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2011 iMac speculation

O

Opspin

macrumors member
Original poster
Feb 25, 2011
33
0
imac.png


Apple will get rid of the chin below the iMac to match the size and (slightly thinner) look of the CinemaDisplay, which will also get an update to support ThunderBolt. The size will stay at 27".

The CinemaDisplay will get an update to give it an extra Thunderbolt port to daisychain more devices (which will also have two Thunderbolt ports for daisy-chaining) and you'll be able to use two extra cinema displays along with your iMac for a total of 3 displays. The CinemaDisplay will further get rid of the USB in their squid cable because this is supported through the Thunderbolt connection (at least when all the MacBooks have been updated to Thunderbolt).

Apple will work with intel to secure the first batch of their new 6 core Sandy Bridge i7 CPU's. Reserving the single and dual octocore i7 processors for the Mac Pro but still making the top iMac model compete with all but the fastest current gen Mac Pro's. Obviously the graphic card will also get an update to facilitate the optional extra display.

At least the high end iMac's will get a flash storage in addition to the normal 3.5" harddrive to hold the OS and programs/apps, the price should now have gone down enough to make it cheaper to just solder some flash storage onto the motherboard than an awkward 2.5" SSD installation in a cramped computer.

Most other improvements will be from Lion.
 
There won't be 6-core Sandy Bridge CPUs until Q4 2011 and those will likely be too hot for iMacs (130W).
 
That mock-up new iMac screen looks real nice. the rumours point to a bezel change so this Is certainly a possibility
 
ayzee said:
That mock-up new iMac screen looks real nice. the rumours point to a bezel change so this Is certainly a possibility
Click to expand...

Thanks, as someone already pointed out, it's a CinemaDisplay*3 but as the iMac will likely be the same, I just used that.

Hellhammer said:
There won't be 6-core Sandy Bridge CPUs until Q4 2011 and those will likely be too hot for iMacs (130W).
Click to expand...

That's what I found out on Wikipedia but I thought 130–80/<80 W meant some variations less than 80W making it feasible.

So Hellhammer, when are we going to see hexacore iMacs?
 
Opspin said:
That's what I found out on Wikipedia but I thought 130–80/<80 W meant some variations less than 80W making it feasible.

So Hellhammer, when are we going to see hexacore iMacs?
Click to expand...

Intel's current i7-9xx lineup consists of 130W CPUs. There are Xeons which have lower TDP but they also cost a lot more and are meant for DP systems. It is possible that there will be CPUs suitable for iMacs but I still would not expect Apple to use them because they will most likely be fairly expensive. Moreover, Ivy Bridge should be out quite soon after the release of high-end SBs and I would expect iMacs to get hexa core then.
 
Last edited:
Hellhammer said:
Intel's current i7-9xx lineup consists of 130W CPUs. There are Xeons which have lower TDP but they also cost a lot more and are meant for DP systems. It is possible that there will be CPUs suitable for iMacs but I still would not expect Apple to use them because they will most likely be fairly expensive. Moreover, Ivy Bridge should be out quite soon after the release of high-end SBs and I would expect iMacs to get quad core then.
Click to expand...

You definitely know your CPU's :)

DP systems? Double processor? like the Mac Pro?

Do you mean iMac's will get hexacores with Ivy Bridge? there's already a quad core iMac now of course.

So what is your prediction for the next iMac? What will come first? a double processor iMac or a hexacore?
 
Opspin said:
DP systems? Double processor? like the Mac Pro?
Click to expand...

Yeah, DP stands for dual processor.

Do you mean iMac's will get hexacores with Ivy Bridge? there's already a quad core iMac now of course.
Click to expand...

Yeah, my bad, it was a brainfart :eek: Ivy Birdge should bring hexacore to iMac.

So what is your prediction for the next iMac?
Click to expand...

Code: 
1199$ 21.5" iMac

Intel Core i3-2100 (3.1GHz)
AMD 65xxM with 256MB GDDR5
500GB HD
2x2GB RAM; option for 4x2GB

1499$ 21.5" iMac

Intel Core i3-2120 (3.3GHz); option for Core i5-2500S (2.7/3.7GHz)
AMD 67xxM with 512MB GDDR5
1TB HD; option for 2TB
2x2GB RAM: option for 4x2GB

1699$ 27" iMac

Intel Core i3-2120 (3.3GHz)
AMD 67xxM with 512MB GDDR5; option for AMD 6950M with 1024MB GDDR5
1TB HD; option for 2TB
2x2GB RAM; options for 4x2GB, 2x4GB and 4x4GB

1999$ 27" iMac

Intel Core i5-2500 (3.3/3.7GHz); option for Core i7-2600 (3.4/3.8GHz)
AMD 6950M with 1024MB GDDR5
1TB HD; option for 2TB
2x4GB RAM; option for 4x4GB

https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/11688279/

I should add Thunderbolt to that though.

What will come first? a double processor iMac or a hexacore?
Click to expand...

DP iMac, probably never as that is what Mac Pro is for and DP systems require a lot space. Hexacore should come in early 2012.
 
Apple will not get rid of the chin yet, because they can't. They already spent time reducing its size recently, and they clearly need it for components.

The next iMac refresh will be a spec bump similar to that of the Macbook Pro. Look at Hellhammer's specs, plus a Thunderbolt Port.

When Ivy Bridge hex-cores come though, then we might see something new. I will likely upgrade again until that point. I am dying to get an SSD into my iMac though...my Macbook Air and Pro's over the past few years have spoiled me. We shall see.
 
zedsdead said:
Apple will not get rid of the chin yet, because they can't. They already spent time reducing its size recently, and they clearly need it for components.

The next iMac refresh will be a spec bump similar to that of the Macbook Pro. Look at Hellhammer's specs, plus a Thunderbolt Port.
Click to expand...

But if the iMac refresh is only a spec bump, will it not lag somewhat behind the MacBook Pros? Or merely be about as fast?

And what to they need the chin for? I can't see what's down there that can't be moved a little, one would thing that Steve Jobs saw it as paramount to match the iMac up with the CinemaDisplays, someone mentioned the speakers taking up a lot of space, fair enough, but they don't look all that big to me in the teardown. I'd rather have an iMac half a centimeter thicker than have a chin.

What about the extra SSD drive? will it become a chip?
 
Opspin said:
But if the iMac refresh is only a spec bump, will it not lag somewhat behind the MacBook Pros? Or merely be about as fast?
Click to expand...

How come? Spec bump means it will get faster CPU, GPU etc. but no design or other major changes. Desktop CPUs and high-end mobility GPUs are much faster than what MBP has.

What about the extra SSD drive? will it become a chip?
Click to expand...

MBPs didn't take the mSATA approach so I would assume the SSD will remain as normal 2.5" in iMac.
 
How disappointing, I was hoping it was the cool future but instead it's just the lame old present :(
 
It's the thinnest, cleanest, and best looking all-in- one computer for a great price (27").

They can't get rid of the chin due to space issues (ex. ram slots, speakers). Besides, I like the chin, it gives the iMac definition, and it would look to much like the cinema display without it.

Only thing where gonna see changed is a thunderbolt port, a faster cpu, and a better gpu (all i really care about, anyway).

If they could make one design change to it though, I'd definitely take the black borders off and stretch the screen to the edge of the computer (would be problem for the isight though). It would look sexy with an edge to edge screen though.
 
I don't want apple taking away the chin of the iMacs. The chin is what makes them look good-- the cinema displays on the other hand, do not look that good.
 
You can't daisy chain two 24bit colour 27" ( 2560x1440@60hz ) over one thunderbolt port (10gbps) on the iMac. It would require two thunderbolt ports on the iMac. This makes two external 27" displays on the iMac impossible unless there is two ports.
 
For me .. no chin .. no buy

On next $1999 iMac i'd speculate:

1. Intel i7 Sandy Bridge 3.4Ghz
2. ATI Radeon HD 6970 1Gb DDR5
3. For the same price, 2TB HDD or 1TB HDD + 128 Gb SSD (maybe onboard)
4. 8Gb DDR RAM
5. Preinstalled OSX Lion + iLife 11
6. 2 Thunderbolt port, 1 FW800, 4 USB
7. Wireless keyboard now come with numeric pad + Magic Mouse
 
I'd like to see them trash the optical drive in favor of other components and/or some exterior design changes. I'm pretty certain this will happen in the next couple of years, but it could be sooner rather than later.
 
Hey guys, Just wondering.

If i buy myself the 1699$ 27" i3 iMac now and apple decides to update their iMacs very soon. Will be bee seeing SSD drives as standard, and what about the price. Will it stay at 1699$ for the same iMac Model with SSD`s?
 
If the refreshes are coming anytime soon, the 6970M should absolutely be an option. Anything less would be plain wrong...
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)

Wait or spend 200 more on a refurbished 27" i7quad 2.93. Youll be getting way more bang for your buck and a better graphics card for the huge display.... Or wait and get a new and even faster iMac for same $$.

Although, $1899.0 is a good price.

http://store.apple.com/us/product/G0JP0LL/A?mco=MjEwNTcxMTY
 
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