Apple Releases New iMacs

[skellener]

You'd be surprised how many utilitarian Mac users there are. Some of us are here for the operating system and its software. We're not fans of the prices on hardware but we know that it's the only real option available for a viable Mac.

If it's really only the operating system and its software you want, why not get a refurb AppleTV and install OS X on it? That would be pretty darn utilitarian. They got all the info to do it here: http://www.appletvhacks.net 🙂

 

[milo]

Totally agree. Either get the edge back by doing a hard core refresh, or scrap the mini for a new mid-tower.

Amen to that. Personally, I think that Jobs thought people would find the small size a huge selling point and that people would be willing to accept higher prices and worse specs to get it. And that while scrapping the mini for a slightly bigger machine would help sales, it would also be a tacit admission that the mini's design was a mistake.

If there really is that much consumer demand for tiny desktop computers, then 1) why isn't the mini a much bigger seller, 2) why don't PC makers offer more "mini" models and 3) why don't consumers buy more "mini" PC models?

PC towers vastly outsell PC "mini" form factors, that's a fact. I don't know what gives people the idea that there's more consumer demand for "mini" than there is for decent specs and price.

 

[BenRoethig]

A decent graphics card was all I wanted. Thank you, Apple, for once again surpassing my expectations!

Too bad it couldn't come with the last update.

Amen to that. Personally, I think that Jobs thought people would find the small size a huge selling point and that people would be willing to accept higher prices and worse specs to get it. And that while scrapping the mini for a slightly bigger machine would help sales, it would also be a tacit admission that the mini's design was a mistake.

If there really is that much consumer demand for tiny desktop computers, then 1) why isn't the mini a much bigger seller, 2) why don't PC makers offer more "mini" models and 3) why don't consumers buy more "mini" PC models?

PC towers vastly outsell PC "mini" form factors, that's a fact. I don't know what gives people the idea that there's more consumer demand for "mini" than there is for decent specs and price.

He figured the wow factor and OSX would be enough to sell it.

 

[iFizz]

Logic isn't your forte. Seriously. A MacPro doesn't have a trackpad either but that's not what most people that buy one desire as a "feature." 😀

What is your problem? You need to quit "trolling" here.
Want me to explain it again slowly? I was summing up the parts for what they were worth. A MacMini is just a MacBook minus a few parts. Go back to the earlier post and see all the parts on a MacBook that aren't in a MacMini. Are you still with me? Goooooood. Now then, it's called math. You add up all those parts I listed that are not in the MacMini, subtract the sum from $1100, then subtract the depreciation of an August 2007 chipset, and there's the REAL price of the MacMini. A tad bit less than $599. 🙄
I've made quite a nice living on "logic", thank you.
By the way, you really should stay away from metaphors. (Camping? BMWs? Seriously.) Thats not your forte.
Again, it's been entertaining! 😀
Keep them coming...

 

[JPark]

He figured the wow factor and OSX would be enough to sell it.

Agreed. The feeling I have is that they don't want to create a new line unless it can be unlike anything else on the market. Mid-sized towers are just too mundane for Steve.

 

[luffytubby]

Since I came to this forum, a few months ago, I have asked for this. Wow. I am still in a bit of disbelief that they actually did this. An 8800GS, with GDR3 Ram? Am I dreaming? A 3 GHz C2D?
I am surprised, excited and relieved.


But I now know this - Had I bought an Imac, a few months ago, with a 2600 HD card, I would have hated myself for buying it. It now feels like it has been worth the while. With all the waiting. Constantly checking macrumors.com for over three months. And then this morning. *poof*. It's just there.
The news itself acts like it is no big deal. But to me it is a big deal. A very big deal.
Apple listens? They sure listened to what I wanted. Or maybe they didn't but just shared my wishes!?

 

[Eidorian]

If it's really only the operating system and its software you want, why not get a refurb AppleTV and install OS X on it? That would be pretty darn utilitarian. They got all the info to do it here: http://www.appletvhacks.net 🙂

Hardware doesn't need to look pretty to be functional.

Why would I want to be limited to 256 MB of RAM and a Pentium-M processor? You'd at least want a dual core and 4 GB of RAM.

 

[50548]

Ha! True. We aren't ready to have kids yet, but when we do (soon! she hints all the time now!) I will definitely do the same for them that my father did for me... get them the coolest computer on the block.

Or perhaps this is just a sign of increased intelligence levels amongst the populace over time...Macs are just better, and the non-enlightened are finally escaping their dark caves to see the light... 🙄

 

[localoid]

What is your problem? You need to quit "trolling" here.
Want me to explain it again slowly? I was summing up the parts for what they were worth. A MacMini is just a MacBook minus a few parts. Go back to the earlier post and see all the parts on a MacBook that aren't in a MacMini. Are you still with me? Goooooood. Now then, it's called math. You add up all those parts I listed that are not in the MacMini, subtract the sum from $1100, then subtract the depreciation of an August 2007 chipset, and there's the REAL price of the MacMini. A tad bit less than $599. 🙄
I've made quite a nice living on "logic", thank you.
By the way, you really should stay away from metaphors. (Camping? BMWs? Seriously.) Thats not your forte.
Again, it's been entertaining! 😀
Keep them coming...

What's your "value"? Remember, you're had at least 12 years of "depreciation" to factor in before you answer...

 

[commander.data]

The waiting paid off 🙂 8800GS was enough of a push for me to get an iMac. Just got home from the Apple Store with a 3.06 & 8800gs. Now to setup, and transfer my data from my MBP!

If you don't mind me asking, but if you have time could you try to Boot Camp windows and use a tool like GPU-Z to check out the specs of the 8800GS? It just doesn't seem like the 8800GS in the iMac is the standard desktop 8800GS since the standard 8800GS is supposed to have a 192-bit memory bus so doesn't come in a 512MB configuration so it'll be interesting to see what Apple is actually using.

EDIT: Unless there is actually a way to find information like memory bus or number of unified shaders in OS X.

 

[JayLenochiniMac]

So it's still Santa Rosa after all.

 

[Detektiv-Pinky]

The Mini hasn't that bad when introduced, in fact, it was pretty competitive. Hard drive technology on the 3.5" has just moved a lot faster than the 2.5" side. Apple's just been too stubborn to move in a slightly different direction for a replacement.

This is a very strange statement. As I see it, all the hard drive development has been in the 2.5" area lately.
You can now get drives storing 500GB (much higher data-density than 3.5" drives), others are spinning at 15,000 RPM.

It is a shame that Apple is not putting these beauties in the Mini, but this is not the fault of the technology as such.

 

[iFizz]

Or perhaps this is just a sign of increased intelligence levels amongst the populace over time...Macs are just better, and the non-enlightened are finally escaping their dark caves to see the light... 🙄

One can only hope.

 

[bluedoggiant]

So it's still Santa Rosa after all.

No, Montevina, the 3.06GHz is still part of the SR "era"

 

[macjustin]

Consoles...ick

I really the get the concept of this PC Gaming. Why not just buy a console. You wont have to upgrade GPUs every 6 months, you get countless titles, online play etc

Maybe i'm just horribly misinformed but i personally think PC gaming is a waste of time...at least from the limited knowledge i have of it

Maybe because computer games appeal to some people and console style games do not. I have a Wii, mostly for the kids but I like to play it once in a while. But none of the games compare to RPGs, MMOs, FPSs, or RTSs on a computer...not even close for me. Others like sports games or fighting games (ie Mortal Kombat), those are great on consoles but they only appeal to me very short term.

 

[BenRoethig]

Agreed. The feeling I have is that they don't want to create a new line unless it can be unlike anything else on the market. Mid-sized towers are just too mundane for Steve.

Yeah, the spectacular has always been his element. The indifference for the mundane and practical is the achilles heel of both him and this platform.

 

[drconehead2000]

So according to MR, this is a modified/custom SR....but according to Gizmodo this is the first Montevina because it utilizes 1066 Ram....

What is the actual verdict?

 

[rugrad9093]

New iMac are not available in all stores

Just tried to pick up a new iMac at the Freehold Raceway Mall in New Jersey. Called several times and the last person said no shipments will be in today.

 

[QCassidy352]

Oh boy another fanboy who can't get his head out of his a$$. Sorry if your another to bury your head in the sand. Their machines are good for 90% of the people? Oh, so you must be brain dead like all the rest.

Wow, you need to calm down. Try to understand that just because these machines are flawed for your purposes, that doesn't mean they are flawed for everyone. For many, these are wonderful upgrades and excellent machines.

You'd be surprised how many utilitarian Mac users there are. Some of us are here for the operating system and its software. We're not fans of the prices on hardware but we know that it's the only real option available for a viable Mac.

Then again we're all tired of the 3,476,546th discussion about apple's prices. Anyone who uses yet another car analogy loses.

Hear hear. Just last night, I made the same point in the imac thread from 2 days ago. If you don't like apple's prices, go somewhere else, or at least do your bitching somewhere else. Don't crap every thread about new hardware with price complaints.

The waiting paid off 🙂 8800GS was enough of a push for me to get an iMac. Just got home from the Apple Store with a 3.06 & 8800gs. Now to setup, and transfer my data from my MBP!

Awesome. Care to share any benchmarks with us? 🙂

One of these beauties will be my next computer... soon. 😀

 

[Marx55]

"the only technical difference between it and the upcoming X9100 "Montevina" CPU appears to be the a 11 watt TDP differential"

Which uses lower power, the current or the upcoming?

 

[JoeTheWise]

I am still a PC users, but it's a while (about 3-4 months now) that I made the eresia, running MacOS X on an ordinary PC. I was waiting for the iMac refresh for a while because, after using Leopard for a while, I decided to make the switch. I only want to share some thoughts with you all about this refresh.

The first thing is about the CPU/Platform discussion of the new iMacs, I have been in PC market for a lot so I know what I'm saying. Penryn is only the code-name for the new 45nm Intel Core2Duo CPUs, Montevina is the code-name for Intel new mobile platform, the commercial name will be Centrino 2 and it will be released in June. Apple doesn't use the full Intel mobile platform on his iMacs (maybe also in his laptops) because the platform is made of a CPU, a chipset and a wireless module all made from Intel, Centrino 2 also adds a GPU module. This is also one of the reasons why Apple can't use the Centrino brand, because she doesn't use the whole platform. In the new iMacs Apple is using a Penryn CPU with 1066 FSB and 800 MHz memory bus and that CPU is part of the Centrino 2 (Montevina) platform, the other thing maybe Apple is using is a new chipset because only the chipset can allow you to use the new FSB and the new memory DDR2 800. So Apple is using, like she did on the previusly iMac line, "part" of the new Montevina/Centrino 2 platform, in this case only the CPU and the chipset. This is a good news because again Apple as an exclusive with Intel for using some pieces of his tecnology months before it will be officially presented to the public. And also because a new iMac refresh probably is not just around the corner, Apple has just made her switch to the Montevina platform for the iMacs, to be clearly to the parts of the Montevina platform she wants to use, so probably the next refresh, and maybe also a more deep visual restyle, will occure when Intel will present the Nehalem paltform at the beginning of 2009.

The MacMini. On the Euro Stores the price of the Macmini today has been dropped from 599 to 499 Euro reflecting in part the new dollar/euro exchange ratio. Normally Apple does this when she is updating or refreshing his products (until yesterday 1459$ for an iMac will become 1459€ in the european stores... but the dollar/euro exchange ratio now is near 1.60...), so for me this will lead only to a bad news, no Macmini update for a while...

So now the two main reasons that stopped me to buy a Mac have dropped, the new iMacs are out and the prices are lower than before (the entry level is now below the psycological wall of 1000€ at 999€), yesterday iMac 20" 2.4 1GB RAM ATI 2600 Pro 256MB 320MB HD at 1459€ today imac 20" 2.66 2GB RAM ATI 2600 Pro 320MB HD at 1299€, can't wait for it!!!!!

 

[milo]

Agreed. The feeling I have is that they don't want to create a new line unless it can be unlike anything else on the market. Mid-sized towers are just too mundane for Steve.

And I think part of it is that a midtower would allow apples to apples comparisons, and people would easily see if the apple version is overpriced compared to the PC version.

With the iMac and mini, any comparison can be countered with "but you can't compare that, it's not a mini/all-in-one". The form factor is an excuse for not having pricing parity.

This is a very strange statement. As I see it, all the hard drive development has been in the 2.5" area lately.
You can now get drives storing 500GB (much higher data-density than 3.5" drives), others are spinning at 15,000 RPM.

It is a shame that Apple is not putting these beauties in the Mini, but this is not the fault of the technology as such.

You can get 500gb for a laptop, but it's way more expensive than a 3.5" 500gb drive. Not to mention that desktop drives are up to a gig now. Laptop drives are still more expensive and smaller than desktop drives and I'd be surprised if that changes any time soon, if ever.

Apple just dropped the ball by designing around a 2.5" drive. They could put a 500gb drive in a mini, but it would be extremely expensive and just highlight the pricing disadvantage of the mini.

 

[BenRoethig]

This is a very strange statement. As I see it, all the hard drive development has been in the 2.5" area lately.
You can now get drives storing 500GB (much higher data-density than 3.5" drives), others are spinning at 15,000 RPM.

It is a shame that Apple is not putting these beauties in the Mini, but this is not the fault of the technology as such.

All that's recent and Apple still hasn't caught up. Still, a 250GB desktop hard drive is faster and half the price. Being able to actually access the RAM for upgrades wouldn't hurt either.

 

[50548]

So it's still Santa Rosa after all.

No, it's Montevina (whatever that means, anyway...Intel MOBO names sound plain stupid)...🙄

 

[commander.data]

So according to MR, this is a modified/custom SR....but according to Gizmodo this is the first Montevina because it utilizes 1066 Ram....

What is the actual verdict?

Well it seems to be Montevina.

http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/37152/135/

While the mainstream chips 2.4 and 2.66 GHz versions are rated at a TDP of 25 watts, the 2.8 GHz (T9600) model runs at a 35 watt TDP and this special 3.06 GHz SKU at 55 watts.

Even the TG Daily article acknowledges the use of 25W TDP chips which is a characteristic of Montevina chips. The only custom chip appears to be the 3.06GHz chip with it's 55W TDP, compared to the 45W TDP when the official version is released. To the 3.06GHz chip is basically an early sample with a higher TDP like the original 3GHz Cloverton's Apple used were prereleases with a higher 150W TDP compared to the 120W TDP of the official versions.