No need to wait for haswell

[automan98]

Many people have posted about if they buy or wait re a new imac. One thing that became clear for the majority of mainstream consumers after yesterday's haswell announcement is that there is little reason to wait and to hold off your purchase. The processor speed improvements are extremely minor in a broader context and unless you want the latest and greatest graphics card or network speed there's no reason to wait.

Just my two cents.

 

[Bear]

There is still the lingering question of what changes if any are being made to the display. And also will disk options be updated (and possibly made less expensive).

 

[tomwvr]

Bear

They have made drive option changes since release - if they make more they will be the same way - silent on apples site

They are not going to change the monitors any time soon they just came out with the new monitors for the Imac last year,my guess is this will be the standard for the next several Imacs

I do expect to see the existing 27 inch Imac screen modified tobecome the standalone monitor replacing the older standalone model.

Tom

 

[Bear]

Bear

They have made drive option changes since release - if they make more they will be the same way - silent on apples site

They are not going to change the monitors any time soon they just came out with the new monitors for the Imac last year,my guess is this will be the standard for the next several Imacs

I do expect to see the existing 27 inch Imac screen modified tobecome the standalone monitor replacing the older standalone model.

Tom

With the new MacBook Air, they lowered the price of SSD, the same could happen with a Haswell based iMac. Also the new SSDs appear to be faster and hopefully the next iMac would have the same improvements.

The display is not that much different that the previous display. The only change that is up in the air is when an iMac might get a retina display.

I was only pointing out the other possible changes, but forgot to expand on the new SSD design.

Basically if someone needs a new iMac now, buy it. If not, do you want to wait and see what changes actually make the Haswell iMac.

For me, the biggest reason to wait is the probably upgraded graphics.

 

[MeatRocket]

For me, the biggest reason to wait is the probably upgraded graphics.

Same with me. I was ready to buy the one with the 680MX but since the GPUs and soldered onto the board, I'll wait just a little while longer to hopefully get better graphics cause once you buy it, that's it.

 

[forty2j]

Same with me. I was ready to buy the one with the 680MX but since the GPUs and soldered onto the board, I'll wait just a little while longer to hopefully get better graphics cause once you buy it, that's it.

If you're not in a rush, then sure. But I expect the graphics updates to be nearly as underwhelming as the processor performance updates. 2012 was a bumper year for mobile GPUs. 2013 doesn't look like it will be one.

There's the very real possibility that, at the lower end, they'll drop the discrete GPU and use Haswell's integrated graphics. At the top end, maybe a 10% bump on the BTO option that replaces the 680MX?

 

[Bear]

If you're not in a rush, then sure. But I expect the graphics updates to be nearly as underwhelming as the processor performance updates. 2012 was a bumper year for mobile GPUs. 2013 doesn't look like it will be one.

There's the very real possibility that, at the lower end, they'll drop the discrete GPU and use Haswell's integrated graphics. At the top end, maybe a 10% bump on the BTO option that replaces the 680MX?

My guess at the top end will be something like a 780M which would still be a nice bump.

 

[forty2j]

My guess at the top end will be something like a 780M which would still be a nice bump.

Depends on whether you think 2% is nice, I guess.

http://www.game-debate.com/gpu/index.php?gid=1290&gid2=1242&compare=geforce-gtx-680mx-vs-geforce-gtx-780m

 

[Bear]

Depends on whether you think 2% is nice, I guess.

http://www.game-debate.com/gpu/index.php?gid=1290&gid2=1242&compare=geforce-gtx-680mx-vs-geforce-gtx-780m

I'm not sure how they figure 2%. Looking down the comparison, the blue and red bars (which admittedly don't have numbers) seem to indicate a much better increase than 2%.

However, the big thing is that the 780M supports a later version of OpenGL.

And finally it is possible that there will be a 780MX version by the time Apple updates the iMac. Or at least a 780M tweaked by Apple for better performance.

 

[forty2j]

I'm not sure how they figure 2%. Looking down the comparison, the blue and red bars (which admittedly don't have numbers) seem to indicate a much better increase than 2%.

However, the big thing is that the 780M supports a later version of OpenGL.

And finally it is possible that there will be a 780MX version by the time Apple updates the iMac. Or at least a 780M tweaked by Apple for better performance.

Look around at other sites, too. The 780M is a slightly overclocked rebrand of the 680MX. It's the same chip (GK 104) used in all of the high end Kepler products. If they're saying it somehow got a newer version of OpenGL, then that's driver or firmware and would be available in the 680MX too.

Nvidia would certainly need to do better than that for Apple to bother with them in the 2013 model. There's no new architecture until next year, so just expect more tweaks. Haven't looked into what AMD has going on yet, but it's possible Apple would move back to them if the performance was better.

 

[MeatRocket]

Look around at other sites, too. The 780M is a slightly overclocked rebrand of the 680MX.......

Looked around and you're right. PC users are bitching that they're getting a rebranded mobile card that Apple has had for half a year!

Nvidia would certainly need to do better than that for Apple to bother with them in the 2013 model. There's no new architecture until next year, so just expect more tweaks. Haven't looked into what AMD has going on yet, but it's possible Apple would move back to them if the performance was better.

Possible, but extremely unlikely. Apple has only jumped ship on GPU manufacturers in mid-production cycle once on the iMac, and it was for a considerable change from a shared memory GPU to a discreet one. Honestly, it looks like the 680MX is still the best GPU for the iMac. Look at the benchmark below and you see that the 780M actually comes in under the 680MX. Also, there's no mobile GPU out right now that scores higher.

http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html

 

[mrmarts]

Same with me. I was ready to buy the one with the 680MX but since the GPUs and soldered onto the board, I'll wait just a little while longer to hopefully get better graphics cause once you buy it, that's it.

That sucks after selling my late 2009 27" imac which had 512mb graphics, I crave at least 3gb or 4gb of VRAM. I guess my MacBook retina with the 1gb video card should do me well until next years imac which will bring better updates. But I am still keeping my fingers crossed that this years model will bring more than the mere rumors floating around on this forum.

 

[jmhart]

Same with me. I was ready to buy the one with the 680MX but since the GPUs and soldered onto the board, I'll wait just a little while longer to hopefully get better graphics cause once you buy it, that's it.

Same goes for the possible PCIe SSD upgrade--the card slot is different so there's not going to be any way to add that to the 2012 model.

A near 50% increase in storage access speed is definitely worth a wait-and-watch attitude at this point.

 

[TType85]

The PCIe SSD would be the only thing to wait for a haswell refresh for.

In general usage I see no difference on a i5-4670K and a i5-2500K. The HD 4600 graphics core on the 4670K is better for my HTPC but in the iMac when you have a dedicated graphics chip it makes no difference.