"New iMac to sport Bluetooth"...

bioflavonoid

From Macwhispers:

"January 24, 2003

Confirmed: New iMac To Sport Bluetooth

Manufacturer sources in Taiwan have confirmed both the imminent release of and the inclusion of built-in Bluetooth on new 17-inch iMacs. No information is available at this time as to whether Apple's other new technology, FireWire 800, will be included in the new machines. However, multiple sources have stated that both the 15-inch and 17-inch models will support the new 802.11g Airport Extreme cards, and that (at least) the 17-inch machine will include built-in Bluetooth connectivity. The only information available insofar as a release date for the new hardware is, "Soon.""

<a href="http://www.envestco2.com/macwhispers/0000008.html"; target="_blank">http://www.envestco2.com/macwhispers/0000008.html</a>;



[ 01-26-2003: Message edited by: Bioflavonoid ]</p>

bioflavonoid

Specs from LoopRumors: Fast







15-inch LCD flat screen

800MHz PowerPC G4

NVIDIA GeForce2 MX

256MB SDRAM

40GB Ultra ATA hard drive

10/100BASE-T Ethernet

DVD/CD-RW

56K internal modem

Apple Pro Speakers







Â*







Faster







17-inch LCD flat screen

867MHz PowerPC G4

NVIDIA GeForce2 MX

256MB SDRAM

80GB Ultra ATA hard drive

10/100BASE-T Ethernet

SuperDrive

Bluetooth

FireWire 800

56K internal modem

Apple Pro Speakers







Â*







Fastest







17-inch LCD flat screen

1GHz PowerPC G4

NVIDIA GeForce4 MX

512MB SDRAM

120GB Ultra ATA hard drive

10/100BASE-T Ethernet

SuperDrive

Bluetooth

FireWire 800

AirPort Extreme

56K internal modem

Apple Pro Speakers

stunned

If looprumours is true, its good to see that the iMacs are finally given a upgrade. Even though the revision is small, its a good step foward. Hopefully, a price revision is also in order.

mr. macintosh

Bluetooth is going to be the next "Superdrive" in Apple's models. It will be the catch used to differentiate products and prices...inflated prices.

koffedrnkr

the question, however, is how far apple will choose to implement it. it could be as simple as a integrated receiver or as inclusive as a new wireless keyboard and mouse. personally, i think a backlit wireless keyboard would be a great feature...

wmf

I would expect Apple to put Bluetooth on all Macs; FireWire 800 may be used as a differentiating feature.

mr. macintosh

[quote]Originally posted by wmf:

<strong>I would expect Apple to put Bluetooth on all Macs; FireWire 800 may be used as a differentiating feature.</strong><hr></blockquote>



Ewww, things that cost Apple pennies they drum up and then sell as expensive differentiating features....ewww.

msantti

If those iMac specs are true, then those are pretty much a yawner.



But with the sorry state of the G4 and all, what else can they really do?

jared

[quote]Originally posted by Mr. Macintosh:

<strong>



Ewww, things that cost Apple pennies they drum up and then sell as expensive differentiating features....ewww.</strong><hr></blockquote>



That is how technology companies make their money, have you not noticed this trend in the past?

neurokid

[quote]Originally posted by msantti:

<strong>If those iMac specs are true, then those are pretty much a yawner.



But with the sorry state of the G4 and all, what else can they really do?</strong><hr></blockquote>



Well, they could give us what they have: 1.25GHz (SP), L3 cache, DDR RAM, Superdrive and a huge price cut. Seriously, Dell is practically giving away P4 machines right now. Apple has to do something.

kecksy

Still using a Geforce2 MX? Even the iBooks have moved to a Radeon 7500. Apple really should go all Geforce4 MX or Radeon 9xxx with this update. How come laptops get the latest and greatest chips, and desktops get vaporware? Geforce4 chips are dirt cheap, so there's no excuse.

hmurchison

[quote]Originally posted by wmf:

<strong>I would expect Apple to put Bluetooth on all Macs; FireWire 800 may be used as a differentiating feature.</strong><hr></blockquote>



Actually I believe it would be the opposite. FW800 will be standard because Apple must continue to push FW over USB. Bluetooth is the tech that no one really has a killer application for yet. Wireless Keyboards and Mouse won't appeal to the masses nor will simply connecting your phone addressbook. Bluetooth needs a "must have feature" otherwise it's just another technology that's been overhyped while under delivering.

hegor

I agree with Kicksy,



Geforce 2mx is ancient. At least Geforce 4mx across the line please. Bluetooth isn't a big deal for me right now, but I suppose some buyers will be happy. I'd rather have better video.



[ 01-27-2003: Message edited by: hegor ]</p>

barto

Looprumors is dead wrong.



I'm not going to post my expectations of the iMac, you can dig them up if you want.



AirPort Extreme WILL be included on any new Apple computer in 2003.



Which means that apart from the "classic Macs", available through to July 2003, all Macs will be using AirPort Extreme soon.



Barto

evo

I sure hope those specs aren't true. GeForce2MX is utterly pathetic, especially given the fact that it's not upgradeable.



I know there's nothing Apple can do about the processors except wait for IBM, but SDRAM? Why not use DDR like the PowerBooks? The fact that it's SDRAM leads me to believe that the bus is still crawling at 100MHz, and there is probably no L3 cache on the chip either



If anyone thinks I'm being overoptimistic, lets not forget it's been 13 months since the iMac has received any changes internally. I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens in a week or 2.

whoami

i agree.

the geforce 2mx came standard on my 2 year old g4 tower! i can't believe that they would ship any new machine with this! these specs are suspect for sure!

fuzz_ball

[quote]Originally posted by hmurchison:

<strong>Bluetooth needs a "must have feature" otherwise it's just another technology that's been overhyped while under delivering.</strong><hr></blockquote>



I hear ya! I'm still trying to figure out what the heck I'm going to do with bluetooth, other than telling my friends, "Hey, my new Mac has bluetooth. Cool. Huh?"

<img src="graemlins/hmmm.gif" border="0" alt="[Hmmm]" />

barto

Don't worry, the specs are completely false. It's not like they appeared on ThinkSecret or anything.



The G4 is about to become significantly faster in MHz. If Apple wanted, they could probably stuff 1.6GHz chips in the upcoming iMac. I don't think they will (that would make the PowerBook look bad), but they could.



The motherboard currently uses an integrated controller, as opposed to the north/southbridge combo in Power Macs, PowerBooks, eMacs and Xserves. Either Apple designs a new controller or an new motherboard before DDR-SDRAM is used.



Frankly, Apple has more important upgrades than DDR-SDRAM on the iMac to address now.



Barto

t'hain esh kelch

I expect Looprumors specs coupled with a nice price reduction.

xype

Both GeForce 2 and 4 MX suck compared to the Radeon 9000, since the Radeon 9000 is faster _and_ supports Pixel and Vertex Shading that future games/3D apps will use. If Apple ships with any of the MX cards they'll really mess up. Of course they could ship with a GeForce4 Ti, but I doubt that.

anden wood

"I hear ya! I'm still trying to figure out what the heck I'm going to do with bluetooth,"



Yes. I agree. Could someone outline the advantages of bluetooth on an imac and its possible uses. thanks.