Launch of Apple's new iMac lineup is 'imminent' - report

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Comments

  • Reply 41 of 90
    winterwinter Posts: 1,238member
    Is the iMac an awesome machine?

    Is it a good buy for, let's say, college? i would love one, but i just cannot afford them. However that screen is so beautiful already. Avengers would look great on that, especially Scarlet and her leather suit.

    It is a great computer though you can't take it from class to class. If you have your own private dorm, I'd go for it.
  • Reply 42 of 90
    paxmanpaxman Posts: 4,729member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Tallest Skil View Post


    But does anyone else think that people might hold off on it because it won't be getting a retina display?



    I imagine so. I am definitely in the market for a 27" iMac and will be very torn if the new model is not retina. I am certain that if it does have a retina display a lot of people will upgrade earlier than usual. 


     


    I love my late 2007 iMac - its my go to machine whenever I have a choice. 

  • Reply 43 of 90

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Rogifan View Post



    Whats the cost/benefit on retina iMacs? I mean I'd never go back to a non-retina phone or tablet on the iMac would it really be that noticeable? Aren't the iMacs well beyond HD anyway?


    cost:benefit?  it's unknown, other than everyone who says they go retina hate when they look at the same presentation 'non-retina'. 


     


    HD and retina are two different measures... HD is number of pixels (and whether they refresh each pixel or only 50% at a time [I/P]).


    Retina is the pixel density... and whether the number of pixels/viewingangle is such that the retina can't 'see' a pixel (can't see the space between pixels).


     


    The iMac being a desktop is considered to be a 28" viewing distance, and given that, the threshhold pixel density is 123PPI (see: http://actionatadistance.net/post/17211429061/retina-thunderbolt-display )  


     


    As luck would have it, a Macbook Air 13.3" is 127PPI.   The question on cost is the manufacturing process of fusing 127dpi the same as 109?


     


    Making the glass fused should improve some visual stuff, but would make the pixels more visible (less refraction, due to less glass).  Assuming that the cost is roughly the same, then it's really just a minor (<$100 cost) to create the screen... Then it's the cost of supporting it in HW (probably $15), and and SW (zero by default, but someone has to pay for all those new graphics at 'retina size' and do test viewing of the new geometries (4x a MBA13)

  • Reply 44 of 90
    wizard69wizard69 Posts: 13,377member


    The problem as I see it is flagging sales.   Of course part of that is no real update long past the due date but I just don't see the Mini generating lots of interest anymore.


     


    The problem is the iMac is not an up-sell for many of us, it is in fact totally unacceptable in its current form.   Mac Books are great if you want a laptop but they are hardly a desktop replacement and frankly the Mini barely gets by as a desktop machine.


     


    As for functionality as a server the Mini just barely passes there.   The problem is it isn't readily repairable.   The Mini has a lot of great embedded uses but generally those are performance limited uses.


    Quote:

    Originally Posted by bcode View Post


     


    I don't see the Mini being replaced or dropped for a very long time.  It's the entry-level product, and while they don't hype it's release very often, it's the machine that gets low-spending PC users in the door...  Once they are hooked, we up-sell them to an iMac or MacBook.


     


     


    Additionally, the Mini has become the new XServe for many small businesses...  It's the perfect server-box for anyone looking for basic server functionality, and at a bargain of a price too (I believe Windows Small Business Server is an $800 license -- compared to Apple's $30).


  • Reply 45 of 90
    wizard69wizard69 Posts: 13,377member


    Man that is sad to hear.    I had my MBP slide off a counter early in the year.   It now has a strip of bad pixels going up and down the screen.   I'm hoping it doesn't get worst as I'm trying to avoid another laptop buy this year.   It does make you feel a little twisted inside to pick things up off the floor.


     


    Sadly you just gave me another reason not to buy an iMac.   A new screen would have been a cheap fix for a traditional desktop.   


    Quote:

    Originally Posted by benanderson89 View Post


    I think the EFI Might have been a power surge of some description. The iMac was on the same circuit as all my music production gear and synthesizers aren't exactly surge friendly.


     


    Summersault off of a shitty desk. The desk had bowed and the stand on the iMac was slightly wonky. So it fell forward face first onto the desk, but it had enough weight and momentum to then slide off the desk and onto a laminate wood floor.


  • Reply 46 of 90
    razorpitrazorpit Posts: 1,796member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by bcode View Post


     


    I don't see the Mini being replaced or dropped for a very long time.  It's the entry-level product, and while they don't hype it's release very often, it's the machine that gets low-spending PC users in the door...  Once they are hooked, we up-sell them to an iMac or MacBook.


     


    Additionally, the Mini has become the new XServe for many small businesses...  It's the perfect server-box for anyone looking for basic server functionality, and at a bargain of a price too (I believe Windows Small Business Server is an $800 license -- compared to Apple's $30).



     


    I hope you're right.  I have the first generation Mini Server with the Core2 Duo and would like to add another cheap client for the home office.  While an iMac is awesome, I think from now own I'm going to go the Mini route.  Apple seems to be in this mode of machines only lasting two years before they are no longer able to take full advantage of the next OS update.  I can justify/afford ~$700 every two years or so, a $1,700 iMac makes that a little harder to swallow.


     


    Quote:

    Originally Posted by xgman View Post





    seems more like user error. . . .


     


    I think "they" forgot to mention they dropped it down a flight of steps just before that all happened...  ;-)

  • Reply 47 of 90
    satchmosatchmo Posts: 2,699member


    Maybe we'll be surprised and in fact see Retina display iMacs...and for not much more money. 


     


    I'm sure Apple has secured a lot of display panels to keep costs down. And while profit margin is important, this key product differentiation will sell that many more iMacs during the holiday season.


     


    A new design can only go so far. Especially when many don't see any thing wrong with the current one.


    A new form factor also needs a hook. And that would be the screen resolution. 


    I mean what else can you do with a minimalist design that is almost perfect already.


     


    And oh, I'd love to see a matte version offered. But I'm not holding my breath on that one.

  • Reply 48 of 90


    Did anyone, having read prior 'new iMacs soon' stories from, say, August 31st or later, gleam any more information than what they had before reading todays article?  Like announcement date of Press Event?  Release date of Product?  Actual product specs?  Pricing? And that word in the headline, 'imminent'?


     


    Launch of my next bowel movement is 'imminent' too, but I wouldn't say it's Marquee worthy.


    /


    /

  • Reply 49 of 90

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by wizard69 View Post


    Man that is sad to hear.    I had my MBP slide off a counter early in the year.   It now has a strip of bad pixels going up and down the screen.   I'm hoping it doesn't get worst as I'm trying to avoid another laptop buy this year.   It does make you feel a little twisted inside to pick things up off the floor.


     


    Sadly you just gave me another reason not to buy an iMac.   A new screen would have been a cheap fix for a traditional desktop.   



    I still have cuts all over my fingers where I had to pick up the glass. The magnetic strip and the nails didn't help either.


     


    I would've kept a desktop tower on my desk anyway - no room underneath it. But I think the main reason that it finally fell off was that the desk didn't have the support. I moved my synthesizer rack away from the desk as it was pressing right against it as I needed to feed some wires through. Didn't push it back, desk finally bowed that little bit more to make the iMac stand unstable. Fell forward. BAM!

  • Reply 50 of 90

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by charlituna View Post





    nd yet I suspect they will do it. AND the retina, which by the by is only around a 15% bump in pixels at most (do the math). But only to one model at this point and that will be a pro focused 27 inch. Basically what they did with the MBP.


     


    While the MacBook Pro with Retina Display and its resolution might only be a bump of 15% compared to the current 27" iMac's resolution, if the 27" iMac gets a Retina Display, it will probably see a quadrupling of its pixels like every other device by Apple getting a Retina display, which means the resolution will be 5120 x 2880, which is 14.75 million pixels compared to the 5.2 million pixels on the MacBook Pro with Retina Display, thus the iMac would have 284 percent more pixels compared to the MacBook Pro with Retina Display.

  • Reply 51 of 90
    Arrrrgh!!!! My iMac is 7 years old and I am waiting to upgrade - I wish Apple would release the new ones quickly. GrrrrH! All this waiting is making me really upset.
  • Reply 52 of 90


    Arrrrgh!!!! My iMac is 7 years old and I am waiting to upgrade - I wish Apple would release the new ones quickly. GrrrrH! All this waiting is making me really upset.

  • Reply 53 of 90
    boredumbboredumb Posts: 1,418member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by SolipsismX View Post



    I can't wait! It'll be my first direct desktop purchase since I started using notebooks way back in the late 90's.


    I envy you!  I bought mine 15 months ago, so they'll be capable of making sushi for me by the time I'm ready again...always assuming they continue making them at all.


     


    I have friends (not "insider" types, but original Apple users) who feel we'll see signs within the next 12-18 months that Apple will eventually (foreseeable future, not 2042AD) stop making desktop machines entirely.


     


    But I don't think I'll ever be ready for that...


     


    I like a lot of scout devices (not gadgets) buzzing around, but I always want my aircraft carrier/mothership hidden away in the den...


     


    I guess that describes about where my head stopped growing.

  • Reply 54 of 90

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by sflocal View Post


    As much as I love my MBA (with a 27" monitor at the office), there's still nothing like have a dedicated desktop machine.  I love my late 2009 i7 iMac and the extra horsepower it has.  When I work from home, it's still more pleasing to use, especially where graphics are concerned.



    Hope you enjoy your new iMac when it comes out.  I'm eyeing an upgrade to mine as well.  I already have someone interested in buying my current iMac, but I'm also considering using it as a second display.



    I have a 2011 iMac so no upgrade for me this year or next.


    It's my very first iMac after years of looking down at all-in-ones as underpowered and unreliable. I'd been a pure desktop/tower guy since the early 1990s. I've never owned a Mac that didn't have at least one component upgraded from stock. These days upgrades are limited to just RAM and external HDs, but in the early days I went so far as soldering a faster clock chip on the logic board. I also built an entire Mac clone from parts I got from dumpsters, ebay and the left over parts from upgrading my other Macs.


     


    I wish I had a 27" iMac on my desk at work too, but I sometimes work from home and it's easier to have a MacBook Pro so I can essentially take the office with me. I don't believe in having work email, files, apps or passwords on my home computer. The only personal files on the MBP are some favourite photos that I use for desktop pictures. Work is work, home is home and never the two shall mix.

  • Reply 55 of 90

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by satchmo View Post


    Maybe we'll be surprised and in fact see Retina display iMacs...and for not much more money. 


     


    I'm sure Apple has secured a lot of display panels to keep costs down. And while profit margin is important, this key product differentiation will sell that many more iMacs during the holiday season.


     


    A new design can only go so far. Especially when many don't see any thing wrong with the current one.


    A new form factor also needs a hook. And that would be the screen resolution. 


    I mean what else can you do with a minimalist design that is almost perfect already.


     


    And oh, I'd love to see a matte version offered. But I'm not holding my breath on that one.



     


    Screen resolution is a tough sell.  The current screens are way nice.  102/109 vs the RD 'spec' of ~123.


     


    If the lamination process lessens the thickness (ala what they are doing in the iPhone 5), then that's less refraction and a clearer screen as well.


     


    iMacs are differentiated by Mac OS X.   I doubt the box shape and size  will do anything.


     


    Price will be king.  Getting a 21" iMac under $1000 would be a great place to start ($899 for education, for those who can't move to iPads).


    Apple doubling down on no built in DVDs,  adding a thunderbolt and USB3.0 is there game plan.

  • Reply 56 of 90

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by spinnerlys View Post


     


    While the MacBook Pro with Retina Display and its resolution might only be a bump of 15% compared to the current 27" iMac's resolution, if the 27" iMac gets a Retina Display, it will probably see a quadrupling of its pixels like every other device by Apple getting a Retina display, which means the resolution will be 5120 x 2880, which is 14.75 million pixels compared to the 5.2 million pixels on the MacBook Pro with Retina Display, thus the iMac would have 284 percent more pixels compared to the MacBook Pro with Retina Display.



     


     


    I thought that too.  But that would be overkill an iMac.   I see that as a Cinema display for a Mac Pro (or a mac Mini;-).

  • Reply 57 of 90

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by spinnerlys View Post


     


    While the MacBook Pro with Retina Display and its resolution might only be a bump of 15% compared to the current 27" iMac's resolution, if the 27" iMac gets a Retina Display, it will probably see a quadrupling of its pixels like every other device by Apple getting a Retina display, which means the resolution will be 5120 x 2880, which is 14.75 million pixels compared to the 5.2 million pixels on the MacBook Pro with Retina Display, thus the iMac would have 284 percent more pixels compared to the MacBook Pro with Retina Display.



    There's no way we're going to see a 5120 x 2880 display in the next year. That's too expensive to produce and requires way too much GPU and VRAM to drive it. The next iMac will be thinner than the current one. That doesn't leave room for the 300W graphics chip and huge cooling fans that would be needed to drive a display like that. Not to mention that the GPU alone would cost Apple close to $500.


     


    My iMac may not have a retina display, but I sit roughly 1m from the screen so it appears that way to me. A small increase in resolution would make it so for all those who sit a little closer than I do.


     


    The reason why I sit so far away is to reduce the intensity of reflections I see in the screen. It doesn't work completely, but as long I don't wear shirts with high contrast patterns or logos it's OK.

  • Reply 58 of 90
    ktappektappe Posts: 823member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by benanderson89 View Post


    I still have cuts all over my fingers where I had to pick up the glass. The magnetic strip and the nails didn't help either.


     


    I would've kept a desktop tower on my desk anyway - no room underneath it. But I think the main reason that it finally fell off was that the desk didn't have the support. I moved my synthesizer rack away from the desk as it was pressing right against it as I needed to feed some wires through. Didn't push it back, desk finally bowed that little bit more to make the iMac stand unstable. Fell forward. BAM!



     


    Ouch. I'm typing this to you on a 21.5" 2011 iMac that did a somersault off of a lab bench. Shattered the glass but the LCD and all else works aside from a couple of dents in the case. Boots & runs fine.  Sorry your internals didn't survive. Usually these things are hardy.

     

  • Reply 59 of 90
    I agree with the comments on no optical drive. Not only are certain things only available on DVD (e.g., instructional videos), but how would one burn their CDs to iTunes? Maybe I'm missing something. Also not sure what the advantage is to a USB boot.
  • Reply 60 of 90
    solipsismxsolipsismx Posts: 19,566member
    On an earlier thread @Wizard69 postulated that Apple would release an updated 27" display with retina before an iMac 27" with retina...
    This makes sense to me as it could address the "pro" needs while accommodating cost and yield issues.
    I've been waiting for an iMac upgrade, and will replace my old Cinema Display too -- if the 27" display gets retina.


    I can see that.
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