Apple Announces Lighter, Thinner iMac Models with Fusion Drive

[cyclotron451]

... and you can pay apple lots more for the fusion drive .. im guessing about £350 more on top if i know apple prices...
what do other people in uk think about the new prices here in uk ?

the 'middle' 2.3GHz QCi7 mac mini is uk £679 with the BTO Fusion Drive coming in at an extra £200 for the 128GB/1TB option above the base 1TB

Wouldn't it be the same for the iMac? I presume the Mini is a 2.5 inch HDD, in one of Phils slides he showed iMac HDD over on the rear right hand side - with iMac SSD over on the rear left hand side. Presume the Fusion is a single physical device or it might not fit in the mini?

 

[bigcat318]

Anyone worried about the lack of a disc drive, do yourselves a favor and buy an external blu-ray reader on Amazon (or whatever). I got one for 60 bucks, would solve your issue with the added benefit of blu-ray reading/ripping. Can now back-up all my blu-rays.

 

[righteye]

Meet PadMac the new iMac
Read someone's comment about Schiller enthusing about "fused shut", this is just bloody minded and companies like OWC must be a bit worried.
I have always liked the idea of the iMac but the stand sucks i can not believe they have stuck with that design ,so in flexible and like another poster said not VESA compatible EDIT: An adapter exists.
Should be able to access the HD/SSD and RAM.
Makes me worry about the next MacPro and what access the user will have on that.

 

[WardC]

The iMac Tech Specs page shows the top-end model is going to be configurable with a 3.4GHz i7 processor option...this would be Ivy Bridge...

I currently have the 3.4GHz i7 2011 model, which is Sandy Bridge. There is a chance the newer model will be faster, but I really like my iMac, and have it configured with an OWC 6G SSD and 16GB of RAM, it suits my needs very well. I even sold my Mac Pro to make the iMac my main machine and it's doing great. I really don't see the need to upgrade. If Apple had offered a dual-SSD RAID option, an option for an internal 4TB Hard Drive, and made this a retina panel, while giving it true matte antiglare, I would be very pressed to make the upgrade...more storage, more internal drive space, and a matte display are things I have been wanting with the iMac. And nixing the optical drive is not doing it for me either...that, and Apple is on their mini-kick wanting to make things small and ultra thin. Computers need bulk sometimes!!!

 

[donrsd]

Anyone worried about the lack of a disc drive, do yourselves a favor and buy an external blu-ray reader on Amazon (or whatever). I got one for 60 bucks, would solve your issue with the added benefit of blu-ray reading/ripping. Can now back-up all my blu-rays.

Good luck waiting for the data to read & write via a USB cable.
It'll take you 60-90 minutes to do a complete rip & burn YAWN.

Ill stick to my PC laptop for burning & cd/dvd/bluray drive stuff

 

[lizardofwoz]

Oh WOW.
Oh Whoopee.
Be still my pounding heart.

A thinner desktop machine that is only viewed from the front with the thickness invisible and completely irrelevant.

A thinner desktop machine without the essential optical drive that is still a necessary component. Didn't Apple notice Bluray happening?

Oh WOW.
Oh Whoopee.
Be still my pounding heart. I am ecstatic...

Bring back Steve. Apple has lost its way again.

 

[MSM Hobbes]

How often do you use the optical drive?

Durn near daily. DVD's and CD's from the library or from friends or purchased, to be used for the boys' school work, for our entertainment, etc.,,, and adding to our library.

Like some others, I really do not at all understand the desire to have this device thinner. As we all know and agree, it is a desktop - my laptop, sure make them puppies smaller / thinner (to an extent)... but the desktop machine, no - I need it to offer all the capabilities possible for all of our needs, to do our jobs and to entertain us, in a quick and reliable manner. Yes, I can plug this and I can plug that into the device... but hades, wasn't part of Apple's mantra was to make the desktop clean of all these frigging cords, and external devices taking up my desk real estate??? I would much rather have these types of devices built-in, into a larger / thicker / heavier machine.

The only benefit that I can see quickly is that the desktop should maybe / hopefully run cooler... correct?

On that later note - curious then how the heat transport will be out of this machine?

(btw, as a metallurgist, awesome to see the stir technology here )

 

[turtlez]

Love the new thinner design! it is exactly what I was hoping for! Can't wait for December to get one of these bad boys. 680!

So WIN!

 

[tbrinkma]

I love how fat Schiller brags that the iMac is now fused shut. He probably likes to rub it in. He's been dying to force customers to upgrade their computers through Apple.

great.

You have some serious comprehension problems if you think he said it was fused shut.

Yes, the chin and back are now one piece.
Yes, the glass and screen are now one piece.

You'll get at the internals of the new iMac the same way you got at the internals of the old iMac, by popping the screen off the front. Only now, since the screen & glass are fused, you won't end up getting dust between them when you do so.

If they were 'fused shut' *Apple* wouldn't be able to get into them.

 

[bigcat318]

Good luck waiting for the data to read & write via a USB cable.
It'll take you 60-90 minutes to do a complete rip & burn YAWN.

Ill stick to my PC laptop for burning & cd/dvd/bluray drive stuff

If you have a PC laptop for burning cds/dvds/bluray then you wouldnt fall in to the category of people worried about not having a disc drive

 

[tbrinkma]

VESA mounts.
Unfortunately, this is not VESA compatible. (The stand still appears to be ****)

IIRC, there have been VESA mounts for the iMac ever since it moved past the 'lampshade' version. I suspect this will continue to be compatible with the existing ones.

 

[needfx]

if an imac can be this thin, we can expect sooner than anticipated, ultrathin iphones & ipads. biggest setback to getting there, battery.


---edit---
I just saw the keynote, the thinness is only on the sides. That's Major BS. Yes Sir!

 

[splashnader]

A I wonder when pre-orders will start. I guess for the 21.5 inch models, pre orders could start in a couple of weeks, but I wonder if the pre-orders for both sizes will start on same day. I also wonder of the 21.5 inch model could get released in late November and the 27 inch model could get released in the first week of December.

 

[turtlez]

While I do find the design to be beautiful, and too was stunned by the reveal, does anyone else think Apples presentation and current display on their website is deceptive? Notice that most pictures do not reveal the back. Rear or side profile shots can be found, but only when digging deeper into the side. I find this to be very sneaky and would expect more from Apple.

can you imagine a side view? It would just be a vertical line and people would think it is a glitch on the web page lol

 

[MrRez]

I wanted a desktop not an oversized iPad with a stand

 

[Roessnakhan]

Bring back Steve.

I don't know how to tell you this.... but....

 

[tbrinkma]

Standard with 5400rpm HDD.....why -_-

Two reasons.

1. They're less expensive than the 7200rpm drives
2. Most people don't actually *care* how fast their HDD is. Faster drives are available for those who *do*.

 

[Allenbf]

I bought my iMac 2 months ago. I was wondering if I'd regret it if new iMacs were announced today - I don't.

It serves my needs nicely. The current specs are fine with my usage. I'd have regretted it if a retina display were onboard, but since it isn't, I can rest comfortably knowing I've had a great time using my 2011 and will continue to do so.

This is my experience only, of course.

It does look sexier, though - but I don't care about a slightly thinner iMac, I don't carry it around. My desk hasn't complained ;-)

 

[Galatian]

If the 3TB Fusion cannot manage the space (and I don't see any spec that indicates how much of the 3TB would be available as a quasi-SSD), then how would it work to get the 768GB SSD and go external with HDD? The USB3 and TB units are coming down in price... Too much of a hassle?

Well that would be the only other option. But I would really like to to pay huge premium just for having a smaller size compared to the older version. Have to wait for actual BTO prices though. Then again, where is the sense in a smaller form factor if I now have to add a separate HDD if I want more Flash?

 

[dutchbb]

Oh WOW.
Oh Whoopee.
Be still my pounding heart.

A thinner desktop machine that is only viewed from the front with the thickness invisible and completely irrelevant.

A thinner desktop machine without the essential optical drive that is still a necessary component. Didn't Apple notice Bluray happening?

Oh WOW.
Oh Whoopee.
Be still my pounding heart. I am ecstatic...

Bring back Steve. Apple has lost its way again.

People who hate lighter/thinner design for a desktop device: getting the sand out of your vaginas may help with this issue.

For the rest of us, this is great news. I'm sure most of us were silently hoping for retina but realistically this was going to be something for the future, probably when the technology becomes less expensive to produce.

Other upgrades look fine to me. Since I like to keep my computer and display separate, I'm waiting for this kind of design overhaul for the cinema displays to connect a new Mini to.

 

[nazaar]

Ugh... really...

You can get a separate optical drive. You're complaining because the stand is the same? really!?? Saying fail and epic fail just makes you sound like a 12 year old.

Agreed

 

[tbrinkma]

Wait that's what I said?

Let me try to elucidate further: so how does the stock GPU rank?

If it's not what you *meant*, it *is* how it came across.

 

[lizardofwoz]

I don't know how to tell you this.... but....

You must be Islamic.

Christians believe that resurrection is possible

 

[monokakata]

The current gen iMac doesn't allow easy HDD replacement correct? I'd have to go two generations back?

None of them allow easy HDD replacement. It's tricky. I've done it a few times and haven't run into problems, but I've had my hands in computer internals since the 1980s.

 

[AppliedMicro]

After a few random google searchings and reading articles like this:
http://dalvenjah.foxfire.net/2010/01/5400rpm-vs-7200rpm-hard-disks-should-you-care/

Three words:
Access times.
Latency.

Or to quote from same link:

"Now keep in mind, too, that these speeds are talking about sequential or mostly-sequential data access, when you start at one point on the disk, and read continuously to a later point, like playing a record or a CD. Unless you’re playing audio or video, most data access isn’t like this"

I am slowly coming to the conclusion that having a 5400 rpm drive in the 21.5" is not that big of a deal. It's almost as good at the 7200 if you consider things like platter density etc etc.

What do you all think on the subject?

Everything else being equal, the 21.5 iMac (coming with only a 5400rpm drive be default) might in many cases feel slower than the current model. E.g., in system startup, application startup times, searches, etc. etc.