iMac refresh soon??

Posted:
in Future Apple Hardware edited January 2014
Hi,

I have considering updating my 2006 single core iMac 20" for a new 21.5" with Intel QuadCore i7, 8Gb memory, etc.... But I wondered if I should wait a couple of months for a new update/refresh if there is one likely to be coming up... (I probably can't wait until the summer though...).

Is it more likely to be at the same time as the Mountain Lion OS? (I guess if I go for a top of the range one, it should last many years and future OS updates will work OK, won't they?)



All thoughts and ideas welcome...

Thanks a lot.

«1

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 30
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    Ivy Bridge. Late spring. We can't know any more than that. I doubt it'll be at the same time as Mountain Lion; likely prior to the OS' launch.



    You should wait if you can.
  • Reply 2 of 30
    My wife and I just got our tax returns and wanting an iMac. Right now we just have a 2009 mac mini, and we really like the idea of a 27" iMac gracing our apartment. It looks like I'll be waiting for both the iMac and Mountain Lion to be released.
  • Reply 3 of 30
    shrikeshrike Posts: 494member
    Basically, every single Mac update is dependent on Intel's release schedule. So, for Mac mini (8 months old), iMac (10 months old), MBP (12 months old, I don't consider the Fall update as significant enough), & MBA (8 months old), they won't be updated no earlier then when Intel ships Ivy Bridge chips and chipsets in Apple suitable volumes.



    That's late spring. Apple may hold some of the Mac lines for when Mountain Lion ships in late Summer. It's going to be a log jam for late Spring or early Summer, whenever Intel ships these 22 nm Ivy Bridge parts. iMac & MBA will probably be first up.



    The only model that can be shipped this month or in April is the Mac Pro as the Sandy Bridge-E Xeons are finally shipping.
  • Reply 4 of 30
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jackkilby View Post


    How "future-proof" would this iMac be? (Specs included)?



    IMO, an iMac is never much future-proof because hdd and memory are the only parts you can upgrade. On the graphics part of the equation it gets worse: it's a laptop graphics card with lower performance than the desktop version. Those cons are the reasons I've been holding my money because I like to play games (SWTOR these days, I'm leaving WoW) which aren't not very demanding but the system requirements improve overtime. I'm waiting to see how's the new entry level MacPro is going to be (if it really is going to be) before I decide which Mac desktop I'm going to purchase. The Mac Mini is out of question for me.
  • Reply 5 of 30
    hmmhmm Posts: 3,405member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by LoganHunter View Post


    IMO, an iMac is never much future-proof because hdd and memory are the only parts you can upgrade. On the graphics part of the equation it gets worse: it's a laptop graphics card with lower performance than the desktop version. Those cons are the reasons I've been holding my money because I like to play games (SWTOR these days, I'm leaving WoW) which aren't not very demanding but the system requirements improve overtime. I'm waiting to see how's the new entry level MacPro is going to be (if it really is going to be) before I decide which Mac desktop I'm going to purchase. The Mac Mini is out of question for me.



    You'd be better off with a Windows box for gaming. Buying a mac pro seems quite expensive unless you actually require the features of one. MMO games look way too addictive.



    For the OP, even the Ivy Bridge one is a softer update, so not exactly "future proof". If you were hoping to update on a major revision, you'd be looking at 2013 rather than 2012, so up to a year and a half away.
  • Reply 6 of 30
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by hmm View Post


    You'd be better off with a Windows box for gaming. Buying a mac pro seems quite expensive unless you actually require the features of one. MMO games look way too addictive.



    My only Mac is late 2008 Macbook Pro and I want to replace my desktop pc with a Mac. The iMac should be enough to play the game the first couple of years. Still, I'm curious to see how things are going to be with the Mac Pro or something that might replace it. Further down the road maybe I'll get a new Windows box for games if I feel the need but this time I really want a desktop Mac for everything else. I'm tired of Windows.
  • Reply 7 of 30
    aphexaphex Posts: 1member
    Looks like they could have been pushed back to 2013.



    Anyone know if this is true?



    http://news.softpedia.com/news/Ivy-B...3-259346.shtml



    I am also looking at buy a top spec iMac, and cannot decided if its worth waiting it out or not.....
  • Reply 8 of 30
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by aphex View Post


    Looks like they could have been pushed back to 2013.



    Anyone know if this is true?



    http://news.softpedia.com/news/Ivy-B...3-259346.shtml



    Those don't go in iMacs, though, do they?
  • Reply 9 of 30
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Shrike View Post


    Basically, every single Mac update is dependent on Intel's release schedule. So, for Mac mini (8 months old), iMac (10 months old), MBP (12 months old, I don't consider the Fall update as significant enough), & MBA (8 months old), they won't be updated no earlier then when Intel ships Ivy Bridge chips and chipsets in Apple suitable volumes.



    That's late spring. Apple may hold some of the Mac lines for when Mountain Lion ships in late Summer. It's going to be a log jam for late Spring or early Summer, whenever Intel ships these 22 nm Ivy Bridge parts. iMac & MBA will probably be first up.



    The only model that can be shipped this month or in April is the Mac Pro as the Sandy Bridge-E Xeons are finally shipping.



    What he said.



    Maybe Apple will do their own desktop/laptop cpus one day. *Looks admiringly at the iPad's soc. But for now, they're dependent on Intel's schedule. With luck we may get a jump start on the Wintel crowd. Who knows.



    It's not like they're selling any less Macs. Given most Macs have shifted to a yearly update schedule are we surprised? It's like this most years now?



    Spring. Fall. Spring. Fall. Baddabing. Baddabing. Tik Tok.



    If you can wait for an iMac update. Do. I'd guess it's imminent if you can wait for a month or so.



    Get the top of the line 27 incher or last year's top of the line in a sale as soon as the new models hit.



    Pack it with ram not bought from Apple. Get the internal SSD.



    Be happy.



    Lemon Bon Bon.
  • Reply 10 of 30
    Quote:

    The mightiest Ivy Bridge-E chip will be called Core i7-3980X and will replace the Sandy Bridge Core i7-3960X. That means that it could have higher clock frequencies or the seventh and eighth cores enabled, along with the remaining 5 MB of L3 cache.



    Hmm. But I wonder if they'll finally give us an iMac 'Pro' that replaces the Mac Pro and put one of these Xeon babies in there with a Quadro. Meet the new iMac Pro...now with Sandy Bridge. I guess the iMac Pro would be thicker? That HP Z AIO really piqued my interest.... (*says provocatively...)



    Lemon Bon Bon.
  • Reply 11 of 30
    ...with an even bigger monitor size than 27 inches?!



    Ok. I'll behave now.



    Lemon Bon Bon.
  • Reply 12 of 30
    hmmhmm Posts: 3,405member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Lemon Bon Bon. View Post


    ...with an even bigger monitor size than 27 inches?!



    Ok. I'll behave now.



    Lemon Bon Bon.



    I don't see this as highly probable. The current 27" panels are marketing to a degree. They took 25.5" panels that were previously marketed as 26", and widened them slightly.
  • Reply 13 of 30
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by hmm View Post


    I don't see this as highly probable. The current 27" panels are marketing to a degree. They took 25.5" panels that were previously marketed as 26", and widened them slightly.



    Er, no? It's a 27" display, period. It's not a 27 inch "class" (pile of worthless lying nonsense), nor a 26" being marketed as a 27", it's a 27".



    Twenty-seven viewable inches. WYSIWYG.



    The old 30" Cinema Display, on the other hand, was 29.7" viewable.
  • Reply 14 of 30
    hmmhmm Posts: 3,405member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


    Er, no? It's a 27" display, period. It's not a 27 inch "class" (pile of worthless lying nonsense), nor a 26" being marketed as a 27", it's a 27".



    Twenty-seven viewable inches. WYSIWYG.



    The old 30" Cinema Display, on the other hand, was 29.7" viewable.



    You missed my point . They're using off the shelf panels. I mentioned that LG who makes these panels widened their previous model to a 16:9. It measures 27" that way. They could come out with new ones at 28", 29", 30", but I doubt we'll see another major size increase on the imac.
  • Reply 15 of 30
    wizard69wizard69 Posts: 13,377member
    seriously with suitable pixel density one could run a Videp/TV channel PiP style to good effect. Plus tha additional functionality would make the iMacs price easier to accept.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by hmm View Post


    You missed my point . They're using off the shelf panels. I mentioned that LG who makes these panels widened their previous model to a 16:9. It measures 27" that way. They could come out with new ones at 28", 29", 30", but I doubt we'll see another major size increase on the imac.



  • Reply 16 of 30
    tallest skiltallest skil Posts: 43,388member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by brian002 View Post


    You'd be better off with a Windows box for gaming.



    No, he wouldn't. Please don't perpetrate a lie that stopped being true over half a decade ago.
  • Reply 17 of 30
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


    No, he wouldn't. Please don't perpetrate a lie that stopped being true over half a decade ago.



    The iMac is a respectable gaming machine. It's gaming chic. 21 or 27 inch gorgeous built in display with plenty of ram, powerful cpu and 'decent' gpu with the world's best operating system at its core.



    I realised when my 24 inch Core 2 duo could run the Resident Evil 5 demo in native resolution at 30 fps that mac gaming arrived sometime time back. Half Life 2 looks great on it and runs brilliantly.



    It's not sli GPu water cooled over clocked CPU bleeding edge gaming. But it's respectable. I love playing City of Heroes on it. But I bet the current i7 radeon top end puts mine well and truly in the shade.



    Between steam, boot camp, mac app store, iOS...macs and apple are resurgent in gaming. In fact, they now lead in portable gaming leaving Sony and nintendo reeling on the floor after the iOS juggernaut ran them over.



    The gaming engines seem pretty standardised over the consoles and pcs anyhow. I don't see a drastic shift in visual quality until 2013 onward when he next gen consoles hit.



    Sure, the latest GPus are powerful but apple doesn't sell them and how many games are truly jaw dropping or take advantage of them? I'm more impressed by Batman, Heavy Rain and La Noire on a dirt cheap and ageing ps3.



    All told... Apple are leading the gaming revolution right where it's happening. Portability.



    Pc cheap tower gaming like a cheap hooker.



    iMac gaming like a high class escort.



    Lemon Bon Bon.
  • Reply 18 of 30
    For the record, I still don't think the imac display is quite big enough even at 27 inches. I still want more denser DPI/higher resolutions.



    HiDPI.



    I can't wait.



    Lemon Bon Bon.
  • Reply 19 of 30
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Lemon Bon Bon. View Post


    The iMac is a respectable gaming machine. It's gaming chic. 21 or 27 inch gorgeous built in display with plenty of ram, powerful cpu and 'decent' gpu with the world's best operating system at its core.



    I realised when my 24 inch Core 2 duo could run the Resident Evil 5 demo in native resolution at 30 fps that mac gaming arrived sometime time back. Half Life 2 looks great on it and runs brilliantly.



    It's not sli GPu water cooled over clocked CPU bleeding edge gaming. But it's respectable. I love playing City of Heroes on it. But I bet the current i7 radeon top end puts mine well and truly in the shade.



    Between steam, boot camp, mac app store, iOS...macs and apple are resurgent in gaming. In fact, they now lead in portable gaming leaving Sony and nintendo reeling on the floor after the iOS juggernaut ran them over.



    The gaming engines seem pretty standardised over the consoles and pcs anyhow. I don't see a drastic shift in visual quality until 2013 onward when he next gen consoles hit.



    Sure, the latest GPus are powerful but apple doesn't sell them and how many games are truly jaw dropping or take advantage of them? I'm more impressed by Batman, Heavy Rain and La Noire on a dirt cheap and ageing ps3.



    All told... Apple are leading the gaming revolution right where it's happening. Portability.



    Pc cheap tower gaming like a cheap hooker.



    iMac gaming like a high class escort.



    Lemon Bon Bon.



    Tell that to BioWare... A lot of Mac users are asking for a OS X version of SW:TOR and many that already play through bootcamp are quitting the game because they can't stand running Windows on their Mac just to play that one game. Also I believe many more Mac users would play the game if a native version was available.
  • Reply 20 of 30
    SWTOR.



    That's up to the publishers.



    Well done to Valve for embracing the Mac. That we have Steam on the Mac is wonder enough. We even have a Mac version of CoX now. And it's got much better than the buggy initial version.



    I know at least one girl that bought a 4k Sterling (convert into dollars...) rig and a 2K on TV, gaming chair etc complete with controllers. The game she got all excited about? Republic.



    She's hooked. From what I've seen it looks quite compelling for a Morg.



    I guess Mac fans may or not get their version in time. 5 million Macs a quarter is a lot of business to turn down.



    This isn't 1997 any longer. I believe that was the point being made.



    Momentum is with Mac and iOS is capturing the lightning bolt.



    Lemon Bon Bon.
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