I would literally own an iMac 24 right now, if not for waiting on this refresh (and not being in a hurry, I have no reason to rush).
I would get the 2.93, and pay for the HD 4850 upgrade, and pay 2K flat because I want to get locked in on better graphics. I would prefer to get the 2.66 and the 4850... that would put me at a 100-150 bucks less if such a thing existed, give or take.
So, I would *like* to pay about $1750 for an iMac, the only question is what am I going to get for that here in a while....
Scenario 1 - No Changes for Several Months and Scenario 2 - Minor Refresh or Price Drop
The simplest scenario to describe is just that nothing happens or they just lower the price, or bump the Ghz, HD, Ram, etc. Perhaps, the inventory shortage is illusory, Apple is not ready to change the models, they are waiting on 32nm chips next year, or just plain feel they can wait it out, that the models are attractive enough. Maybe they have something grand, but its not working out for now.
The likelihood of me buying here is low. I would probably just sit on my money and be disappointed, but would have to just deal. Given all the movement to new hardware and Windows 7 in the PC consumer space, this option would not be a particularly strong marketing effort for Apple.
Scenario 3 - Core i7 Mobile
This seems the most likely with the timing. If the inventory lull is real and there is a fall refresh like their normal schedule would suggest, this would be the current state of the art mobile chip, and iMac's are built around a mobile platform.
The likelihood of me buying here is pretty good, although it is going to feel *weird* having a chip that can clock down as low as 1.7GHz. Sure, a great deal of the time, its going to be closer to 3, but to buy a machine in 2009, I expect to use in 2012, that can go down so low is, rationally or not, disconcerting. T
It's all bout GCD in the future for this chip imo... the uptick of being able to run 8 logical cores, is that if GCD becomes pervasiv and it's running at truly 8 threads across 1.7Ghz all the time, that's actually pretty kick ass, and the parallelism makes up for the clock speed.
Scenario 4 - Something More Out There (Core 2 Quad, Lynnfield)
In this scenario, Apple goes a different route than mobile, and sticks a desktop processor in there. Maybe they make the shell thicker, maybe the get better cooling, maybe they just pull an Apple and make it happen. Core Quads would be OK, but the power on them seems just too far out there. Lynnfields are more modern, and more likely to make work. Maybe the P55 chipset + Lynnfield can be made to fit and have the temperature controlled.
Likelihood of me buying a Lynnfield iMac is ridiculously high, that would be amazing. Cure 2 Quad would probably be a yes too, but I think that's probably a stretch, and would be less exciting. I would probably be happier about a Core Quad than a i7 Mobile, but I think its moot.
Scenario 5 - Return of the Consumer Tower
Apple throws a consumer tower into the mix. This would almost 100% be a Lynnfield, and would allow me to use my current monitor and etc to get $1750 worth of ass kickery. I don't see anyone suggesting this is coming back, but this would be a very strong "buy" for me, even though I love the look of the AIO.
Sorry for the long winded musings, just trying to talk myself through where this may be going...
I would get the 2.93, and pay for the HD 4850 upgrade, and pay 2K flat because I want to get locked in on better graphics. I would prefer to get the 2.66 and the 4850... that would put me at a 100-150 bucks less if such a thing existed, give or take.
So, I would *like* to pay about $1750 for an iMac, the only question is what am I going to get for that here in a while....
Scenario 1 - No Changes for Several Months and Scenario 2 - Minor Refresh or Price Drop
The simplest scenario to describe is just that nothing happens or they just lower the price, or bump the Ghz, HD, Ram, etc. Perhaps, the inventory shortage is illusory, Apple is not ready to change the models, they are waiting on 32nm chips next year, or just plain feel they can wait it out, that the models are attractive enough. Maybe they have something grand, but its not working out for now.
The likelihood of me buying here is low. I would probably just sit on my money and be disappointed, but would have to just deal. Given all the movement to new hardware and Windows 7 in the PC consumer space, this option would not be a particularly strong marketing effort for Apple.
Scenario 3 - Core i7 Mobile
This seems the most likely with the timing. If the inventory lull is real and there is a fall refresh like their normal schedule would suggest, this would be the current state of the art mobile chip, and iMac's are built around a mobile platform.
The likelihood of me buying here is pretty good, although it is going to feel *weird* having a chip that can clock down as low as 1.7GHz. Sure, a great deal of the time, its going to be closer to 3, but to buy a machine in 2009, I expect to use in 2012, that can go down so low is, rationally or not, disconcerting. T
It's all bout GCD in the future for this chip imo... the uptick of being able to run 8 logical cores, is that if GCD becomes pervasiv and it's running at truly 8 threads across 1.7Ghz all the time, that's actually pretty kick ass, and the parallelism makes up for the clock speed.
Scenario 4 - Something More Out There (Core 2 Quad, Lynnfield)
In this scenario, Apple goes a different route than mobile, and sticks a desktop processor in there. Maybe they make the shell thicker, maybe the get better cooling, maybe they just pull an Apple and make it happen. Core Quads would be OK, but the power on them seems just too far out there. Lynnfields are more modern, and more likely to make work. Maybe the P55 chipset + Lynnfield can be made to fit and have the temperature controlled.
Likelihood of me buying a Lynnfield iMac is ridiculously high, that would be amazing. Cure 2 Quad would probably be a yes too, but I think that's probably a stretch, and would be less exciting. I would probably be happier about a Core Quad than a i7 Mobile, but I think its moot.
Scenario 5 - Return of the Consumer Tower
Apple throws a consumer tower into the mix. This would almost 100% be a Lynnfield, and would allow me to use my current monitor and etc to get $1750 worth of ass kickery. I don't see anyone suggesting this is coming back, but this would be a very strong "buy" for me, even though I love the look of the AIO.
Sorry for the long winded musings, just trying to talk myself through where this may be going...
