"a new panel size and a price point for the mainstream market,"
this is a curious phrase. It kind of sounds like the new panel size and the new price point would be features of a single new computer, but that's not necessarily the case. There could be a new panel size (24") and a new price point, but the new price point might apply to the old 21.5" iMac. If that's the scenario, then my guess is that the lowest price would be $999 on the 21.5" iMac .
Another possibility, of course, is that the new panel and new price point are both referring to the same computer. In that case, we must be talking about a 17" iMac. Maybe I'm just so much richer than all of the little people out there, but a 17" iMac seems very unappealing to me, no matter how cheap it is (once you go 27", you never go back). So if there is a 17" iMac, it's not aimed at the usual Mac consumer. Instead, I would guess it's aimed primarily at the cash-starved education market, or perhaps the enterprise. My guess is that the price point for this machine would be noticeably less than $999.... maybe $799.
It is also possible that "new" does not modify "price point" at all. The sentence is poorly written.
My guess would be no for this round of updates, mainly because of the cost factor of a fully SSD based system with the storage capacities you would want in the iMac line. The Air with 256gb starts at $1600. For a notebook, you can get away with the that limited amount of storage but on the more consumer orientated iMac, that might be a tough sell. Although the price on SSD's is falling just about everyday, I think you have at least another year before capacities of 500mb to 1gb will be affordable, if not longer.
Another guess for now would be as what is offered in the high end iMac, an SSD boot drive and a secondary standard hard drive. Another option would be what Seagate has with it's Momentus XT hard drives which are hybrid drives with a 4gb SSD cache married with a 500gb hard drive. You sort of get the best of both worlds but your cost is only marginally higher than a standard hard drive.
sNf
if they removed the ODD, added a HDD and then had the mini-PCIx SSD a boot drive across all their MBPs it could work. Users could choose as little as 64GB for a boot drive and then choose the size of an HDD/SSD for data storage.
64GB for a boot drive is more than sufficient. I only use 25GB of my MBP’s SSD for booting and app installs. That gives uses the best of both worlds: fast booting and massive storage at low prices. I’m not sure I see Apple going this route, but I sure hope they do.
PS: If Apple is going to follow the MBA’s tapered design then the ODD has to go, at least on the 13” model.
A new report out of the Far East claims Apple plans to launch redesigned MacBook Pro and iMac models in the first half of 2011.
Taiwanese industry publication Digitimes reports that sources from "upstream component makers" indicate that Apple will introduce the upgraded models in the first half of next year.
The Mac maker reportedly plans to launch "at least four upgraded MacBook Pros" with a "slight change" in chassis design and an upgrade to Mac OS X 10.7 Lion. The upgraded iMac is expected to feature "a new panel size and a price point for the mainstream market," according to the report.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled Mac OS X 10.7 Lion at the "Back to the Mac" event in October. Mac OS X 10.7 Lion will incorporate features brought back to the Mac from iOS, such as App Home Screens, full-screen apps, and expanded multi-touch gestures. According to Jobs, Apple will release Mac OS X 10.7 Lion in the summer of 2011.
The first day of summer in 2011 is June 22, which would fit within the first half of 2011 timeframe from Digitimes' most recent report. The report's sources believe that the MacBook Pro upgrades will help Apple's notebook shipments grow 30-40 percent year over year in 2011.
Other details were sparse in the Digitimes report. However, next year's Macs are generally expected to utilize Intel's Sandy Bridge processors. Intel reportedly plans to formally unveil the new processors at the Consumer Electronics Show on Jan. 5th, 2011.
Intel CEO Paul Otellini announced in July that the company had decided to accelerate production in response to the "very strong reception" of Sandy Bridge CPUs by the chipmaker's vendors.
How about the cosmetics of the new MBP'S? Actually what month will this come out?
Man I hope these are coming sooner rather than later. My old Powerbook hard drive finally gave out and I'm not going to fix it. Trying to hold out for the next models and Lion is a tough wait.
Man I hope these are coming sooner rather than later. My old Powerbook hard drive finally gave out and I'm not going to fix it. Trying to hold out for the next models and Lion is a tough wait.
HDDs are inexpensive. Why not make use of that machine for the next year?
My wish list for the iMac is simple, I'd love to see them redesign the internals so that I can replace the HD when it dies or upgrade it to a higher capacity without having to bring the unit to someone else with the tools and experience to do the job.
I'm always keen to see what Johnny Ives's design crew can do with metal, glass and silicone.
If the report is true and Apple is searching for new price points, one thing they might try is to increase the similarity between the internals of the iMac and MBPs in order to drive down unit costs. Don't know how practical this is.
No because 16:9 is an appalling ratio for a work machine, or a game machine for that matter - how many PC games do you know that are designed in full wide screen.
All of them. Seriously, can you think of a single big PC game released in the last 2 years that doesn't, at a minimum, support 1080p 16:9?
My wish list for the iMac is simple, I'd love to see them redesign the internals so that I can replace the HD when it dies or upgrade it to a higher capacity without having to bring the unit to someone else with the tools and experience to do the job.
Replacing the HD in an iMac is not hard at all. Print out a step by step instruction and have a YouTube video at hand on another machine, and make sure you have the right tools and suckers to get the screen off. Go nice and slow and easy. It's a piece of cake, really.
I'd additionally like to see Apple drop the internal HDDs and switch to SSD-only configurations, but then the MBPs would be larger MBAs. I realize some people need 1TB HDDs in their MBPs. What I really want is a 15" MBA.
They could do storage card a la MBA alongside a platter drive in a MBP, with minimal extra space needed and their cost wouldn't be huge since I'm sure they have a good deal in place to buy the cards from toshiba.
Besides the issue with new chips from Intel, there was also the Intel v Nvidia issue (which may be resolved in Apple’s favour), some potential change up waiting for AMD (which I doubt but add to be cover all bases), and a potential case/chassis design change.
The last item typically has caused an extra long delay between refreshed. Perhaps these are planned when they know Intel will be delayed, just want to get rid of old supply, and/or they want to increase the hype of the new design. Personally, I think a new case/chassis design is due and that following the MBA in both a milled taper and milled LCD top case are immenient. I hope they remove the ODD and add the mini-PCIx SSD (on the 13” and 15” MBP) without removing the bay for a 2.5” HDD (at least not on the 15” and 17” MBP).. but that’s me.
PS: AI staff: If you created your own Buyer’s Guide, maybe one that’s a little more interactive or uses more fancy HTML5 elements I wouldn’t link to MR, which I assume is your biggest competition despite its “articles” being little more than blurbs and their posters being the dregs of Digg.com turned Mac users.
Sounds like all the more reason to get a cheap HDD from Newegg so you can use your otherwise sound machine for the next ≈10 months.
If it was more sound I would but it's almost 6 years old now and can't handle most of the content on the web. Videos are practically impossible to watch. It's just not worth the trouble. I've got the laptop to share and iPhone for other browsing so I'm not hurting too bad. Just impatient wanting a new one for myself.
Comments
Apple wasn't going to update Macs and just sell iPods from now on?
Mac switchers are getting more and more.
"a new panel size and a price point for the mainstream market,"
this is a curious phrase. It kind of sounds like the new panel size and the new price point would be features of a single new computer, but that's not necessarily the case. There could be a new panel size (24") and a new price point, but the new price point might apply to the old 21.5" iMac. If that's the scenario, then my guess is that the lowest price would be $999 on the 21.5" iMac .
Another possibility, of course, is that the new panel and new price point are both referring to the same computer. In that case, we must be talking about a 17" iMac. Maybe I'm just so much richer than all of the little people out there, but a 17" iMac seems very unappealing to me, no matter how cheap it is (once you go 27", you never go back). So if there is a 17" iMac, it's not aimed at the usual Mac consumer. Instead, I would guess it's aimed primarily at the cash-starved education market, or perhaps the enterprise. My guess is that the price point for this machine would be noticeably less than $999.... maybe $799.
It is also possible that "new" does not modify "price point" at all. The sentence is poorly written.
My guess would be no for this round of updates, mainly because of the cost factor of a fully SSD based system with the storage capacities you would want in the iMac line. The Air with 256gb starts at $1600. For a notebook, you can get away with the that limited amount of storage but on the more consumer orientated iMac, that might be a tough sell. Although the price on SSD's is falling just about everyday, I think you have at least another year before capacities of 500mb to 1gb will be affordable, if not longer.
Another guess for now would be as what is offered in the high end iMac, an SSD boot drive and a secondary standard hard drive. Another option would be what Seagate has with it's Momentus XT hard drives which are hybrid drives with a 4gb SSD cache married with a 500gb hard drive. You sort of get the best of both worlds but your cost is only marginally higher than a standard hard drive.
sNf
if they removed the ODD, added a HDD and then had the mini-PCIx SSD a boot drive across all their MBPs it could work. Users could choose as little as 64GB for a boot drive and then choose the size of an HDD/SSD for data storage.
64GB for a boot drive is more than sufficient. I only use 25GB of my MBP’s SSD for booting and app installs. That gives uses the best of both worlds: fast booting and massive storage at low prices. I’m not sure I see Apple going this route, but I sure hope they do.
PS: If Apple is going to follow the MBA’s tapered design then the ODD has to go, at least on the 13” model.
A new report out of the Far East claims Apple plans to launch redesigned MacBook Pro and iMac models in the first half of 2011.
Taiwanese industry publication Digitimes reports that sources from "upstream component makers" indicate that Apple will introduce the upgraded models in the first half of next year.
The Mac maker reportedly plans to launch "at least four upgraded MacBook Pros" with a "slight change" in chassis design and an upgrade to Mac OS X 10.7 Lion. The upgraded iMac is expected to feature "a new panel size and a price point for the mainstream market," according to the report.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs unveiled Mac OS X 10.7 Lion at the "Back to the Mac" event in October. Mac OS X 10.7 Lion will incorporate features brought back to the Mac from iOS, such as App Home Screens, full-screen apps, and expanded multi-touch gestures. According to Jobs, Apple will release Mac OS X 10.7 Lion in the summer of 2011.
The first day of summer in 2011 is June 22, which would fit within the first half of 2011 timeframe from Digitimes' most recent report. The report's sources believe that the MacBook Pro upgrades will help Apple's notebook shipments grow 30-40 percent year over year in 2011.
Other details were sparse in the Digitimes report. However, next year's Macs are generally expected to utilize Intel's Sandy Bridge processors. Intel reportedly plans to formally unveil the new processors at the Consumer Electronics Show on Jan. 5th, 2011.
Intel CEO Paul Otellini announced in July that the company had decided to accelerate production in response to the "very strong reception" of Sandy Bridge CPUs by the chipmaker's vendors.
How about the cosmetics of the new MBP'S? Actually what month will this come out?
15" MacBook Pro
Core i5 Quad Core Sandy Bridge
1920x1200 (not 1080) Antiglare
Nvidia 460M 1GB VRAM
320GB SSD
No Disc Drive
8GB RAM
NO MORE THAN 1.8KG (4 pounds)
New MacBook Air-style design.
USD $1,999
BOOM!
One can dream...
It is also possible that "new" does not modify "price point" at all. The sentence is poorly written.
Ah... good point.
Man I hope these are coming sooner rather than later. My old Powerbook hard drive finally gave out and I'm not going to fix it. Trying to hold out for the next models and Lion is a tough wait.
HDDs are inexpensive. Why not make use of that machine for the next year?
I'm always keen to see what Johnny Ives's design crew can do with metal, glass and silicone.
If the report is true and Apple is searching for new price points, one thing they might try is to increase the similarity between the internals of the iMac and MBPs in order to drive down unit costs. Don't know how practical this is.
I want:
15" MacBook Pro
Core i5 Quad Core Sandy Bridge
1920x1200 (not 1080) Antiglare
Nvidia 460M 1GB VRAM
320GB SSD
No Disc Drive
8GB RAM
NO MORE THAN 1.8KG (4 pounds)
New MacBook Air-style design.
USD $1,999
BOOM!
One can dream...
I would buy one for $2999. For $1999, I would be very satisfied with 1680x1050, 512MB VRAM, 256GB SSD, and 4GB RAM in a 15" MBA.
No because 16:9 is an appalling ratio for a work machine, or a game machine for that matter - how many PC games do you know that are designed in full wide screen.
All of them. Seriously, can you think of a single big PC game released in the last 2 years that doesn't, at a minimum, support 1080p 16:9?
HDDs are inexpensive. Why not make use of that machine for the next year?
Because my wife has an 09 Macbook Pro and for now we're sharing. That's tough though since we both need our computers a lot.
My wish list for the iMac is simple, I'd love to see them redesign the internals so that I can replace the HD when it dies or upgrade it to a higher capacity without having to bring the unit to someone else with the tools and experience to do the job.
Replacing the HD in an iMac is not hard at all. Print out a step by step instruction and have a YouTube video at hand on another machine, and make sure you have the right tools and suckers to get the screen off. Go nice and slow and easy. It's a piece of cake, really.
Because my wife has an 09 Macbook Pro and for now we're sharing. That's tough though since we both need our computers a lot.
Tough? Sounds impossible!
Because my wife has an 09 Macbook Pro and for now we're sharing. That's tough though since we both need our computers a lot.
Sounds like all the more reason to get a cheap HDD from Newegg so you can use your otherwise sound machine for the next ≈10 months.
This took much much longer than average! I wonder why?
Zero new chips existed. Apple doesn't do updates without new CPUs.
I'd additionally like to see Apple drop the internal HDDs and switch to SSD-only configurations, but then the MBPs would be larger MBAs. I realize some people need 1TB HDDs in their MBPs. What I really want is a 15" MBA.
They could do storage card a la MBA alongside a platter drive in a MBP, with minimal extra space needed and their cost wouldn't be huge since I'm sure they have a good deal in place to buy the cards from toshiba.
This took much much longer than average! I wonder why?
MR’s Buyer Guide says it’s 247 days with the average being 208 days.Besides the issue with new chips from Intel, there was also the Intel v Nvidia issue (which may be resolved in Apple’s favour), some potential change up waiting for AMD (which I doubt but add to be cover all bases), and a potential case/chassis design change.
The last item typically has caused an extra long delay between refreshed. Perhaps these are planned when they know Intel will be delayed, just want to get rid of old supply, and/or they want to increase the hype of the new design. Personally, I think a new case/chassis design is due and that following the MBA in both a milled taper and milled LCD top case are immenient. I hope they remove the ODD and add the mini-PCIx SSD (on the 13” and 15” MBP) without removing the bay for a 2.5” HDD (at least not on the 15” and 17” MBP).. but that’s me.
PS: AI staff: If you created your own Buyer’s Guide, maybe one that’s a little more interactive or uses more fancy HTML5 elements I wouldn’t link to MR, which I assume is your biggest competition despite its “articles” being little more than blurbs and their posters being the dregs of Digg.com turned Mac users.
Sounds like all the more reason to get a cheap HDD from Newegg so you can use your otherwise sound machine for the next ≈10 months.
If it was more sound I would but it's almost 6 years old now and can't handle most of the content on the web. Videos are practically impossible to watch. It's just not worth the trouble. I've got the laptop to share and iPhone for other browsing so I'm not hurting too bad. Just impatient wanting a new one for myself.