Besides ivy bridge, is anything else changing with the iMacs?

[iMikeT]

and yeah, do you even know what coherent means?

It means being able to gather my written thoughts in a smooth, flowing manner. It also means using the correct punctuations so others know when your sentences begin and end.

The following is an example of what incoherent and incomprehensible writing looks like, it may appear familiar to you.

yeah, thats what im talking about, the deals on!

so, my prediction

ivy bridge
next gen gpu
usb 3.0 (really, no-brainer)
bluetooth 4.0 (also a no-brainer, i mean come on man, do some thinking)
due in april, maybe first half of may at the latest (375 days from the last update) - apple (and other oems) already has both ivy bridge and next gen gpu for a month now

so your logic - june - that means 400+ days between refreshes (270 average) and you think it could go up to 460+ days, not happened once in recent apple history except with mac pros because of sandy bridge E delay...

and btw why wouldnt apple release a couple of updates on the same day? happened before...

a question, what do you base your expectations on? i do a mix of a lot of reading on every possible tech news site that has credibility and some common sense and logic - which you obviously dont, hello people, intel stated usb 3 supplements thunderbolt, why wouldnt apple use it? the port is already there, and with ivy bridge implementing it natively, apple doesnt have to move a finger and that is what they have been waiting for, also usb 3 and thunderbolt dont compete each other (thunderbolt - professionals - high speed - expensive + video; usb 3 consumers - cheap - low speed = its clear as a day), jesus, some thinking, why do you think there havent been any thunderbolt to usb3 converters? and why there wont be any? and i read here all the time, how is apple backing up thunderbolt? by not implementing usb 3? look at it this way: when they were designing first mpb with thunderbolt, they took a look on intels plans and saw that next year ivy bridge will be implementing usb 3 natively, so they thought why the heck would we want to implement usb 3 with some 3rd party chip when next years it comes with cpu, a perfect decision from an engineers standpoint, dont you think? the same thing with hdmi, why would you want 2 ports (video + data) when you can have one port - thunderbolt (video AND data), those things are clear as a day, and yet some people just refuse to use their brain, like the following statement:

you say bluetooth 4.0 is a strong possibility? you lost all the credibility with this statement... a no-brainer? it appears theres no brain (not as an organ, rather as an intellect), or no usage of it whatsoever
so every mac that has been updated in the past few months (by that, i mean macbook air and mac mini, the 'real' updates, not mbp 6770m and faster cpus as bto) HAVE bluetooth 4.0 and the bluetooth integration in iMac 2012 is a strong possibility? not a given? sorry i just cant get it out of my head
maybe if it was only macbook air, you could then think that only laptops are getting it, but with minis too...

there is a lot more to say, but time tells the best

 

[MacOG728893]

high end model
intel ivy bridge i7-3770 (lower power consumption)
amd hd 7970m (lower power consumption, higher preformance)
4gb ram
lower priced ssd, with 512 GB optional
USB 3.0 (100%, integrated in ivy bridge, even intel says thunderbolt and usb 3 supplement each other, so no-brainer)
Bluetooth 4.0

I think this is about as accurate and practical as it gets. I also think it's absurd that people think we'll be waiting till July to see the update!

 

[iMikeT]

I think this is about as accurate and practical as it gets. I also think it's absurd that people think we'll be waiting till July to see the update!

Some of his predictions are realistic but the rest is wishful thinking. If you think he's 100% accurate you're just as deluded as him so go on and keep dreaming buddy.

If you want in on the bet you're more than welcome to it. I'll have two people here owing me apologies at the end of April!

 

[MacOG728893]

Some of his predictions are realistic but the rest is wishful thinking. If you think he's 100% accurate you're just as deluded as him so go on and keep dreaming buddy.

If you want in on the bet you're more than welcome to it. I'll have two people here owing me apologies at the end of April!

I didn't include his timeframe btw.. I believe mid May is when we'll see this land.

Everything else only makes sense.. Tell me what would they use instead of what was mentioned?

 

[jeremyshaw]

Main deal I want: bettery battery life. Whether that comes from bigger batteries, or better efficiency, I don't know.

 

[phalseHUD]

Main deal I want: bettery battery life. Whether that comes from bigger batteries, or better efficiency, I don't know.

Batteries? On an iMac? Or are you talking about wireless peripherals? Or are you just taking the piss?

 

[beosound3200]

It means being able to gather my written thoughts in a smooth, flowing manner. It also means using the correct punctuations so others know when your sentences begin and end.

The following is an example of what incoherent and incomprehensible writing looks like, it may appear familiar to you.

actually, you dont know what coherent means...

my writing can sometimes be upside down, thats because i write in a hurry what comes to my mind without any order, im not writing an essay, im writing a post, but i think you find it incomprehensible because a lot of things i know and understand i take for granted and dont explain myself, thats the first reason, the second reason is i use my english only on macrumors

the ability to understand someone is proportional to your iq

----------

Some of his predictions are realistic but the rest is wishful thinking. If you think he's 100% accurate you're just as deluded as him so go on and keep dreaming buddy.

If you want in on the bet you're more than welcome to it. I'll have two people here owing me apologies at the end of April!

usb 3 and bluetooth 4 are wishful thinking? are you purposely making me think that you are crazy and thats fun for you or?
or the timeframe?

i ask you again, what do you base your predictions on, i can give you ground on my prediction, lets see

 

[onthecouchagain]

I'll represent the conservative viewpoint and put myself out there by saying I don't believe we'll see USB3, nor better SSD options/prices, nor higher RAM standards, nor higher resolution nor a redesign. Besides the basic bumps (Ivy, GPU, etc), I think the line will remain close.

Hope I'm wrong though.

 

[henrikrox]

yeah, thats what im talking about, the deals on!

so, my prediction

ivy bridge
next gen gpu
usb 3.0 (really, no-brainer)
bluetooth 4.0 (also a no-brainer, i mean come on man, do some thinking)
due in april, maybe first half of may at the latest (375 days from the last update) - apple (and other oems) already has both ivy bridge and next gen gpu for a month now

so your logic - june - that means 400+ days between refreshes (270 average) and you think it could go up to 460+ days, not happened once in recent apple history except with mac pros because of sandy bridge E delay...

and btw why wouldnt apple release a couple of updates on the same day? happened before...

a question, what do you base your expectations on? i do a mix of a lot of reading on every possible tech news site that has credibility and some common sense and logic - which you obviously dont, hello people, intel stated usb 3 supplements thunderbolt, why wouldnt apple use it? the port is already there, and with ivy bridge implementing it natively, apple doesnt have to move a finger and that is what they have been waiting for, also usb 3 and thunderbolt dont compete each other (thunderbolt - professionals - high speed - expensive + video; usb 3 consumers - cheap - low speed = its clear as a day), jesus, some thinking, why do you think there havent been any thunderbolt to usb3 converters? and why there wont be any? and i read here all the time, how is apple backing up thunderbolt? by not implementing usb 3? look at it this way: when they were designing first mpb with thunderbolt, they took a look on intels plans and saw that next year ivy bridge will be implementing usb 3 natively, so they thought why the heck would we want to implement usb 3 with some 3rd party chip when next years it comes with cpu, a perfect decision from an engineers standpoint, dont you think? the same thing with hdmi, why would you want 2 ports (video + data) when you can have one port - thunderbolt (video AND data), those things are clear as a day, and yet some people just refuse to use their brain, like the following statement:

you say bluetooth 4.0 is a strong possibility? you lost all the credibility with this statement... a no-brainer? it appears theres no brain (not as an organ, rather as an intellect), or no usage of it whatsoever
so every mac that has been updated in the past few months (by that, i mean macbook air and mac mini, the 'real' updates, not mbp 6770m and faster cpus as bto) HAVE bluetooth 4.0 and the bluetooth integration in iMac 2012 is a strong possibility? not a given? sorry i just cant get it out of my head
maybe if it was only macbook air, you could then think that only laptops are getting it, but with minis too...

there is a lot more to say, but time tells the best

and yeah, do you even know what coherent means?

The problem here is that all info points on that the high end gpus from amd 7970m and alike wont be released before may.

Also you are wrong that apple has the next gpu from amd, they havnt been announced yet, we know the high end mobile gpus will be 28nm, but nothing more.

I dont know where you get your solid info from.

 

[beosound3200]

The problem here is that all info points on that the high end gpus from amd 7970m and alike wont be released before may.

Also you are wrong that apple has the next gpu from amd, they havnt been announced yet, we know the high end mobile gpus will be 28nm, but nothing more.

I dont know where you get your solid info from.

thats correct, timeframe for amd high end gpus is april/may

amd built the gpu long ago, a couple of months ago, the last couple of months they (tsmc) are tweaking the manufacturing process (28nm) so there are best possible yields from wafers, the same thing with intel, intel sent ivy bridge cpus sometime in november/december to oems...

you really think that apple needs to wait for chips to get in the stores, so they can send tim cook to buy one and then they can build a pc around it

big oems like apple know years ahead about intel/amd/nvidia plans and roadmaps

 

[thekev]

you really think that apple needs to wait for chips to get in the stores, so they can send tim cook to buy one and then they can build a pc around it

big oems like apple know years ahead about intel/amd/nvidia plans and roadmaps

The roadmaps are basically public knowledge. You can see what they're developing several years out on their own website. Apple does need chips for fine tuning. They probably receive pre production chips for testing. You have to allow a little wiggle room on these things. Bugs pop up. Specs can be a little off, and production can take time to ramp up.

 

[DeepIn2U]

GPU wise this will be the first Intel IGP with OpenCL support(good for Final Cut Pro X etc.) and support for DirectX 11 which should mean reasonable performance increases. Anandtech are expecting that the speed increase on the GPU might even be 60% which would be a nice bump .

OpenCL support from imbedded Intel IGP - VERY doubtful; its in the cards but we'll see the support in Lion and SL if updated by Apple.

 

[beosound3200]

The roadmaps are basically public knowledge. You can see what they're developing several years out on their own website. Apple does need chips for fine tuning. They probably receive pre production chips for testing. You have to allow a little wiggle room on these things. Bugs pop up. Specs can be a little off, and production can take time to ramp up.

pre production chips is the word i've been looking for, thank you

 

[roblin]

Batteries? On an iMac? Or are you talking about wireless peripherals? Or are you just taking the piss?

was probably a typo but I think apple should have like 5min battery as UPS in all desktops so people can finnish what they are doing when power goes down.

 

[Icaras]

As for when you can expect Apple to upgrade and ship any upgraded [2012] iMacs, it will probably be during the summer months, June through August. It is highly unlikely that Apple will upgrade any earlier than June. Honestly, you're better off buying something sooner than later at this point.

I totally disagree with this.

We'll see new iMacs by April, no later than June.

 

[iMikeT]

actually, you dont know what coherent means...

my writing can sometimes be upside down, thats because i write in a hurry what comes to my mind without any order, im not writing an essay, im writing a post, but i think you find it incomprehensible because a lot of things i know and understand i take for granted and dont explain myself, thats the first reason, the second reason is i use my english only on macrumors

the ability to understand someone is proportional to your iq

----------



usb 3 and bluetooth 4 are wishful thinking? are you purposely making me think that you are crazy and thats fun for you or?
or the timeframe?

i ask you again, what do you base your predictions on, i can give you ground on my prediction, lets see

If you want to resort to juvenile name calling and making immature comparisons about who's predictions are any more valid than the next person, that's fine with me. Just don't butt in when the grown ups talk to each other around here.

 

[jwm2]

Those are some pretty bold predictions. I don't see many of them coming to fruition. A bump in processor speed, sure. A bump in gpu, sure. But a completely new redesign, na. I say its a small increase in performance and not much else. Maybe bluetooth 4.0 and usb 3.0, but those mean little if anything to me personally. I don't do mass file transfers and the only thing i own that might be bluetooth 4.0 compatible is my iPhone 4s. So i'm glad i bit the bullet and bought my iMac when i did. I'm plenty happy and i'm sure this pc will keep me going for many years to come. Until last week i was still running a dell xps from 5 years ago. Sure it was nice back then, but times have changed. I'm hoping this pc lasts me another 5 years and then i'll upgrade when i pass this down to my oldest daughter. She's just about to turn 8 btw

 

[theSeb]

Some interesting reading

http://www.anandtech.com/show/5426/amd-clarifies-7000m-strategy

A small bit:

They have in essence drawn a line in the sand (e.g. in their product portfolio), and everything 7600M and below will reuse their existing 40nm VLIW5 architecture while all of the yet-to-be-announced parts above 7600M (7700M/7800M/7900M) will switch to 28nm GCN (Graphics Core Next). It sounds like the mobile GPUs will use lower power variants of “Pitcairn” and “Cape Verde”, leaving “Tahiti” as a desktop-only GPU for the time being, but features like DX11.1, VCE, and ZeroCore Power Technology will be present in the higher performance 7000M parts when they launch. And just when will that be? AMD wouldn’t give us a date, but all indications are we’ll see the 7000M Southern Islands GPUs in the April/May timeframe.

 

[yashi]

The roadmaps are basically public knowledge. You can see what they're developing several years out on their own website. Apple does need chips for fine tuning. They probably receive pre production chips for testing. You have to allow a little wiggle room on these things. Bugs pop up. Specs can be a little off, and production can take time to ramp up.

Yeah, it's a little silly to believe for one second that Apple has to wait for the official launch date of these chips to get their hands on them for production purposes.

Companies want to make money, and how do they make money? By doing everything they can to get their hardware in a Mac ASAP. If these chips aren't in the next iMac, you can consider it Apple's choice, not AMD's. But in all likelihood, I think we see them in the next iMac refresh in April/May. My prediction means nothing, of course.

 

[beosound3200]

If you want to resort to juvenile name calling and making immature comparisons about who's predictions are any more valid than the next person, that's fine with me. Just don't butt in when the grown ups talk to each other around here.

haha yeah just keep running, really thats all you can, nevertheless i ask you again, on what do you base your predictions on?
you know, predictions arent made up, they gotta be based on something more or less solid, not pure gibberish, and yours apparently arent, so another 'name-calling': troll? does this one suit you better sir?

 

[Nanker/Phelge]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned anything about a complete re-design. It's been roughly 5 years, longer than the typical period Apple goes without an update.

And Ivy Bridge has targeted a 10%-15% increase for CPU performance, something like 20% for integrated GPU. The latter is pretty much irrelevant with a discrete GPU unless they have them working in tandem.

 

[beosound3200]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned anything about a complete re-design. It's been roughly 5 years, longer than the typical period Apple goes without an update.

And Ivy Bridge has targeted a 10%-15% increase for CPU performance, something like 20% for integrated GPU. The latter is pretty much irrelevant with a discrete GPU unless they have them working in tandem.

how can you mention a redesign here without being burned with a flamethrower, some people dont even believe in usb 3 and bluetooth 4

i think a redesign is a sound option... as you said, its been 5 years
those predictions i stated are absolute minimum apple will do

but i think people here dont want to get their hopes up so they cant get disappointed in the end, jesus, those are computer we're talking about, not ladies

 

[Icaras]

how can you mention a redesign here without being burned with a flamethrower, some people dont even believe in usb 3 and bluetooth 4

i think a redesign is a sound option... as you said, its been 5 years
those predictions i stated are absolute minimum apple will do

but i think people here dont want to get their hopes up so they cant get disappointed in the end, jesus, those are computer we're talking about, not ladies

I think a redesign is quite possible as well. Biggest thing Apple could do is ditch the optical disk drive to make it even thinner, since this is the obvious direction they are going in. Just look at the Mac Mini. Literally cut in half.

 

[thekev]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned anything about a complete re-design. It's been roughly 5 years, longer than the typical period Apple goes without an update.

And Ivy Bridge has targeted a 10%-15% increase for CPU performance, something like 20% for integrated GPU. The latter is pretty much irrelevant with a discrete GPU unless they have them working in tandem.

Most of what they could redesign would be aesthetics. People on here complained that the raccoon face was ugly last time they changed it. I'm not sure the imac is a huge point of focus for them. It might be, but not to the degree of something like the macbook air. I might be a little biased. I'm definitely not a huge fan of the imacs. It's a bit too integrated for a desktop given the inherent problems of computer technology. Remember that the quality control of computer parts has gone down immensely over the past decade. Yes Apple has a vetting for their suppliers, but this is a problem that is cumulative amongst the industry.

Hellhammer went into this on another thread regarding the cpu performance. I'm not sure where the performance is really coming from. Not much is really changing in the design other than the size. If it can run in turbo boost mode longer or run at a slightly higher clock rate, that might explain it. Don't expect 10-15% in theoretical power to be noticeable. Even side by side the real world difference will probably be minimal.

I think a redesign is quite possible as well. Biggest thing Apple could do is ditch the optical disk drive to make it even thinner, since this is the obvious direction they are going in. Just look at the Mac Mini. Literally cut in half.

Except you couldn't actually do that with the imacs without running into even more issues. They're already a fully closed system not meant to be opened with components built in quite close to the display. Ivy Bridge may be running a little cooler, but I'm not sure on gpus. The current gpu runs quite hot, even if it is a laptop gpu. If you look at the laptops that typically use it, they're almost as thick as an imac. . Personally I think a silent computer is preferable to a thinner one. It's not like you gain any real desk space if they remove a quarter of an inch of depth from the design. The chin isn't going anywhere. Doing that would mean a much heavier base. Everyone saw the lenovo and thought it was ugly. I like the Wacom design. Next time I buy a desk, I will make sure it has both the space and support capacity for that thing .

 

[Icaras]

Except you couldn't actually do that with the imacs without running into even more issues. They're already a fully closed system not meant to be opened with components built in quite close to the display. Ivy Bridge may be running a little cooler, but I'm not sure on gpus. The current gpu runs quite hot, even if it is a laptop gpu. If you look at the laptops that typically use it, they're almost as thick as an imac. .

iMacs use the same mobile GPUs as the current Macbook Pros, less than an inch thick. Also, check out the new OLEDs that were shown at CES 2012 last week:

Before the white iMac G5 was shown, no one could have imagined a computer could fit in such a thin chassis design. Technology shrinks dramatically over time and this is most definitely not the end of the line. iMacs will get even smaller. It's a constant.

Personally I think a silent computer is preferable to a thinner one. It's not like you gain any real desk space if they remove a quarter of an inch of depth from the design. The chin isn't going anywhere. Doing that would mean a much heavier base. Everyone saw the lenovo and thought it was ugly. I like the Wacom design. Next time I buy a desk, I will make sure it has both the space and support capacity for that thing .

Silence is golden, agreed, and these Macs are already available if you configure it with an SSD. The chin has been shrinking since the G5 iMac was released. In fact, it has shrunk twice since then. Why doubt that it will get even smaller? Again, technology shrinks over time. I won't be surprised if the chin gets cut in half next redesign.