Retail Sources Confirm iMac Refresh

[MacRumors]

Following early rumors that the iMac would finally see revisions next week, we've heard from multiple retail sources that new iMac part numbers have indeed appeared in their systems.

As GeekSugar predicted, the prices for U.S. systems appear to be identical to existing iMac configurations ($1199, $1499, $1799). Delivery of inventory appears to be targeted on Monday or Tuesday of next week. No stores have seen any evidence of Mac mini product revisions, however, so it appears the iMac is the only system to be updated.

The iMac was last updated in August 2007. Rumors leading up to this revision have been relatively sparse, with the obvious upgrade being the use of the recently introduced Penryn Intel CPUs. We previously examined the real-world advantages of these new processors:

As we await the Penryn revisions for the iMac, readers should be aware that Penryn's reduced power consumption will not be particularly beneficial to desktop computers. Unless Apple adds other compelling features to the next iMac revision, readers may want to pause a moment before reflexively ordering the newest Mac.

With that in mind, Apple may upgrade other iMac components, such as the video card, RAM and hard drive.

Article Link

[rrijkers]

Great news!

However adding a Mini (with dedicated gfx) would be better news even!

[gibbz]

Hopefully they do indeed upgrade more than the processor. However, it is always exciting when the latest and greatest is released.

[swagi]

I can't believe they let the mini day that slow, painful death.

[Hugh]

I have to agree that the Mac Mini should come out the same time. It's about time it gets a refresh as well. I would be happy with the X3100 gfx. I am looking to buy a new Mac Mini, but holding out to see if this gets updated. :/

Hugh

Originally Posted by rrijkers

Great news!

However adding a Mini (with dedicated gfx) would be better news even!

[nbs2]

Just in time for the IRS checks. I don't need anything major, just enough to justify the purchase.

[Stridder44]

Originally Posted by swagi

I can't believe they let the mini day that slow, painful death.

day = play? But yeah, it's only dying a slow, painful death because Apple is failing to make it competitive (at it's price point anyway). It is in need of a refresh (both internally and externally). I wouldn't keep my hopes up for it.

[DMann]

Originally Posted by gibbz

Hopefully they do indeed upgrade more than the processor. However, it is always exciting when the latest and greatest is released.

The iMac 24" is an awesome machine. A new Penryn 3 Ghz model with a faster frontside bus, and an updated ATI Radeon graphics HD PRO card would make for an enticing upgrade.

[Sun Baked]

Lets see if the GPUs get bumped to the ATI Mobility 34x0/3650 this time round.

[Eric Lewis]

my local mac shop has been sold out of Imacs for about 2 weeks now

some coming in 5 days occording to computer

[NC MacGuy]

Come on Apple - gotta' do the Mini's too!!

[Santa Rosa]

Would quite fancy an iMac for the house. Would like to see NVidia in it, not really sure why but would like to see that... Also 2GB RAM as standard across the board.

[shakhashiro]

i would like to see the new imac with more than a 250 vga card and a nvidia one and maybe more space

[NMBob]

When are eSATA ports going to start showing up on stuff? I've already got a couple of external drives that could make use of them.

[willcodejavafor]

Originally Posted by Sun Baked

Lets see if the GPUs get bumped to the ATI Mobility 34x0/3650 this time round.

Just read on appleinsider that it will most likely be HD and CPU that gets a minor upgrade.

[Masquerade]

I don't believe it. They drop the iPhone price cause they want to sell more.
Mac setups are with equal prices since...1999. So, if they want to sell macs too, why no to drop that prices... im paying for plastics?

[Karvel]

Originally Posted by willcodejavafor

Just read on appleinsider that it will most likely be HD and CPU that gets a minor upgrade.

They can't keep the video-card the same, surely?

[gregorsamsa]

Originally Posted by rrijkers

Great news!

However adding a Mini (with dedicated gfx) would be better news even!

Agreed! However, if no matte screen option on the iMac, I'll be buying an updated Mini on release regardless.

Still, what I'd like to see: new video cards for all iMacs. Keep low-end Mini with integrated graphics as cheap entry-level Mac for undemanding switchers & pop in a basic dedicated video card in the higher-end Mini. I'd even jump at a Mini with a 2400! - All very unlikely, but we can but hope.

[viperguy]

Maybe they're still working on how to make the Mac Mini even thinner and that's what's taking their time to release it
Come on Apple!
(on a related note, do you guys think that if the Mac Mini really dies, apple won't replace it with something else? If so they would only have 2 computer choices.. is that.. smart?)

[Darkroom]

transfered from the other iMac thread:

Originally Posted by Synthetic

I'm not sure if this has been mentioned yet but I have insider info that's going to blow you guys away. I can't openly say it so I'll leave you with this... C****s! I'm 90% sure I'm right on this!

any thoughts what this guy is talking about?

[QCassidy352]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU like Mac OS X; en) AppleWebKit/420.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.0 Mobile/4A102 Safari/419.3)

Originally Posted by Karvel

They can't keep the video-card the same, surely?

the iMac kept the same card (radeon x1600) through its first two revisions. The mbp has used the same card in rev A and B, and the same card in rev C and D. So apple is clearly willing to do updates without graphics updates, especially in the intel era (rarely happened with ppc).

An iMac will be my next computer, butif this is only penryns, 2GB ram and bigger HDs, I may want to wait for one more revision. In a desktop, penryn means very little, and I'd upgrade the ram anyway.

[lewisg1212]

hmm im guess proberbly 2.4 Ghz as a base....cant have the macbooks faster than the imacs!!!

and theyd better put 2gb of RAM in them....1gb just doesnt cut it for a £800 computer...i can get 4GB for that price in a PC.

[oldwatery]

Come on Apple.
Where is the Mini?
I just cannot believe they are showing such indifference to a big section of the market that seems to want this kind of machine.
This is Apple with their lame face on.
Sometimes they really have me scratching my head

[Tallest Skil]

Originally Posted by lewisg1212

...1gb just doesnt cut it for a £800 computer...i can get 4GB for that price in a PC.

Two things: (1) Yes, because you need it to run Vista, and (2) three letters: OS X.

[Tsurisuto]

I REALLY want a new iMac to replace my current iMac G5, but ONLY if Apple offer a better graphics card.

I'm split down the middle. On one hand I want to wait for a Montevina iMac, but on the other hand, would Montevina make much of a difference in day to day use?