Supply of Apple's 27" iMac drying up as Ivy Bridge upgrade awaits

[turtlez]

Well I decided a week ago that I'm building my own PC......The Phantom!
A few reasons one being the delayed iMacs, which intrigued me and lead me to custom building PCs with all the new parts and everything you could imagine at a cheaper cost minus a big high res monitor but that could easily be bought later.

If anyone's curious as to which Ivy Bridge I'm using for my setup here:

Intel Core i7 3770 3.4GHz Ivy Bridge

Geez I just read something about the 680m not being available until october. If this is true I think I am gonna cave in and build a PC too. I have already held on far too long and I can't see myself buying old tech.

 

[SpyderBite]

It is just over ONE year!
If you want to make the number look really impressive, count hours

Heh. It does sound much more dramatic when described in number days. XD

 

[iMcLovin]

Geez I just read something about the 680m not being available until october. If this is true I think I am gonna cave in and build a PC too. I have already held on far too long and I can't see myself buying old tech.

october could still be true. but 680m is out and alienware has it in their products. I doubt Apple would be any further back in line for the cards if they are in fact adding them to the next iMac.

 

[Seamaster]

How do you rip CDs or DVDs without the ODD?

External drive.

They're cheap, and make sense an an optional extra for the increasing minority of customers who still claim to need one.

 

[Ktulu]

Geez I just read something about the 680m not being available until october. If this is true I think I am gonna cave in and build a PC too. I have already held on far too long and I can't see myself buying old tech.

According to Nvidia's site, the GeForce GTX 680M was announced June 4th, 2012:
http://www.geforce.com/whats-new/articles/introducing-the-geforce-gtx-680m-mobile-gpu/

And according to Alienware, an M18X with a GTX 680M 2GB, has a build time of 8days, a possible "option" delay of 1day, and a preliminary ship time of 9 days.

This tells me that the GTX 680m's are available now...

If someone has information to the contrary, I would love to see/read it.
I'm waiting myself to upgrade and am getting a little impatient...

 

[HurryKayne]

I bought an external Blue Ray recorder,is relatively cheap and you can burn Cd,Dvd,Dvd DL,Blueray,Blueray Triple Layer and Quad (100 GB).
I'm very satisfied of it.

 

[Ktulu]

I bought an external Blue Ray recorder,is relatively cheap and you can burn Cd,Dvd,Dvd DL,Blueray,Blueray Triple Layer and Quad (100 GB).
I'm very satisfied of it.

What brand/model, I have been looking at an external BluRay and have never come across one that is Triple/Quad layer for 100GB of storage?

Is there software that can even handle that media and burn?

 

[Mr. Retrofire]

As far as I can see Apple couldn't release a 27-Inch Retina model with doubled pixel resolutions because there are no GPUs that could handle that many pixels, they top out at 3840 x 2160. That situation won't change in the next 6-9 months as NVidia.

The thing is, that the maximum resolution of the desktop pictures in Mountain Lion Developer Preview 4 is 3200x2000@300 ppi. This means, a new "retina" iMac or other device (Thunderbolt Display for example) has a resolution of 3200x1800 pixels (16:9).

 

[HurryKayne]

What brand/model, I have been looking at an external BluRay and have never come across one that is Triple/Quad layer for 100GB of storage?

Is there software that can even handle that media and burn?

Mine its a Samsung http://www.eprice.it/masterizzatori-blu-ray-SAMSUNG/d-3614755
It needs double Usb connection and as far i know Toast workss well with it,but
i didn't tried any 100Gb support still,so i'm not totally sure.
Its very slim and silent,it has software bundled for windows use but not for Mac,
while Mac recognize it instantly.
Remember to use only one hub or better no hub at all.
The first time it was hooked after the first Usb 2.0 Hub and didn't work,
when i switched to the first one in the chain it started to work.
If you plan to use an hub it must be with a power supply plugged in.
Its my case because my MacBookPro (Merom 2006) has just 2 Usb ports,but i needed to burn my data from several external Usb hard drives.

 

[Chippy99]

The Pioneer Pioneer BDR-XD04T definitely *does* support 100GB burns on quad media.

Costs about £90 for the drive, and probably the same for a disk!

 

[Ktulu]

Mine its a Samsung http://www.eprice.it/masterizzatori-blu-ray-SAMSUNG/d-3614755
It needs double Usb connection and as far i know Toast workss well with it,but
i didn't tried any 100Gb support still,so i'm not totally sure.
Its very slim and silent,it has software bundled for windows use but not for Mac,
while Mac recognize it instantly.
Remember to use only one hub or better no hub at all.
The first time it was hooked after the first Usb 2.0 Hub and didn't work,
when i switched to the first one in the chain it started to work.
If you plan to use an hub it must be with a power supply plugged in.
Its my case because my MacBookPro (Merom 2006) has just 2 Usb ports,but i needed to burn my data from several external Usb hard drives.

The Pioneer Pioneer BDR-XD04T definitely *does* support 100GB burns on quad media.

Costs about £90 for the drive, and probably the same for a disk!

Thanks guys, I will check them out...

 

[karpich1]

Can anyone offer a really good reason for removing it?

There really isn't a reason, and I think it should stay.

• Some people want it removed so Apple can put another HD in there
• Others want it removed in hopes that Apple can make it even thinner or lose the "chin"
• Some suggest the the increased space == increased airflow == better GPU offerings

The most common justification people give is that like the 3.5" floppies of old, Optical is fading away. More and more is offered via downloads and/or USB sticks. Personally, even I have to agree that I've barely needed to use my ODD in the last 1-2 years.

But while Floppies were on their way out... people still have a need for optical. Especially on Macs, which like to brag about how easy it is to make home movies with their tools... and home movies still mean DVD and/or BluRay.

I can see the justification for removing it from Laptops: where size/price is at a premium. Removing X cubic inches probably means a lot there. But not in a stationary desktop.

 

[nuckinfutz]

Moving parts need to be eradicated from computers when possible. They represent a high likelihood of failure.

My MBA only has fans moving and I like this.

 

[Razorhog]

Moving parts need to be eradicated from computers when possible. They represent a high likelihood of failure.

My MBA only has fans moving and I like this.

Agree. Moving parts need to go.

 

[iMcLovin]

I guess we should see some serious limitations or out of stock if the imac this coming week/s if there's a chance of an update around ML. I cross my fingers! -anything positive, make sure to let us all know. We need as much positive info as possible in these dark times

 

[Seamaster]

Moving parts need to be eradicated from computers when possible. They represent a high likelihood of failure. My MBA only has fans moving and I like this.

It's the best argument for the move to SSD, regardless of cost/capacity issues — how many times have you had a hard drive fail long before the rest of a Mac was redundant?

 

[karpich1]

Moving parts need to be eradicated from computers when possible. They represent a high likelihood of failure.

My MBA only has fans moving and I like this.

Well that's true. I greatly enjoy SDD's over HDD's for speed and the lack of one more moving part. Even the famous author Gibson was shocked when he learned how old fashioned HDDs and such were (just modified record-players).


That being said, I don't think ODD's have outlived their usefulness YET. Not until a more standard digital-video method is setup so Grandma can easily get and watch home videos without having to work a magic box.

 

[nuckinfutz]

It's the best argument for the move to SSD, regardless of cost/capacity issues — how many times have you had a hard drive fail long before the rest of a Mac was redundant?

My mother had one of those troublesome Seagate HDD. It died and luckily we had a Time Capsule backup or all the data would have been lost.

One nasty thing i've read about is the slot loading drive on some iMacs was causing disc scratches

 

[JayJayAbels]

Spec bump this month for iMac. (No Retina).
Redesigned iMac with Retina in the Fall.

My 2 pennies.

 

[iMcLovin]

Spec bump this month for iMac. (No Retina).
Redesigned iMac with Retina in the Fall.

My 2 pennies.

Yeah, that´s veeery likely - and then an updated retina in the winter

 

[forty2j]

Spec bump this month for iMac. (No Retina).
Redesigned iMac with Retina in the Fall.

My 2 pennies.

Far more likely that Digitimes is just wrong, as usual. I'm guessing two things happened that Digitimes pressed together into one thing:
- iPad Mini production is ramping up for release along side The New iPhone
- Apple ordered a few parts to make some prototype retina iMacs that they hope to launch next year


One thing we do know: if there's no spec bump along for the ride with ML, then they're definitely planning something big.

 

[iMcLovin]

One thing we do know: if there's no spec bump along for the ride with ML, then they're definitely planning something big.

well, I cross my fingers they are not up to something big. The imac is fine as it is (just needs a spec bump), unless they come with some utter breakthrough...doubtful

 

[24Frames]

The thing is, that the maximum resolution of the desktop pictures in Mountain Lion Developer Preview 4 is 3200x2000@300 ppi. This means, a new "retina" iMac or other device (Thunderbolt Display for example) has a resolution of 3200x1800 pixels (16:9).

That's is called future proofing.
It doesn't mean hardware that could support that resolution is coming anytime soon.

 

[harcosparky]

I use the ODD 3-7 time a week. However I do seem to use the one in my Macbook Pro ( when I am at location ) more then the ones on my iMac's.

That's just how it is for me. Delete it from the iMac and I guess I could live with an external, but who wants to go on remote location sites and have to hang an external off your Macbook Pro.

 

[WilliamDu]

ODD Incremental costs in the iMac.

Zero.
No matter how great the external ODD - and providing Blue Ray is certainly neat, it still costs more than zero.
I'd rather put those bucks in 8GB worth of Kensington RAM which I can install.
Apple COULD do us all a favor and put more RAM in as a basic to handle their increasingly large OSX variants.
Otherwise, our bucks saved by retaining the ODD could also go to a larger HD.
2TB is almost a requirement now with videos, iPhoto and iTunes loading up the internal HD.
MacMall still advertizes 27" same day shipment by the way. No shortage there apparently.
The slooooww response of this old Dual 2.3 Ghz PowerPC G5 tower is driving me up the wall, but I'm betting on a lot more than spec bumps in a 2012 iMac update.
Spec bumps alone shouldn't account for this much delay.