I agree... I don't think it will be changed for at least another year. Who knows, maybe they end up changing it sooner because they want to add touch capability to it.
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The NEXT iMac update?
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I agree... I don't think it will be changed for at least another year. Who knows, maybe they end up changing it sooner because they want to add touch capability to it.
I agree that there won't be a major change for a long time, but I expect a minor speed bump or price drop fairly soon, within a month or so hopefully.
I'm going to buy a 24" iMac to replace my iBook G4 which I bought in November 2004. I'm not desparate so I will wait until it is next updated. I would be more than happy with a modest (0.2GHz?) speed increase and/or a £40-50 price drop. Neither of these will make a huge difference to me but it will make me feel like I've got the best possible deal.
Any other updates such as more RAM or including a wireless keyboard as standard would also be a bonus. History has shown that things that were once optional extras do become standard eventually (wifi, bluetooth, iSight, etc).
Unless you really *need* your new iMac now, then definitely try to wait, even if it is another 3-4 months (I doubt it will be that long).
I'm going to buy a 24" iMac to replace my iBook G4 which I bought in November 2004. I'm not desparate so I will wait until it is next updated. I would be more than happy with a modest (0.2GHz?) speed increase and/or a £40-50 price drop. Neither of these will make a huge difference to me but it will make me feel like I've got the best possible deal.
Any other updates such as more RAM or including a wireless keyboard as standard would also be a bonus. History has shown that things that were once optional extras do become standard eventually (wifi, bluetooth, iSight, etc).
Unless you really *need* your new iMac now, then definitely try to wait, even if it is another 3-4 months (I doubt it will be that long).
They were updated 5 months ago... the average update cycle used to be about 6 months... but lately, apple has decided to just let models sit for a year and have people pay for outdated tech.
So anything's possible.
They were updated 5 months ago... the average update cycle used to be about 6 months... but lately, apple has decided to just let models sit for a year and have people pay for outdated tech.
Man, how nice would it be to have a better idea of these things? On the other hand, the excitement would certainly be extinguished a bit... and no one wants that. Especially us mac fans.
This is so hard! I want a new iMac now!
You will be delighted, even if you dont wait. I just got a 20" 2.4 Ghz after two and a half years with a g4 ibook. Everything is a huge upgrade-- from the speed to the screen to the webcam to the ability to keep a ton of apps open. By the way I kept the ibook and I still enjoy it very much-- still going strong.
The only problems I have with my imac are Leopard-related. Parental controls are broken right now, and there are one or two other glitches (a time machine freeze, once) but I expect them to be cleared up with the next software update.
Well folks, in the last week we've seen the release of new Mac Pros by Apple, the release of new Macbook Pro/iMac Penryn processors by Intel...
Do any of these things change your perspective, or guess on when new iMacs will be released? When do you now think they will come?
I am going to hold off for the next revision for sure now... and am hoping/expecting it to come no later than mid-February.
Do any of these things change your perspective, or guess on when new iMacs will be released? When do you now think they will come?
I am going to hold off for the next revision for sure now... and am hoping/expecting it to come no later than mid-February.
actually they update the iMac every 2 to 3 years and since they did it this summer probaly around 2009 or 2010
That is NOT true. See here:
https://buyersguide.macrumors.com//
We are talking processor/graphics bumps here... not complete hardware re-design.
Alot of people seem to think that an imac update must involve a complete redesign.
One of the main reasons Apple moved over to the intel chips in the first place was so they could increase the speed of their products on a more regular basis. Intel release new processor dies in the first quarter and new chipsets in the 3rd quarter. I can definately see the penryns being put in the mac pros and imacs no later than mid feb.
One of the main reasons Apple moved over to the intel chips in the first place was so they could increase the speed of their products on a more regular basis. Intel release new processor dies in the first quarter and new chipsets in the 3rd quarter. I can definately see the penryns being put in the mac pros and imacs no later than mid feb.
Alot of people seem to think that an imac update must involve a complete redesign.
One of the main reasons Apple moved over to the intel chips in the first place was so they could increase the speed of their products on a more regular basis. Intel release new processor dies in the first quarter and new chipsets in the 3rd quarter. I can definately see the penryns being put in the mac pros and imacs no later than mid feb.
And the Penryns are already in the Mac Pros (as of a couple days ago) so we are already half way there!
Whoops, i meant the macbook pros
lol. But yea, the mac pros are done, so we're a third of the way there That's what I'm doing. Assuming next week doesn't make my dreams come true:
< $2000 tower or mini with iMac specs and dual DVI out (probably ain't gonna happen)
Leopard licensed for white boxes with a supported hardware list or for virtualization from Linux. (really ain't gonna happen).
I'm going to suck it up, eat my hat, and buy an all-in-one iMac. Most likely 2.4GHz. I'd be psyched to get a GPU upgrade, though more RAM or a CPU bump would make me pretty happy too.
I'm taking 3 weeks off at the end of the month so it will be mid Feb before I plunk down the cash. Fingers are crossed for some kind of a bump by then. All in all last fall's upgrade was enough to put the iMac in the spec range I want so if nothing happens I'll still be happy. (at least once I get over paying for the extra monitor
)
That's what I'm doing. Assuming next week doesn't make my dreams come true:
< $2000 tower or mini with iMac specs and dual DVI out (probably ain't gonna happen)
Leopard licensed for white boxes with a supported hardware list or for virtualization from Linux. (really ain't gonna happen).
I'm going to suck it up, eat my hat, and buy an all-in-one iMac. Most likely 2.4GHz. I'd be psyched to get a GPU upgrade, though more RAM or a CPU bump would make me pretty happy too.
I'm taking 3 weeks off at the end of the month so it will be mid Feb before I plunk down the cash. Fingers are crossed for some kind of a bump by then. All in all last fall's upgrade was enough to put the iMac in the spec range I want so if nothing happens I'll still be happy. (at least once I get over paying for the extra monitor
Before you buy that iMac... Have you thought of a single Quad core Mac Pro?
It's priced the same as the 2.8GHz iMac ($2299), more powerful and has better expansion options. I think that was Apple's new "tower" right there (netdog on MacRumors has already taken to calling it the Mac Pro Jr
) - 4 hard drive bays, 2x dual link DVI GPU, 2GB RAM, Bluetooth, two optical bays... think about it... 
I guess an update this month is certainly possible, but if they are indeed updated, then it will be silently. Kind of like with the Airport base stations last year. They were updated, but the update wasn't mentioned in the keynote.
But to everyone who bought a new iMac since last August (including myself), yours will by no means be outdated. The new top of the line processors (the X9000) is, clockspeed-wise, just as fast as the one in the current top of the line BTO 24" iMac (which I have). So apart from applications (and games, I guess) that can take advantage from SSE4, the new iMacs won't be tremendously faster than the current ones. I mean, it's not like there's a new motherboard with a faster FSB to go with the Penryn processors yet. Such a thing isn't coming out until at least mid-summer.
The only thing that could potentially set an updated iMac apart from the current ones is a better GPU. And that, frankly, would sadden me a bit. Don't get me wrong, I think the Radeon HD 2600 XT is okay for now, but a few years from now it's won't be anymore. (Right now, even games like Bioshock run quite well on them, even at native 1920x1200 resolutions, with all settings maxed out.)
But to everyone who bought a new iMac since last August (including myself), yours will by no means be outdated. The new top of the line processors (the X9000) is, clockspeed-wise, just as fast as the one in the current top of the line BTO 24" iMac (which I have). So apart from applications (and games, I guess) that can take advantage from SSE4, the new iMacs won't be tremendously faster than the current ones. I mean, it's not like there's a new motherboard with a faster FSB to go with the Penryn processors yet. Such a thing isn't coming out until at least mid-summer.
The only thing that could potentially set an updated iMac apart from the current ones is a better GPU. And that, frankly, would sadden me a bit. Don't get me wrong, I think the Radeon HD 2600 XT is okay for now, but a few years from now it's won't be anymore. (Right now, even games like Bioshock run quite well on them, even at native 1920x1200 resolutions, with all settings maxed out.)
Didn't see this thread, but I just posted a new thread detailing my reasoning for thinking the iMacs won't see an update until probably April. I'll copy and paste it into here for simplicity. Hopefully the moderators don't mind, if so you can delete my thread on the iMac forum:
I was looking at the buyer's guide, which lists the avg update time as 185 days. However, I looked at all the updates listed going back to 2003 and thought, since this is obviously only going to be a speed bump, how long is the average cycle for speed bumps alone? I would expect that since a re-design would take longer than a speed bump, I thought it would give me more reason to think that a speed bump is imminent. Unfortunately that wasn't the case:
If you take out these spans:
09/03-11/03 - Added the 20" model, rest stayed the same so not really an update
11/03-08/04 - Introduced the G5 iMac
10/05-01/06 - Introduced the Intel iMac
09/06-08/07 - Introduced the Aluminum iMac
All that's left are spec speed bumps. Averaging out the times between those, I got about 215 days, not 185. Granted, if I keep the switch to Intel into the equation, since it wasn't really a redesign, it brings it down to 190 days, but the Intel switch was an extenuating circumstance, so I don't think it should be considered.
So if we take 215 days as the average, it means we have about 2 months left (on average), i.e. March. If you look at all of the mac products in the buyer's guide, you'll see that Apple, at least in the last 5 years, has only once updated a product in March, a quiet update for the 30" display. There's also only been 3 updates during February for the last 5 years, and only 1 update in the last 4 years if you take out the xserve and iMac which were both updated in February 2003 (the mini got it's Intel switch in Feb 06). 8 updates have occurred during April in the last 5 years, with at least one product update every year during that month.
Of course, none of this might mean anything at all, but merely on a statistical standpoint, if I had to place a bet, it would be for April or May (which is unfortunate because I'm going to be buying soon and I'm hoping for an update)
I was looking at the buyer's guide, which lists the avg update time as 185 days. However, I looked at all the updates listed going back to 2003 and thought, since this is obviously only going to be a speed bump, how long is the average cycle for speed bumps alone? I would expect that since a re-design would take longer than a speed bump, I thought it would give me more reason to think that a speed bump is imminent. Unfortunately that wasn't the case:
If you take out these spans:
09/03-11/03 - Added the 20" model, rest stayed the same so not really an update
11/03-08/04 - Introduced the G5 iMac
10/05-01/06 - Introduced the Intel iMac
09/06-08/07 - Introduced the Aluminum iMac
All that's left are spec speed bumps. Averaging out the times between those, I got about 215 days, not 185. Granted, if I keep the switch to Intel into the equation, since it wasn't really a redesign, it brings it down to 190 days, but the Intel switch was an extenuating circumstance, so I don't think it should be considered.
So if we take 215 days as the average, it means we have about 2 months left (on average), i.e. March. If you look at all of the mac products in the buyer's guide, you'll see that Apple, at least in the last 5 years, has only once updated a product in March, a quiet update for the 30" display. There's also only been 3 updates during February for the last 5 years, and only 1 update in the last 4 years if you take out the xserve and iMac which were both updated in February 2003 (the mini got it's Intel switch in Feb 06). 8 updates have occurred during April in the last 5 years, with at least one product update every year during that month.
Of course, none of this might mean anything at all, but merely on a statistical standpoint, if I had to place a bet, it would be for April or May (which is unfortunate because I'm going to be buying soon and I'm hoping for an update)
That's the most sensible analysis of the buyer's guide. I also felt optimistic, until I looked at what some of those updates were - such as the switch to Intel chips.
I'm still waiting until after macworld, just because it seems silly not to wait an extra couple of days, but if they don't update then I'll be happy with the current iMacs.
I'm still waiting until after macworld, just because it seems silly not to wait an extra couple of days, but if they don't update then I'll be happy with the current iMacs.
I think it's quite unrealistic to analyse the speed bumps for the last 5 years in this way.
One of the reasons for Apple switching to Intel CPU's was so that they could update the CPU's more frequently and as such you should only be analysing the speed bumps since the introduction of the Intel processors.
I think that as the last update was in August 2007, with not even a silent speed bump since then, it seems very possible to get an update in the next 2 months. If you look at the upgrade history, it appears that the iMacs are usually updated twice a year (roughly every 6 months) so the iMacs will be due some form of update around mid february.
I will be waiting until the iMac's are updated. I have a very powerful Windows desktop machine at the moment (as well as a macbook pro), so will continue to use that until I see some improvements to the iMac line up...afterall, a couple of months (even 6) isn't really that long...is it?
One of the reasons for Apple switching to Intel CPU's was so that they could update the CPU's more frequently and as such you should only be analysing the speed bumps since the introduction of the Intel processors.
I think that as the last update was in August 2007, with not even a silent speed bump since then, it seems very possible to get an update in the next 2 months. If you look at the upgrade history, it appears that the iMacs are usually updated twice a year (roughly every 6 months) so the iMacs will be due some form of update around mid february.
I will be waiting until the iMac's are updated. I have a very powerful Windows desktop machine at the moment (as well as a macbook pro), so will continue to use that until I see some improvements to the iMac line up...afterall, a couple of months (even 6) isn't really that long...is it?
What else could they do with the imac it is gorgeous the way it is.. all i could think of is them making it thinner
What else could they do with the imac it is gorgeous the way it is.. all i could think of is them making it thinner
As has already been mentioned, no one's really talking about a cosmetic upgrade, just an upgrade to the stuff INSIDE the iMac. You know, the processor and GPU that run programs and games.
Before you buy that iMac... Have you thought of a single Quad core Mac Pro?
It's priced the same as the 2.8GHz iMac ($2299), more powerful and has better expansion options. I think that was Apple's new "tower" right there (netdog on MacRumors has already taken to calling it the Mac Pro Jr
Thought about it oh yea, but I'm really trying to keep the cost below 2K. Especially since I'm also going to need Photoshop CS3 (and I doubt I'll get an upgrade price moving from the Windows version of 7.0) Also, the hardest I'm likely to push the box is with Photoshop and RAW files while indulging in my other habit of running everything else at the same time so the 2.4 iMac will be plenty of power.
vtprinz,
Thank you for looking so in-depth into the topic. I found your analysis very interesting. One thing that I think you may have wanted to consider however, is the update to Intel processors and what this means for Apple's upgrade path.
To me, it would seem that since now Macs can be compared to PCs far more easily since their 'insides' are more similar after the change. Because of this, don't you think Apple will have to more closely match vendors such as Dell and HP, and make sure that their products are getting processor updates faster or nearly as fast as the competition? Obviously Apple differentiates in so many ways from these companies, an thus they are not DIRECT competitors... but people will be comparing hardware from the three companies, and this would lead me to believe that Apple will begin to follow a bit quicker update policy. This is purely conjecture of course.
I am looking to buy in the next month, no later than February, and had all but decided to wait until the update came out. Now you've got me second guessing myself.