This is pretty simple folks, as the 2012 iMac's availability is hinging on two things...
Additionally, don't expect the iMac to ship with AMD Radeon HD Mobility 6XXX GPUs. Now, I love the 6970M in my 27" iMac, but the reality is Class 2 GPUs ilke the 7650M, 7670M and 7690M have been available for some time. Those are the GPUs you'll see in the 21.5" and the low-end 27" SKUs. The Class 1 7970M however is not yet available. Granted, Dell's Alienware division has announced that their pending Alienware M17x R4 laptop will offer the 7970M as an option (as well as the nVidia GTX 660M and 675M), however there's no availability date as of yet. Once Dell offers a date as to when that ships, expect the iMac to be lined up with it, since that's the blocker on the high-end 27" iMac SKUs.
The only other major change we'll see is Bluetooth 4.0. I'm not yet confident in commenting on new SKUs for the Magic Mouse, Magic Trackpad and Wireless Keyboard.
That's it. Once we have dates on those, we can expect iMacs to become available. I'll tentatively peg availability of the 2012 iMac at May 8th, 2012.
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For the record, I expect the top-tier SKU, with BTO options, to offer the Core i7 3770 and an AMD HD Radeon 7970M. The TDPs of the 3820, 3930K and 3960X are too high (130W vs 77W), and Apple will not offer the 3770K as it has an attached premium for having an unlocked clock multiplier.
- Volume availability of Intel's Ivy Bridge processors.
- Availability of a Class 1 7000-series GPU from AMD.
Additionally, don't expect the iMac to ship with AMD Radeon HD Mobility 6XXX GPUs. Now, I love the 6970M in my 27" iMac, but the reality is Class 2 GPUs ilke the 7650M, 7670M and 7690M have been available for some time. Those are the GPUs you'll see in the 21.5" and the low-end 27" SKUs. The Class 1 7970M however is not yet available. Granted, Dell's Alienware division has announced that their pending Alienware M17x R4 laptop will offer the 7970M as an option (as well as the nVidia GTX 660M and 675M), however there's no availability date as of yet. Once Dell offers a date as to when that ships, expect the iMac to be lined up with it, since that's the blocker on the high-end 27" iMac SKUs.
The only other major change we'll see is Bluetooth 4.0. I'm not yet confident in commenting on new SKUs for the Magic Mouse, Magic Trackpad and Wireless Keyboard.
That's it. Once we have dates on those, we can expect iMacs to become available. I'll tentatively peg availability of the 2012 iMac at May 8th, 2012.
-----
For the record, I expect the top-tier SKU, with BTO options, to offer the Core i7 3770 and an AMD HD Radeon 7970M. The TDPs of the 3820, 3930K and 3960X are too high (130W vs 77W), and Apple will not offer the 3770K as it has an attached premium for having an unlocked clock multiplier.
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