Apple Releases Updated iMac Models With 21.5- and 27-Inch LED Screens

[calderone]

Maybe you should review my post history and see how much I'm "in love with" Apple as they get as much criticism from me as praise.

Apple has plenty of problems and their products are expensive. However, they continue to innovate in the dreary desktop market space in ways that other manufacturers don't, which is one of the reasons they keep posting record bursting quarters.

The #1 thing to love about Apple right now is OS X. Having worked with Windows for almost two decades (since the Windows for Workgroup days) and having worked with OS X now for about a year, there is simply no comparison. OS X beats the **** out of Windows (even Windows 7) and makes it scream for mercy.

Yes, that's my opinion, but I would say that my opinion is probably more valid than that of quite a few of the posers on this forum.

On the specific issue of the new iMacs. Yes, I think that they are outstanding although I really wish they threw in a better graphics card choice, blu-ray support and an SSD option. Maybe 2 out of 3 of those show up in April at the next refresh.

Just wow. So now I need to fear you because I might love Apple too much? Give it a rest. You defend Apple and spout off your "Windows cred," a mention of another computer comes from me (nothing specific mind you) and I get railed. I then counter your "Windows cred" with my "Apple cred," but now Apple isn't all that.

 

[CQd44]

Well, at least they have quad cores now!

 

[jmpage2]

Just wow. So now I need to fear you because I might love Apple too much? Give it a rest. You defend Apple and spout off your "Windows cred," a mention of another computer comes from me (nothing specific mind you) and I get railed. I then counter your "Windows cred" with my "Apple cred," but now Apple isn't all that.

You got railed because you are painting me and anyone else who is impressed with these new machines as Apple fanbois.

Deal with it.

 

[Unprocessed1]

You got railed because you are painting me and anyone else who is impressed with these new machines as Apple fanbois.

Deal with it.

Settle down boys, there's enough iMac and Windows 7 for everyone using
Bootcamp!

 

[calderone]

You got railed because you are painting me and anyone else who is impressed with these new machines as Apple fanbois.

Deal with it.

Please provide a quote that proves your claim.

 

[ThunderSkunk]

do you guys think there is a considerable difference between the i5 and the i7? because for what im doing (photography, graphic design, 3d modeling, animation) i feel like the i7 isnt going to show me much difference than an i5

You'll see the big difference when Adobe finally gets around to getting their Creative Suite (cs5) into 64 bit territory. It's a little silly to throw every last penny into a top of the line Apple, and then machete it at the knees and run your most powerful apps at 32bit.

What are you using for 3D modeling? We actually get better performance out of mac pros running Inventor through VMware than we do from our windows systems. ...& then we don't have to have a bunch of high-maintenance windows boxes out there costing us. Ignoring the problem, and restoring a clean windows virtual machine out of Time Machine makes me smile every time I do it.

 

[ThunderSkunk]

Please provide a quote that proves your claim.

Anyone who spells fanboy "fanboi" spends far too much time online thinking they're clever.

 

[calderone]

Anyone who spells fanboy "fanboi" spends far too much time online thinking they're clever.

Agreed. Also, as a philosophy major, I love your sig.

 

[jmpage2]

Please provide a quote that proves your claim.

I think that the smarmy comments about a 30" Dell display plus crummy mid-tower being a better buy than the new Mac that got my hackles up. Apologies all around, it's been a long day of teeth gnashing for sure.

 

[Chappers]

And what problems would I have with a PC? Please don't say anything about drivers or viruses, because those sorts of things haven't been an issue since Windows 95 and those arguments haven't been valid since then.

I recently installed Windows on my Macbook and it actually advised me to get virus protection software.

The rest of your post offers nothing new from you. Price and Blu-Ray blah blah blah. Thanks we all know now.

 

[calderone]

I think that the smarmy comments about a 30" Dell display plus crummy mid-tower being a better buy than the new Mac that got my hackles up. Apologies all around, it's been a long day of teeth gnashing for sure.

Whoa. Did I say better buy? You can stuff all the words you want in my mouth, that doesn't make me the originator.

And I love how you classify statements. Yours are of course brilliant and obviously "more valid" as you said before. Mine are smarmy, boorish, etc.

Even here you have to qualify with "crummy," while classifying my comments as "smarmy." Apology accepted, I know it is tough touting the Apple line.

 

[DMann]

Are you serious? You really think the Core i7 iMac is that good?

I hate to break it to you, but Core i7 has been available for Windows desktop PCs for about a year now. The Core 2 Quad has been in Windows desktop PCs for a couple of years now and the prices are so low that you can basically walk into Walmart and walk out with a Core 2 Quad system for only a few hundred dollars.

Core i5 on a PC is a $199 chip. Core i7 is $279 and $289.

The ATI Radeon 4850 is more than a year old now. A much faster GeForce GTX can be had for less than $200 these days.

And don't even get me started on the screen on Macs. Apple uses edge-lit LED backlit LCDs. So there is NO visual benefit other than instant-on. Apple's screens are so glossy and have much lower color gamut than significantly lower screens, plus 16x9 displays have been the norm for PCs for, again, more than a year now. And, again, they're so glossy they're useless. I have the original unibody MacBook and in certain lighting conditions I can't even use the built-in screen because its so reflective. Just yesterday I was trying to use it. There was no direct light source behind me, just light bouncing off things the way it normally does. I had the screen brightness all the way up and I could still see myself in the screen more than I could see what was actually on screen.

Apple is basically charging $2,000 for something NOW that would have cost you $1,000 a year ago.

Still waiting for that Hackintosh All-In-One with the same, or better specs as the 27" quad-core i7 iMac, LED ISP 2560 x 1440 for half the cost. I have no problem with the Quad-Core i7 860 (Lynnfield with Hyperthreading and Turbo Boost, introduced last month) or an LED backlit LCD (ISP with a 2560 x 1440 resolution, not currently available for under $1400)

I'd prefer that it doesn't look like total crap.

BTW, what is all this ranting about 16:9 aspect ratio? Now that it is a mute point, you seem somewhat disappointed.

 

[flpanthersfan37]

Ship date

Has anyone seen anything about when these things will ship in november or at least if it will be early, mod, or late in the month. I am going to order mine in a few days, getting a 27in with quadcore because I have been waiting for over a year for that, but would like to have a better idea of when they will be coming.

 

[agent 86]

Make that 2

Why does Apple have to cater to your needs and the needs of a tiny vocal minority?

Apple obviously knows what they are doing, they are making money hand over fist during a recession.

I would honestly have to say that if you put a poll up on the desktop forum about what feature people would most want NEXT in an Apple computer you would find mini-tower pretty far down the list, and that's at an Apple/Mac enthusiast site.

Number of people in this thread griping about lack of blu-ray support... about 100.

Number of people in this thread griping about lack of X-tower Mac.... Eldorian

Hell there are more people complaining about not having a higher GPU in this thing than complaining about Apple not throwing financials to the wind and releasing a low selling, sale cannibalizing mid-tower computer.

Get over it Eldorian. Or, buy a Windows box and enjoy Win 7.

Ummm... I'm with Eldorian on this one. There's a glaring hole in the line up - which is even weirder as of today. I just want a reasonably specced (& priced) desktop that I can open up and stick the things I want to in. & I don't want to go and buy a windows box.

 

[Furrybeagle]

Ummm... I'm with Eldorian on this one. There's a glaring hole in the line up - which is even weirder as of today. I just want a reasonably specced (& priced) desktop that I can open up and stick the things I want to in. & I don't want to go and buy a windows box.

There are two demographics that want expandable Macs. Enthusiasts, and professionals. Professionals are willing to pony up for a Mac Pro. Which leaves enthusiasts as the only target of a cheaper, expandable tower. And we know how Apple loves bending over for the enthusiast (like, say, people on this forum?). Couple this with the fact that a tower would hurt iMac and Mac Pro sales without making up for lost profit (plenty of people are willing to pay for the iMac when it's the baseline desktop Mac... far less people would pay for it if they could just get a cheaper Mac tower).

Edit: Not that I disagree with you, because I would love one, I just don’t think it’s going to happen.

 

[Ryn0soR]

27" Display

If only blu-ray was there too...

Can you connect an <HDMI to DVI> wire to a <DVI to Mini-Display> to end up with <HDMI to Mini-Display> and use the new iMac as a monitor for a Blu-Ray player or other video source? (Obviously audio would have to be fed via another cable(s))

 

[Eidorian]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPod; U; CPU iPhone OS 3_1_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/528.18 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile/7D11 Safari/528.16)



Ooh that'd make a nice comp for my HDTV. Right now I have a relic HP P4 connected to it.

If you're still interested.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883103228

I use my AMD machine and it's dead silent. I lowered the fan voltages and cranked up minimum fan temperature. Now if it only had a passive PSU.

 

[singhjeet29]

Ummm... I'm with Eldorian on this one. There's a glaring hole in the line up - which is even weirder as of today. I just want a reasonably specced (& priced) desktop that I can open up and stick the things I want to in. & I don't want to go and buy a windows box.

I also would love it if I could get a mid tower, the Pro's are just insane in terms of price and the iMac's are great, but I'd love to install a higher spec video card than the one Apple offer's for much less then Apple's asking.

Regardless I am looking to get the 21.5 inch with the TB HDD and the 4670 with 256MB video card, I was hoping someone could let me know if they tried running games through bootcamp on a 4670 with 256 MB of ram, and I would like to know how well they played. Essentially thats the make or break factor for me right now.

 

[Terminal.app]

ANY WORD ON WHEN THESE NEW iMACS WILL HIT A STORE LIKE BEST BUY?

I like these new iMacs.

That said, the C2D models are a waste of time. Get the i5/i7 choice if you're going to buy.

Agreed!

The 27-inch display is useless for the Mac OS. How are you supposed to reach the menus when they're so far high and to the left corner.

It's time for Apple to make the Menu float around the desktop.

What kind of a goofy statement/idea is that? 30-inch cinema displays have been around for years. Should there be an "iMap" in case your cursor gets lost in the vastness of the ginormous screen?

 

[MythicFrost]

I think the 27" iMac is fantastic, except for the GPU.
Why would have Apple not used a better GPU? can the 4850 actually do anything like play Crysis?

Shouldn't it have a GTX 285 1GB in it at least? or a 4870 1GB? or something?
Perhaps it's a heating issue? or space? or I don't know... anyone know?

Kind Regards

 

[agent 86]

Allllright!

So i've been lurking here all day watching you folks, and I'm with all the guys who are positive about this release, this is really just what i was hoping for though I wasn't expecting them to up the size of the screen. I'm for it. I've got just enough space on my desk, and because i run a lot of audio programs (Pro Tools, Logic) where looking at tracking and edit windows are intensive, I knew i was going to need at least a 24 inch screen.

Fortunately i waited patiently for this update, as i had come this close to splurging on the Quad Mac Pro with a 2.9 ghz nehalem. I'm about 99% sure i'm going to drop the dough on the 27'' i7, since the specs will be almost about the same as the mac pro (with a 16gig RAM max). Once i did all the above upgrades on the mac pro, i had already outspent the cost of what i am going to drop on this imac without the display.

Since the isight and mic were important to me (need to skype with the girlfriend), and the option of running the speakers alone, i was definetly going to drop money on the mac LCD display, and now that this has the mini display port in option, this is just perfect.

Don't care about the lack of blue ray - I don't own any blue ray titles at all, although it would have been a nice option and i agree with those who think it was silly to have a magnificent display with this with no BR option. As for the glossy vs. matte, I for one do like the glossy - and i live in a basement apartment where the light is low (iCave!). I do basically no gaming so this graphics card is fine with me.

My gripes are minimal - Would have liked to see another firewire port, maybe another USB, perhaps USB 3, and would have liked to see them up the hard drive up to a eSATA. None of this is scaring me away though - if need be i'll take it to tekserve down the road and have them upgrade the drive.

Best part is, if there are some major leaps in CPU processing in the next 3-4 years, i have a beautiful display to run it on. Speaking of which, does anyone know if there's some kind of "display mode" built in so that if running purely as a display it will power down put the CPU/Hard Drives to sleep?

Sorry for the novel, just a lot to rebut here and i'm so excited. Go apple.

What he said.

 

[Hilmi Hamidi]

Apple is a wonderful company.
Love my iPod Touch.
Wait for me iMac, imma buy you soon enough.

 

[fpnc]

Can you connect an <HDMI to DVI> wire to a <DVI to Mini-Display> to end up with <HDMI to Mini-Display> and use the new iMac as a monitor for a Blu-Ray player or other video source? (Obviously audio would have to be fed via another cable(s))

No, you can't.

However, there is some new evidence that Apple might be coming out with adapters that will allow you to connect to something other than Mini DisplayPort (the likely candidates being DVI and HDMI). Read this link for more details:

https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/8677386/

 

[Ryn0soR]

DVI and HDMI

No, you can't.

However, there is some new evidence that Apple might be coming out with adapters that will allow you to connect to something other than Mini DisplayPort (the likely candidates being DVI and HDMI). Read this link for more details:

https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/8677386/

Awesome/Thank you: I will order my new imac in the morning... bye bye PC... I'm getting a mac -- finally!

2.8GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7
8GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 4x2GB
1TB Serial ATA Drive
ATI Radeon HD 4850 512MB
8x double-layer SuperDrive
Apple Magic Mouse
Apple Wireless Keyboard (English) and User's Guide
Apple Remote
iWork '09 preinstalled

 

[Buzz Bumble]

It's finally time to retire my G4 733 after 8+ years of service. And what a way to do it!

I haven't dared to look at the New Zealand prices yet and I'll wait to see the "in person", but I might well be retiring my PowerMac G3 after 11 years of great service.