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Quadcore iMacs

E

ErichVonHinken

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 29, 2009
1
0
Hello

I'm just wondering when quadcore iMacs are said to be released. I'm starting school in the fall and I'm not sure if I should buy a core2 model now, or wait it out. Any news when the new models might come out?

Thanks
 
Tallest Skil said:
Based on what we've been told by the companies in question. I don't make predictions if no data exists. I'll look for what people are doing, have planned for the future, or have said will happen in the future, and predict from that.

Usually right. :p
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I'm going to have to agree with Tallest on this one. Pretty much close to spot on. And it is easier to look at hardware providers and see what their future products / announcement dates are.
 
I'd wait just to get OS X Snow Leopard pre installed on the iMacs to save some money for other things.

Hopefully by fall it the new OS will be out.
 
FlintAlt2 said:
I'd wait just to get OS X Snow Leopard pre installed on the iMacs to save some money for other things.

Hopefully by fall it the new OS will be out.
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It'll take time to get Mac with pre-installed SL. Maybe something like they did with iLife '09, pay little more and you'll get it.


Q4 2009 is my guess. Apple wants 'em for christmas sales.
 
Why does everyone say arrandale and not clarksfield?

Arrandale is only 2 cores, I doubt they would use that for the imac.

So in conclusion, I think new imacs = sept-oct of this year.
 
wesleyh said:
Why does everyone say arrandale and not clarksfield?

Arrandale is only 2 cores, I doubt they would use that for the imac.

So in conclusion, I think new imacs = sept-oct of this year.
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This is my hope as well, but given that the Mac desktops are only seeing annual (at best) updates, I've pretty much resigned myself to waiting until 2010 for the next rev. I'll be thrilled if I can buy a Clarksfield iMac this year!
 
wesleyh said:
Why does everyone say arrandale and not clarksfield?

Arrandale is only 2 cores, I doubt they would use that for the imac.

So in conclusion, I think new imacs = sept-oct of this year.
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I too was wondering this as I thought the Clarksfield chip would find it's way (hopefully) into the next iMac revision. I too was speculatively hoping for a iMac revison around September - November 2009.

I'm sure Tallest Skil will fill us in on this as I assumed the Clarksfield was superior to the Arrandale and ideally suited to the iMac.
 
wesleyh said:
Why does everyone say arrandale and not clarksfield?

Arrandale is only 2 cores, I doubt they would use that for the imac.

So in conclusion, I think new imacs = sept-oct of this year.
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The power draw is too high. They'd have to reengineer the cooling (and therefore the case) to get them to work. The quad-core Penryns pull the same wattage as Clarksfield, and we haven't used them.
 
Tallest Skil said:
The power draw is too high. They'd have to reengineer the cooling (and therefore the case) to get them to work. The quad-core Penryns pull the same wattage as Clarksfield, and we haven't used them.
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I thought the Clarksfield drew 45/55W TDP (accordding to Wikipedia). Also surely this would be the maximum heat with the chip running at full tilt. Surely the iMac, with some minor heat venting changes, could handle this? What is the TDP of the current Core 2 Duo chips in the current iMacs?
 
spcdust said:
I thought the Clarksfield drew 45/55W TDP (accordding to Wikipedia). Also surely this would be the maximum heat with the chip running at full tilt. Surely the iMac, with some minor heat venting changes, could handle this? What is the TDP of the current Core 2 Duo chips in the current iMacs?
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I believe the ones they're using are only 35W.
 
Tallest Skil said:
I believe the ones they're using are only 35W.
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Well, my fingers are crossed that Apple do a little work on cooling to allow them to install the Clarksfield. Also, by using the Clarksfield would they be able to loose other heat generating components (GPU?) that would reduce the overall heat output of the iMac?
 
Tallest Skil said:
The power draw is too high. They'd have to reengineer the cooling (and therefore the case) to get them to work. The quad-core Penryns pull the same wattage as Clarksfield, and we haven't used them.
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A redesign is certainly possible...the current iMac is already on its third revision, plus three revisions of the iMac G5, which was essentially the same design. I guess it depends on whether Apple thinks that quad-core is suited for a consumer Mac (though since the Intel transition they've been talking up the 24" iMac as a pro machine, or at least that pro customers love it, etc). Does anyone know what the expected clock speeds of quad-Clarksfield or dual-Arrandale are expected to be? Maybe Apple is wary of putting in a lower-clocked chip into a Mac where its intended users will benefit more from speed than cores.
 
Ambrose Chapel said:
A redesign is certainly possible...
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It would have to look exactly the same on the outside; Apple wants consistency with the look of their line and they JUST migrated the laptops to be so.

Does anyone know what the expected clock speeds of quad-Clarksfield or dual-Arrandale are expected to be...
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I don't believe they've been announced yet, particularly Arrandale, as it's a Westmere variant.

Bye Bye Baby said:
Wouldn't it be better to wait for Nahelem to go mobile?
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That's what we're talking about...

Clarskfield is the mobile Nehalem, Arrandale is the mobile Westmere.
 
Clarksfield are mobile chips... So I assume for use in laptops? Why else would they make them? So to say that the imac couldn't handle it is laughable.
 
Tallest Skil said:
The power draw is higher than Penryn. It is very possible that the iMac cannot handle them.
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Which kind of suggests that Apple have backed themselves into a corner design wise if their consumer desk top range cannot even handle a modern mobile chip. This is why I think we could see Apple do some heat venting work in the next revision whilst still maintaining current design form.
 
spcdust said:
Which kind of suggests that Apple have backed themselves into a corner design wise if their consumer desk top range cannot even handle a modern mobile chip. This is why I think we could see Apple do some heat venting work in the next revision whilst still maintaining current design form.
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I hope so. I totally agree about the iMac being designed into a corner...

One thing I don't get is that the G5 used in the iMac surely ran hotter than quad-Penryn or Clarksfield will (right? I don't know the numbers but I can't imagine that's wrong) and the iMac G5 wasn't too much thicker than the current aluminum model. So even if Clarksfield runs a little hotter than Arrandale will, do we know for sure that the current case couldn't handle it? Maybe heat was not the reason the newest iMacs didn't use quad-Penryn; maybe Apple is waiting for Snow Leopard so that they can claim real-world performance increases with quads, particularly if they will have a lower clock speed than duals.

Or maybe I am just grasping at straws so that I can have my iMac Clarksfield :D
 
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