I love AppleInsider (and have been a reader for a long time), but it's sad to see articles like this.
I have to agree with this assessment of the article. The title was just bait, pure and simple. I like most of the articles here, but this one was seriously lacking. The title basically said "New iMac features..." and then opening the article revealed "...but we cannot tell you what those features are." In such a case, you should forgo writing the article at all until you have some juicy facts to present.
Now with regard to new features...
CPU
Unlike others, I am happy to live with a DuoCore. Just make sure it runs at 4.06GHz. Seriously, I shudder to think how clock speeds will have to drop in order to get a quadcore running cool in a paper-thin design.
SCREEN
I like most aspects of glossy screens, but unlike most glossy screen advocates, I do not feel it is right for me to cast my preference down others throats nor ridicule my fellow Mac users simply because glare hurts their eyes. Even so, I am hoping for more than a "matte option." Okay Ive and Jobs, go ahead and give us another glass covered screen. But give us one where the glass used is museum grade, cutting out more than 90% of the reflections. Do that, and most of the matte people will immediately halt all negative comments on the screen and start buying Macs in droves. As an AAPL shareholder, I want to see that happen.
And one more wish... Fix the Uneven Backlight Problem, Apple! Such is an insult to our intelligence and our pocket books. I pay more for Apple quality. I therefore have a right to expect more than you get from the likes of DELL. By giving is a "typical" backlit screen, you are only continue to fuel the likes of MS who love to tout the "Apple tax."
HARD DISK
Put a flash drive in the iMac, for goodness sake. And make it affordable. If you cannot do that, at least offer something along the lines of the Velociraptor. It is quite sad though that a drive so amazing as the Velociraptor is still capped at 300GB, even now with it being August 2009. Has hard drive innovation come to a complete stop? Bigger is good (we're up to 2TB now), but "wicked fast" is important for a hard drive in a Mac. It's amazing how much faster the Mac is with a faster hard disk, even without a faster CPU or video card upgrade. And no, I don't think we should be forced to eat up desk space with externals to accomplish this.
CONNECTIVITY
• SD Card slot - definitely
• eSATA
• USB3
KEYBOARD
Give me something old-school, for crying out loud. I am sick and tired of keyboards designed for pre-teens, which look like they've been run over by a MACK truck. I have a March 2009 3.06GHz iMac at the office and the keyboard looks slick but it is just absurd to use. I got a DESKTOP Mac, not a notebook. If I want to lose all tactile feedback, I will buy a notebook -- or rap my fingers across my desk, which basically has the same feel. Just don't force the existing keyboard abomination down my throat. Give us a good keyboard like the those Apple used to make for normal people.
And, of course, a SUPER Mac mini or a Mac mini TOWER. That is, a headless Mac that is QUIET.
Snow Leopard with Quad Core Processor is a good combination. I am still on my ancient PowerMac G5, which needs replacing, I think a Quad Core iMac would be just the right replacement.
I have to agree with this assessment of the article. The title was just bait, pure and simple. I like most of the articles here, but this one was seriously lacking. The title basically said "New iMac features..." and then opening the article revealed "...but we cannot tell you what those features are." In such a case, you should forgo writing the article at all until you have some juicy facts to present.
With regards to the article, it was a pretty blatant fluff piece with a shiny gold title to lure us in. But in AI’s defense, it has brought over 100 comments and who knows how many readers in today.
Quote:
Now with regard to new features...
CPU
Unlike others, I am happy to live with a DuoCore. Just make sure it runs at 4.06GHz. Seriously, I shudder to think how clock speeds will have to drop in order to get a quadcore running cool in a paper-thin design.
I hope the low power desktop C2Ds are used. The ones that Intel specifically designed so that AIOs don’t have to use notebook-grade chips anymore. You get performance at a lower price, but that does mean that an iMac redesign would be in order and that Apple can’t benefit as much from bulk buying of CPUs that are now in the iMac and MBP line.
One thing we can’t test, but Apple could (and probably has) is the performance benefits with Snow Leopard when using a faster C2D, a slower C2Q and which is the best bang for the buck.
Quote:
SCREEN
I like most aspects of glossy screens, but unlike most glossy screen advocates, I do not feel it is right for me to cast my preference down others throats nor ridicule my fellow Mac users simply because glare hurts their eyes. Even so, I am hoping for more than a "matte option." Okay Ive and Jobs, go ahead and give us another glass covered screen. But give us one where the glass used is museum grade, cutting out more than 90% of the reflections. Do that, and most of the matte people will immediately halt all negative comments on the screen and start buying Macs in droves. As an AAPL shareholder, I want to see that happen.
And one more wish... Fix the Uneven Backlight Problem, Apple! Such is an insult to our intelligent and my pocket book. I pay more for Apple quality. I therefore have a right to expect more than you get from the likes of DELL.
I prefer glossy for the rich colours, but understand that others prefer matte. I wish matte were an option, and it looks like it is possible for a fee since they have been trying it with the 17” MBP. All I know for sure is that glossy is going no where. Maybe we need a special glass covering that allows the user to toggle F-keys up and down to make the glass more or less reflective, which would allow for a more balanced half and half effect for some and other settings for others. I have no idea if such a things could be done within such a small space using electricity, but imagination is where science starts.
Quote:
HARD DISK
Put a flash drive in the iMac, for goodness sake. And make it affordable. If you cannot do that, at least offer something along the lines of the Velociraptor. It is quite sad though that a drive so amazing as the Velociraptor is still capped at 300GB, even now with it being August 2009. Has hard drive innovation come to a complete stop? Bigger is good (we're up to 2TB now), but "wicked fast" is important for a hard drive in a Mac. It's amazing how much faster the Mac is with a faster hard disk, even without a faster CPU or video card upgrade. And no, I don't think we should be forced to eat up desk space with externals to accomplish this.
It’s 300GB because the actual drive is 2.5”. I would imagine that 500GB Velociraptor drives aren’t too far away, though for the money and increased speed I’d just for an SSD at this point. But that is I needed a super fast boot drive, which most iMac users don’t. For overall performance for a data drive tests show that a very large, though partially used hard drive can yield better results for the money.
Quote:
CONNECTIVITY
• SD Card slot - definitely
• eSATA
• USB3
I think that is an SD card is included in the rest of the Mac line up that it means that Mac OSes will eventually be delivered over that medium with purchases, and eventually otpical drives will be dropped from their notebook line. There is no justification to remove them from the desktop machines for some time but the notebooks can’t get slimmer and mostly have a large component wasting space in them.
I think eSATA is a no go if they haven’t done it at this point. The lack of power in the spec seems to be a real killer.
Is USB 3.0 ports shipping as standard on any consumer PC yet? Apple is rarely the first to enter into this stuff, just usually the first to embrace it over their entire product line.
Quote:
KEYBOARD
Give me something old-school, for crying out loud. I am sick and tired of keyboards designed for pre-teens, which look like they've been run over by a MACK truck. I have a March 2009 3.06GHz iMac at the office and the keyboard looks slick but it is just absurd to use. I got a DESKTOP Mac, not a notebook. If I want to lose all tactile feedback, I will buy a notebook -- or rap my fingers across my desk, which basically has the same feel. Just don't force the existing keyboard abomination down my throat. Give us a good keyboard like the those Apple used to make for normal people.
I use a Mac notebook an personally love the keyboard. If you don’t you can buy the keyboard of your choice from a 3rd-party. This is pretty trivial since you are using an iMac. There are certainly things Apple doesn’t do as good as other companys. Take the standard iPod headphones, for example. I don’t the keyboard will get more old-school, if they change it I would think they would go even flatter or something else wild.
AppleInsider has its ups and downs (down when they let Prince Maclean aka Daniel Dilger launch into one of his conspiracy theories, up when they stick to the facts) but this is the worst article of the last year by a considerable margin.
1) It contains no information. Zero.
2) It tries to slyly hint at Blue Ray without actually saying so - as if this makes the article witty and interesting rather than bland and pathetic.
3) It has been highlighted in Red on the AI website (unclear whether that is a manual setting or an automatic flag in response to traffic). Still Red implies an article of above average interest and this one is clearly not one of those.
Yes - the next iMacs will differ from the current iMacs in some ways. If history is any guide the changes will be slight, everyone will claim disappointment and they will go on to sell in record numbers anyway.
If this is the standard of reporting we can expect from AI going forward you guys are off my bookmarks list immediately.
Those new iMac features had better include matte, anti-glare screens. I hope Apple listens to all the hundreds of petition comments made at http://macmatte.wordpress.com - there are close to 500 petition comments there already.
DRM and the ripping unfortunately go hand in hand to some degree. which is why it's not officially supported.
Maybe one day
if you are looking for professional features, an express slot to attach esata would be on the list. perhaps that SD card slot could be switched on order for such use.
Express slot. Tons if hardware out for express fir audio and video off loading. That and quad core would be great. Back to matte like the old days for graphic pros and stop using mobile graphics and parts.
Yup. Give me the modern version of the venerable and extremely popular Macintosh IIcx/IIci.
I can't belive all the sd talk. Google audio express slot hardware and you'll see items taking a load off the cou with high end plug uns. That's why the older mbp are better as now only the 17" have it. No sd devices exist for audio/video off loading. To go semi pro would mean express slot in my humble opinion.
HP includes Blu-Ray drives on it's higher end laptops as standard and offers a Blu-Ray burner for $150 more. it shouldn't be that big a deal for apple to do this since all their products are premium
The lap-tops that HP sells are also nowhere near as thin or light as the ones Apple produces. There is currently no Blu-Ray drive that will fit in the MacBook line. That may change in the future, but right now the desktops are really the only machines capable of supporting the feature.
That said, my personal opinion is that Blu-Ray is worthless for all but burning content on computers. Unless your a college student or the like, there's really no reason you wouldn't have a much larger and more functional HDTV to watch that content on. And BD output on lap-tops is a joke because they all start to choke on a TV over 32".
Graphics Card - Finally - the GT200 Architecture Mobile Series, i am hoping all the iMac get GTS 250 / GTS 260 with 96 shader. Since the GT 230 and 240 doesn't provide any improvement over current generation at all. OpenCL could make use of these GPGPU power.
I am surprised so few people have seen this as being one of the most likely additions.
Integrated graphics are a bit of a headache when your main supplier is found to be using failure prone manufacturing methods. It makes warranty repairs rather expensive I would imagine.
That said, my personal opinion is that Blu-Ray is worthless for all but burning content on computers. Unless your a college student or the like, there's really no reason you wouldn't have a much larger and more functional HDTV to watch that content on. And BD output on lap-tops is a joke because they all start to choke on a TV over 32".
Well it is my opinion that you are wrong.
And why would a laptop start to choke on a tv over 32"?? if it is 1080p the resolution is the same on a 40" as a 100"
I would not give two fucks if the new iMacs came with a blu player because, as other have said, optical media for playing content is obsolete.
What I hope the new iMacs will have as a new feature is a DVD player that instantaneously destroys any DVD sold by Microsoft and spits out the fragments.
What a silly response, I take it you were trolling.
I have an Apple TV, and an Xbox 360, so downloading HD movies is something I do often. However, the quality difference between a download and a blu-ray is absolutely ridiculous.
Apple TV downloads are 1280x720 @ 5mbits with Dolby Digital 5.1 audio. Blu-Ray is 1920x1080 @ 45mbits with 7.1 Dolby True HD Lossless audio or DTS Master Lossless audio.
So until downloads match or exceed BD quality then to say optical media is obsolete either means you a) have poor eye sight or just don't give a damn about quality, or b) you are a troll.
And WTF was with that microsoft CD comment? What an utterly bizarre and stupid thing to say. Maybe you should try Windows 7 and see just how good it is before you open your mouth again. It will give hardcore fanboys like you a bit of a shock.
As someone who has been sitting on the fence waiting for a good enough iMac for a long time, here's what it would take for me to finally buy one:
Quad Core i7 - I don't see why I should spend so much money on a PC and not get a modern CPU in it. If that means making the iMac fatter so it can be cooled so be it. It's not like an extra few cm is going to make it fall of my desk.
Better GPU - Doesn't have to be a top end chip, but something in the middle which could play Crysis at a high frame rate would do the job nicely.
Blu-Ray burner - Again, this is simply a modern drive vs the DVD burning relics Apple still use. BD is not only the best movie format on the planet, but also is pretty useful for backups.
SD card slot - These are commonplace now on many devices (even my PS3 has one), and I find them quite useful.
eSATA - I have an eSATA external drive now and the speed is superb. No more slow USB stuff please. (unless it's USB 3)
Matte screen - I really don't understand why there is no option for this. Reflections on screens are a major pain the backside.
Core i5 could be an option , theres no north bridge chip now (pcie16x & dual chan mem is off the cpu).Also the power management of the nehalem chips are pretty good.
This article was so awkwardly written that I had to read the first few sentences a few times to understand what it was even about. I was then dismayed to find that it isn't about anything.
I love AppleInsider (and have been a reader for a long time), but it's sad to see articles like this.
Most of the articles are like this. It's fascinating information but the information/word ratio is incredibly low. Why use a dozen words when you can use one thousand?
As someone who has been sitting on the fence waiting for a good enough iMac for a long time, here's what it would take for me to finally buy one:
Quad Core i7 - I don't see why I should spend so much money on a PC and not get a modern CPU in it. If that means making the iMac fatter so it can be cooled so be it. It's not like an extra few cm is going to make it fall of my desk.
Better GPU - Doesn't have to be a top end chip, but something in the middle which could play Crysis at a high frame rate would do the job nicely.
Blu-Ray burner - Again, this is simply a modern drive vs the DVD burning relics Apple still use. BD is not only the best movie format on the planet, but also is pretty useful for backups.
SD card slot - These are commonplace now on many devices (even my PS3 has one), and I find them quite useful.
eSATA - I have an eSATA external drive now and the speed is superb. No more slow USB stuff please. (unless it's USB 3)
Matte screen - I really don't understand why there is no option for this. Reflections on screens are a major pain the backside.
How is the failure rate of hard drives in iMac compared to say Mac Pros. Maybe having SSD as an option would not be such a bad idea, the cost might be a little more but there are people who are willing to pay extra cash for reliability.
touch screen imacs I don't really see as a high market. perhaps an option on the displays for businesses, but I would think that a matte finish option is more wanted than touch screen. again at least as a custom choice for the high end 24" and the display.
Touch screen computers have little use as long as they are mounted VERTICALLY (resulting in a gorilla arm...), but why should Apple not equip their new iMacs with a cool new kind of hinge that allows you to flip the machine into a stable, almost HORIZONTAL position. When flipping the machine, it will automatically invoke a kind of TouchFinder (similar to FrontRow), an overlay to the real Finder that has been optimized for touchscreen use (larger buttons, etc.)! Imagine sorting your images in iPhoto touch on that gorgeous 24" screen laying almost flat on your desktop! Imagine cropping a video in iMovie touch! And surfing the internet using Safari touch for the new iMac with onscreen overlay keyboard. And if you want to go back to regular use (egg. to write a paper), you just flip the machine into a vertical position again and you will be back in the regular finder and are using your keyboard and mouse (that were just hidden by the machine in it's horizontal position).
Now, wouldn't that be genious? Toss in BlueRay and -- boom! A killer machine!!
Those new iMac features had better include matte, anti-glare screens. I hope Apple listens to all the hundreds of petition comments made at http://macmatte.wordpress.com - there are close to 500 petition comments there already.
GLASS REFLECTS light . Imacs will have glass./ Apple is going green so glass is hear to stay/
Buy a dell with matte/ DELL makes fine matte machines
Comments
Audio pro-consumers would like ExpressCard/34 for low latency audio interfaces and dsp.
I agree pci express would be better but I can't see Apple making compromises with the iMac form factor.
I love AppleInsider (and have been a reader for a long time), but it's sad to see articles like this.
I have to agree with this assessment of the article. The title was just bait, pure and simple. I like most of the articles here, but this one was seriously lacking. The title basically said "New iMac features..." and then opening the article revealed "...but we cannot tell you what those features are." In such a case, you should forgo writing the article at all until you have some juicy facts to present.
Now with regard to new features...
CPU
Unlike others, I am happy to live with a DuoCore. Just make sure it runs at 4.06GHz. Seriously, I shudder to think how clock speeds will have to drop in order to get a quadcore running cool in a paper-thin design.
SCREEN
I like most aspects of glossy screens, but unlike most glossy screen advocates, I do not feel it is right for me to cast my preference down others throats nor ridicule my fellow Mac users simply because glare hurts their eyes. Even so, I am hoping for more than a "matte option." Okay Ive and Jobs, go ahead and give us another glass covered screen. But give us one where the glass used is museum grade, cutting out more than 90% of the reflections. Do that, and most of the matte people will immediately halt all negative comments on the screen and start buying Macs in droves. As an AAPL shareholder, I want to see that happen.
And one more wish... Fix the Uneven Backlight Problem, Apple! Such is an insult to our intelligence and our pocket books. I pay more for Apple quality. I therefore have a right to expect more than you get from the likes of DELL. By giving is a "typical" backlit screen, you are only continue to fuel the likes of MS who love to tout the "Apple tax."
HARD DISK
Put a flash drive in the iMac, for goodness sake. And make it affordable. If you cannot do that, at least offer something along the lines of the Velociraptor. It is quite sad though that a drive so amazing as the Velociraptor is still capped at 300GB, even now with it being August 2009. Has hard drive innovation come to a complete stop? Bigger is good (we're up to 2TB now), but "wicked fast" is important for a hard drive in a Mac. It's amazing how much faster the Mac is with a faster hard disk, even without a faster CPU or video card upgrade. And no, I don't think we should be forced to eat up desk space with externals to accomplish this.
CONNECTIVITY
• SD Card slot - definitely
• eSATA
• USB3
KEYBOARD
Give me something old-school, for crying out loud. I am sick and tired of keyboards designed for pre-teens, which look like they've been run over by a MACK truck. I have a March 2009 3.06GHz iMac at the office and the keyboard looks slick but it is just absurd to use. I got a DESKTOP Mac, not a notebook. If I want to lose all tactile feedback, I will buy a notebook -- or rap my fingers across my desk, which basically has the same feel. Just don't force the existing keyboard abomination down my throat. Give us a good keyboard like the those Apple used to make for normal people.
NO glossy screens, PLEASE!
At least two FireWire 800 ports.
Quad core processor.
QUIET.
And, of course, a SUPER Mac mini or a Mac mini TOWER. That is, a headless Mac that is QUIET.
Snow Leopard with Quad Core Processor is a good combination. I am still on my ancient PowerMac G5, which needs replacing, I think a Quad Core iMac would be just the right replacement.
I have to agree with this assessment of the article. The title was just bait, pure and simple. I like most of the articles here, but this one was seriously lacking. The title basically said "New iMac features..." and then opening the article revealed "...but we cannot tell you what those features are." In such a case, you should forgo writing the article at all until you have some juicy facts to present.
With regards to the article, it was a pretty blatant fluff piece with a shiny gold title to lure us in. But in AI’s defense, it has brought over 100 comments and who knows how many readers in today.
Now with regard to new features...
CPU
Unlike others, I am happy to live with a DuoCore. Just make sure it runs at 4.06GHz. Seriously, I shudder to think how clock speeds will have to drop in order to get a quadcore running cool in a paper-thin design.
I hope the low power desktop C2Ds are used. The ones that Intel specifically designed so that AIOs don’t have to use notebook-grade chips anymore. You get performance at a lower price, but that does mean that an iMac redesign would be in order and that Apple can’t benefit as much from bulk buying of CPUs that are now in the iMac and MBP line.
One thing we can’t test, but Apple could (and probably has) is the performance benefits with Snow Leopard when using a faster C2D, a slower C2Q and which is the best bang for the buck.
SCREEN
I like most aspects of glossy screens, but unlike most glossy screen advocates, I do not feel it is right for me to cast my preference down others throats nor ridicule my fellow Mac users simply because glare hurts their eyes. Even so, I am hoping for more than a "matte option." Okay Ive and Jobs, go ahead and give us another glass covered screen. But give us one where the glass used is museum grade, cutting out more than 90% of the reflections. Do that, and most of the matte people will immediately halt all negative comments on the screen and start buying Macs in droves. As an AAPL shareholder, I want to see that happen.
And one more wish... Fix the Uneven Backlight Problem, Apple! Such is an insult to our intelligent and my pocket book. I pay more for Apple quality. I therefore have a right to expect more than you get from the likes of DELL.
I prefer glossy for the rich colours, but understand that others prefer matte. I wish matte were an option, and it looks like it is possible for a fee since they have been trying it with the 17” MBP. All I know for sure is that glossy is going no where. Maybe we need a special glass covering that allows the user to toggle F-keys up and down to make the glass more or less reflective, which would allow for a more balanced half and half effect for some and other settings for others. I have no idea if such a things could be done within such a small space using electricity, but imagination is where science starts.
HARD DISK
Put a flash drive in the iMac, for goodness sake. And make it affordable. If you cannot do that, at least offer something along the lines of the Velociraptor. It is quite sad though that a drive so amazing as the Velociraptor is still capped at 300GB, even now with it being August 2009. Has hard drive innovation come to a complete stop? Bigger is good (we're up to 2TB now), but "wicked fast" is important for a hard drive in a Mac. It's amazing how much faster the Mac is with a faster hard disk, even without a faster CPU or video card upgrade. And no, I don't think we should be forced to eat up desk space with externals to accomplish this.
It’s 300GB because the actual drive is 2.5”. I would imagine that 500GB Velociraptor drives aren’t too far away, though for the money and increased speed I’d just for an SSD at this point. But that is I needed a super fast boot drive, which most iMac users don’t. For overall performance for a data drive tests show that a very large, though partially used hard drive can yield better results for the money.
CONNECTIVITY
• SD Card slot - definitely
• eSATA
• USB3
I think that is an SD card is included in the rest of the Mac line up that it means that Mac OSes will eventually be delivered over that medium with purchases, and eventually otpical drives will be dropped from their notebook line. There is no justification to remove them from the desktop machines for some time but the notebooks can’t get slimmer and mostly have a large component wasting space in them.
I think eSATA is a no go if they haven’t done it at this point. The lack of power in the spec seems to be a real killer.
Is USB 3.0 ports shipping as standard on any consumer PC yet? Apple is rarely the first to enter into this stuff, just usually the first to embrace it over their entire product line.
KEYBOARD
Give me something old-school, for crying out loud. I am sick and tired of keyboards designed for pre-teens, which look like they've been run over by a MACK truck. I have a March 2009 3.06GHz iMac at the office and the keyboard looks slick but it is just absurd to use. I got a DESKTOP Mac, not a notebook. If I want to lose all tactile feedback, I will buy a notebook -- or rap my fingers across my desk, which basically has the same feel. Just don't force the existing keyboard abomination down my throat. Give us a good keyboard like the those Apple used to make for normal people.
I use a Mac notebook an personally love the keyboard. If you don’t you can buy the keyboard of your choice from a 3rd-party. This is pretty trivial since you are using an iMac. There are certainly things Apple doesn’t do as good as other companys. Take the standard iPod headphones, for example. I don’t the keyboard will get more old-school, if they change it I would think they would go even flatter or something else wild.
1) It contains no information. Zero.
2) It tries to slyly hint at Blue Ray without actually saying so - as if this makes the article witty and interesting rather than bland and pathetic.
3) It has been highlighted in Red on the AI website (unclear whether that is a manual setting or an automatic flag in response to traffic). Still Red implies an article of above average interest and this one is clearly not one of those.
Yes - the next iMacs will differ from the current iMacs in some ways. If history is any guide the changes will be slight, everyone will claim disappointment and they will go on to sell in record numbers anyway.
If this is the standard of reporting we can expect from AI going forward you guys are off my bookmarks list immediately.
DRM and the ripping unfortunately go hand in hand to some degree. which is why it's not officially supported.
Maybe one day
if you are looking for professional features, an express slot to attach esata would be on the list. perhaps that SD card slot could be switched on order for such use.
Express slot. Tons if hardware out for express fir audio and video off loading. That and quad core would be great. Back to matte like the old days for graphic pros and stop using mobile graphics and parts.
Yup. Give me the modern version of the venerable and extremely popular Macintosh IIcx/IIci.
I can't belive all the sd talk. Google audio express slot hardware and you'll see items taking a load off the cou with high end plug uns. That's why the older mbp are better as now only the 17" have it. No sd devices exist for audio/video off loading. To go semi pro would mean express slot in my humble opinion.
HP includes Blu-Ray drives on it's higher end laptops as standard and offers a Blu-Ray burner for $150 more. it shouldn't be that big a deal for apple to do this since all their products are premium
The lap-tops that HP sells are also nowhere near as thin or light as the ones Apple produces. There is currently no Blu-Ray drive that will fit in the MacBook line. That may change in the future, but right now the desktops are really the only machines capable of supporting the feature.
That said, my personal opinion is that Blu-Ray is worthless for all but burning content on computers. Unless your a college student or the like, there's really no reason you wouldn't have a much larger and more functional HDTV to watch that content on. And BD output on lap-tops is a joke because they all start to choke on a TV over 32".
But I'd rather hope they finally nailed that in-monitor camera so one can do eye contact in video calls. That would be worthy an iMac.
Graphics Card - Finally - the GT200 Architecture Mobile Series, i am hoping all the iMac get GTS 250 / GTS 260 with 96 shader. Since the GT 230 and 240 doesn't provide any improvement over current generation at all. OpenCL could make use of these GPGPU power.
I am surprised so few people have seen this as being one of the most likely additions.
Integrated graphics are a bit of a headache when your main supplier is found to be using failure prone manufacturing methods. It makes warranty repairs rather expensive I would imagine.
That said, my personal opinion is that Blu-Ray is worthless for all but burning content on computers. Unless your a college student or the like, there's really no reason you wouldn't have a much larger and more functional HDTV to watch that content on. And BD output on lap-tops is a joke because they all start to choke on a TV over 32".
Well it is my opinion that you are wrong.
And why would a laptop start to choke on a tv over 32"?? if it is 1080p the resolution is the same on a 40" as a 100"
To paraphrase Steve "blow" Jobs:
Bluray is a bag of farts.
I would not give two fucks if the new iMacs came with a blu player because, as other have said, optical media for playing content is obsolete.
What I hope the new iMacs will have as a new feature is a DVD player that instantaneously destroys any DVD sold by Microsoft and spits out the fragments.
What a silly response, I take it you were trolling.
I have an Apple TV, and an Xbox 360, so downloading HD movies is something I do often. However, the quality difference between a download and a blu-ray is absolutely ridiculous.
Apple TV downloads are 1280x720 @ 5mbits with Dolby Digital 5.1 audio. Blu-Ray is 1920x1080 @ 45mbits with 7.1 Dolby True HD Lossless audio or DTS Master Lossless audio.
So until downloads match or exceed BD quality then to say optical media is obsolete either means you a) have poor eye sight or just don't give a damn about quality, or b) you are a troll.
And WTF was with that microsoft CD comment? What an utterly bizarre and stupid thing to say. Maybe you should try Windows 7 and see just how good it is before you open your mouth again. It will give hardcore fanboys like you a bit of a shock.
Quad Core i7 - I don't see why I should spend so much money on a PC and not get a modern CPU in it. If that means making the iMac fatter so it can be cooled so be it. It's not like an extra few cm is going to make it fall of my desk.
Better GPU - Doesn't have to be a top end chip, but something in the middle which could play Crysis at a high frame rate would do the job nicely.
Blu-Ray burner - Again, this is simply a modern drive vs the DVD burning relics Apple still use. BD is not only the best movie format on the planet, but also is pretty useful for backups.
SD card slot - These are commonplace now on many devices (even my PS3 has one), and I find them quite useful.
eSATA - I have an eSATA external drive now and the speed is superb. No more slow USB stuff please. (unless it's USB 3)
Matte screen - I really don't understand why there is no option for this. Reflections on screens are a major pain the backside.
This article was so awkwardly written that I had to read the first few sentences a few times to understand what it was even about. I was then dismayed to find that it isn't about anything.
I love AppleInsider (and have been a reader for a long time), but it's sad to see articles like this.
Most of the articles are like this. It's fascinating information but the information/word ratio is incredibly low. Why use a dozen words when you can use one thousand?
As someone who has been sitting on the fence waiting for a good enough iMac for a long time, here's what it would take for me to finally buy one:
Quad Core i7 - I don't see why I should spend so much money on a PC and not get a modern CPU in it. If that means making the iMac fatter so it can be cooled so be it. It's not like an extra few cm is going to make it fall of my desk.
Better GPU - Doesn't have to be a top end chip, but something in the middle which could play Crysis at a high frame rate would do the job nicely.
Blu-Ray burner - Again, this is simply a modern drive vs the DVD burning relics Apple still use. BD is not only the best movie format on the planet, but also is pretty useful for backups.
SD card slot - These are commonplace now on many devices (even my PS3 has one), and I find them quite useful.
eSATA - I have an eSATA external drive now and the speed is superb. No more slow USB stuff please. (unless it's USB 3)
Matte screen - I really don't understand why there is no option for this. Reflections on screens are a major pain the backside.
How is the failure rate of hard drives in iMac compared to say Mac Pros. Maybe having SSD as an option would not be such a bad idea, the cost might be a little more but there are people who are willing to pay extra cash for reliability.
touch screen imacs I don't really see as a high market. perhaps an option on the displays for businesses, but I would think that a matte finish option is more wanted than touch screen. again at least as a custom choice for the high end 24" and the display.
Touch screen computers have little use as long as they are mounted VERTICALLY (resulting in a gorilla arm...), but why should Apple not equip their new iMacs with a cool new kind of hinge that allows you to flip the machine into a stable, almost HORIZONTAL position. When flipping the machine, it will automatically invoke a kind of TouchFinder (similar to FrontRow), an overlay to the real Finder that has been optimized for touchscreen use (larger buttons, etc.)! Imagine sorting your images in iPhoto touch on that gorgeous 24" screen laying almost flat on your desktop! Imagine cropping a video in iMovie touch! And surfing the internet using Safari touch for the new iMac with onscreen overlay keyboard. And if you want to go back to regular use (egg. to write a paper), you just flip the machine into a vertical position again and you will be back in the regular finder and are using your keyboard and mouse (that were just hidden by the machine in it's horizontal position).
Now, wouldn't that be genious? Toss in BlueRay and -- boom! A killer machine!!
Those new iMac features had better include matte, anti-glare screens. I hope Apple listens to all the hundreds of petition comments made at http://macmatte.wordpress.com - there are close to 500 petition comments there already.
GLASS REFLECTS light . Imacs will have glass./ Apple is going green so glass is hear to stay/
Buy a dell with matte/ DELL makes fine matte machines