iMacs Update Rumors?

[yosoyjay]

Re: Edit...

Originally posted by Shrek
Airport extreme is 802.11g. Duh. 🙄

If you'll look at the supposed specs for 'Fast' there is no mention of Bluetooth or Airport Extreme. And under 'Faster' there is no mention of Airport Extreme. Duh. 🙄

 

[i_am_a_cow]

It is useful

Originally posted by dricci
A light sensor for the screen? That just doesn't seem to useful to me.. Different people will like different brightness levels. I'd rather see processor updates and a 133 MHz system bus, and a $999 flat-panel machine.

😉 a light sensor could really prolong the life of a flat panel display. 😉

😱 oh yeah, i want a 2-button bluetooth mouse w/scroll (and a pager so it doesn't get lost), and a 3d lcd screen, which apple is currently researching (it would be awesome with warcraft 3). 😀

 

[Centris 650]

I've been thinking, and the same idea has been hinted at in this thread and others, IS Apple heading for a "wireless" iMac? With Bluetooth becoming standard (and wireless networking aka airport doing well) why not exploit that technology and make it that much cooler? If this happend then the only cord you'd really need to plug in is the power cord.

Now, before you think I'm crazy think about. When the original iMac came out one of the main features that was touted was the simplicity of hooking it up and getting online in under 5 minutes. Now they could get online under 3!

I think it would be very cool. 😎

 

[Phil Of Mac]

Originally posted by smegdude

If they could include the glowing keys for the keyboard then that would rock, a usb keyboard with this technology would sell on its own to pc users as well as mac users.

Only if they made a PC version. Mac and PC keyboards are in different formats.

And didn't Steve say iLife would be bundled with every new computer?

 

[iJed]

I'd like to see the following on the new iMacs:

• 1 GHz+ G4 CPU on the best machine
  
• At least 133MHz system bus
  
• GeForce 4MX on the low end, Radeon 9000 on the middle machines and a GeForce 4 Titanium on the best option. There is no reason why Apple cannot do this since so many PC makes do it for a fraction of the price of a GeForce 2MX iMac.
  
• All 17" screens apart from the cheapest model
  
• 256M DDR RAM on low end. 512+ on all others. Even if DDR is not properly supported the name alone will help sell the machine.
  
• AirPort Extreme
  
• BlueTooth
  
• FireWire 800
  
• Power switch, USB and FireWire on the front.
  
• TV card option. You can now get a Bt8xx PCI card for less than £30 (~$45?) which works a little in a PowerMac using XTV. Surely Apple could include these chips for a couple of $s.
  
• Bigger disks
  
• A small price cut would be welcome
  

I would also like to see a new eMac with the following:

• A huge price cut!
  
• Top out at 1GHz
  
• 133MHz system bus
  
• GeForce 4MX on all models
  
• 256M RAM on all but best model which would have 512M
  
• AirPort Extreme
  
• BlueTooth
  
• FireWire 800
  
• USB and FireWire on the front
  

I'd actually rather see the eMac replaced with a cheaper pizza-box style machine which could be bought without a monitor. Then there would be a Mac, other than the PowerMac (and PB), that is useful to people who already own a larger/better monitor.

 

[reyesmac]

I wonder what it would take for Apple to give us at least last years Powermac speed on even the most expensive iMac? I am talking the same VRAM, same bus speed, same type ram, and same amount of on chip cache as a powermac that is a year or 1.5 years old. It still wouldnt be fast enough on paper for switchers but it would make the faithfull a little bit happier.
They even had to cripple the chip on the 12in powermac so it is slower than the more expensive high end ibook. They always do things like that. Why take the time and money to cripple something rather than using the same parts from an older mac?

 

[ibjoshua]

Originally posted by reyesmac

They even had to cripple the chip on the 12in powermac so it is slower than the more expensive high end ibook. They always do things like that. Why take the time and money to cripple something rather than using the same parts from an older mac?

huh?
The 12" PB is an 867MHz G4 and the top iBook is an 800MHz G3.

i_b_joshua

 

[RBMaraman]

19" iMac? No thanks.

My brother got a 17" iMac for Christmas, and I have to say that the screen is amazing. A 19" screen would look out of place. Apple has always done a good job of keeping a distinction between the Pro line and the Consumer line. A 19" iMac would give people the impression that it is a Pro machine. I don't think a 19" will happen.

What I do question, though, is the implementation of FireWire 800. The PowerBook is a Pro machine, so, I wouldn't expect FireWire 2 on the iMac until the PowerMac gets it.

Just my $.02

 

[bigizzy]

Originally posted by nickmcghie


You'd like to see a USB mouse?? Well, you're in luck! Apple now includes a USB mouse with any desktop you purchase from them! In fact, I think they've been doing this for a few years now 😉

Well he actually said "3 - Bluetooth mouse NOT USB!!!!!!!!!!"

 

[imamacguy17]

15"
800 MHZ
Nvida GeForce 4 MX
256 MB RAM
133 MHZ FSB
40 Gig HD
CD-RW
($1099)

15"
800 MHZ
Nvida GeForce4 MX
256 MB RAM
133 MHZ FSB
40 Gig HD
Combo drive
($1299)

17"
933 MHZ
Nvida GeForce4 MX
256 MB RAM
133 MHZ FSB
60 Gig HD
Super Drive
($1699)

17"
1GHZ
Radeon 9000
512 MB RAM
133 MHZ FSB
80 Gig HD
Super Drive
FW800
($1899)

blue tooth across the board Airport Extreme across the board this is the most likely scenario.

 

[rainman::|:|]

i think a lot of us are wondering about AE support (and no, Kid Red, AE and Airport support are not the same thing - don't get sarcastic unless you know what you're talking about) because generally Apple lists support for these things in the Features list, and whoever compiled that did not list it. It's *probably* fair to say that if Apple shipped a top-line iMac with AE card included, the bottom-line models would include the new slot, but hey, you never know!

i'd love to see an ambient light sensor, because it costs a whole 50¢ (i'm guessing) to impliment, and it's a cool feature, besides saving your eyes some strain when you're using an iMac in a dark room-- your eyes don't need backlighting that bright, they probably don't like it...

🙂
pnw

 

[Hawthorne]

There is no way Apple is introducing a "Ambient-light sensing display".

Apple is king in the graphic design field, and designers (well, GOOD designers 🙂 ) rely on an accurately calibrated monitor to gauge the colours of their work, and a monitor that changes it's brightness is NOT something useful to them.

 

[yosoyjay]

Originally posted by paulwhannel


i'd love to see an ambient light sensor, because it costs a whole 50¢ (i'm guessing) to impliment, and it's a cool feature, besides saving your eyes some strain when you're using an iMac in a dark room-- your eyes don't need backlighting that bright, they probably don't like it...

🙂
pnw

This is actually very easy and cheap to implement, all you need is a cheap-o depot photodetector and i port. It would be really simple to make a program to control how it would alter the backlight. I'm assuming this would be part of System Preferences and may be included in a OS update. Perhaps this is the reason the 17" PB were using OS X 10.2.4.

 

[rainman::|:|]

yes, of course the ambient light sensor would have to be software controlled, so people could enable or disable or perhaps configure it as they chose. Do standard photoelectric sensors operate at different levels, or just one? that's why i wasn't sure of the cost. I'd imagine there would be a nifty new control pane for it, probably one of many tweaks in 10.2.4... it would certainly explain the 17" running it...

any "good designer" should be using a PowerMac, the ability to disable the sensor notwithstanding. And since the 17" PowerBook is in the pro line, it's made for designers, too, and it already has this feature. Calibration is not a good reason why we won't see this feature, IMHO.

🙂
pnw

 

[reyesmac]

Originally posted by i_b_joshua


huh?
The 12" PB is an 867MHz G4 and the top iBook is an 800MHz G3.

i_b_joshua

If you want to see why I said what I said, read this article and look at the early tests from barefeats.com.
http://www.geek.com/news/geeknews/2003Jan/bch20030116018186.htm

The 12in powerbook internals are not the same as the 15in powerbook when it was at 800mhz. It is basically an iBook motherboard with some upgrades like AE.
The new 867mhz machine is slower than the 800mhz G4 powerbook. It also was slower than the iBook 800mhz on a few things as well.
With Apple, it does not matter what the Mhz rating says, they can make them go as slow as they want to so that they dont take away sales from their most expensive models. Thats what Apple has always done. They do it with ram, bus speeds, and on chip L2 and L3 cache.

 

[NicoMan]

Originally posted by paulwhannel
i think a lot of us are wondering about AE support (and no, Kid Red, AE and Airport support are not the same thing - don't get sarcastic unless you know what you're talking about)

I agree with you here. First, I think it has been established that the computers have to be made Airport Extreme ready for you anyone to have an Airport Extreme card. The 2 slots are not compatible. Second, I think that Apple need to move their entire line to Airport Extreme: it doesn't matter if people don't use it, it is nice in the list of specs (especially when they highlight the line on the Apple Store...). Plus I am not sure they will go on producing Airport cards. My guess is that every new computer (I mean product updates) from now on should be Airport Extreme ready.

Now to the matter of graphics cards. I cannot believe that they will go on with the geforce2mx and geforce4mx. How are you gonna get games designer to produce games on the Mac (which is part of the overall experience) to people who like to play a game or 2 once in a while (we are talking about consumer lines here) when they can get 20 to 25 fps in UT2003 at best. Goddamn it!!!

(OK I am getting a little worked up on a rumour but it is frustrating if true)

NicoMan

 

[thies]

FW800, Airport Extreme and so on for iMacs? don't think so. The above are features of the pro machines, notthe ENTRY LEVEL imacs. keep in mind that not even the new PB12 has either FW800 or all the ambient light stuff. believing those things will now show up in cheap imacs is ridiculous.

 

[OSeXy!]

Re: Re: 15 inch, 16:10 screen?

Originally posted by vniow


Samsung (who makes the LCDs in Apple displays) is producing notebook displays with that exact same resolution among many others.

clikey

Hmm. Interesting link. "Mass production Q1'03" on that screen.
And what about this one ? New 15.4" AlBook, anyone?

 

[msxgames]

Just re-adjusting price from iMacguy 17 to Euros + 30% (the current rip-off):

15"
800 MHZ
Nvida GeForce 4 MX
256 MB RAM
133 MHZ FSB
40 Gig HD
CD-RW
(€1,428) = 10% lower than current CD-RW.

15"
800 MHZ
Nvida GeForce4 MX
256 MB RAM
133 MHZ FSB
40 Gig HD
Combo drive
(€1,688) = 13% lower than current 15" Combo

17"
933 MHZ
Nvida GeForce4 MX
256 MB RAM
133 MHZ FSB
60 Gig HD
Super Drive
(€2,209) = 17% lower than current 17" Superdrive

17"
1GHZ
Radeon 9000
512 MB RAM
133 MHZ FSB
80 Gig HD
Super Drive
FW800
(€2,468) = Still 7% lower than current 17" Superdrive


I JUST DON'T BELIEVE THIS IS REALISTIC. Now, it would be great if price in Europe would be aligned with US price + 20% VAT instead of 30%!!!

 

[Centris 650]

I don't know if anyone has realized it but isn't 2003 the 5th anniverary of the iMac line? Could Steve-O be planning something to celebrate half a decade with his revolutionary computer?

 

[NicoMan]

Originally posted by thies
FW800, Airport Extreme and so on for iMacs? don't think so. The above are features of the pro machines, notthe ENTRY LEVEL imacs. keep in mind that not even the new PB12 has either FW800 or all the ambient light stuff. believing those things will now show up in cheap imacs is ridiculous.

I don't think we will get FW800 in the iMacs. But Airport Extreme, yeah! Ambient light stuff and Bluetooth, maybe on high-end models, but I wouldn't bet on it.

NicoMan

 

[chubakka]

light sensors...

Ummm... and a graphic designer would never work on an iMac... we need a 19" screen minimum. So a light sensor isn't out of the question.

 

[jgp]

Better Specs commiing

I agree with msxgames on thier specs. More and more people are becoming aware that Apple is not getting the chip support it needs to keep up with Wintel. Therefore, the only other way to compete until new chips come on line is to increase the buss speed and graphics display. I have heard that Apple will be increasing iMac buss speed to 133 and using the GeForce4 across the line. I also believe that they will be putting in dual processors into at least one iMac. So where does this leave the high end desktops? Hard to say, and they may not be releasing new ones for several more months. My prediction is a much higher buss speed (250 range) with up to four CPUs with Panther. If they can do it, they will be in a good position to overtake Wintel once thier chip speeds do increase.

 

[NicoMan]

Re: Better Specs commiing

Originally posted by jgp
using the GeForce4 across the line. I also believe that they will be putting in dual processors into at least one iMac

Well Geforce4 across the line it is not: It is GeForce4 MX (i.e. crap...). Give me Radeon 9500 or GeForce4 Ti. Those 17" are 1440*900 hence you need a decent card to play games in native res, especially 3d games. The iMac is a consumer machine, and as such needs to be catering for gamers (maybe not hardcore gamers: they are on PeeCee anyway).

NicoMan

 

[Sol]

A Better iMac

I like the idea of dual processor iMacs and this is a possibility for this year's update. After all, PowerMacs sport dual processors across the line and who would have expected that?

A 19" screen would look out of place on a consumer machine and I also think that it would compromise the current form-factor ie. it might need a bigger and heavier base.

FireWire 800 still lacks the killer app and unless Apple starts selling a digital device that takes advantage of this new technology, I doubt that it would make sense to have it in iMacs yet.

Keyboards with backlighting would be pretty but not very functional. Unlike the enviroment of a laptop, a desktop computer is likely to be near a light-source. Gamers might get a kick out of it though.

As for Bluetooth and Airport Extreme, I guess these would be a way to future-proof the current line-up. I wonder if the current iMacs (and all the other G4 machines so far) will have options for Airport Extreme. On the new powerbooks a smaller card is utilised and I fear the same will be done to the desktops.