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iMac Discounts and Stock Shortages at Third-Party Retailers Hint at Approaching Haswell Update
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This could be a repeat of 2012.
September 2013:
October 2013:
September 2013:
- new iPhone announcements
- + anything else related to iPhone such as iOS 7
October 2013:
- new iMac and MacBook Pro (and maybe even Mac Pro) announcements
- + anything else related to them such as OS X Mavericks
I know its been asked before but are there any benefits to owning an iMac with Haswell other than bragging rights?
It'd just be a yearly spec bump. Haswell in and of itself doesn't really offer any performance advantages on a desktop machine.
Unless the better thermal management of Haswell processors means the heat issues are reduced on the 21 inch enough to give it a decent 7,200 RPM hard drive rather than the 5400 RPM one it has. But even that would result in little improvement for anyone with a fusion drive, and the 27 inch models already have it.
So no, it's a nice to have, and good news that Apple are back to annual spec bumps with the iMac, but nothing revolutionary.
Apple loves to make an announcement before putting out new stuff. It wants to give a grand entrance for all its products.
Ya since haswell has minimal performance upgrades and mostly has to do with battery gains I'm sure so many people are concerned with having haswell in a desktop machine....
This is more a case of people thinking they need something that they really don't.
I know its been asked before but are there any benefits to owning an iMac with Haswell other than bragging rights?
No, people are so caught up in thinking they need something that is going to have no benefit to them. Last time I checked there is no battery in an iMac to benefit from the haswell processors.
But omg what is taking them so long why don't they have haswell in the iMac yet I've been waiting for two years for this update.
Guess they are just in denial and don't want to admit they could have bought an iMac a year ago that will offer practically the same performance.
Getting in......
crystal ball mode, either this update occurs in some part of this year or Q1 2014, I can say:
Wish list/unlikely: Better pricing and options for Fusion drives, Better GPUs
High likely/I told you items: New wireless chips and new CPUs
But regarding to the Haswell, seems to me the more touted improvement is energy management. Very useful in portable and mobile devices. Not a too big issue in desktop computers. But can be useful to cut off the power bill, say, in a 10-15%...?......
crystal ball mode, either this update occurs in some part of this year or Q1 2014, I can say:
Wish list/unlikely: Better pricing and options for Fusion drives, Better GPUs
High likely/I told you items: New wireless chips and new CPUs
But regarding to the Haswell, seems to me the more touted improvement is energy management. Very useful in portable and mobile devices. Not a too big issue in desktop computers. But can be useful to cut off the power bill, say, in a 10-15%...?......
Best Haswell related post on the forum.
I can't wait for the Haswell MBPs just so the flood of threads whining for them, or asking if they should wait will stop.
I know its been asked before but are there any benefits to owning an iMac with Haswell other than bragging rights?
802.11ac Wi-Fi as mentioned in the original story. It will probably be a little bit faster and use a bit less power.
There might be some detail improvements to make last year's (well it was announced last year at least) new model more reliable and easier to manufacture, but Apple probably won't even mention them.
Last year was the big update, this time is mainly putting in the updated components, but the main advantages of Haswell don't make much of a difference to the iMac.
But there is always the possibility we will see some changes to options pricing. It might be a bit cheaper to add a CTO SSD or Fusion drive.
I'm crossing my fingers for that. It's the reason I'm waiting. When I demo'd the 27" it had a Fusion drive, and ran like a dream.
While shortages and tightening supplies can be indicative of an impending refresh, sales and discounts are typically things that resellers do at Apple's recommendation when sales are naturally slow. For instance, back in March, after the great iMac shortage of Winter 2012/13 had resulted in most resellers having an abundance of iMacs, the Apple Authorized Specialist/Reseller/Service Provider that I work at was advised by Apple to create a promotion in which we sold iMacs at a slightly discounted price and to threw in copies of Parallels Desktop 8 in for free, neverminding that we'd be doing so at a sizable loss.
Just food for thought. I mean, Haswell is out, and it has been 10 months since the Late 2012 iMacs were first announced, almost 9 months since the 21.5" iMacs started shipping, 8 months since the 27" iMacs started shipping, and about 6.5 months since the great iMac shortage of Winter 2012/13 abated. Given that Haswell iMacs are appropriate here and now, it wouldn't shock me if they were still a month or two out.
K keep crying for your haswell update, those of us who don't need to have a pissing contest over "best CPU" have been enjoying our machines for a year.
Please, tell us, why are haswell processors needed HERE and NOW?? What benefit do you think you're going to get from them?
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To those who say that Haswell is irrelevant to desktops, well, given that the iMac is an all-in-one, not a desktop, it'll definitely benefit from the lower operating temperatures Haswell offers, which could bring improvements in power management and even thinness, which seems to be a huge priority for Apple. On top of that, there's the better graphics performance integrated into the Haswell chip too. And I could definitely see the day, a few years down the road, when Apple offers a new version of OS X that'll only run on Haswell machines, just like Mountain Lion can't run on the initial slate of Intel machines Apple produced.
You appear to be the one getting your knickers in a twist.
You're also misinformed if you think Haswell only brings better battery life.