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Next-Generation iMac With SD Slot, Quad-Core, Possible Xeon? New Mouse and Remote in Pipeline?
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I've seen those but the reviews don't seem to favorable. I haven't had a chance to use it beyond the nice store display.I sometimes wonder why Apple did not get this design before Microsoft did
I really want an iMac. I have a MacBook Pro and it's brilliant but I want a second Mac for home use - my MacBook Pro is all about mobile computing.
Sometimes I wonder if Intel just continues to cram more cores and more features just for the sake of it. I'm perfectly happy with my C2D for everything I do.
a c2d is great, in fact i dont think most (if any) high-end games use more than a core or two. if i didnt use my PC for chess analysis i would have no use for my i7 right now - but the future will be different, im sure. and i definitely dont have any use for more than a couple cores on a 2nd computer/mac right now. but im not going to pay $2000+ for a desktop that has what is now lower-end laptop hardware. its just not justifiable. im really hoping these new imacs are done right, as a mid-range desktop, which is what theyre supposed to be. (mid range desktops these days, btw, are i7s...well under 2K in PC land. amazing since just 6 months ago i paid ~3K for one. whoops.)
He's obviously had some real life experiences with Macs that didn't live up to their "It Just Works" slogan. Macs break down too. Go figure.
I own it and its a nice basic every day mouse. A bit spendy at 49.95 USD. The receiver is tiny (like a bit smaller the the size of a mini display port). But I do like nhow you can snap the receiver in the mouse and fold the mouse to turn it off to save battery life.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24778615@N08/sets/72157613142417910/
Those are my photos of the mouse taken back in January.
I agree its not the best type of mouse, but its a design that shows that Microsoft can do something
I agree - it goes both ways. However, when I want a BD, I simply purchase one, at a premium, or rent one, pop it into my dedicated BD player, and enjoy the 1080P resolution and non-compressed, lossless DTS quality sound on a 52" LCD, worthy of the BD experience. I'm not arguing against anyone's right to have the option - I would very much like to see that option become a reality myself. That said, I do not feel that those who actually prefer streaming 720P or viewing 1080i on their computer systems need to be chastised or told that they're foolish for not pursuing "the real thing." I'm grateful for the fact that I can store thousands of high quality (720P, 1080i) movies and shows on a Hard Drive, access them quickly and efficiently, without having to rummage through piles and stacks of BD disks to find them. With certainty, I'll jump for joy, when BD becomes available for the Mac, which I imagine it imminently will - in the mean time, there are other options.
As I said before, count me in for the option of a blu-ray drive or burner in macs. Hell, alow an option for a official drive. Those who are saying "optical drives are dead" can chose not to have one installed, as long as something is in its place to make it worth the price, or at least lower the price if nothing will be in its place.
I for one would LOVE to see Apple offer a mouse pointer similar to this Logitech model:
The Logitech LX3 not only has two buttons, but also can work for both right and left handers because of its symmetrical design. And the scroll wheel supports both vertical and horizontal scrolling.
The Logitech LX3 not only has two buttons, but also can work for both right and left handers because of its symmetrical design. And the scroll wheel supports both vertical and horizontal scrolling.
I for one would LOVE to see Apple offer a mouse pointer similar to this Logitech model:
The Logitech LX3 not only has two buttons, but also can work for both right and left handers because of its symmetrical design. And the scroll wheel supports both vertical and horizontal scrolling.
Logitech mice are one of my Apple customers favorite acessories. Followed closely by Logitech keyboards.
I'm looking at Logitech next with the unified receiver. The keyboard first as I have a wireless mouse already.
The Xeons support ECC, but don't require ECC.
That's pretty much it. And 'if the cooling can handle it' is easy. The thing only dissipates 45W. HP is selling a MacBook Pro-alike system with the 55W Clarksfield, so Apple should *DEFINITELY* be able to get it into an iMac.
The big difference is that the L3426 is a 'desktop' style package ("Lynnfield" LGA-1156 package) where the i7-###QM is a 'laptop' style package ("Clarksfield" PGA-988 package.)
See my above. The L3426 is a 'desktop' style physical package, so it can only be used in 'desktop' boards. It would be great on a micro ATX board with a low-power video card. The Clarksfield chips are purely 'mobile' style physical package chips.
Right now, the "Nehalem" architecture has three sockets, and three main power points ("Nehalem" is the overall architecture. Each individual chip has its own codename within the "Nehalem" family):
LGA-1366: dual-socket systems and high-end single-socket systems (X58 chipset (or its dual-socket equivalent,) triple-channel memory.) These are available on the desktop only as 130W chips; but on the server/dual-socket side, are available as 130W, 95W, 80W, and 60W quad-core, plus a 38W dual-core. (The only dual-core "Nehalem" chip that has been released.) The single-socket chips are known as "Bloomfield", and the dual-socket chips are known as "Gainestown". The desktop chips are branded "Core i7", the server chips are branded "Xeon 5500" for the dual-socket, "Xeon 3500" for single-socket. Any of these chips will work perfectly fine in any single-socket board; but you do need the Xeon 5500 chips for a dual-socket board.
LGA-1156: single-socket mainstream desktop and low-end single socket server (P55 chipset or its server equivalent, dual-channel memory) These are the newly released "Lynnfield" chips, and are only available at 95W on the desktop; but the server chips include the much-discussed L3426 at 45W. This chip will work just fine in any desktop board (as will the other Xeons that don't have a desktop equivalent on this socket.) The desktop chips are branded "Core i7" if it has Hyperthreading, and "Core i5" if it doesn't. The server chips are branded "Xeon 3400"
PGA-988: laptop. These are the just-released "Clarksfield" chips, and are 45W for the mainstream, 55W for the extreme. These are all branded "Core i7"
The three main power points are 130W, 80-95W, and 45-60W. (Not counting the one 38W dual-core chip that is really meant for 'embedded' servers.) The 130W are purely the 'high-end desktop' and 'high-end workstation' chips. The 80-95W are the 'mainstream desktop' and 'mainstream server' chips. The 45-60W include mobile and low-power server chips.
Okay, this post was a lot longer than I was planning... Sorry. (But, on the upside, everything I learned while working at Intel has now been publicly released, so I don't have to worry about my NDA any more. If you have any questions about these chips, feel free to ask.)
Defending a critic and criticising customer service.
I completely share your disappointment and fury. I spent thousands and thousands of pounds on Apple portables in the last four years and I am very disappointed too. I have to say, I haven't had any serious problems with the battery, apart from mediocre performance. My unibody '7 hours' MacBook Pro barely does 3 with hardly any usage (3-6 Safari and Finder windows)
My problems with Apple computers were more about overheating, CPU whine, constant fans and so on. With my latest one, it's also poor Wifi, with regular loss of signal. I know what it feels like to spend a fortune for a computer with average performance and being let down by quality issues. "Hey, I just bought a MacBook Air! It's overpriced and slow, but it's also nice looking and light. It's a shame that my colleagues don't want the noise in the office. Nevermind, after all, the high-pitch noise was giving me a headache!"
I'm not surprised about the hostile replies to your post. I have had several incidents with weird and rather fanatic people about Apple computers. For some reason, they truly believed that whatever Apple does is better than Microsoft, like you can justify anything with that narrow-mindedness. Once, somebody genuinely showed how he despised me for selling one of my Apple computer to strangers. According to him, they should remain in the family. What a freak!
Buying some overpriced computers does not make anybody cool or superior. Believing it makes people sad losers.
About the customer service - every time I took a computer back to the store with noise problems, they tried to listen to it in that noisy shop. For them, overheating is normal, so is the fan running constantly.
They dealt with the white plastic kitchen wonder's (MacBook) problem well. They replaced various parts under AppleCare for free. But that's why I paid the £200.
However, when I've had misaligned keys with some of them falling out, they were not as helpful. They claimed that misaligned keys are not a manufacturing defect. Also, sales staff in that store was not aware that the basic unibody version at the time did not have backlit keys. That was several months (!) after they came out. I wonder, how many customers they misled there.
In terms of Apple's telephone support - just forget it! They use Apple's website and the ones I spoke to had no clue about OS X whatsoever. I'm sorry, but I can read too and when I call, I need proper advice from professionals, not from lovable amateurs.
I completely share your disappointment and fury. I spent thousands and thousands of pounds on Apple portables in the last four years and I am very disappointed too. I have to say, I haven't had any serious problems with the battery, apart from mediocre performance. My unibody '7 hours' MacBook Pro barely does 3 with hardly any usage (3-6 Safari and Finder windows)
My problems with Apple computers were more about overheating, CPU whine, constant fans and so on. With my latest one, it's also poor Wifi, with regular loss of signal. I know what it feels like to spend a fortune for a computer with average performance and being let down by quality issues. "Hey, I just bought a MacBook Air! It's overpriced and slow, but it's also nice looking and light. It's a shame that my colleagues don't want the noise in the office. Nevermind, after all, the high-pitch noise was giving me a headache!"
I'm not surprised about the hostile replies to your post. I have had several incidents with weird and rather fanatic people about Apple computers. For some reason, they truly believed that whatever Apple does is better than Microsoft, like you can justify anything with that narrow-mindedness. Once, somebody genuinely showed how he despised me for selling one of my Apple computer to strangers. According to him, they should remain in the family. What a freak!
Buying some overpriced computers does not make anybody cool or superior. Believing it makes people sad losers.
About the customer service - every time I took a computer back to the store with noise problems, they tried to listen to it in that noisy shop. For them, overheating is normal, so is the fan running constantly.
They dealt with the white plastic kitchen wonder's (MacBook) problem well. They replaced various parts under AppleCare for free. But that's why I paid the £200.
However, when I've had misaligned keys with some of them falling out, they were not as helpful. They claimed that misaligned keys are not a manufacturing defect. Also, sales staff in that store was not aware that the basic unibody version at the time did not have backlit keys. That was several months (!) after they came out. I wonder, how many customers they misled there.
In terms of Apple's telephone support - just forget it! They use Apple's website and the ones I spoke to had no clue about OS X whatsoever. I'm sorry, but I can read too and when I call, I need proper advice from professionals, not from lovable amateurs.
You haven't used one, but you know "they feel like limp noodles"?!?!? Hmmmmmm... I think someone's telling pork-pies.
I'm still using an ADB keyboard and mouse on a daily basis (although the mouse button doesn't work properly, so I have to use a Gravis Gamepad held in the other hand for the mouse clicks).
I've been having my 2.8 dual extreme for a bit more than 2 years now. i've never had a mac that long and am extremely pleased with it. if they don't release a quad-core i see no point in upgrading. even if they do - i will probably still keep it since it does everything and more that i need. the only reason to have a quad or mac pro would be for heavy video or sound editing or encoding.
SD Slot: Sure.
Quad-Core: I don't think it will happen this generation. Definitely the one after this one though. Don't exactly see why so many people are clamoring for this though, 3.06 Core2Duo is more than capable enough for me when encoding 720p video.
Xeon: Lol, no.
Mouse: God yes.
Remote: Sure.
Honestly all I think Apple is going to do is make it thinner, remove the chin, change the screen type and POSSIBLY give it Blu-Ray (The so called bag of hurt according to Steve Jobs), but even that's stretching it.
Quad-Core: I don't think it will happen this generation. Definitely the one after this one though. Don't exactly see why so many people are clamoring for this though, 3.06 Core2Duo is more than capable enough for me when encoding 720p video.
Xeon: Lol, no.
Mouse: God yes.
Remote: Sure.
Honestly all I think Apple is going to do is make it thinner, remove the chin, change the screen type and POSSIBLY give it Blu-Ray (The so called bag of hurt according to Steve Jobs), but even that's stretching it.
CF cards are a bag of hurt. Same for Express cards. And Flash, too. And 64-bit iTunes, and . . . Bluteooth.
lets hope there isn't a matte-screened iMac inside that bag
So Apple can reduce the cost and packaging space, and make it a "healthier" machine from the environmental standpoint. Just take a look at apples new environmental section on their website. They clearly care about power consumption and the form factor more than anything else. Do you see the Quad Core Xeon Mac Pro anywhere on that page? Didn't think so.
http://www.apple.com/environment/complete-lifecycle/
wow, that would be a major bummer for me if you're right. oh well, i can wait a few months (or forever, if need be) for something substantive from apple if i have to.
though actually, if they can put together a decent c2d/ddr3/ati rig for $999 id be all over it. especially if it had blu-ray. that would be better for my needs than a $2500 desktop. but sadly thats way less likely than them putting out an i7 imac in a week or two.
though actually, if they can put together a decent c2d/ddr3/ati rig for $999 id be all over it. especially if it had blu-ray. that would be better for my needs than a $2500 desktop. but sadly thats way less likely than them putting out an i7 imac in a week or two.
interesting.... time will tell if these rumors are true; i'm still waiting for my powerbook g5
Can we stop the G5 thing, its getting really old and stale.
Workstation/Server chips are usually designed to use less power.. As shown by the pathetic 1U coolers that are good enough for system critical. But mentioning XEONs killed any credibillity to this rumour IMO.
lets hope there isn't a matte-screened iMac inside that bag
When you get to the 6502a posting level, make a bag like that your avatar.