Next-Generation iMac to Offer Two 'Compelling' New Features?

[Toucansma]

Haha maybe the new wow will be a name change... Its the only computer that does not fit into their new naming scheme

Personally I think it would be cool if they had wireless power, but something tells me thats still a few years off.

I bet it will similar case to now except with the colors similar to a Macbook Pro.

 

[MinorBidoh]

The iPT is more powerful than the iPhone 3G, so yes, if Apple were to add a camera, it would be just as capable as the iPhone.

sound, I stand corrected. I guess I just miss the swivel arm of the 20" iMac G4... sigh.

 

[edoates]

Although Toast is not as robust as other programs, it still is authoring. Eventually programs like Final Cut Studio and maybe even Final Cut Express will be ugraded to handle Blu-Ray authoring. When that happens, I will be ready no matter what Apple does with the hardware.

All I'm saying is that for anyone who wishes to burn Blu-Rays right now on a Mac either for Blu-Ray video or data, it is possible.

And the new FC Studio "authors", too. But we disagree on the definition. You are technically correct that anything that makes a blu-ray video playable on a set top box is "authoring," but the connotation of "authoring" is that the author has some control other than the canned backgrounds: like, what's in the menus, how to structure the navigation, etc. etc. etc.

That is supposedly available in Encore right now from Adobe (part of a suite, not available separately) but reading the Adobe discussions about Encore is a little scary!

Oh, and I've decided what the most important new feature of the iMac will be: a SJ branded reality distortion generator. When you get near it, your brain will start whispering "ooooh...pretty...must...buy...."

 

[NT1440]

The iPT is more powerful than the iPhone 3G, so yes, if Apple were to add a camera, it would be just as capable as the iPhone.

Apple would not throw a camera into the ipt without including gps as well. Why? because geotagging is such a major apple touted feature of iphoto that they wouldnt possibly miss that advertising opportunity.

 

[Shake 'n' Bake]

But we already HAVE COMPLETE support. We can burn and read data disks. We can burn and read Mac-authored movies.

The only thing we can't do is play Hollywood movies, and if Apple were planning to allow us to do that, they'd be screaming it from the tops of mountains as though they were the first ones to offer such a thing.

And I can't believe that you'd think for a second that they'd let Leopard users watch these movies when Snow Leopard (or whatever first OS) gets this support.

I did mean Hollywood movies. I'll change that.

Haha maybe the new wow will be a name change... Its the only computer that does not fit into their new naming scheme

Personally I think it would be cool if they had wireless power, but something tells me thats still a few years off.

I bet it will similar case to now except with the colors similar to a Macbook Pro.

Wireless power is here. You can google it, I'm too lazy.

And what is this speak of "case colors?" They're both anodized aluminum. Did you mean iPod nano?

 

[lanceh5]

More cores would be nice

Blu Ray is not important for me, heck I don't even use the DVD except for the system disks. The existing iMac design is great, gad look at some of the monitors being sold they look like crap. Also I like the glossy screen.

More cores with nehalem architecture and I will buy one. I was considering a refurbished Mac Pro plus one of those cheap crapy looking monitors. One thing about the iMac, they have decent speakers and an iSight camera. Not too shabby.

 

[MacFly123]

Which widescreen - 16x10, 16x9, 1.85, 2.35, ... ???

Most movies are "wider" than 16x9, so you'll still have letter-boxing.

Please, don't ask for "short-screen" - I like 1050 to 1200 pixels vertical. Cutting pixels off the top and bottom to make it "wider" is a big loss.

Please give me the 1080p compatible 1920x1200 screen - don't cut off 120 pixels to make it 1920x1080. That is backwards - especially since all my BDs are letter-boxed at 1080p.

If you see an computer screen that's 16x9 - it's not something better, it just means that the manufacturer is taking advantage of the economies of scale and putting an HDTV LCD into the computer. Count the pixels, you'll probably have fewer than the 16x10 models.

I want 16:9. I understand aspect ratios. I am a film maker. I think making the displays and iPhone screen 16:9 would mesh better in todays HD media content world which Apple is so involved in.

 

[Toucansma]

I did mean Hollywood movies. I'll change that.



Wireless power is here. You can google it, I'm too lazy.

And what is this speak of "case colors?" They're both anodized aluminum.

I meant wireless power cheaply, I am guessing its not to cheap at the moment. Sorry I meant black border on the case with black accents.

 

[Stephen Dowling]

I haven't seen any mobile quad-cores from Intel or AMD.

Here is Intel's mobile quad-core solution

http://www.intel.com/products/processor/core2xe/mobile/index.htm

 

[Eidorian]

They function on inertia and consumer ignorance.

Not to mention some of Apple's ads. The Time Machine one is my favorite. The rest barely register.

Isn't this thread about the new Quad Core i7 Imac, and not Microsoft?

Wake me up when we have Microsoft branded computers or a quad core in the iMac. I'm not sure which will happen first.

Thank goodness that they do.

I have several $150K Cisco Catalyst switches, and a couple of +$500K EMC fibre channel disk arrays that *require* serial port access for low level maintenance. It's the least common denominator, but essential.

It's not a coincidence that people who've bought million dollar disk drives aren't buying Apples.

People tend to forget how necessary serial ports are to interface with hardware at low levels.

I haven't seen any mobile quad-cores from Intel or AMD.

August 2008 and the QX9300/9100. The budget Q9000 is out too. AMD is dead in the water on the mobile side but the have some very nice IGPs. Maybe there's a chance for them soon?

 

[Shake 'n' Bake]

I meant wireless power cheaply, I am guessing its not to cheap at the moment. Sorry I meant black border on the case with black accents.

Wireless power has been in electric toothbrushes for years. They're cheap enough. Seriously though, I saw something about wireless power on a Science Channel show called "Brink." I'll see if that episode said anything about prices.

And the black border and black accents have been around since 2007.

Here is Intel's mobile quad-core solution

http://www.intel.com/products/processor/core2xe/mobile/index.htm

The high-end model (3.06 GHz) has only 8 MB of L something cache, while another, lower frequency model has 16 MB. That's odd.

 

[MacTheSpoon]

It'd be nice if an OLED screen were one of the two things, but of course that would be way too expensive!

 

[avidmacuser]

Better...Stronger...Faster....We can rebuild it!

If Apple decides to go with a 30" iMac config, I'd say that it opens up some room for more cores and adequate cooling? Of course the bigger displays may generate more heat?! ...but I'm just wishfully thinking within the box.

 

[SactoGuy18]

Here's what I want from the next-generation iMac:

1) Similar case design as the current iMac, but with vertical height and tilt adjustments.

2) 20" or 24" LED-backlit LCD panels in 1680x1050 and 1920x1200 resolutions.

3) The latest Intel CPU's in dual-core and quad-core form based on improvements of the Core i7 design.

4) The latest nVidia graphics chipsets with full HDCP support and up to 1 GB of video RAM.

5) Up to 16 GB of system RAM.

6) Up to 2 TB hard drive with Serial ATA-II interface.

7) Improved keyboard and mouse pointers, with native support in MacOS X 10.6.x for the latest Logitech and Microsoft keyboards and mouse pointers (for example, when you plug in the Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Desktop 7000 wireless keyboard/mouse set, MacOS X 10.6.x automatically recognizes them and starts up a program to allow custom configuration of both the keyboard and mouse pointer).

8) Standard DVD burner Superdrive optical drive, with either DVD burner drive with Blu-ray playback ability or a full BD-RE burner drive as an option.

9) Six USB 2.0 ports, one FireWire-400 port and two FireWire 800 ports, and one standard and one optional Gigabit Ethernet RJ-45 port.

10) Full set of audio connectors, including SPDIF Toslink connection and HDMI audio connection for passing unprocessed Dolby True HD and DTS Master Audio streams from a Blu-ray disc to external decoder.

11) Improved microphone and iSight camera over current model.

 

[Eidorian]

The high-end model (3.06 GHz) has only 8 MB of L something cache, while another, lower frequency model has 16 MB. That's odd.

Where did you see this?

 

[NT1440]

If Apple decides to go with a 30" iMac config, I'd say that it opens up some room for more cores and adequate cooling? Of course the bigger displays may generate more heat?! ...but I'm just wishfully thinking within the box.

I'd say if they went 30", yea thered be room, but i highly doubt they would go that big for balance reasons

 

[Shake 'n' Bake]

Maybe there's a chance for them soon?

I'm (hopefully) making a Phenom II X3 powered HTPC later this year. I doubt my contribution will go very far, however.

FYI, the Phenom II family all have four cores. AMD just disables some for the variant, i.e. the X2 (dual core) has four cores, but two are disabled, same for the X3, except one core is disabled.

 

[wizard]

Not buying any of this.

Don't forget PS3 games are on dual-layer BDs. That's a main reason why Sony won the war.

Sony "won" because they paid off a number of studios to switch to Blu-Ray. PS3 had little to do with it, you can hardly call PS3 successful in it's own right.

IMO, Blu-Ray sounds way better and futuristic. And it is already here, the players are coming down in price, and the storage is amazing: 50 GB on a dual-layer. HD-DVD only got to 30 GB.

This is nothing that can't be done on an SD card. It is far cheaper to implement a port and the cost of the Flash is dropping every month. Plus SD can work with any number of handheld devices.

That is today, once the new SD standard is implemented widely we should be seeing much higher transfer rates that will allow for less compression. Blu-Ray can hardly be called futuristic, it is nothing more than another respin of the CD.

That's great for you, but for people like me who only get 90 KB/s at most, that is not feasible.

Admittedly a problem for streaming video. However for downloads it means nothing as the download can proceed in background. Or do like I do and go to the library and cruise the Internet while the machine downloads.

I'm not saying net downloads are a good thing, there are problems with speed, but it is a solution.

I do not share that belief. I believe discs are here to stay, at least until there are 1 GB/s or faster internet connections, good applications to facilitate control of the media, and ethernet or 802.11 built into TVs.

I honestly believe disks are dead! It is simply the wrong technology for today. Solid state memory offers the best avenue for near future distribution of media.



Dave

 

[Shake 'n' Bake]

Where did you see this?

Specifications tab, 45 nm.

 

[Eidorian]

I'm (hopefully) making a Phenom II X3 powered HTPC later this year. I doubt my contribution will go very far, however.

Go for the Athlon II X3/4 instead.

FYI, the Phenom II family all have four cores. AMD just disables some for the variant, i.e. the X2 (dual core) has four cores, but two are disabled, same for the X3, except one core is disabled.

Preaching to the choir about Deneb harvesting. I'd be extremely impressed if you had anything new for me.

Specifications tab, 45 nm.

The slower clocked processor is the quad core. Take a Penryn-6M die and slap two on the same chip. The one with the higher clock speed isn't the faster one.

 

[Tallest Skil]

*Impossible list*

Buy a PC.

 

[*LTD*]

Sony "won" because they paid off a number of studios to switch to Blu-Ray. PS3 had little to do with it, you can hardly call PS3 successful in it's own right.

This is nothing that can't be done on an SD card. It is far cheaper to implement a port and the cost of the Flash is dropping every month. Plus SD can work with any number of handheld devices.

That is today, once the new SD standard is implemented widely we should be seeing much higher transfer rates that will allow for less compression. Blu-Ray can hardly be called futuristic, it is nothing more than another respin of the CD.

Admittedly a problem for streaming video. However for downloads it means nothing as the download can proceed in background. Or do like I do and go to the library and cruise the Internet while the machine downloads.

I'm not saying net downloads are a good thing, there are problems with speed, but it is a solution.


I honestly believe disks are dead! It is simply the wrong technology for today. Solid state memory offers the best avenue for near future distribution of media.



Dave

Agree with everything here.

And by the way . . . x264 is wonderful.

 

[Bubba Satori]

I haven't seen any mobile quad-cores from Intel or AMD.

Plus Apple won't be using quad-core in the mainstream stuff 'til Arrandale hits the streets.

Cool. Only two years after everybody else has been able to get non pro quad cores.

The iMac is a desktop. Stop crippling it with old laptop parts

 

[Eidorian]

I honestly believe disks are dead! It is simply the wrong technology for today. Solid state memory offers the best avenue for near future distribution of media.

Is flash cheaper than pressing discs yet? Will it ever be?

Cool. Only two years after everybody else has been able to get non pro quad cores.

The iMac is a desktop. Stop crippling it with old laptop parts

The Q6700 and Q6600 for ages ago were never "professional" quads to begin with.

 

[NT1440]

Is flash cheaper than pressing discs yet? Will it ever be?

Will it ever be? Hell yes. Give it a year or maybe two.