With the imminent release of Arrandale mobile processors in January, talk of LightPeak next year and the culling of Core2Duo by Intel, what will the next refresh of the iMac line up consist of?
My thinking is this, sooner rather than later we will see the quiet introduction (no fan-fare or event) of "i" processors across the iMac line up.
I think the 27" will stay with the i5 and i7 desktop class respectively, Core2Duo will be superseded on the base model by the i5 and i7 will be a non BTO top of the line product.
Perhaps speed bumps and maybe USB 3, or even LightPeak, or even official support for DDR1333 memory, at least from Apples end.
The 21" will ditch the Core2Duo (because it's the end of the road for this accomplished line) and will contain some variant of Arrandale, most likely i5-520M, or prehaps even at a later date a mobile i7 flavour.
Solving the heat package problem in the smaller iMacs with mobile quads or next gen duo, while keeping the prestige of desktop class processors for the 27" lineup.
I don't think Apple would stick the i3 in an iMac.
I think this will happen March to May next year, similar to the first gen Intel Macs which happened 1/2006 a few months after a G5 refresh on 10/2005, not quite as quick as that transition, but I think Apple will want to put these processors in sooner than later to consolidate their iMac lineup to the new architecture.
What do you think?
Wild speculation or within the realms of possibility.
My thinking is this, sooner rather than later we will see the quiet introduction (no fan-fare or event) of "i" processors across the iMac line up.
I think the 27" will stay with the i5 and i7 desktop class respectively, Core2Duo will be superseded on the base model by the i5 and i7 will be a non BTO top of the line product.
Perhaps speed bumps and maybe USB 3, or even LightPeak, or even official support for DDR1333 memory, at least from Apples end.
The 21" will ditch the Core2Duo (because it's the end of the road for this accomplished line) and will contain some variant of Arrandale, most likely i5-520M, or prehaps even at a later date a mobile i7 flavour.
Solving the heat package problem in the smaller iMacs with mobile quads or next gen duo, while keeping the prestige of desktop class processors for the 27" lineup.
I don't think Apple would stick the i3 in an iMac.
I think this will happen March to May next year, similar to the first gen Intel Macs which happened 1/2006 a few months after a G5 refresh on 10/2005, not quite as quick as that transition, but I think Apple will want to put these processors in sooner than later to consolidate their iMac lineup to the new architecture.
What do you think?
Wild speculation or within the realms of possibility.