Why the new iMac sucks so much!

[Lesser Evets]

The majority of you don't need an i7 CPU. I don't think you guys realise how powerful desktop CPUs are these days, even the i5 variants.

I agree with you in a way. The thing is, if people are just dorking around on a computer--iMac with i5 is dandy. However, after living with dual processors for a decade or more, an iMac is crappy. The moment they put two processors (even crappy ones) in an iMac, it will become a juggernaut.

i5 or i7, I wouldn't get too slappy or happy over either of those alone.

 

[smoking monkey]

For the ones who don't know it iMacs i7 are great for DAW's, it's the cheapest entry choice for the audio producer


Can you add RAM to the MINI?

I'm trying to understand your anger, but can't.

3 of the 4 new iMacs can be configured with an i7. If this is your job but you don't want to spend too much, then how about getting the 21 with the i7 and increase the ram to 16gb?

It will cost more than last year's model, but I think we are getting a better computer with a much better screen. Is the price increase acceptable? I can accept it although I'd rather it be cheaper... everybody would.

Plus if it's for your job as you say, then you can always claim the cost of the computer on tax. That should help out a bit.

Yes, you can add ram to the mini. I was just reading about that on another page.

 

[masp84]

Why rejection is always compared to anger? I'm not angry at all... disappointed yes. That's it. Yea I could get the 27" and customize it to get my basic specs covered, luckily my audio interface offers Thunderbolt I/O, but I'll need to buy an extra dongle for 500$ when I could still use FW800, also the SSD+HD base dream is death. I'll have to work around it, same with the optical drive which I often use, CD/DVD/BR era is not death yet so IMO it was too soon to make this move. Summing all up, you're right, I could get a competitive machine at a ridiculous price but I'd be a fool if I did. DESKTOP are meant for FUNCTION and I was flamed because the majority of people in here said they use it for work. I guess they've brought so much apple stuff already that they must convince themselves they're happy about this, that apple is kwell.

They could've covered all our needs so nobody complains with ease and we know it. They'd sell just about the same!! because it'd be competitive.

 

[MoreAwesomeDanU]

You're IMHO wrong, I've seen plenty studios running maxed out iMacs with none shortcomings whatsoever, so they did had a place as a workstation. As I said they were able to deliver enough power for today's DAW's and opened the Mac door for audio pro users like me who wanted a new workstation but choosed to wait for a spec bump not the other way around.

I did the newegg math, although Amazon is way cheaper. '12 iMac 21" BASE with fusion drive costs around 1550$ as far as we know, putting together a PC with the same config is dirt cheap.. you're basically paying for design, the monitor, the thinness and a really gimped Workstation. I thought this was the year to finally get a Mac, but making a PC less functional for the sake of the kids is just absurd, let us all become retards then.....

I DO use optical drives, I do like to be able to at least replace the RAM, I DON'T LIKE EXTERNAL DRIVES NEITHER WILL PAY 80$ TO GET ONE, I need Blue-Ray The STANDARD! whether they like it or not. I ALSO USE FW800, Fusion Drive is packed CR4PP. I won't buy adapters, USB hubs, TB daisy chains for things that were already addressed. It's not like I'm that spoiled so Apple should satisfy all my needs but why messing with the ones covered when there was no need? Optical Bay? well put in a laptop one as well then....

Things most of us expected:
- No price bump (NO)
- Similar Design (NO)
- Ivy bridge (YES, we don't know how much yet)
- USB 3.0 (YES but only 3 ports)
- SSD main Hard drive + 1TB of 7200rpm SATA III for storage (NO)
- More or at least the same I/O Ports (NO)
- Retina Display (NO) Don't bother explaining why, I was against it
- Overall hardware bump (Poor)
- Losing the Optical Bay? come on you can't be that selfish....

either way, things are what they are, it sucks for me and for apple not gettin my money. Every attempt I make to get closer the most scared I am of this company.

Yes, studios do use iMacs, but what kind of studios are they? Design studios. Why? Like i said many many times in this thread, even the i5 is MORE than enough for running photoshop. I do UX design for mobile and web, my mocks for interfaces can go up to 2-3 gigs in photoshop, my 2011 imac i5 plows through it with 0 slowdown what so ever.

Every serious motion studio i've been to, they either have render farms or mac pros or customized Windows PC.

You are in a very niche market. You can't expect apple to build their computer catering to your needs.

Actually most people did expect the going away of the optical drive, and not a lot of people wanted retina because clearly a 27" retina would not be supported very well with current GPUs, especially mobile. The fusion drive is actually the combination of a SSD and 1TB storage, and the software is actually a lot smart than what it seems, go read about it. A lot of people were begging for new design... And the overall hardware bump is not poor... the iMac now can be equipped with the best mobile GPU along with really good i7 processors.

The list you made seems more like something you wanted, not "what most people expected". In fact it seems a lot like something you made up just for the sake of arguing.

I mean seriously? Who would want a refresh that keeps the original design they've had for 3-4yrs?? And you say the hardware spec bump is poor, what else could they've added? Please enlighten me. 680m for GPU, top i7 ivy bridge for CPU. Did you expect them to put a hexacore sever CPU setup in the iMac??

 

[parkschr]

I will miss the CD/DVD burner. Like someone said, this technology is still out there. I burn CD's (music) all the time and use them in my SUV. The sound from a CD is awesome in my opinion. You can not get the same sound from playing your phone through your vehicle speakers.

I also burn CD's and DVD's for people who are need photos or movies on a disk.

Bad move to remove this.

 

[smoking monkey]

Two main negatives for me;

Slow hard drive which was implemented apparently so it could be extra thin. Like others have said, who cares about if your computer is 2cm thinner when you don't move it about and it is viewed from the front.

Non-user upgradable RAM. I seriously don't like where the company is going with that.

The ram is user upgradable in three of the models from what we've learnt so far.

 

[masp84]

Yes, studios do use iMacs, but what kind of studios are they? Design studios. Why? Like i said many many times in this thread, even the i5 is MORE than enough for running photoshop. I do UX design for mobile and web, my mocks for interfaces can go up to 2-3 gigs in photoshop, my 2011 imac i5 plows through it with 0 slowdown what so ever.

Every serious motion studio i've been to, they either have render farms or mac pros or customized Windows PC.

You are in a very niche market. You can't expect apple to build their computer catering to your needs.

Actually most people did expect the going away of the optical drive, and not a lot of people wanted retina because clearly a 27" retina would not be supported very well with current GPUs, especially mobile. The fusion drive is actually the combination of a SSD and 1TB storage, and the software is actually a lot smart than what it seems, go read about it. A lot of people were begging for new design... And the overall hardware bump is not poor... the iMac now can be equipped with the best mobile GPU along with really good i7 processors.

The list you made seems more like something you wanted, not "what most people expected". In fact it seems a lot like something you made up just for the sake of arguing.

I mean seriously? Who would want a refresh that keeps the original design they've had for 3-4yrs?? And you say the hardware spec bump is poor, what else could they've added? Please enlighten me. 680m for GPU, top i7 ivy bridge for CPU. Did you expect them to put a hexacore sever CPU setup in the iMac??

I didn't expect that the old one could actually do more stuff than the new one and that it was priced higher.

5400 rpm Hard drive wont do it for me and paying an extra 250$ so I can get a fusion drive rings a bell. "We could've given you 7200 rpm drives on the 21" model, but we want you to pay more". "Don't be fool, you obviously need the 27" version" BTO the hell out of it. Please sir give us your Credit Card now!

2011 27" iMac with SSD and 3.4Ghz i7 is actually a competitive PC worth getting today as they run cheaper on ebay, I'm complaining because I don't find any of the new features to favor the desktop concept, now iMacs are in another category. For me it was a downgrade, and btw I only talk for myself.

If it ain't broken, don't try to fix it.

 

[MoreAwesomeDanU]

how does it do less than it already does?? Its got faster processors, usb3 connectors, more powerful GPU options, better display, and ssd/HDD options. Basically everything's been upgraded and now slimmer (pointless i agree, but that technically makes it an even bigger upgrade).

The only "downgrade" is the fact they got rid of legacy I/O ports and devices that a large portion of the market don't use anymore.

So to sum it up, its a standard yearly refresh, but with new display (less reflective and more vivid), new storage system (ssd speeds), and new design (thinner profile). And we are suppose to complain about it? Logic???

 

[nagareru]

Why rejection is always compared to anger? I'm not angry at all... disappointed yes. That's it. Yea I could get the 27" and customize it to get my basic specs covered, luckily my audio interface offers Thunderbolt I/O, but I'll need to buy an extra dongle for 500$ when I could still use FW800, also the SSD+HD base dream is death. I'll have to work around it, same with the optical drive which I often use, CD/DVD/BR era is not death yet so IMO it was too soon to make this move. Summing all up, you're right, I could get a competitive machine at a ridiculous price but I'd be a fool if I did. DESKTOP are meant for FUNCTION and I was flamed because the majority of people in here said they use it for work. I guess they've brought so much apple stuff already that they must convince themselves they're happy about this, that apple is kwell.

They could've covered all our needs so nobody complains with ease and we know it. They'd sell just about the same!! because it'd be competitive.

You can buy a thunderbolt to Firewire adapter you know?

This is an all in one, and apple will charge whatever they want for it. Its up to you if you can pay it or not, it has been this way since the beginning.

 

[masp84]

You can buy a thunderbolt to Firewire adapter you know?

This is an all in one, and apple will charge whatever they want for it. Its up to you if you can pay it or not, it has been this way since the beginning.

Yea extra 50 bucks for an already inboard function plus a TB port sacrificed when you had both options right there

 

[nagareru]

Yea extra 50 bucks for an already inboard function plus a TB port sacrificed when you had both options right there

Well then don't buy it, what do you want? You want FW800, there might be someone else who wants FW400, those who want OD and those who want Floppy disk. You want apple to include all that? They are not here to please you or me, they are here to please most users and like it or not they do that pretty well.

So just update and stop complaining it will solve nothing, plus updating will be better for you in the long term, trust me.

 

[masp84]

how does it do less than it already does?? Its got faster processors, usb3 connectors, more powerful GPU options, better display, and ssd/HDD options. Basically everything's been upgraded and now slimmer (pointless i agree, but that technically makes it an even bigger upgrade).

The only "downgrade" is the fact they got rid of legacy I/O ports and devices that a large portion of the market don't use anymore.

So to sum it up, its a standard yearly refresh, but with new display (less reflective and more vivid), new storage system (ssd speeds), and new design (thinner profile). And we are suppose to complain about it? Logic???

So most of the market don't use DVD's.. this is curious because all the branded software is sold on DVD's, how'd you install it on the new iMac if it's not on the apple store or if you already have it on DVD?, by buying the smart-drive !!... that's a scam when a 2.5" Laptop optical drive could've fit just as well as the 5400 rpm hard drive right?

The hardware bump isn't major because it was more than overdue, so you just can't justify higher pricing only because of a case redesign that compromise power and flexibility. For the snobby n00bs I guess it'll be just fine so point granted.

 

[masp84]

Well then don't buy it, what do you want? You want FW800, there might be someone else who wants FW400, those who want OD and those who want Floppy disk. You want apple to include all that? They are not here to please you or me, they are here to please most users and like it or not they do that pretty well.

So just update and stop complaining it will solve nothing, plus updating will be better for you in the long term, trust me.

Is not a thing of wanting it. FW800 is almost as fast as USB 3.0 in real world apps. Most professional Audio Interfaces use it as standard, many external hard drives as well, what do we do with the gear? buy a freaking 50$ cable..along with the 80$ "Super-Drive". People in here just loves to throw away money and let the apparences rule out the essence of things, then you complain about the economy and mess up entire countries as consequence of rendering products useless before its deadline.

To all the hypnotized people in here I just want to say: "Dear friend you don't have to be Apple's Milk cow any longer". Guess what! you're not alone since there's a huge hackintosh community growing and they're delivering you just need to catch up a little with computing.

To the ones who buy Desktop computers from Lenovo, HP, Dell etc.
You're complete ignorant and idiots. Have a friend build a clone for you! Do a little research on how to put together a PC it will save you lots of money... can't believe I'm truly saying this on 2012....

 

[hexrr]

So most of the market don't use DVD's.. this is curious because all the branded software is sold on DVD's, how'd you install it on the new iMac if it's not on the apple store or if you already have it on DVD?, by buying the smart-drive !!... that's a scam when a 2.5" Laptop optical drive could've fit just as well as the 5400 rpm hard drive right?

The hardware bump isn't major because it was more than overdue, so you just can't justify higher pricing only because of a case redesign that compromise power and flexibility. For the snobby n00bs I guess it'll be just fine so point granted.

Are you saying you'd prefer a CD/DVD drive and no hard disk? What would be the point in that.

There are plenty of USB3 ports on the new iMac, you could run 10 USB2 devices using the full bandwidth of that specification off of one of the USB3 ports with almost 200Mbits to spare, don't see what the big deal is.

As for software on DVD's, an external DVD read/writer is <£30 these days and far faster than the so called "Super" drive, so I don't understand the problem.

If you're really so strapped for cash that you cant afford a £30 drive after being able to drop £1100-£2000 on a computer system then you can just torrent the install of the program in question and use the valid CD key you got with your official product, registering and updating it legitimately!

Cant wait to be ordering my i7 27"er then throwing 32GB of RAM in for an extra £100! Can't decide if the 675MX to 680MX upgrade will be worth it though, likely to be £200 if the previous GPU upgrade price is anything to go by. Yes it'll extra-future proof it but I shouldn't really be playing lots of games while at uni, this iMac is meant for audio eng/sound tech work. Hmmmmm.

there's a huge hackintosh community growing and they're delivering as I had snow leopard on my PC a while back to try out the OS.

Been there, done that and it's a headache if not a nightmare.

Hackintosh is the worst of both worlds though, lots of bugs and driver issues, the risk of totally fubarring your setup every time Apple releases an update and the risk of complex A/V setups being ruined by updating a driver/codec or even flash/java!

Also, it means you're having to put up with Mac OSX and it's horrid mouse movement handling without any real need to! (unless you want to run logic pro ofcourse)

 

[swordfish5736]

Audio Producing
Tracking
Editing
Mixing
Rendering

Video Producing
Editing
Rendering

Current iMacs were a entry choice for me, FW 800, 7200rpm, the ability to add more RAM, the ability to replace internal HD, all that is gone. I spected way different like base models using i7 without paying a premium just for the sakes of shelf life, more ports and options, it this for consumers why not retina? The upgrade just to made it prettier when it was gorgeous designing already. I was left behind guess that's why I whine.

What makes you think the new models don't open open as easily as the last?

And who said the ram is soldered on the 21.5"? Apple claims its not upgradable by the user via a door like the 27"

 

[Judas1]

Let the man vent a little. The decisions by Apple to slim down the iMac for purely aesthetic reason is stupid. At the very least, use a desktop HDD for a desktop instead of laptop HDD. And I keep hearing that 3 out of the 4 options are user ram upgradable. That's falsely insinuating more choices than there actually is. The truth is that only the 27 inch is user ram upgradable. You heard it. A desktop where only one screen size is ram upgradable. Pathetic.

 

[joesegh]

Is not a thing of wanting it. FW800 is almost as fast as USB 3.0 in real world apps. Most professional Audio Interfaces use it as standard, many external hard drives as well, what do we do with the gear? buy a freaking 50$ cable..along with the 80$ "Super-Drive". People in here just loves to throw away money and let the apparences rule out the essence of things, then you complain about the economy and mess up entire countries as consequence of rendering products useless before its deadline.

To all the hypnotized people in here I just want to say: "Dear friend you don't have to be Apple's Milk cow any longer". Guess what! you're not alone since there's a huge hackintosh community growing and they're delivering you just need to catch up a little with computing.

The adapter you need is only $30, and it will last you the life of your FW800 accessory. That's not a horrible investment, particularly given FW's status as a legacy interface. Apple itself developed it, and now there are better technologies available. Were you angry when PCs stopped including PS/2 connectors for mice and keyboards? Can you really be that miffed that a technology company is looking forward and not back? It is always going to happen, and some people will always feel slighted, but it's the price of progress.

As several others have said, if it does not meet your needs, do not buy it. The simple fact of the matter is that the iMac is NOT a niche product. It's a general consumer machine. Viewed in that light, the design choices that Apple made on the new design make a lot of sense. If you absolutely must have a 2012 Mac desktop, this or a mini are your two options. I think the likely case is that you don't need a 2012 desktop model. Just get a 2011 refurbished and quit grousing.

 

[EPiCDiNGO]

2012 iMac = WAH WAH WAH

=

 

[theSeb]

This bs is still going?

 

[scottsjack]

Is not a thing of wanting it. FW800 is almost as fast as USB 3.0 in real world apps. Most professional Audio Interfaces use it as standard, many external hard drives as well, what do we do with the gear? buy a freaking 50$ cable..along with the 80$ "Super-Drive". People in here just loves to throw away money and let the apparences rule out the essence of things, then you complain about the economy and mess up entire countries as consequence of rendering products useless before its deadline.

To all the hypnotized people in here I just want to say: "Dear friend you don't have to be Apple's Milk cow any longer". Guess what! you're not alone since there's a huge hackintosh community growing and they're delivering you just need to catch up a little with computing.

To the ones who buy Desktop computers from Lenovo, HP, Dell etc.
You're complete ignorant and idiots. Have a friend build a clone for you! Do a little research on how to put together a PC it will save you lots of money... can't believe I'm truly saying this on 2012....

I think one of the points that the iMacs, iPads and Retina MBPs make is that Apple is rapidly converting their line to non-upgradeable, buy 'em and use 'em computers for a specialized market.

That specialized market happens to be a ton of people who have never plugged anything other than an iPhone or an SD card in to a computer. Most people don't know, or care, what "FireWire" or "7200RPM" or "upgradeable RAM" mean. For them it's an Apple, it looks really great and it's as faster than they'll ever need.

The problem lies with those of us who really want to do something with our machines. There are not very many Apple computers left in that category and, like the mini, most of them legacy products. Windows boxes, commercially built or self-built, are about all that is left for 'nuts and bolts' computer users.

 

[masp84]

The adapter you need is only $30, and it will last you the life of your FW800 accessory. That's not a horrible investment, particularly given FW's status as a legacy interface. Apple itself developed it, and now there are better technologies available. Were you angry when PCs stopped including PS/2 connectors for mice and keyboards? Can you really be that miffed that a technology company is looking forward and not back? It is always going to happen, and some people will always feel slighted, but it's the price of progress.

As several others have said, if it does not meet your needs, do not buy it. The simple fact of the matter is that the iMac is NOT a niche product. It's a general consumer machine. Viewed in that light, the design choices that Apple made on the new design make a lot of sense. If you absolutely must have a 2012 Mac desktop, this or a mini are your two options. I think the likely case is that you don't need a 2012 desktop model. Just get a 2011 refurbished and quit grousing.

Lol some PC's still have PS2 even high end mobos That's sums it all up, you really don't know anything about the subject. The new design doesn't make sense either because it lefts out "niche" users based on greed not need. So yea I figured I need a 2011 model or get a PC, there's a success list of parts natively supported by Lion, including Thunderbolt and Wi-Fi, so I'm gonna check on those two options.

thank you for all your inputs, for the ones who shared my bitterness and the ones who didn't are better off that way.

 

[joesegh]

The problem lies with those of us who really want to do something with our machines. There are not very many Apple computers left in that category and, like the mini, most of them legacy products. Windows boxes, commercially built or self-built, are about all that is left for 'nuts and bolts' computer users.

That has been the situation with the iMac for a long time, really. Apple has pretty clearly delineated product lines, for good or ill. Expansion falls under their Pro line. The lack of update there is a separate issue, but you can't blame Apple for developing for the particular markets their products serve the way that they do. It makes total sense.

 

[435713]

For Ive being so attention to detail and neat; that SD card slot looks like crap and lacks synergy with the rest of the ports. They got those sides thin though. yay?

Main thing I will give Apple credit for it those GPU's on the 27" are pretty nice. The 680MX I am guessing is BTO if I recall? So if you wanted that and an i7 you would be looking at $2500 me thinks. Be good for a lot of people but the real meat of Apple computers is pretty up there considering the other side is pretty beefy at the 1200-1500 range. Monitor on the iMac makes up some of that difference but I have seen solid ones for 300-500, not quite the same res of course, but solid pro monitors nonetheless.

 

[joesegh]

Image

Lol some PC's still have PS2 even high end mobos That's sums it all up, you really don't know anything about the subject. The new design doesn't make sense either because it lefts out "niche" users based on greed not need. So yea I figured I need a 2011 model or get a PC, there's a success list of parts natively supported by Lion, including Thunderbolt and Wi-Fi, so I'm gonna check on those two options.

thank you for all your inputs, for the ones who shared my bitterness and the ones who didn't are better off that way.

dumb.jpg

Also my point was that it is a legacy connector. You shouldn't really expect a manufacturer to continue to dedicate space in a product to old interfaces. Sure, some PC OEMs might do it, but that's a totally different space.

And again, if you think Apple is greedy, or whatever, then don't give them your money. Simple.

 

[SaltSlasher]

n/a