No iMac rumors at all, lame upgrade coming?

[jfriedman8]

I would like to think the next update will be a redesign using a lot of design from the MBPR, mainly it's cooling. I had the 09 iMac 27" i7 and that thing got HOT. It basically burned my screen (you could only see when it was white) but if Apple is going to keep making these more powerful, add retina, their cooling engineering has to be better.

I would not be surprised to see some of the same technology used in an iMac redesign with a slimmer case.

 

[Lancer]

Four hundred-plus days without an iMac redesign or refresh. Think about that, it's quite extraordinary. At this point I think I would accept a simple refresh. Ivy Bridge processor and an upgraded graphics card would be just fine by me. Give me something so I can justify pulling out my credit card.

Ditto, at this point I just want Ivy Bridge with USB3, better video, more RAM and a bigger HDD. I don't need the speed of SSD, I need at least 1Tb but would prefer 2Tb so until they are in the market at a good price I'm sticking with HDD. Even using SSD for OS X and the programs is too expensive right now. Not to mention Retina displays.

That might all come in 2013 with the next design iMac.

 

[Roller]

Ditto, at this point I just want Ivy Bridge with USB3, better video, more RAM and a bigger HDD. I don't need the speed of SSD, I need at least 1Tb but would prefer 2Tb so until they are in the market at a good price I'm sticking with HDD. Even using SSD for OS X and the programs is too expensive right now. Not to mention Retina displays.

That might all come in 2013 with the next design iMac.

Once you've gotten used to the speed of an SSD, it's hard to go back. But it's going to take some time for affordable 1-2TB SSDs to become available. Meanwhile, I'd settle for IB/USB 3/improved video card with a large HDD and a smaller SSD.

I hope someone on Apple's earnings call asks about their desktop sales next month.

 

[Lancer]

Once you've gotten used to the speed of an SSD, it's hard to go back. But it's going to take some time for affordable 1-2TB SSDs to become available. Meanwhile, I'd settle for IB/USB 3/improved video card with a large HDD and a smaller SSD.

What ever they do Apple needs to maintain the same price points they currently have, if not lower. This is why I think if/when Retina comes to the iMac it might be an option or a separate model along with standard SSD.

 

[Scythe5]

My understanding is that Apple only has a 5 day inventory turnover. Source: http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/05/wow-apple-turns-over-its-inventory-once-every-5-days/257915/

If that's the case, I don't see a big problem for them to bring out *anything* new since the existing supplies of the old stuff would be gone pretty much in a week. Even if they couldn't sell the old stuff, they could certainly discount it and get rid of it.

 

[Lancer]

My understanding is that Apple only has a 5 day inventory turnover. Source: http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/05/wow-apple-turns-over-its-inventory-once-every-5-days/257915/

If that's the case, I don't see a big problem for them to bring out *anything* new since the existing supplies of the old stuff would be gone pretty much in a week. Even if they couldn't sell the old stuff, they could certainly discount it and get rid of it.

On the Apple site it usually goes to the refurbished list, in store they discount them or give away free stuff, sometimes including Apple Care to move outdated stock.

In reality if they do a relatively minor spec update like the MBP, even including USB3 most won't really see the difference between the 2011 and the 2012 models in every day use, the 2011 will just be a little cheaper on the used sales list in a few years time.

Are the Ivy Bridge CPUs much faster than the current ones?

 

[iMacFarlane]

Are the Ivy Bridge CPUs much faster than the current ones?

Around 10-15% faster. Most of the buzz around here isn't the CPU speed increase so much as the GPU speed increase. The mobile graphics technology spiked recently with AMD's 7970M and NVidia's 680M chips. Very fast, low power consumption, MUCH faster than the GPU's in today's iMacs. Looking forward to seeing how it all works out!

 

[Razorhog]

My understanding is that Apple only has a 5 day inventory turnover. Source: http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/05/wow-apple-turns-over-its-inventory-once-every-5-days/257915/

If that's the case, I don't see a big problem for them to bring out *anything* new since the existing supplies of the old stuff would be gone pretty much in a week. Even if they couldn't sell the old stuff, they could certainly discount it and get rid of it.

Fascinating article, thanks.

 

[cypress822]

Will this new faster and more efficient and more powerful graphics card have any different in every day computing? Is it only in gaming that we will see a difference???

 

[forty2j]

Will this new faster and more efficient and more powerful graphics card have any different in every day computing? Is it only in gaming that we will see a difference???

If you're not gaming or doing massive video conversion (say from wmv to m4p), you won't notice a thing. Playing 1080p video won't change.

 

[Reaktor5]

If you're not gaming or doing massive video conversion (say from wmv to m4p), you won't notice a thing. Playing 1080p video won't change.

I've been curious about this. Since the high-end 21 inch iMac and low-end 27 inch iMac use the same GPU, is there a performance hit in driving those extra pixels? Especially when it comes to gaming?

 

[Lancer]

Around 10-15% faster. Most of the buzz around here isn't the CPU speed increase so much as the GPU speed increase. The mobile graphics technology spiked recently with AMD's 7970M and NVidia's 680M chips. Very fast, low power consumption, MUCH faster than the GPU's in today's iMacs. Looking forward to seeing how it all works out!

All the small speed increases add up over the years, thus the reason the current iMac is up to 10x faster than my G5PM.

I was going to ask about GPU, I'm waiting on the 2012 update but on the current iMac is it worth the extra money for the 2Gb over the 1Gb video on the 27"?

I'll be using the iMac for Photoshop CS3, maybe some video editing but no 3D work at this point.

 

[forty2j]

I've been curious about this. Since the high-end 21 inch iMac and low-end 27 inch iMac use the same GPU, is there a performance hit in driving those extra pixels? Especially when it comes to gaming?

Assuming both screens are running at their native resolution, yes the top 21 will outperform the bottom 27 in stressful graphics situations. Before we started the 2012 waiting game I would always encourage people to get the 6970m with the 2GB DDR5 upgrade if they wanted to game at all on a 27 iMac.