Intel's Merom to power Apple's next-gen iMacs

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Comments

  • Reply 41 of 237
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by pmjoe


    Yawn. Wow, now people are going to have 23" displays to throw away when the computer in them becomes outdated. What a waste. Still wating for news on an updated Mac mini.



    By the time the iMac is outdated, the display will be cheap enough to be easily replaced. That's happened pretty much down the line ever since the first iMac was released. Even if you think the 20" iMac G4 is obsolete, high quality 20" LCDs can be had for under $300 nowadays.



    The Mac mini rumors appear to point to modest speed bumps, and that's fine. If they could just drop the price by $100, that would be killer.
  • Reply 42 of 237
    pbpb Posts: 4,255member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by JeffDM


    I'm almost certain they would work with the iMac. Conroe is pretty close to the power of what was in the iSight G5 iMac



    No, the G5s were in the 45-55 Watts range, Conroe is around 60-65 Watts.



    Quote:
    Originally Posted by JeffDM


    The G5 unit was reputed to be quiet.



    Too many people complained about noise and several heat-related issues. Look now how much of these exist in the Yonah era. Which is similar more or less to Merom.



    But I believe a 23" model could handle the heat of a Conroe. If the rumor is proved to be true, that would mean that Apple is just reluctant to redesign the motherboard for the high end model. Merom is just a drop-in replacement. Big savings for Apple.
  • Reply 43 of 237
    No sources to cite or anything. Where did the information come from?
  • Reply 44 of 237
    flounderflounder Posts: 2,674member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by backtomac


    Flounder,



    You're right perhaps I'm being a little pessimistic. On the bright side, if you buy a 23" iMac with a 2.3 ghz Merom you won't have to worry about a better one coming out for at least a year or so, when core 2 is replaced. No Kentsfield quad cores in Apple's future.



    Are there no speed increases to merom planned? I really don't know anything about intels roadmap. At any rate, now that the days of Moto/IBM are behind us, I really doubt apple would wait an entire year. They'll work something out. Have a little faith
  • Reply 45 of 237
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Yamas


    May they will make a black one and charge extra for it like the macbooks



    As long as they don't put glossy screens on the white models, they can do whatever they like for the stuck-in-the-80s-has-to-be-black club.
  • Reply 46 of 237
    backtomacbacktomac Posts: 4,579member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Flounder


    Are there no speed increases to merom planned? I really don't know anything about intels roadmap. At any rate, now that the days of Moto/IBM are behind us, I really doubt apple would wait an entire year. They'll work something out. Have a little faith



    Santa Rosa will increase the FSB but to my knowledge Merom tops out at 2.3ghz. That's all that is known to be in the works for Merom. Conroe on the other hand will have a quad core drop in replacement (kentsfield) BY THE END OF THE YEAR. (caps for emphasis)
  • Reply 47 of 237
    bjnybjny Posts: 191member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Mace27


    Is anyone else intrigued as to what the surprise to boot might be? Or is the surprise the 23" deal...



    surprise to boot?

    My guess is CrossOver software.
  • Reply 48 of 237
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Flounder


    Noooooooooooooooo! I love the chin! I'd be very sad to see it go.



    The chin won't go. The idea to cut that out and make the back side fatter is absurd.
  • Reply 49 of 237
    pbpb Posts: 4,255member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Mr. Jeff


    No sources to cite or anything. Where did the information come from?



    Sources to cite? You are joking, right? It appears that the same rumor comes from MacOSXrumors too, that has been pretty accurate in many cases. Their server does not respond for the moment, they get probably some heavy traffic right now.
  • Reply 50 of 237
    Perhaps the "suprise to boot" is a redesign... or integrated TV tuner in the 23" model. I don't know, let your mind wander a bit.



    What I really care about is the price of a 23" 2.33 Merom iMac. Any ideas?
  • Reply 51 of 237
    My family would be interested in this next line of iMacs. I can't say we'd be all over the 23" -- it depends on the price.



    Our needs would be to run things for my wife's self-owned business and some power use by me. My previous experience with iMacs lead me to believe it is the best of all worlds. The only downside is the upgrade path, but I can't see us ever upgrading anything other than the memory.



    In short, is the iMac, now or in a few months, good enough for work and play? And by "play" I don't mean playing graphics-intensive games. More like creating graphics and music and such.
  • Reply 52 of 237
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by Squirrel_Monkey


    In short, is the iMac, now or in a few months, good enough for work and play? And by "play" I don't mean playing graphics-intensive games. More like creating graphics and music and such.





    Given enough RAM, any Mac (or PC) produced in the last few years is more than capable of what you ask.



    Added after edit:



    Industrial Light & Magic used G3 macs with less than 200MB RAM to create some of the FX shots on Episode 1.
  • Reply 53 of 237
    An update to Merom is a lazy update. Unless it was solely to keep the machine quiet. So surely we have to expect an Intel desktop CPU based machine at Macworld In January now.



    In my mind the iMac because it has a built in (read throwaway) monitor is not a computer that I would want to spend lots of money on. It is a very nice machine but the extra price of the 20" over the price of the 17" has never seemed worth it to me. At almost a 1/3 more in price yet only giving a 3" larger screen, a 10% faster CPU and a 90GB larger HD has always to me seemed a waste of money. A 23" can only be even more of a waste. Better to buy a 2Ghz Mac Pro and a Cinema Screen maybe. Or buy the 17" and purchase a second monitor. Cost you about the same as the 20" (possibly less if if you buy a 17" 4:3 LCD) and you have loads more screen real estate.



    However, if screen prices have reduced so much that Apple can upgrade the 17" to 20" and 20" to 23" then I will shut up.
  • Reply 54 of 237
    auroraaurora Posts: 1,142member
    I Hope they get rid of the chin because it looks like crap,I also hope they dont go cheapo on the GPU like they did in Mini & Mac Pro. Wouldnt it suck if they get rid of ati and use a Intel GPU? knowing Apple it could happen.
  • Reply 55 of 237
    can someone show me the upsides of merom over conroe, because i wanted conroe.
  • Reply 56 of 237
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by mdriftmeyer


    The chin won't go. The idea to cut that out and make the back side fatter is absurd.



    One of the things that turns me off in the current iMacs is the chin. It looks bulky and makes the screen feel smaller.



    I wonder if it's possible to remove the chin and still keep it thin. A 23" model would create more space in the back where they could put components.



    In any case, the iMac is due for a redesign. The G4 iMac (floating screen) was introduced in 2002 and was replaced in 2004 with the current design. Following that pattern, 2006 is the year for another major design change.
  • Reply 57 of 237
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by MacsRbetterthanPC


    can someone show me the upsides of merom over conroe, because i wanted conroe.



    Less Heat = Less fans = Less noise.
  • Reply 58 of 237
    So what about the MacBook Pro getting a Merom chip?



    This news kind of upsets me because if they intend to use part of their stock of Meroms in the iMac, then that much less stock (of an already hampered availability) is left to be used in the MBP. This leads me to believe that they are holding off a CPU upgrade to the MBP in lieu of the Santa Rosa next year. Just speculating of course, and I'm happy for those of you waiting for an iMac announcement, but I really want a damn Merom in a MBP!
  • Reply 59 of 237
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider


    Speculation immediately turned towards Conroe making an appearance in the iMac line, but insiders say Merom's lower power requirements and reduced heat dissipation are better suited for the iMac's sleek and ultra-compact industrial design.



    Conroe was never going to go into the iMac or Mac mini, and I haven't seen any credible commentator suggest otherwise. Merom offers equivalent performance at much lower power usage / heat consumption, and it's a drop-in replacement for the current Yonah chips.



    The only reason Conroe didn't make it into the Mac Pro was the need for dual CPUs. Woodcrest is not really a higher-performing chip, and should not be positioned as such (though some of them include extra cache compared with Conroe, any increase is offset by the much slower real-world throughput in the RAM used by Woodcrest), it's just intended for multi-CPU server and workstation implementations.
  • Reply 60 of 237
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by stompy


    If a 23" is introduced, could the 17" be dropped (maybe taking an education only spot)?



    Sounds logical to me!
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