What to expect from iMac 2012 - Discussion

[Seamaster]

Those of us who've been around Macs long enough remember all the wailing and rending of togas that took place when Apple shipped the original iMac without a floppy drive. Now it seems absurd that anyone thought they would miss it. Ditto optical drives. The era of physical media is over and, as usual, Apple is dragging us into the future.

 

[iEdd]

It's a completely different situation.

The floppy was 1.44 MB at best, when we had amazing 700 MB CDs. There still isn't an alternative to Blu-Ray for comparable data or video. Even DVD-sized data through the cloud is infeasible with most internet connections.

 

[Imaginethe]

If there was no ODD included I would reluctantly have to buy an external drive. I still like to buy music cd's rather than download it (unless for the odd individual track). I like having the cases, books and everything, a feeling of completion.

If music cd's had a dual play option, with a code to download a digital copy of the album, like many Blu-rays are now starting to have then I could almost say bye bye. Keep my pc a little longer, buy a very large external drive, and put everything on there. Etc etc.

If i usually need to burn things onto something I usually use flash pens.

 

[zulkiflim]

Better speakers is a must.
Apple has been stuck in a rut on speakers.
There has been no improvement whats so ever.

Also, the overhanging chin must go.
The 27 inch Apple display is just amazing.
Sleek and understated.
Timeless.

----------

Another is Apple should dump I N T E L.

Their market manipulations just despicable.
Imagine no one want to use their mobile solution and they are creating a fund for hardware makers to pool into, if they use I n t e l mobile chips.

I mean neither sandy bridge nor ivy bridge is able to support DX11,they were laughing stop at CES.

Apple with Grand Central will be able to utilize AMD FX 8 core chips.
Look at the results of handbrake video encoding in comparison to the top intel chip.
They are comparable.If Apple Grand central is able to utilize the multi core chips, then the results would be amazing.

A partnership between AMD and Apple would set Intel right.

 

[KingJosh]

The base model absolutely needs an SSD option. 128GB is fine and is also fairly inexpensive.

To release a $1200 computer without an SSD in 2012 would be comical. Sadly, that's exactly what I expect Apple to do.

very sad and makes me wish there was an OWC to do an eSATA, SSD 6G upgrade for me in Australia.

 

[AppleDApp]

It's a completely different situation.

The floppy was 1.44 MB at best, when we had amazing 700 MB CDs. There still isn't an alternative to Blu-Ray for comparable data or video. Even DVD-sized data through the cloud is infeasible with most internet connections.

user flash drive of hard drive. They are rewritable, higher capacity and in some cases faster.

 

[lifeguard90]

retina display or higher res display

ivy bridge

better higher end gpu

slimmer design, make it look more like a cinema display, i.e. less chin

keep the glass glossy screen and or make it less reflective but still glossy/ in line with apple products. but add a less eye appealing legacy look MATTE! for those who want it as BTO.

add more ssd space

 

[Leemado]

Another is Apple should dump I N T E L.

Their market manipulations just despicable.
Imagine no one want to use their mobile solution and they are creating a fund for hardware makers to pool into, if they use I n t e l mobile chips.

I mean neither sandy bridge nor ivy bridge is able to support DX11,they were laughing stop at CES.

Apple with Grand Central will be able to utilize AMD FX 8 core chips.
Look at the results of handbrake video encoding in comparison to the top intel chip.
They are comparable.If Apple Grand central is able to utilize the multi core chips, then the results would be amazing.

A partnership between AMD and Apple would set Intel right.

Amen to that!
I'd love to see these CPUs into macs, I know AMD si going the right way but I guess the world isn't ready for them yet. (but your kids will love'em)

 

[forty2j]

Another is Apple should dump I N T E L.

A partnership between AMD and Apple would set Intel right.

AMD isn't even bothering to compete with Intel, and they've admitted as much. They're working on different segments than high-performance CPUs. Switching to AMD would yield no tangible benefit for Apple.

 

[AustrianDM]

Better speakers is a must.
Apple has been stuck in a rut on speakers.
There has been no improvement whats so ever.

Also, the overhanging chin must go.
The 27 inch Apple display is just amazing.
Sleek and understated.
Timeless.

----------

Another is Apple should dump I N T E L.

Their market manipulations just despicable.
Imagine no one want to use their mobile solution and they are creating a fund for hardware makers to pool into, if they use I n t e l mobile chips.

I mean neither sandy bridge nor ivy bridge is able to support DX11,they were laughing stop at CES.

Apple with Grand Central will be able to utilize AMD FX 8 core chips.
Look at the results of handbrake video encoding in comparison to the top intel chip.
They are comparable.If Apple Grand central is able to utilize the multi core chips, then the results would be amazing.

A partnership between AMD and Apple would set Intel right.

Demanding better speakers and reduction of the chin at the same time is just impossible. Except if they use Bose speakers as a bto and that's just not going to happen. Good speakers need to be of a certain size. If they reduce the chin, they'll need to remove the speakers as well or they'll be even ******** than they are now.

 

[Seamaster]

It's a dead cert that as iOS and OSX merge in years to come, Apple will already have roadmapped a future in which Intel processors are replaced by their own.

 

[alotlikehomer]

Demanding better speakers and reduction of the chin at the same time is just impossible. Except if they use Bose speakers as a bto and that's just not going to happen. Good speakers need to be of a certain size. If they reduce the chin, they'll need to remove the speakers as well or they'll be even ******** than they are now.

Bose speakers would not solve that problem. While the brand still enjoys tremendous popularity, the reviews of their gear are actually not particularly good for both value and performance.

 

[tears2040]

Those of us who've been around Macs long enough remember all the wailing and rending of togas that took place when Apple shipped the original iMac without a floppy drive. Now it seems absurd that anyone thought they would miss it. Ditto optical drives. The era of physical media is over and, as usual, Apple is dragging us into the future.

Not entirely true. There are still many people who use physical based media for several things. More so importantly music and movies which are connected to dvd players, blu-ray, xbox, etc.

Also dvd's are cheap for storage and used in the professional industry. While I do agree that content is more so now in the form of media files I do believe that physical based media will always exist even if we see it less often now a days.

 

[adam1080]

Bose speakers would not solve that problem. While the brand still enjoys tremendous popularity, the reviews of their gear are actually not particularly good for both value and performance.

Bose stands for Buy Other Stereo Equipment.

Incredibly overpriced products, with very cheap components and terrible sound. As someone that spent WAY more on their home audio than my BTO iMac, you couldn't pay me to listen to BOSE(partly on principle).

I do second the idea of better speakers, but i'm not using my mac do any serious listening. I'll stick with a dedicated setup or nice headphones.

 

[Antares]

then i dont think you will see redesigned ipad in the next couple of years.
next year, thinner, quadcore, better camera, new ios, icloud features. certainly not a redesign. was ipad 1 -> ipad 2 a redesign? if apple chose to use liquidmetal in next ipad, but it looks the same, would that be a redesign?

A redesign would be a fundamental change in the look of the computer or device....ala:

CRT iMac G3 -> "Lampshade" iMac G4 -> White iMac -> Black & Aluminum iMac -> ?

Other changes are just design revisions. I can't imagine the next iMac to be redesigned. More rumors about that would be coming out, if so. I'm sure the next iMac will just be a revision. In terms of "looks," I'm just hoping that Apple further shortens or removes the chin.

 

[guitarlord]

Better speakers is a must.
Apple has been stuck in a rut on speakers.
There has been no improvement whats so ever.

Also, the overhanging chin must go.
The 27 inch Apple display is just amazing.
Sleek and understated.
Timeless.

----------

Another is Apple should dump I N T E L.

Their market manipulations just despicable.
Imagine no one want to use their mobile solution and they are creating a fund for hardware makers to pool into, if they use I n t e l mobile chips.

I mean neither sandy bridge nor ivy bridge is able to support DX11,they were laughing stop at CES.

Apple with Grand Central will be able to utilize AMD FX 8 core chips.
Look at the results of handbrake video encoding in comparison to the top intel chip.
They are comparable.If Apple Grand central is able to utilize the multi core chips, then the results would be amazing.

A partnership between AMD and Apple would set Intel right.

If you want better speakers get something like this as a starting point.

http://www.krksys.com/krk-studio-monitor-speakers/rokit/rokit-5.html

iMac speakers are there to produce some sound in an emergency I would have thought. The wavelength that a speaker can produce is determined by the cone size of a speaker, you will never get great sound on an iMac speaker.

Also to get the best listening experience you need to position yourself in an equilateral triangle with a set of speakers, this isn't going to happen using an imac.

 

[Liquinn]

It's a dead cert that as iOS and OSX merge in years to come, Apple will already have roadmapped a future in which Intel processors are replaced by their own.

I agree here.

 

[Yebubbleman]

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that we'll see AMD Radeon HD 7xxxM series GPUs (the gamer laptop PC style GPU boards), 3TB of maximum storage (along with the optional second SSD drive), same 16GB Maximum RAM capacity, and obviously Ivy Bridge desktop-form-factor CPUs, and with that, the corresponding Intel chipset, and with THAT, native USB 3.0 support as Intel had promised would be natively in tow with the chipsets for Ivy Bridge.

In addition, given that the last three designs of iMac have lasted exactly three revs, and given that the rev we're currently on is the third rev of the current design, I'm going to guess than an iMac redesign is forthcoming in this rev. This is going to probably also address the many design and engineering problems with the current design, making a redesign a much more practical option for Apple. Given that this is a redesign, there's a 50% chance that Apple will nix the optical drive from this new iMac as well as a 50% chance that Apple won't, given that the iMac is a mid-higher-end machine and those in the mid-higher-end market tend to be in greater demand of the optical drive than those in the lower-end market, hence why the MacBook Air and the Mac mini can afford to not have one. It is also possible that the optical drive might be a feature solely included in the larger-sized model and would be otherwise absent in the smaller-sized model; a move that would further divide the two iMac sizes into a more consumer-oriented model and a more professional/prosumer-oriented model.

As a Mac fan and two-time iMac owner (in the past), it'd be nice if Apple fixed all of the things that make the iMac a truly annoying proposition.

 

[Rzyrek]

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that we'll see AMD Radeon HD 7xxxM series GPUs (the gamer laptop PC style GPU boards), 3TB of maximum storage (along with the optional second SSD drive), same 16GB Maximum RAM capacity, and obviously Ivy Bridge desktop-form-factor CPUs, and with that, the corresponding Intel chipset, and with THAT, native USB 3.0 support as Intel had promised would be natively in tow with the chipsets for Ivy Bridge.

In addition, given that the last three designs of iMac have lasted exactly three revs, and given that the rev we're currently on is the third rev of the current design, I'm going to guess than an iMac redesign is forthcoming in this rev. This is going to probably also address the many design and engineering problems with the current design, making a redesign a much more practical option for Apple. Given that this is a redesign, there's a 50% chance that Apple will nix the optical drive from this new iMac as well as a 50% chance that Apple won't, given that the iMac is a mid-higher-end machine and those in the mid-higher-end market tend to be in greater demand of the optical drive than those in the lower-end market, hence why the MacBook Air and the Mac mini can afford to not have one. It is also possible that the optical drive might be a feature solely included in the larger-sized model and would be otherwise absent in the smaller-sized model; a move that would further divide the two iMac sizes into a more consumer-oriented model and a more professional/prosumer-oriented model.

As a Mac fan and two-time iMac owner (in the past), it'd be nice if Apple fixed all of the things that make the iMac a truly annoying proposition.

There will be for 99% no 3 Tb. From Apple's thinking there is no advantage for the normal user because of iCloud (movies, music, ...). But there is a possibility that SSD will be standard. Either 128Gb + 1Tb HD or 256Gb.

 

[nsilva]

Another is Apple should dump I N T E L.

Their market manipulations just despicable.
Imagine no one want to use their mobile solution and they are creating a fund for hardware makers to pool into, if they use I n t e l mobile chips.

I mean neither sandy bridge nor ivy bridge is able to support DX11,they were laughing stop at CES.

Hard to tell if trolls are getting smarter or people are getting dumber... Integrated graphics doesn't matter if you're never going to use it. (And DX11 on integrated graphics doesn't matter... Because you should not be using integrated graphics for anything that requires DX11. Not to mention the iMac comes with a graphics card, and you will never get to use the iMacs integrated graphics.)

Apple with Grand Central will be able to utilize AMD FX 8 core chips.
Look at the results of handbrake video encoding in comparison to the top intel chip.
They are comparable.If Apple Grand central is able to utilize the multi core chips, then the results would be amazing.

Cool? The FX series are all terrible compared to the i7. Just because you can overclock the speed of the chip to 5-6Ghz or higher, doesn't mean it's faster.

A partnership between AMD and Apple would set Intel right.

A: Intel wouldn't care.
B: AMD won't be setting anyone straight any time soon. Hell, they've practically given up on trying to compete with Intel.

 

[Ukeman]

There will be for 99% no 3 Tb. From Apple's thinking there is no advantage for the normal user because of iCloud (movies, music, ...). But there is a possibility that SSD will be standard. Either 128Gb + 1Tb HD or 256Gb.

we have 256 ssd now... will the price and/or quality be any different/better?

 

[bawbac]

we have 256 ssd now... will the price and/or quality be any different/better?

No. Same price point and options.
Obey.

 

[Yebubbleman]

There will be for 99% no 3 Tb. From Apple's thinking there is no advantage for the normal user because of iCloud (movies, music, ...). But there is a possibility that SSD will be standard. Either 128Gb + 1Tb HD or 256Gb.

First off, if there's any reason to not have a 3TB hard drive in an iMac, it's the Thailand flooding.

Secondly, iCloud, as a means of replacing traditional storage, is half-baked and everyone at Apple knows it. It can't substitute the needs of someone who'd actually need that kind of storage.

SSD being standard is a possibility, and given how annoying/hard it is to replace a hard drive in a current-generation iMac and how it's now more or less impossible to replace the hard drive in an iMac with an aftermarket drive without physically shorting pins on the logic board, I could welcome an SSD-only existence. Though many many many content professionals and people who do almost-Mac Pro-calibur stuff would not be pleased and it would be a step backwards for Apple trying to position the iMac as a potential Mac Pro replacement, because again, iCloud is not a replacement for traditional storage, not even by a longshot!

 

[cocky jeremy]

we have 256 ssd now... will the price and/or quality be any different/better?

Hopefully faster SSD's, and a 512 GB option.

 

[Rzyrek]

First off, if there's any reason to not have a 3TB hard drive in an iMac, it's the Thailand flooding.

Secondly, iCloud, as a means of replacing traditional storage, is half-baked and everyone at Apple knows it. It can't substitute the needs of someone who'd actually need that kind of storage.

SSD being standard is a possibility, and given how annoying/hard it is to replace a hard drive in a current-generation iMac and how it's now more or less impossible to replace the hard drive in an iMac with an aftermarket drive without physically shorting pins on the logic board, I could welcome an SSD-only existence. Though many many many content professionals and people who do almost-Mac Pro-calibur stuff would not be pleased and it would be a step backwards for Apple trying to position the iMac as a potential Mac Pro replacement, because again, iCloud is not a replacement for traditional storage, not even by a longshot!

Well you are right. But I'll think these persons who need the additional the additional storage (2 --> 3 Tb) need even more as the "normal" user so they have to buy either way additional storage.