Firewire and Superdrive in next iMac?

[macstatic]

Having followed the rumors about a new iMac update in the next few months a worrying thought has also popped up: will it still have a DVD Superdrive (or better yet: BlueRay burner) and Firewire 800 or is this on the verge of being considered "outdated technology"? I need both.

I'm considering the most powerful 21.5" built to order model.
I hear the updates are expected to have a matt screen (or option for that) which I think is great, but what other changes are expected? And what about cost in comparison to the current model?

 

[RedCroissant]

Having followed the rumors about a new iMac update in the next few months a worrying thought has also popped up: will it still have a DVD Superdrive (or better yet: BlueRay burner) and Firewire 800 or is this on the verge of being considered "outdated technology"? I need both.

I'm considering the most powerful 21.5" built to order model.
I hear the updates are expected to have a matt screen (or option for that) which I think is great, but what other changes are expected? And what about cost in comparison to the current model?

I would expect Apple to start moving away from firewire/usb 2.0. This might not happen with the next release, but it will happen soon and I think that makes sense. Especially when USB has a shared cache which prevents reaching highest transfer speeds anyway. They have TB adapters that will still make it possible to use the older I/O technology that will also most likely make them more efficient and make the transfer speeds reach actual statements. I seriously doubt the blu-ray will ever be in an iMac(maybe a MacPro) but I think the possibility of HDMI is there. I also don't think that Apple will get rid of the superdrive in a desktop.

The matte screen upgrade is an extra $100-$150 in laptops, so it would probably be comparable, but if they use the new rMBP glare reduction process in the new iMac, that would make a matte screen unnecessary.

 

[theluggage]

Having followed the rumors about a new iMac update in the next few months a worrying thought has also popped up: will it still have a DVD Superdrive (or better yet: BlueRay burner) and Firewire 800 or is this on the verge of being considered "outdated technology"? I need both.

Nobody knows.

However - if you want to try guessing, look what they did with the MacBook Pros: upgraded the chipset and switched to USB on the original models, without taking anything out, and then introduced the retina as a new line without firewire, ethernet or optical drives. So it looks as if they are cautious about making FW and optical "go away".

Given the lack of leaks about new iMac parts or orders for 27" retina displays, my money would be on a quiet bump to Ivy Bridge and USB3 with no other major changes.

If they go for a "retina"-style iMac I'd guess it would be a smaller screen version, maybe a size down from the 21.5", with 3840x2160 resolution. A 27" retina is (a) expensive and (b) offers "diminishing returns" c.f. the existing, jolly nice, 27" 256x1440 screen.

Bluray is pretty unlikely - Apple seems determined to skip that. It is, of course, possible to just hang a USB bluray drive off an existing Mac and read/write bluray data discs, but I don't know if anybody has produced movie player software for Mac yet.