What changes do you predict we will see to the iMac at Macworld? How likely do you think it will be that there will be a design change to the case? or just an internal speed bump to match the specs of the MBP?
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The outward design will not change. The internals however will go through a lot. It might possibly get the dual GPU thing as it will use the 9400M chipset. Will also get a DisplayPort and the possible loss of the FW400 port. The CPU speed will be increased (not quad-core), and the RAM speed will go up to DDR3.
I don't think we'll see a design change - Apple has finally transitioned the MacBook/MacBook Pro to the iMac's sliver/black.glass design, so I doubt they'll be changing it anytime soon. Internally though, we'll definitely see updates, it's just a question of to what degree. People have speculated on Blu Ray drives for instance, but I don't believe we'll see them in the iMac (or any other machine for that matter) until we see them in the Mac Pro first.
Seems about right, I reckon the design has another year and half or so in it, around late 2009/ 10 could be the next point for a cosmetic upgrade, seeing as the white casing had a 3yr lifespan. If i decided to go for a 24", 3.06Ghz now, do you reckon that will be antiquated technology by the time the next update appears?
The dual GPU system seems like it'll be redundant in the iMac, but it's possible we'll see the 9400 in the baseline, and 9600 in the higher end models, with an optional 9800 or stretching the realms of possibility, SLI graphics of some sort.
It's been done in high end gaming laptops, so it won't be an impossible feat of engineering for the iMac
It's been done in high end gaming laptops, so it won't be an impossible feat of engineering for the iMac
Hopeful guess? I'd like to see quad-cores, up to 8GB of DDR3, Blu-Ray, and whatever mobile equivalent of the 4850 ATI has by January?
All of things (or similar) are offered from other vendors. Heck, quite a few laptops have these things now in the gamer-range.
More than likely, though; we'll see higher-clocked dual cores, DDR3 standard (but only 4gigs), 9400 in the 20", 9600 in the 24", and the option of a 9800 in the 24".
All of things (or similar) are offered from other vendors. Heck, quite a few laptops have these things now in the gamer-range.
More than likely, though; we'll see higher-clocked dual cores, DDR3 standard (but only 4gigs), 9400 in the 20", 9600 in the 24", and the option of a 9800 in the 24".
Yeah, as I mentioned in my post, the only way we'll be seeing those technologies in the new iMac is if we see them in the Mac Pro first - with the exception of the DD3 RAM possibly. Further to this, I don't know what Apple's strategy is with respect to Mac Pro RAM, as FB-DIMM has effectively been EOL'd - they'll need to change it to something in the near future one would think... or hope...
Me too. I'm not waiting until MacWorld. I'm going to buy a 2.8Ghz iMac in a few weeks. However I will feel really bad if the new iMac at MacWorld is ALOT faster. What are the chances of it being a very big speed update?
Based on current processor architectures I don't see a huge change coming for the iMac by January. There is Nehalem Core i7 to consider, however I believe Apple will wait until the Xeon/server class variants of the technology are ready for implementation in their Macs Pros prior to utilizing the technology in the iMac. This being the case, you would not see a chip technology upgrade in a new iMac, meaning you will see only a speed bump using the current Penryn architecture. If this is indeed the case, the speed increase will be nothing dramatic.
On the other hand, if Apple throws a few major updates our way at MWSF 09 including a revamped Mac Pro, I suppose it's always possible. Anything is possible.
New GPUs- likely the same 9xxx mobile series chips we see in the notebooks. I highly doubt Apple's going to start loading cards in the iMacs due to the heat issue in an all-in-one computer, but you never know. And on the topic of GPUs, is Apple finally dropping ATi? They seem to be left out in the cold as of recently.
New CPUs- if Intel's Core i7 lives up to it's name, Apple might integrate that into the iMacs. But we never know. The Core 2 Duo is still an extremely powerful contender.
New CPUs- if Intel's Core i7 lives up to it's name, Apple might integrate that into the iMacs. But we never know. The Core 2 Duo is still an extremely powerful contender.
Agreed, I don't think we'll see i7 in the iMac for a while. As I said before, not before the Mac Pro gets it if nothing else.
I don't think there will be a design change at all in 2009, but there will be a slight design change in 2010. I think it will still be aluminum and will have a smaller chin.
Matte option screen....finally?
You know better than to say the words matte and screen in the same sentence when you're talking about Apple. By the way, I'm a glossy screen fan.
Thanks for your views and help. Decided i couldn't be bothered to wait any more. Rung up Apple Uni store this morning and ordered the 24" 3.06Ghz. Quite pleased, got Applecare for £30!
Good choice... I think that the current model is amazing! My friend just bought the 24" 2.8 GHz model (from the refurbished store) and he loves it. He's using it mainly to run Logic Pro.
Even if we see a decent upgrade at MWSF your machine will still be as good as it is now, so you have nothing to worry about - I'm sure it will serve your needs for a long time to cpome, regardless of what upgrades we see in the near future. Buy your iMac and start enjoying it now as opposed to playing the waiting game!
Even if we see a decent upgrade at MWSF your machine will still be as good as it is now, so you have nothing to worry about - I'm sure it will serve your needs for a long time to cpome, regardless of what upgrades we see in the near future. Buy your iMac and start enjoying it now as opposed to playing the waiting game!
I was in the same position this time last year, and I wish that I would have gone ahead and bought it. I waited until after MacWorld 2008 to find out that there were no updates. In fact, there were no updates until April 2008.
Yep - if you play the waiting game, that's all you usually end up doing - waiting!
are we almost certain to see LED backlit screens in January? How much better do you think they will be than the current display?
Contrary to many, I don't expect a MWSF 2009 update, since the iMac update is not projected to be significant enough for MWSF. The only reason I can see a MWSF release is if Apple's releasing a multi-touch Mighty Mouse at the same time (or something else worth mentioning). I think that late January / late February is more likely. I also think we'll see:
The 133 MHz speed bumped CPUs in Q1 2009, so maximum dual-core speed would be projected to be 3.33/3.47 GHz (up from current 3.07 GHz). That would mean the low-end CPU would go from 2.4 GHz to 2.67/2.8 GHz, a fairly big increase IMO.
LED displays, NVIDIA chipset, DDR3, etc. No Blu-ray.
While Apple is converging the MacBook and MacBook Pro lines, Apple may be diverging the 20" and 24" iMacs.
The 133 MHz speed bumped CPUs in Q1 2009, so maximum dual-core speed would be projected to be 3.33/3.47 GHz (up from current 3.07 GHz). That would mean the low-end CPU would go from 2.4 GHz to 2.67/2.8 GHz, a fairly big increase IMO.
LED displays, NVIDIA chipset, DDR3, etc. No Blu-ray.
While Apple is converging the MacBook and MacBook Pro lines, Apple may be diverging the 20" and 24" iMacs.
- 20" may lose Firewire while the 24" retains Firewire 800
- 20" stays dual-core while the 24" goes to quad-core (fits in with Intel's emphasis on quad-core for the high-end and their not releasing any dual-cores above 3.07 GHz). While Apple has not let quad-cores be of lower GHz than dual-cores in the same product line, Apple might let that slide due to the gap between the 20" and 24" iMacs.
- 20" iMac uses GeForce 9400M series GPUs while the 24" uses GeForce 9600M series GPUs with BTO option to 9800M
- 20" has 2 GB RAM standard while the 24" has 4 GB RAM standard (long shot, maybe the higher-end 24")
- 20" becomes the iMac version of the MacBook, while the 24" becomes the iMac version of the MacBook Pro
- In Q3 2009, Clarksfield is released, which may mean that the 24" iMac gets updated with Nehalem first, leaving the 20" untouched or slightly updated for another half year before Auburndale is released. Depending on when 32 nm Clarksfield is released, Apple may release the 32 nm Clarksfield 24" iMac and the (45 nm) Auburndale 20" iMac at the same time in H1 2010 (and then a combined update with 32 nm Auburndale in H2 2010, etc.).
That sounds reasonable. I'd say we may see it with Nehalem (late 2009 and/or early 2010). The iMac G5 case also had a slight redesign with the Front Row version too. This slight change may be exclusive to the 24".
This was the thing that was holding me back from buying the iMac, However, doing a bit of poking around the tech specs of apples cinema display this morning revealed a few interesting things.
The 24" LED Cinema Display has 330cd/m2 and a contrast ratio of 1000:1
Whereas the iMac currently has 385cd/m2 and a contrast ratio of 750:1
So i figured that it wasn't worth it spend ages waiting for only a small bump in contrast ratio. The LED seems to have greater advantages in a laptop line due to being less power hungry and also lets Apple stay on the right side of greenpeace.
How about display port? Maybe a physical height change to match it up to the size of the new 24" ACD?
The display port is a definite possibility - it would make sense for Apple to transition the bulk of their product line to this new interface which they seem to be promoting with the new line of MacBook/MacBook Pros.
For me the main reason to wait for the LED display is because of the backlight bleeding on the current gen. I wonder how noticeable the difference will be. Decisions decisions....