New I-Macs within days?

[gixxerredliner]

All Good Reasons

Given the current financial climate and the fact my wife is only just back in employment after being made redundant, my budget is £800 which is sitting in my Bank Account waiting to be spent ... or should I say burning a hole in my pocket!

I am most likely going for the entry level 20" iMac, and was almost tempted by the Refurb Store's offer of that very model for £645 but decided against it for two reasons:

1. The pending update and the possibility that the price could come down ... as unlikely as that seems with the GBP to USD rate.

2. I had no experience of the Refurb Store and decided to source out opinions on it and how good products bought from it are, both in terms of cosmetics and reliability. I have been impressed with the feedback on the Refurb Store and will seriously consider any future offers that come on there.

Very good post, may I also ask why do you prefer the imac to the new Alu macbooks? thanks

 

[WeegieMac]

My wet dream for the iMac:
Matte screen option
30" 2560x1600 resolution iMac
Blu-ray drive
HDMI and component connection (connect PS2, PS3 and XBox 360, use the iMac as a display)
Dual hard drives
Properly calibrated out of the box (2.2 gamma 6500K)
CrossFire and/or SLI (for some games)

Would never happen though.

I'd be happy to see the 20" go up to:

20" LED display (glossy suits the design, although it's not ideal for design according to some).
320GB HDD as standard (this option as an upgrade when buying new is only £29 - 250GB to 320GB).
2GB DDR3 as standard.
Same entry level cost of £782.00

Graphics chip isn't too "important" to me in that whatever Apple's put in the iMac in the past has done the job for me.

 

[kabunaru]

I'd be happy to see the 20" go up to:

Or the 20" could be discontinued. The new iMacs could be 24" and 30".
Computers are getting bigger and bigger as time progresses.

 

[WeegieMac]

Very good post, may I also ask why do you prefer the imac to the new Alu macbooks? thanks

That's quite a simple answer really.

Firstly, I don't think the new Macbooks represent value for money ... £929 for a 13.5 display, regardless of it being LED and encased in a unibody design is just ludicrous. They often appear on the Refurb Store for £799, which is better but still not ideal considering my line of business.

As I explained previously, things are tight financially in my home for the reasons mentioned. If I bought a Macbook I would want to utilise the extra processing power over my existing iMac, but designing websites on a 13.5 display is just not worth contemplating, no matter how impressive the Macbook would look when brought to Clients premises for displaying content, etc.

Therefore, I would need to consider an Apple Cinema Display, with the 24" LED being "made specifically for" the new Macbook and costing well over £600 ... again, I don't have that kind of money to throw around right now or in the foreseeable future.

So, in terms of "bang per buck" (as our American friends sometimes say), the 20" iMac represents what I need right now:

More screen real estate, upgrading from 17" to 20".
Faster CPU, upgrading from 1.83GHz Core Duo to 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo.
More Memory, upgrading from a max of 2GB to a max of 4GB.
Larger Hard Drive, upgrading from 160GB to (potentially) 320GB with the optional £29 upgrade when buying new.

That's pretty much my reasoning.

 

[WeegieMac]

Or the 20" could be discontinued. The new iMacs could be 24" and 30".
Computers are getting bigger and bigger as time progresses.

I don't see 30" iMacs coming, again just my gut instinct. I sound like a right boring old sod, but I refuse to let the rumors part of Macrumors get me overly excited.

I simply don't see them moving the entire Mac range to such an upmarket and overpriced state and leaving "budget" buyers with the only option of a Mac Mini.

 

[gixxerredliner]

Interesting

That's quite a simple answer really.

Firstly, I don't think the new Macbooks represent value for money ... £929 for a 13.5 display, regardless of it being LED and encased in a unibody design is just ludicrous. They often appear on the Refurb Store for £799, which is better but still not ideal considering my line of business.

As I explained previously, things are tight financially in my home for the reasons mentioned. If I bought a Macbook I would want to utilise the extra processing power over my existing iMac, but designing websites on a 13.5 display is just not worth contemplating, no matter how impressive the Macbook would look when brought to Clients premises for displaying content, etc.

Therefore, I would need to consider an Apple Cinema Display, with the 24" LED being "made specifically for" the new Macbook and costing well over £600 ... again, I don't have that kind of money to throw around right now or in the foreseeable future.

So, in terms of "bang per buck" (as our American friends sometimes say), the 20" iMac represents what I need right now:

More screen real estate, upgrading from 17" to 20".
Faster CPU, upgrading from 1.83GHz Core Duo to 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo.
More Memory, upgrading from a max of 2GB to a max of 4GB.
Larger Hard Drive, upgrading from 160GB to (potentially) 320GB with the optional £29 upgrade when buying new.

That's pretty much my reasoning.

Do you have to have apple upgrade the imac for you? or can you do it yourself? meaning the 2gb to 4gb? thanks

 

[WeegieMac]

Do you have to have apple upgrade the imac for you? or can you do it yourself?

When you buy a computer on the Apple Store online there are various, sometimes limited options, that you can change such as memory, hard drive size, graphics chipset, pre-installed software.

The 20" iMac entry level model has the option to upgrade the default 250GB hard drive to a 320GB one for £29 on top of the original £782 price point.

 

[Hellhammer]

You've talked a lot in few hours. I was out with my friends for 2 hours and there is 2 pages of text. I can't read that all...

 

[gixxerredliner]

In your opinion

When you buy a computer on the Apple Store online there are various, sometimes limited options, that you can change such as memory, hard drive size, graphics chipset, pre-installed software.

The 20" iMac entry level model has the option to upgrade the default 250GB hard drive to a 320GB one for £29 on top of the original £782 price point.

What gets your more bang for your buck? A 2.66 imac or the 2.4 imac? in terms of basic fuctions such as watching youtube, movies, surfing the internet? I dont use any graphic demanding programs or plan to do any extensive movie editing.

 

[WeegieMac]

What gets your more bang for your buck? A 2.66 imac or the 2.4 imac? in terms of basic fuctions such as watching youtube, movies, surfing the internet? I dont use any graphic demanding programs or plan to do any extensive movie editing.

I'd go for the entry level 2.4GHz for what you're describing, especially if you see one on the Refurb Store at the £645 price point ... are you from the UK?

 

[gixxerredliner]

oh buddy

I'd go for the entry level 2.4GHz for what you're describing, especially if you see one on the Refurb Store at the £645 price point ... are you from the UK?

I wish i was from the UK lol, i actually have a friend that stays in south london town on ravens wood. I actually live in anchorage alaska

 

[iMacmatician]

Some thoughts on a redesign:

• It is clear that recent redesigns share a black and aluminum look, the first being the August 2007 iMac
• A redesign need not be major; the October 2005 iMac had a minor design change from its predecessor
• The iMac is likely to keep its existing design, at least for a few more years
• But there may be a small design change with the coming update, especially if it also has quad-core
• The Mac mini is more likely to have a redesign, major or otherwise, than the iMac

 

[WeegieMac]

I wish i was from the UK lol, i actually have a friend that stays in south london town on ravens wood. I actually live in anchorage alaska

Well, I'd recommend putting this link in your Favourites:

http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/specialdeals/mac/imac

Direct link to the US Apple Store's refurb section, more specifically the iMac section.

 

[gixxerredliner]

Thanks

Well, I'd recommend putting this link in your Favourites:

http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/specialdeals/mac/imac

Direct link to the US Apple Store's refurb section, more specifically the iMac section.

Yeah i was thinking of getting a refurb only thing is the wait until it gets here LOL i want it like now. Also if i order it online and it comes to my home, if something is wrong i will have to mail it out vs if i bought it here at best buy i could just exchange it there lol tough choices ah?

 

[m1stake]

if something is wrong i will have to mail it out vs if i bought it here at best buy i could just exchange it there lol tough choices ah?

It'll be you're fault at best buy

 

[gixxerredliner]

Lmao Lmao Lmao

It'll be you're fault at best buy

By far one of the most entertaining storys ive read in a while LMAO, but i wouldnt purchase it online just at the actual store

 

[kabunaru]

Some thoughts on a redesign:

• It is clear that recent redesigns share a black and aluminum look, the first being the August 2007 iMac
• A redesign need not be major; the October 2005 iMac had a minor design change from its predecessor
• The iMac is likely to keep its existing design, at least for a few more years
• But there may be a small design change with the coming update, especially if it also has quad-core
• The Mac mini is more likely to have a redesign, major or otherwise, than the iMac

1. True
2. How so?
3. Really?
4. Agreed
5. Can you make a mock-up of what you think it will look like?
Thanks.

 

[iMacmatician]

3. Really?

I don't recall Mac designs significantly changing this quickly since early in the decade.

5. Can you make a mock-up of what you think it will look like?

I'm kinda thinking a Time Capsule-type look.

 

[kabunaru]

I don't recall Mac designs significantly changing this quickly since early in the decade.

Well, then maybe Apple should go back to iMac G4 design. That was the best designed iMac in my opinion.

 

[Drumerdude]

What about Snow Leopard? Wouldn't it be better to debut it while the iMac makes it debut as well?

Yeah, has anyone heard anything about snowleapord? The same page on apple has been up for almost a year now.

The g4 was pretty cool. The last couple of macs were all awesome. They should make an aniversiry edition for each imac.

 

[futurase]

It does seem that Apple is waiting to dump Snow Leopard and the new iMac's out at the same time. Longer things linger on the more likely it seems. Which makes me tend to believe that that something like a new OS revision is not coming out without a keynote event.

Norman Ross Jr.

 

[FAIL]

With this waiting, im able to afford the 24 inch now...As long as the price stays the same anyways.

 

[Eric S.]

Yeah, has anyone heard anything about snowleapord?

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/511801/

It does seem that Apple is waiting to dump Snow Leopard and the new iMac's out at the same time.

Are you saying that you think iMacs are ready now, but Apple is not releasing them? That would make no sense to me.

 

[Blue Sun]

It does seem that Apple is waiting to dump Snow Leopard and the new iMac's out at the same time. Longer things linger on the more likely it seems. Which makes me tend to believe that that something like a new OS revision is not coming out without a keynote event.

Norman Ross Jr.

If I was Apple I'd release the iMacs before SL, so customers would have to buy it separately -> its always about $.

 

[lastochka]

So how are those new iMacs coming? Any news yet?