Imac

[Digital M@]

What web sites can I go to to find out if Apple will be makeing any changes to the Imac in the near future?

I am ready to buy one and just want to make sure that a new model does not come out a month after my purchase.

 

[drothgery]

Internet rumors say the next Mac updates will be with the Mac Mini, and some time in the next 6-9 months they'll probably be replacing all the Core Duo based Macs (iMac, iBook, MacBook, MacBook Pro) with Core 2 Duo based Macs just because Intel's not going to be making Core Duo in volume anymore (also it gets the Mac line all 64-bit, instead of just in the Xeon 51xx-based Mac Pros and the discontinued G5 Macs). No signs of anything immenent that I know about, though.

Disclaimer: I'm a PC/Windows guy; I don't follow Mac rumors closely.

 

[Enforcer]

It's rumored that a 23-inch Core 2 Duo iMac will hit the shelves this month, according to engadget. rumor link

 

[Rackhir]

There is an Apple Expo in Paris on the 12th of Sept. It is a possible venue for announcement of new hardware.

Drothgery has it right, with the release of the Core 2 Duo chips, it is highly likely that there will be anouncements shortly. So I would hold off on any purchases for now. Though I suspect it will be more like weeks until new iMacs are anounced than months.

There's a decent chance the new machines will have an updated video system as well, since the old machines use ATI chips and ATI has been bought by AMD, Intel's rival. Ironically apparently ATI's chipset is the best out there for the Core 2 Chips and the only one for them that supports SLI (dual graphics cards). But SLI is a feature which is unlikely to show up in iMacs though for cost, power requirements and heat dissipation issues.

www.macsurfer.com is a good mac news summary web site.

It has summaries and links to the important mac web sites and news. There will be links to any news or significant rumors. Take any rumors with a large grain of salt though. Apple has gotten to be better than the KGB at keeping secrets and pretty much the only rumors that have panned out in recent years are the ones that are essentially obvious and common sense (Like the iMacs getting Core 2 Duo upgrades).

 

[Enforcer]

The new iMacs were just announced. Check out apple.com for details--they now have a 24" one!

 

[drothgery]

The new iMacs were just announced. Check out apple.com for details--they now have a 24" one!

Suprisingly, it looks like they're Merom (notebook Core 2 Duo) boxes, not Conroe (desktop Core 2 Duo) boxes. Or maybe not surprisingly; Merom is a drop-in replacement for Yonah (Core Duo), so Apple didn't need to change motherboards.

 

[Rackhir]

The new iMacs were just announced. Check out apple.com for details--they now have a 24" one!

Thanks for the tip. Looks like they did update the graphic card, but only on the 24 in model. Though they do give you the option of a nVidia 7600, which should be a significant upgrade from the Radeon x1600 that is in the other machine.

 

[Rackhir]

According to a report I just read the new 23" imac uses a MXM module for it's graphics chip. The MXM modules were developed to give laptops upgradeable graphics, like most desktop machines have. However, AFAK there has been little or no practical support for this kind of "laptop" upgrade, but that could concievably change. Though given past patterns the odds that even if such a feature does gain widespread support on the PC side, that it will be supported on the mac side (at least at a reasonable price) are pretty slim. On the gripping hand this may also be changing with the intel based macs, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

http://www.macsimumnews.com/index.p...d_in_24_inch_imac_are_apparently_upgradeable/

Edit : At least one editorial has pointed out a more likely reason/result of this feature. It will make it cheaper and easier for Apple to change/upgrade the video on the iMacs. Casting further cold water on the user "upgradeable" graphics theory is the fact that the MXM module is not user accessable and would require a technician to disassemble the machine to get at it.