Serious disapointment.

[icecoldart]

Sorry but i did not read all this thread yet. But i have a hard evidence that top end 27'' imac's gpu very capable!


http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GTX-675MX.82580.0.html

It's on par with desktop's gtx 560 TITANIUM!

Thats 30% faster than 6970m

 

[trip1ex]

Windows is much better for gaming. I finally switched out my Imac for a windows tower and couldn't be happier with my gaming. Miss the iMac, but I bought a MBP to make up for it.

For me it was just too much $$$ to build a nice gaming machine. Not when my MBP and windows pc are less than a $2k Imac. And my gaming machine is faster in games and my MBP is portable and probably the nicest laptop out there except for the larger MBP.

----------

I am also struggling to see what people are "disappointed" with?

It has the option for a 680M on the 27" - currently the fastest possible single mobile GPU you can put into a machine without going SLI/Crossfire, and it has the option for a Core i7 should you really want one, plus 4 RAM slots.

The 21" has some compromises - I think it would be nice if you could put your choice of GPU into the 21, and the lack of user-upgrade RAM is a compromise, but otherwise it is a solid machine.

People expecting something with more power than the 680M were just dreaming - there's just no way to get a desktop GPU inside the old one, let alone the new one.

Anyone who wants best bang for the buck to play games is going to be disappointed with the imac. Par for the course.

 

[Doggman]

This has been true for every single iMac. Why are you surprised?

I'm not surprised? I was hoping, not expecting, for the 2012 iMac to be different but it isn't.

 

[swordfish5736]

Major issues with this model:

• Single HD bay, not user replaceable
• Lack of Firewire (I have 5 firewire devices that I use regularly)
• No user installed RAM upgrades (21.5")
• No optical drive

Minor issues:

• Heat

Issues with all iMacs:

• Laptop GPUs
• Built in monitor (I want to use a professional monitor, I could use a secondary display with the iMac, but then I'm stuck with also having an inferior second display)
• No expansion slots (eSATA is a must for me, could always buy thunderbolt to esata hub, but why spend the extra $200 when I already have the card?)
• Low max RAM specs.

I'm doing a lot of video editing and intense photoshop/indesign work. Lots of RAM and a professional GPU are very important features for me. I will most certainly be buying the next Mac Pro.

The biggest disappointment though, is that Apple is starting to value form over function. They could've done a major iMac upgrade in a bigger case, but they basically repackaged what was already there with slight spec bumps. Apple saw that they made the iMac too good, too many pros started buying them, now they want to remove option after option so that pros are forced to buy a mac pro.

I can understand the lack of optical drive and no ram upgrade on the 21.5"

We don't know yet but if the display is held in like previous iMacs(with magnets) then it's a 30min job to swap hard drive out and possibly ram on the 21.5"

You can get a $29 adapter for FireWire800 to thunderbolt.

Aside from removing the optical drive what else did they remove?

 

[knoxtown]

Major issues with this model:

• Single HD bay, not user replaceable
• Lack of Firewire (I have 5 firewire devices that I use regularly)
• No user installed RAM upgrades (21.5")
• No optical drive

Minor issues:

• Heat

Issues with all iMacs:

• Laptop GPUs
• Built in monitor (I want to use a professional monitor, I could use a secondary display with the iMac, but then I'm stuck with also having an inferior second display)
• No expansion slots (eSATA is a must for me, could always buy thunderbolt to esata hub, but why spend the extra $200 when I already have the card?)
• Low max RAM specs.

I'm doing a lot of video editing and intense photoshop/indesign work. Lots of RAM and a professional GPU are very important features for me. I will most certainly be buying the next Mac Pro.

The biggest disappointment though, is that Apple is starting to value form over function. They could've done a major iMac upgrade in a bigger case, but they basically repackaged what was already there with slight spec bumps. Apple saw that they made the iMac too good, too many pros started buying them, now they want to remove option after option so that pros are forced to buy a mac pro.

It that fact?

 

[Ryan.Tanner]

It's a nice upgrade but it is not twice as fast. It is 50% faster in benchmarks. It will allow you to max all games currently out pretty much save for the Witcher 2 which is the most demanding of them all whereas the 6970m you'd need to stick to high vs ultra for many current games that are demanding. See these reviews and benchmarks for details:

http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Radeon-HD-6970M.43077.0.html

http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GTX-680M.72679.0.html

Clearly a very nice upgrade in any case. Personally, I wouldn't want to give up an optical drive for it but to each their own. I want that functionality for one more system lifetime and I am fine playing stuff on high settings.

They should have removed the optical drive from the 2011 form-factor and tried to get a desktop-class GPU put into it.

 

[george-brooks]

It that fact?

You can replace it, but not without taking apart the entire machine. Sure, some of us here would be able to do it, but the vast majority of users will not. My dad's 2007 iMac has needed 3 HD replacements since he bought it, each costing hundreds of dollars. If your iMac hard drive dies after more than 2 or 3 years, you're better off just buying a new computer. That ain't right!

----------

I can understand the lack of optical drive and no ram upgrade on the 21.5"

We don't know yet but if the display is held in like previous iMacs(with magnets) then it's a 30min job to swap hard drive out and possibly ram on the 21.5"

You can get a $29 adapter for FireWire800 to thunderbolt.

Aside from removing the optical drive what else did they remove?

Optical drive, native firewire port (replaced with extra USB port), audio line in, second hard drive bay for SSD

Perhaps when iFixit does a teardown there will be more findings. I'm wondering if there is still a free SATA port on the logic board so that OWC can do turnkey upgrades with eSATA ports.

 

[Imaginethe]

I am intrigued to find out why people think the 2011 version is better?

All year people have been saying the optical drive should go, that they want a redesign. Someone even posted a photoshop of thinner macs. Some many thumbs up, people saying how nice etc.

Everyone has been hoping for Keplar Nvidia chips, Apple give them, and pretty good one's too. The only disappointment is they aren't desktop, but no one could ever expect that in an all in one. And you could argue it matters less as the difference this generation between mobile is less.

We have IvyBridge Processors.

Unexpectedly they add the possibly to upgrade in BTO to a hybrid style drive.

So they do what was asked/expected then people moan?

The things they could have done is allow us to modify the HD. They have taken the ability to change ram in the 21inch iMac away.

But overall looking at it, it is exactly what a high end consumer machine needs to be. Reasonably powerful, pretty. I imagine the 21inch is bought more by people who don't want higher specs or are interested upgrading ram as much, 27inch a bit more prosumer. And will easily run most Adobe and Cad lrograms for the next 4/5 years.

Apple sell 4-5million iMacs a year? About say about 100 people regularly comment on here, possibly a few more. We are the minority, and what we say isn't important unfortunately. To be the biggest company in the world etc they have catered for the 95th percentile. Not us 0.00000001%.

The iMac is the update what we should have expected. It is a good computer, with decent specs. Looks good, and we pay a premium. We will moan, like they do with every new idevice etc saying it's not good enough, but will end up being the most successful ever etc.

Sorry went on a bit.

 

[Tinyluph]

They should have removed the optical drive from the 2011 form-factor and tried to get a desktop-class GPU put into it.

Which desktop class GPU could you have fit in the last generation iMac's profile and gained better performance than the 680MX?

can anyone actually answer that question?

 

[prism]

Which desktop class GPU could you have fit in the last generation iMac's profile and gained better performance than the 680MX?

can anyone actually answer that question?

I find it funny that almost everyone here refers to the highest end BTO with the 680mx to make the point that the new imac is a very capable machine and a real engineering feat. Both are valid points, however we are talking about a model that will set you back more than 2 grand. Thats a lot of money for that kind of power.

 

[comatory]

I find it funny that almost everyone here refers to the highest end BTO with the 680mx to make the point that the new imac is a very capable machine and a real engineering feat. Both are valid points, however we are talking about a model that will set you back more than 2 grand. Thats a lot of money for that kind of power.

This. And I've said it before - iMacs have gone up 20-30% price increase in Europe (for 21.5 models definitely). Purchase of iMac becomes now more of a statement than anything of reasonable value. The base iMac was such a terrific deal, I would recommend it to my friends who were thinking of having simple computer setup for fantastic price.

 

[nec207]

Why no retina display? What wrong with Apple ? Everyone wants retina display that is the future.

 

[bubbleboyjones]

Certainly, I'm not the intended customer. I need the extra power of the mac pro. Don't get me wrong, the new design is beautiful, but I was hoping for, at the VERY least, a replaceable hard drive. That would've made the decision a bit more difficult.

Yes but you(and others) keep acting as if this computer was supposed to be intended for you. If you're doing serious work then iMac was never meant for you. If you got by with one in the past then great....

It is a consumer machine, and as I've said many times today, an effort to divide the pros from the consumers, forcing us to spend the extra $$ on the mac pro for features we consider essential.

Is this anything new? Guess what...an iMac in a few years is going to be even thinner and has less inputs. Everyone knows where this is going.

 

[chinadian1]

Is fusion drive included or extra?

I don't know why, but I found this really funny ...

isn't it always a little extra to get what you want? lol.

 

[Tinyluph]

I find it funny that almost everyone here refers to the highest end BTO with the 680mx to make the point that the new imac is a very capable machine and a real engineering feat. Both are valid points, however we are talking about a model that will set you back more than 2 grand. Thats a lot of money for that kind of power.

Okay? You can also build a desktop machine that blows the standard configurations of any iMac out of the water for a grand cheaper, but the iMac comes with a very costly built-in display.

 

[Asgorath]

I'm not surprised? I was hoping, not expecting, for the 2012 iMac to be different but it isn't.

Well, given that every iMac model has been the guts of a laptop bolted under/behind a screen, I highly doubt this will ever change. There simply isn't enough room or power for a desktop-class GPU for example.

----------

Why no retina display? What wrong with Apple ? Everyone wants retina display that is the future.

We've only just gotten 13" and 15" Retina displays. It'll probably be another couple of years before we get 21.5" and 27" Retina displays, especially given the growing pains that Apple appears to be having with the 15" so far (ghosting, price etc).

 

[chinadian1]

84.6% of statistics are made up on the spot.

:d

 

[chevalier433]

They should have removed the optical drive from the 2011 form-factor and tried to get a desktop-class GPU put into it.

Yeah and make it much fatter and like jet noisy.Grow up havent you realise yet that iMac is an all in one machine not an exclusive gaming machine.This seems to be a fantastic computer with high specs capable for every use with a top end GPU but still is thin,beautiful and the most important quiet.

 

[Bendrix]

I don't normally ask this, but do you have a learning disability? I'd like to be sensitive if you do, but that comment makes me think you might. (credit)

Moderators, why hasn't this been flagged as a personal insult? Because it's in favor of Apple? You guys deleted one of my posts and warned me about it earlier today because I made a snide comment. Such hypocrisy.

 

[Doggman]

Well, given that every iMac model has been the guts of a laptop bolted under/behind a screen, I highly doubt this will ever change. There simply isn't enough room or power for a desktop-class GPU for example.

You're right but this doesn't change my opinion of the iMac.

 

[topmounter]

I am intrigued to find out why people think the 2011 version is better?

All year people have been saying the optical drive should go, that they want a redesign. Someone even posted a photoshop of thinner macs. Some many thumbs up, people saying how nice etc.

Everyone has been hoping for Keplar Nvidia chips, Apple give them, and pretty good one's too. The only disappointment is they aren't desktop, but no one could ever expect that in an all in one. And you could argue it matters less as the difference this generation between mobile is less.

We have IvyBridge Processors.

Unexpectedly they add the possibly to upgrade in BTO to a hybrid style drive.

So they do what was asked/expected then people moan?

The things they could have done is allow us to modify the HD. They have taken the ability to change ram in the 21inch iMac away.

But overall looking at it, it is exactly what a high end consumer machine needs to be. Reasonably powerful, pretty. I imagine the 21inch is bought more by people who don't want higher specs or are interested upgrading ram as much, 27inch a bit more prosumer. And will easily run most Adobe and Cad lrograms for the next 4/5 years.

Apple sell 4-5million iMacs a year? About say about 100 people regularly comment on here, possibly a few more. We are the minority, and what we say isn't important unfortunately. To be the biggest company in the world etc they have catered for the 95th percentile. Not us 0.00000001%.

The iMac is the update what we should have expected. It is a good computer, with decent specs. Looks good, and we pay a premium. We will moan, like they do with every new idevice etc saying it's not good enough, but will end up being the most successful ever etc.

Sorry went on a bit.

The new iMac checks all my boxes.

What rational, thinking person actually believed that there was a chance in hell that Apple would be able to deliver 21.5", much less 27" retina displays, increase the user serviceability (e.g. easily replaceable HDD's, etc.) or suddenly start using top-end desktop CPU's and GPU's in a new iMac?

What it is: A great evolution of the iMac.

Things it is not (nor should it be):

• Uber gaming machine
• Mac Pro replacement

.

 

[Mackilroy]

Why no retina display? What wrong with Apple ? Everyone wants retina display that is the future.

Because retina displays are expensive to produce. If you want to drive up the price even more, go ahead and add one. I think Apple will wait until they can obtain 21" and 27" retina displays more cheaply before adding them to the iMac line.

 

[Mr Rogers]

Like many other posters, I'm hugely disappointed with Apple -first and foremost, it was nice they highlighted they'd sold 100 million iPads since launch, not so nice for those owners of the 100 million that all these iPads are rendered obsolete with the iPad4, which in reality should have been the iPad3 - why did they just not wait.

The same is true of the iMac, the 2009 revision iMac was a great machine and the 2011 iMac with top notch GPU was an excellent machine - indeed, the 27in BTO i7 option was one of the best deals ever and really was a 'prosumer' machine at a highly competitive price.

Now when I look at this new 'anorexic' iMac - yes it looks nice - but wait, the cost of the machine has increased, the options for user upgrades have decreased, and the BTO option will bust the bank - now, given the NVIDEA 680M is hugely expensive to the AMD 9000 serious, some US$300 in fact for little in the way of a performance boost - the AMD offering trumping the NVIDEA offering in many games, not to mention CAD, would it not have hurt Apple to remind itself that many of its loyal users are not part of the much vaunted 1%, rather, we are average Joe's who actually perform work on our machines, i.e., they are not for placing in a room to show off to friends and family.

In effect, we now have form over substance and function at incredibly high prices for a halfway decent machine - this analysis based on my experience with the 2011 iMac i7 27in model, which in my opinion is a 'classic'.

So could anyone hazard a guess how much a top-end BTO 27in iMac will now cost with hybrid HDD option, i7 CPU option and top end GPU option - to me it looks like we could be approaching the US$3000 mark and thats excluding Apple - that's bloody expensive in my neck of the woods and in the UK and much of Europe, that price will be US$4,000 due to sales tax.

It obvious to me some posters have more money than sense and Apple are now taking the urine!

 

[tann]

Like many other posters, I'm hugely disappointed with Apple -first and foremost, it was nice they highlighted they'd sold 100 million iPads since launch, not so nice for those owners of the 100 million that all these iPads are rendered obsolete with the iPad4, which in reality should have been the iPad3 - why did they just not wait.

I'm sorry but my iPad still works perfectly fine thanks.

Sure it sucks they did this, but they were either gonna do a tiny refresh now and move to yearly cycles in the fall (which is what I/many think they are doing) or keep the current 3rd gen (which let's face it was a bit lacklustre) on for another 12 months. I may be wrong, but all I know is I am still 100% happy with my 3rd gen.

 

[jddar]

Well, I think it's a beautiful computer and has better specs than I expected especially the BTO GPU on the high end 27-inch and the monitor's 75% less glare. Everyone knew it was just a matter of time before the optical drive was eliminated, so, now is as good a time as any. Now that I've thought about it a few hours, I'm not in the least disappointed.

My only regret is that I'm too poor to afford one – particularly the one I'd want!