What do you guys think about AI's imac roumors?

thankfully, our spelling is a tad better than mikes...

I think that AI better be right about this. After a 7 month haitus from incorrect information, their credibility can't take any more blows.

But what else do I think?

[quote] lacks the high-MHz processor and large screen necessary to compete in a marketplace <hr></blockquote>
and then... [quote] Based around a 15 TFT Flat-Panel display, running at a native resolution of 1024x768 <hr></blockquote>.

With no increase in screen size, that problem seems to still be wanting. Also, 32MB VRAM? I'd be suprised to see them willingly double the amount in the TiBook. Then again, it wouldn't be the first time the consumer offering outdid the professional (combo drive )

All in all, it sounds promising, if not predictable. I just hope it comes through, both for Apple and the Insider.

- Pook

Is there any particular reason I can't see this?

Because, unlike me, you're not the man.

- Pook

[quote]Originally posted by Jonathan:
<strong>thankfully, our spelling is a tad better than mikes...</strong><hr></blockquote>Yeah, but your use of the apostrophe isn't too hot. Since we're getting picky.


Funny, I saw the story about a half hour ago, but now it's not there anymore.

Hey! Where'd it go? :confused: :confused:

- Pook

What AI rumor?!

I think someone has been hitting the bottle hard ... ah-huh... <img src="graemlins/smokin.gif" border="0" alt="[Chilling]" />

Well, as long as nobody posts about slimmer Titanium like iBooks due out...

1 GHz iMac?

The ONLY way this would be possible is if G5 powermacs were introduced, running at least in the 1.0, 1.2, 1.4 GHz range.

If so, then a 1 GHZ iMac could happen. 15" LCD, 32 MB vRAM...wow, that would actually be a competitive machine!

It's exactly what Apple SHOULD be doing. They should have released such a Mac a year ago. But they can make up for the delay if only they get it right.

Also, a new iMac MUST have good ports. Audio I/O, USB, Firewire, ect. , and an S-Video out so one can play iMovies on the TV. This is a critical feature that would most definitely boost iMac sales.

The 15" display is also key. I know so many people who wanted a Mac but couldn't afford one....they could have bought iMacs but the display was simply too damn small. If the iMac had a 17 " display, it would probably still be flying off the shelves. At least a 15" LCD is a nice boost in viewable area, although still too frickin' small for the most part. It really needs to be 16" viewable, MINIMUM. Get with the program Apple, this isn't 1991!~!!!1`!!~

Seems the new rumor has been pulled already.

Weird. <img src="confused.gif" border="0">

lol, their first rumor in half a year and it's already gone. w00t! this is the AI we all know and love.

This is bizarre :confused:

Michael, can you give us the lowdown on what the report said?

Anyone else read this care to give us details too?

MacGeneration has a <a href="http://www.macgeneration.com/mgnews/depeche.php?aIdDepeche=3364" target="_blank">summary</a> of the report but it's all in french, sorry.

Quickly :
- 15 " LCD 1024*768
- G3 1.x GHz
- Same clock speed for all models, like iBook, but different drives (even with Superdrive ?)
- GeForce2 MX 32 MB
- Price between 999 $ and 1299 $
- Mac OS X default

Babelfish to the rescue:

[quote]The return of AppleInsider: After months of silence, AppleInsider comes out of its hibernation. Equipped with a new interface (very tempting), the site returns with an article that announces the arrival of the next iMac with a flat-panel screen. Equipped with a 15-inch flat-panel screen and a resolution of 1024x768, the computer should include a G3 flirting with one gigahertz and a GeForce2 MX with 32 MB of video memory. Just like the iBook, it seems that the various models will not be characterized by the speed of the processor, but by the optical drive, which could be either a DVD-ROM or a combo DVD/CD-RW. AppleInsider even conjures up the possibility of an iMac equipped with a SuperDrive. This iMac generation would be sold in configurations between $999 and $1299 and would function under Mac OS X by default. Update: AppleInsider has withdrawn its article without giving an explanation. <hr></blockquote>

[ 11-30-2001: Message edited by: CaseCom ]</p>

Wow, thanks Jacksim and Casecom... and of course, Babelfish!

That is quite an interesting rumour and even more interesting now that it had been removed! Perhaps this is just AI trying to jumpstart people's excitement over its rumourmongering?

Anyway, what makes this more exciting in my eyes is that this would really herald another boost to the iBooks not too far down the road.

Any form factor guesses? Kind of hard for me to get past a cpu-strapped-to-the-back-of-a-flat panel-type scenerio.

I love this place!

Favorite AI idiosyncrasies:

1.) Forums always going down before big news/shows

2.) Huge spans of time between stories followed by a rapid-fire succession of stories (repeat)

3.) Alterations/pullings of stories per outside influences. (e.g. - Apple Legal)

4.) Ironic fueling of rumors (e.g.-hosting forums which give rise to KimKapSol, WorkerBee, Dorsal) but which in turn causes Apple to plug the leaks, which in turn leads to cessation of rumor quantity/quality; leading one to believe in a fundamental misunderstanding of the symbiotic nature of the rumormill. (Case in point: Hollywood)

5.) Lovely UPtime of host server(s)

JRC

Again, as I first stated above "I love this place". One must first love the idiosyncrasies in ANY relationship, eh?

I see they're working hard on their credibility. Nice.

JD, I would take a 15" LCD but only if it were widescreen and with a reported 1024x768 resolution is isn't. X takes up a lot of space, especially with apps like Mail and OmniWeb. Maybe they will be using the 15" ASD for the LCD? That would be awsome as its a very nice and bright display with good color. I still would prefer widescreen though. I have my doubts about all of this though as the Superdrive would need the G4...

apple_otaku

[quote]Originally posted by Caler:
<strong>Any form factor guesses? Kind of hard for me to get past a cpu-strapped-to-the-back-of-a-flat panel-type scenerio.</strong><hr></blockquote>That's essentially what the AI article said. It said it would look like a display from some angles, but bulkier.

[quote]Originally posted by murbot:

<strong>I see they're working hard on their credibility. Nice.</strong>
<hr></blockquote>

LOL

apple_otaku

BRussell wrote:

[quote]That's essentially what the AI article said. It said it would look like a display from some angles, but bulkier.<hr></blockquote>

Slimmer Titanium-like iMac due next week!

Notice that the article didn't actually claim a G3 at 1 GHz, just "flirting" at that speed. Of the all the next iMac's features, I think its processor is most uncertain. Aren't those new IBM G3s not even due until sometime later in Q1 2002?

I post this assuming that AI's triumphant return to the rumour business has at least some basis in fact, like all good rumours should.

If this thing is like the current model (completely un-upgradeable) then it better be cheap: ie. 1299 with an LCD and Superdrive. Would it kill them to make a cheap cube and bundle it with an LCD??? Come on Apple, just one friggin AGP and one PCI slot. That's all. I realize that even the cube didn't have that, but it would make the perfect computer.

They need to loose the all in one form factor. Why not 'big' and 'little' towers for the pro and the consumer? PowerMac gets something of the current size with the current number of slots and drive bays. iMac gets a much smaller case of similar design with room for only one HDD and only one PCI and one AGP slot. To make it narrow, the optical drive is a vertically oriented slot loader , making the whole thing about as big as a dictionary with letter (or slightly smaller) size pages. ADC solves most of the 'simplicity' concerns, and the limit on slots gives just enough room for graphics and sound card upgrades without stomping all over the pro market models.
I pick my Apple display to connect to the ADC video. The 15" is included as the base for between 999-1499 depending on HDD, RAM, and Optical drive, or alternatively I can spend more on a 17" (or even 22") if I want to. I'd buy one with a 17" LCD in a second.

But friggin Apple won't make a computer I want. Damn it! Thankfully I'm looking at laptops and not desktops. Why would anyone buy a desktop with scarcely more expandability/power than a laptop??? The prices are even in the ballpark between iMacs and iBooks. Come Apple, just a modicum of well thought-out expansion, that's all we're asking for. That, or $1299 towers.

[quote]Originally posted by Daver:

<strong>Notice that the article didn't actually claim a G3 at 1 GHz, just "flirting" at that speed. Of the all the next iMac's features, I think its processor is most uncertain. Aren't those new IBM G3s not even due until sometime later in Q1 2002?</strong>
<hr></blockquote>

Well, it seems that all of three people actually saw the article before it was pulled so who knows what it really said. Did it even mention the G3? All we have is a translation of a summary of the original article. I doubt anyone at Apple even saw it let alone made them pull it if that is the intended effect. No explanation was given of course. If they start using words like "embargoed" I'm going to be seriously pissed off.

apple_otaku

[ 11-30-2001: Message edited by: apple_otaku ]</p>

Okay. The next time AI posts something be sure to copy it into the thread. That way when the reverse we'll still have a copy.

[quote]Originally posted by Scott H.:
<strong>Okay. The next time AI posts something be sure to copy it into the thread. That way when the reverse we'll still have a copy.</strong><hr></blockquote>

<a href="http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/0111/imac2002.phtml" target="_blank">www.appleinsider.com/articles/0111/imac2002.phtml</a>

That was the address. It has moved on.

Yeah, I put it on my away message, then the story is moved - great. Helps my credibility too

Yes, it did say G3s, was it Apollo? Mentioning some keyword named G3 chip from IBM.

Why don't they stop making all-in-one machines? Because my mom doesn't care about expandibility. Neither does my grandparents. For that matter, my uncle doesn't want to deal with it either.

And for those of us who want to expand beyond the iMac...well, that's why we have to shel lout $500 for a tower. Not a big deal.

I mean, you have an imac - the best one for what, 1299? Or you can get a tower, with a flatpanel monitor for only $500 more. Not a big deal for what you get - massive speed boosts (G3 to G4) better monitor (flat), better insides, and massive expandibility.

If they released a "consumer" imac that was a small tower that had a little bit of expandibility, then I'd buy that and not shell out more money for the huge tower that I don't use all of.

Apple isn't stupid, They know what sells, and how to sell it.

Andrew

Case Com (I think that was it) has pretty much everything the article said that you would need to know.

Also, I don't think I would give up on the all-in-one design. It's way to easy to show to new users and the middle machine they had died in the water. I still think if they cut the costs on the Cube they could sell it though.

Finally, who, other than maybe Apple, says you need a G4 to use the combo drive? Is this an actual requirement or can a fast G3 take care of it.

Sounds like a cool machine to me.

[ 11-30-2001: Message edited by: Tomahawk ]</p>

So guys...what's up? What happened to the story?

Not sure if any of you have seen my flat panel iMac renderings. I showed these when we last thought a flat iMac would be announced, instead we got the "Quicksilver". So here they are. It's based on an iBook, but with no hinge for a display. Everything would be in one enclosure thus reducing the cost. Let me know what you think.

here's the link
<a href="http://homepage.mac.com/macslash/" target="_blank">http://homepage.mac.com/macslash/</a>

derrick

[quote]Originally posted by amidala:
<strong>Yes, it did say G3s, was it Apollo? Mentioning some keyword named G3 chip from IBM.</strong><hr></blockquote>It said Sahara.

Great, now we've got rumors about what the rumor said.
<img src="graemlins/bugeye.gif" border="0" alt="[Skeptical]" />

[quote]Originally posted by Tomahawk:

<strong>Finally, who, other than maybe Apple, says you need a G4 to use the combo drive? Is this an actual requirement or can a fast G3 take care of it.

Sounds like a cool machine to me.
</strong><hr></blockquote>

Apple said a G4 (maybe its just AltiVec though) is needed to do the encoding and since they make the iMac... well, you get the point. Other companies use hardware encoding like in the Sony MX. Yes, it sounds like a cool machine but I think its time to move on to the G4, especially if iDVD is to be used on the machine it was originally designed for. If Sahara is a G3 with AltiVec (I have no idea) and is to be used then that does not bode well for a PowerMac G5 introduction.

Where's the frelling report? Repost it already!

apple_otaku

[ 11-30-2001: Message edited by: apple_otaku ]</p>

here's a link to a previous posting

<a href="http://www.lowendmac.com/rumormill/01/0709.html" target="_blank">http://www.lowendmac.com/rumormill/01/0709.html</a>

detailing the concept out. they came pretty close to what I had in mind when I designed it.

derrick

it'll be back... we forgot to clear it properly.

[quote]Originally posted by Jonathan:

<strong>it'll be back... we forgot to clear it properly. </strong><hr></blockquote>

Clear it with whom?

Here is a translation of an article from the <a href="http://www.mygarage.fr.st" target="_blank">www.mygarage.fr.st</a> website:

iMac LCD in January
28/11/2001

All our sources seem to confirm it, iMac LCD will be presented at Macworld of San Francisco next January.
Moreover, the name of this new machine will not be any more iMac. Well cavity, this name is preciously hidden and only one handle of people are well-informed, just like the design ultra-signal-secrecy.
Concerning the design features:
- the processor should be G3 with 1 Ghz, coming from IBM
- the screen would be one 14.1 inches, equivalent to one 16 inches cathodic or CRT
- the memory would be 128 Mo on the version of input of range and 256 Mo on the other configurations
- the hard disk should be 40, 60 and 80 Go - engraver Cd-rw, combo Dvd-cdrw and Superdrive would owe equipped the 3 configurations - and as usual modem 56k, Ethernet 10/100 Mbits, loan for AirPort, USB and FireWire Concerning the prices, information is rather vague. Steve Jobs would wish a machine with $899 (8100 francs including all taxes), but it will be probably $999 (9000 francs including all taxes) for reasons of relatively high costs of screens LCD. The most expensive configuration (256 Mode RAM, HD of 80 Go, SuperDrive, AirPort card) couterait $1599 (15000 francs including all taxes). Waiting should not be very long any more, then patience...

[quote]Originally posted by Jonathan:
<strong>it'll be back... we forgot to clear it properly. </strong><hr></blockquote>

NO, we didn't. I haven't been to AI home page with this computer.

If the screen is really 14.1" there is no way I am going to buy it.

I hope you are listening Apple Ti book screen or larger please.
<img src="graemlins/smokin.gif" border="0" alt="[Chilling]" />

14.1 is too small.

15 = good, and what our article said.