New iMac rumours - thinner.... really?

[theSeb]

I've only been on this forum for a very short amount of time and this seems to be the wall people hide behind the most. There's a difference between discussing rumours and vehemently arguing something as if it is somehow decreasing your quality of living. I'm not denying your right to complain, I'm just telling you that it makes you sound desperate.



Like I said, if Apple was to fit more powerful components (or even the same ones) into a smaller footprint, then yes, to me that is innovation.

I think your definition of 'unfit for purpose' varies wildly from mine. You make it sound like you've churned through dozens of these things. If this computer seems so crazily defective, why are you hanging around? Personally, after using an iMac at home and at work for a number of years, I am yet to have serious problem that I could pin on its design.

Why am I hanging around? Who the hell are you to tell me what I should post and shouldn't? But let me tell you anyway: because I am an Apple fan and I love Apple computers. I love OS X. That gives me the right, nay, the responsibility to criticise and point out flaws. If I wasn't a fan, then I wouldn't care enough to post. Hard drives running at 50 degrees Celsius. Desktop CPUs running at over 70. Mobile CPUs running at over 90. These are not examples of good design. No matter how pretty they look. This needs to be addressed.

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The trouble is that NONE of the current line-up is for me -- and probably for quite a few other people.
And don't say "well, go buy a PC, then". Lots of people have been using Macs for decades and have software that doesn't run on other platforms. (iWork, Logic, FCP, AppleScripts for Creative Suite, etc, etc.)

If the iMac is simply a 27" MBP without a hinge, and the next option up is massively over-priced for its ageing spec, then there's a real hole in the market.
A lot of people are going to have to make a compromise when they buy their next Mac. And when you're shelling out that money, making a compromise is going to leave you unsatisfied and disgruntled.
When people have large piles of cash and are desperate to give it to Apple, it does seem a fair criticism that Apple is not giving people what they want.

Indeed. I am glad that some people get it.

 

[725032]

Why am I hanging around? Who the hell are you to tell me what I should post and shouldn't? But let me tell you anyway: because I am an Apple fan and I love Apple computers. I love OS X. That gives me the right, nay, the responsibility to criticise and point out flaws. If I wasn't a fan, then I wouldn't care enough to post. Hard drives running at 50 degrees Celsius. Desktop CPUs running at over 70. Mobile CPUs running at over 90. These are not examples of good design. No matter how pretty they look. This needs to be addressed.

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Indeed. I am glad that some people get it.

Wow you are really getting upset about this... Its just a computer. Its not worth getting so stressed over

 

[theSeb]

Wow you are really getting upset about this... Its just a computer. Its not worth getting so stressed over

I am not upset over a computer - I am far too old for that. However, apologist responses, like ones from Bennybuyer, do indeed upset me. Bennybuyer is excited about a thin new iMac. That's ok.

I expect to be given a chance to voice my views without being told how I feel or that I should leave the forum. That would seem like the mature thing, no?

 

[david19801]

If you look closely at the picture it is a mac pro 13" motherboard not imac. The new imac will be march 2013 with the new cpu. Look at it again.

 

[JayJayAbels]

I suppose my only question to the TS would be... if the new iMac is devoid of heat issues and IS also thinner... would that be something you would be interested in?

Obviously no one wants any heat issues and logically by making something more compact you've got to find ways to engineer an exit for all of that heat... WITHOUT making it noisy.

We have 3 main points here that all intersect with one another.

1. Thickness
2. Temperature
3. Noise

Apple would love to address all 3 issues and has done a fairly decent job so far. Not perfect but decent.

Computers will CONTINUE to become smaller, thinner and lighter - within reason. At some point down the line... assuming that 15" and larger screens retain their value simply due to their screen real estate... computers themselves will become even less dense with lighter, smaller but faster processors, storage etc.

I think we're not THAT far off from computers with nothing more than a thin screen almost floating above your desk. And after that... holographic projection screens emitted from a computer no larger than the Mac mini.

Anyway I'm getting away from my point. lol

And that is... anything Apple designs in the next... I dunno... 5 years or so... will be lighter and thinner but I'm sure they are VERY aware that in doing so it creates other problems like heat and noise etc.

If I had to choose only 2 options between those 3 I've outlined above... I think I could live with the noise.

Right now, as it is, you could buy one of those massive gaming desktops with lasers shooting out of it and lime green cooling tubes... super powerful but super ugly and a huge footprint in anyones room. But that's not for me. Others may find that attractive though.

Same thing with the new Mac Pro they'll release next year. Of course they'll make it thinner and lighter. But these dudes have the top engineers in the world working on this stuff... and they've done a pretty darn good job so far. The MBPr is simply amazing tech.

I'm rambling. Basically it comes down to preference. I can see where some may be concerned about heat issues but honestly... we don't even know if there will be a new iMac at this point. This is all conjecture and speculation.

We'll see soon enough I guess.

 

[Broseidon]

I'll agree with Seb - if it causes heat issues, thin for the sake of thin in a desktop is beyond stupid.

We are however getting a bit stressed about a hypothetical flaw in a hypothetical product.

 

[xgman]

Look, Apple may have worked this out. Give it a chance and see before questioning the form.

 

[Razeus]

Frankly, what they do with the new iMac will be the make or break moment for me. If they screw it up and but in a 2.5 inch 5400rpm hard drive, that's a deal breaker. I'll have to go windows for sure. Hopefully a 256GB SSD will be standard and not in a crazy price range. I can also USB 3 my external drives for the storage space I need.

 

[xgman]

Frankly, what they do with the new iMac will be the make or break moment for me. If they screw it up and but in a 2.5 inch 5400rpm hard drive, that's a deal breaker. I'll have to go windows for sure. Hopefully a 256GB SSD will be standard and not in a crazy price range. I can also USB 3 my external drives for the storage space I need.

I am baffled that in late 2012, anyone is still using 5400rpm drives for anything.

 

[theSeb]

I suppose my only question to the TS would be... if the new iMac is devoid of heat issues and IS also thinner... would that be something you would be interested in?

I certainly would. But unfortunately Apple does not have a good track record in this. At least sending the Foxconn employees on a course on how to apply the thermal paste would be a start.

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I'll agree with Seb - if it causes heat issues, thin for the sake of thin in a desktop is beyond stupid.

We are however getting a bit stressed about a hypothetical flaw in a hypothetical product.

That is true. But it would not surprise me one bit if these rumours are true.

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Look, Apple may have worked this out. Give it a chance and see before questioning the form.

Judging by your posting history I would say that this comment smells of sarcasm.

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I am baffled that in late 2012, anyone is still using 5400rpm drives for anything.

Apple is still quite happy to use them in laptops and desktops

http://www.apple.com/uk/macbook-pro/specs/13-and-15-inch/
http://www.apple.com/uk/macmini/specs.html

 

[Neodym]

go buy a pc mate. Apple are about aesthetics and some people like that. I am one of those people.

I am one of those as well! However - i want to actually switch on the computer and work with low-noise / near-silence and as hassle-free as possible - even and especially under load.

The current iMac and rMBP are amazing technical products, but they clearly show the limits already. Becoming even thinner and more packed will most probably not improve on this.

As to heat issues, throttled cpu, slow hard drive - they're all speculation based on one rumour from a Chinese website. You seem to have decided already that the new iMac is going to put form over function. I think that's unjustified right now.

As the limits are visible on the current machines already and as we are on a rumor site, i'd consider it legitimate to extrapolate. And then higher performance mated with a thinner case design would not result in a positive outlook to me.

 

[vladfein]

I think we're not THAT far off from computers with nothing more than a thin screen almost floating above your desk. And after that... holographic projection screens emitted from a computer no larger than the Mac mini.

And World Peace! You forgot World Peace!!!

If I had to choose only 2 options between those 3 I've outlined above... I think I could live with the noise.

Really? For minor reduction in depth (that you would have to get out of your chair to admire) you would take increased noise?
You sir ARE a fan!
May I interest you in a couple of Apple logo stickers that came with my iPhone? I have no use for them

 

[Swordylove]

go buy a pc mate. Apple are about aesthetics and some people like that. I am one of those people.

If your primary way to make things more beautiful is by making it thinner, then your aesthetic sucks. Just like saying thinner models are always prettier and sexier. Then you have all these anorexics, because of such narrow perception of beauty.

 

[Mr. McMac]

theSeb, I'm in total agreement with you. Besides all the issues you mention, one of my biggest complaints are dust related. There's no way to clean the cooling fans or the components they cool. Dust buildup is a real problem no one ever talks about.

 

[Shivetya]

Thinner doesn't have to be a problem, at times I feel as if the whole metal case on the current machines is there to dissipate heat and the fact it looked stylish was merely icing on the cake.

Air is an insulator, removing more airspace from inside that beast is a better option.

 

[Abazigal]

I don't think that Steve particularly prioritised form over function. Rather, if you listened to his D10 interview (the one part where he kept stressing about tradeoffs in the ipad's interface), his point seems to be "Yes, we want both form and function, and when they conflict, compromises will inevitably have to be made, and the devil is in deciding where to draw the line in the sand.

You want a high-end desktop, it is going to one hell of a tower unit with ample space for you to fill it with 10 hard drives, more ports than you will ever need, and maybe even tubes running all over the place channeling coolant everywhere, and Steve evidently felt it looked ugly as crap, and most people don't come anywhere near to remotely taxing its capabilities. Like it or not, Apple is never going back there, save for the mac pro, but that's a different story (because the people who buy a mac pro, by definition, really do need that extra horsepower).

If you desire an all-in-one desktop where the cpu is baked into the screen, then these are the sacrifices you have to be prepared to make, because you only have so much space to play around with.

Why not approach this from another angle and ask yourself why Apple is doing this? If anything, you should blame the apple consumers, because they are the ones voting with their wallet, and indirectly sending a signal to Apple that they really do desire sleeker and thinner products.

 

[JayJayAbels]

And World Peace! You forgot World Peace!!!


Really? For minor reduction in depth (that you would have to get out of your chair to admire) you would take increased noise?
You sir ARE a fan!
May I interest you in a couple of Apple logo stickers that came with my iPhone? I have no use for them

^ Which ones? I have the whole collection!

 

[sigamy]

I agree that this multiple year trend of thinner, thinner, thinner is getting old.

I've always been an iMac owner. I am a big iMovie and iPhoto user and I play with FCP X a bit. I don't play games so the iMac is perfect for me. I hope Apple continues to grow the iMac's performance and features.

The majority of Apple's computer sales are laptops. Do they even care about desktops?

It will be interesting to see what Apple's late 2012/early 2013 desktop line becomes. Will we still have mini, iMac, Mac Pro? Will something be dropped or changed? Will we finally get the xMac?

Or will Apple keep the desktop line on autopilot for a few more years until all these "trucks" are replaced with either laptops or iPads?

 

[vladfein]

Thinner doesn't have to be a problem, at times I feel as if the whole metal case on the current machines is there to dissipate heat and the fact it looked stylish was merely icing on the cake.

Air is an insulator, removing more airspace from inside that beast is a better option.

You are an artist, I presume?
Even a little air gap between components and a metal frame will prevent heat dissipation.
BUT reduced gap will also limit air flow that actually cools those components.

 

[iMacFarlane]

Mission a-****ing-ccomplished, Apple. It's thinner. Concentrate on something else.

 

[forty2j]

Listen, if it isn't an improvement, spec-wise, over the 2011, then it will be a disaster, and I think Apple knows this. I'm not going to believe for a moment that they made it worse. The Geekbench scores look really good; I'm just waiting to see the GPU.

Now, nobody expected them to include a desktop GPU, or to make it easier to customize. 99% of iMac users never modify it beyond installing RAM in the chin, and most don't even do that. Now the remaining 1% will need to add a heat gun to the list of tools they need to break into it and make some changes. If you love both customizing and OS X, you're really not all that much worse off than you were before, and your best hope is whatever it is they're releasing "for Pros" next year.


P.S. I don't know if they solved thermals properly or not, but you can bet your left kidney I'll be buying AppleCare for it.

 

[davidcmc]

Thinner design means smaller parts.

Smaller parts mean more expensive parts (notebooks cost way more than desktops).

This is all that Apple wants.
They don't want you using a powerful computer, they want you to use a beautiful computer.

Brainless people LOVE beautiful things, even if we're talking about technology.
Computers, inside those peoples minds, should look just like their jewels.
It's not like a beautiful car, where you can fit a powerful engine and great comfort, because a car still has plenty of dimentional space for that.

The more you shrink electric circuits, the less powerful they become (WHEN COMPARED TO A SAME GENERATION BIG BROTHER).

Apple doesn't want you opening their computers and switching the HD/GPU/CPU. That would hurt their sales, because people would stop buying new Macs.
Apple wants you to switch the whole computer when you want an upgrade.

You know why? Because they know that OS X is the main reason people buy Macs.
(Most) People don't buy Macs because they're made of aluminium and have a beautiful screen, but basically because they natively run OS X.

 

[bobright]

You like it pretty and you think thinner will be prettier. That is ok. This is a discussion regarding rumours, since this site is called mac rumours. A discussion is not necessarily negative just because you disagree with it.

Stop bickering and wait till its released, at this point youre getting heated for NOTHING

 

[george-brooks]

To quote a recent thread from AppleInsider:

For those who are complaining that the current iMac isn't competitive enough in the PC specs wars, or that a redesign shouldn't focus on alleged thinness, I think you've completely forgotten (or never knew) what the iMac product is and has always been all about.

Apple's marketing message for iMac has always been pretty consistent, and it's not about the megahertzes.

If this doesn't appeal to you, then the iMac is simply not for you.

I think that the issue here is that consumer level computers have gotten too good. So many professionals on a budget are now turning to the iMac because it has caught up with, and sometimes surpassed the performance of the mac pro. The iMac was never intended to be a professional machine, but it has become one, especially now that more and more consumers are turning to portable machines. In my opinion, this trend should be the signal to Apple to make the iMac even more of a professional machine, but that would deflate Mac Pro sales (and I'm sure they've seen a HUGE drop in Mac Pro sales and a HUGE rise in iMac sales since 2010). I think Apple is trying to make the iMac a consumer machine once again, forcing professionals to buy a Mac Pro instead, which is stupid in this portable world we now live in.

I'm going to wait until both the new iMacs and mac pros are released before I make a decision, but ultimately, I think the next Mac Pro is going to be a truly professional machine while the iMac continues to be a consumer machine on steroids with no user replaceable components and an increasingly thinner design.

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On another note, I think the design would be more beautiful if it were the same thickness and they dropped the aluminum bar on the bottom, essentially an iMac in a Thunderbolt Display enclosure. Even if it were the same thickness as the current gen it would still be a much more beautiful design. Rarely do you see the sides of the computer to see how thin it is, you look at the front all day!!

 

[Baphomet]

Listen, if it isn't an improvement, spec-wise, over the 2011, then it will be a disaster...

What do you think about an upgraded display ( pixel density and resolution ) of the new Mac? For me this is the biggest argument of being a success or not...