Rumors of June Launch for Updated iMacs Begin to Build

When Steve Jobs announced in 1997 that all new macs would come with Internet Explorer as the default browser, he said this;

'Since we believe in choice, we're going to be shipping other internet browsers as well on the Macintosh and users can change their default should they chose to.'

If theres anything I've learned in the 10+ years of owning a Macintosh computer, its this

a) Steve Jobs was a spin doctor
and more importantly
b) Apple never has, currently does not and probably never will believe in choice.

If Apple did believe in choice, users would have long ago had the option for a HEADLESS iMAC.

wikus said:

b) Apple never has, currently does not and probably never will believe in choice.

If Apple did believe in choice, users would have long ago had the option for a HEADLESS iMAC.

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Unfortunately, like ALL manufacturers, Apple believes in just one thing and you know what it is. If they haven't produced an headless iMac it's because they don't foresee enough market income for that.

sinser said:

Unfortunately, like ALL manufacturers, Apple believes in just one thing and you know what it is. If they haven't produced an headless iMac it's because they don't foresee enough market income for that.

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Thats what Apple wants you to believe.

Yeah, but it was Rise of the Planet of the Apes... Come to think of it, I thought that one of the larger apes looked familiar...

Flood123 said:

But it's like you're IN the movie.

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cocky jeremy said:

I'm REALLY hoping i don't have to wait until June to update. Hoping for early to mid May at latest.

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But that's only another two weeks!

I have a feeling Steve Jobs used to go surfing I never see any other sports on these ads.

kcamfork said:

I like my Macbook Pro. But I sold my 2011 iMac and built my own PC with the money I got from it. It is a lot more powerful, and upgradeable, as desktop computers should be. I feel like the iMac is a large notebook, and will continue that way. Before all the haters vote this down, think about this in regards to the iMac: The hard drive is not user replaceable, and besides the RAM, nothing is replaceable or upgradeable. So, here is my huge "no thanks" to Apple and the iMac.

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The iMac has a lot the Mac Pro does not have.

Better cost. (by a big margin)
Comes with screen. (And that screen is beautiful)
Easy as pie to set up.
Smaller physical footprint. (Nice for smaller desks)
Uses less power to run.
Easier to transport (less weight and smaller physical footprint.
For some tasks some of the high end iMacs are better then Mac Pros.
And more.

And also it does 99% of what most people want to do with them. A lot of small and mid sized businesses that use Mac are moving to the iMac. And I think it's all good.

Yes nothing is really replaceable in the iMac. But you shouldn't need to replace anything for 5-ish years. My personal iMac upgrade cycle is roughly 6 years. It's a little long in the tooth by then. So that's 2k (Australian) (I chose the 21.5 with the i7 upgrade) over 6 years or roughly $0.91 a day for ownership. (without power and the like.) 91¢ is pretty good.

For me the cheapest Mac Pro + Apple screen (and yes I would want the amazing Apple screen) is $4198 or $1.91 a day over the same 6 year period. And that's without any upgrades to the Mac Pro.

That's a big difference in cost for little to no noticeable speed improvement for what I want it to do. That's without the extra power (which is not free) the Mac Pro + Apple display uses.

I've only ever used all in one computers. And I'm so glad I did.

wikus said:

When Steve Jobs announced in 1997 that all new macs would come with Internet Explorer as the default browser, he said this;

'Since we believe in choice, we're going to be shipping other internet browsers as well on the Macintosh and users can change their default should they chose to.'

If theres anything I've learned in the 10+ years of owning a Macintosh computer, its this

a) Steve Jobs was a spin doctor
and more importantly
b) Apple never has, currently does not and probably never will believe in choice.

If Apple did believe in choice, users would have long ago had the option for a HEADLESS iMAC.

Click to expand...

The iMac doesn't come in green. That proves Apple doesn't want people to be able to choose their iMac to come in green. Damn Apple!

Apple always has, does now, and probably always will believe in limited choice.

If you want your iMac painted green, you'll have to do it yourself, because it's not one of the choices Apple currently offers. You'll have to face it. Apple simply doesn't want to sell you a green-painted iMac.

I am waiting for a 13" model that has everything it needs to be my main/only Mac. Screen must be retina like, ca. 1Tera ssd, no odd. Processor Speed/ram is a minor issue for me. But Would be great if graphics are good enough to play some games from time to time.

Apple is not yet there, but I hope soon... So long I am happy with my Mbp 13" mid 2009.

wikus said:

If Apple did believe in choice, users would have long ago had the option for a HEADLESS iMAC.

Click to expand...

I disagree with you. Apple want us to have the best. And the best is the iMac as it is. What's the point of a iMac without the screen? The screen is amazing.

If you want a headless iMac go buy a Mac Mini and Apple display. $699 (base model) + $1199 for the screen = $1898 (Australian). And for $30 more you can get a 21.5 i7 iMac. And for $50 more you can get a 27 i5 iMac.

But you say the mini is not the guts of an iMac. You're right. Imagine paying even more for an iMac powered mini. Like 1k+ for it. That's even worse and more expensive.

My point is a headless iMac is rather pointless. It'd not sell. A headless iMac is a choice. A bad choice. And I'm glad Apple don't give us bad choices to purchase like other manufactures do.

Lastly. It's iMac. Not iMAC as you said.

wikus said:

When Steve Jobs announced in 1997 that all new macs would come with Internet Explorer as the default browser, he said this;

'Since we believe in choice, we're going to be shipping other internet browsers as well on the Macintosh and users can change their default should they chose to.'

If theres anything I've learned in the 10+ years of owning a Macintosh computer, its this

a) Steve Jobs was a spin doctor
and more importantly
b) Apple never has, currently does not and probably never will believe in choice.

If Apple did believe in choice, users would have long ago had the option for a HEADLESS iMAC.

Click to expand...

You make it sound as though Steve was pointing a gun at your head and forcing you to use a mac or burn in hell.

People have always had a choice all along. They could have chosen to get a mac (and all the rammifications that come with owning one), or go with a windows PC (and then you won't have any of the aforementioned gripes, like inability to upgrade your system, cannot pair your own monitor etc).

They made that choice when they purchased their first mac. So they have little right to complain. People knew what they were getting into when they got into the mac ecosystem.

iMac

Just bought an iMac and thinking about selling it (even though I have a small crack in it from bringing it home). I just don't like it, I find it a bit buggy, bulky and I simply prefer my macbook pro.

I'm curious what the new iMac will be, I'm assuming we can say goodbye to the CD Drive which is a deal breaker for me and hopefully a thinner and lighter unit.

cocky jeremy said:

It's 2012, we don't need ODD anymore. They take up too much room and no one needs them. You can easily get a flash drive that has far more storage. The room the ODD takes up could be used in far better ways. Another fan to keep the iMac cooler, more USB ports, etc.

Everyone seems to be wanting a redesign. It'd be cool, but honestly, i'd rather have a 30" replace the current 27" model instead.

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half the companies i go to, and im not talking about some little building in the woods would be screwed without an optical drive on their daily business. its a desktop after all ... how much smaller do u want a desktop to be it already has no "tower" and thats still rare as it is

malexandria said:

Just bought an iMac and thinking about selling it (even though I have a small crack in it from bringing it home). I just don't like it, I find it a bit buggy, bulky and I simply prefer my macbook pro.

I'm curious what the new iMac will be, I'm assuming we can say goodbye to the CD Drive which is a deal breaker for me and hopefully a thinner and lighter unit.

Click to expand...

it took u an actual purchase to figure out that a laptop is more handy than a desktop? ^^ some people ...

the8thark said:

I disagree with you. Apple want us to have the best. And the best is the iMac as it is. What's the point of a iMac without the screen? The screen is amazing.

If you want a headless iMac go buy a Mac Mini and Apple display. $699 (base model) + $1199 for the screen = $1898 (Australian). And for $30 more you can get a 21.5 i7 iMac. And for $50 more you can get a 27 i5 iMac.

But you say the mini is not the guts of an iMac. You're right. Imagine paying even more for an iMac powered mini. Like 1k+ for it. That's even worse and more expensive.

My point is a headless iMac is rather pointless. It'd not sell. A headless iMac is a choice. A bad choice. And I'm glad Apple don't give us bad choices to purchase like other manufactures do.

Lastly. It's iMac. Not iMAC as you said.

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Really? On what base that you're saying iMac is the best desktop solution? An expandable tower like MacPro don't sell well because Apple didn't update it for a looooongg time now, price does not decreased for 2 years old hardware, and today it's the only Mac that has no Thunderbolt.

With that pathetic condition, of course MacPro wouldn't sell well anymore. Doesn't mean the whole world doesn't need it, but the cost is just not justifiable anymore, and Apple could've done something about it easily with that kind of resource, but they don't!

Please do tell, imagine if Apple did sell MacPro with i7, put down the idea of Xeon GPU, it has desktop GPU and the same ECC RAM starts from $2000 and comes with 27" Apple Cinema Display (which looks just as gorgeous as 27" iMac display), on the other hand Apple also sell iMac as it is today, with the top end standard 27" also cost $2000. Would you still pick the iMac? I know I wouldn't. And I bet most people with common sense wouldn't.

And if that happens, I dare you to make a bet, which desktop would sells better that way, the imaginative headless iMac, or the ironically almost non-upgradeable iMac desktop as it is? Both can be had and crossed at $2000 price point.

I don't understand with your way of thinking, just because Apple made it that way then it must be the best way for the whole world and there is no other way? A sheeple on its finest quality.

Instead of imagining Mac Mini + Apple Display which definitely underpowered, why not imagining an affordable and expandable Mac tower. It's an imagination after all, doesn't it

bushido said:

half the companies i go to, and im not talking about some little building in the woods would be screwed without an optical drive on their daily business. its a desktop after all ... how much smaller do u want a desktop to be it already has no "tower" and thats still rare as it is




it took u an actual purchase to figure out that a laptop is more handy than a desktop? ^^ some people ...

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You and half of the companies you go to need to get dropbox. It's 2012. Also, you can buy an external superdrive.

brueck said:

You and half of the companies you go to need to get dropbox. It's 2012. Also, you can buy an external superdrive.

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yep it totally makes sense to use dropbox for a marketing project for your customers. its bad enough that u cant officially burn your big projects on a BluRay as a simple give away as it is.

also as long as the prices of SSD dont drop significant, it makes no sense to replace your HDD for as little of a mm u save in desktop size

It makes more sense for Apple to release the new iMacs in August. WWDC in June, Mountain Lion in July, then the new iMac lineup (as always.)

As for a new design,

• It would make sense they use a thinner body seeing how thin the iPad is.
• Retina display is a possibility obviously, we've seen 2x OS X graphics.
• For a new generation of iMacs, like a redesign would represent, optical disc drives just don't make any sense. So ODD-free design.

Now for the visionary stuff:

• Wi-tricity powered keyboard and mouse/trackpad
• Anti-reflective display
• Facial recognition login

There goes my bet!

the8thark said:

The iMac has a lot the Mac Pro does not have.

Better cost. (by a big margin)
Comes with screen. (And that screen is beautiful)
Easy as pie to set up.
Smaller physical footprint. (Nice for smaller desks)
Uses less power to run.
Easier to transport (less weight and smaller physical footprint.
For some tasks some of the high end iMacs are better then Mac Pros.
And more.

And also it does 99% of what most people want to do with them. A lot of small and mid sized businesses that use Mac are moving to the iMac. And I think it's all good.

Yes nothing is really replaceable in the iMac. But you shouldn't need to replace anything for 5-ish years. My personal iMac upgrade cycle is roughly 6 years. It's a little long in the tooth by then. So that's 2k (Australian) (I chose the 21.5 with the i7 upgrade) over 6 years or roughly $0.91 a day for ownership. (without power and the like.) 91¢ is pretty good.

For me the cheapest Mac Pro + Apple screen (and yes I would want the amazing Apple screen) is $4198 or $1.91 a day over the same 6 year period. And that's without any upgrades to the Mac Pro.

That's a big difference in cost for little to no noticeable speed improvement for what I want it to do. That's without the extra power (which is not free) the Mac Pro + Apple display uses.

I've only ever used all in one computers. And I'm so glad I did.

Click to expand...

I bought 4 iMacs right after the Intel switch- 2 of them failed in the first year, the third a year after.

Currently I'm using the the last surviving iMac at home, built from components of all four machines (I had a fried logic board, vertical line displays, not workin ODDs and so on). Now that the 4th iMac is dying it's long vertical lines display death (currently 16 lines of pleasure running down the display) mI can promise you:

I will never buy an AIO again. I could still use two other computers, if I hooked them up to an external display. I'm on the verge of buying a mini instead, but also think about a Alienware X51, as it offers BluRay

How about a Mac Pro refresh?

I've been holding off for a year on an upgrade. I figured a year ago that it was about time for a hardware refresh, so held off buying a new Mac Pro tower. Yet after all this time, there still isn't a refresh in sight.

I'm tempted to build a Hackintosh and be done with it.

kcamfork said:

I like my Macbook Pro. But I sold my 2011 iMac and built my own PC with the money I got from it. It is a lot more powerful, and upgradeable, as desktop computers should be. I feel like the iMac is a large notebook, and will continue that way. Before all the haters vote this down, think about this in regards to the iMac: The hard drive is not user replaceable, and besides the RAM, nothing is replaceable or upgradeable. So, here is my huge "no thanks" to Apple and the iMac.

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I agree mate. The iMac is too limited in terms of expansion and I'm not a fan of glossy screens. I have a mini, but only because the Pro is too expensive. I need something between the two models that allows me to choose my own monitor and expand as I need to.

Apple you are missing a trick here. Expand your desktop range to include a mid-level desktop as not everyone wants an all-in-one, and the entry point to the Pro is too high. I wouldn't want to see the end of the Pro as I can see that for some there is no substitute to having a proper workstation, but it's overkill for home users.

the8thark said:

Yes nothing is really replaceable in the iMac. But you shouldn't need to replace anything for 5-ish years. My personal iMac upgrade cycle is roughly 6 years. It's a little long in the tooth by then. So that's 2k (Australian) (I chose the 21.5 with the i7 upgrade) over 6 years or roughly $0.91 a day for ownership. (without power and the like.) 91¢ is pretty good.

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If your upgrade cycle is 6-years you are not even close to being the type of user that needs a high-end workstation so of course an iMac is fine. If your efficiency isn't based on the performance of your hardware that's great for you, costs you less to do your job I guess. For many however it is important and the cost of a Mac Pro can be negligible compared to many other costs associated with employing or being someone who makes use of high-end computing power. It's just a tool. You wouldn't tell a contractor he had to use a hammer and nails to frame a house because a hammer is cheaper to operate than a nail-gun would you?

shaunp said:

I agree mate. The iMac is too limited in terms of expansion and I'm not a fan of glossy screens. I have a mini, but only because the Pro is too expensive. I need something between the two models that allows me to choose my own monitor and expand as I need to.

Apple you are missing a trick here. Expand your desktop range to include a mid-level desktop as not everyone wants an all-in-one, and the entry point to the Pro is too high. I wouldn't want to see the end of the Pro as I can see that for some there is no substitute to having a proper workstation, but it's overkill for home users.

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The Mac Pro is overkill for many users. It would be nice if they could engineer some of the expense out of the Mac Pro chassis so that it would be cost effective to put in an i7 processor and other reasonably price components.

strausd said:

That is the limitation of the all-in-one design, not just the iMac. Apple is not the only one who makes all-in-one desktops. So that argument could really be applied to an HP or Dell all-in-one. All-in-one's are not supposed to be easily upgradable, towers are. So you are comparing two very unlike terms. Considering multiple companies make all-in-one desktops, I do not know why you felt like singling out Apple.

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Not entirely true. The Dell and HP all in ones have access panels to easily replace the hard drive, disc drive and RAM. With the iMac the only thing easily accessible that won't scare most people away is the RAM. That being said do the Dell or HP look as good as the iMac? No IMO, but what they did with the pin connector on the iMac and the proprietary firmware on the hard drive sort of sucks.

And still no mention of a Mac pro......

Lynn Belvedere said:

It won't be matte, just anti-reflective glass.

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As long as there is no glare, good enough for me!


But Apple really needs to release a full size wireless keyboard. The 3rd party ones are buggy or ugly.