Apple ready and waiting with redesigned iMac line

Posted:
in Future Apple Hardware edited January 2014
Apple as early as this month will begin to fill out its 2009 Mac product line with a new family of iMacs sporting classier enclosures and a few added bells and whistles, AppleInsider has learned.



The new all-in-one, dual-core desktops were finalized earlier in September and have been rolling off the Mac maker's Taiwanese product lines for roughly two weeks, according to two people familiar with the matter.



In addition to more affordable pricing, the systems are expected to come clad in a thinner industrial design, one of those people added. Though details are admittedly limited, it's likely these new enclosures will also take design cues from the Cupertino-based company's relatively new LED-lit Cinema Display offerings.



Aesthetic revisions aside, the late 2009 iMac line should also debut several features previously unavailable to Mac buyers.Â*



People familiar with Apple's thinking have suggested in recent months one of these moves could see the company finally embrace Blu-ray -- a technology once derided by Chief Executive Steve Jobs as a "bag of hurt" from a licensing perspective.Â*



With the costs of such drives remaining relatively high, it's reasonable to presume such capability would fetch an added premium on most models.Â*



Meanwhile, a pair of other associated enhancements -- one believed to be related to audio -- should see this new generation of iMacs become the most versatile ever, according to another group of people who declined to elaborate because they were not authorized to discuss matter in detail.







For its part, AppleInsider believes Apple is primed to extend the capabilities of at least one technology introduced on the Mac platform as recently as last fall.



To make way for these new models, Apple's corporate and educational sales teams this month have reportedly been offering their volume customers instant discounts of $100 to $200 on existing models. Anxious to clear inventories, representatives have allegedly stressed to buyers that these offers would be valid for just one week.



While it remains precisely unclear when Apple plans to take the wraps off its new iMac line, it's been suggested to AppleInsider that an announcement could come anytime between next week and mid-October. Put simply, it's up to marketing to press the "Go" button.Â*
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 486
    Quote:

    Apple as early as this month will begin to fill out its 2009 Mac product line...



    Well they better hurry on up because there's only a week to go.
  • Reply 2 of 486
    Let the guessing begin!
  • Reply 3 of 486
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    I assume that if the B-R drive rumor is true, that it would entail the OS abilities as well, that we don't have now.



    I hope that would lead to a Software Update for the rest of us, so that we could add either internal or external B-R drives to our own machines. The second slot on my Mac Pro is begging to be filled with one of these.
  • Reply 4 of 486
    And here we go!



    Can't wait to see the new enclosure.
  • Reply 5 of 486
    Dual core? I think most users were hoping of Core i7 based machines...
  • Reply 6 of 486
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Damn_Its_Hot View Post


    Let the guessing begin!



    No, let the carping, whining, second-guessing, and threats begin. A feature or option that either is or isn't present will cause the usual suspects to declare the new iMac line a D.O.A. deal killer. See the post above this one.
  • Reply 7 of 486
    A little early, but right on time for Christmas.
  • Reply 8 of 486
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ruel24 View Post


    Dual core? I think most users were hoping of Core i7 based machines...



    Yup... I cannot crossgrade from a tower to an iMac until they have more than 2 cores...



    Shame I cannot afford the towers anymore either. What a pain...



    I really they hope they have some quad-cores as BTO options.
  • Reply 9 of 486
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by wolfneuralnet View Post


    Yup... I cannot crossgrade from a tower to an iMac until they have more than 2 cores...



    Shame I cannot afford the towers anymore either. What a pain...



    I really they hope they have some quad-cores as BTO options.



    Indeed but if the rumour that they are thinner is true...will the machines handle the heat?
  • Reply 10 of 486
    mstonemstone Posts: 11,510member
    I hope the 20" comes with VESA mounting capability. I want to put one on the kitchen counter but it needs to fit under the upper cabinet. Right now my white 20" with no VESA adapter does not fit where I want it because it is a little too tall. the 24" mount is VESA compatible but it is way too big for my purpose.
  • Reply 11 of 486
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    ... according to another group of people who declined to elaborate because they were not authorized to discuss matter in detail.







    Very amusing. Like they were authorized to discuss the matter at all.
  • Reply 12 of 486
    I'm looking forward to some new iMac power.



    In addition, I've noticed that Amazon has been out of the high end Mac mini for the last 5 days. It makes me wonder if they've depleted that inventory so the high end Mac mini can be upgraded a bit more to set itself apart.
  • Reply 13 of 486
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by wolfneuralnet View Post


    Yup... I cannot crossgrade from a tower to an iMac until they have more than 2 cores...



    Shame I cannot afford the towers anymore either. What a pain...



    I really they hope they have some quad-cores as BTO options.



    I doubt they will - too much power...



    But, anyway, what Apple should do is revamp the MacMini - Mac Pro line with a Single CPU Core i7 / i5 model that can take a decent graphics card

    - I'd get one if they did that

    - as it is, the iMac just doesn't do it for me, unfortunately.
  • Reply 14 of 486
    I am hoping for

    Blu-Ray

    No Intel integrated Graphics chips, except maybe for the cheapest education version.

    Better speakers

    and.... decent CPU chip, it is getting a bit frustrating that Apple thinks a desktop computer needs a laptop graphics chip and to be thinner than most monitors. This severely limits upgrades and the type of CPU you can put in there.
  • Reply 15 of 486
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by lkrupp View Post


    No, let the carping, whining, second-guessing, and threats begin. A feature or option that either is or isn't present will cause the usual suspects to declare the new iMac line a D.O.A. deal killer. See the post above this one.



    That may be, but the iMac is going to be a tougher and tougher (if not just plainly a hard) sell as a desktop when system when there are so many i7 systems out there. It just plain time to move beyond 2 cores as the entry point on the desktop. Otherwise, people are better off buying laptops - at least then you get mobility for an otherwise evenly spec'ed Mac.
  • Reply 16 of 486
    i wonder if we will see any 'secret' SL features...
  • Reply 17 of 486
    I hope there will be an Intel i5 750 or (preferably) an i7 860.



    It would be nice to see USB 3.0 or a faster version of FireWire -- or at the very least an eSATA port.



    I'd like to know who's been talking to Apple about the need for a thinner enclosure. I really can't imagine that the numbers asking for that aren't a slim fraction of the numbers wanting a DESKTOP quad processor and better video card. Some other rumors suggest a 25.5" or 26" screen. Rather have a better processor/video card.



    Why not just make a Mac Pro Mini - with a mini aluminum enclosure with the opportunity for owners to make some hardware upgrades instead of being sealed off like most Apple products.



    My Windows computer died from hardware failure and I was hoping for a quad core iMac. I may have to get a cheap Windows 7 laptop and wait until next Spring. I hope not....



    You'd think Apple would want to exploit Snow Leopard's Grand Central Dispatch and OpenCL with new, capable hardware -- at the consumer level.
  • Reply 18 of 486
    Goddbye- you fugly racconed iMac. Begone with the black border once and for all. I've been waiting 3 years for this. Bring on a new mouse and cord to match. Hopefully the cheap black plasticy Dell back is history too. A blu-ray of course. It pays to wait. This has been a great year for me with Apple:

    1.) iPhone 3Gs- video and speed

    2.) 13" MacBook Pro- firewire.

    3,) New iMac- blu-ray, new design. matte perhaps or at least less gloss?
  • Reply 19 of 486
    well my social circle hasn't been much influenced or even aware that such a thing as an i6 system exists, so it doesn't really matter for them as long as the task on the computer is completed without the computer getting in the way \



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by blurpbleepbloop View Post


    That may be, but the iMac is going to be a tougher and tougher (if not just plainly a hard) sell as a desktop when system when there are so many i6 systems out there. It just plain time to move beyond 2 cores as the entry point on the desktop. Otherwise, people are better off buying laptops - at least then you get mobility for an otherwise evenly spec'ed Mac.



  • Reply 20 of 486
    The i7 will prolly be in their higher end iMac. The mobile chips are out.
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