups (which you should do anyway).

My suggestion is if you don't have any of the SSD drives now is just get a 400 to 500GB SSD, unless you really need the speed of RAID 0.
 

mrmarts

macrumors 65816
Feb 6, 2009
1,051
1
Melbourne Australia
I wish that they update the graphics and the wi fi this year but thats asking too much. I also doubt i can hold off for retina iMac, as there is a slim chance we will see it this year or even next year. This is because it will pushing close to 4k standards.
 

toddzrx

macrumors 6502a
Nov 20, 2012
725
263
I wish that they update the graphics and the wi fi this year but thats asking too much. I also doubt i can hold off for retina iMac, as there is a slim chance we will see it this year or even next year. This is because it will pushing close to 4k standards.

I wouldn't hold your breath on a retina screen, especially for this year. If it does come out, I'd imagine it'll be an expensive BTO option. Maybe 2014, but my money's on 2015, by which time we'd probably see another redesign.

On the other hand, a refresh (my guess is October) will almost certainly see Hasweel processors, new GPUs, and hopefully 892.11ac.
 

Raima

macrumors 6502
Jan 21, 2010
400
11
The next refresh of the iMac is a cloud based computer. No need for SSD, Fusion drives or hard drives anymore!! Hooray!!!
 

rnb2

macrumors regular
Jan 23, 2006
222
11
West Haven, CT, USA
Given that iMacs have only just caught up with demand from late 2012, I'd be very surprised to see any change before the fall at the earliest. There may be new MacBook Pros at WWDC, but I wouldn't expect iMacs to get Haswell until later, given that Intel will need to supply as many chips as possible for laptop use, where they will make a much bigger difference.

Seriously, something better is always going to come out - buy a machine or don't, but don't decide based on fear that an update might come out sooner than you'd like. That's no way to live.
 

KaraH

macrumors 6502
Nov 12, 2012
452
5
DC
Having been wanting imac since...well before the came out.

Now I am getting serious about it. BUT I don't want to have the same feeling I had when I bought my ipad...6mths later a better ipad was out.

So,.....when is everyone thinking refresh will expose itself??

The iMac just had a major refresh. Which means all it will have is spec jumps for the next few years. There is no point in waiting as there will always be a faster one coming.
 
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