New iMac In September

[Esben]

Different idea

Everybody's talking 'bout whether to include or exclude the screen.

What if...I know this is crazy talk...But just what if they introduced a headless mac... Steve comes onstage at the Apple Expo. He starts out with his usual chat about sales and so fourth. "Now I know we had some problems with the new macs and I appologise, but it was so we could bring you the new digital hub. Today everybody has a TV. A lot of people even have flat panel TVs. So we thought to ourselves "why not use that?". So today I'm proud to present the new headless iMac TV. Instead of a normal monitor you simply plug it into your livingroom TV. This is going to be great. You now have everything you need to control your digital life right at your TV screen."

Well I told you it was crazy. But I think it would be a great idea.
I know Steve has been talking about not incorporating the mac and TV, but as a Danish Politician once said. You have an opinion 'till you get another (losely translated).

Come on Steve my man...surprise us and make this the best birthday ever!

 

[iDave]

What if...I know this is crazy talk...But just what if they introduced a headless mac... Steve comes onstage at the Apple Expo. He starts out with his usual chat about sales and so fourth. "Now I know we had some problems with the new macs and I appologise, but it was so we could bring you the new digital hub. Today everybody has a TV. A lot of people even have flat panel TVs. So we thought to ourselves "why not use that?". So today I'm proud to present the new headless iMac TV.

The main problem with that, among many, is that TVs don't have high enough resolution for reading text on screen (at any length). This is why Web TV has never taken off.

It might be nice to have a TV tuner built into a Mac though I doubt it will happen. Third party options have that covered.

 

[~Shard~]

Everybody's talking 'bout whether to include or exclude the screen.

What if...I know this is crazy talk...But just what if they introduced a headless mac... Steve comes onstage at the Apple Expo. He starts out with his usual chat about sales and so fourth. "Now I know we had some problems with the new macs and I appologise, but it was so we could bring you the new digital hub. Today everybody has a TV. A lot of people even have flat panel TVs. So we thought to ourselves "why not use that?". So today I'm proud to present the new headless iMac TV. Instead of a normal monitor you simply plug it into your livingroom TV. This is going to be great. You now have everything you need to control your digital life right at your TV screen."

Well I told you it was crazy. But I think it would be a great idea.
I know Steve has been talking about not incorporating the mac and TV, but as a Danish Politician once said. You have an opinion 'till you get another (losely translated).

Come on Steve my man...surprise us and make this the best birthday ever!

A headless iMac? Gee, I've never heard that one before... Ah, you're a newbie, that explains a lot...

A TV screen wouldn't work - the resolution required would not be high enough. Plus, I like having my computer separate from my TV - it also helps when my girlfriend wants to watch TV and I need to use the computer.

 

[Esben]

A headless iMac? Gee, I've never heard that one before... Ah, you're a newbie, that explains a lot...

A TV screen wouldn't work - the resolution required would not be high enough. Plus, I like having my computer separate from my TV - it also helps when my girlfriend wants to watch TV and I need to use the computer.

Well SORY!

I don't see what me being a newbie has to do with it!

I know the resolution would be terribble...but Apple has worked wonders before. I can't see why they couldn't work this one out...And obviously you would be able to use it with another screen if need be.

And by the way...don't most people have more than one TV these days anyway? That would leave you to work while your girlfriend watched the telly.

 

[jmustretch]

can a 64-bit OS run on a G4 chip?

if not, then i would think the ultimate move would be to put the G5 into the imac so that there will be two models available that could run TIGER.

 

[Esben]

Not to worry

can a 64-bit OS run on a G4 chip?

if not, then i would think the ultimate move would be to put the G5 into the imac so that there will be two models available that could run TIGER.

One developer already said it was able to run on a G3, so don't worry about that one.

And I very much doubt that Apple would release a new OS that could only run on the newest addition to their Mac lineup
But nice thought though

 

[AoWolf]

can a 64-bit OS run on a G4 chip?

if not, then i would think the ultimate move would be to put the G5 into the imac so that there will be two models available that could run TIGER.

Tiger can run 32 bit as well.

 

[adamjay]

if Apple has no mid-range desktop , and the next incarnation of iMac will be G5... then they could sell a ton of eMacs right now if they bumped them up to 1.4ghz (combo drive) and 1.5ghz (superdrive). chances are the 1.25ghz is underclocked anyways.

by the time the G5 iMacs come (if they are G5), they will fit their mid-range nitch just fine.

of course this would sell sooo many Mac's to people who could use the speed bump but can't afford G5's, and we can't have that now can we.

 

[iMeowbot]

can a 64-bit OS run on a G4 chip?

Tiger will have a split personality, using fat binaries like NEXTSTEP (and old Mac OS) did. It will use either 32- or 64-bit code as allowed by the host system. (Yes, this capability is one of the things that would be needed to have a useful intel version of OS X. No, it's not even close to everything that would be needed to do that, so forget I even mentioned it.)

 

[Krizoitz]

Good job, Apple! Way to miss the college buying season...

We've covered this ad nauseum. Please re-read the thread. College students who are strongly interested in iMacs are those willing to wait. Alot of schools don't start til the END of september. Also alot of college students are getting laptops. And the rest if they are interested enough in Apple but don't need the power of a PowerMac will probably be just fine with an eMac, which as of late is on par and yet cheaper than an iMac.

 

[maddav]

if Apple has no mid-range desktop , and the next incarnation of iMac will be G5... then they could sell a ton of eMacs right now if they bumped them up to 1.4ghz (combo drive) and 1.5ghz (superdrive). chances are the 1.25ghz is underclocked anyways.

by the time the G5 iMacs come (if they are G5), they will fit their mid-range nitch just fine.

That's what i would really like, i've got an iBook, but i'm hankering (i love that 'word') for a nice new desktop, the all-new, all dual processor power macs are great, but i'd probably be paying for a system that i wouldn't use to even 1/2 of it's potential.

On the other side, the eMac is way too similar to what I have now, so a single processor, (hopefully) G5, iMac would go down very nicely, that said i'm not expecting, as many have said, a 1.xGHz G5 iMac for eMac prices

BTW, just been bored, i know it's been brought up before, but i remember that Steve Jobs searched iMac, Paris, Birthday, and then Yosemite, could we be seeing a blue and white iMac probably not, but hey, why not add some more insane speculation, we've got a couple of months to waste

 

[iDave]

We've covered this ad nauseum. Please re-read the thread.

You're kidding, right? There are well over 600 posts in this thread now. I can't keep up anymore.

 

[MacinDoc]

This is no incremental upgrade

As previously mentioned, I am not going to read 24 pages of speculation just because I was out of town, so this may have been mentioned before.
It is possible that the "new" iMac is just an incremental upgrade. Like most of you, I would love to see a brand new toy. But in the four short years I have been following this company, I have learned to not to let my imagination run away with itself. When my daughter was born, I wanted a flat panel iMac that the good folks who post to Macrumors assured me was imminent. Unfortunately, I waited 7 months for said iMac. I have been very happy with the purchase which is still going strong, but I have also learned that Apple makes cool products and they take time to develop. Sometimes Apple is ahead of the curve and sometimes they are late to the dance.

Although I agree with you that Apple often takes too long to introduce new technologies into their products, an incremental upgrade would not have required a complete stoppage in the production of the old models. If Apple has no iMacs to sell now, it suggests that production stopped some time ago, and stocks have been completely depleted (if they did have any left to sell, they would not have posted this notice at this time).

What this suggests is that Apple stopped all iMac production lines to retool them to produce a substantially different iMac, and due to unexpected delays, they are not yet able to produce the new model. Remember that Apple now has no revenue from iMac sales, and will face considerable ire from its resellers, some of whom may react by dropping all Apple products to avoid being stuck with outdated models again.

So, this only makes economic sense if the cost of retooling the production lines again would exceed the loss of revenue from having NO iMac sales for 2-3 months, plus the loss of goodwill from retailers and customers. That, to me, suggests very substantial changes in the new models.

Regarding the cause of the delays, the most likely culprit is the FX chip, which has had known production delays. As some have speculated, there may not be enough FX chips to go around right now for Power Macs, xServes and iMacs (although you'd think they could bin more of the slower chips needed for the iMacs). Alternatively, IBM may have had difficulty moving to lower voltage, cooler-running chips as quickly as it anticipated, explaining the lack of 2.3 GHz xServes (remember them?), 3.0 GHz Power Macs (the line-up looks like it was originally intended to be 2.0, 2.5, 3.0, but 3.0 was either not available or too hot for production Power Macs), and the delay in new iMacs.

As I suggested here, I still think Apple will announce the new iMacs at at Expo Paris.

 

[gerardrj]

...The funny thing is that for all intensive purposes the AMD-64 line are IBM chips....

The phrase is "intents and purposes".

 

[BillHarrison]

I kind of have to wonder about the Idea of a "headless Imac". I mean, an integrated all in one system *IS* what an Imac is. Without that, its really just a Desktop? I may be wrong here, but an Imac without a screen of some sort would not REALLY be an Imac to me. Its NOT a bad idea, im just saying, its not really an IMAC

 

[DMann]

Clearing the House

OK, Apple ran out of G4 iMacs before the G5 was ready to ship, much less show. Seems pretty likely that a delay in G5 iMac production is causing the gap, and that it is pretty embarrssing to Apple to have to put that message on their website.
For Apple, isn't there a bright side or two? Yes, they have no consumer desktop for a couple of months, but there are still plenty of eMacs to be had. Also, people who wanted a G4 iMac might alternately decide to go with either an iBook or a PowerBook. In either case, Apple moves some more of those soon-to-be-completely-outdated G4 processor Macs, clearing the way for the ultimate goal anyway - the complete transition of all computer products to the faster G5 processor.

A form of indirect house cleaning, in a way....

 

[iLilana]

g5 iMac getting ready

Maybe the specs on the chips aren't finalised.

just my opinion but they have to do something whith all those 1.6 g5 chips. G5 iMac time.

what does that kind of notice do for the stock though? anything?

 

[JGowan]

Sorry to interject before reading 600+ posts, but...

This might just be a subtle ploy at getting those with means to grab a 2nd Generation iMac while they can (and deplete the remaining computers out there). Knowing there will be a completely new redesign of the computer, I was tempted in getting a 17" just because it so unique and would be a good little secondary computer for me. Funds are just a little tight so I won't be doing this (but I will keep my eye on eBay in the future).

But for those who have never bought it and like the design just might help get rid of what's left over.

Just a thought.

:: Dual 2GHz G5 Powermac :: Dual 1GHz G4 Powermac :: 1GHz 17" PowerBook :: 23" HD Cinema Display :: 40GB iPod :: 21" Radius CRT

 

[JGowan]

Speculation Alert

If the hype machine is warming up for September, this will be TRICKED OUT! I wonder if it will have toaster support.

From what I understand, the iMac is not being updated because "it's time for a new look". It's because the current model is too costly to make and the profit margin just isn't what it should be. If the current iMac was making enough money after production costs, I'd bet we'd be seeing this model for quite some time to come (albeit with increases in speed, ram, HD space, etc.)

Apple has kind of painted themselves into a corner with such a great little machine. Now they have to make a "cooler" computer that costs less to produce. The fact that Jobs talked DOWN the idea of havind an LDC computer with the computer behind it will be hard to now justify now, which seems to me, his only option.

I bet we end up with something that looks very similar to our current 20" Cinema Display, but with an all-in-one-computer attached. Being that it's a computer, it won't matter that the bezel is so wide, wheres as just a monitor, it was a problem when a consumer wanted to set two side-by-side.

Also, now that new monitors are going ALL-ALUMINUM, there will a noticible distinction between the new iMac (which looks like the old panels) and then new AI displays.

:: Dual 2GHz G5 Powermac :: Dual 1GHz G4 Powermac :: 1GHz 17" PowerBook :: 23" HD Cinema Display :: 40GB iPod :: 21" Radius CRT

 

[JGowan]

It's Apple's turn to shine!

There is really no doubt WHY Apple chose not to mention new iMacs at WWDC... it would have HALVED all the enthusiasm that needed to be generated by the new Displays. Yeah, "Tiger" was something to be excited about but software is a different animal than hardware. Plus, it'll allow people to say "WOW! July we got 20" and 23" Displays! August we got the great new 30"! September we got the new G5 iMac! Apple is on a ROLL!"

It's been a while since Apple has Wow!'d the world with their "inovation their way through the economic downturn" release of lots of stuff at once.

I think it's time to turn the world on its head with "Man, Apple is doing stuff right!"

:: Dual 2GHz G5 Powermac :: Dual 1GHz G4 Powermac :: 1GHz 17" PowerBook :: 23" HD Cinema Display :: 40GB iPod :: 21" Radius CRT

 

[MacFan25]

There is really no doubt WHY Apple chose not to mention new iMacs at WWDC... it would have HALVED all the enthusiasm that needed to be generated by the new Displays.

If Apple would have announced new iMacs at WWDC, who knows when they would have started shipping. Even when they are announced in September, they may take a while before they ship. They probably didn't want to announce them if they know that they are not going to ship for quite a while. Although they do this all the time, like with the new PowerMacs.

Plus, like you said, they probably did want more publicity for the displays and Tiger. But, at this point, the new iMacs are probably not quite done yet either.

 

[ChrisH3677]

As SJ said at WWDC, the speed gains are betting less lately with new chips.

So... any chance the new iMac would be dual G4s?

 

[ChrisH3677]

Today everybody has a TV. A lot of people even have flat panel TVs. So we thought to ourselves "why not use that?". So today I'm proud to present the new headless iMac TV. Instead of a normal monitor you simply plug it into your livingroom TV. This is going to be great. You now have everything you need to control your digital life right at your TV screen."

Well I told you it was crazy. But I think it would be a great idea.
I know Steve has been talking about not incorporating the mac and TV, but as a Danish Politician once said. You have an opinion 'till you get another (losely translated).

Come on Steve my man...surprise us and make this the best birthday ever!

WHFO

TVs are multi-user devices. Computers are single or sometimes dual user devices. You can't mix them successfully. Computers most of the time are something we like to use in private. And that's not gunna change.


Like, a TV as a monitor, but in the living room, reduces that device to being only good for watching TV and playing games. Who's going to write assignments, or getting creative with GarageBand or Photoshop or surf the 'net with life going on around them, siblings screaming to get the TV back etc etc etc etc. This why iMacs and laptops are so good - you easily pick the whole lot up and move to a quite space. But with what you suggest, you could only move to where there's a TV capable of talking to the computer. My house only has one TV, and I won't be buying a second one.

It's totally impractical. Sorry. What's more likely is that future versions of Airport Express will have a SVGA out, so you can do what you suggest. But to replace the monitor with a TV... nah.

All these people who keep demanding a headless iMac annoy me. They're forcing their wants on the majority in this market segment who aren't looking for an upgradeable computer - they just want an appliance. They don't want to ever have to think about technical issues like which monitor to buy, whether they should keep their old monitor, do they put a new HDD in etc. Upgrading is for techies, not consumers.

That said, Apple should have a separate range of headless and somewhat upgradeable Macs which would meets those type buyers' needs and would also slip nicely into the corporate market. They wouldn't be as highly specced as PowerMacs, rather similar to iMacs/eMacs.

 

[JGowan]

...at this point, the new iMacs are probably not quite done yet either.

The new iMacs are Shipping in September and they're "probably not quite done yet"?!? No way! If there is anything that's being fine-tuned right now, it's the Ad Campaign,... but the computers have been finalized and are most likely in production.

I guarantee you that the reason they weren't announced at WWDC was so that the Displays would be the ONLY hardware announced and get all the press. By announcing the the displays and the imacs separately, they get TWICE the free publicity. They get all of the announcements in the news and websites about the displays now and then when the iMacs are announced officially, they get a second wave of publicity -- free. Plus, at that time, most of the press will reiterate about the new Displays.

 

[JGowan]

Come one people. This IS NOT good news. Apple will be losing a lot of income because of this. Who cares if they release new imacs in July or September? It doesn't matter either way. The problem is they don't have anything to sell which means they don't bring in money. Again, this is a very very bad thing. Watch the stock plunge a bit tomorrow.

Before you guys jump all over me, yes, its nice that a new imac is coming out. Not having anything to sell in the mean time is not so nice.

I've high-lighted the important words in my post so you can see the problems more clearly.

I've been at the KNOX STREET APPLE store in Dallas and at several CompUSAs in the area and they all have iMacs to sell. I'm sure that if you ASKED Apple employees about the iMac now, they'd tell you about the upcoming iMacs and then you could make your own decision about waiting or not. But except for the little blurb on their site, I doubt they're really going to highly publicize this info... it's mainly so that people who want to order from their site can either wait or perhaps try to get a sunflower iMac locally.

As far as the CompUSA staff, I asked a number of people and no one knew anything about it. Also, I was the first to educate several of them about the upcoming new displays.

The casual buyer will continue to come into 3rd party stores and buy the stock until it isn't available any more. Without employees not in the know, they'll continue to sell without giving up the September info. Also, the ones who know will probably be instructed to talk about the new iMacs ONLY if the customer brings it up. They have an obligation to get rid of the stock to make room for the new units, even if that means keeping the customer in the dark.

Don't think it doesn't happen: it does. These people work on commission. They're not going to miss a sale today just so they can send the customer away for 2 months, only to come in on their Day Off and give their sale to someone else.