iMac - updates at MacWorld 2009?

[rikadik]

Anyone else really want an iMac but holding off in anticipation of some updates?

I'm finding it a daily struggle not to order a 24" iMac, but I'm determined not to just in case of updates at MacWorld 2009. If they don't update it I'll just order one anyway.

Upgrades I'm hoping for:
- Nvidia 9600+ 256MB+ GPU as standard
- Processor/memory/HDD bumps
- LED Display
- Same price points (this could be unlikely if they do include the LED display

Things I'm concerned about:
- FireWire dissapearing (hopefully should just leave with FW800+ but am worried after the new MacBooks
- DisplayPort appearing - seems inevitable but a HDMI connection would be sooooo more convenient
- Price increase (like the new MacBooks... at least for UK consumers like me)

Think any of these are likely? What else do you think might pop up?

 

[magnux]

I'm itching to buy an iMac, but like you, I'm waiting to see what Cupertino has in store for us at Mac World 2009. The way I see it, waiting is a win/win situation. If you wait, and there's a new model, you can evaluate whether or not it's worth buying -- if it's not, then you can be assured the current generation iMacs will go on firesale and you can get it for even less.

Really, the only thing I'm hoping for is a GPU upgrade. I'm ready to pull the trigger on a 24" 3.06GHz 8800GS unit otherwise..

 

[randomlinh]

I'm itching for a damn "Mac." It won't happen anytime soon, so I'm stuck w/ a hackintosh. But I digress... displayport seems to be a given. Unfortunately, mini displayport likely. HDMI is dead for Apple. And rightfully so if it can't handle the 30"er. I just bought a 2408wfp, and it came w/ a displayport cable, ha. I would like to see the standard displayport used for once, but highly unlikely.

Though, I'm wondering if they will just focus on the Mac Pro and the i7.. and push the imac off till the spring/summer maybe, along w/ the 17" macbook pro ?

 

[TheStu]

Originally posted by: rikadik
Anyone else really want an iMac but holding off in anticipation of some updates?

I'm finding it a daily struggle not to order a 24" iMac, but I'm determined not to just in case of updates at MacWorld 2009. If they don't update it I'll just order one anyway.

Upgrades I'm hoping for:
- Nvidia 9600+ 256MB+ GPU as standard
- Processor/memory/HDD bumps
- LED Display
- Same price points (this could be unlikely if they do include the LED display

Things I'm concerned about:
- FireWire dissapearing (hopefully should just leave with FW800+ but am worried after the new MacBooks
- DisplayPort appearing - seems inevitable but a HDMI connection would be sooooo more convenient
- Price increase (like the new MacBooks... at least for UK consumers like me)

Think any of these are likely? What else do you think might pop up?

I forsee the LED backlit on the 24" screen definitely since they could just the use the same panels and backlights as the new 24" LED standalone monitor.

As for HDMI vs. Displayport... Displayport is more versatile, has more bandwidth, works sans adapter with the new 24" display, and can be daisychained. Also, displayport has equal to or greater bandwidth than Dual Link DVI, meaning you can drive a 30" monitor (2560*1600 res). It also still can be converted to VGA which HDMI cannot be.

 

[zacharace]

I echo magnux...just hold on a few more weeks! ;-)
Personally, I think, if no new "expensive" features (eg, an LED display) are added, the base model price may drop, as we saw with the new MacBooks. There's no telling, though...
I also think the displayport's gone...too bad, too bad.

 

[Kmax82]

I don't have a need for a new Mac, but I'd like to see upgrades, just to see them.

 

[magnux]

Sad thing is, up until 6 months ago.. I didn't own an Apple product, well, ok an iPod. Today I have an Early-2008 MBP, AppleTV, Intel Mac Mini, and an iPhone.

Now I want an iMac. I don't know what they put in this Kool-Aid, but it's sure good!

 

[TheStu]

Originally posted by: magnux
Sad thing is, up until 6 months ago.. I didn't own an Apple product, well, ok an iPod. Today I have an Early-2008 MBP, AppleTV, Intel Mac Mini, and an iPhone.

Now I want an iMac. I don't know what they put in this Kool-Aid, but it's sure good!

I wanted an iMac solely because I want a desktop Mac. But once I can finally get my hackintosh up and running that need will hopefully pass. The larger problem is how nice and solid the imacs look. You know the nice sort of floating appearance of the screen on the desk with the pretty aluminum-ness

 

[rikadik]

Ok, well I've been sold on the benefits of DisplayPort. I was just hoping for simplicity in plugging into a HDTV but perhaps I'm being a bit short sighted.

LED display would be amazing but, when you look at the price of the 24" LED Cinema Display, seems like an expensive upgrade. But then I guess they've always been overpriced.

I really, really hope we get iMac updates in January, because if they don't I'll just buy one anyway and be annoyed when they update them 2 days later.

 

[sourceninja]

The new apple monitor has me feeling high and dry right now. I hope they release converters for dvi. If not I'm seriously doubting if I'll buy another apple computer. I love the OS, but I feel shafted for buying a product only to have it left behind a few months later.

I know I can use any old monitor, but I really wanted a nice apple branded one with speakers and all that.

 

[randomlinh]

Originally posted by: TheStu

Originally posted by: magnux
Sad thing is, up until 6 months ago.. I didn't own an Apple product, well, ok an iPod. Today I have an Early-2008 MBP, AppleTV, Intel Mac Mini, and an iPhone.

Now I want an iMac. I don't know what they put in this Kool-Aid, but it's sure good!

I wanted an iMac solely because I want a desktop Mac. But once I can finally get my hackintosh up and running that need will hopefully pass. The larger problem is how nice and solid the imacs look. You know the nice sort of floating appearance of the screen on the desk with the pretty aluminum-ness

Heh, I'm with ya. Except, <$900 to get a 24" hackintosh vs $2k almost... I just couldn't swallow that. Granted, I'm risking going back to Vista if the hackintosh thing falls out in the future.. but here's to wishful thinking for a mid-grade mac..

Originally posted by: sourceninja
The new apple monitor has me feeling high and dry right now. I hope they release converters for dvi.

They licensed the mini-displayport spec for free... hopefully it stays that way. But adapters should be made. It just isn't a priority.

on the glossy screen tho... I really like it when there's no glare. The depth it adds is very nice. after using it for a while, it didn't bother me as much, only with dark backgrounds. Still not sure I could use it full time though

 

[Kmax82]

Originally posted by: randomlinh

Heh, I'm with ya. Except, <$900 to get a 24" hackintosh vs $2k almost... I just couldn't swallow that. Granted, I'm risking going back to Vista if the hackintosh thing falls out in the future.. but here's to wishful thinking for a mid-grade mac..

Ah.. you will always be able to use 10.5.5. The future updates are up in the air, until they're released.. but you'll always be able to use 10.5.5. So you won't have to go back to Vista, unless you absolutely want to.

 

[randomlinh]

Originally posted by: Kmax82

Originally posted by: randomlinh

Heh, I'm with ya. Except, <$900 to get a 24" hackintosh vs $2k almost... I just couldn't swallow that. Granted, I'm risking going back to Vista if the hackintosh thing falls out in the future.. but here's to wishful thinking for a mid-grade mac..

Ah.. you will always be able to use 10.5.5. The future updates are up in the air, until they're released.. but you'll always be able to use 10.5.5. So you won't have to go back to Vista, unless you absolutely want to.

yeah, but after a while, I'd hate not to get critical security updates... it just makes me a bit uneasy, heh. And I'd really hate to miss out on snow leopard.

 

[sourceninja]

I personally see nothing overly compelling in snow leopard. It looks more like a maintenance release to aid in future proofing.

 

[TangoJuliet]

Originally posted by: TheStu

Originally posted by: magnux
Sad thing is, up until 6 months ago.. I didn't own an Apple product, well, ok an iPod. Today I have an Early-2008 MBP, AppleTV, Intel Mac Mini, and an iPhone.

Now I want an iMac. I don't know what they put in this Kool-Aid, but it's sure good!

I wanted an iMac solely because I want a desktop Mac. But once I can finally get my hackintosh up and running that need will hopefully pass. The larger problem is how nice and solid the imacs look. You know the nice sort of floating appearance of the screen on the desk with the pretty aluminum-ness

like this??

 

[TheStu]

Originally posted by: TangoJuliet

Originally posted by: TheStu

Originally posted by: magnux
Sad thing is, up until 6 months ago.. I didn't own an Apple product, well, ok an iPod. Today I have an Early-2008 MBP, AppleTV, Intel Mac Mini, and an iPhone.

Now I want an iMac. I don't know what they put in this Kool-Aid, but it's sure good!

I wanted an iMac solely because I want a desktop Mac. But once I can finally get my hackintosh up and running that need will hopefully pass. The larger problem is how nice and solid the imacs look. You know the nice sort of floating appearance of the screen on the desk with the pretty aluminum-ness

like this??

I can't get to PhotoBucket from work Could you email it to me?

 

[TangoJuliet]

Originally posted by: TheStu

Originally posted by: TangoJuliet

Originally posted by: TheStu

Originally posted by: magnux
Sad thing is, up until 6 months ago.. I didn't own an Apple product, well, ok an iPod. Today I have an Early-2008 MBP, AppleTV, Intel Mac Mini, and an iPhone.

Now I want an iMac. I don't know what they put in this Kool-Aid, but it's sure good!

I wanted an iMac solely because I want a desktop Mac. But once I can finally get my hackintosh up and running that need will hopefully pass. The larger problem is how nice and solid the imacs look. You know the nice sort of floating appearance of the screen on the desk with the pretty aluminum-ness

like this??

I can't get to PhotoBucket from work Could you email it to me?

on its way

 

[TheStu]

Originally posted by: TangoJuliet

Originally posted by: TheStu

Originally posted by: TangoJuliet

Originally posted by: TheStu

Originally posted by: magnux
Sad thing is, up until 6 months ago.. I didn't own an Apple product, well, ok an iPod. Today I have an Early-2008 MBP, AppleTV, Intel Mac Mini, and an iPhone.

Now I want an iMac. I don't know what they put in this Kool-Aid, but it's sure good!

I wanted an iMac solely because I want a desktop Mac. But once I can finally get my hackintosh up and running that need will hopefully pass. The larger problem is how nice and solid the imacs look. You know the nice sort of floating appearance of the screen on the desk with the pretty aluminum-ness

like this??

I can't get to PhotoBucket from work Could you email it to me?

on its way

Yes, that was what I was talking about. It takes cable cleanliness to a whole new level, especially if you have wireless keyboard/mouse.

 

[TangoJuliet]

Originally posted by: TheStu

Originally posted by: TangoJuliet

Originally posted by: TheStu

Originally posted by: TangoJuliet

Originally posted by: TheStu

Originally posted by: magnux
Sad thing is, up until 6 months ago.. I didn't own an Apple product, well, ok an iPod. Today I have an Early-2008 MBP, AppleTV, Intel Mac Mini, and an iPhone.

Now I want an iMac. I don't know what they put in this Kool-Aid, but it's sure good!

I wanted an iMac solely because I want a desktop Mac. But once I can finally get my hackintosh up and running that need will hopefully pass. The larger problem is how nice and solid the imacs look. You know the nice sort of floating appearance of the screen on the desk with the pretty aluminum-ness

like this??

I can't get to PhotoBucket from work Could you email it to me?

on its way

Yes, that was what I was talking about. It takes cable cleanliness to a whole new level, especially if you have wireless keyboard/mouse.

I was thinking about getting a wireless mighty mouse - is there any drawbacks to the wired one? I like the full sized KB....I wish they made a wireless full sized one

 

[randomlinh]

Originally posted by: sourceninja
I personally see nothing overly compelling in snow leopard. It looks more like a maintenance release to aid in future proofing.

Well, I'm specifically interested in how Grand Central and OpenCL pan out. I would love to see Lightroom and Photoshop really take advantage of it all. But in reality, I guess I'm really looking forward to CS5 or 6/OS X 10.8/LR3... those would be the earliest to support all that probably, heh.

 

[mmntech]

DDR3 is a given.

OpenCL definitely has my interest perked after seeing how fast something like Folding@Home can run on GPU versus CPU. Hopefully it means added power to multimedia work such as encoding. Something that's been talked about for a long time but never really panned out.

 

[randomlinh]

Originally posted by: TangoJuliet
I was thinking about getting a wireless mighty mouse - is there any drawbacks to the wired one? I like the full sized KB....I wish they made a wireless full sized one

yeah, it sucks =P have you actually used one? Because I've found them to be hate it or love it. The scroll ball is an awesome idea, but it seems to break far too often, and needs to be free flowing to scroll faster. The right/left click sensors are terrible. and the side buttons are bleh. But it actually is fairly comfortable.

Of that, I'd say the vast users don't seem to care. They're one-buttoning anyway. That leaves the only major issue I've seen is failure of the scroll ball. We had a few at work that died after a few months. Ditto that on a friends.

 

[Kmax82]

I stopped using my Mighty Mouse because of the scroll ball issue. I, however, wish more people made a 360 degree scroll ball.. I absolutely adore that feature when it works.. and is worth overlooking some of the other issues.

 

[Injury]

Originally posted by: Kmax82
I stopped using my Mighty Mouse because of the scroll ball issue. I, however, wish more people made a 360 degree scroll ball.. I absolutely adore that feature when it works.. and is worth overlooking some of the other issues.

Ditto. Every word of it is exactly how I feel.


Plus the fact that you can't use it when you go in to Windows to play a game or two because you can't press both multiple buttons at once. Therefore... in an example like BF2... if you're in a tank you can't shoot both the cannon and machine gun at the same time. Yeah it's a minor issue, but when other products can do this without problem then I'll take them over the one that doesn't. I mean, how upset would some of you be if say... you couldn't have Mail and Safari/Firefox open at the same time? It sounds stupid to get upset over, and you can deal with it... but it should work correctly.


In regards to the OP: I'll say what I always say in these threads. If you're waiting for the new model or updated specs before you buy, then with Apple you will always be waiting because there are always rumors of an update and always a list of things people would like but that won't happen.

 

[LtPage1]

Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if there wasn't an update until the mobile Core i7 chips (or whatever they'll be called) are released.