2012 iMac Said to Carry Thinner Design, Alleged Internals Photo Surfaces

I think whats more likely is we see a low capacity SSD drive for caching along side a traditional HDD, that will give best of both worlds, SSD like performance and HDD like storage space..

It's actually something thats been available in new ultrabooks, and is also available on some motherboards & branded desktops..
 
Okay, here's my bet.

IF

And it's a big IF ... there actually is some sort of different release difference between the 21.5" and 27" models, it's because they'll release a retina variant of the 21.5" as an option.

But IF this happens, I think buyers will have three choices.

21.5" retina
21.5" non-retina
27" non-retina

I'd expect all three models to offer the same (new?) form-factor, and when prices and yields of a 27" retina iMac become feasible, it'd be added to the product-line. Best guess on that one is mid-2013 at the earliest at a super-premium price.

This guess makes sense (to me) for the staggered time-frame, and also the price-increase rumor, but complicates the buying decision for those that want desktop retina, but 27".
 
Yamcha said:
I think whats more likely is we see a low capacity SSD drive for caching along side a traditional HDD, that will give best of both worlds, SSD like performance and HDD like storage space.
Click to expand...

They could just use Maxtor's Momentus XT hybrid drives. I had the 500GB and 750GB units in my 13" MBP and they worked relatively well - especially the 750GB unit since it supported higher SATA speeds and had a larger flash memory cache.
 
mdntcallr said:
on a serious note, will apple finally add a touchscreen capability??? graphics professionals would dig that.
Click to expand...
Yeah, because if there's anything we graphics designers love, it's a layer of oily smudges on the screen. Especially the ones you get when some retard project leader comes up from behind, puts a big fat finger on the screen and says "duhhh uh what happens if you move that thing there to there?" ;)

Seriously though... I will admit that after getting an iPad, there have been a couple of times when I reached out to press stuff on my MBP screen, only to grow a brain half a second later, but never on my iMac. Working like that would probably violate every ergonomic guideline in the book.
 
Yamcha said:
I think whats more likely is we see a low capacity SSD drive for caching along side a traditional HDD, that will give best of both worlds, SSD like performance and HDD like storage space..

It's actually something thats been available in new ultrabooks, and is also available on some motherboards & branded desktops..
Click to expand...

The current iMacs already support this in hardware (Z68 chipset) but Apple never availed themselves of it.
 
well, thinner, great, but what we care for is:
- SSD as standard
- better GPU
- usb 3.0

all the rest is not crucial... and what I am really scared of is failure rate of this new extra thin beast
 
majkom said:
well, thinner, great, but what we care for is:
- SSD as standard
- better GPU
- usb 3.0

all the rest is not crucial... and what I am really scared of is failure rate of this new extra thin beast
Click to expand...

who wants an SSD as standard? They are useless to me. I wouldn't even be able to fit a quarter of my data on one. Shelf life is also another issue of worry about with SSD's, yes you heard me right SSD's. There are conflicting reports of poor shelf life resulting from reading and writing data constantly and they can wear out in pretty much a similar timeframe as a typical hard drive, as flash memory can only write and rewrite data so many times. It is a relatively high number if I remember, but for the price you pay is it justifiable?

Although brands vary and no one can really 110% can confirm these claims, I guess we'll have to wait a few more years for more testing to be done in this field.

better GPU yes

USB 3.0 yes
 
808? said:
Where are our new Mac Pros?
Click to expand...

"Many Apple observers also wonder if Apple thinks that desktop computers are dead, since not a word was said about the iMac and Mac Pro. An executive did assure me, however, that new MacPro designs are under way, probably for release in 2013."

David Pogue, a very well recognized technology writer for The New York Times (he writes many books too) assures us that there will be new Mac Pro systems released next year, in 2013.

You can read his blog post here:

http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/06/11/an-explanation-of-the-news-from-apple/
 
Bigdogfilms said:
Hey Tim, just wondering how thin is thin enough? How lite is lite enough? I buy Apple products because they are of the highest quality on the market. However, as I have noted with the iPhone 5, it is so light it feels cheeply made. It feels like its so fragile that it will crack easily. With the quality issues it has, perhaps it is cheeply made.
Hey Tim, Apple products are the best available. They have presence. Please don't follow the path the other guys have chosen. Lite, thin, plastic and glue? That's the other guys, not Apple.
Click to expand...

I completely agree!
 
The iMac does not need to be thinner or look like Karen Carpenter just before she died.

It just needs to have updated innards and a better screen.
 
iMouse said:
More like closer to a GTX 580. For a laptop, (and even some desktops) that's pretty impressive. In AMD terms, 15% faster than a Radeon HD 7850.
Click to expand...

Nope GTX680M is around the speed of a GTX650 desktop which is significantly slower than a GTX570.

The GT650M in the Macbooks is around the speed of a GTX460.
 
macnerd93 said:
who wants an SSD as standard? They are useless to me. I wouldn't even be able to fit a quarter of my data on one. Shelf life is also another issue of worry about with SSD's, yes you heard me right SSD's. There are conflicting reports of poor shelf life resulting from reading and writing data constantly and they can wear out in pretty much a similar timeframe as a typical hard drive, as flash memory can only write and rewrite data so many times. It is a relatively high number if I remember, but for the price you pay is it justifiable?

Although brands vary and no one can really 110% can confirm these claims, I guess we'll have to wait a few more years for more testing to be done in this field.

better GPU yes

USB 3.0 yes
Click to expand...

no SSD - tech from the past, after experience with ssd mb air, my iMac 2011 seems completely slow to me... once you go SSD, there is no way back
 
Yamcha said:
I think whats more likely is we see a low capacity SSD drive for caching along side a traditional HDD, that will give best of both worlds, SSD like performance and HDD like storage space..
Click to expand...
Maybe I'm weird but I'd rather have just the SSD. I have central storage w/ 2TB worth of media and work files and with the plethora of ways to share stuff across the home network you don't need loads of storage on each computer. Once I've filled up a computer with all the apps I need, I'm not even halfway to filling the 256GB SSD I have in my MBP.

Having said that I don't want Apple to ship me ANYTHING with an SSD in it because they're mentally deranged. The Swedish Apple Store wants 650 bucks extra for a 256GB SSD in an iMac. I can buy a 256GB Samsung 830 for $175 here in Sweden so god knows how much cheaper it is in the US, and I believe the 830 is the very same drive that Apple uses.
Then it's just the matter of getting the damn thing into the iMac... which I'm sure will be harder than ever, with the display glued to the glass and whatnot. Gah.
 
bwillwall said:
A very fast 24x DVD drive can max out on 31.68MB/s, USB 2.0 maxes out at 52.2MB/s
Click to expand...

So a SATA internal DVD drive is slower than a external one? I don't think so.

I have a external DVD drive from samsung and its slow as molasses. I bought that for a .. Ahem.. netbook which is a paperweight at the moment.
 
joe-h2o said:
I really hope that we're not just going to see "a rMBP in a box" - the mention of the extreme thinness worries me.

The 650M in the rMBP is awful - hopefully whatever they come up with will be able to handle a full desktop CPU and at the very least be able to manage a 680M in the high power model.

Keep it as cool and quiet as my 2006 (that is now desperately long in the tooth)and with at least the option for a 680M and I'll be buying right away.
Click to expand...

" really hope that we're not just going to see "a rMBP in a box"

My gut tells me that this is exactly what we're going to see. Mark my words. I don't think there's personally anything wrong with that. The rMBP is very fast from the benchmarks and real word usage that I've seen.
 
krravi said:
So a SATA internal DVD drive is slower than a external one? I don't think so.

I have a external DVD drive from samsung and its slow as molasses. I bought that for a .. Ahem.. netbook which is a paperweight at the moment.
Click to expand...

Then you bought a crappy external. The interface makes no difference if the data can't come off the disk fast enough. USB 2.0 is fast enough for just about any DVD and certainly when compared to the slot loaders Apple uses. You just need to get a decent drive that can approach the limits of the USB interface.
 
Even the current iMac's are very slim. I know this because I tried to bootcamp Windows 7 and the iMac got so hot I could feel the heat waves, sitting on my desk. I was tempted to place a bag of popcorn on the back and see if it pops.

So I am running it on virtual box right now. I was bummed out that "Everything just works" wasn't true, as Apple had shortchanged the Windows part when it comes to cooling the iMac. I am not going to go download thousand utilities to keep the fan running.

And when it gets even slimmer, you might as well turn off the heating in your house for the winter.

Of course Jony Ive will come on the screen and say.."When we thought of making the iMac slimmer, we wanted to take something good and make it even better...." At which point I would be like.. Whoaa.. wait a minute. When you released the previous iMac it was the best !! and now its just good?

but... iMacs will be flying off the shelf anyways ... :)
 
smulji said:
" really hope that we're not just going to see "a rMBP in a box"

My gut tells me that this is exactly what we're going to see. Mark my words. I don't think there's personally anything wrong with that. The rMBP is very fast from the benchmarks and real word usage that I've seen.
Click to expand...

Not necessarily. Apple could very well stay with the desktop i5 and i7 CPUs such as 3570 and 3770 instead of of the mobile version with the lower clock used in the rMBP.
 
flopticalcube said:
Then you bought a crappy external. The interface makes no difference if the data can't come off the disk fast enough. USB 2.0 is fast enough for just about any DVD and certainly when compared to the slot loaders Apple uses. You just need to get a decent drive that can approach the limits of the USB interface.
Click to expand...

Tell me one decent external DVD drive and Samsung doesn't make crappy products. FYI...
 
GizmoDVD said:
No one? I don't want a disc drive and I want it to be thinner.

It'a 2012, not 2006.
Click to expand...

So would you call the 2011 iMac too thick? I'm just not getting why a stationary computer needs to be ultra thin. And yeah I rarely use an optical drive these days but I do use one still, and in terms of a desktop I don't get why you wouldn't just include one. Space isn't at a premium like it is on a laptop. But, different strokes.
 
b166er said:
So would you call the 2011 iMac too thick? I'm just not getting why a stationary computer needs to be ultra thin. And yeah I rarely use an optical drive these days but I do use one still, and in terms of a desktop I don't get why you wouldn't just include one. Space isn't at a premium like it is on a laptop. But, different strokes.
Click to expand...

Yes. It's using a design that is 7+ years old. My laptop is smaller. My iPad is smaller. My iPhone is smaller. These are all designs that got smaller in a shorter amount of time.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Back
Top