iMac- optical ports?

[Klungo]

Hello, hello. I was wondering a few things before I bite the bullet and end up buying an iMac.

Right now, would you consider this a good idea? I've sort of been keeping up with the updates and the like and it seems the general gist is that not a lot has changed since the 2007 model.

..If so, is it likely for them to sneak attack with a much improved model in the near future? (I realize this sort of paranoia is frowned upon, as if I wait for the best, I'm never going to buy one) BUT things like this fabled LED screen, and perhaps a portable version of i7 is intriguing.


After that, I was wondering if imacs by chance had a digitial optical audio port, by default? I've read around and the answer seems no, but I'm going to ask anyway just to see if there's some special adapter I can buy. (I'm pretty sure it's "no" on them having it, but hopefully someone can point me in the right direction on an adapter of sorts.

I was hoping to use an HDMI cable too, to hook it up to the TV to watch these fancy HD movies, and use the digitial audio optical cord to actually be able to hear them on the speakers. That, and it'd be nice to listen to music on my good speakers as well.

 

[slpdLoad]

Yes, but you need a mini-toslink to regular adapter. It's built right into the 1/8" "headphone" jack.

You can get a mini-displayport to DVI adapter and then adapt that to HDMI without any signal loss.

I would expect the iMacs will get P55 (i5) setups, maybe even this year (but next year seems more likely to me). A high-end C2D is nothing to sneeze at though.

 

[cawesjmu]

You'll need something like this to get the audio into your a/v receiver. And like slpdLoad said, but minus the extra step get one of these plus a HDMI cable for the video from the computer to the TV.

 

[Klungo]

Thanks to both of you. I'll buy the cables around the time I get the computer.

I think I'm going to wait for next version. Memories of buying a G4 powerbook three months before they announced the switch to Intel come flooding back..

 

[Klungo]

Apologies for the double post, but I guess I've decided not to wait, so.

I'm thinking about getting the $1,599.00 last gen iMac. It seems like a decent deal to me.

Do the same conditions for the cables apply? Or is it slightly different for them?

 

[txhockey9404]

Audio is the same, but instead of mini-displayport to dvi, you need mini-dvi to dvi