I can see iLife moving into a 12 month cycle thing, hence why its iLife 08, iLife 09 etc, its a great package to refresh anually, plus imagine the value - a price drop gets you a new iMac, Snow Leopard and a new version of iLife. Thats strong marketing.
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Next-Generation iMacs Already in Production?
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Okay, so I think you've just revealed to us that you are a hard-core "gamer," but is that the typical consumer? 😉
A better graphics card would be better, but quad-cores is almost a necessity. Snow Leopard has been practically redesigned for multi-core systems and Apple did that for a reason. Furthermore, the new Intel mobile i7 processors are being introduced at prices that appear to be almost the same as the existing Core 2 Duos in the current iMacs. The i7s also reduce the system chip count which could help offset any price differential and might also result in a more compact motherboard. Multiple cores are useful for a lot of tasks, web surfing, background tasks like listening to music, CD ripping, video conversions, file backup and searching, and yes -- in some cases -- even games. Remember also that Snow Leopard's OpenCL (used for graphics and number crunching) can run both on the graphics card (GPU) and on any extra, unused CPU cores. Thus, why not upgrade the CPUs to quad core?
MorphingDragon
macrumors 603
How,exactly?
It offers everything DVD drives do - PLUS the ability to read and write HD video - PLUS the ability to burn 50 gig at a go, for backup or sending to someone else.
I want BTO as well - at a REASONABLE price. >£200 being unreasonable.
I expect it to have one.
First it would be their self imposed obligation to go green by the end of the year across the majority of their lines.
Second it reduces the heat foot print of the iMac, my 24 gets pretty toasty just from the lighting.
I do expect releases more often because I believe Apple has come to realize that to seriously make inroads that a six month update policy keeps products fresh, in the news, and lets them take advantage of newer technologies more often.
The fact they have no consumer quad core computers is amazing to me. Intel is pushing "multi-core" as is AMD and that it is the market buzz word now and the foreseeable future.
gianly1985
macrumors 6502a
I was wondering.....would it be possible to see a Firewire3200 port on the upcoming iMacs? Any news about this technology?
An iMac with these things would be a NO-BRAINER for me:
- LED
- Clarksfield (4 core/8 thread ----> great for Grand Central Dispatch)
- Firewire3200
- USB 3.0
- Video INPUT
An iMac with these things would be a NO-BRAINER for me:
- LED
- Clarksfield (4 core/8 thread ----> great for Grand Central Dispatch)
- Firewire3200
- USB 3.0
- Video INPUT
I don't want to start a "flame" about Firewire, but frankly Firewire is "dead" as a general-purpose interconnect. Firewire 800 is all we are going to see on the Mac and long live USB3 (probably beginning next year -- maybe mid-year on the Macs).
No body in the know buy a Mac for gaming, period.
And please don't bring a junk PC up to the table. I have see enough of PC (desktop and notebook, white box or those sexy, pricy from top Japan big brand) and couldn't help telling myself that I might miss some big things in my last 30 years of computing carrier when I got my first Mac (a Mac Mini 2007), and the moment I unpacked my Mac Pro a few months later I was totally sold. I have a 60", US$40K of TV equipped with the best video processor in the industry, why I want to route the video to a US$400 A/V receiver?
I'm a Linux lover (for the last 15 years) but I don't like your BS. Your greenest nettop is a single core Atom, not in the same class as the Mini.
And, why HDMI with audio is so important? In fact, I personally think it's the most silly A/V conduit ever invented. Typically, you connect it to the AV receiver (to get decent sound) and connect another HDMI cable from the A/V receiver to the TV. How is that any better than simply connect video only HDMI to the TV and optical audio to the A/V receiver?
diamond.g
macrumors G5
Most AV receivers that have HDMI in/out are also switching. So you only need to plug one HDMI cable into your TV versus 2+ (Cable/Satellite box, PS3/Xbox, DVD/BluRay Player, Apple TV/Mac Mini, etc).
i think the point is that he bought a considerably more powerful computer for a lower price than the mini.
for one, hdmi carries higher quality audio than optical. the other benefits are artificial (i.e. enforced drm that only hdmi is allowed to carry).
Maybe of interest...
In our whirlpool user forums here in Aus we have a user that seems to think he has all the inside info on the new model(s).
Makes amusing albeit lengthy reading if you have a few minutes.
cheers
Rex
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=1275768
In our whirlpool user forums here in Aus we have a user that seems to think he has all the inside info on the new model(s).
Makes amusing albeit lengthy reading if you have a few minutes.
cheers
Rex
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies.cfm?t=1275768
You've got $40k of tv equipment and you don't know why audio over hdmi is important (let alone the simple cabling advantages with multiple a/v boxes)?
As a 'linux lover', with vdpau etc, all you need is a puny atom cpu or whatever nowadays for any media 🙂 Not that that's not what you were talking about. Using xbmc (on linux) for playback? Far and away the best media centre about imo.
gianly1985
macrumors 6502a
Why do you say this? I think that firewire is still a lot better (p2p, more power and voltage, longer cables, lower CPU usage, ecc.) and for an external (mechanical) HDD I would still prefer Fw800 over USB3.0....i think FW3200 would be great and outperform USB 3.0...
guzhogi
macrumors 68040
I agree with you that Firewire has more advantages, but IMO, USB is still the winner. It's kinda like Windows vs. Macs: Macs may be better, but 90% of the world uses Windows. I know, Macs being better is more an opinion, but you get the picture so don't flame me. Just because something may be better than something else doesn't mean it'll keep going on forever. People today (I find) are more interested in keeping things easy & cheap than putting in extra $$$ for a better product.
It is a valid comparison/complaint. While I like my Macs (got two) I freely admit what I can buy, for half or even less than half, on the PC side just stomps the Apple offerings. Too much of the time I feel as if I am being jacked for a fancy case. When I was big into the PC side of things people used to make fun of the fancy case marketers (think original alienware and the likes) and yet I am in a similar camp.
The only thing keeping me from a Hackintosh is the stability issue. I would love to make a Mac Pro on the cheap.
Interesting thread... This guy there with "a source" is claiming the new iMacs will be:
26", refined to 25.5" LED backlit display
All with Clarksfield
Up to 12Gb RAM, new CPU, likely to be Apple-first
Minor shape changes
Up to 2Tb HDD
New mouse design, backlit keyboard
9th October release
20" replaced with 21.5"
[and I forgot]:
3xUSB 3.0
Also, not specifically iMac-related:
Blu-Ray available for EVERY Mac, requiring 10.6.2.
------
If this is true, that would be great. We shall see!
OK, so who wants to buy my old iMac and MBP? 😛
I was hoping for 27 .... but 26 is fine
Hellhammer
Moderator emeritus
I doubt this. Arrandale is now being produced so unless Apple gets them very early, we won't see update yet. We'll see...
gianly1985
macrumors 6502a
Not people who buy a Mac.
So, like they're happy put some extra $$$ in a better computer (Mac), they would be happy to put some extra $$$ in a firewire device, am I right? (the problem is ignorance....and vendors like Western Digital who nowadays advertise as "For Mac" some USB-only devices....)
I know that USB is the winner in terms of diffusion, but this doesn't mean that firewire has to disappear, just like the Macs and many other "you pay a little premium but you get what you paid for"-products haven't disappeared in the sea of cheap mediocrity.......
TerrorOFdeath
macrumors member
Prices are also in that Thread:
Base 21.5" Model $2099.00
Base 25.5" Model $2599.00
High End 25.5" Model $3099
We shall see -_-
Tod
Base 21.5" Model $2099.00
Base 25.5" Model $2599.00
High End 25.5" Model $3099
We shall see -_-
Tod
The claim about USB3 pretty much "kills" this report. I don't think that USB3 will appear on Macs until mid to late 2010. In fact, it seems like this "source" just made up a wish list of all his/her "best" things.
Well, judging by all the people I know in real life and the net (ranging from geeks to amateurs), no one burns cds or dvds anymore.
Neither for backup nor for file/movie sharing.
USB sticks, small portable drives, or file sharing sites have replaced the use of optical drives.
And cheap HDs allowing incremental backups without user intervention nor fuss, have replaced those tedious days of burning dvds and never remembering which one contained that file you lost.
I think the above trend characterizes the usage patterns of the vast majority of users, leaving blu-ray as merely a video playback option.
Don't get me wrong, if blu-ray is to substitute the dvd in the new iMacs at zero marginal cost, it is more than welcome.
But as bandwidth increases and storage (local & cloud) becomes cheaper & cheaper, video playback will be the only task of blu-ray on a computer for the vast majority of users. Well in that case, I would opt for a second HD in an iMac than just a better iteration of optical technology.
I don't think anyone said that Firewire was going to "disappear" (at least not in the next year or so). Apple will continue with Firewire 400/800 until USB3 becomes fully dominant which may not happen until 2011. However, IMO you can forget about Firewire 1600/3200 as a built-in on any new Mac models. Someone might eventually make a Firewire 1600/3200 card for the Mac Pro (but even that seems unlikely). It doesn't take much of a crystal ball to see that Firewire's traditional rolls are being taken over by USB and eSATA and even eSATA may eventually fall to USB3 -- at least on the consumer end.