Apple Announces Lighter, Thinner iMac Models with Fusion Drive

[Anuba]

Some ppl are born to be unhappy and there is nothing in a world that could change that..... including Jesus.

It's too thin
It's too thick
Its too light
It's too heavy
No retina display
No flopy drive and optical drive
No touch screen

Epic fail! I will pass it (because i had no intention of buying it anyway)

Bla bla bla........

Well, it's a result of Apple's choice to offer a very limited selection of models in order to minimize costs and maximize profit margin, which means there will be a greater variety of people who consider one of them "their" model. It's not likely to happen with Dell, since they make a thousand different models. They're junk, but hey, at least they have junk for every possible customer.

 

[pedrordep]

So disappointed

I have to add my voice to those who are less than excited with the new iMacs. Although, I am sure it will be a success, I think that Apple has somewhat misjudged customer desires.

My two big negative and surprises:

(1) Like many, I am aghast at the lack of optical drives. I do buy physical CDs and DVDs and I like to regularly add them to iTunes. I can not understand the obsession of reducing the depth of what was an ALREADY THIN desktop computer. I find it much less palatable having an external device. Unlike floppies, CDs will stay with us for many years to come even if it is now perhaps an outdated medium.

(2) The speed bump is ridiculous. The 27-inch standard should be i7 after we have waited for such a long time.

(3) Price boost despite relative performance lag

I have been buying Apple computers since my first one at university in the mid-80s (it was a Mac Plus). And have been willing to pay huge premium for Apple's far superior operating system. But this advantage is declining...

I now need to replace my 8 year old Mac Pro (shameful Apple's neglect of this line). I feel that I am forced to buy the new iMac and I will. But for the first time in my life it will be with very mixed feelings that I will do so.

Frankly, I don't hate Apple at all. But my esteem for them is at an all-time low.


Pedro


PS I also have a serious issue with them selling computers in Europe with 1 year guarantee when European minimum standard is 2 years and Apple has the fat profit margins to comply. Such naked greed.

 

[darkanddivine]

I bought my old 2006 spec iMac back when I needed it for working on as a freelancer (for design) and that coped well with pretty much everything I threw at it, including some pretty big files. Back then the panels were awesome, the general setup seemed good enough for design work. Of course, when I asked around, the suggestion was that I'd "need" a Mac Pro for that but hell, that kind of money was unrealistic. To this day, it has performed extremely well so in my view, these computers are perfect for the kind of Pro who doesn't have to open huge 1GB PSD's all that often, and isn't doing edits on large video projects or raw photos (though again I still think the iMac tends to do a decent job of these things when asked.)

I no longer need the Mac for full time freelancing, but I still use it for a home projects, and I do all my musical demos on Garageband too, as well as being a nice all round computer for other stuff, so it still needs to pack a punch without being "pro". Seriously though, the average user doesn't need 16GB in their machine, nor 32, so there must be some intention to catch some of the professional market.

I think it's a little shame that the Fusion drive isn't the standard, but that's the only thing that stands out as a potential missed opportunity, or just a small SSD, seenas storage is heading to the cloud anyway. The lighter/thinner thing doesn't bother me too much, nor does the removal of the Optical, my old Mac has run just fine without the drive for 2 years because it fried itself. On the plus side the anti glare thing is a big plus, one of the biggest issues with the first glass iMac was its insistence on being a mirror.

But lets face it, for those on an old product, one of these is going to absolutely blow that old thing out of the water, and looking around at the competition, the other companies are starting to charge the Apple premium for stuff that just isn't necessarily in the same ball park in terms of quality.

I get the sense that these last few ranges might be the beginning of the end for the "prosumer" range, however I believe that by the time I come to buy my next machine we will be looking at a whole new ball game again. The thing is, Photoshop and the computer makers need to be on the same page for that to work in a machine, and that is not yet the case. Touch screen will be defacto, and I'm sure Apple will come up with something excellent for that. The competition seems to have copied the iMac, shoved a touchscreen on it like a massive phone and called it progress. I think in 5 years that idea will be so much more refined and it's best to wait before jumping on something just because it's there. Perfect it, then blow everyone else away again.

Not being critical, but I'm looking with interest at some of the comments here, and I'm surprised at the amount of displeasure. Every bit of kit here is probably going to be better than the last update, and looking around, it's either comparable with what is out there or will be much better. I can't quite understand the obsession with the numbers either, surely performance will show itself up rather than the components used? The joke name always for iMac always was "laptop on a stick" and not much has changed and it's not like anyone can produce better for less, so it's surely still by far the best in class. I agree, if you were looking for some massive progress you will be left disappointed. I know this is touted as a new design, and it is, but the general consensus with iMac is you get iteration rather than revolution. Makes a bunch of sense, and this looks to be a good addition to the line. Will keep my eyes peeled for Benchmarks and other reviews in the coming weeks.

 

[Anuba]

If the problem strictly is that it's an all in one... ok, I personally don't buy it. I applaud making the system lighter, but it's only really thin on the edge. I don't know how thick it is at it's thickest point, but I'd imagine it's close to the current iMac.

It's not just about the thinness thing, what I said was that an all-in-one should only have things that are vital to the majority. An all-in-one is not something you should cram with "good to have sometimes" stuff, that would be like forcing everyone who wants a car to buy an RV, because you never know, once a year you might need a vehicle with beds.

5 years ago, an optical drive was a necessity. CD/DVD was still the main distribution method for software -- for Apple as well, in fact they were rather late to the e-distribution party. But today, when even Microsoft has started selling downloadable Windows and Office, it's a different story. Every single one of the dozen or so software companies I rely on for my business (Apple, Microsoft, Adobe, Propellerhead etc) have shifted to downloadable installations.

That leaves music CDs and movie DVDs. As for music CDs, the MP3 music piracy thing has been going on for 15 years now, iPods and iTunes Store have been around for 10 years, and for the last few years the norm here in Europe has been to get your music from Spotify for free. I don't know a single person who buys and listens to CDs. I ripped mine long ago but I still have them on a shelf in my living room and when people stop by, they're like "You have CDs? Wow, didn't know you were so retro".

Movie DVDs... how are they relevant on an iMac? A Mac Mini hooked up to a TV maybe, or a laptop for watching movies on the road, but a desktop computer isn't exactly a home theater, is it? (Unless you live in a dorm room the size of a closet). There's a reason why theaters don't have office chairs.

Optical drive isn't completely dead, but it's a legacy device, and Apple was never big on legacy support -- especially when it comes to the iMac. The original iMac, a desktop machine with no floppy or 9-pin/25-pin, set the tone for what you should expect from that model.

 

[pedrordep]

. I don't know a single person who buys and listens to CDs.

But millions of us still buy them. Especially (but not only) older people like myself. And we will continue to do so for the foreseeable future whether Apple likes it or not.

And the speed bump thing is a disgrace. Apple has the fat margins to place a better i7 as standard. Greed, greed, greed.

Apple is kicking customers on their way up.

Pedro

 

[ninewaters]

New Imac only have 512mb - 1gb memory for display card ?

Can someone enlighten me on the above ? For my 2007 imac is already on 256 mb.

 

[BvizioN]

Well, it's a result of Apple's choice to offer a very limited selection of models in order to minimize costs and maximize profit margin, which means there will be a greater variety of people who consider one of them "their" model. It's not likely to happen with Dell, since they make a thousand different models. They're junk, but hey, at least they have junk for every possible customer.

I was only being sarcastic with my comment.

 

[kemal]

Soldered RAM, 5400 RPM (green?) hard drive. $79 more for DVD. But at least it's thin!

... And I won't ever have to be bothered again by an Apple branded keyboard with a numeric keypad. Really. Who uses that antiquated input method anymore?

 

[righteye]

But millions of us still buy them. Especially (but not only) older people like myself. And we will continue to do so for the foreseeable future whether Apple likes it or not.

And the speed bump thing is a disgrace. Apple has the fat margins to place a better i7 as standard. Greed, greed, greed.

Apple is kicking customers on their way up.

Pedro

One could argue against optical drive if for instance Apples own iTunes store allowed downloads of a decent quality, i still purchase CDs and then convert to FLAC and play it on a decent player such as Decibel.
The car stereo is way better sounding from a disk (not as convenient i agree) than a plugged in Pod/Phone.
Some of my clients like to have DVD/CD copies of their images as well as their main HD storage.

 

[dadudeness]

Soldered RAM

The 27" seems to be upgradeable:

8GB (two 4GB) of 1600MHz DDR3 memory;four user-accessible SO-DIMM slots

Configurable to 16GB or 32GB.

source: http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_mac/family/imac

 

[Mal67]

5 years ago, an optical drive was a necessity. CD/DVD was still the main distribution method for software -- for Apple as well, in fact they were rather late to the e-distribution party. But today, when even Microsoft has started selling downloadable Windows and Office, it's a different story. Every single one of the dozen or so software companies I rely on for my business (Apple, Microsoft, Adobe, Propellerhead etc) have shifted to downloadable installations.

That leaves music CDs and movie DVDs. As for music CDs, the MP3 music piracy thing has been going on for 15 years now, iPods and iTunes Store have been around for 10 years, and for the last few years the norm here in Europe has been to get your music from Spotify for free. I don't know a single person who buys and listens to CDs. I ripped mine long ago but I still have them on a shelf in my living room and when people stop by, they're like "You have CDs? Wow, didn't know you were so retro".

Movie DVDs... how are they relevant on an iMac? A Mac Mini hooked up to a TV maybe, or a laptop for watching movies on the road, but a desktop computer isn't exactly a home theater, is it? (Unless you live in a dorm room the size of a closet). There's a reason why theaters don't have office chairs.

Optical drive isn't completely dead, but it's a legacy device, and Apple was never big on legacy support -- especially when it comes to the iMac. The original iMac, a desktop machine with no floppy or 9-pin/25-pin, set the tone for what you should expect from that model.

Good points and all. But I feel a lot of choices made by apple about what to leave out are purely based on making the product thinner. Do imacs have to be razor thin? I don't see why everything has to be going that way. Having to drag out and attach an external drive sort of undoes the all in one nature of the imac and begs the question if you have to add one why didn't they just include it to start with? Hard to accept the OD as being a legacy item though when Apple is making the decision to not include it themselves and no other manufacturers have made that choice. Anyway best of luck to them I'm sure they'll sell bucketloads because they don't look to bad.

 

[Macsonic]

My concern on the iMac being too thin is how well it handles the heat build up. You can imagine the hardware parts inside being really cramped together in a very thin housing. Plus I still need an optical drive as we archive files for sending to clients.

 

[jackfungi]

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.

Haters gonna hate, trollers gonna troll.

 

[xbjllb]

only thing that made me smile a bit today was FCP X 10.0.6....

Why!?!!?!???

And while I'm here.... wow, all this excitement about crap made by little Chinese girls for $ .99 an hour. Talk about economic patriotism.

At least my Mac Pro was assembled in the US.



----------

Haters gonna hate, trollers gonna troll.

And fanbois gonna fanboi....

 

[akbarali.ch]

i may be wrong on this, but if you are so much into old tech like CDs & DVDs then why buy a new system anyway, the old system has all those techs in it.

 

[bbfc]

Looks AMAZING! If i was in the market for a new desktop, this would be it it. But i'm happy with my 13" MBP.

 

[skier777]

"Lighter"

Why does weight or thickness matter whatsoever? Once its on my desk, its not like I'm moving it around... If you compare the form factors, you save about an 20sqinches of desktop space.

Yeah, the design looks nice, but they overdid it this time by removing the disk drive.

 

[skier777]

i may be wrong on this, but if you are so much into old tech like CDs & DVDs then why buy a new system anyway, the old system has all those techs in it.

Old tech? I guess i would have to challenge you to find me another form of storage that comes in under $0.07 per GB. DVD's (and soon bluray discs) will long be a very valid form of cheap stable digital storage, they aren't yet outdated no matter what apple thinks.

 

[donrsd]

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

Yes I would. I dont want another computer.
One is enough.

 

[Tech198]

Its bizarre, that at this resolution, Apple can't say its a "Retina" iMac ...

If not on the 21.5-inch... At least you can say it on the 27-inch.

 

[Wordman]

Haters gonna hate, trollers gonna troll.

Guy's entitled to his opinion. Just because it's not the same as yours doesn't make him a "troller" or a "hater".

 

[macleod199]

It may well.

But notice that the entry-level 21.5" model does not and cannot have the hybrid/fusion technology.

True, but it's the 'entry level' for a reason.

 

[jmgregory1]

Good points and all. But I feel a lot of choices made by apple about what to leave out are purely based on making the product thinner. Do imacs have to be razor thin? I don't see why everything has to be going that way. Having to drag out and attach an external drive sort of undoes the all in one nature of the imac and begs the question if you have to add one why didn't they just include it to start with? Hard to accept the OD as being a legacy item though when Apple is making the decision to not include it themselves and no other manufacturers have made that choice. Anyway best of luck to them I'm sure they'll sell bucketloads because they don't look to bad.

Apple isn't making choices based upon thinness. They're making choices to push the market ahead and like they've done in the past, they're ahead of the curve. The discussion on thinness is just a result of their cutting the use of an optical drive. I can guarantee you that within the next 3 years or so, you'll see Apple completely drop the use of spinning HDD's moving completely to flash storage. They'll most likely be ahead of the curve again in doing so, much to the consternation of those that want to hang on to slow 1tb spinning disks.

Apple's done this kind of thing time and again, whether it was their decision to drop the floppy from early Macs (and face industry ridicule for doing so) to now moving away from ODD's. If any tech company has the ability to force innovation and change, it's Apple.

 

[HarryKNN21]

Hey, don't ya people love to have CHOICE? Thus this is part of the reason that Apple don't give people a blu-ray combo in the new iMac. What the point of putting one in while that is not user changeable? With a little more money spent you will have an external blu-ray player or a blu-ray burner, don't ya people love to have CHOICE between these?

Maybe a few years later "gold-ray" comes out, then people would complaint about the non-user changeable optical drive if Apple ever put one into the new iMac, thus back to the question, what's the point Apple putting a optical drive into that?

Also, some people are complaining about the "weakness" of the GTX675MX this iMac has, I laughed, as I know Alienware laptops also use GTX675MX and run new games at full HD at over 70 FPS, so are Alienware laptops also "weak as hell"??

Some people need to develop more logical thinking.

 

[baleensavage]

Seriously, would it have been that hard to keep ONE firewire port in the high end machines? ...or at least offer it as an option.

I'm not saying it wouldn't have been nice for them to keep a Firewire port. But Firewire is on it's way out and Apple has never been one to hang on to old technologies when they have a shiny new one out. They did the same thing with Firewire 400 when Firewire 800 came out (or even back when they phased out SCSI over USB, which was a major step backwards for pros) and now they're doing it with Thunderbolt. Whether the new cable is better or not is irrelevant, it's just Apple's way. At least there are still adapters, even if they are overpriced.