Next-Generation iMac: Quad-Core Processors? No Blu-Ray?

[pr5owner]

You wouldn't buy an all-in-one desktop? Yet you are happy to buy an all-in-one laptop..I don't see the logic in that.

all in one desktop

cant upgrade the monitor
cant upgrade the CPU
cant upgrade to more than 1 HDD
cant upgrade the video card
cant upgrade the cd burner to multiple
cant upgrade the ram (heatsinked ram that runs at high speeds such as DDR3 2000+ will not fit)
cant upgrade the mother board

in fact you just cant do crap with an all in one. you stuck with a high bill and an already out of date system.

 

[pr5owner]

Quad Core sounds nice. Its about time really. Blue-Ray? I will NEVER EVER get a Blue-Ray Drive in a computer. I know the discs hold more. But I have a back up HDD for stuff like that. I will never watch blue-ray movies on any computer. I know a lot of computers offer them... but I would skip it for a normal DVD drive. We have a Blue-Ray player and a nice big TV for watching movies on.

So if Apple does get blue-ray. Some day. I hope they give you the option to not have it put in. I would never use it.

oh ok, you sound like one of those people that say things like

USB? ill never use that, serial is all i need
floppy discs hold more than ill ever need
i will never use more than 540MB of HDD space

 

[pr5owner]

Convenience.... if you're in the room with your computer or if you have a laptop and you're on the road...

or when your only souce of content is a Home theatre PC

i dont have cable, DSAT, VHS, digital cable, or anything
just a HTPC with a Gig ethernet connection (blueray drive will be installed for $50 after i buy a motorcycle)

 

[dwd3885]

all in one desktop

cant upgrade the monitor
cant upgrade the CPU
cant upgrade to more than 1 HDD
cant upgrade the video card
cant upgrade the cd burner to multiple
cant upgrade the ram (heatsinked ram that runs at high speeds such as DDR3 2000+ will not fit)
cant upgrade the mother board

in fact you just cant do crap with an all in one. you stuck with a high bill and an already out of date system.

you can't do any of that, true..But I got to thinking, people upgrading computers is just something that doesn't happen often.. What happens in the Mac community is something new comes out, and you'll sell your Mac and buy the new one..So it's like upgrading.

And by the time you would upgrade the hdd, video card, ram, motherboard, you've spent so much you might as well have gotten the new one.

 

[Kristenn]

So, you have no need to make a back up copy of your BD movies or to convert them for playback on other devices such as a laptop, netbook, iphone or ipod?

That's nice. Many of us though do have those needs, not to mention the desire to actually export high def content authored on our Macs.

I never said nobody else wouldn't. But I don't. I don't watch movies on my iPod or anything besides a TV. The only movies I watch on computers are standard quality. I don't even know if they are HD. Its not like I throw my blue-ray movies a crossed the room or something... >.>

So yeah. I would never buy Blue-Ray for a computer. I don't mean Apple shouldn't add it. I just hope its an option and not something they will shove down my throat. My mom wouldn't go for it and I wouldn't want to pay for it myself either unless they got as cheap as DVD drives.

 

[AidenShaw]

BD will be everywhere before too long...

I wouldn't want to pay for it myself either unless they got as cheap as DVD drives.

Before long, they will be.

I spent $600 for my first 1X SCSI CD writer, and blank CDs were a bargain if you could get them for $2.50 each.

When the DVD writers were first announced in Compaq then in Apple systems, they were around $1000.

Newegg has BD-ROM/DVD-RW drives for under $80 today... (but that's 2-3 times the price of a DVD-R drive.)

 

[MacDSmith2]

Well, to paraphrase Obi Wan Kinobi:

This is not the thread you're looking for. Move along.

I love it!

 

[MacDSmith2]

Well, to paraphrase Obi Wan Kinobi:

This is not the thread you're looking for. Move along.

I love it! Great line! Long live the Mac Mini! And I hope the dang thing gets an update!

 

[brendanspah764]

Quad Core sounds nice. Its about time really. Blue-Ray? I will NEVER EVER get a Blue-Ray Drive in a computer. I know the discs hold more. But I have a back up HDD for stuff like that. I will never watch blue-ray movies on any computer. I know a lot of computers offer them... but I would skip it for a normal DVD drive. We have a Blue-Ray player and a nice big TV for watching movies on.

So if Apple does get blue-ray. Some day. I hope they give you the option to not have it put in. I would never use it.

Took the words right out of my mouth. If we wanted HD movies on our Mac, then that is why Apple is offering HD Movies and TV Shows on iTunes.

 

[AidenShaw]

Took the words right out of my mouth. If we wanted HD movies on our Mac, then that is why Apple is offering HD Movies and TV Shows on iTunes.

Even though Apple Itunes has over-compressed 720p content, instead of 40 Mbps pristine Blu-ray 1080p?

Apple can't be sued for calling Itunes "HD", but it also can't be taken seriously. Watching over-compressed 720p content at half the bit-rate of a 640x480 DVD is not where I want to spend my time.

But then, the sheeple believe that 128 Kbps Itunes music is "CD-quality"....

 

[Drag'nGT]

all in one desktop

cant upgrade the monitor
cant upgrade the CPU
cant upgrade to more than 1 HDD
cant upgrade the video card
cant upgrade the cd burner to multiple
cant upgrade the ram (heatsinked ram that runs at high speeds such as DDR3 2000+ will not fit)
cant upgrade the mother board

in fact you just cant do crap with an all in one. you stuck with a high bill and an already out of date system.

So you don't own a laptop right? I mean it can't do any of the things that you just listed so I'm guessing that you don't own one.

Consumers have been buying TONS of laptops, so an all in one concept isn't a new idea to them. And next to no one works on their own computers. If this wasn't true Geek Squad wouldn't be over run with broken computers every day. Consumers know that every year the latest and greatest comes to the stores. So they think that every 3-5 years they should buy a whole new system. They just want to plug it in and turn it on.

An iMac is a stronger laptop with a bigger screen stuck on a stand. People understand that and that's why they sell well.

 

[nek]

Because Apple has to use the lower Thermal Design Points (TDP) for the thin enclosure that is used with the iMacs. Also, a lower TDP means that you don't have to run the fans as often or as hard. By all accounts, the Core 2 Duos used in the current iMacs have a TDP of between 35W and 44W. Thus, to keep the current design they need to stay fairly close to those numbers and the Core i7 Mobile 720QM and 820QM are the only quad-core processors that can achieve those numbers.

Ahh yes. I see that I was looking at the regular Core 2 Duos instead of the mobile versions. The mobile Duos are at 35W and the Core 2 Quads are at 45W, so the i7 mobile is what Apple is likely to use. The prices of the Core i7 Mobiles are also very similar to the current Core 2 Duo Mobiles, so it would make no sense for Apple to stay with 2 core chips. But only having 2 available processors could make it difficult for Apple to provide 4 iMac models. The 2.0GHz Core i7 Mobile 920XM has a higher TDP of 55W and a much higher price tag.

 

[jaw04005]

I'd agree that it could be possible to put the 920XM in a redesigned iMac (55W TDP), but as many have previously noted it would be far too expensive at $1054 per processor. Thus, regardless of TDP it seems like the 720QM and 820QM are the only reasonable choices.

I don’t know what sort of deal they get with Intel, but they’ve included ‘Core 2 Duo Extreme’ processors before that were quite expensive.

Apple used the X7900 in the original 24” iMac (aluminum) in 2007. At the time, it was around $850 bulk. It’s possible they could offer the 920QM as a BTO for $2299 like the did the X7900.

Let’s hope they offer the best available this time around, at least as a BTO.

 

[pr5owner]

So you don't own a laptop right? I mean it can't do any of the things that you just listed so I'm guessing that you don't own one.

Consumers have been buying TONS of laptops, so an all in one concept isn't a new idea to them. And next to no one works on their own computers. If this wasn't true Geek Squad wouldn't be over run with broken computers every day. Consumers know that every year the latest and greatest comes to the stores. So they think that every 3-5 years they should buy a whole new system. They just want to plug it in and turn it on.

An iMac is a stronger laptop with a bigger screen stuck on a stand. People understand that and that's why they sell well.

on my older Acer 5672 from 4 years ago i upgraded...

Ram to 2GB from 1GB
HDD from 80GB to 160GB
CPU from core Duo to Core 2 duo
once the cpu was 64bit compatible i upgraded to Vista 64bit
then after quite a while i upgraded the network card from an ABG Card to an Atheros ABG so i could do packet injection.

how much did i spent total? about $400 however the total cost of the laptop minus the parts sold is still cheaper than a macbook at the time and faster.

the only thing that was too expensive to do was upgrade the GPU/motherboard

if i did i would of gone from an X1400 to an X1600 Ati Video card but that would of been over $300.

was it hard to upgrade any of the components? no, none of them took longer than 10 mins each. and no more than 4-8 screws were taken out.

 

[fpnc]

Since no invitations have been sent out, it seems unlikely new models will be released next week.

Maybe in November, although it would seem a little silly to release new models only to drop the price for the "Black Friday" sale ... so maybe in December...

Yes, it does look like next Tuesday is out (i.e. no redesigned Macs next week). However, I don't think that products using the new Core i7 Mobile processors are yet available (i.e. supply may be seriously limited -- Intel could be late in delivering chips). Apple may be waiting until they have enough stock on hand to do the introduction and so I'm still thinking that it could happen on Oct. 27. I'd guess that if it doesn't happen by mid-November then it won't happen this year (too close to the Christmas rush). Furthermore, if we don't have new iMacs before Christmas then I'd say that either Intel or Apple had a real SNAFU.

 

[RoDe]

Bring on the the new stuff

Man I cannot wait.

I would like to see a quad core iMac with the option for a Blu Ray player. The thing is, I would love to be able read and write Blu Ray movies.

I do agree with Apple that the license mess is terrible. But I do think that it's time for Apple to start including Blu Ray in the new machines.

A lot of people will probably never use it. But at least we should be given the choice.

 

[nickane]

And the debate rages on between the fanbois who think that Jobsy has excluded x feature up until this point because it is so useless he never plans to implement it, but desperately want y feature and vice versa.

I, for one, want a new mac with 4 cores AND bluray that isn't integrated and isn't a powerhouse like a mac pro, which of course makes me irrational and greedy, for wanting what any PC owner has been able to afford for around 2 years. But i will probably just settle for whatever is available when my iMac G5 finally dies.

 

[WATCHDOG]

Two Pence Daily

Since some PC's are allegedly great,
and since they're unwrapping even newer stuff toute suite,
I don't think Apple would offer a minor roadbump
and thus move backwards: techwise and price..

I wouldn't be surprised if we're offered more than a boring bump.

Maybe just around the corner a snappy Carrot or Two awaits us?

But When?

THAT is the Question!

Just Before the latest & greatest PC's hit the block?

Same Time?

Just After?

+++

 

[nicadmous]

I move massive files all the time, and I don't use disks.....

So how do you watch your hd home videos from a blu-ray player? Do you use your ps3? So you have to lug your ps3 to another family's house to share it? That is if they don't have a ps3 of course.

Or do you use your pc, laptop? Is that how you go about showing on a big screen hdtv? If you're only showing on a laptop, doesn't that defeat the purpose of HD anyways?

 

[NT1440]

So how do you watch your hd home videos from a blu-ray player? Do you use your ps3? So you have to lug your ps3 to another family's house to share it? That is if they don't have a ps3 of course.

Or do you use your pc, laptop? Is that how you go about showing on a big screen hdtv? If you're only showing on a laptop, doesn't that defeat the purpose of HD anyways?

I don't own any blu-ray, I prefer to stream like the rest of us looking into the future.

 

[drsmithy]

Don't people understand that there is not visual benefit to watching Blu-ray movies on displays smaller than 42 inches. You're better off ripping DVDs or renting/buying online movies.

The reality is that high-def video is visibly better than DVD-quality video even on a 20". What dictates how much better it looks, is how far away from the screen you are, but it unarguably _does_ look better.

 

[drsmithy]

What has that got to do with the number of cores that you have? Unless the software is designed to use all the cores it will never use them all. Most of the time you are chugging away on a single core.

If you are running an OS with SMP support, it will schedule threads onto multiple processors and you will see a benefit from multiple cores whenever you are multitasking. Even though OS X was fairly late to the SMP game it's been capable of doing this reasonably well for a good 2-3 years now.

 

[Drag'nGT]

on my older Acer 5672 from 4 years ago i upgraded...

Ram to 2GB from 1GB
HDD from 80GB to 160GB
CPU from core Duo to Core 2 duo
once the cpu was 64bit compatible i upgraded to Vista 64bit
then after quite a while i upgraded the network card from an ABG Card to an Atheros ABG so i could do packet injection.

how much did i spent total? about $400 however the total cost of the laptop minus the parts sold is still cheaper than a macbook at the time and faster.

the only thing that was too expensive to do was upgrade the GPU/motherboard

if i did i would of gone from an X1400 to an X1600 Ati Video card but that would of been over $300.

was it hard to upgrade any of the components? no, none of them took longer than 10 mins each. and no more than 4-8 screws were taken out.

So you contradicted yourself. You indeed can do more with an all in one than you want to let on. You just want to make remarks against the iMac because it isn't a laptop. Anything you just said you did can be done on a MBP or iMac. But there's a limit to how much you can do to any all in one vs a big square empty box.

 

[drsmithy]

You wouldn't buy an all-in-one desktop? Yet you are happy to buy an all-in-one laptop..I don't see the logic in that.

A laptop delivers a direct and tangible benefit for its sacrifices in capabilities - portability.

An AIO desktop, OTOH, makes essentially identical sacrifices and delivers essentially nothing over a standard desktop.

 

[dwd3885]

A laptop delivers a direct and tangible benefit for its sacrifices in capabilities - portability.

An AIO desktop, OTOH, makes essentially identical sacrifices and delivers essentially nothing over a standard desktop.

There's a direct benefit: Less space, less heat, less noise, less clutter.