What to expect from iMac 2012 - Discussion

[Nandifix]

We will most likely see a new iMac with ivy bridge, less reflective display, more ram as standard?, same screen resolution and maybe thinner.

 

[cocky jeremy]

ivy bridge CPU and USB 3 go hand in hand. If USB is included so is USB 3. Intel Natively supports USB 3.0 in Ivy Bridge. I agree with the rest.

Same here. I see no way they don't include USB 3. Also, i would imagine we might see higher capacity SSDs as well. At least as a BTO option.

 

[Smartie]

(Very) unlikely:

• 32GB RAM option
• USB 3.0
• Bigger screen resolution

Personally, I'm just going to go with a Hackintosh. Anyways, this list is a little more reasonable than the wild predictions floating around.

Given that 10.7.4 by evidence supports much higher resolution, this should be bumped up your list. I think we might be in for a surprise with very hires screens for MBA, MBP, and iMac.

 

[dayloon]

I'm amazed by the complete lack of rumours this year surrounding the release. We really have no idea whether we'll see something this month or in 4 months time. It's something I actually don't like about apple. For new products I understand the secrecy but not for refreshes.

 

[Humanlike]

if apple would have made just a simple cpu and graphics upgrade to the imac line, it would have been announced by now. it seems quite clear that apple has something bigger planned. But as usual Apple's gonne take it's time.

 

[Razorhog]

if apple would have made just a simple cpu and graphics upgrade to the imac line, it would have been announced by now. it seems quite clear that apple has something bigger planned. But as usual Apple's gonne take it's time.

I really hope that's true, and all this waiting will really be worth it. Just gives me a bit longer to build up my savings account.

 

[Apple fanboy]

if apple would have made just a simple cpu and graphics upgrade to the imac line, it would have been announced by now. it seems quite clear that apple has something bigger planned. But as usual Apple's gonne take it's time.

I'm starting to think this is true. I still think its too early for retina, but certainly more than just a speed bump. New design I think is most likely.

 

[Mister Bumbo]

As people have mentioned about Apple, they release new products when they have stock in their stores, so logically they wouldn't have had enough stock to release it yet, however the upcoming tuesday the 15th, would fit in depending on how much time has passed since the new components came out.

So I see it this way; if they don't come out by May 15th, there's something more than new GPU's and CPU's planned, and hopefully will be unveiled at WWDC and start shipping soon after.

 

[forty2j]

As people have mentioned about Apple, they release new products when they have stock in their stores, so logically they wouldn't have had enough stock to release it yet, however the upcoming tuesday the 15th, would fit in depending on how much time has passed since the new components came out.

So I see it this way; if they don't come out by May 15th, there's something more than new GPU's and CPU's planned, and hopefully will be unveiled at WWDC and start shipping soon after.

I'm going to say the "signal" date for something new is the 22nd, not the 15th, only because the 22nd is the Alienware w/ 7970m ship date.

 

[Mister Bumbo]

I'm going to say the "signal" date for something new is the 22nd, not the 15th, only because the 22nd is the Alienware w/ 7970m ship date.

True, good point (yay one more week of hope) but wouldn't the 22nd be "too close" to WWDC, I say this because people that seem more experienced with Apple releases has mentioned this, not sure if it's something Apple strategically care about though?

 

[lifeguard90]

As people have mentioned about Apple, they release new products when they have stock in their stores, so logically they wouldn't have had enough stock to release it yet, however the upcoming tuesday the 15th, would fit in depending on how much time has passed since the new components came out.

So I see it this way; if they don't come out by May 15th, there's something more than new GPU's and CPU's planned, and hopefully will be unveiled at WWDC and start shipping soon after.

Soon after better mean immediately, or by that wed june 13

 

[iMacFarlane]

I'm going to say the "signal" date for something new is the 22nd, not the 15th, only because the 22nd is the Alienware w/ 7970m ship date.

Perhaps, but Alienware isn't a Trillion Dollar company, so Apple's plans and decision trees probably don't take their actions into account . . .

I think we've definitely gotten to the point where a big shocker is on it's way. No silent refresh. No spec bump. Something big.

Bring it on. I'm ready.

 

[Chippy99]

Same here. I see no way they don't include USB 3. Also, i would imagine we might see higher capacity SSDs as well. At least as a BTO option.

Unless they actually would rather not include USB3, which I suspect is the case?

Ivybridge does not need the new, more expensive chipsets, so they could use 6 series chipset, save some money and continue the current strategy of pushing USB2 and Thunderbolt.

Thunderbolt peripheral sales will nose dive if they add USB3. Thunderbolt could even die out altogether and Apple would be left having backed the wrong horse.

 

[forty2j]

True, good point (yay one more week of hope) but wouldn't the 22nd be "too close" to WWDC, I say this because people that seem more experienced with Apple releases has mentioned this, not sure if it's something Apple strategically care about though?

Historically, WWDC has had absolutely nothing to do with iMacs. As I mentioned before, the last desktop hardware announcement at WWDC was the first Intel Mac Pro in 2006.

Here's the historical iMac/WWDC delta (+ means after WWDC, - means before):
1998: +3mo
1999: +5mo
2000: (no new iMac)
2001: (no new iMac)
2002: 15" -4mo
2002: 17" +2mo
2003: +5mo
2004: +2mo
2005: (no new iMac)
2006: -7mo
2007: +2mo
2008: -2mo
2009: Early -3mo
2009: Late +4mo
2010: +1mo
2011: -1mo

If you want an example of a hardware release very close to WWDC, the 2010 Mini launched 4 days after WWDC completed. The MacBooks released May 18 the same year, 3 weeks before WWDC.

 

[Chippy99]

I think we've definitely gotten to the point where a big shocker is on it's way. No silent refresh. No spec bump. Something big.

Bring it on. I'm ready.

I'll bet you we have not. The next iMac will be nigh on identical to the 2011 model if you ask me.

We can forget retina displays and other such nonsense. It will be Ivybridge, faster clock speeds, better graphics card and *hopefully* USB3, but I even doubt that. This will be a tick, not a tick, IMHO.

We'll see.

 

[forty2j]

Perhaps, but Alienware isn't a Trillion Dollar company, so Apple's plans and decision trees probably don't take their actions into account . . .

I'm not saying Apple is planning around Alienware.. but I am saying that Alienware's ship date suggests that announced components may not be available in the volumes needed to ship computers.

 

[dayloon]

Sorry if this is a silly question but do we even know for sure that a refresh is coming ? Just because intel have released new processors does that guarantee an iMac update?

 

[AppleDApp]

Sorry if this is a silly question but do we even know for sure that a refresh is coming ? Just because intel have released new processors does that guarantee an iMac update?

if you look at the buyer's guide you can see that this is the longest time since a refresh. That can indicate that the new imac is due soon.

 

[cocky jeremy]

Unless they actually would rather not include USB3, which I suspect is the case?

Ivybridge does not need the new, more expensive chipsets, so they could use 6 series chipset, save some money and continue the current strategy of pushing USB2 and Thunderbolt.

Thunderbolt peripheral sales will nose dive if they add USB3. Thunderbolt could even die out altogether and Apple would be left having backed the wrong horse.

There's not much Thunderbolt stuff to buy as is, so i doubt USB 3 will hurt sales of Thunderbolt products that much.

 

[Mike Valmike]

Unless they actually would rather not include USB3, which I suspect is the case?

It doesn't matter. It's already there. It makes sense that Apple wouldn't spend money to ADD USB3 before, when it wasn't important to them and their motherboard chipsets did not have it natively already. But now those motherboard chipsets DO have USB3 natively under Ivy Bridge. Apple won't spend extra money and effort to cripple the hardware. They may not emphasize the addition of USB3 -- heck, it's entirely possible they won't say a word about it -- but it will be there. Of all the things that will change with the Ivy Bridge refresh, this is one of the least hypothetical.

Ivybridge does not need the new, more expensive chipsets

Turns out it does, actually. Not so much "more expensive" chipsets, but Ivy Bridge does have its own architecture to which USB3 is native.

 

[Skeith]

well to me.. WWDC seems liked a best bet now.. hardware/imac related or not..

its now pretty hard to predict when the announcement (we know it will come) is going to happen..

all possible dates seem to be knock off the door now.

and considering all sorts of announcement of ultrabook from this company and that company.. guess Apple might wanna wait until all those are over first and not stick with the crowd..

 

[InlawBiker]

It doesn't matter. It's already there. It makes sense that Apple wouldn't spend money to ADD USB3 before, when it wasn't important to them and their motherboard chipsets did not have it natively already.

The only factor remaining is whether Apple will purposely exclude USB 3.0 in order to promote Thunderbolt. Yes it would be difficult, add expense and be a crappy thing to do. The negatives far outweigh the positives. But a small part of my brain believes it's not beyond Apple to pull this kind of thing.

 

[AppleDApp]

It doesn't matter. It's already there. It makes sense that Apple wouldn't spend money to ADD USB3 before, when it wasn't important to them and their motherboard chipsets did not have it natively already. But now those motherboard chipsets DO have USB3 natively under Ivy Bridge. Apple won't spend extra money and effort to cripple the hardware. They may not emphasize the addition of USB3 -- heck, it's entirely possible they won't say a word about it -- but it will be there. Of all the things that will change with the Ivy Bridge refresh, this is one of the least hypothetical.

Turns out it does, actually. Not so much "more expensive" chipsets, but Ivy Bridge does have its own architecture to which USB3 is native.

Finally someone gets it.

 

[Smartie]

I'll bet you we have not. The next iMac will be nigh on identical to the 2011 model if you ask me.

We can forget retina displays and other such nonsense. It will be Ivybridge, faster clock speeds, better graphics card and *hopefully* USB3, but I even doubt that. This will be a tick, not a tick, IMHO.

We'll see.

One thing going against what you just said is that 10.7.4 (the latest Lion version released yesterday) has support for much higher resolutions than 10.7.3. The sizes of several icons has doubled. This indicates that screens with higher resolutions are coming soon in any of the OS X products, be it MBA, MBP, or iMac, this we don't know.

 

[theSeb]

Perhaps, but Alienware isn't a Trillion Dollar company, so Apple's plans and decision trees probably don't take their actions into account . . .

I think we've definitely gotten to the point where a big shocker is on it's way. No silent refresh. No spec bump. Something big.

Bring it on. I'm ready.

Alienware is owned by Dell, which is a pretty big company.