Maybe a speed bump but anything more than that would be in Q1 of next year at the earliest. This summer for WWDC is laughable (only 6 months since a major refresh?) and even if a new one were ready this year Q3 and Q4 will be busy with releases of other products.
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iMac now or wait unti WWDC?
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Maybe a speed bump but anything more than that would be in Q1 of next year at the earliest. This summer for WWDC is laughable (only 6 months since a major refresh?) and even if a new one were ready this year Q3 and Q4 will be busy with releases of other products.
Indeed. I was implying a spec bump only. The major hurdle of redesigning the iMac is now past. Apple only needs to do spec bumps for the next 2-4 years until the next redesign.
I'd doubt we'll see a retina display update this year, but I'd love to see at least SSD only BTO configurations this time around.
Yeah, but then he would have to replace his dot-matrix impact printer and lose his dial-up and pay for broadband.
lmao let's not discourage him.
I doubt there will be any iMac refresh and spec bump on this year's WWDC.
Haswell chips, as usual come out first for mobile CPUs, and desktops come later. Desktop chips are just secondary tier now. The money goes toward mobile computer market and that's what Intel's doing.
And so iMac development takes longer, it doesn't have to be on the edge as quick as any of their Macbook line.
Haswell chips, as usual come out first for mobile CPUs, and desktops come later. Desktop chips are just secondary tier now. The money goes toward mobile computer market and that's what Intel's doing.
And so iMac development takes longer, it doesn't have to be on the edge as quick as any of their Macbook line.
My guess is the next update will likely be limited to the Haswell CPU, so maybe 10% faster than the current iMac. We might get better GPUs and other minor upgrades, RAM and HDDs are likely to stay the same.
Also unlikely to have any design change or Retina LCD. They could also be slightly cheaper along with the updates.
My advice is if you can wait then do so but you could be waiting until late in the year for any update, though since there is less likelihood of a design change Apple could update to Haswell by mid year when the new CPUs come out.
As someone who has a late 2012 iMac unless you need the latest and only slightly faster then there is nothing wrong with the current model as fast as speed goes.
Apple removing 'new' from the online store is nothing, it's usually reserved for the latest model releases and Apple just refreshed it's online store so probably just removed the tag.
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Au contraire. Desktop Haswells are destined for June with the initial batch of releases. Many, but not all, mobile chips will come later. Still, I don't expect new iMacs at WWDC either.
Sure Haswell desktop might comes along with the mobile chip. But Intel development has been obvious. Less about speed and more about efficiency. After so long desktop chips are not much faster compared to their mobile counterparts. Almost feels like desktop CPUs are an afterthought product nowadays.
And I also read somewhere that Broadwell chips will only come in BGA package. That's a kiss goodbye for building our own PCs.
DDR4 isn't going to come until 2015 or later and as for Haswell the main benefactor will be portables with desktops being less noticeable in terms of benefits. As for the Retina - there is a reason why it makes no sense for Apple to include it in an iMac given that the cost/benefit doesn't add up given that the further you sit back from the screen the less benefit you gain from the higher resolution. IMHO if you want to buy it now then go ahead but remember that waiting for a new version has trade offs such as getting a x.0 product that may have teething problems where as the ones shipping today are pretty mature. I've got an iMac recently and not a problem yet (touch wood!).
When is WWDC? I'm almost to the buying stage, but with it looming somewhere, I'd hate to purchase then there be a spec bump a week later....which has happened several times to me. 
Edit: I'm seeing mentions of June 10-14. How is a big confrence's schedule unknown? Don't they need to do things like book hotels and things like that that?
Edit: I'm seeing mentions of June 10-14. How is a big confrence's schedule unknown? Don't they need to do things like book hotels and things like that that?
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When is WWDC? I'm almost to the buying stage, but with it looming somewhere, I'd hate to purchase then there be a spec bump a week later....which has happened several times to me.
Edit: I'm seeing mentions of June 10-14. How is a big confrence's schedule unknown? Don't they need to do things like book hotels and things like that that?
They book it under generic stuff like "company meeting". That's about the right timeframe though.
I promise you, WWDC is too soon for a spec bump, and when it comes it will be rather underwhelming. If you're ready to buy there isn't a compelling reason to wait.
Not really. To some extent you are looking at the wrong "half" of the CPU package. The Intel's integrated GPUs are getting larger transistor budgets and functionality.
The other trend is that more stuff is making its way to the CPU package. It just isn't x86 cores at this point. The "non x86 core" percentage of the package is going to get larger.
The catch-22 is that folks now expect computers to get much cheaper over time. A primary way of doing that is more integration. That leads to less doo-dads to tinker with and smaller boxes.
Not all Broadwell will come BGA but most will. There probably isn't going to be a wide selection variety at lower price points. At the much higher price points non-BGA Broadwell options won't arrive till probably a year (or more) later.
BGA doesn't mean you can't build your own. It just means that the componets are going to be fewer and either more expensive or stop eroding in price. (more of the assembly is going to be prefab. )
See...when I got my G3, like 3 weeks later they spec bumped it and redid the hard drive carriage to allow for..more drives? easier drive access? I can't recall now....so once bitten twice shy and all that.
Basicly, it's all Great White's fault.
Thanks for the info!
If it's within the return period, Apple will just take it back and give you the new one. While they're not obligated to, I've had success taking a MacBook back for trade when the new model came out 35 days later. You just need to talk to them.
At any rate, there won't be any chassis change for the next version. It will have a Haswell CPU (maybe +10% performance) and whatever GPUs are current when it comes out. It really can't come out until AMD or Nvidia put out a top-end mobile GPU on the current year's series, unless they only swap the CPU. It will have Gigabit Wireless, which is mostly irrelevant right now but might be interesting in 3 years.
Honestly, the only thing the 2013 iMac could have that would make me regret buying my 2012 is HDMI-in, and there is zero indication that that would happen.