It still amazes me how people say "imac is too thin for a desktop processor"
AFAIK the g5 imac had a g5 desktop processor, a DAMN HOT DESKTOP processor inside.
"oh but the alu ones are thinner"
Yes, but also the shell materials are thinner, the actual internal space hasnt changed that much. Besides, current desktop chips are smaller than the g5 was, consume les energy and produce less heat (if you apply thermal paste correctly that is).
I just think apple doesnt want you to keep your imac for too long as a "power user". Hence putting a mobile processor, its more expensive to buy an aftermarket one and they make it really hard to upgrade it yourself. Now they even SOLDERED the damn thing.
If the put desktop components ,except maybe the gpu, which could anyways be an MXM slot(is that the name for the swappable ones?) you the USER could upgrade the thing down the road, instead of BUYING ANOTHER imac. And buying an imac is easier than buying a Mac Pro, specially with the puny GPU they put in the entry model (come on is a PRO machine, way to put a bottleneck).
I cant blame apple, they want money after all, but most people that defend imacs with that "space-heath-Power efficiency" argument cant really believe what they say, they just want to defend their purchase and thats ok, just dont spec every one believes that crap.