Sandy Bridge iMacs Due Next Week

[Quadra610]

AppleInsider stats lie

Note how AppleInsider claims that desktops are struggling to remain relevant in light of their chart supposedly showing a "decline" in shipments. Not true. The chart shows that desktop shipments are increasing and portables shipments are also increasing. Portables shipments are increasing faster than desktop shipments are increasing. Nobody is in decline.

What is irrelevant is the line showing the declining "share" of desktops--this is not a meaningful metric.

 

[mondesi43]

"You'll get NOTHING and like it" ............ Rodney Dangerfield

Actually Ted Knight....

 

[cliff clavin]

Actually Ted Knight....

nice catch.....

 

[drewu]

Guys,

I have a friend who works for Apple, and he has told me that he is unable to attend the gym Wednesday night..... As he is working an 'overnighter'. But he is free tonight.

I am guessing the new iMac may be out Wednesday. Unless they launch it tomorrow, but put all the POS out on Tuesday night Which can't make a lot of sense as I am sure Apple would want to go into the launch 'all guns blazing'.

But he has no other info regarding the product/specs/design, or the ever wonderful idea of a touch screen desktop (joke)

 

[TheUndertow]

Because:

1) I don't want to buy a 2000 eur computer and put a piece of plastic crap on the display. Not to mention that applying it properly looks like a big pain..

2) "Due to the nature of glass displays, anti-glare films will impart a slight prismatic effect to object edges when viewed straight-on. White backgrounds exacerbate the prismatic effect - non-white backgrounds nearly eliminate it."

3)I want an option. Simple as that.

I thought the anti-glare screen layer put in between the panel did the same basic thing to reduce reflections...(with additional brightness from the factory to account for the extra layer)?

 

[robeddie]

Guys,

I have a friend who works for Apple, and he has told me that he is unable to attend the gym Wednesday night..... As he is working an 'overnighter'. But he is free tonight.

I am guessing the new iMac may be out Wednesday. Unless they launch it tomorrow, but put all the POS out on Tuesday night Which can't make a lot of sense as I am sure Apple would want to go into the launch 'all guns blazing'.
:

With all due respect, this is hardly an "all guns blazing" event. It's an incremental update to an established line. Apple only pulls all employees on duty and overtime when it's a new ground-breaking product release that is expected to cause blocks of lines out the door.

This is update to the iMac, no big deal. Trust me, there won't be a swarm of people lined up waiting for it.

 

[andrewbecks]

Guys,

I have a friend who works for Apple, and he has told me that he is unable to attend the gym Wednesday night..... As he is working an 'overnighter'. But he is free tonight.

I am guessing the new iMac may be out Wednesday. Unless they launch it tomorrow, but put all the POS out on Tuesday night Which can't make a lot of sense as I am sure Apple would want to go into the launch 'all guns blazing'.

But he has no other info regarding the product/specs/design, or the ever wonderful idea of a touch screen desktop (joke)

I wonder if your friend is located in the US or UK? If he's in the UK, it might have to do with the fact that Apple plans on releasing them on Tuesday morning in the US. If they do the overnight tonight (or in just a few hours when UK Apple Stores close), it would mean the product launches in the UK ahead of the US, which seems unlikely given Apple's normal release process.

For what it's worth, it's already ~3:00 am Tuesday in parts of AU now. I'm guess they won't see the models until Wednesday morning either.

 

[morty192]

With all due respect, this is hardly an "all guns blazing" event. It's an incremental update to an established line. Apple only pulls all employees on duty and overtime when it's a new ground-breaking product release that is expected to cause blocks of lines out the door.

This is update to the iMac, no big deal. Trust me, there won't be a swarm of people lined up waiting for it.

but this post could be evidence of a Thursday launch date? If the guy is working overnight Wednesday surly that means Wednesday night/Thursday morning?

 

[Thickensick]

How on earth could they keep every (any?) little detail secret?

Even the white iPhones were being sold in advance and pics were showing up on this site and others.

How is it that a pic of the box has not been leaked if its due out tomorrow?

 

[Gravygoat]

Well, I very much hope they don't forget about the extremely overdue Macbook and Mac Mini...they don't even have the first gen Core i, so this would be a good time to update the whole bunch to SB CPUs.

Apple rarely upgrades multiple lines of systems simultaneously, no matter how much it might make sense to the rest of us. They don't like competing with themselves.

 

[Helk]

So if the price will remain the same, how much of a price drop could I expect to see for the older models?

 

[moderately]

Absolute BS, as I have provided in the past several links and arguments that demonstrate that the BR uptake is nothing out of the ordinary, considering the advent of HD TVs and the fact that those statistics rely on NEW buyers of equipment. You also forget the fact that DVD took longer for obvious reasons related to average household revenue, economies of scale and the advent of large-screen TVs.

But even then, the added value of BR over DVD cannot be compared to the advantages of DVD over VHS back in the day. And you can go to ANY electronics store around the world, where you're gonna see at least 10x more content available for DVDs than for BRs, which continue to be relegated to a niche demand from new buyers.

Even with its pyrrhic victory over HD-DVD, BR IS moribund and nobody can deny that; it's MORE expensive than DVDs, it is MARGINALLY better than DVDs when used in medium-sized HD screens (the vast majority of TVs out there), and it is WAY worse than DVDs in terms of abusive DRM technologies that do not allow people to backup and/or move their legally-bought content to other devices (I know, the bizarre DMCA-driven US law loves to talk about "stealing", even when most other jurisdictions do NOT consider private copying as illegal).

I for one am happy that Apple is not including that EOL'd format in Macs; and what for anyway? To watch a 1080p movie on a 24"/27" screen? Gimme a break.

In my mind the major leap from DVD to BR is sound. The picture is nicer but the sound is so superior. Not that I am buying them but I will wait till the single copy comes in so I can rent it. I think one of the barriers to adoption has to do with needing a decent sound system in addition to a large screen (and the ears to hear the difference).

I don't care if it ever comes to my mac but the $99 for the player was money well spent.

 

[ECH]

Well I finally registered, I have 2 years now reading the forums... since the 2009 iMac refresh, and since that very date I want my first Mac but been doubtful with the overheating/screen problems due the fact that I was (back then) a kind of bleeding-edge/benchmarker guy... now I just want to sit in a *CLEAN* desk with just that beauty 27" glossy beast, to take care of simple tasks like DBA/mobile/web programming. So, I got a question to all the experiencied regarding Hardware, I know it's hard to see it; but... can be done?

1) Lose the "chin"? This will have impact over 2 important things:
a) The Apple logo will be removed, don't know if Apple will ever do that even if they could.
b) Jonny Ive have to "finally figure out how to" cramp up RAM/Speakers in the back

2) To keep a thin body, a mobile GPU is being used... is there any limitation or any other factor that prohibits the inclusion of 2 GPUs? I've never heard/read anyone comment on this.

3) SSD over SATA3? As standard.

4) Built-in "magic port" USB3/Display-Thunderbolt/FireWire/eSATA? and I know is too much, but what the hell... I just hate connectors laying around

If Jonny Ive "finally figures out how to" implement Crossfire; no, seriously... we could see OS Lion raise as a gaming platform. I'm not saying that will be some kind of Skulltrail, but more of a *real* option for serious-not-extreme gaming.

Regarding BD, I'll love to attach one to my Iomega ix2-200, Lacinema Mini HD Bridge or (hope soon) iMac... one thing: it'll be just to rip a movie and store it in my NAS, don't see other use on my lifestyle... As far as I know (and I may be 100% wrong) the human eye hardly see the difference between 720/1080p so Internet streams works for me, nonetheless I stream 1080p from my NAS to my FHD 50" plasma display and do agree that sometimes (1 from 100 maybe) it is noticeable. Hard to make a decition here, I own a 8mb connection so I can rent a movie... wait a couple of minutes 'till a small buffer fills and watch my 1080p rental. What I know it's that I don't want optic media around my minimalistic appartment anymore, I became frivoluos (Apple helped).

On the other hand, I agree with many people that says if they come up with something that look like a refrigerator many things will happen:

- Many people will say: It's fugly
- Many people will say: It's gorgeous
- Many people will want one
- Many people won't want one
- Many people will have critisisms
- Many people will have critisisms over the people above.

However I'll buy it as my first Mac, I don't know her yet... but it'll be beautiful (yeah I know, "I Jobs we trust"... so what?)

 

[pcharles]

Yippeeee!

My White Core I Duo is getting a bit old now. I will need to Dremmel out the shelf on the hutch since the old iMac only has a 17 inch screen and the new one would be much much bigger.

 

[tuvok47]

Macbook Pro vs. iMac?

I have a 2.8 Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro with 4 GB RAM I use to edit, render, and transcode HD video. What kind speed increase can I expect with these activities with the 27' iMac currently out there that has 2.8GHz Intel Core i5 with 4 GB RAM?

Just a point of comparison since we don't know the new SB iMac specs yet.

 

[PeterQVenkman]

Mac users are going to LOVE the Sandy Bridge processor in iMacs.

 

[drewu]

With all due respect, this is hardly an "all guns blazing" event. It's an incremental update to an established line. Apple only pulls all employees on duty and overtime when it's a new ground-breaking product release that is expected to cause blocks of lines out the door.

This is update to the iMac, no big deal. Trust me, there won't be a swarm of people lined up waiting for it.

Dude, calm down. I just wanted to point out what i had been told, as everyone on here was referring to a tuesday date. I thought it would be of interest to people. They are not doing a big release for it - just an all nighter to sort out the POS for a release.

I wonder if your friend is located in the US or UK? If he's in the UK, it might have to do with the fact that Apple plans on releasing them on Tuesday morning in the US. If they do the overnight tonight (or in just a few hours when UK Apple Stores close), it would mean the product launches in the UK ahead of the US, which seems unlikely given Apple's normal release process.

For what it's worth, it's already ~3:00 am Tuesday in parts of AU now. I'm guess they won't see the models until Wednesday morning either.

I am in the UK dude. I have just had a text from him as i type this, saying he is working late tomorrow night, but the new iMac is looking like it will be released tomorrow. People he works with are saying this. I just want to get my first mac asap!!

 

[andrewbecks]

I am in the UK dude. I have just had a text from him as i type this, saying he is working late tomorrow night, but the new iMac is looking like it will be released tomorrow. People he works with are saying this. I just want to get my first mac asap!!

I saw your location listed and figured you might be. I'm with you, though--I hope it gets a Tuesday release as I'm looking forward to buying my first desktop Mac. No that I have an iPad, I just don't need the MBP anymore.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

Because:

1) I don't want to buy a 2000 eur computer and put a piece of plastic crap on the display. Not to mention that applying it properly looks like a big pain..

2) "Due to the nature of glass displays, anti-glare films will impart a slight prismatic effect to object edges when viewed straight-on. White backgrounds exacerbate the prismatic effect - non-white backgrounds nearly eliminate it."

3)I want an option. Simple as that.

I tried one of these on a 21.5" iMac and it was a complete waste of money. The install was a pain, and the end result was NOT good. A glossy screen with a matte plastic film installed does NOT equal a native matte finish factory adheared directly to an LCD panel. The distance between the material and the actuall LCD surface makes it terribly difficult to maintain image quality.

Always a matter of taste and opinion. There are plenty of people who buy the Dell U2710 and then strip off the matte finishe from the LCD.

 

[bassanoclapper]

(stock) iMac prices have always been between £900-1700. I can't see the prices changing that much considering we're looking at a basic upgrade (newer GPU, newer CPU, etc).

I'm pretty sure when I bought mine three years ago, the entry level model [2.0GHz 20"] was around £749. I bought the 2.4 which was near £900

 

[kgtenacious]

Except for the fact you missed the golden age of computing. Telix and a 2400 baud modem was a far superior experience to this Internet crap.

2400 baud modem?! You must be a youngster. Computers were much better with Arpanet, 300 baud modems with suction cup phone couplers, punch cards and 8" floppies. And 120 lb. harddrives that hold 10 MB with big 12 inch platters.

 

[435713]

If decent means: "horrible for the price"...were totally on the same page

LOL

Looking at some gameplay vids, the iMacs seem to run games pretty well. Obviously not as well as a custom PC, but they use okay class 2 cards in the iMacs. I would like to see a class 1 (going off notebookcheck) but don't think they will do it.

I care less about PC gaming personally, but a beefier GPU would be nice for other things.

 

[Bampei]

2400 baud modem?! You must be a youngster. Computers were much better with Arpanet, 300 baud modems with suction cup phone couplers, punch cards and 8" floppies. And 120 lb. harddrives that hold 10 MB with big 12 inch platters.

Harddrives? Floppies?? Pure LUXURY, you young whippersnapper!

Try 16kb RAM (including the expansion module), loading programs from a cassette recorder (you had to adjust the volume constantly until the computer would "read" it), no floppies, mono screens.

That was a early TRS-80 Model 1, and I lived with it for a year! FUN!

 

[KnightWRX]

2400 baud modem?! You must be a youngster. Computers were much better with Arpanet, 300 baud modems with suction cup phone couplers, punch cards and 8" floppies. And 120 lb. harddrives that hold 10 MB with big 12 inch platters.

I said Golden Age of computing, you're talking about the Dark Ages or something pop.

 

[MagnusVonMagnum]

I said Golden Age of computing, you're talking about the Dark Ages or something pop.

I dug Wargames, personally (had the suction cup 300 baud modem and 8" floppies, at least). I had a 300 baud modem on my C64 for awhile. I went to 2400 on my Amiga 500 and then 2400+ (with error correction and data compression) followed by 14.4 V36bis (Supra with a 2-digit digital readout on the front) when I got my Amiga 3000 and finally a 56k universal model (Woohoo! That was some speed for Fidonet BBSes). I went to cable modems thereafter around 2000 (still had to use the 56k on my Amiga 3000 for awhile; the cable company had both where I lived for some time). I didn't get a PC until 1999. My Amiga 3000 did quite well up until that point, especially considering it was never designed to do the Internet (amazing what it could do with 18MB of ram that many PCs could not do with 64-128MB at the time).