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iMac (aluminum) Hardware Updates for Spring 08 Speculation

macdragon said:
Could we see a surprise ad Monday night announcing the release of new iMacs & Mac Minis during the NCAA March Madness Championship Game???? :)
Does Apple:apple: launch April 1st with ads the following weekend at the NCAA and the Masters???? (Are they a technology company or a marketing company?)
(Just read their mission statement, they are a technology company;)...when the manufacturing ramps up completely in China ...they'll be in Apple Retail Stores ready for release on Tuesday. (period):cool:
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Apple's on its own schedule and while they do advertise during big sporting events, they don't launch or update products to coincide with them.

I also wouldn't put much faith in looprumors.com. the name basically implies they want you to run around/get excited for no reason. Also, while reducing the mac mini form factor by 1/2 is possible, it doesn't seem pratical, especially if they're going to increase the hard drive size. I was expecting apple to reduce the height by 25% and possibly eliminate the plastic top.
 
davidemania said:
anybody read this?

http://looprumors.com/article.php?slimmer-imacs-mac-minis-coming,422101511

is the site reliable enough? They talk about "reliable sources" that are "independent" from the ones that started the rumor on macscoop.

I'm really waiting for new iMacs to come out, every good hope helps :)
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last time around (white ---> alum imac update), most of the main stream sites knew the cases and keyboards were going aluminum and the specs (20" and 24" only, dropping the 17", 2.1 and 2.4 core duo). pretty much every substantial rumor website knew an ultraportable was coming at macworld as well. i'd expect to see more sustain reports on macrumors, appleinsider, gizmodo before an update, but pretty much everything we've been seeing is j speculation and nothing that seems solid/substainal.
 
treasurefinder said:
last time around (white ---> alum imac update), most of the main stream sites knew the cases and keyboards were going aluminum and the specs (20" and 24" only, dropping the 17", 2.1 and 2.4 core duo). pretty much every substantial rumor website knew an ultraportable was coming at macworld as well. i'd expect to see more sustain reports on macrumors, appleinsider, gizmodo before an update, but pretty much everything we've been seeing is j speculation and nothing that seems solid/substainal.
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Who knows if the update will be this Tuesday or not. But what we do know is that: (1) Intel is cutting Merom production, forcing Apple to go to Penryn across the board (eventually); (2) UK store John Lewis was running a special on iMacs, then they sold out of the 24" imacs, and now they do not even appear in a search; (3) Best Buy supply of iMac appears to be dwindling (but not sold out) in many places in the US - near where I live there are no iMacs at best buy within 70 miles; (4) MacConnection lists almost all of their iMac options as "on order".

So maybe it is just speculation, but it seems to me that iMac supply is suddenly shrinking dramatically. This corresponds with reports that Apple was going to put out new Penryn iMacs as soon as current stocks were sufficiently depleted. I'm not sure supply has yet dwindled enough, but I think this Tuesday is a reasonable possibility for a small refresh (Penryn chips, possibly new gfx cards, possibly larger hdd, possibly smaller form factor?)
 
As mentioned before John Lewis here in the UK does not have any 24" iMacs in stock but they do have the 2.0GHz 20" available. In addition to that Amazon.co.uk only has 5 24" iMacs in stock and no 20" therefore its sort of safe to say the UK stores are expecting a model upgrade however small.
 
The John Lewis website only has the 20" listed on it's website. They could of dropped the 24" because it wasn't selling well enough for them to justify retailing it anymore or they let it sell out because they expect apple to introduce a new model, not because they know apple will be introducing a new one.

as for Merom, Intel is taking orders for those chips until may, 2009. so if there is an update to penryn, intel didn't force apple to do it.
 
takeabyteoutta said:
The John Lewis website only has the 20" listed on it's website. They could of dropped the 24" because it wasn't selling well enough for them to justify retailing it anymore or they let it sell out because they expect apple to introduce a new model, not because they know apple will be introducing a new one.

as for Merom, Intel is taking orders for those chips until may, 2009. so if there is an update to penryn, intel didn't force apple to do it.
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Just because Intel is taking orders until 2009 does not mean that Intel will continue making them available in quantities acceptable to a major purchaser. Intel may accept orders until 2009, but news stories indicate that Intel is beginning to dramatically reduce production of Merom chips. It was widely reported that Apple updated the MacBooks to Penryn not because they wanted to, but because Intel was cutting production. So clearly this 2009 date, while accurate, does not indicate that Apple could continue to buy Merom in the quantity they desire.
http://www.digitimes.com/NewsShow/N...000000000000000000000000004779&query=CENTRINO

Also, I've heard that the 24" iMacs outsell the 20" iMacs, and if true that would disprove your theory that the 24" iMacs were just selling too poorly in the UK. Besides, major retailers don't "guess" at inventory. They plan months in advance. If supply of 24" iMacs is dwindling, it's because either Apple is having production problems or because Apple has informed its retail partners that new ones are coming.
 
Ryanb1281 said:
Just because Intel is taking orders until 2009 does not mean that Intel will continue making them available in quantities acceptable to a major purchaser. Intel may accept orders until 2009, but news stories indicate that Intel is beginning to dramatically reduce production of Merom chips. It was widely reported that Apple updated the MacBooks to Penryn not because they wanted to, but because Intel was cutting production. So clearly this 2009 date, while accurate, does not indicate that Apple could continue to buy Merom in the quantity they desire.
http://www.digitimes.com/NewsShow/N...000000000000000000000000004779&query=CENTRINO

Also, I've heard that the 24" iMacs outsell the 20" iMacs, and if true that would disprove your theory that the 24" iMacs were just selling too poorly in the UK. Besides, major retailers don't "guess" at inventory. They plan months in advance. If supply of 24" iMacs is dwindling, it's because either Apple is having production problems or because Apple has informed its retail partners that new ones are coming.
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Intel will produce the quantity if someone is willing to pay. They're reducing production because every major laptop producer, including apple, has switched to penryn for their laptops, because it makes sense. Penryn increases battery life and reduces heat production. While its widely reported that apple was "forced" to switch, those claims were made on rumor sites and there's no actual evidence behind these claims. But lets face the real fact... penryn is the new laptop computer standard. If they didn't update the MB and MBP, they're be losing sales to other companies, because just about everyone in their right minds wants a computer with better battery life and less heat production. And another cold hard fact, apple's stubborn as a mull and isn't easily influenced by other companies. They rode power processors to the grizzly death.

The decrease in merom demand would also have created a temporary backlog of supply of merom processors and with demand low, apple and other PC manufacturers that use laptop processors for desktop components can get these chips on the cheap. Even with a decrease in production, the corresponding decrease in demand negates it (just look at apple, their demand for merom chips was essentially halfed when they switched to penryn in the laptops). Fiscally, with the iMac still selling strong, apple is better off holding off for montevina.

I also never insinuated that retailers "guess" at supply, and while they anticipate demand months in advance, most are flexible enough to deal with weekly and sometimes even daily demand fluctuations. I will say though that production problems are probably likely. Heck, if apple really is making the new lines slimmer, I bet they're having plenty of production problems this time. You also over no evidence that 24" outsell 20" and while I wouldn't be surprised if thats true in the united states (bigger is better after all), I think the british point of view is different and the sales rates in jolly olde england reflect this (tipped toward the 20" model).

Your article supports my point of view as well. It claims that Intel is planning drops in merom productions in the second quarter, which is of course the same quarter in which montevina is introduced. the time frame would be perfect for an iMac transition from merom to montevina.
 
takeabyteoutta said:
Intel will produce the quantity if someone is willing to pay.
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That's just not true. Intel will produce the quantity of 65 nm chips if the quantity x profit margin exceeds the quantity x profit margin of 45 nm chips. In other words, Intel has a limited number of a fabrication facilities and they must choose whether they want to switch existing 65 nm facilities to 45 nm processes; if the opportunity for profit on the 45nm lines exceeds that of the 65nm, they will make the conversion, thus reducing their capacity to meet 65nm demand.

That said, John Lewis now lists the 24" iMac back in stock.
 
Ryanb1281 said:
That's just not true. Intel will produce the quantity of 65 nm chips if the quantity x profit margin exceeds the quantity x profit margin of 45 nm chips. In other words, Intel has a limited number of a fabrication facilities and they must choose whether they want to switch existing 65 nm facilities to 45 nm processes; if the opportunity for profit on the 45nm lines exceeds that of the 65nm, they will make the conversion, thus reducing their capacity to meet 65nm demand.

That said, John Lewis now lists the 24" iMac back in stock.
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lol that's the line you chose to focus on. first of all, it is a true statement to your if function. secondly, the 45nm and 65nm manufacturing lines and facilities are quite different. so different in fact that Intel has built new plants in Israel for manufacturing everything based on the 45nm process in the coming 2 years at least (including montevina, nethalem, etc.). while some components of the 65nm line can be salvaged for use in the 45nm plants, a 65nm manufacturing line cannot simply be upgraded to a 45nm iine.

as for your if statement, it's simply not true, because you've oversimplified the problem to high school economics, when the fact of the matter is you're forgetting things like salvage value, operation and maintenance, time value of money, etc. etc. (see any intro econ class in college), and while calculating them might be fun, I'll leave that fun to you.

Luckily, we don't even have to do any calculations, because as I discussed above and you so notably skipped over, Intel has already done these calculations and laid out their plan for 65 nm production, a plan which they believe to be profitable.

I wonder why the 24" would be back in stock so close to a new release date... unless the new release isn't coming so soon.
 
Well, I for one, am awaiting an update in the next few weeks, and if there is no update, I'm just gonna give in and buy. I can't really wait much longer, so, yeah. But who cares really. It's still an Apple product, and therefore is still amazing. Still.... Fingers crossed for an update tomorrow morning :D ...
 
takeabyteoutta said:
as for your if statement, it's simply not true, because you've oversimplified the problem to high school economics, when the fact of the matter is you're forgetting things like salvage value, operation and maintenance, time value of money, etc. etc. (see any intro econ class in college), and while calculating them might be fun, I'll leave that fun to you.
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You're right, I'm sorry, I should have mentioned that my college could only afford coloring books in my econ classes. Thank you for putting me in my place. Of course I simplified the problem, and you're right that there are other factors. As you correctly point out, maintenance and operation costs are important factors. But a company will not hire hundreds of people and have them work a 65nm line, if those same employees could generate more profit standing on a 45nm line. My only point was not that Intel is or is not necessarily cutting Merom (after all, I don't know which line is currently more profitable, although I'm sure that at some point the 45nm processes become more profitable), but only that it is not true to casually say that Intel will always meet demand; I was pointing out that there are lots of factors that might lead Intel to cut production on a particular product. Without knowing the details of Intel's operations, we cannot sit here and say that Intel is NOT cutting Merom supply, because they very well might be.

Also, Intel has converted their lines before and there is no reason to think they aren't doing it now. http://nrc.org/news/breaking.html?id=65

Regardless, it seems unlikely that Apple is doing a refresh tomorrow since John Lewis has iMacs back in stock, MacConnection also has more in stock, and Best Buy's seem to be selling out but there are still lots of stores with stock around the country.
 
My bet is that we'll see new iMacs on April 1st with only minor updates (penryn, price drop, more RAM and maybe improved displays). Here in Canada, FutureShop is almost sold out on 24" iMacs...
 
edovia said:
My bet is that we'll see new iMacs on April 1st with only minor updates (penryn, price drop, more RAM and maybe improved displays). Here in Canada, FutureShop is almost sold out on 24" iMacs...
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I am hoping, hoping, hoping that this is true, because this eMac's life is almost over. Truly.

Tell me this, though--please. If the updates ARE announced tomorrow, will that mean that the new units will be available immediately?

Also, is there any contrarian advice regarding buying the existing iMac rather than buying the one that we hope will be announced tomorrow because, with new revisions, come new bugs and glitches?

Standing by for your opinions...
 
Highway61 said:
If the updates ARE announced tomorrow, will that mean that the new units will be available immediately?

Also, is there any contrarian advice regarding buying the existing iMac rather than buying the one that we hope will be announced tomorrow because, with new revisions, come new bugs and glitches?

Standing by for your opinions...
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It depends, other than when products are announced in advance at MWSF and WWDC, often Apple makes new products available at their stores immediately, but I think sometimes they are listed online as having a few day delay, but someone can correct me if I'm wrong about that.

The only concern I would have about the new models is that we won't know until people have them in hand whether the new models use TN (the worse quality screen used in the 20" iMacs currently) or S-IPS screens. Also, if Apple changes gfx cards (unlikely but possible), the drivers may be immature.
 
its 1:32 am and the apple store isn't down yet. per-tradition, if an update was imminent, you'd get the jolly "we're updating at the moment, check back soon"
 
1.48 am and there IS movement on the Apple site... they've just taken the "new" flashes off the images of the Macbook Pro and Macbooks on their front page... maybe because they are about to put "new" flashes on... the iMac and mini images??? You'll probably know before I do because I'm off to bed.
 
It might not happen until later as they may sychronise it with the US site. I hope so at least. A 30" screen would be way too large for most homes, even 24" is too big. I'd rather they concentrated on making the 20" better quality.
 
Livers said:
It might not happen until later as they may sychronise it with the US site. I hope so at least. A 30" screen would be way too large for most homes, even 24" is too big. I'd rather they concentrated on making the 20" better quality.
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its not even that big a thing to change, just order some decent panels instead of that TN crud
 
Even though I have given myself until the 15th and even though if it had come out today I wasn't going to buy until then....

I'M PISSED! :mad::apple:
 
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