Potential iMac release date.
With the imposed vacation blackout days being 22 July - 29 July.. That is exactly one week. Is it possible that the iMac will be released roughly a week before this date?
If they upgrade the item, the week before, and it "ships today" on the day of the upgrade then no one will receive the iMac until between those blackout dates, depending on the configuration. I noticed base models usually ship same day, and configured models usually ship between 2-4 days. Also, as observed by many members the new rMBP was arriving at peoples houses before some were showing up in stores, or even advertised in stores.
This would be a very efficient way for them to ship new iMacs with Mountain Lion and have them arrive on the same day as Mountain Lion is released. Or they could ship with Lion, and the first ones arrive on or just before Mountain Lion is released and the all hands on deck will be to assist new 2012 iMac purchasers and Mountain Lion assistance.
Just some thoughts. Feel free to comment either way.
Comments
I sort of don't want that to be the release date if it means a later one would equal a redesign. Not for its own sake, but for the betterment of the platform.
So what you are saying is that if it release around Mountain Lion you do NOT believe it will be a redesigned iMac, as opposed to holding off a few more months?
Why one week before? if iMac comes in July it will likely be released with Mountain Lion. This mostly to leverage marketing.
Frankly, unless the iMac is totally overhauled I will still consider it to be apiece of junk not worth my investment. I'm not so foolish as to get excited over something that has yet to debut, especially if it is just a bump.
My interest right now is in what happens to the Mini. Will it stay around, be redesigned or just get a bump? I'm really hoping that it gets a redesign so that the upper end model will have MBP like performance. Well maybe not exactly, but at least not as bad as the current Minis are relative to the MBPs. Basically I'm saying a quad core with a decent descrete GPU.
In a nut shell I'm bummed out with respect to Apples desktop hardware. Nothing they sell right now is respectable as far as design or market position goes. Apple really needs to get its act together on the desktop.
I never want to see you speculate on a future product again, then.
[QUOTE]Frankly, unless the iMac is totally overhauled I will still consider it to be apiece of junk not worth my investment. [/QUOTE]
Yeah, you couldn't care less about the computer that everyone else wants. We get it.
[QUOTE]My interest right now is in what happens to the Mini. Will it stay around, be redesigned or just get a bump?[/QUOTE]
As it JUST got a redesign, no, you're not getting an xMac.
I'm really bummed out over how Apple has basically screwed the desktop users 20 ways to hell. I just have this doubt in my mind that the iMac will see much more than a serviceable upgrade. I still see Apple giving all of its creative skills to the laptop line and crapping out half assed desktop upgrades.
Now I'd be the first to admit that sales of Laptops are strong, everyone knows that. But that doesn't justify letting your desktops languish for years. Your assertion here that everybody wants an iMac is just wrong as sales are flat. What everybody wants are the new AIRs and 13" laptops with the 15" MBPs a very strong second.
We could debate for hours about what good that redesign did for the Mini. It basically moved the power supply to inside the box. It is highly debatable that that was the right thing to do. The Mini is still apparently a power limited machine that can't even leverage MBP class processors.
The thing here is that I might actually be happy with the Mini if Apple would just configure it so it wasn't such a bad deal.
Hey. So am I. But not in the "we want a smaller tower" sense. In the "how's about some desktop power in an intelligent form factor that screams "Apple"?" sense.
But we do want a smaller tower. The mini is too restrictive and the pro is too expensive. The imac is nice but if I wanted a laptop CPU/GPU I would by a laptop.
I want to be able to choose a proper graphics card or two even. I also want to be able to swap the hard drive.if I need to.
Couldn't Apple do a headless macmidi or something that was between the min and the pro. bottom end of the pro CPU, 2 drives max (but with option of dvd if needed) and perhaps a slot for scsi/e-sata. I'm sure audio studios would like something in between as well.
Who's 'we', and why do you think the market wants a tower?
[QUOTE]…I wanted a laptop CPU/GPU I would by a laptop.[/QUOTE]
Guess you've not seen the iMac for over four years, then. Desktop processors for ages.
[QUOTE]Couldn't Apple do a headless macmidi or something that was between the min and the pro.[/QUOTE]
Of course they 'could'. But they won't because they couldn't care less about that market. I'm dumbfounded that people haven't gotten that yet.
Quote:
Originally Posted by wizard69
Your assertion here that everybody wants an iMac is just wrong as sales are flat.
Dave, you'll have to learn that Apple's desktop sales are not flat. For the last 4 quarters (I have other things to do), desktop sales have increased YoY, 15%, 3%, 21% and 19%. For 2 of those quarters the increase YoY was higher for desktops than notebooks. While the absolute numbers are not huge (avg 1.2M/qtr), desktop sales are anything but flat: +14% this year (5,1M last 4 quarters) vs the year before (4.5M), and the ASP is still strong ($1325 vs $1371), and slightly higher than notebooks. Apple's desktop sales are in good shape given the current market.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tallest Skil
Guess you've not seen the iMac for over four years, then. Desktop processors for ages.
Loving my iMac 2011 (SSD, 27"). It flies through work.
And it replaced a MacPro.
Quote:
Originally Posted by mjteix
Dave, you'll have to learn that Apple's desktop sales are not flat. For the last 4 quarters (I have other things to do), desktop sales have increased YoY, 15%, 3%, 21% and 19%. For 2 of those quarters the increase YoY was higher for desktops than notebooks. While the absolute numbers are not huge (avg 1.2M/qtr), desktop sales are anything but flat: +14% this year (5,1M last 4 quarters) vs the year before (4.5M), and the ASP is still strong ($1325 vs $1371), and slightly higher than notebooks. Apple's desktop sales are in good shape given the current market.
And those sales were mainly iMacs and minis.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bergermeister
And those sales were mainly iMacs and minis.
Totally unfounded statement. We can obtain the same numbers with many different mixes of products. There is no way to find the real one from the numbers (and an ASP unchanged for many quarters). Only Apple knows.
maybe I should have said "probably"
I for one am kind of excited. It will be my first Apple Desktop. The Mac Pro is to much for me, and as I've stated elsewhere I need kind of an, "HQ" if you will for all of my data. So a fully spec'd iMac, coupled with a 3TB Time Capsule(for back up and local storage).
So... The reason why I care is because even if it is just a spec bump it will be good for me seeing as how I do not already have an iMac.
Also, Apple's website has altered its catch phrase for Mountain Lion... it now reads
Quote:
OS X Mountain Lion
This July, the MAC
makes its next big leap.
It is referencing the computer and not the OS. Also, I do NOT see how the new features for OS X are a BIG LEAP for MAC. It would be a big leap for the OS, unless the MAC is changing as well.
But is talking specifically about the software.
Mac. Gotta catch it early.
And why don't you? Just curious.
In what way would it change? I'm all for an iMac redesign. I'd like to see some ideas thrown around.
Well usually when Apple references upgrades in its software they say things like "the worlds most advanced operating system gets even better". I believe they software could be great on its own with current Macs... and it probably will run great. The absolute need to upgrade the hardware is not there. Its everyone that wants to stay on the forefront of technology that is pushing the hardware. Its the want of the consumer not the absolute need, as is the case for the Mac Pro, from what I understand.
I hope people don't misconstrue that statement. From everything that I have read on this and other forums, the current iMac runs like a dream. Also based off of the leaked geekbench tests the numbers only indicate a slight boost performance, not nearly as drastic as the MBP from what I have read. This could be for a few reasons, in my book. Either the upgrade is only a minor spec bump to appease the masses( which would be un-Apple of them, as they do what they want anyway) or it could be a major overhaul including a retina display, and the display drawing on the upgraded components to allow only a slight bump in scores.. thus giving the image of a slightly spec bumped iMac. I'm fairly new to the technical side of the Apple world but from what I understand.. a Retina display will draw a significant amount of computing power from the computer taking away from other tasks.. so maybe they figured out how to do it(retina) and also offer a slightly faster edge. Would you buy a new iMac that was only slightly faster than previous version but had a retina display?
The last time I looked at the iMacs in my local store I thought the picture quality was absolutely amazing. So retina or not, I will be happy.. if there is than good it will be a nice bonus. Personally I would just like to see some USB3.0 integrated, and HDMI (as in the newly released rMBP) also the upgraded Ivy Bridge, GPU's, and standard SSD. If they do a complete overhaul I would like to see them keep the superdrive(others have stated they would like it gone).
Personally I like the current overall appeal, and looks of the iMac, I just want the latest internals really. But then again, I have not been staring at a 2011 iMac since it was first released ready for change so my opinion on that is biased based on I haven't had the luxury of having one.
I remember when this board would be in a frenzy with even the tiniest Mac speed bump...
Now it's "yawn...iMac? Whatever".
Quote:
Originally Posted by wizard69
At this point what does it matter? I mean really Mountain Lion is only a couple of weeks or so away, so we will know shortly one way or the other.
Frankly, unless the iMac is totally overhauled I will still consider it to be apiece of junk not worth my investment. I'm not so foolish as to get excited over something that has yet to debut, especially if it is just a bump.
My interest right now is in what happens to the Mini. Will it stay around, be redesigned or just get a bump? I'm really hoping that it gets a redesign so that the upper end model will have MBP like performance. Well maybe not exactly, but at least not as bad as the current Minis are relative to the MBPs. Basically I'm saying a quad core with a decent descrete GPU.
In a nut shell I'm bummed out with respect to Apples desktop hardware. Nothing they sell right now is respectable as far as design or market position goes. Apple really needs to get its act together on the desktop.
The Mini will never have the performance you need. It isn't designed to be a computing solution for anyone, it's basically an OS X demo unit designed to be thrown out and replaced with an iMac or Mac Pro at the earliest convenience.
Seriously, laptop components in a desktop computer? Faster desktop components would make a cheaper, slightly larger computer that 90% of users would find more desireable, but then people would just buy Minis to use with their current LCD displays and forget about the iMac. If that happened, Apple HQ would go to defcon 5 and initiate a major corporate restructuring, the first step of which would be to ax the entire Mac desktop lineup. Apple are more likely to start selling rubber iDogsh!t than to offer a decent desktop Mac for under $2000.
Quote:
Originally Posted by eucsstamticc
Well usually when Apple references upgrades in its software they say things like "the worlds most advanced operating system gets even better". I believe they software could be great on its own with current Macs... and it probably will run great. The absolute need to upgrade the hardware is not there. Its everyone that wants to stay on the forefront of technology that is pushing the hardware. Its the want of the consumer not the absolute need, as is the case for the Mac Pro, from what I understand.
Not true. The low end Mini is configured with 2 GB of RAM, and all the iMacs come with 4GB RAM standard, even the $2000 model. All the MacBook Airs come with 4GB RAM standard. Even the standard MacBook Pro models only come with 4GB RAM standard.
I used a Mini with 2GB RAM for a few years, and I can say from experience that running OS X on 2GB of memory is TORTURE. Open Lightroom, Word, Safari (with 10-20 tabs), Mail, iTunes, and Coda. Try to switch between applications or between tabs in Safari and you will stare at the spinning beach ball. 4GB is the true bare minimum, but even that is not enough for running all the programs I listed above concurrently.
SSDs certainly improve RAM-limited performance to a degree, but optimally Apple needs to install a minimum of 4GB on all computers, and 8GB on any computer intended for use by anyone other than grandma. So 2 GB for the Mini, maybe 4GB for the MacBook Air, and 8 GB for all other lines. As long as Apple is selling Minis with 2GB RAM, they may as well go back to using Core 2 Duo CPUs in them, since it's better to shout than mumble "fu[k you" at customers.
junkyard dawg, i guess i should have stated i was talking about differences in fully spec'd iMacs now to the one we saw in the leaked geekbench test. I wont buy a computer that is not fully spec'd, just seems like a waste of money