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Good time to buy iMac?
- Thread starter poonnapat
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Well, certainly the imac isn't cool at the moment because of it's dependance on laptop parts and it's unchanged cpu since early 2008.. It's antiquated and I don't recommend it to anyone. If they give it some real power it could sell alot more.
Define "real power". With little redesign iMac could handle desktop QxxxxS series though, because they are 65W
At the least I would expect those core2quads. I would buy if they added those, despite it already being quite old tech as well. However, this was already available during the march refresh, so I find it rather strange that they didn't use them already.
This is exactly how I feel. When you can build a 3.2 GHz Quad-core (AMD Phenom II 955) Windows-based Desktop with 8GB DDR3 memory, 2GB 4870 (or 1GB 4890) video card, 640GB WD Black-series hard drive, ASUS motherboard, a quality case, and a quality PSU for under $1000, and Apple is selling their desktop for $1499 with a 2 year old dual-core CPU with a 2 year old integrated GPU with shared ram, it's a bit offensive in my opinion.
Don't understand me wrong but I'd love to have iMac with desktop parts but without huge redesign it's impossible and Apple seems to be happy with mobile components and current design. It's possible that we won't see quad-core in iMac before late 2010 or 2011
You can't really compare full size tower and AIO like iMac... And you'll be stuck with Windows then and for me OS X is worth over 500.
Next update will hopefully give us new CPUs and price cut.
Since apple doesn't offer anything else affordable we can compare desktops like that. It's what everyone does when they consider apple (and then decide against it because of the low specs and high price). We don't specifically want an imac, if apple gave a mid range desktop I would buy that instead.
You're right, but "xMac" has been discussed so many times. I would definitely buy it as well but as long as Mini and iMac exists and sells somehow, we won't see it. Looks like Apple doesn't care about desktop customers so much anymore unfortunately.
My view is it´s always a good time to buy an Imac.
However, you´ve probably noted that we are approaching a possible update. This time not only a slight spec upgrade,
but most likely an improved design of the old one. But then again that means reasonable (well ...) prizes on the current
ones. And believe you me thay are good.
However, you´ve probably noted that we are approaching a possible update. This time not only a slight spec upgrade,
but most likely an improved design of the old one. But then again that means reasonable (well ...) prizes on the current
ones. And believe you me thay are good.
Huh
If u need it now - buy it.However i wont buy new mac until they do some serious uprade not just some xx mhz.In the pc world even the core2quad is behind now.You can build very nice system with i7 for 1000$ but windows ...Add 200$ for a nice display and u have the price of the low end imac with 2.66core2duo and crapy 9400
That's why i grab a refurb mini previous gen uprade it myself and have a mac for my daily jobs However i do my cpu and gpu intense work on a crapy dell and i have to deal with windows...If only apple would offer something with quad cpu and avarage gpu i would buy it in the moment.The Mac Pro is too much for me
If u need it now - buy it.However i wont buy new mac until they do some serious uprade not just some xx mhz.In the pc world even the core2quad is behind now.You can build very nice system with i7 for 1000$ but windows ...Add 200$ for a nice display and u have the price of the low end imac with 2.66core2duo and crapy 9400
That's why i grab a refurb mini previous gen uprade it myself and have a mac for my daily jobs
However i do my cpu and gpu intense work on a crapy dell and i have to deal with windows...If only apple would offer something with quad cpu and avarage gpu i would buy it in the moment.The Mac Pro is too much for meIt depends on what particular components you base "minor"/"major" on. The significance of an update is not solely based on the CPU bump, although the CPU is a major factor. Although we saw only a small CPU bump with the last MacBook Pro update, we also saw the new battery, SD slot, and price adjustments. I do tend to agree on the two minor updates part though.
I'm starting to think the upcoming update will be Penryn. Up to 55 W at up to ~3.33 GHz. An update right before a new CPU/chipset has happened twice before since Intel (May 2007 MacBook, April 2008 iMac), so maybe it can happen again, who knows.
Of course that is my pessimistic prediction so feel free to be more optimistic.
Same with the mobile Core 2 Quad. It seems like Apple is avoiding quad-core in the iMac for some reason. This is pretty much the main reason why I don't see quad-core in the iMac until 2011.
Battery can't be updates in iMac
SD card slot is useless and iMacs don't have any slots... So what's left? Okay, Apple can update to LED display, get better iSight, speakers etc, but IMO, Apple needs to put some power to iMacSounds possible but is 300MHz giving any performance boost? Not really. But who knows? I'm still more in Arrandale side...
Of course that is my pessimistic prediction so feel free to be more optimistic.
I was so optimistic with last update but it turned out to be bad one
I'm just hoping that Apple will do something for iMac to make it close to desktop PCs I've heard your point couple of times and it really makes sense. Basically it's yours and Tallest Skil's (+all modes of course) points which really makes sense here. Late 2010 is possible too, mainly depends when Sandy Bridge will come.
Just my ideas again
Arrandale probably won't give a big boost either since we're seeing a clock speed drop from 3.07 GHz to 2.67 GHz. Use of Turbo Boost and HyperThreading should put it ahead of the 3.07 GHz and even a 3.33 GHz though.
That's why I'm pessimistic about future hardware updates.I was so optimistic with last update but it turned out to be bad one
I wouldn't touch an iMac these days, with a 10 foot pole. Not only is the tech obsolete, but there are tons and tons and tons of users with serious screen problems even for the 24" (just look at this forum).
Here's what I would need to buy an iMac: LED screen, quad CPU, modern GPU, more FW and USB access slots. I don't see this happening anytime soon... like years. So I'm skipping the iMac altogether.
Instead I'm going for the lowest spec current mini, and maxing the RAM and putting in a big and fast HDD (can't afford an SSD), and getting a LED screen. Sure, it's also way old technology and overpriced for what it is, but the absolute amount of money I have to lay out is smaller, and so I won't feel as frustrated.
The longer this goes on, the more I'm convinced Apple seriously needs to have a mid-range desktop built with desktop parts... but we've had this discussion so many times, I don't feel like hashing it out again. Let's just say, that I think they'll seriously start losing market share over the next couple of years, unless they fix this ridiculous situation.
Here's what I would need to buy an iMac: LED screen, quad CPU, modern GPU, more FW and USB access slots. I don't see this happening anytime soon... like years. So I'm skipping the iMac altogether.
Instead I'm going for the lowest spec current mini, and maxing the RAM and putting in a big and fast HDD (can't afford an SSD), and getting a LED screen. Sure, it's also way old technology and overpriced for what it is, but the absolute amount of money I have to lay out is smaller, and so I won't feel as frustrated.
The longer this goes on, the more I'm convinced Apple seriously needs to have a mid-range desktop built with desktop parts... but we've had this discussion so many times, I don't feel like hashing it out again. Let's just say, that I think they'll seriously start losing market share over the next couple of years, unless they fix this ridiculous situation.