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Redesigned iMac?

My 15" iMac is as sweet as the first day I bought it. The design is great, the ergonomics fantastic (an unrelated injury proved this to me: the ability to change the height and angle of the screen is priceless.

I hope Apple keeps the design and just improves the innards.
 
I'm a big fan of the current design, so I'm not sure if this is good news or not. Either way let's hope it will have a G5 because if it's another G4 based iMac with just a new form factor, it will go over like a lead balloon. I also hope too that it's NOT aluminum either, they should keep the white for the consumer line products...
 
what was that talk before

What was that talk before.. I forget the rumors or the exact specs.. but seems there was some patents that Apple had taken out ? something about glowing displays ? or color displays ? something strange.. just don't remember the specifics ?
 
I have to say I have trouble imagining a change as radical as the last iMac change. I believe they have to keep using built-in LCD screens, and it seems like the current iMac is pretty much the pinnacle of design for a computer that includes such a built-in screen. Anyway, my speculation:

What they'll keep: Built-in LCD display; arm that pivots out of a CPU-inclusive base; limited expansion options.

What they'll change: Shape of base (maybe going cube); feature set (CPU; graphics card; port configuration)

What they may or may not change: Color scheme. (It's tempting to say they'll go aluminum, but Apple likes their consumer and pro lines to have distinct looks.)

As for the headless iMac, I agree that it sounds like a good idea. They won't call it an iMac though. Perhaps that could be a fourth model line ... The iMac is the continuation, in form and function, of the original Mac, and I don' t think they'll mess with its general theme of simplicity and all-inclusiveness.
 
Wireless display?

Let's take things one step at a time:


First the iMac had an all-in-one design.

Then Apple 'freed' the monitor by putting it on a beautifully crafted silver arm.

Then Apple literally freed the keyboard and mouse by introducing wireless variants.

Now, wouldn't it be the logical next step to completely free the monitor and introduce a wireless display - giving the iMac's screen total freedom?


It wouldn't be a tablet per se. All it would be is an LCD with an iBook battery (or two) plus some fast WiFi networking card.

And for what it's worth, the iMac base unit could even be a cube again!


Imagine this: a small white cube, the iMac base station. Next to it an LCD screen on a stand/charging unit. The LCD could be used landscape or portrait. Or even taken off the stand completely and then used anywhere within a certain radius from the base unit.

People at that point could use it as a sort of tablet with pen input. But they wouldn't have to. They could as well use the wireless keyboard and mouse.


Make sense?
 
Re: Re: ok

Originally posted by jholzner
show me a windows pc that includes a 17" lcd and teh design of the imac that can do what a mac can do with the ilife suite for 800 buck. get real
Click to expand...

Ok, $850.
 
we have remote keyboard and mouse - how about remote display? maybe airport extreme can do it? I don't know - but it would be cool to have a headless box in my cupboard and have my monitor, keyboard, mouse nice and light and completely transportable, from the couch to the desk....

that's my fantasy...I agree with others that a cheap box, but with a coupled monitor for those of us that like the style of the complete design would be great. But not so cheap as to compromise the excellence.

Rob
 
Redesign can't hurt if it lowers the price. I've got a few friends who were in the market for a new mac. They didn't need a high end system b/c they weren't doing a lot of heavy work on it. When it was all said and done, they bought an emac. Why? Price was the #1 reason.
 
I was looking at my sister's orange iMac the other day and thought to myself "wow I miss those colorful bubble computers." I really hope Apple brings back the color!
 
Originally posted by greenstork
Ideally they will offer a consumer-priced headless system akin to the cube. I could see this in addition to a beautiful all-in-one system like the current iMac.

In order to really get PC users to switch, Apple needs to offer an inexpensive system, that is also expandable. I have many PC friends who say two things. 1) Macs are too expensive for me 2) What do I do with my monitor? If they are looking to buy a low price system they are forced to scrap their monitor and start from scratch. Indeed they would save $200-300 if they could purchase a headless iMac.

I have a 333 MHz iMac at work and it's going on 4 years old. Already the monitor has been replaced (and it's still old and blurry) and the RAM maxed out and it still doesn't run OS X with the programs that I need it to at work. If we could afford to upgrade, we would, it's a non-profit. Granted today's iMacs can hold a lot more RAM and run OS X but perhaps 2-3 years from now people will be saying the same thing about today's iMacs. I think a headless sytem of some sort would mitigate at least some of these issues. If I could upgrade my monitor, I could easily get a couple more years out of this system.
Click to expand...
Bingo,lets hope for a consumer G5 Imac that can be bought with or without display and is upgradeable. this has hurt imac sales for so long. I love the current imac but that arm alone must cost a 100 bucks! the need a high performance consumer line instead of forcing the consumer to go with the pro line simply because of lack of expansion on the imac.
 
Originally posted by hobbes3113
How does a new imac update translate into a flood of tablet rumors? Powerbook update maybe, but not the imac. I imagine the first tablet (if there ever is one) is not going to be a consumer device.
Click to expand...

I will tell you how - what if the Imac continues to look as it does today, however.......the screen would also be a tablet that you could unhook and take with you. That would justify a higher cost, while also making it much more functional. Now that would be truly cool. Probably won't happen, but it is nice to dream. :)
 
wow. the thing that strikes me the most about this thread is the number of newbiew posting to it. not that i have a problem with that, as we were all newbies at one point and the only way to change that is to post. but it's not just that they're posting, but that they're almost all posting about wireless diplays (which no one else seems to be mentioning). crazy trend.

to respond to those ideas, though, a wireless display (as in one without its own processor, HD, memory, and whatnot) is not feasible at this moment. there have been numerous discussions about the amount of information that would need to be transfered from the base to the monitor, and there is no wireless solution at the moment that is powerful enough. now if apple came up with that at the same time as a redesign... they would just be my hero. unfortunately, it seems like a wireless display that gets its information from a seperate computing base it some ways off...

keep dreaming, though! as soon as we stop deaming, there will be no need for innovation.
 
Originally posted by Lanbrown
You can get the iMac with BT.
Click to expand...
Ah yes... I stand corrected. I must not have been paying attention when they added that option.

I thought it just came with the little external bluetooth gizmo, if you wanted it.

Well in that case -- lower price, faster stuff :) It would be nice if the eMac prices could come down a little, and the iMac come down to about where the eMac is now (maybe a little more).

I only wish the 17" iMac had been around when I first switched in 2001. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love my Quicksilver 733, but the only reason I got the G4 tower was because the iMac at the time had such a little monitor (15" crt).

I still can't imagine how they can improve drastically on what they have. It might be nice, as some have mentioned, to have a headless system for consumers. Maybe the dome, without the arm or LCD, for $800 or something. But I think there's still a good market for the iMac as-is.

Just faster :)
 
G5?

I'd imagine it would be easier to get the G5 into the iMac than the powerbook, or at least not as difficult to engineer: not as many power, cooling issues. Other than that, a wireless display might be cool, but I would worry a bit about quality and performance...

I'll just let Apple surprise me either way :)
 
Probably the main impetus for a design change is to accomodate teh G5. The current form factor can't house the G5 and the kind of cooling you need for it. It remains to be seen what kind of heat issues we'll have with the next round of G5s. But for sure, if they want a G5 iMac before next summer, they'll need a new case.

tablet mac -- won't replace the imac, but could still happen. i'm sure though that an apple 'tablet' won't be anything like what's out there now; it'll be nothing like what we've ever imagined.

headless consumer mac -- only if there is a sure way of Apple making a profit off of it. i don't see apple doing it simply b/c the consumer demand is there. they have to worry about it eating into Power Mac sales.
 
Re: Re: ok

Originally posted by jholzner
show me a windows pc that includes a 17" lcd and teh design of the imac that can do what a mac can do with the ilife suite for 800 buck. get real
Click to expand...

On Dell just now I was able to configure a dimension with DVD+R/RW for $900, with a free 17 inch flat panel. (offer expires today)

a similar iMac costs $1799.

I like the design of the iMac, but I am not so sure that having a built-in display is that big a benefit to most people,
especially since flat panels are a bit easier to break. I like having a monitor I can replace separately from the CPU.

So aside from the MAC operating system and iApps, which are admittedly better than Windows offerings in my opinion, there isn't much going for the iMac except looks.

So that means to buy an iMac you would be willing to spend TWICE what a PC costs.

Does it look THAT good?
No. It looks BETTER, but not enough to double it's value.

I think ALL Apple users should realize that we are paying almost 0.5 to 2 times what it costs for a PC across the board to buy a similar MAC. And aside from the G5 towers, we are still getting spanked in performance.

We are paying for 2 things

1) design/looks
2) the OS and "free" apps

Now, I say "free" because we have to pay EVERY YEAR $129 for the new OS and FREE apps, so ....

What do we get?

We get looks, and as shallow as I am, I am not paying twice as much for an iMac as a similar PC.

I got the G5 because for price and performance it is about as good as you can get on either side.

iMac is not a good deal.

Sorry.

Needs to cost half what it does.
 
everyone is getting excited but i wonder how solid this rumor is and the validity of it? We all know moto had screwed apple for a long time and a G5 imac is no surprise, new imac sales never were close to the original crt imac sales. I think they need to bring in the fun factor again. current imac cost to much and though terrific doesnt have that appeal that all those juicy colors did with the original. really wanted a orange one but wifey said no way jose! so hard to say what apple will do. G5 cube would be fine with me.
 
The remote screen sounds a good call. Its on a wish list of mine for a future Powerbook release. An integrated computer like a laptop or iMac is the next generation of "desktop" computer , but if you want to have the slim line brains of the operation off the desk as you would a tower, and just work with a screen (and keyboard) on the desk, that means you have to buy a second screen - and that costs. Disconnect the "in-built" screen, and you have a very useful computer.

Maybe space is not a problenm in the States, but the Japanese would love it.
 
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