Unboxing of the Early 2009 NVIDIA iMac, Early Benchmarks

[kiang]

So now they ship it with a handicapped keyboard, nice...

The thing is I don't really miss the numpad, I miss the home/end/pageup/pagedown keys, I use those all the time! Now you have to press fn+arrow or something, which makes is, imo, way less comfortable.

 

[mrklaw]

Blu-ray isn't the only HD video source. You're thinking about producing Blu-ray discs using a Mac. I fail to see how this has any link with a Blu-ray drive in a Mac Mini or iMac as you won't be editing HD video on those either, only playing back movies or using BD-Rs for data storage.
.

what are you talking about? I've edited HD video on my old white macbook just fine. macs are a great platform for HD video editing. I can even output in BDrom format to a DVD or memory card, for playback on a PS3. A bluray drive would be the perfect companion.

as for 'oh I have a ps3 connected to a big tv'. So do I. That means I have a collection of blurays. It'd be nice to be able to play them somewhere other than my lounge. Or do you suggest I buy two copies of the movie, one on DVD?

As for 'not everyone wants it' - thats a dumb excuse. I'm not suggesting its a default - perhaps a custom option, or built into a higher end machine. Apple used CDRW/superdrive as a pretty compelling upsell in their range - I certainly wouldn't have bought a CDRW only machine therefore I spent more than Id' like to. Now all machines have superdrives so they have no optical drive options. Adding bluray would encourage me personally (and Im' sure others) to upgrade to that machine. Bingo - more revenue for apple.

 

[koobcamuk]

as for 'oh I have a ps3 connected to a big tv'. So do I. That means I have a collection of blurays. It'd be nice to be able to play them somewhere other than my lounge. Or do you suggest I buy two copies of the movie, one on DVD?

I think this is literally what the big studio expects. In the UK at least, you'd break copyright by downloading from disc onto a hard drive.

 

[boer]

There are two types of graphics:

- integrated (chipset directly on the motherbord)
- separate graphics card

This is not correct. Integrated graphics refers to an integrated chip that does graphics among other things. Discrete graphics refers to a dedicated graphics chip. Whether chips are mounted on one single motherboard or not has no relevance in this.

 

[redgaz26]

the low end 24 should be enough for most of us. here in the UK it's £75 more but you get double the RAM and double the hard drive.
the other two 24's are very pricey I admit but the first one is good enough for me and most others.

 

[Hazey Jane]

I sat out the long and painful wait for the updates, then when they finally arrived I realized I would be better buying a pre-update version.

I've just unboxed my new 24" iMac 3.06GHz w/Geforce 8800 GS graphics card. I LOVE IT! I'm not a huge fan of the flat keyboard, feels a bit weird, but I guess I'll get used to that. At least it has a keypad as I would be really gutted if that was missing.

The best bit about my decision to buy the pre-updated version is that I saved myself enough money to buy a Wacom Intuos A4.

Sounds like I made the right decision.
Now I'm off to play with my new toys!

 

[pingin]

Happy customer

Personally, I'm happy with these upgrades! I'm going from a powerbook G4 so the performance boost is going to be phenomenal! I think more RAM is great, and having 1 TB hard disk space is a huge plus. I'm trying to keep within budget so what I've decided to do is get the 2.93 GHz model and upgrade to 1TB and the HD 4850 graphics card (I'm not in a rush). And I live in Europe so the prices have gone up for me but it's still good value as far as I'm concerned.

 

[lewchenko]

Which states have 15% sales tax?? just curious as most appear to have less than 10%, so it still works out cheaper in the US, but that's not really the point I'm trying to make, plus my calculator widget is getting tired now with all the math

Sorry, I am just being a bit of a tw*t at the moment, but the point I am trying to make is that the increase in price in the UK wouldn't seem as excessive if the machine had been upgraded, and your argument over exchange rates would be easier to swallow, but IMO the 24" iMac hasn't seen any real upgrade at all, the extra ram and HD don't kick it as an upgrade after 11 months, plus the UK didn't feel any love when the pound was worth 2 dollars, Apple still priced it at about 1.5 dollars to the pound, or there abouts.

-----------------------
No matter what happens with the mac, as long as the iPhone farts people will be happy

So very true. £1800 now for the same machine you can still buy from some places at £1350.... and the technology is practically the same.

Even if you forget costs... this iMAC has not increased in power (GPU + CPU) at all in the top end.

That sucks... Over a year now.. and no advances. Worst update ever. I spoke with 3 retailers today about iMacs and they say their customers are actually ringing up asking for the old models... not the new ones LOL !

 

[spcdust]

I really cannot see how anyone could regard this latest refresh of the iMac range as anything but uninspiring, it really does seem an interim update. Sure, it's still a decent enough computer but I think technically it will date a lot faster than many of the previous refreshes we've seen of the iMac range as it doesn't seem to have made much of a progression from a year ago (and some would say longer).

Regarding the pricing here in the UK, yes the Pound is weak but as others have stated, we didn't actually benefit pro rata when the Pound was strong. It's all relative to the local markets and the current prices of the iMac do seem stick out like a sore thumb. Potential switchers will look at the price tag and inevitably do a like for like comparison of the PC market and could be put off.

Myself, I'd love to upgrade my trusty but definitely ageing 800Mhz PPC 17" G4 Angle poise iMac and I've got the money to do it. However I'm going to sit this refresh out and hope that the next update will be a bit more significant (and sooner than 10/11 months) and be worth the premium price tag. It's lucky I use Mac Pros at work so the need to upgrade is some what relieved.

 

[lewchenko]

Just upgraded to the 3.06/nvidia 130 and LOOOOOOVES it!

This is big for me because this is the first time I've upgraded since 2003. That's right, 2003. No I'm not a clueless non-technical person. In fact I design/code flash for technical instruction. I've been putting off upgrading my poor little 1 ghz G4 iMac waiting for the next best thing. Sure, I've could have waited for the Corei7 iMacs NEXT YEAR, but as some one told me that if you love Macs and you need to upgrade then do it now and stop complaining.

You could have upgraded to this model 11 months ago and it would have been cheaper too. Im glad you like your new machine, but seriously... its the same as the one it replaced practically.

no new advances in CPU or GPU in 11 months whilst the PC world has quad cores as standard and decent graphics cards as their mid range 260GTX atleast.

The GPU on this model (130) is the same renamed GPU as the 8800GS. It beggars belief.

 

[KnightWRX]

what are you talking about? I've edited HD video on my old white macbook just fine. macs are a great platform for HD video editing. I can even output in BDrom format to a DVD or memory card, for playback on a PS3. A bluray drive would be the perfect companion.

as for 'oh I have a ps3 connected to a big tv'. So do I. That means I have a collection of blurays. It'd be nice to be able to play them somewhere other than my lounge. Or do you suggest I buy two copies of the movie, one on DVD?

As for 'not everyone wants it' - thats a dumb excuse. I'm not suggesting its a default - perhaps a custom option, or built into a higher end machine. Apple used CDRW/superdrive as a pretty compelling upsell in their range - I certainly wouldn't have bought a CDRW only machine therefore I spent more than Id' like to. Now all machines have superdrives so they have no optical drive options. Adding bluray would encourage me personally (and Im' sure others) to upgrade to that machine. Bingo - more revenue for apple.

You can already buy Blu-Ray drives for Macs which you can use to read BD-ROM (not sure about burning BD-R). You just can't watch movies in OS X right now, but using Bootcamp for Windows and PowerDVD, you can play back the movies.

Apple is probably sore about the licensing cost and Blu-ray penetration is still very low. Give them time and if the technology proves that it's a must have like DVD was, they'll get around to having it.

Again, gripes about not being able to edit and produce Blu-ray movies are valid, but I don't think the market for HD video editing on a Mini or iMac would justify the costs of giving a Blu-ray option at a price point that is competitive.

 

[diamond.g]

Kind of sad no one awnsered this one. The 'nvidia chipset' has one less key component.

Essentially, the whole southbridge and video card are in one chip. Making for a more streamlined designed. Especially in snow leopard, once the video cards will be able to do tasks other than video. One of the benifit will be that the video card will be able to carry out tasks without having to wait for other parts of the southbridge.

Mind you, it's possible that I'm completely wrong.

You are more or less correct.

 

[jackfrost123]

So now they ship it with a handicapped keyboard, nice...

The thing is I don't really miss the numpad, I miss the home/end/pageup/pagedown keys, I use those all the time! Now you have to press fn+arrow or something, which makes is, imo, way less comfortable.

Amen, they are morons for not thinking about that, they have already downsized these keys (inexcplicably cause they aint savings space) on the lappies and now they done away with on these keyboards, way to go apple, another way to force you buy an "extended" keyboard as an accesory...

 

[jackfrost123]

You are more or less correct.

Wait a sec, so who's making apple's mobos for macbooks nowadays? Are they custom? Is it nvidia? I am confused...

 

[diamond.g]

Wait a sec, so who's making apple's mobos for macbooks nowadays? Are they custom? Is it nvidia? I am confused...

Well according to google, Quanta Computer, Foxconn, and Asustech Computer make Macbooks. Not too sure if it is the same for the mobo as well. I do know that nvidia doesn't make motherboards.

 

[Wikinerd]

Where can one find the old 2008 models at a discount? Retail stores only?

online store only. look in the "refurbished" section.

 

[KnightWRX]

Amen, they are morons for not thinking about that, they have already downsized these keys (inexcplicably cause they aint savings space) on the lappies and now they done away with on these keyboards, way to go apple, another way to force you buy an "extended" keyboard as an accesory...

You are not forced to buy the "extended" keyboard as an accessory. It's a free option, basically, you choose which one you want.

 

[macstatic]

Even if you forget costs... this iMAC has not increased in power (GPU + CPU) at all in the top end.

Does this apply to the 20" model as well?

 

[rawlus]

Bluray prob won't even be viable 5 years from now. It seems to be struggling now while streaming & downloaded media is where all the regular advancements and innovation seemto be coming from. The quality jump from upscaled Dvd to Bluray is just not as compelling as itcwas way back when we were moving from VHS to DVD. At that time DVD was practically a mandate. Bluray is hohum in comparison.

 

[kurosov]

Did you even read the quote you quoted?

Of course i did.

When you place the order you get to select the keyboard. You can specify either with or without the numeric pad for the same price

Nowhere does it give the answer to my question.

 

[MH01]

So basically, it took Apple all year to remove a processor from the lineup, replace a FW 400 port with a USB port, change the RAM type, and give it integrated graphics on the first two models *blank stare*.

It also took them a year to think of cheeky alternate names for the same GPUs.... but it gets better....if your outside of the US, you also get to pay 25% + more for the what is essentially the same machine it was last week. Unless you buy the base model....then you paying more for worse performance.

You might as well call this a Shareholder refresh, cause it screws anyway outside the US. Damn you Americans... I wish the British peso was stronger!!!!! (and also wish apple gave us a discount when it was $2 : £1)

The thing that gave me a chuckle was that Apple is in Bed with Nvidia and yet they have choosen the 4850 and 4870 as their premium GPUs....again based on the much lower cost of the ATI offerings.

 

[MH01]

The UK has 15% VAT included in the price (1799 GBP includes this tax). Hence why all US prices need to have 15% added to them since none of them include any tax at all. You can't compare the base price from the sites directly, Apple isn't responsible for tax either. They don't get to keep that money, they have to give it back to the UK government.

So basically, no, the US and UK prices are the same (10$ in favor of the UK even).

I have seen this throw around the forums in the last few days, everyone is saying "the currency ratio is $1.4 : £1, so the prices are the same" Yes, go to xe.com and they are the same.

Some points.

1. What people are missing, people outside of the US have to suddenly pay 25% + more for the same product they would have bought last week. And given the fact that our wages have not gone up 25% that is a hefty increase.
2. Computer tech is one of the fastest consumer products that falls in price dramatically within a year, and given the products are all but the same, the cost of the components has dropped way more then 25%. Had this update offered something new and exciting we would not be complaining
3. Last year the Dollar was hammered, Apple never adjusted their prices, people were actually going over to NY etc to buy products cause it was worth their while, I remember being in NY and there were so many europeans shopping there. Its irritating that when the Dollar does well apple makes extra $$$$$ and when the dollar does poorly, apple makes extra $$$$$. I am all for prices getting adjusted to the current economic climate, but lets have it both ways. Damit these computers are made in china now.
4. If you are going to charge us more....please improve the QA (not relevant , but i wish they would improve the QA if they rise the $$$$)

I love apple products, but living outside of the US, its a pity that we have to pay so much more now. I would have liked apple to keep their prices down during the recession, resulting in a markert growth, instead they have decided to rise their prices and loose potential switchers. I for one cannot recommend a mac to anyone right now, they are just so overpriced, a hackintosh is so much better value till the american dollar settles.

 

[KnightWRX]

1. What people are missing, people outside of the US have to suddenly pay 25% + more for the same product they would have bought last week. And given the fact that our wages have not gone up 25% that is a hefty increase.

That is the result of a fluctuating currency unfortunately, lost of purchasing power.

When the US dollar was weak last year, Apple was probably paying more to Asia for the same machines (they pay in US dollars, the Asians charge in asian currency for parts/assembly/shipping).

I'm in Canada. Monday, a Mac Mini was 649$. Now it's 729$. Last year I bought my tires in the United States because 1$C was 1$US and tires were dirt cheap in the US and Canadian dealers hadn't adjusted their prices. Today, I would buy them locally because of the exchange rate.

We never saw parity prices with the US either and now that our currency is once again weaker, we're seeing the readjustments vs the US price. But I won't blame Apple for it, there's not much they can do about it.

 

[DyingSun]

iMac 20'' Display - Confirmed as (still) TN!

Here's what everybody should be complaining about and strangely ain't!

iMacs kept the same bad-quality displays, namely the 20'' TN model.

http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/First-Look/iMac-20-Inch/658/2

http://auo.com/auoDEV/products.php?sec=monitor&func=info&product_id=111&items_id=1

Why haven't they upgraded the displays to LED, it would be so obvious!

 

[Mac4Brains]

Sadly, Signs of Apple’s decline

At one point, with Apple’s beige ADB mouse, Apple mice were considered to be a thing of beauty, which was used in artwork and photographs at the time. Than Apple came out with the worst/ugliest mouse ever seen in the computer market “The Puck”. The current ones are not considered the worst ones on the market sense “The Puck” will forever hold that title. Not to mention that to replace an Apple mouse with another one can include an exuberant price tag while a good third party mouse can be a third the price.

Now Apple is in a transition to take a decent keyboard and replace it with the biggest peace of trash they can find. To make tings worse they are removing the numerical keypad. Sadly there currently is no keyboard that is a decent replacement to the current Apple “a third the quality at 4 times the price” model, without paying over $100. All this while in the PC market you can get a good USB keyboard for $10 (minus the buttons that are needed for a Macintosh). At one point Apple even had a super convenient power button directly on the keyboard, that is no longer present, but the abilities to support it still are.

Now we are being forced to sacrifice Firewire 400 for USB 2.0. I would love to send Apple a bill for the external DVD/RW, and 6 hard drives I have on my Firewire bus (ALL OF THEM ARE BOOTABLE). So I can replace them with the super slow and unreliable USB devices. The 16XDVD/RW I have would be totally obsolete since USB doesn’t have the bandwidth to make it worthwhile to have a 16X. Not to mention the replacement (If anything will work at all) of my bootable 8GB Firewire thumb drive I use to repair my computers, since Firewire is bootable, I paid $400 for the thing. This is on top of the PC market just starting to adopt Firewire built on to the motherboards.

Now the rumor mill is a buzz with the new possessors that Intel is coming out with that are going to be used in the “High end Macs” while I can get a Dell that has 6 cores and 4 chipsets for a total of 24 possessors in a single computer, while the best Apple has only 8 in total.

I am the senior Mac Teck at an ISP and I get bombarded with the “What are you using a Mac for, get a real computer” crap and in the end they are winning the argument sense all the good points about Apple I could have made are vanishing.