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iMac Shipments Running Low Ahead of Refresh?
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This is exactly why Apple NEEDS to upgrade their computer lineup every seven months or so.
I seen a lot of people before complaining that they just bought a Mac and now Apple is upgrading it.
I hope they finally do away with the internal optical drive.
External options for SuperDrive and Blu-Ray would do. Not that I would buy either.
They could substitute an SDHC reader and put the MacOSX on one card.
Great: one more thing to pile on my desk. Keep the internal optical option (BluRay, please, along with a DVD SP update to accommodate authoring BD-R).
If you don't need an optical drive, or prefer an external solution, like Primera Disc Robots, then no need to buy the internal optical. And without the internal drive, how do you load software in the multi-gigabyte size range (like FCS)?
There are two types of i5. The expensive dual-core laptop variant, or the less-expensive quad-core desktop variant. The desktop i5 is the one that puts out too much heat for the 21", although the 27" can house it perfectly well. Apple could use the dual-core, but doing so will increase the iMac's price.
People that say comments like "load MacOSX on an SD card" or "Remove the optical drive to make the already nicely thin MBPs even thinner," usually don't need to load any software like FCP nor do they need better hardware in the MBPs.
I disagree - VERY much. Many, many professionals/prosumers I deal with (I mainly deal with local web developers and graphic artists, but also regularly deal with big TV/Film production crews) would love to see the removal of optical drives (in conversation, many of them have questioned why the optical drives are still included as they're never really used). They share/transfer work either through networks, pocket USB HDDs, USB sticks or SD cards and have for a long time.
Very true. All in company software installations at my company are done over the network. The CDROM is almost never used except to install the OS, which begs the question why the heck do we even need it.
I seriously wish my laptop was rid of the CD ROM drive.
imagine this, if they got rid of the CDROM on a MBP 13inch, they could've easily stuck in a core i5 with dual GPU. Imagine again, the CDROM drive takes up as much space as the 50% of the battery or TWO harddrives.
I'd take 50% more battery or dual SSD for my MBP any day over a stupid useless CDROM that I've used ONCE in my entire 1.5 year ownership of this laptop
I would only agree with you 30%, you're right, a lot of file transfer and minor data related tasks are done with USB/Flash drives and portable HDDs. But I beg the question, "how high is your production house" if they'd prefer to install the 60GBs+ needed for FCS over a 480Mbps sloppy USB I/O.
That's not to mention the many MANY apps needed in production that exceed the paltry amount of data FCS needs.
On the other hand, MOST if not ALL of the pros in the production industry I work with, that ARE small --> medium sized houses remove the optical drive themselves merely to shove another HDD or SSD into their laptops for field work/scratch. NONE have ever said the optical drive is useless, and none have ever begged to wait 10 hours + to install FCS, Avid, Adobe Master Collection, Maya, Nuke, etc over a USB connection.
Are we talking about OS and updates to minor programs, or that 60GB+ others keep mentioning. Again, now that I am doing more IT than video production, I've never seen, even small houses prefer to do that much data transfer or backup over USB. Even the small houses that I've worked/freelanced do OTA updates to laptops and desktops, but have never once installed more than 3GBs of data over USB or 10/100/1000 ethernet.
No they didn't. They swapped your logic board for a new one with a working 4850.
There is a small possibility that your old logic board was shipped back to China to have the defective 4850 swapped out so the board could be re-used, but even that is highly unlikely. In most cases it costs less to manufacture a board than it does to repair one.
What are you talking about?!? USB 2.0 is way faster than any DVD drive.
It's much faster to install software from an external USB HD than from an internal optical drive.
Where I work all software is installed from images on the central file server. When we need to wipe a computer we net boot from an installer image on the server and install the entire OS over Ethernet. I haven't done it recently, but I recall it took less time than installing from DVD.
Too little too late, my parents just bought one of those stupid touch screen PC's.
why do you consider them stupid? I read somewhere that the new iMacs might have touch screen. just curious.
I hope the new iMacs stay relatively the same. I would be pleased as pie if I could pop in a newer video card. Hopefully the heat sinks match up and I can just pop an upgraded one in the MXM slot.
One can wish.
One can wish.
Because a device you are already holding in your hands like a phone or iPad is great as a touch device. A desktop computer/monitor that you have to reach out and touch is not so great. I really don't want a 27" iMac, for example, within a few inches of my face. And if you place it much further away, it becomes uncomfortable to stretch out and touch the screen.
Plus, you would get fingerprints all over that lovely 27" screen.
Couldn't wait any longer, so purchased my 21.5" 413B version last friday. Have to say, I am very impressed, my work load has been halfed in a few days. Cant wait to have a full weekend to use it and really road test.
"my work load has been halfed in a few days": I am considering an iMac but wonder how your work load can be cut in half with an iMac.
Because a device you are already holding in your hands like a phone or iPad is great as a touch device. A desktop computer/monitor that you have to reach out and touch is not so great. I really don't want a 27" iMac, for example, within a few inches of my face. And if you place it much further away, it becomes uncomfortable to stretch out and touch the screen.
Plus, you would get fingerprints all over that lovely 27" screen.
I've always agreed.
Reaching out to a screen which is perpendicular to you, would grow tiresome.
Constantly cleaning the surface area of a 27" screen, one which is mounted upright by a swivel-stand, would be tedious.
I love the touch interface on the iPad and the iPhone since they can be held, used, and cleaned facing up, in the hands, are much smaller, therefore much easier to clean as a result.
If Apple were to introduce a smaller Touch iMac, I'd likely not use that feature, unless a more ergonomically Magic Track Pad were made available.
That may all be true, but I'm a one man shop with ONE Mac Pro for FCS, another for ProTools HD3; So at least for SW installations, I like the internal DVD drive, or for quick burns to test a DVD or CD.
My FCS system does have an external (USB) Primera Bravo II, but the drive is hidden away and in convenient for reading things.
Loading software from a "server" is just not an option for me.
Sure, make the optical optional, just keep it there for folks like me. I'm not talking about MBP or iMacs here ...
Low end refurb imac has disappeared from the apple online store
I just noticed today that the Low end refurb imac has disappeared from the apple online store! more and more evidence of a refresh...
AppleInsider reports that Apple has begun advising third-party retail partners of impending shortages of the company's iMac models, suggesting that a refresh of the company's popular all-in-one desktop line may be in store for the near future.Just last week, Hardmac reported that the Mac Pro would see an "end of summer" update, with iMac updates not following until several weeks after that. The site also claimed that the iMac may gain USB 3.0 and faster FireWire connectivity as part of the refresh.
The iMac was last updated in October, when it saw a major redesign to shift to 21.5-inch and 27-inch LED displays.
Article Link: iMac Shipments Running Low Ahead of Refresh?
I just noticed today that the Low end refurb imac has disappeared from the apple online store! more and more evidence of a refresh...
I think we all aré gong to see a hybrid iMac, Mac OS X with iOS using iOS apps as widgets with the new rumored touch device. It will be the end of personal computing as we know it. And from that point on the world would be divided in two groups, Classic desktop users and touch users. Prepare for the worst.
There is a dual core variant of the desktop i5 as well. It would be perfect for the high end iMac 21 and BTO on the entry level.
http://www.intel.com/products/processor/corei5/specifications.htm
I'm hoping the entry level iMac will at least get an i3 and a dedicated graphics such as the nvidia 310 or ati 4200.
I have 2 Macs & can't see myself ever not owning Macs. However, I think your points are valid.
Since Apple abandoned their previous (relatively) low entry point for Macs by increasing the price of new Minis (a significant £150 increase here in UK), I think what you say applies even more so. Hell, even I'm thinking of buying a PC next for all those non-OS X computing tasks, simply because if my iMac went belly-up right now, I'd probably replace it with a PC anyway purely from financial considerations.
If Mac-owning guys like me are starting to think this way, I imagine Windows' superior market-share increasing even further is a given.