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iMac Shipping Times Slip to 3 -5 Days, Fueling Rumors of 'Low-Priced' Model at WWDC
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High quality IPS monitors under 24" + Mac mini + keyboard + mouse don't cost much more than 21.5" iMac. It's just that Mac mini have outdated spec and could use $100 price cut.
The Blueberry iMac G3/350 debuted at $999 in October, 1999.
http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/imac/specs/imac_350.html
Apple also had a $999 iMac with an i3 processor in 2011 but it was only for education. http://www.everymac.com/systems/app...-inch-aluminum-late-2011-education-specs.html
When you buy one 6-9 months after they come out, you have to expect that soon you won't have the latest model.
Unless you buy a Mac Mini. Then you're set with the latest for years.
I'd like to see a new iMac design that for once in a very long time put function ahead of form.
* User upgradable RAM in all models.
* User replaceable disk drives including SSD upgrades and substitutions
* User replaceable graphics processors.
* USB ports and a power button in the front where my eyes and hands are.
* Forward facing speakers aimed at my ears instead of at my desk.
* Return of optical storage; perhaps including Blu-ray this time.
* Return of FireWire, perhaps with 3200 Mbps support this time.
* Forward facing speakers aimed at my ears instead of my desk.
* Quiet and efficient thermal control unobtainable in a needlessly thin case.
* HDMI output to allow an inexpensive third party second monitor.
* An indicator LED in the front to give on/off/snooze status.
* Lithium cell replacement that doesn't require a return for servicing.
* User upgradable RAM in all models.
* User replaceable disk drives including SSD upgrades and substitutions
* User replaceable graphics processors.
* USB ports and a power button in the front where my eyes and hands are.
* Forward facing speakers aimed at my ears instead of at my desk.
* Return of optical storage; perhaps including Blu-ray this time.
* Return of FireWire, perhaps with 3200 Mbps support this time.
* Forward facing speakers aimed at my ears instead of my desk.
* Quiet and efficient thermal control unobtainable in a needlessly thin case.
* HDMI output to allow an inexpensive third party second monitor.
* An indicator LED in the front to give on/off/snooze status.
* Lithium cell replacement that doesn't require a return for servicing.
What is this "low-priced iMac" nonsense about? They've always had lower priced iMacs for the education market. Every friggin time someone mentions a "NEW LOW COST MAC OMFGG" it's been the education model. Ever learn from your own rumors???
4K iMacs are a necessity these days. Everything is pushing in that direction. Apple never served the main-stream market. They are the one and only premium computer brand. 4K display factories have to be build and paid for anyway. There is no reason to wait for "prices to come down". They only do so, when you sell more of it. They won't come down by themselves. If the technology is ready for mass-production, it is time to begin. Apple could always keep old iMacs in the lineup, like they did with the MacBook Pros, when they felt the price jump to Retina would be too tough to swallow for some. But they can not hold back the >$3000 4K iMac for those who are willing to pay more to live in the future.
or a low cost mac pro, half the height, a third of the TB2 ports, half the cores (i7 will do).
I hope not. I don't care what they do with the imac so long as they continue to have an up to date mini. However lower prices all round wouldn't be a bad thing.
Any chance this is because the iMacs will be getting Retina/4K screens, and there will be a low-end current gen model shipping for ~£899?
I totally agree, month ago was rumored the new iMac *pro* with 4k/27" black unibody and current models slightly updated (maybe a cheaper plastic unibody) will be selling along at lower price as always Apple did with iPhone s and lately the MacBook Pro retina.
If a new iMac *pro* or *retina* is launched sure will be more expensive than currents models, so don't rely on a cheap iMac, maybe cheaper but not cheap anyway.
About Mac mini, is rumored a total redesign, the new one may look as a mini Mac Pro (1/4 size) having integrated iris pro 5300 graphics and maybe some discrete graphics as option.
Apple needs the mini on its line up, otherwise many users with expensive 3d party display setup would be pushed to acquire a mac pro for purposes they don't need a mac pro, also as entry point to newbies coming from M$ realm don't considering an expensive replacement on their current setups.
So maybe Apple would carry on previous mini unibody but an deep hardware revision is necessary, and most probably will come along a new format mini.
Which is why so many of us have been wanting a headless iMac instead of a laptop in a box like the mini.
More accurately: Choose no more than two.
Apple needs to offer a US$1,000 iMac and it could do so easily.
At present, one could buy a Mac Mini, add a 1920x1080 TV/monitor, a wired keyboard and mouse, plus a few other goodies for under US$1,000; I suspect many have done this instead of buying the hard-to-expand, hard-to-fix US$1,300 iMac. The Mini CPU isn't as powerful, but it's powerful enough for a typical user. I've done this using the US$800 Mini and a US$200 Vizio 24 inch Full HDTV; the setup doesn't have a microphone or a camera, but I don't need these. Yes, I do have a few extra cables and I can live with that.
Apple also needs to offer a US$2,000 headless iMac with most of the cost coming from the CPU(s) for those of us who really need high performance general purpose computing throughput. We have not seen a Mac with a good price/performance ratio since the Mac Pro from 2006; heavy, bulky, and overbuilt it was, but also a good value for those working on a variety of tasks.
Will we see either of these machines? No, we will not because Apple no longer has the ability to provide these with the profit margins it gets from the Stores and all of the iGadgets. Maybe it's time for Apple to spin off its computer manufacturing or license OS/X to other firms. It should consider doing this soon before the Linux user experience catches up and exceeds that of OS/X.