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2012 iMac - next big date?
- Thread starter AlphaMF
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"Never say never", however unless there is a significant improvement in CPU performance over my i7-2600, I don't really see the need to move. I don't play video games on my iMac, so I don't need a more powerful GPU than the 6970M and with 16GB of RAM and the Apple SSD are enough for what I am currently doing (I use FW800 external storage for my media library).
Honestly, if the Haswell MBA 13" is fast enough, I may just sell the iMac and not replace it (I can use my 27" ATD with the MBA).
Apple's flagship computer is the Retina Macbook Pro. Apple spent about billion dollars advertising it on TV. That was not to sell it, but to promote Apple as a high tech manufacturer and make people feel good about buying iPads and iPhones at egregious prices. I mean look at last night on the QVC television shopping channel. iPads for $1069.00.
Total insanity.
The only way it makes any sense for Apple at this point to think about an iMac is if they redesign it ultra sleek with a 4K Retina display such that they can use it as another marketing tool making Apple look like they are tops in technological expertise.
Maybe they can sell an iPad on QVC for $1,500.00? An iPad Mini for $900?
There is no condition that could cause me to buy a 2011 iMac.
But Nov 2 is a Friday, don't expect anything that day. I think the "drop dead" date is the Tuesday before holiday season (so, Nov 11). Apple won't release new products in peak holiday buying season, so if for some strange reason you don't see it by then, it's not coming this year.
I still have every reason to believe it will be out in October.
You guys make it sound like there's one engineer at Apple and he can only do one thing at a time.
I guarantee you there is an iMac group at Apple and they are probably the same size they've always been.
If Apple doesn't rev the iMac in 2012 it's probably because they did a cost/benefit analysis and worked out that a spec bump to Ivy Bridge would be pretty pointless--after all, it's a very small performance increase and a very small power consumption decrease (basically irrelevant for a desktop computer). USB3 is a nice-to-have but not mission critical to the vast majority of people.
So why redesign the motherboard and retool the factories for what amounts to a trivial-to-meaningless spec bump?
Although to listen to posters on this thread, Ivy Bridge is 18 times faster than Sandy Bridge and criminal charges should be brought against Apple for not putting it in iMacs months ago.
Now your confusing things. It's the GPUs that are 18 times faster.
(Well, not quite. But close enough to warrant criminal charges.)
Following this logic one would wonder why they did update to unibody classic Macbook Pro's. They were Sandy B as well, bumped to Ivy, added USB3. One would thing that people buying entry level 13" MBP would not be mission critical to vast majority of people. Yet it did happen, not so long ago.
I know laptops oversell desktops, but still... they could leave them as they were and rake in more cash.
You're probably right about the iMac team and I'm sure they'll very aware of the lack of update, they have good reason why they didn't put it out.
Yes good point, they updated the non-retina macbook pro to ivy bridge and usb 3 so probably will do the same to the imac aswell.
Just to antagonize the rumor mill some more...
New theory going around is
intends to dump Intel. Given the iPhone 5's nifty new "holy crap that's a lot more sophisticated under the hood than we expected" CPU, might the iMac delay be due to a seismic shift in processor design? Not just an upgrade to Ivy Bridge, but a sidegrade to instruction-compatible ARM?
New theory going around is
intends to dump Intel. Given the iPhone 5's nifty new "holy crap that's a lot more sophisticated under the hood than we expected" CPU, might the iMac delay be due to a seismic shift in processor design? Not just an upgrade to Ivy Bridge, but a sidegrade to instruction-compatible ARM?Just to antagonize the rumor mill some more...
New theory going around is
No.
Just to antagonize the rumor mill some more...
New theory going around is
Impossible. The A6 might be more of an effort than people thought, and might perform well relative to other smartphones, but Intel desktop chips are still *many* times faster.
Why?Because they,i think,want the laptops to be the only Macs avaiable while axing the desktops.
The real question is ,why are they delaying the 13"Macbook Pro Retina too?
The real question is ,why are they delaying the 13"Macbook Pro Retina too?
Pondering...
I read a few pages of this thread, and can guess what the answer will be to this question, but...
If I am considering purchasing an iMac, should I play it safe and wait until after the speculated drop date? (late October, early November). I can still declare the computer on my taxes for this year at that point... And I guess I could pick up a used iMac at that point for a better price, considering how people will probably want to upgrade...
I already made this mistake once with buying my (still functioning) 2007 MBP right before the new models came out. Man, that was sad.
I read a few pages of this thread, and can guess what the answer will be to this question, but...
If I am considering purchasing an iMac, should I play it safe and wait until after the speculated drop date? (late October, early November). I can still declare the computer on my taxes for this year at that point... And I guess I could pick up a used iMac at that point for a better price, considering how people will probably want to upgrade...
I already made this mistake once with buying my (still functioning) 2007 MBP right before the new models came out. Man, that was sad.
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Ivy Bridge uses a few watts less power so it's a pretty big win for laptops.
I don't think many people would care if their iMac idles at 80W instead of 85W though.
Just to antagonize the rumor mill some more...
New theory going around is
Few years away. Still very wowed by the fact that iP5 got the same benchmark score as Powermac G5.
It would make sense for Apple to manufacture some of the components in house but I think its much easier for them to design and brand products.
Yes and no, I agree it's looking more likely we'll get a redesign the longer we have to wait. At this point it's the only thing that makes sense. It will help attract customers in store as for many the first thing they see it the iMac which normally dominated any Apple display area. But the 4k might be only on the top model. I don't see that being affordable on the base iMac for around $1200US.
I still think IF we get a new design and Retina we might have 3 models. Small, Large then Retina screen at the top. The other option would be 2 different screen sizes with Retina as an option on both.
I'm hoping we get some new next month but if they launch a iPad Mini will that take the lime light, also what are the chances that if the launch a iPad Mini will they also launch a new 'full size' iPad updated with the latest 4G and A6 chips?
ETA - I very much doubt Apple will go away from Intel for it's computers, its only thing to have the A6 in a smart phone or tablet but it would just not work in a full blown computer... says they still running a PPC
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There isn't going to be a 13" MacBook Pro Retina anytime soon. Same thing goes for the 7" iPad. The 13" Retina will happen either the next cpu - gpu generation or the one after that.
Not all rumors have come true.
Not to mention that OSX (nor any of the apps) are in any way able to run on an APM processor. I think the Kernel is the same (or something else low level) but the higher up stuff is totally different.
You are right though - Intel is still way faster than ARM is.
Hmm... I suppose but I still think the 13 inch retina mbp is going to come out. Probably at the same time as the iMac?
If I had the money I would buy the 27" iMac. I've been waiting on the Mac Mini to get the update treatment. My 10 year old pc just died and right now I have my 2009 13" mbp hooked up to a 24" screen and a keyboard & mouse. The pc drive was good so I was able to salvage all of my wife's data and email off of it and put it on to my mac. I was off of the pc so only my wife was using it. So the wait is on. Wife isn't technical but she like using osx so far.
I too am puzzled why the iMac and Mini have not been updated yet? Maybe Apple really does only have 1 engineer working on both of them. I mean the Mini is almost a direct lift of the 13" mbp. There is nothing in it that should hold up any kind of design issue.
I consider USB3.0 to be worth waiting for. If you keep your machines as long as I do (until they die) you want USB3.0 on it going forward. I have a lot of FW800 drives hooked up in a daisy chain right now. FW is great but Thunderbolt and USB3.0 are what the future is moving to. Of course those will only be current for about 5 years and something else will come along to replace them.
I too am puzzled why the iMac and Mini have not been updated yet? Maybe Apple really does only have 1 engineer working on both of them. I mean the Mini is almost a direct lift of the 13" mbp. There is nothing in it that should hold up any kind of design issue.
I consider USB3.0 to be worth waiting for. If you keep your machines as long as I do (until they die) you want USB3.0 on it going forward. I have a lot of FW800 drives hooked up in a daisy chain right now. FW is great but Thunderbolt and USB3.0 are what the future is moving to. Of course those will only be current for about 5 years and something else will come along to replace them.
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Just to antagonize the rumor mill some more...
New theory going around is
Not new, and not the least bit plausible. That the A6 is the fastest smartphone CPU around doesn't make it at all suitable to a desktop computer. The iPhone 5 geekbench's somewhere between a Pentium 5 and a Core i3.
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