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iMac Supplies Becoming Constrained Ahead of Potential Refresh

Full of Win said:
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One step closer to a MBA refresh.
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I'll be darned! This is the first post this guy has made in months that hasn't annoyed me! This is a good sign!
 
Please let the refresh be in the next 2 weeks, I've been itching to get a 27" iMac for ages now, but have been holding out for the processor bump.
 
ksgant said:
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.
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I don't think Apple have any excuses on this one. It's been far too long.
 
caspersoong said:
Hope Apple surprises us... And not just a Sandy Bridge upgrade alongside Thunderbolt.
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Agreed. With the big up in GPU they gave the MBPs I am hopeful that they just might. The 27" saw the first desktop CPU in an iMac, right? I wonder if they can't now manage the same with the GPU. If it is decent, I think I'll be pretty tempted; and I've been running on only laptops for ages, so that's saying something!
 
MartiNZ said:
Agreed. With the big up in GPU they gave the MBPs I am hopeful that they just might. The 27" saw the first desktop CPU in an iMac, right? I wonder if they can't now manage the same with the GPU. If it is decent, I think I'll be pretty tempted; and I've been running on only laptops for ages, so that's saying something!
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I'm with you on this one. If the new iMacs have decent GPU:s, I'm on the boat for an ultimate. If not, no iMac this time.

Decent GPU would mean something like the 6950 or, even better, an Apple special version :D Well, it will have to pack enough power to feed that high resolution screen.

6950 in the 21.5 (who makes screens this small these days?) would be super, if they make the "21.5" into 23.5 instead.
 
Sold my late 2009 iMac yesterday in anticipation of the iMac refresh so this is positive news for me. However, I may hold off until the end of May and hopefully pick myself up an iPod Touch using my education discount and the iPod Rebate Back-To-School Promo (that's if Apple are true to form and run this promo again).

Regarding GPU - prepare to be disappointed as Apple always seem to under deliver in this respect with regards to the iMac - form over performance dictates this i'm afraid. Has anyone considered they may even stick with the current iMac GPU offering - disappointing I know but still possible. If we see an upgrade (and I sincerely hope we do) I guess we're, at best, looking at a 6950 which I'd be happy with, I guess a very unlikely outside chance would be the 6970 (Pipe dream me thinks)?

I'd welcome HellHammer's thoughts on this as he generally has a well informed perspective on these things.
 
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I'm sure it's been done to death, but I spent some time actually thinking about realistic-ish speculations of what the new line could look like. I think they're going to get rid of one SKU ( the step up 27" without the quad i7), because it's kind of redundant, and for the $100 price difference, I can't imagine anyone NOT spending the extra modey to get the quad core). The only spec that is more of a wishful thinking piece is the inclusion of the HD6800M 1GB card in the 27" quad i7. THAT would be a beast!

Common Upgrades

1. Thunderbolt port
2. HDMI out
3. Sandybridge

Now, here's the model breakdown:

21.5" (1920x1080) display
2.8 GHz i5 processor
4 GB RAM
500 GB HD
Thunderbolt
ATI Radeon HD 4870 (256MB)
HDMI out
$1199.99

21.5" (1920x1080) display
3.2 GHz i5 processor
8 GB RAM
1 TB HD
Thunderbolt
ATI Radeon HD 4870 (256MB)
HDMI out
$1499.99

27" (2560x1440) display
3.2 GHz i5 processor
4 GB RAM
1 TB HD
Thunderbolt
ATI Radeon HD 5870 (512MB)
HDMI out
$1699.99

27" (2560x1440) display
3.5 GHz quad i7 processor
8 GB RAM
2 TB HD
Thunderbolt
ATI Radeon HD 6970 (1 GB)
HDMI out
$1999.99
 
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Irishman said:
I'm sure it's been done to death, but I spent some time actually thinking about realistic-ish speculations of what the new line could look like. I think they're going to get rid of one SKU ( the step up 27" without the quad i7), because it's kind of redundant, and for the $100 price difference, I can't imagine anyone NOT spending the extra modey to get the quad core). The only spec that is more of a wishful thinking piece is the inclusion of the HD6800M 1GB card in the 27" quad i7. THAT would be a beast!
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A 6800m would be a downgrade. Keep in mind the current imac with the 5750 is actually a 5850m. 6850m is a downgrade from a 5850m, though only slightly. There are only two cards they could use that are upgrades over the current one and that's the 6950m and the 6970m.

I would also hope for the 3.4ghz i7-2600 sandy bridge processor.
 
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archer75 said:
A 6800m would be a downgrade. Keep in mind the current imac with the 5750 is actually a 5850m. 6850m is a downgrade from a 5850m, though only slightly. There are only two cards they could use that are upgrades over the current one and that's the 6950m and the 6970m.

I would also hope for the 3.4ghz i7-2600 sandy bridge processor.
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Fixed!
 
archer75 said:
The 6950m and 6970m are also available in 2gb models. That would help with the larger resolution of the 27" display. Let's hope for that as well!
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Maybe as a BTO. Not sure all those new things could happen for $1999.99
 
archer75 said:
I would also hope for the 3.4ghz i7-2600 sandy bridge processor.
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I have the new i5-2500k in my new PC and this CPU will be suitable for the vast majority of people (obviously Apple would offer the i5-2500 rather than the 'k' varient). I think the premium charged for the minor performance gain for the i7-2600 simply isn't worth it.

I did a lot of research before settling on the i5-2500k and I'm very happy with the performance.

Worth reading:

http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/processors/363982/intel-sandy-bridge

http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/pc-components/processors/intel-core-i5-2500k-917570/review

RMdSq.png
 
Choralone said:
So close... I'm going to finally upgrade from the dual 867Mhz G4 "Mirrored Door" from 2002, and am also running Tiger.
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I was using it daily till 2009 when I received a hand me down PC from 2006 in my sig which is getting me buy until the new iMac comes out.
 
I simply can't wait for the refresh. I am ready for my first iMac... and my first home Mac. :) I use a Mac Pro G5 at work that is a few years old but an awesome machine. My home use for a Mac is less demanding than at work so I figure an iMac would be fine for my needs.
 
afrowq said:
what's the first letter in imac?

An all-in-one computer is just another consumer device. Bring on the Mac Pros
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Intel won't have new Mac Pro CPUs available until fall. It's a strange way to run a company actually. Release the consumer stuff first and wait most of the year to give the pros something that beats the consumer stuff. Then a couple months later release new consumer stuff that matches the vastly more expensive pro stuff. Seems backward to everyone except Intel.

I think that's one of the reasons why Apple has held off with the iMac upgrade. They wanted the MacBook Pro to be ahead for a few months because it's a "pro" model line.

To the person who claimed iMac was held back because of the chipset defect, they obviously haven't counted the high speed SATA channels correctly. The 27" iMac only uses two (SSD and HD). A slot loading optical drive is pretty much the slowest device you can put in a computer these days and can be run off any crap bus.
 
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It would have made sense if Apple would have built computers in the segment where the demand is for something more modular than the iMac but less OTT than the MP. As long as Apple is sticking both with that model and its head in the sand, it will seem strange...
 
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