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If you had a choice of original Form+DVD
- Thread starter kaelell
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This. They wouldn't be so pressed for proprietary form factor parts. Heck, I'd take the old form factor without a DVD drive. Then they can stick extra cooling in the thing.
I fail to see where. You weren't getting a desktop 680 GPU in the old form.. what else could they spec up that they couldn't in this form?
2011 form factor, with anti-glare screen and 2012 specs. Although I chose that because it is easier to open up and work on. However, I don't know if the adhesive-attached screen is because of the new lamination process or due to the absurdly thin edge. DVD drive doesn't make much difference to me.
I need a third choice: new design that accounts for ODD. Maybe something back-loading - it's out of the way and doesn't mess with the lines, but it's there for the once in a blue moon that you need it.
As it is I'll probably just map to my wife's PC ODD when necessary, but it would have been nice for the feature to be included in an AIO so long as software is still commonly distributed on physical media.
As it is I'll probably just map to my wife's PC ODD when necessary, but it would have been nice for the feature to be included in an AIO so long as software is still commonly distributed on physical media.
I think I would still go with the 2012 design. The 2012 is a much more refined and simpler design then the 2011 and thus there are less things to fail in the 2012 then the 2011 (fans, temperature sensors) The new iMac also seems to run cooler then the previous models.
That an honest question?
I guess they could have removed the disc drive (I don't think I mind it going, but right now other people want it, and want my stuff to be handed in on a disc) and put a desktop GPU there, provided they moved a few other bits around.
And, of course, 21.5" owners won't have to deal with a 5400rpm drive, and there'd still be room for the optional second drive. Perhaps they could have removed the option for the second drive (Bring on the Fusion Drive of course) and just have a bit more room for things.
The thinner design is totally unnecessary and the stand gets in the way making it totally useless as well -_-
Apple SuperDrives were problematic, failure-prone and slow. For a machine that is stationary, I'll happily use an external instead of an internal (and yes, this is coming from someone who covets the optical drive on his 15" 2012 non-retina MacBook Pro). On a portable machine, where the less you have to carry around, the better, don't remove my optical yet. But for something like the iMac where I have more USB ports than I'll ever need, I'll happily get an external drive that is not only more reliable, but provides faster performance than Apple's internal ever did. Also, at least for the 21.5" iMac at least, the new design seems to correct 80% of the reliability concerns found with the old one.
Yes, it's an honest question.
- We've talked about the Desktop GPU before. To add in the appropriate power & cooling, they would've needed to add about 3-5" to the thickness of the previous form factor. It just simply doesn't fit in an AIO design. Instead, you can get a great mobile card that's equal to the 3rd-best desktop offering.
- I'd love it if someone could do some throughput tests on the 2012 21" 5400rpm spinner vs. the 2011 21" spinner. Add in the 2012 27" 7200rpm spinner for completeness. Instinct tells me the difference won't be large, and the 5400rpm spinner still outperforms last year's model (I've heard it wasn't a great drive). And we are talking about an entry-level computer here.
- When you talk about "more room for things", you're really talking about a tower with slots. That's not what an AIO is.
So the only real difference is that the "second drive" needs to be one of Apple's custom flash daughterboards. Oh, and that you can't pop out the ODD (or have an empty bay already there) to put in a third drive. This is pretty far from the border of "totally useless".