New iMacs Released

[sine-nomine]

I've been disappointed in Apple lately. While the iPhone looks good compared to other phones, it isn't really up to Apple's par, and it's going to suck to see elements of its design creeping into other Apple products.

The aluminum could have been really pretty, but the black bezel really, truly does make it look like some generic LCD tv or PC monitor. There really isn't any personality there. I wouldn't call it fugly, but it is just kind of there, you know? Blah. Generic. I don't think I'd really enjoy seeing it on my desk. It feels like something Sony would make. The black back makes no sense to me at all.

I'm also not fond of the keyboards. While the MacBook keyboard is about the best laptop keyboard I've used, it's still a laptop keyboard. I type about 71wpm on the MacBook keyboard, while I get 93 on a bargain basement Logitech I picked up a few years ago. Plus, my hands cramp up after a bit on every laptop keyboard I've ever used, which I think is due to shorter key travel. Old Sun keyboards and many of the new slimline desktop keyboards do the same thing to me. I may be in the minority with this issue, but it doesn't make me happy that I'll have to buy a 3rd party keyboard to use with future Macs.

If they wanted to make a compact version of the keyboard, fine, I can see where it could be nice to have. But, it would be nice to have a Bluetooth full-sized one available, too. Not everyone who likes numeric keypads also likes cords. A shocking and little known truth, that.

When Apple went Intel, I didn't expect them to go so long between hardware updates, and then for them to be somewhat underwhelming when they did. This isn't just the iMac, it's all across the board. With the EA announcement, I expected a push to better video cards, but alas. The MacBook will probably see Santa Rosa right about the time something newer comes along. The fact that the base Mini and others still offer the combo drive is insulting, as is the paltry 1GB of RAM they toss in the Mac Pro.

While I love the simplicity of the all-in-one form factor the iMac offers, I need slightly more power. If they can't put what I need in the iMac, ok, I understand that, but unless you give me options that suit my needs - say a Mac Almost-But-Not-Quite-Pro with non-Xeon quad-core - at a reasonable price, I will have to put up with the headaches of Windows or Linux to get my work done. I can't afford to buy a Mac Pro, or a Mini or iMac and build a second machine to work from. I don't have the time to wait an hour in queue on the university cluster just to test on a quad-core machine. Bleh.

 

[mongoos150]

Wow.. you sold your iMac for $1500. Did the person who bought it know that they were being updated today?

Couldn't tell ya. I did include licensed copies of CS2 and FCP5. He got a good deal.

Still am struggling with the decision about which machine to buy... Argh. I need to see them in person. I really wish someone here would post some framerate numbers and CS3/Gaming performance feedback with the new 24 inchers... Come on people!

 

[sunspot42]

Saw Them At The Apple Store

I think they're more fugly in person than they are in pictures. The whole package looks really disjointed - white keys, different tone of metal on the keyboard than on the iMac, white mouse with translucent plastic . . . looks like someone rummaged in a bin and slapped together parts from multiple PCs. Might as well buy a cheaper, more powerful desktop computer from HP or Dell and slap on a nice Samsung 24" monitor - it'll coordinate at least as well, if not better.

The keyboard sucks, even compared to Apple's previous keyboard. Thing has no feel at all - typo city. Fine for hunt and peck typists, or those poor souls who can only type 30 words a minute or less, but for those of us in the 80wpm club or higher it's a complete dud. Oh, and it takes up more desk space than their old keyboard. Feh.

It's great that it has USB2 jacks built in, BUT they're underneath the keyboard and recessed, so lots of stuff can't plug into them directly (like many / most USB flash drives). You'll need to keep a dongle handy.

Screen glare is gonna be a huge problem, even in dimly-lit rooms, and the units at the Apple Store were already caked with fingerprints. No thanks.

The speakers don't sound any louder than the ones in the old iMac. If anything, I think this one might be fainter.

I will say these things make the Mac Mini look really good. Compared to the iMac, I think it's a great value. If Apple crammed a 3.5" drive into them, or they came with FireWire 800, I'd probably buy one of those instead.

I'm terribly disappointed. I was planning to migrate to OS X this year, but after seeing these iMacs, with their fugly mismatched looks and unimpressive, last year's laptop specs, I think I'll be waiting for the next update. Given that this update was delayed by several months for the iPhone, how little has really been changed, and the generally negative reaction I'm seeing on the web, I wouldn't be surprised to see a completely new iMac hit the market as early as February or March of 2008.

Assuming I don't get tired of waiting and just rebuild my existing Pee Sea. That Samsung 24" widescreen monitor looks pretty sweet for $500.

 

[PVguy]

Rats, no expansion slots.

My money will be staying in the bank for awhile longer.

I want expansion slots, and less than 200 watts of power demand. My quicksilver has a USB 2 card, and a SATA card, and an upgraded video card. I can't do anything like that with the iMac. (And the quicksilver, dual processor, with three hard drives pulls 160 W, less than 1/3 of a Mac Pro.)

They could have put a couple of Expresscard 54 slots on the the case, especially on the 24" version. Then they could call it the iMac Pro. And I likely would have bought it.

ESATA is starting to take off big time; and there is no way to add that capability. Plus a slot for the next wireless upgrade, or some future USB version, or whatever.

If the quicksilver dies before Steve builds what I want, then I'll be getting the minimal Mini to tide me over. Or one of those Hp 3100 series with some Linux version.

The new iMacs do look nice though. I think they are an improvement over last week's model. And the specs look pretty decent, unless you are game crazed.

 

[chope]

Long time lurker, and my first post. A post out of frustration unfortunately. I was ready to buy today, credit card was out, I was amped for a new iMac. We have been waiting a long time for the new iMacs, and I just felt Apple could have done better. I currently have the flower pot g4 and I remember the day that came out, the striking, innovative design. It was a real head turner, it still is. Without the Apple logo I would be hard pressed to pick the new iMac out of the sprawl of dells and Hps at Best Buy. The specs aren't bad i suppose, and I can live with the dull design. Being a freelance illustrator though, the glossy screen killed any chance of me buying this. I place so much trust into monitor color and calibration and the glare and saturation just won't do. At this rate I am looking at trying to scoop up the old 24" monitor at a lower price. so so so bummed today.

 

[cisco1138]

Yeah, but WTF is up with the black border?

The black border seems to make the "chin" appear smallerhttp://images.macrumors.com/vb/images/smilies/confused.gif

Or is it just me?http://images.macrumors.com/vb/images/smilies/cool.gif

 

[un1ty]

My new iMac is flawless, the screen is really fantastic!

Love the wallpaper! Can you share it?

 

[METOO999]

SEXY.

I want a 20 incher!

 

[mongoos150]

I think they're more fugly in person than they are in pictures.

Sorry ya feel that way. Most of us love the design.

The keyboard sucks, even compared to Apple's previous keyboard. Thing has no feel at all - typo city. Fine for hunt and peck typists, or those poor souls who can only type 30 words a minute or less, but for those of us in the 80wpm club or higher it's a complete dud. Oh, and it takes up more desk space than their old keyboard. Feh.

I type at about 90 wpm. If the new keyboard is anything like the MacBook keyboard - which it is, exactly - it is perfectly fine. Absolutely no more typos than on any other keyboard. Perhaps you have mal-coordinated hands

It's great that it has USB2 jacks built in, BUT they're underneath the keyboard and recessed, so lots of stuff can't plug into them directly (like many / most USB flash drives). You'll need to keep a dongle handy.

Absolutely not. Have you seen the pics of the mouse plugging into the keyboard? Apple did this so you didn't have an extra dongle sticking out the side of the keyboard. It's cleaner. You only see a cord. One less thing to snap off or bang against the side of a wall/chair/whatever.

Screen glare is gonna be a huge problem, even in dimly-lit rooms, and the units at the Apple Store were already caked with fingerprints. No thanks.

Fingerprints are even worse on matte screens. If you're in an environment sodden with flourescent lights/windows, then I agree. However, in most averagely-lit situations, it's perfectly fine. Macbooks I've used in my home, even outside around campus are awesome. There's always one position that is just riddled with glare, but adjusting the monitor an inch up or down most always clears it up. And from a viewing experience POV, glossy screens are much nicer to look at. Deeper color saturation and enhanced contrast ratio (perceived of course, not actual).

The speakers don't sound any louder than the ones in the old iMac. If anything, I think this one might be fainter.

Who the hell uses the internal speakers?! If you care even a slight amount for listening to music/movies/whatever from your computer, buy a decent pair of externals. I have an amazing pair of Klipsch Promedia THX-certified 2.1 speakers I picked up for $99 on Amazon.

I will say these things make the Mac Mini look really good. Compared to the iMac, I think it's a great value. If Apple crammed a 3.5" drive into them, or they came with FireWire 800, I'd probably buy one of those instead.

Desktop vs. Laptop...

I'm terribly disappointed. I was planning to migrate to OS X this year, but after seeing these iMacs, with their fugly mismatched looks and unimpressive, last year's laptop specs, I think I'll be waiting for the next update. Given that this update was delayed by several months for the iPhone, how little has really been changed, and the generally negative reaction I'm seeing on the web, I wouldn't be surprised to see a completely new iMac hit the market as early as February or March of 2008.

I definitely do not think they're "fugly" - they certainly are a welcome change from the all-white iMacs that have been going on forever-and ever-and ever. The graphic card blows, true, but on the whole, it's a solid system. You whine too much.

 

[mongoos150]

PV Guy - USB 2.0, FW400 and FW800 are the expansion slots of a desktop machine.

 

[ghall]

I don't really like the new designs. Good thing I could never afford one, so I don't have to have that hideous thing staring at me.

 

[rootsrockrebel]

just bought mine online despite being completely upset over the crap graphics card they put in that machine. I guess mine is more for business and school than gaming, but I at least wanted the option, what are they thinking spurning the gaming audience, its a huge market and all it would take is an OPTIONAL upgrade to at least the 2900 even though nvidia would be much better for current games. The worst part is that my online purchase has a 3-5 WEEK WAIT TO SHIP WTF! all i did was upgrade the memory on the lesser 24" model to 2 gigs, something i couldve done at the store and added the bt keyboard and mouse. 3-5 WEEKS!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[mongoos150]

just bought mine online despite being completely upset over the crap graphics card they put in that machine. I guess mine is more for business and school than gaming, but I at least wanted the option, what are they thinking spurning the gaming audience, its a huge market and all it would take is an OPTIONAL upgrade to at least the 2900 even though nvidia would be much better for current games. The worst part is that my online purchase has a 3-5 WEEK WAIT TO SHIP WTF! all i did was upgrade the memory on the lesser 24" model to 2 gigs, something i couldve done at the store and added the bt keyboard and mouse. 3-5 WEEKS!!!!!!!!!!!

It was the keyboard. Sorry mate.

 

[JRohan]

iMac Ad

Anyone know the name of the artist and song from the new ad?

 

[DakotaGuy]

The new design is very disappointing. It seems like they are trying to make the new iMac too many things at once. Silver and black to mimic the iPhone and Mac Pro, white keys and white mouse to mimic old iMac and iPod, and black border around the minitor to mimic HD televisions. Yuck!

I personally loved their previous design much better. The whole thing matched and was cohesive. You had a white body, with white keyboard and mouse and white cables. Clean and simple.

The funny thing is that the new keyboard goes a lot better with the white iMac then the new one. I just don't know if I am sold on the new keyboard though. I think I will stay with the normal looking one I have right now. Just because something looks neat, does not always mean it is more functional.

 

[Fuchal]

The funny thing is that the new keyboard goes a lot better with the white iMac then the new one. I just don't know if I am sold on the new keyboard though. I think I will stay with the normal looking one I have right now. Just because something looks neat, does not always mean it is more functional.

I'm pretty sure the keys are white on the new keyboard ONLY so it matches the mighty mouse. Apple probably has made too many Mighty Mouses to switch over to black just now.

 

[mchank]

just bought mine online despite being completely upset over the crap graphics card they put in that machine. I guess mine is more for business and school than gaming, but I at least wanted the option, what are they thinking spurning the gaming audience, its a huge market and all it would take is an OPTIONAL upgrade to at least the 2900 even though nvidia would be much better for current games. The worst part is that my online purchase has a 3-5 WEEK WAIT TO SHIP WTF! all i did was upgrade the memory on the lesser 24" model to 2 gigs, something i couldve done at the store and added the bt keyboard and mouse. 3-5 WEEKS!!!!!!!!!!!

The new bluetooth keyboard doesn't come out until the end of August. If you want it faster, it'd be better to just buy the standard model and buy the RAM from a third party.

 

[rootsrockrebel]

the design isnt "radical" by any means, but it is still a very sleak machine people sure are ripping it a new usb port which isnt fair since no one was really complaining much about it before the upgrade. I think its more that people are let down. it is unfortunate that the mouse and keys dont match anything though, they shouldve thought that through and offered a new mouse.

 

[GNice]

Lot of negativity...but it won't get me down.

I'm about to buy my first mac so I'm very hyped. I'm a bit amazed at all the negativity. I was about to buy a new iMac ~6 weeks ago and got lucky that I heard about the new iMacs just before I pulled the trigger.

I'm now getting more machine for the exact same amount money I was planning on spending! I'm so looking forward to joining the mac world. I don't think it looks horrific at all. I do think there could have been better color coordination, but geez...that's far from a reason to trash it. For anyone in the market for an iMac I don't see how today was close to a "bad day". Maybe not as great as some wanted, but hardly a reason for depression.

Sorry so many of you are bummed, but I can't see anything but positives.

 

[AidenShaw]

PV Guy - USB 2.0, FW400 and FW800 are the expansion slots of a desktop machine.

On PCs, we call those "laptop slots".

On a desktop machine, PCIe is the expected expansion slot - or PCI if you're getting a cheap "last generation" machine.

Why do you want a rat's nest of USB and 1394 cables connecting things that should be inside the cabinet?

 

[Wharrgarbl]

Jonathan Ive - outsourcing his job or something?

Is Jonathan Ive asleep at the switch? Does he have rodents doing his job?

This is the second ho-hum industrial design they've released -- the last one was the Mac Mini. The MBPs are still coasting on a 2003 design, and the Mac Pros are still in the case that was introduced for the Powermac G5!

What's going on? Has Ive focused on nothing but the iPhone design for 4 consecutive years?

They used to release stunning industrial designs every year or every second year. Yes, aluminum is nice for the front of an iMac (and 2 years overdue.) But let's not forget that there's 3x more square inches of shiny black plastic on that thing than aluminum. It is literally a shiny black plastic iMac with aluminum trim.

The whole package is: acres of black plastic with aluminum *borders*, matte *white* plastic keys on aluminum keyboard, shiny white plastic mouse. Reflective glass front with black plastic border around the screen. Talk about a jumble.

What's going on in Cupertino??

 

[ImAlwaysRight]

The more I look at them - I just don't know. I sold my iMac (24") yesterday for $1500, and now I'm stuck on what to buy.

Was your iMac stock, or did it have improved specs? If anything was improved, that's quite a loss on a fairly new iMac. Judging by the update, if I were you, I would have kept the iMac 24" and waited until January when they will have faster processors, larger hard drives, improved graphics, and OS 10.5 included. Surely your "old" 24-inch iMac could have lasted you that long.

Also, alot of people in the forum are talking about HD support with the new videocard, but Apple forgot one thing, the new iMac still has no Blu Ray! How can you watch HD movies on this thing?

Hmmm, I guess you could try putting a BR drive in an external case.

I want expansion slots, and less than 200 watts of power demand. My quicksilver has a USB 2 card, and a SATA card, and an upgraded video card. I can't do anything like that with the iMac.

If you want expansion slots you need to be looking at the Mac Pro, not the iMac. The iMac is Apple's all-in-one desktop offering without expansion slots. The expansion in an iMac comes in USB 2, FireWire 400 or 800.

Video card: the more I read on the video card, the more inclined I am that Apple made a good choice. Low heat, which means low cooling requirement and low noise. Which is exactly what you want in the iMac. Plus, I'd rather "wait and see" how it compares to the X1600 on the previous iMacs before I go slaming it (not just PC tests of cards that are clocked differently). Also, note the 2600 Pro on the new iMac has 256MB vs the 128MB of the previous iMac video. It is an improvement. Maybe not as great as some of you gamers would like, but in perspective, it is an improvement. Add faster FSB, faster Processor, more RAM capability, and it will play games better than the previous iMacs. If you are in the market, it is not a reason not to buy it.

 

[JGF0x]

I hope you crybabies are ready to have a rusty razor party with all your whining. I'm disappointed that Apple didn't go revolutionary with the new iMac (after all each new version produced an entirely different form) but suck it up and be happy that you can order things like a 1 TB hard drive, 4 gb ram and 2.8 GHz processor with something as THIN as an iMac. If you need more than that then get the Mac Pro. If you need less then get a Mac Mini. What's the problem here?

I don't know if I'll buy it right away (might wait for Leopard to come pre-installed) but it's decent looking, has great features and an even better form factor. I for one am glad they are using the glossy screen on the iMac. I have one on my current Macbook Pro and it's great!

My only hesitation on the new iMac is whether it's worth $300 to upgrade from a 750gb hard drive to a 1TB hard drive.

 

[armani]

Apple just posted the video of the iMac event today.

After watching it, it seemed real weird to me that there was no applause when the iMac was revealed. It seemed like Steve was rushing the whole thing as well... he wasn't as "salesman-y" as he usually is. Almost like he was phoning (iphoning?) it in...

Also, Steve oddly spent more time talking about the new iPhoto features (nothing earth shattering) than he did showing the new iMac.

http://events.apple.com.edgesuite.net/r27842e/event/index.html?test=q1wa2sz3x

Steve did not seem to be very happy. I have a feeling he is disappointed with the new iMac and they did it because they had to. He was probably thinking: "They still put that damn glossy screen....... fire all". Really it looked like the apple team did not meet the deadline and they put out whatever was ready.

 

[Sean Dempsey]

Steve did not seem to be very happy. I have a feeling he is disappointed with the new iMac and they did it because they had to. He was probably thinking: "They still put that damn glossy screen....... fire all". Really it looked like the apple team did not meet the deadline and they put out whatever was ready.

That's a pretty huge leap in assumptions. didn't meet the deadline? What deadline? it was announced last week, they could have moved the deadline wherever they wanted.