Brushed Aluminum iMac at WWDC?

[PVguy]

New imac with expansion?

They could fix my main objection to the iMac if they put two expresscard slots on the thing.

The iMac is going to be junk, as in totally and completely obsolete, in three years since it has no way to add the next interface, whether it be eSATA or USB 3 or some hot new wireless technology or something we haven't thought of yet. So there goes an expensive monitor that still works fine because it's attached to something that can't be updated.

And I can't run a Mac Pro without adding a new electrical circuit. Literally. This house is 50 years old, it was never built to run all this electrical equipment.

I'm hoping for a Mac midi, or the return of the Cube (with the CD out the front) or even an Apple Authorized Motherboard, say an Intel 965 bundled with Tiger (for now) and a list of supported video cards.

The current lineup has nothing for me to buy.

 

[BenRoethig]

You guys are not understanding the whole point of Macs..."built-in, not bolted on" or "it just works".

It just works...but really slow compared to full featured Macs of old. You must be one of the newer Mac users that can't remember the days before the G4 iMac was thrust upon us. To make thing brief, Apple had this great computer called a PowerMac G3. It was a tower far superior to all others. It worked like a charm and was far easier to work on than all other towers. Then came a day when Steve decided that our larger wonderful towers, were too ungainly and we should trade them in for cool looking, but less functional all in ones and moved the towers upwards in price $900 so we didn't have much of a choice.. Now appearantly the all in one is the essence of the Mac and anybody who doesn't agree is some kind of PC heretic. Don't tell me what I Mac is, I've been using them since they came with 68000 series CPUs, I think I know.

 

[LoganT]

It just works...but really slow compared to full featured Macs of old. You must be one of the newer Mac users that can't remember the days before the G4 iMac was thrust upon us. To make thing brief, Apple had this great computer called a PowerMac G3. It was a tower far superior to all others. It worked like a charm and was far easier to work on than all other towers. Then came a day when Steve decided that our larger wonderful towers, were too ungainly and we should trade them in for cool looking, but less functional all in ones and moved the towers upwards in price $900 so we didn't have much of a choice.. Now appearantly the all in one is the essence of the Mac and anybody who doesn't agree is some kind of PC heretic. Don't tell me what I Mac is, I've been using them since they came with 68000 series CPUs, I think I know.

Great point.

 

[MonkeyClaw]

I dunno, I still think that they will drop the "i" and have a Mac Mini, Mac, Mac Pro, MacBook Mini, MacBook, and MacBook Pro line up. Its very simple and as we all know, Apple loves its simplicity. Every desktop model will have a portable counterpart. Maybe thats why we aren't seeing an iMac update at WWDC cause it will be dropped. I dunno, maybe its just cause I haven't had enough coffee...

 

[digitalbiker]

It just works...but really slow compared to full featured Macs of old. You must be one of the newer Mac users that can't remember the days before the G4 iMac was thrust upon us. To make thing brief, Apple had this great computer called a PowerMac G3. It was a tower far superior to all others. It worked like a charm and was far easier to work on than all other towers. Then came a day when Steve decided that our larger wonderful towers, were too ungainly and we should trade them in for cool looking, but less functional all in ones and moved the towers upwards in price $900 so we didn't have much of a choice.. Now appearantly the all in one is the essence of the Mac and anybody who doesn't agree is some kind of PC heretic. Don't tell me what I Mac is, I've been using them since they came with 68000 series CPUs, I think I know.

Exactly.

I don't understand all this ferber over a Mac being and all-in-one. Do people really enjoy filling landfills with integrated monitors and graphics cards?

Essentially an all-in-one has all of the disadvantages of a laptop (non-update-able) without the portability.

Why make people toss out their entire computer system, monitor and all, when all they really need is an updated GPU or a super drive exchanged for that old cd burner?

It is such a waste.

 

[yojitani]

This has probably been said already, but if Apple is going to reposition the iMac as a 'premium' line, then they HAVE to make it more expandable. The iMac's lack of expandability is a major put-off for someone like me whose needs are between the MacPro and the iMac.

 

[muskratboy]

ah, the good old days...

It just works...but really slow compared to full featured Macs of old. You must be one of the newer Mac users that can't remember the days before the G4 iMac was thrust upon us. To make thing brief, Apple had this great computer called a PowerMac G3. It was a tower far superior to all others. It worked like a charm and was far easier to work on than all other towers. Then came a day when Steve decided that our larger wonderful towers, were too ungainly and we should trade them in for cool looking, but less functional all in ones and moved the towers upwards in price $900 so we didn't have much of a choice.. Now appearantly the all in one is the essence of the Mac and anybody who doesn't agree is some kind of PC heretic. Don't tell me what I Mac is, I've been using them since they came with 68000 series CPUs, I think I know.

... when candy cost a penny and cokes cost a nickel. and the world was made of sunbeams and puppydog tails. truly, all of western civilization reached its peak with the PowerMac G3. also, it ran on dreams and cotton candy.

 

[ClimbingTheLog]

Number one, it would probably cut in to Mac Pro sales (seriously).

That's OK if it increases the market share of Macs.

You guys are not understanding the whole point of Macs..."built-in, not bolted on" or "it just works".

Do you use your Mac just for e-mail and web? Everybody who does any more work (even iMovie HD) on a Mini has a desk full of external hard drives, iSights, iPods, digicams, iPhones, DVD burners, etc. The All-In-One design "just works" for a very basic user group.

You're not going to fix all that with just a case, but room for three drives and a burner you can change out would be fab. Today's DVD-DL burner upgrade was yesterday's DVD upgrade and tomorrow's Blu-Ray upgrade.

ALL I CAN SAY IS, GLARE GLARE GLARE. WITH THE WHITE CHIN I CAN SEE MY SELF TYPING, IT IS QUITE REFLECTIVE AND WITH AN aluminum CHIN THIS WOULD BE A PROBLEM

Check out a MacBook Pro. No glare.

 

[PNW]

Number two most people who buy computers don't WANT to open their computers and mess with them.

Then don't open them. Just because you can doesn't mean you have to.

There are lots of reasons why a "mid-tower" does not make sense.

And just as many, if not more, why one does

The argument is always "it would be convenient so I could add stuff to it". You guys are not understanding the whole point of Macs..."built-in, not bolted on" or "it just works".

Right and if I find the need for a second HD or some other peripheral it gets "strapped on" how elegant is that?

You can reuse a monitor, keyboard, and mouse right now if you want on the Mac Mini.

Yeah but I can't get one with a decent graphics card, and I do a lot of digital darkroom work as a hobby. I have a mini it's a great little box for what I bought it for (surfing the web, checking email, listening to music. and watching movies), but it doesn't have enough juice to replace my old Wintell workhorse.

The Mac Pro is the machine they make for people who want to interchange and add stuff to. I am sorry that it is out of most people's price range, but it goes against Apple's philosophy to make a cheaper machine that is geared towards minor upgrades.

It's not just out of the price range it's overkill. For most of us it's like buying a hummer just to drive around town.

I know a lot of you want it so you can upgrade graphics cards, but Apple isn't going to be writing the drivers for those anyway, so what does it matter?

Right because Apple hasn't written any drivers for any graphics cards. We're not asking for new drivers to plug in cheap cards. We're asking for a CPU with a graphics card Apple already supports that doesn't have 2 of the most expensive processors on the market in it.

Why should they make a mid-tower Mac when you won't be buying their monitors, keyboards, or mice for it?

Because if they don't my (and a lot of other people) won't be buying their computers either. Also having to replace your monitor every time you want to upgrade your computer strikes me as wasteful.

Basically, you are asking for Apple to make a "prosumer" machine. Prosumers are a vast minority, and it would not make sense to develop a product aimed at them.

While such a box will appeal to prosumers it's no more a "prosumer machine" than an iMac is.

I think people opposing the headless iMac/midrange tower and screaming "it ain't going to happen" aren't thinking of the same computer that I and others are asking for. It needn't be a big clunky tower. By all means throw a design team at it, and make it look good. Frankly, it doesn't even have to be all that accommodating to tinkering with. Just make it out of (at least some) desktop parts (more bang for the buck), allow for a second hard drive, a range of currently supported graphics cards along with the one in the chip set, and allow for a wide range of Core 2 Duo processors. This might not be my ideal box but it strikes me a very Apple and would be enough to get me to ditch my aging Linux / Windows box.

 

[Digital Skunk]

If they look anything like this I'm going to have to purchase another Mac.

This is just plain old ugly... and the worst mockup I have ever seen.

I would like them to add the option of two internal disk drives, at least in the 24" and maybe in the 20", is their something that I am missing, or why can they fit everything in the 17", but not have room for a second drive in the larger models?

Open one up and see for yourself... it is pretty cramped in there no matter what model you get. Apple out does itself everytime they make a new machine.

What about an iMac in the current white but with a smaller newer case design and a big price drop and a brushed metal iMac Pro with the same case design only faster, dual hard drives, more memory and bigger screen sizes?

I think it is a possibility that Apple could split the iMac line into two sides, Pro and consumer.

Anyone agree?

I posted this at ThinkSecret and don't feel like rewriting it but it gets the point across:

I wouldn't say more consumers are going for just laptops these days... besides... any body with bad vision is going to take a 17" screen for $1000 over a 13.3" screen for the same price anyday... not to mention a full sized keyboard and more HDD space so the desktop world will still be here no matter what anyone thinks. If you think it is dying then you are fooling yourself.

The reason Apple may discontinue the 17" iMac is because the cost of buying the 17" screens and the 20" ones are pretty close, there is a marginal difference in price. So I can see the 20" being the new low-end iMac, giving users more screen space and a bigger HDD at a lower price ($1299 or $1199 if Apple wanted to keep their marketshare and compete with PCs)

The 24" iMac never be $1499... if it is then Apple can make a 27" or 30" iMac and sell it as the "mini tower" or the Mac with at least one PCIx slot, a few more FW and USB ports, upgradable graphics, two HDD slots and 8GB of RAM. I still see the 24" iMac selling for around $1599 - $1699)

If Apple were smart... they would make a 27" or 30" iMacPro and give it all the features that i said above:
- PCIx slot to change graphics card --or--
- Special kind of replaceable GPU card with empty PCI slot for expansion
- 5 USB, 3 FW400, 1 FW800
- Quad Core 2 Duo Xeon (single chip 4 cores) or just the Dual Core with 2 cores.
- Two HDD slots
- 8GB of RAM
- More real Desktop parts and NO... I mean NONE WHAT SO EVER laptop parts.
- Aluminum casing with no fat chin.
- Price it at $2299 - $2499... since it has a 27" or 30" screen built-in it will be cheaper than the Mac Pro. Since it doesn't have 4 HDD slots, 4 PCIx slots, 2 optical drives, support for 16GB of RAM, and space to hold the nVidia Quadro FX 5400 card it won't cut into MacPro sales.

That would be an Apple styled machine that is worthy of the word "upgrade" or "INNOVATION"

 

[muskratboy]

Exactly.

I don't understand all this ferber over a Mac being and all-in-one. Do people really enjoy filling landfills with integrated monitors and graphics cards?

Essentially an all-in-one has all of the disadvantages of a laptop (non-update-able) without the portability.

Why make people toss out their entire computer system, monitor and all, when all they really need is an updated GPU or a super drive exchanged for that old cd burner?

It is such a waste.

... except that people just don't do that. When people want a new computer, they give their old one away (or sell it to someone worse off) and buy a new one.

ESPECIALLY with macs, the average consumer (iMac target) don't upgrade processors and superdrives. the old computer gets the boot when they upgrade one way or the other.

besides, computers advance fast enough that upgrading just parts isn't an option past a certain (and not too far off) point. FSB gets faster, architecture changes, video interfaces get faster... if you want a new 'pute, you buy (or build) a new pute. upgrading parts is a stopgap. making parts upgradable for the average consumer isn't going to affect the "computers in the landfill" one bit.

 

[thekiller]

That's ugly, and they're not going to make a consumer machine with a metal case. That's reserved for the pro models.

I'd rather see that.

this one is nice, I hope (and think) they'll be like this.

 

[thekiller]

....and I agree with the posts above, we won't see the aluminium case design because it's reserved for the PRO MODELS.

 

[Digital Skunk]

I hope this isn't a double post... if it is then I am sorry MacRumors Moderators!

If Apple redesigns the iMac then no mockup or drawing will ever come close... I remember the hoopla and mockups of the iPhone before it came available and known and they all looked nice but they sucked and didn't have that bit of Apple innovation that Apple usually brings to new devices.

When and if the newly designed iMac comes... it won't look like some fanboys mockup, it will blow it and our minds away.

Or it will just be thinner without the big chin.

 

[Dimwhit]

Essentially an all-in-one has all of the disadvantages of a laptop (non-update-able) without the portability.

You assume everyone wants an expandable, updateable Mac. I've had a PowerMac for 6 years and only every put a second hard drive in it.

I, and many many others, don't want or need updatability. Just a killer Mac.

 

[goglamosh]

I would be down for a Conroe/Penryn based mid-tower. I wish Apple would at least put the Conroe in the iMac. The thing has great thermals, and there will soon be a low-price 3.0 Ghz consumer chip out soon. A 3.0 GHz iMac would be amazing. Unfortunately, it won't happen.

 

[LoganT]

the average consumer (iMac target) don't upgrade processors and superdrives.

That's because they can't.

 

[verniesgarden]

I dunno, I still think that they will drop the "i" and have a Mac Mini, Mac, Mac Pro, MacBook Mini, MacBook, and MacBook Pro line up. Its very simple and as we all know, Apple loves its simplicity. Every desktop model will have a portable counterpart. Maybe thats why we aren't seeing an iMac update at WWDC cause it will be dropped. I dunno, maybe its just cause I haven't had enough coffee...

i can't see apple dropping the iMac for one people know the name
second i think it's their number one selling computer, but i could be mistaken
if anything there will either be an iMac and iMac Pro or just a big upgrade to the iMac

 

[~Shard~]

I would be down for a Conroe/Penryn based mid-tower. I wish Apple would at least put the Conroe in the iMac. The thing has great thermals, and there will soon be a low-price 3.0 Ghz consumer chip out soon. A 3.0 GHz iMac would be amazing. Unfortunately, it won't happen.

What about throwing it in a mini-tower instead?



I love all this iMac/Mac Pro/all-in-one/headless discussion! It's been tough to stay out of it myself this time, but I've been involved in so many of the previous ones here on MacRumors over the years I thought it was fine to sit this one out... Plus, I'm sure this will all start up again once the actual new iMac is released, potentially next week...

 

[PNW]

Hmm,
iMac, iMac Pro
Macbook, Macbook Pro
Could this mean a Mac to go with the Mac Pro?

 

[Scarlet Fever]

When and if the newly designed iMac comes... it won't look like some fanboys mockup, it will blow it and our minds away.

thats what i reckon as well. they won't keep the current design; the didn't for the G3 -> G4 or from G4 -> G5 iMacs. It'll be completely new, and something only an artist like Jon Ives could conjure up.

 

[digitalbiker]

You assume everyone wants an expandable, updateable Mac. I've had a PowerMac for 6 years and only every put a second hard drive in it.

I, and many many others, don't want or need updatability. Just a killer Mac.

I am assuming no such thing. I am stating fact.

An all-in-one has the disadvantage of being hardwired like a laptop but doesn't have the portabiltiy. I said nothing about what people need.

Surely you can't be arguing that it is an advantage to be hardwired without being portable. If it is an advantage, I fail to see what that could possibly be.

Yes, you are happy with a PowerMac for 6 years. But a PowerMac is overkill for most users. The equivalent now is a MacPro, and it is way more CPU, RAM, expandability than most people want.

Right now the only choices for a true Mac desktop are; under powered, weak GPU mini or the over kill, expensive MacPro.

The iMac is nice but it is a laptop fused to monitor. Why not just buy the laptop, at least then you get the portability?

 

[mrparet]

Sorry if someone has already posted this, but I don't really feel like going through all the replies...

What if the rumor was lost in translation? What if Apple reconginzed that people want a prosumer desktop; something above the general iMac, but below the MacPro? What if Apple made two versions of the new iMac: consumer grade iMacs in the plastic, and made prosumer iMacs in the aluminum? Sounds like a possibility to me.

 

[javaguy]

New iMac Specs?

• 2 GB standard/4 max (though I'd prefer 4 memory sim slots for 8 GB max)
• 2.2, 2.4 and 2.6 GHz availability, dual core
• Rotating landscape or portrait orientation. (Note - the iPhone has a sensor for handling this. Its an old trick that Radius monitors used to have. This solves one concern about not having enough desk space.)
• White case similar to the current one - but illuminated with LEDs so that you can set the color using software.
• 802.11n "ready".

Available options:
superdrive II - Blue Ray and HD DVD RW combo drive
terrabyte drive
Higher res screen (Same idea as in macBook pro but you'll pay
proportionally more for 20" and 24" screens)
multi-touch touchpad interface. (radical thought - make this standard
and replace the mouse. Note - this is a touchpad only - not a screen
overlay. This will work with Inkwell. (I have a Wacom tablet - Inkwell
- handwriting recognition - works well with my current Mac and is
already part of OS X - look for a reannouncement.)

Answering machine app to go with iChat. Communication via iChat to phone network through 3rd parties, ie: Skype, AT&T/Cingular/iPhone look and feel. This is one Leopard feature that may drop into 1.4.10 or 1.4.11 to create a synergy between the iPhone and Mac line.

Due to the drop in the U.S. $ expect the U.S. price levels to remain the same but some slight price drops elsewhere: 2-10%. (Use the macBook pro as an indicator of what will happen in your market.)

Just my 2 bits.

 

[badcrumble]

• 2 GB standard/4 max (though I'd prefer 4 memory sim slots for 8 GB max)
• 2.2, 2.4 and 2.6 GHz availability, dual core
• Rotating landscape or portrait orientation. (Note - the iPhone has a sensor for handling this. Its an old trick that Radius monitors used to have. This solves one concern about not having enough desk space.)
• White case similar to the current one - but illuminated with LEDs so that you can set the color using software.
• 802.11n "ready".

Available options:
superdrive II - Blue Ray and HD DVD RW combo drive
terrabyte drive
Higher res screen (Same idea as in macBook pro but you'll pay
proportionally more for 20" and 24" screens)
multi-touch touchpad interface. (radical thought - make this standard
and replace the mouse. Note - this is a touchpad only - not a screen
overlay. This will work with Inkwell. (I have a Wacom tablet - Inkwell
- handwriting recognition - works well with my current Mac and is
already part of OS X - look for a reannouncement.)

Answering machine app to go with iChat. Communication via iChat to phone network through 3rd parties, ie: Skype, AT&T/Cingular/iPhone look and feel. This is one Leopard feature that may drop into 1.4.10 or 1.4.11 to create a synergy between the iPhone and Mac line.

Due to the drop in the U.S. $ expect the U.S. price levels to remain the same but some slight price drops elsewhere: 2-10%. (Use the macBook pro as an indicator of what will happen in your market.)

Just my 2 bits.

Also the whole computer should be made of gold.