Apple Announces Lighter, Thinner iMac Models with Fusion Drive

[monokakata]

I looked at the specs link, which confirmed what I thought I was seeing in the cutaway (21.5"):

a 2.5" drive -- and 5400 RPM at that.

Now the laptopification of the iMac is complete.

[GiantOak]

Originally Posted by Thunderbird

Epic fail.

It's not a new design, it's just thinner. There's no optical drive, which kills it for me. When I use Windows on Bootcamp it means having to have an external optical drive on my desk to load certain programs or play DVD or BD movies in my collection, thus defeating the purpose of having an all-in-one machine. Another external device to add to my modem, external HDD, speakers, etc.

No optical drive

No new stand design

No retina display

No upgradability

No touch screen

No exterior design change (e.g. same chin)

No difference in available sizes

This is essentially little more than a spec bump with a thinner screen. I don't need a thinner screen. The only possible appealing feature is the 75% less reflective AG coating.

FAIL.

Completely agree, no increase in processor speed and minus optical drive. But its thinner, great, how much time to spend looking at your mac from the side anyway?

[JesseW6889]

Originally Posted by Sacird

Guarantee that RAM is soldered as well. Price increase and the thin BS I could care less about. i5 at those prices still? Pass. I'll build one myself Apple, and use your OS if I want.

Yeah! That'll show em!

But seriously... desktops are in a whole other league from laptops... I agree. I don't think they're trying to make the argument that this thing has a good price/performance ratio though.

[Asclepio]

anyway it's not that thinner!

[Mr-Stabby]

I hope it's not so light that students who i will have to buy these for will be able to thrash it around easily. That's more important than you'd think!

[portishead]

Originally Posted by Thunderbird

Epic fail.

No optical drive

No new stand design

No retina display

No upgradability

No touch screen

No exterior design change (e.g. same chin)

No difference in available sizes

FAIL.

Ugh... really...

You can get a separate optical drive. You're complaining because the stand is the same? really!?? Saying fail and epic fail just makes you sound like a 12 year old.

[AndrewClarke]

Originally Posted by mrgreen4242

Bets on how long until someone clever unlocks the Fusion drive software in Mountain Lion so anyone with a SSD and a HDD can do the same thing?

Yeah, no kidding. I'd use that in my 15" MacBook Pro with SSD and HD, my wife's 13" with the same configuration, and my Mac Pro with SSD and HDDs. I've long wished for something like Fusion Drive that meant I didn't have to shuffle applications and data around on drives manually. It just seems so old-fashioned.

[rhinobean]

Originally Posted by Thunderbird

Epic fail.

Thats.. uh like your opinion man...


(And this is a forum so thats ok) But I personally am really excited to buy my new iMac!

[AirThis]

I5.

Did I read that properly?

[Navdakilla]

Originally Posted by drummingcraig

Nope. USB Superdrive is the only optical option.

Not sure if I like this one.
I do like the redesign. However I use my optical drive on my desktop ALOT (just last night to install Solidworks). Not keen on getting a super drive.

Obviously i'll eventually adapt (have the air and never really needed a drive), but still not to happy about that

[pMad]

Originally Posted by topgunn

How often do you use the optical drive?

Every time I rip a DVD.
Which, with two kids, is pretty freaking often.

[NunoBerny]

Originally Posted by Thunderbird

This is essentially little more than a spec bump with a thinner screen. I don't need a thinner screen. The only possible appealing feature is the 75% less reflective AG coating.

FAIL.

Let me correct you. It's not just a spec bump. It's a price bump as well.
Not happy about that.

[deconstruct60]

Originally Posted by parish

The RAM doesn't appear to be user-upgradable - the DIMMs are not at the bottom of the case, or so it looked in the cutaway graphic, and there is access panel in the back

Not.

" ... Or add more memory to the 27-inch model yourself by popping open the easy-to-access memory panel on the back. ... "
http://www.apple.com/imac/performance/

You may have to remove the stand to get to this door so "easy-to-access" may be a stretch.

However, all the hand waving about soldered RAM is a gigantic bucket of hooey that never did make any sense at all.

P.S. The 21.5" is probably a huge pain to get to but about "user upgradable" as the HDD and/or SSD are. Not impossible but a huge deterrent in place.

[swagi]

--- and as he realized that the all new iMac is just a pumped up notebook with a glued on stand again, he decided to go back to a 'beige tower' ---

I could live without an optical - but this thin fetish killing off performance for the sake of thermal constraints - sorry.

I arguably don't need much that much power on a system, but thinking about future proofing these machines will be dead and gone in 3 years the latest.

Too bad...

[noahc]

Store is back up.

Can't order yet. Damn.

[mrwheet]

Originally Posted by macleod199

It's still a cache. A bigger one, perhaps, but it's exactly the same concept. Especially given that it's determining what to load into automatically - we'll see how well that works!

Well, at least on the Seagate Momentus XT hybrid, they're also "determining what to load automatically" - that's pretty much how the spec works, afaik. You use the drive for a while and frequently accessed data gets moved into the flash memory component. Except in this case Apple wrote the system (and has direct access to system/user files), so they can probably manage more flexibility than a typical hybrid drive... Dunno, though... maybe that's not accurate in Apple's case...

What I find funny is that people were so outraged a few months ago when this feature **didn't** make its way into the Macbook Pro. And now they're nonplussed to see it appear in the iMac? It really is impossible to please everybody, I think.

[deconstruct60]

Originally Posted by Sacird

Guarantee that RAM is soldered as well..

Wrong. ( look at post 63 above or actually go read about the internals on Apple's web pages. )

[alakazzam]

Really not all that impressed with it. Sure it's thinner and lighter, but I really don't pick my iMac up all that often.

I was hoping for a bit more in an iMac upgrade - wonder what's on deck for the next iteration.

[NunoBerny]

Originally Posted by topgunn

How often do you use the optical drive?

I don't use it much, but certainly use it more often that I think "oh, this iMac really needs to be thinner and more expensive".

[Eidorian]

Originally Posted by monokakata

I looked at the specs link, which confirmed what I thought I was seeing in the cutaway (21.5"):

a 2.5" drive -- and 5400 RPM at that.

Now the laptopification of the iMac is complete.

Jaja oh wow. 5400 RPM? Really? You are going to save some watts and heat but the value menu savings is not worth it.

[RemarkabLee]

Originally Posted by vandeetz

just because you don't use the optical drive doesn't mean others don't. I know a number of people that use them for dvd authoring also getting digital copies of films and ripping music/movies of the disc.

I think the big deal is, why remove something in a desktop unit that doesn't need to be light and thin? consumers and professionals that have a ned for the drive are left in the cold now, especially with mac pro's being prohibitively expensive

Plug in a cheap USB enclosure and a BR/DVD/CD burner of your choice. Sure, you lose some desk space, but you're guaranteed to have a faster and better quality burn. The included drives in iMacs were the weakest link anyway.

Apple have always been the first to ditch legacy standards an I'm afraid optical drives are just that. Many people are still use them, granted - but they are on the decline.

[dashiel]

Originally Posted by vandeetz

I was really thinking of getting this, but I think I'm going to have to pass.

thin and light is great when using a laptop or a tablet, I don't see the advantage in a desktop unit. I'm not concerned with these in a non portable and would prefer to have an optical drive. I'm not willing to spend more money and have increased desk clutter to have an external dvd drive.

I'm just not willing to pay these prices for less functionality and I can't imagine anyone that wants an optical drive would buy one of these machines. Unfortunately the Mac Pro's have become strictly pro machines ($$$) and those that would take a tower are left out in the cold here.

beyond that I hate that with every new machine I have less and less user serviceable parts. I want to be able to do minor upgrades. I'm not going to buy a new computer every couple years and being able to upgrade parts is huge in extending the life of you computer.

just my 2¢

The same was said when Apple ditched the floppy. Someone has to move the industry forward, you really think it’s going to be Dell or Acer to ween people off archaic technology?

Beyond that, unlike 1998 when Apple made the decision somewhat blind, they now have an unprecedented database of what their customers do with their computers. They undoubtedly saw optical usage decline, introduced a spearhead (The MacBook Air) measured its adoption rate and projected out when it would be safe to introduce other machines without optical drives. For the N<50% that need optical it’s available, but for the majority of customers they get a more reliable, faster, thinner, cooler (temperature) machine with dollars reserved for optical drives now funneled elsewhere.

[mozumder]

Having it in the display section is just awkward and makes it fat.

Also, the cables don't have to dangle from the display if it could only hook up to the base.

I guess they know all this already and will update it for the next redesign in a few years.

[Sacird]

Originally Posted by deconstruct60

Wrong. ( look at post 63 above or actually go read about the internals on Apple's web pages. )

Half right, 21 inch is and 27 inch you can replace. For now.... till it gets thinner...again..

[noahc]

Surprised there is no i7 in this.