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I've been putting a family member off buying an iMac for months in order to wait for the new ones, I hope the updates are very soon.
 
WOW I was hoping for a release by early May as I'll be in Birmingham and can get one ASAP. Alright Hellhammer, let's see if those predictions come true :D
 
I HAD YOU ALL BEAT:D
I'm GOING to upgrade from a slow single processor 867Mhz G4 from 2001 running Tiger with a 120GB+60GB HD and the ancient ATI 9000 Pro.:)

1 21.5 (or 24 please)
3.x Ghz Quad SB i7
8 GB (or 16GB)
2 TB HD
Ati 6000x series
etc etc:):)

So close... I'm going to finally upgrade from the dual 867Mhz G4 "Mirrored Door" from 2002, and am also running Tiger.
 
Supplies are constrained? Why do people think that this is because of imminent refresh? Maybe it's because Samsung already started limiting Apple component supplies (like RAM?) :D
 
Very nice! My 2006 iMac would like to be replaced.

From what I've seen the current iMacs would be fine for me but I've been holding off because I think it's daft buying a Mac so late into it's cycle. Just give us some better video card options and I'm set.
 
Would be nice to see a 24" iMac back in the line up. 27" is just too big for my space.
I may look into a new mini with a 24" monitor, to replace my 2007 24" 2.4 iMac.
 
Does this mean a Mini update is right behind it?

I hope so, and I also hope they don't skimp out on the Mini.

According to the Buyer's Guide, it's been over 300 days since the Mini was updated and the average is 248 days. So they're a tad behind.
 
I work with these machines on the daily. Their service manuals are three mouse clicks and the type of my password away. My co-worker has at least two of them bare naked chips and bits exposed and all at his bench on the daily. It's hard not to stare at them as I take my morning walk to the break room to grab a cup of water. I can speak definitively because I know what I'm talking about. As for pompousness, sorry my tone offends you. Perhaps you might try ignoring it?

:) Well said. I only ignore totally worthless posts...yours was too contemplative and detailed to categorize such:eek:
 
iMac Refresh

Yay! I've been waiting for a while to purchase an iMac. I'm trading in my MBP for an iMac. I need the processing horsepower and display size (27") more than I need a portable computer these days, especially since I have an iPad and an old first gen black MacBook that will do in a pinch.
 
Large SSD's are just too expensive and often times not big enough. And you only get a finite number of writes on them before they're garbage.

While technically correct, you should provide context.

While SSDs DO have a finite number of write available, an SSD that's 256 GB (a modest drive size) with 10,000 writes = 2,560,000 GB of writing capacity (or 2.56 * 10^6 ;))

That means you could write 100 GB of data PER DAY for slightly over 70 YEARS!

Feel free to be amazed. :D
 
Just because 256 is 'perfect' for you does not mean it is perfect for everyone else. I need 500GB SSD. External drive solutions are just way to slow compared to internal SSD. The SSD upgrade on my Laptop was the best upgrade ever, now I want an 27'' iMac with 500GB SSD and lots of memory.

I'd actually be more interested in having a 500GB EXTERNAL ssd. Since Thunderbolt can transfer upwards to 10Gb/s, there's no need to have an SSD on a 3 or 6Gb/s link (which is what an SSD INSIDE a computer will use.)

So if I have an external 500GB SSD and a computer with Thunderbolt (which WILL be adopted my most- trust me) you can take your small, thin, computer (your operating system with all your files) with you wherever you go.

COME ON THUNDERBOLT!!
 
Obviously Sandy Bridge. I don't think we'll see the K series processors, though. Apple likes to keep a tight lid on thermals.

A small blade SSD built-in would be nice, but we didn't see them in the MBP update, so perhaps they're supply constrained? I have no doubt we'll see them across all Macs eventually though.

As to the GPU, we've been asking for desktop parts for god knows how long to drive that massive screen, but Apple obviously have different priorities. A high-end mobile AMD part is the most likely bet, even though a desktop GPU would be totally awesome.

Other than that, Thunderbolt begins to seep into the rest of the Mac lineup. I'm still intrigued as to how much industry support it'll eventually get as a native IO, but even with ethernet/firewire/usb adapters it's still a nice bit of tech.
 
The GPU alone in this revision will determine whether I'm buying an iMac or building a PC. If the GPU is even close to competitive in the gaming dept. for a little while, then I'm in.
 
This would be nice:

1) Sandy Bridge of course
2) Decent graphics
3) Large hard drive plus option for laptop size SSD port easily accessible via a door on the bottom of the iMac. Having a SSD build option is nice but this way you also can easily upgrade RAM and SSD easily as time goes on. That way you can have a TB hard drive as a base and then add more storage as desired and as the price drops.

Bottom line is that the new iMac would be killer fast and user upgradable for great value.
 
Timing normal for Apple

The new CPU ships February 20 and it takes two months for supplies to become constrained. Knowing Apple they'll deliberately hold off another month just to make sure they're a full quarter behind everyone else. After all desktop computers are so last century. Except that "we" need something to plug our iDevices into.

I don't though. My only iDevice is a touch that's now too old to accept the latest OS and there's zero chance that I'll ever buy another one of those. I can't justify the monthly charges for an iPhone and the iPad is pointless if you don't live in coffee shops and carry your life around in a messenger bag.

Part of me is glad Apple is doing well, but I don't see any indications that Apple will ever again make products for me. Guess I need to start learning about "distros".
 
Folks, this is going to be a spec bump, not a redesign. It will be the last such refresh before Mac OS X Lion comes out in the late summer. There will be an iMac redesign just before or just after Lion is released. The late summer redesigned iMacs will include Thunderbolt and quite possibly a collapsable stand, like this Dell ST2202...

dell.jpg


That's why there is so much work being done in Lion to make it more iOS-like.

Anyway, that's what Brian Tong told me....;)

If Apple do a touchiMac that there is a great example of what not to do. For starters what if I want to use it portrait format?
All that efforts and doesn't enable any new productive ways of working.

OS X didn't need any tricks from iOS to work with touch, it was working with touch before iOS hit the scene. Although multi-touch on iOS is leaps and bounds ahead and the interface generally design for that as a primary means of interaction. But that is the point touch on the Mac will only be a secondary interaction, much like an external keyboard for the iPad will never be required.

The new CPU or something associated with it will require a new Motherboard in any iMac refresh so no reason to hold Thunderbolt till the design refresh, which isn't likely till next year at best.

If there is a release later in the year it'll be a new product not another iMac change so soon.
 
While technically correct, you should provide context.

While SSDs DO have a finite number of write available, an SSD that's 256 GB (a modest drive size) with 10,000 writes = 2,560,000 GB of writing capacity (or 2.56 * 10^6 ;))

That means you could write 100 GB of data PER DAY for slightly over 70 YEARS!

Feel free to be amazed. :D

That is amazing. Thanks for putting that whole issue into context. I imagine that, all things considered, some SSDs might even last longer than traditional hard drives. How if we can just bring the price down! :)
 
The new CPU ships February 20 and it takes two months for supplies to become constrained. Knowing Apple they'll deliberately hold off another month just to make sure they're a full quarter behind everyone else. After all desktop computers are so last century. Except that "we" need something to plug our iDevices into.

I don't though. My only iDevice is a touch that's now too old to accept the latest OS and there's zero chance that I'll ever buy another one of those. I can't justify the monthly charges for an iPhone and the iPad is pointless if you don't live in coffee shops and carry your life around in a messenger bag.

Part of me is glad Apple is doing well, but I don't see any indications that Apple will ever again make products for me. Guess I need to start learning about "distros".

Well Sandy Bridge has had its fair share of issues, so a delayed launch for the revised chipset is actually a good move. Especially on a machine like the iMac where they have more than a couple of SATA ports available for stuff.

The iMac is still an excellent consumer machine. Pricey, but eminently capable of just about anything that's not native resolution gaming for the latest titles. In fact, given how good the Core i7's are, they represent a very capable Mac Pro replacement with the added goodness of a 27" IPS screen.

I think you might be selling the Mac offerings a little short, to be honest.
 
The GPU alone in this revision will determine whether I'm buying an iMac or building a PC. If the GPU is even close to competitive in the gaming dept. for a little while, then I'm in.

+1 with the exception of waiting (yet longer) for a mac pro instead of a PC. I'm not a gamer but I would like a decent graphics card for 3D apps.
 
I have an early 2008 iMac with it's Applecare up in July. It was the cheapest refurbished model I could get then, and Applecare was good to it in the years since I bought it. I love the machine. I'm looking forward to replacing it, even though it still works great, with an all out built to order iMac at the end of this year after Lion as come out and has stabilized its kinks.
 
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