imac now with the ATI RHD 5670 or wait and risk sandybridge ?

[Nightarchaon]

So, do i rush to buy the 21.5" imac i want now with the ATI Radeon HD 5670 in it, or do i wait and risk getting a craptacular untested integrated monstrosity provided by intel who KNOWINGLY shipped a load of faulty chips to start with..

Im very wary of being a Guinea pig (apple is not unknown for teething problems, so far ive had a faulty macbook pro Nvidia graphics chip, a time capsule that fried itself and an iphone 3g that melted in my pocket) and as i need a new desktop this year im unsure if i should rush the purchase before stocks become an issue or wait and hope apple only use the intel stuff for the mobile range.

I know Nvidia and i like their cards, i know ATI and i like their cards, i want the intel stuff to get 2 or 3 generations in so i can see how it stacks up.. for the odd time i want to game in bootcamp to play the mass effect series.

 

[Phayz]

As far as I'm aware, the reason that apple would consider not including discrete graphics cards in their systems is because of space constraints. This really only affects the 11 and 13" notebooks.

Since the iMac has a large amount of space internally, I can't see why Apple wouldn't include a discrete graphics card option in addition/place of the integrated Intel HD graphics.

Additionally, the iMacs are aimed at a very large market segment, and a number of pros also use these systems, so failing to include a discrete option would possibly interfere with this market.

Anyone else want to weigh in on this?

 

[P Mentior]

Right now all the iMacs have discrete graphic so why would that be different in the new ones. Sandy Bridge only requires that integrated graphics use Intel's option, it doesn't change the choices for the possible discrete graphics.

 

[Nightarchaon]

Guess ill hold fire and hope that sandy bridge + Nvidia discrete make it into the next imacs now that intel and Nvidia have kissed and made up.

It may be irrational, but i prefer Nvidia cards to ATI cards, always have.

 

[paulrbeers]

Worst case, is that they offer an entry level with the integrated only video chipset (like they did with the Core2Duo's and the Nvidia 9400 gpu), but then offer "upgraded" models that had a discrete gpu (again like they did with the 9400 series).