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The "I'm waiting for an iMac refresh" thread

Sorry guys, but my information source has changed opinion. I withdraw my $200 and say August ;) That AppleInsider post makes more sense out of it. Sorry for screwing with your hopes, I'm annoyed too.
 
tomricci said:
Sorry guys, but my information source has changed opinion. I withdraw my $200 and say August ;) That AppleInsider post makes more sense out of it. Sorry for screwing with your hopes, I'm annoyed too.
Click to expand...

Ehhh... what Apple insider post? And thanks for getting my hopes up:D
 
I think its time to pull the trigger...

Commenter said:
I wouldn't have gotten a mini two months ago because it was a terrible value, in itself, at the time (2.26GHz proc, 2GB memory, 160GB hard drive, no display, mouse, or keyboard for $600). I still think the new mini is not a very good deal unless you already have a good display, mouse, and keyboard or you will be using it as a media center or something specialized.

And I think the base and high-end iMacs are a great deal even today. And what's important is one's satisfaction with a product, not "perfectly and thoroughly optimizing" what one gets, which doesn't even make sense with categories of products for which all information is available, much less for Macs, which no one knows what or when they'll come. If you'll feel bad when they refresh a product you bought, maybe you should wait, but the thing is that that feeling bad is irrational and the fact that it detracts from enjoying a product that is awesome in itself is a shame. Consider what achievement of engineering the iMac is in itself, or compared to the equivalent iMac ten years ago*. To not enjoy that but instead suffer for the mirage of a marginal improvement is nuts.

When they'll refresh Apple hardware and even software is unknown, and though there are some weak patterns you can be months and months off. It's a lottery whether you'll get a recently-refreshed product or not, and whether that refresh was significant, and whether it came with new issues, etc. The only sane thing, in my estimation, is to consider if a product is good enough when one needs it, maybe with some margin for the future. Everything else is speculation and anxiety, and one should put those silly feelings of ours in their place with stern anger, instead of letting them ruin the awesome products great companies like Apple provide.

*That's the inflation-adjusted equivalent model of today's base iMac, released exactly ten years before; check out the hard drive, memory, vram, display, mouse, and optical drive





"…incrementally faster…", "…[Apple] may… …continue using the cheaper Core 2 Duo parts on lower end Macs…", "…moderate jump in performance Intel is promising.".

Wow, everyone wait until "maybe early 2011".
Click to expand...



Ok I admit the Mac Mini was a bad example haha! But the only point I was trying to make is that you still need to do your research, that’s all. When I was at the Apple Store 8 weeks ago the salesman brought up buying a mini, it made sense at the time because I have a nice TV, but then I did my research and that stopped me even thinking about buying it. (Given, the specs made me doubt the purchase)

And I know I will be happy with my purchase either way and the refresh will not ruin my satisfaction with the product. It is just I have been saving for a long time (well over a year) to buy a new computer and I want to get the most bang for my buck. For instance, if they make the screen 24 inches on the base model, add a little bit of a faster processor, or a better video card….do I need it? NO….will the refresh make me regret buying my Mac? Of course not.

However, would it be nice to have those things by showing a little patience, of course it would. But by waiting and looking you can, like you said, drive yourself mad. By waiting I can loose out on the education discount, a free iPod touch, and a free printer. In addition, I am more then likely going to pay more for those upgrades on the refresh that I really don't need and who knows when it is going to happen!

Unless anyone on this thread can come up with a reason not to buy now, I think it is time to pull the trigger.
 
bas-macfan said:
Ehhh... what Apple insider post? And thanks for getting my hopes up:D
Click to expand...

this one :D
Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Apple may get Intel's Sandy Bridge CPUs sooner than expected

By Daniel Eran Dilger
Published: 05:30 PM EST

Volume production of the next new generation of Intel's desktop and notebook CPUs will begin earlier than originally anticipated in response to enthusiasm from chip buyers like Apple who have sampled the new parts.

Speaking in the company's Q2 conference call, Intel's president and chief executive Paul Otellini commented that Intel began sampling the Sandy Bridge chips to vendors over the last quarter Strong positive feedback has induced the company accelerate production. Sandy Bridge chips are expected to go on sale late this year, making it likely that they've find their way into Macs by early 2011.

"I am more excited by Sandy Bridge than I have been in any product that the company has launched in a number of years," Otellini said. "Due to the very strong reception of Sandy Bridge, we have accelerated our 32-nanometer factory ramp and have raised our capex guidance to enable us to meet the anticipated demand."

Apple's use of Intel CPUs

The upcoming new Sandy Bridge family of chips will replace Intel's Nehalem micro-architecture currently being used in Apple's Core i5 and i7-equipped iMacs and MacBook Pros (mobile i5 and i7 chips are referred to as Arrandale). Apple's entry level Macs, including the Mac mini and MacBook, continue to use Intel's earlier Core 2 Duo generation of chips.

While Apple was the first PC maker to release a Nehalem-based system (the Xeon Mac Pro in March of 2009), the company seemed almost reluctant to move its notebooks to Nehalem, as the new design prevented the Mac maker from continuing to build "two-chip" notebooks that paired Intel's CPU with a hybrid GPU-chipset integrated component from NVIDIA.

The Nehalem design forced PC makers like Apple to use Intel's own supporting chipset (which works with the CPU to handle functions such as its I/O access and its memory controller) rather than continuing to use competing chipsets such as the part introduced by NVIDIA. In its Arrandale mobile chips, Intel's "HD Graphics" chip is integrated into the CPU die itself.

Because Intel is weaker than NVIDIA in the area of graphics processing, Apple has to use both Intel's chipset and a separate NVIDIA graphics chip to achieve acceptable video performance in its i5 and i7-based Macs. That has prompted Applet to continue using Intel's previous Core 2 Duo paired with the NVIDIA chip in all but its highest-end products, where a three-chip solution is more acceptable in terms of cost and efficiency.




What's new in Sandy Bridge

Intel's new Sandy Bridge design (which originally had a Hebrew name until Intel realized "Gesher" or bridge was also the name of an Israeli political party) pushes integration even further. Rather than demanding the use of an external Intel-designed chipset, Sandy Bridge integrates the memory controller, graphics, and standard chipset features directly into the CPU die, resulting in a "System on a Chip" design similar to the tightly integrated Application Processor components used in mobile devices (such as Apple's custom A4 inside the iPad and iPhone 4).

While not clocked dramatically faster than existing Nehalem chips (2.8 to 3.8GHz), Sandy Bridge should deliver faster performance thanks to a minimum of four cores (with 6-8 core versions available later), improvements to the internal data bus, and enhanced "Advanced Vector Extensions" which build upon SSE to provide better floating point performance.

In addition to being incrementally faster, Sandy Bridge chips are designed to run cooler and more energy efficient, targeting the shift toward more mobile notebook systems. Whether Apple will aggressively move toward Sandy Bridge across the board and unify its Mac architectures under one design remains to be seen; the company may choose to migrate to Sandy Bridge on the high end and continue using the cheaper Core 2 Duo parts on lower end Macs, given the relatively moderate jump in performance Intel is promising.

http://www.appleinsider.com/
 
Sweet Lou said:
And I know I will be happy with my purchase either way and the refresh will not ruin my satisfaction with the product. It is just I have been saving for a long time (well over a year) to buy a new computer and I want to get the most bang for my buck. For instance, if they make the screen 24 inches on the base model, add a little bit of a faster processor, or a better video card….do I need it? NO….will the refresh make me regret buying my Mac? Of course not.

However, would it be nice to have those things by showing a little patience, of course it would. But by waiting and looking you can, like you said, drive yourself mad. By waiting I can loose out on the education discount, a free iPod touch, and a free printer. In addition, I am more then likely going to pay more for those upgrades on the refresh that I really don't need and who knows when it is going to happen!

Unless anyone on this thread can come up with a reason not to buy now, I think it is time to pull the trigger.
Click to expand...

Sure, but

1. getting bang for buck also means using it the months one might spend waiting and agonizing over it (and in some cases one might still end up buying before the refresh after all this), and

2. it's very unlikely that the iMac will go 24 inches on the base model anytime soon. The processor will likely be faster (there's a small probability that it won't, though), and the graphics will probably be better (I wouldn't be too surprised if they're actually worse in the base model, as to go with the i3 Apple could go with Intel GMA HD, and Apple has a scarce but existent history of downgrading graphics).

I still say if you're gonna be really pissed if they refresh it soon, it might be best not to buy yet (for the percentage of probability that they'll update them soon), but it's completely irrational and detrimental to one's happiness to get pissed about these things.

I say just do what's wise and enjoy. Of course I've been living in France the last year, so they may be getting to me.
 
itryanditry said:
That was more of a beef-up than a redesign if you ask me.

Still nice, and much anticipated. But not a redesign.
Click to expand...

Maybe it looks that way from the outside, but it is indeed an all new design based on the new unibody philosophy. There are ZERO parts that were brought over from the previous design. It's a complete redesign from the ground up.
 
Commenter said:
Sure, but

1. getting bang for buck also means using it the months one might spend waiting and agonizing over it (and in some cases one might still end up buying before the refresh after all this), and

2. it's very unlikely that the iMac will go 24 inches on the base model anytime soon. The processor will likely be faster (there's a small probability that it won't, though), and the graphics will probably be better (I wouldn't be too surprised if they're actually worse in the base model, as to go with the i3 Apple could go with Intel GMA HD, and Apple has a scarce but existent history of downgrading graphics).

I still say if you're gonna be really pissed if they refresh it soon, it might be best not to buy yet (for the percentage of probability that they'll update them soon), but it's completely irrational and detrimental to one's happiness to get pissed about these things.

I say just do what's wise and enjoy. Of course I've been living in France the last year, so they may be getting to me.
Click to expand...
You make several excellent points. I, too, would like to see a 24 inch model. However, if Apple makes one it would not replace the 21.5 inch model, but instead slide between the existing 21.5 inch and existing 27 inch models. I agree with you, though, that such a thing happening isn't likely.
 
gto55 said:
this one :D
Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Apple may get Intel's Sandy Bridge CPUs sooner than expected
Click to expand...


This "prediction" by Intel is for 12 months after when they dropped for Lynnfield a year earlier. That was the Oct/Nov timeframe. Moving the iMac prediction to August wouldn't be highly motivated by this.


What's new in Sandy Bridge
Sandy Bridge should deliver faster performance thanks to a minimum of four cores (with 6-8 core versions available later),
Click to expand...

That's wrong. There will still be 2 core versions floating around to hit lower price points. Probably not in the initial release subset ..... just like last year.

both Intel and AMD are on the "under promise and over deliver" bandwagon. Their timelines have some slack in them in case there are problems. Release date and steady volume production are somewhat different though. Intel used to wait till more than sure could do volume. Now on tighter window because want to keep hammering AMD as being behind on process skills.
 
gto55 said:
this one :D
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Click to expand...

That article is hilarious. Most of it is copied straight from Wikipedia. There will be dual cores too, actually there will only be dual and quad cores for mainstream market. The high-end and servers with LGA 2011 will have at least 6 and 8 cores, possibly more (10/12 core). I doubt Apple will get new architecture before others. In the past, they have only got Xeons little earlier than others but getting a whole range of chips earlier would require a lot deals between Intel and Apple as Intel won't just give them, they want extra $.
 
The sandybridge chips that are scheduled to release in q4 of 2010 are 2core and mainstream 4 core variants-- which are a great fit for the iMacs.
 
So does this mean the refreshed iMac 21.5" will have the i5 CPUs? Or should expect to take a pass on the next round (I was going to buy the current gen until I found out the only way to get an i5/i7 was to spend $2500 on the 27" version) yet again?
 
Dictator87 said:
The 21.5 inch Imacs will defintely have at least i3 proccessers in them, althought it's not much of a upgrade.

i5, not sure due to heat sink, an if it can work properly unless they find some space or move something. Maybe it can, i ain't seen inside a Imac.

Best just wait, until the refresh as this thread gets updated daily.
Click to expand...

Wow. That really blows if they put in i3's or stick with C2D yet again.

Question (I'm a MBP user): Can you easily upgrade the RAM/Hard drive in an iMac? Or am I forced to give Apple $400 (!!!!) just to have 8GB of RAM?
 
Razeus said:
Wow. That really blows if they put in i3's or stick with C2D yet again.

Question (I'm a MBP user): Can you easily upgrade the RAM/Hard drive in an iMac? Or am I forced to give Apple $400 (!!!!) just to have 8GB of RAM?
Click to expand...

i5 "Clarkdale" ain't that special, the only difference from i3 being faster clock speed and Turbo Boost. Lynnfield is another story but due higher power consumption, it's unlikely that it can be fit into 21.5". i3 isn't that big upgrade for C2D but it does provide up to 30% better performance in tasks such as video encoding due HT
 
Dictator87 said:
Apple
is likely to release a smaller version of the Macbook Air laptop together with an iPod Touch with a 3-megapixel camera when the company religiously releases new products in August and September.

According to Digitimes, there will be a Macbook Air with an Intel Core ULV processor based on the latest i-series range plus a 11.6-inch display that's smaller than the 13.3-inch display; we're not sure whether Apple will stick to the 1366x768 pixels resolution.

Our hunch is that Apple will use the Core i5-560UM, a dual core ULV "Arrandale" processor that will be released in Q4 2010 and has a TDP of only 18W. The older Intel Core 2 Duo SL9300 processors found in the current MBA's boosts a similar TDP.

Mingchi Kuo, Digitimes's Senior Analyst, is convinced that the smaller Macbook Air will be slimmer and sports an even lighter design compared to the previous versions, which is entirely possible given the fact that the old MBA's had a chassis that could accommodate a 15.6-inch LCD display.

Read more: http://www.itproportal.com/portal/n...nch-new-macbook-air-ipod-touch/#ixzz0tmbiNTJt

Two things.

1. if a smaller newer macbook air will be using a i5-650UM dual procceser.
The imacs willd defintely feature one on the low end.

Finally, look at the month it's predicted to hit, related to the previous post i put up about intels new sandy chips.

Everythings indicates that a update will be in august/september.

I'll keep people posted daily.

As i'm also waiting to buy a 21.5 inch version of the Imac.
Click to expand...

so that means no new imac announcement; just ipod touch and MBA?
 
Dictator87 said:
You obviously didn't read, as i can't see where i said, this means Imac won't be refreshed?

He said no new annoucement, as that was a new annoucement, an i replied no.

Then stated, the only thing left is a Imac.

Can't see the confusion :eek:
Click to expand...

Haha, what? I don't understand a word you guys say. But it's all good—verbal communication is way overrated anyway
 
Hardmac rumors on Mac Pro, iMac

One of our better sources have indicated that the renewal of the much awaited Mac Pro range is planned for the end of the summer, thus for the 'back-to-school' period. For the iMacs they will be a few weeks or a month later at the beginning of autumn.
On this occasion, Apple should inaugurate two great innovations, the arrival of USB 3.0 and a faster Firewire interface, 1600 or 3200. Thus, Firewire will not forgotten.
Note that Apple is also interest in LightPeak technology, but they do not expect to be able to use it or set up it before one year.
To finish, but anyway you should have no doubt by now, these new machines will not support Blu-ray reading just like the preceding ones.
Click to expand...

http://www.hardmac.com/news/2010/07/16/rumour-some-little-tidbits-on-the-macpro-and-the-imac

Looks like we might be waiting until September/October...
 
I'm caving, really can't be bothered waiting any longer. It could be months before we see anything. The new models won't boast any big features that could have swayed me.
 
brogueboy said:
http://www.hardmac.com/news/2010/07/16/rumour-some-little-tidbits-on-the-macpro-and-the-imac

Looks like we might be waiting until September/October...
Click to expand...

Yep, that seems to be the case now. I think they are waiting until the back to school offer expires on september 7th and then they will update soon after.

I think I might bite the bullet and buy now and not wait until the refresh. I don't think it will be anything too dramatic, probably just updated processor and gpu. I like to have the most up to date computer, but I realize even if i wait for the refresh, a year after that it will be out dated again when its refreshed again. After a year everyones computer is usually slightly out of date.
 
Bodhi395 said:
Yep, that seems to be the case now. I think they are waiting until the back to school offer expires on september 7th and then they will update soon after.

I think I might bite the bullet and buy now and not wait until the refresh. I don't think it will be anything too dramatic, probably just updated processor and gpu. I like to have the most up to date computer, but I realize even if i wait for the refresh, a year after that it will be out dated again when its refreshed again. After a year everyones computer is usually slightly out of date.
Click to expand...

but buying so close to update? wouldn't it be better to have the latest and get what you want + more, cheaper?
 
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