Next-Generation iMacs Already in Production?

[dernhelm]

It is already thin enough, Apple. Nobody cares if it's any thinner. Nobody would care if it was a bit fatter. We do care about quad-core, blu-ray, and non-pathetic graphics.

No No No. I want it so thin that when I turn it sideways it disappears...
😀

 

[RMo]

I still think people are getting thrown off by thinner. I don't think that means the depth--front to back--of the casing, but more to do with the bezel and other area around the display itself (think chin).

or, at least, that what I hope it means. to obsess over making it thinner the other way is dumb. 😉

Agreed (I'm not really clamoring for an extra 0.1" of space taken up my by iMac...well, I have a MacBook now, but when I did have an iMac, still....).

But in that case, wouldn't it make sense to say "shorter" or something instead of "thinner"?

 

[depulse]

Except bluray movies are way better quality than downloaded movies and they can be 50GB in size. So what moron is going to fill up their hard disk with 50GB movie files?

You don't need 50 GB for a decent rip/download. Ripping from DVDs is good enough unless you have a >50" HDTV screen and are sitting very close to the screen.

 

[freddiecable]

regarding wishlists:

1. CPU - apple could have released a quad for some time now. Why now when thay have waited for so long? I guess they think dual core is enough?

2. Memory - obviously they will stick with 2 slots. This enables 8GB ram...which is more than sufficient no?

3. Screen size - I would not mind a 30"-option.

4. The chin - I don't have the same problem with the chin like many others. Without it - it would not be "a desktop" - simply a screen.

5. Blue-ray - especially if they release a 30".

6. If they release a 30" - please let me connect my console to it!

7. Graphics - always nice with options right 🙂 But - the formfactor is probably more important for Apple.

8. Form - apple will probably try to make it thinner and slimmer. Probably making it suffer from expandability etc

 

[Sabon]

- Cinema (wide screen) displays!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
- Two optical audio ports (use one for input and one for output)
- two FW800 ports
- Room for 8 gb of RAM but preferably room for 12 or 16gb of RAM
- USB 3
- BlueRay (waffling on this one)
- wireless bluetooth keyboard WITH number pad!!!
- new design of mouse. One that is basically the trackpad of the laptops but is also comfortably moveable so you can move it and use it and not just use it as a trackpad.

 

[Fastshutter]

Mid October huh? Methinks Apple wants to upstage the release of Windows 7. Microsoft steals Apple's employees, Apple steals Microsoft's spotlight. Fair is fair I guess. 😀

I won't betting get any new mac, but I hope you guys get your quad core i7's and blueray.

 

[jpefjr]

I kind of hope they don't put Blu-Ray drives in the iMacs. People say that PC'S have been doing this for quite some time now. I agree with that. But remember Apple is always about being innovative and not following the heard. Optical disk storage is a very old technology. Hard Drive space is so cheep now and Flash memory prices are coming down everyday. I believe that these are the technologies to work with and i think that apple is thinking this way too.

The only place that i could see Blu-Ray making sense is in a mac used as a HTPC

Just my 2 Cents.

And I hope they DO put Blu-Ray drives in Macs. I have a library of Blu-Ray movies and it's getting larger every day. I would like nothing more than to play these disks on my Mac.

I guess what I'd like to see move than the addition of BD drives to the new iMac is support for playing/ripping/burning Blu-Ray in the upcoming version of iLife 10, FC Studio/Express, and QT 10.

 

[polaris20]

So do I lol. I constantly have :

Windows 7 x64
Windows XP Pro
Ubuntu 8.04.

I admit, quad would be useful for that. But Apple really isn't looking to stick quad cores in from what I can tell.

That's almost exactly what I run on my MBP's, 'cept I run U9.04 and soon 9.10.

 

[danielwsmithee]

regarding wishlists:

1. CPU - apple could have released a quad for some time now. Why now when thay have waited for so long? I guess they think dual core is enough?

I think the decision actually made sense with the Core 2 Duo vs. Core 2 Quads - now we are talking about Core 2 Duo vs. Core i7 Quad. That is a pretty big jump, Turbo boost, Hyper Threading, and and increased IO bandwidth of the i7 blow away the Core 2.

2. Memory - obviously they will stick with 2 slots. This enables 8GB ram...which is more than sufficient no?

Yeah at an outrageous markup for 4GB memory sticks. I want 4 slots so I can put 4 2GB sticks in. That is 8GB for $200 instead of 8GB for $800.

3. Screen size - I would not mind a 30"-option.

I wouldn't mind it either, but at that size screen I think I would rather get a separate display. The display would be half the cost of the machine.

4. The chin - I don't have the same problem with the chin like many others. Without it - it would not be "a desktop" - simply a screen.

I just wan't it to line up with the LED Cinema Display so you can have two 24" displays side by side.

5. Blue-ray - especially if they release a 30".

I don't care about blueray at all. I would prefer it not be included.

7. Graphics - always nice with options right 🙂 But - the formfactor is probably more important for Apple.

I agree.

8. Form - apple will probably try to make it thinner and slimmer. Probably making it suffer from expandability etc

I think right now it is pretty ideal as far as thickness.

 

[Cletus989]

matte option please

 

[TheBritishBloke]

And I hope they DO put Blu-Ray drives in Macs. I have a library of Blu-Ray movies and it's getting larger every day. I would like nothing more than to play these disks on my Mac.

I guess what I'd like to see move than the addition of BD drives to the new iMac is support for playing/ripping/burning Blu-Ray in the upcoming version of iLife 10, FC Studio/Express, and QT 10.

Do you need Blu-Ray for the quality on the iMac, or because you already own them? As for quality, you wouldn't see much if anything different to a DVD on a small display..

 

[AidenShaw]

- Cinema (wide screen) displays!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.

Why do you want smaller displays?

(or do you mean 1.85 to 2.35 ratio displays or wider?)

 

[RHatton]

I'd settle for getting keyboards with numeric keypads on them again...

 

[beginnersview]

"...thin..."

We do not need the iMac to be any thinner.

Dear Apple -NOTHING- is gained by making the iMac case thinner, it just reduces space for desktop level components, and makes everything run hotter, and thus wear out faster.
(then again, maybe that is the idea??)

Please put design effort into faster components, more thoughput.

P.S. I do not care if it has a "chin" or not. I mean really, what is the big deal about that? The computer components have to go somewhere... all the peeps griping about how sad it is that iMac has a chin space are just putting design before function... an error (IMO) Apple has made too many times of late.
Last I checked, my computer is used to do things, not to be stared at while off for artistic contemplation.
Yes, fine, make them look good -- but functionality should always trump artsy design. in my book anyway. just my opinion.

P.P.S. ditto on the wide keyboard option... having worked on a client's new iMac with micro keyboard I find it woefully too small and I do miss the numeric keypad...

And DOUBLE ditto on bringing back the anti-glare, anti-reflective, matte screen option. I have installed an anti-reflective film onto a couple of Macs now (one from Photodon, other i do not recall), and while it definitely cuts reflection down, it would be so much better to have anti-refletion as a build/buy option directly.

 

[gkoop]

Multiple displays

As far as I know, to date iMacs have not allowed an extension display.

Maybe now they'll make it so that the iMac mates up nicely with an almost identical looking LED Cinema display.

Or maybe they'll make it so that you can use the iMac as a display for your laptop.

Either, or both, could be handy.

 

[seashellz]

Death Knell for BR?

Im not sure we should put more into BR movie discs or players
according to Endgaget and VIDEOBUSINESS Q1,2 sales of BR to July 1 are abysmal;
despite being pushed like crazy BR's share of the pie is still 13% BR and DVD 87% market share

Even VOD/DDL are leaving BR WAY behind

1. DVD sales to date..........................$5 Billion
2. Video on Demand/DDL sales to date: $968 million (!)
3. BR sales to date.............................$410 million

A truer pie graph would show:

1. DVD sales.........85%
2. VOD/DDL sales..11% (and this is really only just getting off the ground)
3. BR sales............4%

a ROUGH figure
Since a VOD/DDL purchase is generally a LOT less expensive that buying a BR-that means it took a MASSIVE number MORE buyers to hit that near to one billion sales figure
Now ALL optical media sales are down at about 4%
But that doesnt hurt DVD much-but it kill BR-even if sales are rising(......?)
They must be rising a LOT slower than if the economy where OK
But I think it may be too little too late

With this XMas expected to be the worst ever, and the economy dropping still
BR, already being heavily subsidized by a deeply ailing SONY, could bite the dust

When things get tougher in discretionary spending, DVD has the cushion of near a Billion already familiar-and installed players-no need for all-new equipment;
Not sure what BR share has but its probably miniscule and the nations wallets are pretty much locked shut on entertainment electronics

But the REAL death knell for BR is that the young upstart VOD sales are closing in on one billion in sales-which really came into its won in just this year;
And everyone and their brother are jumping into the VOD/DDL Market Google UToob Vuze Stars
DVD/VOD rentals far outstrip BR rentals by a lopsided 90-10%

Maybe this is why APPLE has held off on BR-then again-it would still make for excellent storage-unless an even better format is on the horizon-
or THE CLOUD

I tracked BR marketshare on Endgaget until they took that chart down March 7, for obvious reasons as BR could never hold and defend more than 13% sales per week average,
in a pie graph of only DVD and BR

http://www.videobusiness.com/info/CA6673480.html

 

[danielwsmithee]

As far as I know, to date iMacs have not allowed an extension display.

They have allowed it ever since the G5 iMac I believe. I know the current ones do, but I think the old G4s didn't.

 

[Moonjumper]

Do you need Blu-Ray for the quality on the iMac, or because you already own them? As for quality, you wouldn't see much if anything different to a DVD on a small display..

I can see a massive improvement in quality with a 1080P download compared to a DVD, part because it is displaying at it's native resolution on my 24" iMac. The fact that I cannot view my latest film purchases on any of my Macs is also a consideration.

I have a white iMac because I don't want to upgrade until there is a matt option.

So I would like LED backlit matt display, Blu-Ray, more power (it can get very slow when running Illustrator, even on the latest Macs), and a replacement mouse, preferably in the form of a large multitouch trackpad (could this be the Mac technology they are talking about in the original post?).

 

[Jimmetry]

Quad Core... Apple has a customer.
Dual Core... I'll stick with my old one.

 

[hayesk]

If they include a Blu-ray option on the new iMacs, I would like to have a Blu-ray option with burning for Mac Pros, as well, so that I can start backing up 50 GB of data to a single disc. It's sort of lame that this option is available on PCs but not on the Mac.

Uhm... you can go out an buy a Blu-ray drive today and use it on a Mac for data-burning purposes.

Blu-ray movies is the only part that's missing. I never watch movies on my Mac, so I don't really care.

 

[jpefjr]

Do you need Blu-Ray for the quality on the iMac, or because you already own them? As for quality, you wouldn't see much if anything different to a DVD on a small display..

Correct, I don't want it for the quality. I want it to watch Watchmen or Wall-E on my Macs because the only media I have for those movies is Blu-Ray.

 

[hayesk]

It is already thin enough, Apple. Nobody cares if it's any thinner. Nobody would care if it was a bit fatter. We do care about quad-core, blu-ray, and non-pathetic graphics.

I don't buy that. Many an iMac has been sold on the basis of "you mean that's the entire computer?"

Who is this "we" you are talking about? "We" is a small handful of geeks in a forum. While if you asked anyone, sure they'd say they want a faster computer, but the general public doesn't watch HD movies on their Macs, so blue-ray is out. The general public doesn't know what "quad-core" means so it doesn't matter as long as the computer is fast enough to do what they want.

 

[Jayomat]

It is already thin enough, Apple. Nobody cares if it's any thinner. Nobody would care if it was a bit fatter. We do care about quad-core, blu-ray, and non-pathetic graphics.

word! (although i wouldn't buy an imac anyway) but don't forget that most "consumers" don't do heavy work on their imacs (in regard of needed ressources) => apple doesn't need to speed them up....

 

[jaw04005]

They have allowed it ever since the G5 iMac I believe. I know the current ones do, but I think the old G4s didn't.

Yeah ... The second generation iMac G4's graphics card supported it. However, Apple blocked "extended desktop support" in firmware to force professionals to purchase the Power Mac. You could reenable it with a shareware hack.

 

[*LTD*]

I don't buy that. Many an iMac has been sold on the basis of "you mean that's the entire computer?"

Who is this "we" you are talking about? "We" is a small handful of geeks in a forum. While if you asked anyone, sure they'd say they want a faster computer, but the general public doesn't watch HD movies on their Macs, so blue-ray is out. The general public doesn't know what "quad-core" means so it doesn't matter as long as the computer is fast enough to do what they want.

This. Nice to see someone thinking *outside* of themselves and the little MR bubble.