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2012 iMac: Worth the 8 month delay?

H

Hexley

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Jun 10, 2009
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Intel Inc started shipment of the Core i7-3770 found in the iMac 8 months or so ago.

If it wasn't for the redesign of the iMac and the rumor that Apple wanting to (unsuccessfully) incorporate a Retina Display into the 2012 model then this year's model would have been shipped earlier. I would say as late as June.

The Retina MBPro was a redesign to incorporate significant changes in parts used while the 2012 MBPro with Superdrive still used the the original unibody design.

Like the MBPro this year's iMac is basically the same with the 2011 model with USB 2 being updated to USB 3 and the omission of FW800 and Superdrive. If the Retina Display wasnt a real option I would have expected the 2012 iMac to still sport a Superdrive and maybe even a FW800 port.

Even though I am waiting for my 2012 iMac shipment to arrive I am still a ticked off that I had to wait this long just for USB 3.
 
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The CPU upgrade from Sanddy Bridge to Ivy Bridge only gives about a 10-15% max real world advantage. The biggest gains are the upgraded GPUs, which are definitely worth it. USB 3 can make a world of difference as well if external storage is part of your workflow.
 
The iMac was delayed because they were waiting for the new GPUs (and of course, the lamination process). Just the CPU upgrade wouldn't be a big upgrade. So I don't really see where the 'delay' is. Yes, they could have released an Ivy Bridge iMac with USB3 in the summer, but it would retain the 2011 design and its GPU options would be significantly worse. Were you happier if they had released an intermediate machine only to have it superseded by a newer, slicker design few month later? Imagine all the angry consumers wanting to exchange their 'intermediate' iMac for a new model ^^
 
I wouldn't mind the new design coming out with a the 2013 iMac with Retina Display and Haswell desktop Core i7. :D

The old designed allowed for the swapping out of the Superdrive for a second SATA 6Gbps device like say a SSD.

If the 2012 iMac came out mid-2012 and the 2013 iMac came out mid-2013 then I am fine with that. Haswell will start shipping between March and July.

Good point on the GPU. The 680MX was announced a few days after the iMac.
 
Hexley said:
I wouldn't mind the new design coming out with a the 2013 iMac with Retina Display and Haswell desktop Core i7. :D

The old designed allowed for the swapping out of the Superdrive for a second SATA 6Gbps device like say a SSD.

If the 2012 iMac came out mid-2012 and the 2013 iMac came out mid-2013 then I am fine with that. Haswell will start shipping between March and July.

Good point on the GPU. The 680MX was announced a few days after the iMac.
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27 inch iMac with retina would cost at least $1000 more expensive than the current base iMac model. The costs would be prohibitively

What graphics can drive a 27 inch retina iMac? Again that would add another $500 to the cost. So we are looking at a starting price close to $3500 just to start.

And iMac won't be a redesign. Apple keeps the same body style got at least a couple of years and just changes the processors/graphics/ports.
 
aneftp said:
27 inch iMac with retina would cost at least $1000 more expensive than the current base iMac model. The costs would be prohibitively

What graphics can drive a 27 inch retina iMac? Again that would add another $500 to the cost. So we are looking at a starting price close to $3500 just to start.

And iMac won't be a redesign. Apple keeps the same body style got at least a couple of years and just changes the processors/graphics/ports.
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Indeed no redesign has been made in the last 6 months. The 2012 iMac uses the old design. ;)

I would bet that the 680MX can push 4K resolution. Intel's HD Graphics 4000 found on any Ivy Bridge processor can do 4K resolution. They are leagues different.

My guess is Retina Display iMac was pushed back either because of price or technical reasons.
 
A Retina Display on a 27" iMac would have to have a resolution of 5120x2880. That would be impossible for any current CPU to handle (because the CPU does the UI scaling, not the GPU).

Even on the maxed out retina MacBook Pros the scrolling in Safari is lagging sometimes. Now imagine doubling that workload and only increasing CPU speed by about 40%. That would make a retina display unusable even on high end iMacs.
 
I love my 2012 iMac. If you have just updated from a 2011 iMac then the changes probably do seem a little insignificant. Coming from a 5 year old crap PC it's a huge leap for me.
For those of you waiting for Haswell in June, forget it. It will be this time next year at the earliest before apple update the iMac. Probably longer.
I also agree that we aren't yet able to introduce retina on a screen this size, at the current price points. I think it's still a couple of years out. Unless apple go for an iMac Pro alongside the standard model. I don't think it will happen before 2014 though.
 
Define "worth 8 months".
I would have probably bought the 2012 iMac at any point in the last 8 months -- even if all they did was bump to Ivy Bridge, USB3, and a cheaper SSD option than the 2011 model.

The New iMac is very impressive, and certainly worth the price. How you put a price on 8 months of your life is a different matter.
 
Apple fanboy said:
I love my 2012 iMac. If you have just updated from a 2011 iMac then the changes probably do seem a little insignificant. Coming from a 5 year old crap PC it's a huge leap for me.
For those of you waiting for Haswell in June, forget it. It will be this time next year at the earliest before apple update the iMac. Probably longer.
I also agree that we aren't yet able to introduce retina on a screen this size, at the current price points. I think it's still a couple of years out. Unless apple go for an iMac Pro alongside the standard model. I don't think it will happen before 2014 though.
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Not sure about that. Apple could give a processor boost before September 2013.
 
aneftp said:
27 inch iMac with retina would cost at least $1000 more expensive than the current base iMac model. The costs would be prohibitively
What graphics can drive a 27 inch retina iMac? Again that would add another $500 to the cost. So we are looking at a starting price close to $3500 just to start.
Click to expand...

Looking at the price of 4K tv the price of a retina display for iMac would be more likely to be several thousand dollars (and an iMac retina would have more px than a 4k tv). It would also need at least a couple of desktop gpu right now, making impossibile to fit in the form factor. I don't believe we will see an iMac retina soon, maybe in 2-3 years. I would also question the utilty of a retina display on a desktop where the display is at an arm from the eye.
 
I base 8 months on the release date if the core i7. Once the part was out apple could have made a 2012 iMac using the original unibody design rather than the design we are enjoying now.
 
Not worth it at all since they're using the same sub-standard screens they've been using. Unless of course you enjoy screens that aren't color-correct and never will be no matter how much you calibrate them.
 
Gone backwards IMO, certainly in respect of the 21.5" model. It's now no longer a Desktop but one of Apple's notebooks in a different form - sad but true. Those who decided not to wait and go with the 2011 model instead got the best deal, smart move I would say.
 
Lankyman said:
Gone backwards IMO, certainly in respect of the 21.5" model. It's now no longer a Desktop but one of Apple's notebooks in a different form - sad but true. Those who decided not to wait and go with the 2011 model instead got the best deal, smart move I would say.
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As much as I enjoyed my older iMac, I have to agree with you. In some misguided effort to make it thinner, they've removed stuff a lot of people actually use. Show me the fool that was complaining that the old iMacs were too thick and too heavy. People did, however, complain that the screens being used were substandard crap. Did Apple address that? No, of course not. Instead they took a form over function approach just so that in their ads they could "Whoaaaaaah look how thin it is!". Meaningless stats are no replacement for functionality.
 
ihuman:D said:
The 680mx is why they were held back and the new lamination process, I'd say.
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I think the lamination process was supposed to be with the Retina Display and not just the 2012 iMacs we have today.

Looking at the High-End Graphics Cards released 7-9 months ago Apple had the choice of 680M, 7970M, 7950M, 675M, 670M, 7870M and 660M instead of the 680MX. Of course these GPUs are much lesser than the 680MX but there were alternatives at the time.

8 months is 8 months and at the rate Apple is shipping the 27" it may be 2013 before most of us will get one.
 
CapnJackGig said:
As much as I enjoyed my older iMac, I have to agree with you. In some misguided effort to make it thinner, they've removed stuff a lot of people actually use. Show me the fool that was complaining that the old iMacs were too thick and too heavy. People did, however, complain that the screens being used were substandard crap. Did Apple address that? No, of course not. Instead they took a form over function approach just so that in their ads they could "Whoaaaaaah look how thin it is!". Meaningless stats are no replacement for functionality.
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Like what? The CD drive? The unnecessary bays and heat-producing components? The new iMac uses 40% less power, and most people haven't touched their CD drive for 6 months.

I guess you'd rather have a mini-mainframe sprawled over your desk putting out 500 watts as long as it plays those games and rips those blu-rays
 
The clarity of text on a imac is not good enough, after having a mbpr for a month its painful too look at my 27" iMac. And they go yellow over time too. A 21" imac retina is what i will wait for, till then its my 15" mbpr.
 
Robster3 said:
The clarity of text on a imac is not good enough, after having a mbpr for a month its painful too look at my 27" iMac. And they go yellow over time too. A 21" imac retina is what i will wait for, till then its my 15" mbpr.
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That makes sense. I think we could see a 21'' retina iMac (probably late) next year. We could potentially get one heck of an GPU upgrade late next year too with Nvidias Maxwell architecture. The late 2012 iMac is still a great purchase. Personally I couldn't care less about Haswell later this year. Yes, we'll get a 7-15% faster CPU (Btw. judging from reports I'd say 15% is absolute best case scenario, most likely less than that.). That's not very noticable for most users, unless you're doing encoding or rendering all the time.
 
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