Give me a halfway decent graphics card and make it look at least a bit pretty and I'll snap it up.
Yes, I am that shallow.
Yes, I am that shallow.
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Next Apple iMacs with "Striking New Industrial Design"?
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Powerbook G4 1 ghz. It's been dropped, bashed and had tons of water spilled all over the keyboard and grill surface, but except for the power cord and the screen naturally getting dimmer over the years, it's still 100% functioning. In fact, I'd really enjoy having a new computer, but I can't even come close to justifying it because this bad boy is still rockin' the house!
I am with yyou, G4's were Art, Current model is just ugly....hope the next is better...
This could be the first "dockable" iMac. The screen and CPU are thinner, lighter, smaller bezel, maybe even touchscreen capable.
The "Base station" could have a charger, mouse, keyboard, printer, wired internet, cord to TV, etc.
Rocketman
Oh please! There is an equal and opposite mentality that says "xyz feature is useful to me, why doesn't everybody use it?". The same argument applies.
Touchscreens are a bit of a niche interest at the moment, and I don't see the iMac using one. Yes, the can be useful, but only for a small proportion of computer users.
I guess it's all about how you drop it. I dropped my iBook G3 a while ago and the hinge that connects the display broke along w/ the trackpad. So I had to basically put on an external keyboard, mouse & display. I find many of Apple's concepts are good, just really shoddy workmanship. I had to replace the power cord on it like 3-4 times. I guess that's what you get using Chinese sweat shops.
Hear, hear, except that I highly doubt that if the iPhone is rushed to market a month early it'll be to capture that key demo in the smartphone game of 23/24-year-olds-just-about-to-enter-the-workplace. Apologies if you're kidding cos that's when u graduate or whatever, I just didn't get it.
For all you fools expecting the imac to suddenly become a half-price widescreen wacom cintiq with a computer thrown in for free, i suggest you take pause.
17-inch will definitely remain, all the article implies is that there's not enough space to lose its chin. The emac to G4 imac comparison is a valid one and I'm guessing that's what will happen.
Funny how half the ppl here think the current one is perfect, the other half hate the chin or even the whole thing with some even preferring the old one. The claim that it had more "personality" seems to me largely to do with that (admittedly brilliant) advert. My friend had one, and I don't remember it ever sticking its tongue out at me unless one of us pressed the eject button.
What ppl need to realise is that Apple has waited so long with all these updates that with santa rosa coming in may, if Jobsy is to keep good on his claim that revisions will happen as the new intel chips become available, the mbp (and, consequently, the mb) & the imac can't have an update for at least another 2 months, cos otherwise we won't get core2quad's until the revision after that. The mac mini will probably finally go 64-bit before that since it won't get santa rosa til after all the afore-mentioned have it and the MP will hopefully finally go octo-core at NAB, probably with new displays.
I appreciate what ppl are saying about putting TN displays in imac's, as the high-end ones are not entirely neccessary for most users, but I disagree, cos Apple has clearly avoided cheap LCDs for a reason, and DVDs definitely look better on cinema displays (S-IPS or whatever the technology's called) so I doubt they'll be changing that after all these years.
One thing is clear from this thread, tho: Jobsy can't keep applying his ipod price structure to his computer lines. Too many ppl are getting priced out by Apple's trying to meet the demand for a mid-range headless mac with the 24-inch imac, and by the rising expense of the persistently crippled mac mini which would cost half as much if it was twice its size and used desktop components.
True, not everybody needs every single feature, but there should be products that are geared towards those niches. That's why we have Mac Pros, iMacs, Mac minis & laptops. Not everybody needs the portability of a laptop, nor the power of a Mac Pro. While it'll be easier for Apple to just to make one product, the consumers would get pissed off. However, it's also too much work to make a computer individually handcrafted for each specific person. Just a few products, one for a general group. Then have it be adaptable enough for more specific situations.
To be honest, I'm getting rally tired of all this BS where if you have a different viewpoint on something, you're flamed. Everybody should really lighten up!
Thats exactly what I'm picturing, maybe place the optical drive in the base as well to save space and weight. When docked, it would appear and function just like the current iMac, but when needed it would be a portable and very adaptable tablet. iWait
Well said.
Let's review, we are at a rumor site, we are discussing rumors, we all have our favorite rumors that we want to come true. If I talk about my favorite rumor, and it isn't yours, it doesn't mean your rumor can't come true, and it doesn't make your rumor right. Namecalling and derogatory comments surely won't help it happen either.
I would be happy if they built in a nice looking way to pop off the back and make replaceable components.
Upgradeable Hard Drives, Graphics cards and perhaps the wireless card should be effortless. This is probably the biggest argument against switching from a PC. Most folks think of it as an all in one appliance.
The "chin" doesn't bother me at all. In fact when most people see it, they always ask wheres the tower.
Touch is overrated. The place I work at has been deploying it for 10 years now and most of our users hate it. We stopped deploying it on all but our handhelds. I don't ever see it coming to an iMac. I could see a use for it in a tablet form, but not much elsewhere. Maybe in a professional line of monitors for the Mac Pro.
Upgradeable Hard Drives, Graphics cards and perhaps the wireless card should be effortless. This is probably the biggest argument against switching from a PC. Most folks think of it as an all in one appliance.
The "chin" doesn't bother me at all. In fact when most people see it, they always ask wheres the tower.
Touch is overrated. The place I work at has been deploying it for 10 years now and most of our users hate it. We stopped deploying it on all but our handhelds. I don't ever see it coming to an iMac. I could see a use for it in a tablet form, but not much elsewhere. Maybe in a professional line of monitors for the Mac Pro.
I'm not saying design isn't important, I'm saying there has to be a balance. When the price keeps going up and the specs keep getting downgraded in relation to similar machines just to make it look better something is out of wack. They way things are going, there will come at time when those of us who see the Mac as computer platform and not a quazi religion will reach our breaking point.
I would think "generation" was meant rather than "revision".
Personally, I think using the ACD converted into the new iMac would be very sleek. Not to offend all of you G4 iMac lovers, but in my opinion that thing just looks awful.
Also, I suppose I wouldn't be opposed to a touch screen option, but really, do you sit close enough to a 24" or even 30" screen to be able to use touch capabilities (or can you without going blind?) Just a thought
Please stop with the "Bring back the G4 iMac design".
It will not happen. Apple will never take a step back. There may be elements that get incorporated into the new design...like adjustable screen height and tilt, but the old design will never come back. It was too expensive to produce...period.
Don't get me wrong, I had no problem with the G4 iMac, but I have no problem with the current design either.
Why do people want to go back? I am excited to see what NEW things Apple has to offer.
It will not happen. Apple will never take a step back. There may be elements that get incorporated into the new design...like adjustable screen height and tilt, but the old design will never come back. It was too expensive to produce...period.
Don't get me wrong, I had no problem with the G4 iMac, but I have no problem with the current design either.
Why do people want to go back? I am excited to see what NEW things Apple has to offer.
I don't think this has been explore enough here.
We have a nice thin form factor iMac.
We now have Apple TV.
There have been rumors in the past few years of Apple producing HD TVs.
I'd like Apple to combine at tleast two of them and creat a large screen HD iMac 37" to 47" in size.
This would truly bring Apple into our living rooms, and franky I don't think it's too far-fetched for the relatively near future.
For computing - wireless keyboard and mouse.
For entertainment - Apple TV and outs to run iTunes to your current audio system.
It may just be the fact that the computer barely hit the floor (hmm, is that like being kind of pregnant) and fell in super slow motion in a good computer bag is what to this day drives me crazy. I should mention that I was able to remold the corner back in shape with my fingers (which is scary too).
However, for the two plus years I had the computer, I never ran into any problems with the power adapter port (and this with non-stop travelling the whole time I used it) and the keyboard handled flooding better than a standard Apple keyboard (a Diet Coke exploded in it a hotel room and after a two reboots, it was back up and running perfectly).
I have and really like the design of the current iMac. It is very sleek, clean and beautiful to my eye. I do wish that there were some side/top/bottom mounted usb/firewire ports so that I don't have to turn the unit around to get to the ports on the back.
The cinema display design mock-up on previous pages is nice in an industrial way.
I have one idea for the "chin". Apple might utilize the space for a user functional purpose. How about embedding a 2" X (screen width) LCD that would hold the dock, clock, activity monitor and the other stuff that is now on the bar at the top of the OS x screen? Or maybe a mini-iTunes control panel? Or maybe a mode that plays RSS streams or stock "ticker"? That would free up some screen acreage. When the cursor is not in that area, it might have the ability to turn into a screen saver type of moving artwork (user selectable.) Or, maybe have a user selectable mode where dashboard widgets are displayed there? Or maybe be able to use it as a visual clipboard, dropping photos/movies there for later use?
The cinema display design mock-up on previous pages is nice in an industrial way.
I have one idea for the "chin". Apple might utilize the space for a user functional purpose. How about embedding a 2" X (screen width) LCD that would hold the dock, clock, activity monitor and the other stuff that is now on the bar at the top of the OS x screen? Or maybe a mini-iTunes control panel? Or maybe a mode that plays RSS streams or stock "ticker"? That would free up some screen acreage. When the cursor is not in that area, it might have the ability to turn into a screen saver type of moving artwork (user selectable.) Or, maybe have a user selectable mode where dashboard widgets are displayed there? Or maybe be able to use it as a visual clipboard, dropping photos/movies there for later use?
That's admirable creative thinking, outside the box and that's where good ideas come from after a lot of massaging. Cost might be prohibitive. But the challenge to apple would be to find a way to adapt this that looks good and more importantly WORKS well, that gives it VALUE to the customer. I've seen laptops with modest examples of what you're talking about. Thanks for opening that way of thinking for us all. It'll be interesting to see how the folks on the forum run with it.
Here are a couple of other suggestions for utilizing that chin for useful functions:
1) add a multi-format memory card reader. There are a number of formats that have been in use for years now, so it's not as if such an addition might immdiately be rendered obsolete. And what a practical place for it, right in front of the keyboard, for easy access.
2) how about putting usb and fw and headphone and mic ports in that area? Again, it's the most logical, easiest-to-reach location. The usefulness could be optmized by apple's marketing cables with right-angle connecters on one end (already available from other vendors).
It's easy to imagine (for me, at least
) a commercial showing how functional a setup like this would be for a user.