New Core 2 Duo iMac and Mac Minis Announced

[Kamaru]

Great. Just great. I feel like a fool, and I bet the folks who purchased the G5s in December feel even dumber.

Apple's gonna risk pissing off its customers if it starts upgrading systems every six months. I feel like I got gyped. If I'd known this was coming out in September, I likely would have held off buying until now.

Well, I bet Civ IV will run like a gazelle on the new machines. It runs fine on my Intel iMac, at least. Can't wait for the patch that will enable me to play full-screen and with anti-aliasing turned on, though.

Gatekeeper

I can run in full screen but no AA though(I'm glad to hear there is a patch comming... eventually) , I do have the 17 inch Core Duo btw... Since I purchased the apple care im loath to break that warrenty so soon after purchase to drop in a Core 2 Duo.. If the 4 core chips comming down the line fit the same socket I may have to reconcider that.

 

[dojoboy]

Okay, I just made the purchase.

17-inch iMac / 2.0GHz / Intel Core2 Duo
ATI Radeon X1600 (128Mb VRAM)
1GB RAM

It should arrive middle of next week.

 

[Kamaru]

Let the eternal wait begin It only seems that way

 

[dojoboy]

My new iMac arrived today. It...is....beautiful! Yes, I did take the time while setting it up to install Civ4, and it runs so smooth. For my needs, I'll be using this machine for years.

 

[Dalmuti]

Just incase you don't know...

The new 24" iMacs (only!) have a MXM PCI-Express graphics card slot. This means you can upgrade the graphics card. MXM PCIExp was developed by nVidia, they will support it with new cards for sure, to make it more affordable to upgrade laptops. Apple, wisely, chose to include it in the 24" iMac.

For me, this was the thing that made me by an iMac rather then a MacPro.

~Dalmuti

 

[5150]

That's rather presumptive, for a couple of reasons. The first is that you're unlikely to see many upgrades provided, even for the PC market. Upgradable graphics on a laptop are nothing new--it's just that to my knowledge, no one has ever found it commercially viable to actually make the upgrades available. Secondly, even if someone did, the odds of them providing a Mac version are nil. Even with the Intel Macs you can't just drop in a PC graphics card.

The odds of ever seeing a non-OEM graphics upgrade for your iMac are nil. You may be able to buy an OEM 7600 service part, but it'll cost you far more than it is worth.

 

[Dalmuti]

5150 ~ I don't think it's too presumptive. Apple dropped ATI as it's main graphics card provider this last year and picked up nVidia (the developer). I would guess that the next gen imacs (after this batch has been sold off) will likely also have the MXM PCI slot, if only to reduce cost for Apple when producing new ones. The current imacs, well the ones with ATI cards, have the card soldered to the motherboard, requiring apple to commit to one configuration or another in advance or require them to be built to order. With the MXM, they can mitigate that commitment, plus they can change configurations in-store.
I would also guess that there will be a 512 card for a future gen of imac, and nVidia will likely be the one to make it, so those imacs with this slot will be able to upgrade to it. Your probably right about the price, but thats relative to the demand. In any case for the extra few $100 you still get a bigger screen plus the very good possibility of a graphics upgrade.
It seems like a win win to me, but we will have to see.

~Dalmuti

 

[5150]

If Apple were going to migrate the iMac line that way, they'd have done it with the change to the Core 2 Duo. They obviously didn't think the economies of scale outweighed the price, given that they have three different motherboards in the current Core 2 Duo line. That wasn't a mistake, either. Apple is very careful now in how they design their product lines. Each step isn't too far from the one below it, yet offers some distinct advantage. That's a very intentional business practice.

It's misleading when you say that Apple has dropped ATI as their main graphics provider. Apple's product line has never been more balanced between NVIDIA and ATI than it is now. Previously one manufacturer or the other has dominated a product family, usually switching back and forth each generation. Now all of Apple's iMacs and Mac Pros have options from both companies.

Ask yourself why Apple--not the consumer--would want the 24" iMac to have a graphics slot. Once you answer that, you'll begin to gain some insight into Apple's product mix.

 

[iamliberal]

I ordered a 24" iMac last weekend! It shipped yesterday and I can't wait. I was reluctant to spend $500 more for a bigger screen, but then I read a review about it, and the screen is not just bigger it's 40% brighter and better quality, and the graphics card (which I selected the upgrade) is supposedly amazing. I could not afford a Mac Pro, so I think I made a good choice.

Once I get it and play, I'll let you guys know how it runs.

 

[Hellfire]

How upgradeable are the new iMacs in other areas? Memory (slots and max mem)? Hard drive (easily removeable and replaceable?)

My G4 was a decent purchase at the time, but because there was no upgrade path to G5 processors like I expected (I didn't bother to check, I justed assumed... doh!) it's quickly becoming a brick that can't run modern games.

The Mac pro is too expensive but if the iMac is upgradeable I might go that route... so far it's processor is socketable so that's a good sign. I do have external hard drives so I know I can go that route, but you only need so many externals and it's nice to upgrade the internal once in a while