Apple Announces Lighter, Thinner iMac Models with Fusion Drive

[nuckinfutz]

Bertrand Serlet was in attendance. Did anyone notice that?

I was too busy looking at the rack on the women to his left.

 

[krravi]

You can still buy blu-ray burners on your own dime. Apple just doesn't sell them stock. That doesn't mean they don't work on Macs...

Honestly, some people don't even bother thinking before whining on here.

Slow down there grasshopper...

Was musing on the shift to move every content online rather than just being able to play a movie.

Having spent thousands of dime on a Mac we sure know how to spend a few more on a freaking drive.

 

[bflowers]

Should the Buyer's Guide really say Buy Now? As these won't be released until some unknown date in November and December?

That, and I'm a bit disappointed that Cook and Co. think a desktop needs to be so thin they can't keep the ODD in it. Might just be a jerk move to force a lot of us into spending an extra $79 on the external, which just clutters up my desk.

 

[whitesand]

I disagree. The main customers clinging on to physical media are the older generations. The average old customer can't grasp the concept of the new technologies I mentioned and choose to use something they're familiar with. Blu-ray 4k won't take off, physical media is a backwards concept.

The new generation that grew up on digital content will find it redundant to use physical media that's unreliable and prone to damage. Especially when you can stream and use cloud services from iTunes nowadays on all your devices on the go. You can't and won't want to carry 20 blu-ray movies with you while travelling for example.

By the way this is coming from a guy that grew up on days when VHS and casette tapes were prevalent.

There will still be physical media..The difference is it has switched hands...Your digital content is on their physical media not yours....

 

[Xiroteus]

A Blu-Ray player are you serious? Why would they do that when you can just download movies you bought off iTunes anytime on ALL DEVICES? Why limit users to a physical media that you can't play from mobile devices like tablets and phones?

iTunes wants far too much for a compressed DRM controlled digital copy, the full 1080P with extras and much more control at half the cost is far more appealing. The idea of digital is fine if they ever understood how to price content better.

 

[txhchman]

Won't buy

Total fail where is the 3-1/2" floppy drive

 

[whitesand]

Anyone know what the expected amount of time and the reliability of storage on usb or sdxc cards ?

 

[Xiroteus]

Total fail where is the 3-1/2" floppy drive

Apple did remove that a bit too soon as well, I did not even start using a floppy drive until a year later. Of course I was on a budget and at no time is Apple designed for such people.

 

[tonydickinson]

Wow the Awesome factor is back....

I am so happy to see the presentation and realise that there are still great surprises that warrant that word Awesome is back....

Thank you Apple - well done!

 

[Rot'nApple]

I just bought my iMac in January but this new design is a must-have for me. Luckily, Macs have great resell value so my outta pocket expense won't be too bad.

The New Imac don't come with a Super Drive. So When they say no price increase The Super Drive will cost you if you want one for the New Imac!

Yep, my second generation MacBook Air cost me around an extra $40 bucks because it didn't contain an Optical Drive.

I used the drive initially to install some software on CDs in November 2011, but other than that, haven't used it since... I say good riddance to it!


This is what I purchased back then from this company, but item EOL'd...


But take a look at what's available. I have purchased several items from B&H and have no complaints.
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[Thunderbird]

With newer, higher-performance components for the most part.

That's what I said.

A no-op for most buyers, and an external drive for those who need one. (and here we share one between three different Macs, as needed. Which turns out to be maybe twice or three times a year, each.

You speak for most buyers? Fascinating. I don't remember voting for you to be my representative.

So? If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Who said it was broke? Nice strawman. The stand is not very ergonomic, it only tilts. Most other all-in-ones on the market have better adjustable stands.

At normal working distances, the 27" (and likely the 21") is effectively "retina" as is. Do you *really* want to pay for the retina display in this case?

That is true mostly for the 27 inch. I don't want to pay that much extra for retina right now, but they could have started to move in the direction of higher density pixels in the 21" by maybe just making it a 16:10 ratio.

Other than memory, what are you likely going to upgrade before the machine is replaced? Even there, third-parties have been offering drive upgrades for "unupgradeable" of various types for quite a while.

If the machine lasts a long time, possibly the graphics and HDD/SDD

For most users, it's not an issue.

And you presume to speak for most users?

Good!!!

Trying to use a vertical touch screen is a pain in the joints, literally.

A touch screen desktop doesn't have to be used vertically. You seem to be forgetting the patent Apple has on a folding stand for the iMac. It's how so many other touch screen all-in-ones get around the problem.

Who cares about the chrome trim? Seriously.

It was an example of how little design change there really was, even aesthetically.

What major market call is there for other sizes in desktop systems? Smaller than around 20" is covered by laptops, bigger than 27" is fading into the single-digit range. It's not like you can't get a larger second display, is it?

The same market call there is/was for any 24" size screen. Many people on here have expressed a longing for a return to that size for the iMac.

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Why don't you build your own iMac then? With BlackJack! And hookers!

Huh?

 

[adam9c1]

Image

its magically thin.... unless you're looking at it wrong.

PRESTO

I think they just made it mega ugly.

like the original iMac it was DIFFERENT but doable.
Now... this is a joke of a machine look.

 

[luhem181]

The RAM doesn't appear to be user-upgradable - the DIMMs are not at the bottom of the case, or so it looked in the cutaway graphic, and there is access panel in the back

The RAM is not user upgradable on the 21.5 model. However, you can upgrade the RAM on the 27" model

http://www.apple.com/imac/performance/

Memory
The 21.5-inch iMac comes with 8GB of memory and can be configured online with 16GB. On the 27-inch iMac, 8GB of memory comes standard, and you can upgrade to 16GB or 32GB. Configure and buy your iMac at the Apple Online Store and it will arrive with the memory already installed. Or add more memory to the 27-inch model yourself by popping open the easy-to-access memory panel on the back.

 

[yamabluez]

It seems especially pointless that the new design is thinner.

It wouldn't surprise me if thinner = hotter and more problems with overall reliability and display consistency from the heat. I will let more eager Apple customers do the field testing to see what happens.

Yup, Apple failed to ask the essential question, what is thinner and lighter doing for me as a desktop user? Nothing. This isn't a laptop, iPhone, iPad, or iPod. It's already plenty thin and light for a desktop. It would have been much better to put that effort into usable function, or better price. They missed the boat on this one.

 

[Thunderbird]

Really, I don't agree... DVD & BD old tech - I never use, if I do i'll just use the superdrive I bought for my Macbook Air. I never use that either.
All my movies are on a 3TB external which is FW800, so best upgraded to Thunderbolt anyway.

I am happy for you. Some of us would like to still have the option of a CD/DVD drive built in to the actual computer.

You cannot call No touchscreen, no retina, no new stand a fail.

Sure can, since most other new all-in-ones have most of those features.

Get with the program.

Time for Apple to get with the program.

 

[uptownnyc]

So when are we going to be able to spec out one of these to get an exact price with all the options? Also, any possibility they'll roll out an updated Thunderbolt display with the same screen-tech as the new iMac when they start shipping these?

 

[Thunderbird]

iPad mini is much more of a natural evolution of the iPad. Just a smaller one. Touchscreen on OS X will fundamentally change the way we interact with a computer, in a bad way (gorilla arms). Also, Apple has the Magic Trackpad now which is a perfect tool for touch gestures on OS X.

With a collapsable stand, there's no gorrila arms.

 

[Xiroteus]

I am sure Apple is not the only one that does things like this, they fail to show you the side profile on their site of the iMac, yes it is thin at the edges, for what real purpose, they likely could have make it a bit thinner or how about adding more to it thus making it more useful for everyone.

A thinner DESKtop computer or more power and ability to play media on disc.

I am happy for you. Some of us would like to still have the option of a CD/DVD drive built in to the actual computer.

I do notice a lot of comments that basically state, since I never use it they should remove it. Because it is somehow better not having the ability to do something vs being able to do almost anything.

 

[Webduo]

It's official...

I'm adding the 27" iMac and an iPad mini to my shopping list... if they keep this up, I'm going to need an i-ntervention

 

[Rot'nApple]

Image

its magically thin.... unless you're looking at it wrong.

I wonder if Johnny Bravo has sued over that teardrop form factor of the iMacs backside that look amazingly close to his chest/stomach?

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Yep, my second generation MacBook Air cost me around an extra $40 bucks because it didn't contain an Optical Drive.

I used the drive initially to install some software on CDs in November 2011, but other than that, haven't used it since... I say good riddance to it!


This is what I purchased back then from this company, but item EOL'd...


But take a look at what's available. I have purchased several items from B&H and have no complaints.
/
/
/

 

[Thunderbird]

I'm still wondering why they are 6 months late?

Good point. I think it has to do with the way the new glass front is fused to the lcd panel. They said at the event it was similar to the process used for the screens of smart phones and tablets. Since the iMac is a lot bigger, I suspect there were problems associated with scale.

 

[Bensalama21]

Epic fail.

It's not a new design, it's just thinner. There's no optical drive, which kills it for me. When I use Windows on Bootcamp it means having to have an external optical drive on my desk to load certain programs or play DVD or BD movies in my collection, thus defeating the purpose of having an all-in-one machine. Another external device to add to my modem, external HDD, speakers, etc.

No optical drive

No new stand design

No retina display

No upgradability

No touch screen

No exterior design change (e.g. same chin)

No difference in available sizes

This is essentially little more than a spec bump with a thinner screen. I don't need a thinner screen. The only possible appealing feature is the 75% less reflective AG coating.

FAIL.

EPIC FAIL that you actually thought it would have a touch screen, optical drive, upgradability, retina display (It would cost 5000 if that huge screen had a retina display), and a new stand design? what do you want it to be? A thick spiral?

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Time for Apple to get with the program.

Time for Apple to get with what program? the program that has them as the most successful company in the world? Hows that working out for them again?

 

[Stridder44]

Epic fail.

It's not a new design, it's just thinner. There's no optical drive, which kills it for me. When I use Windows on Bootcamp it means having to have an external optical drive on my desk to load certain programs or play DVD or BD movies in my collection, thus defeating the purpose of having an all-in-one machine. Another external device to add to my modem, external HDD, speakers, etc.

No optical drive

No new stand design

No retina display

No upgradability

No touch screen

No exterior design change (e.g. same chin)

No difference in available sizes

This is essentially little more than a spec bump with a thinner screen. I don't need a thinner screen. The only possible appealing feature is the 75% less reflective AG coating.

FAIL.

Posts like yours are the reason we need a down-vote button.

 

[vsighi]

Something to do with licensing and royalty fees. But folks say Blu-Ray doesn't matter as the content has gone online.

Still have to wonder, how you stream a 50 GB worth of Blu Ray quality movie.

...they getting a $ billion in cash from Samsung, maybe now they have some cash left to get the Blu-Ray "royalty" fees :-((

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You can still buy blu-ray burners on your own dime. Apple just doesn't sell them stock. That doesn't mean they don't work on Macs...

Honestly, some people don't even bother thinking before whining on here.

Whining...maybe next iMac refresh Apple will no longer supply us the power cable...you can still buy a power cable on your own dime...

 

[mrsir2009]

Why does my desktop need to be lighter? I'm not using it on my lap... Give me an optical drive please.

Coz it needs to be pretty