Apple updates iMacs, Minis without fanfare

Non sequitur-

It won't fund the whole thing, but will cover part of it.

It's beautiful, but unfortunately it in my country will be very, very, very expensive.

Yet another high-end Mac that's powered by nVidia. In fact, there isn't even an ATi card listed on the Build-To-Order page. Hmm...

This has to be a better deal than even the Mac Pro. Most high-quality 24" monitors run for over $1,000. That's what make this so irresistible. And aside from the display, the specs look like an iMac can give a Mac Pro a close match in benchscores.

If Apple keeps dropping prices and giving more "bang for you buck," I think I'll hold off a little while and see what happens. They're doing a great job at fixing up their reputation, but I'm still not about to recommend an Apple computer to anybody with a tight budget. I know the mini now has a Core 2 Duo, but there are still much better computers available for the same prices. If they can dish out high performance at sub-$1000, I'm sold.

I know the mini now has a Core 2 Duo

nuh uh

http://www.apple.com/macmini

Still just the Core Duo

I assume they used nvidia because ATIs X1800XT series are high power consumption cards under load and would be way too much for the deisgn (X1800XT is 100W!) 7900GT is around half that but a littl slower so think how cool the ones that are in the iMac will be

...

If Apple keeps dropping prices and giving more "bang for you buck," I think I'll hold off a little while and see what happens. They're doing a great job at fixing up their reputation ...

Very true - and it's good to see them appealing to more people who otherwise would buy an off-the-shelf PC. I do believe they're going to make some real headway in the market with the new systems and prices.

I'm going to have to stick with my G5 for some time yet and resist the temptation to buy a nice new shiny box. I've become used to reading the press with interest, but saying to myself "I can't afford that yet, but just think how much more advanced the systems will get by the time I can afford to upgrade." The pace of technology is just incredible and Apple's strategy is very exciting.

Um... I would much rather have a 23inch iMac. That was what the rumor said... I'm kinda disapointed. (I should be happy that it is bigger than what we thought, but still... being wrong hurts.)

That hurts. I bought a new Mini last Friday. Got the old version.

u can always swap it milesce since its within 14 days if i am correct.

YAY, I just ordered myself a 17" with 2GB RAM, 250GB HDD, AppleCare and the 2.16GHz upgrade. Came to $1,776 CAD before taxes with the student discount, and I don't think I could be happier, I've spent all of my summer's earnings, but it will be worth it. Great move on Apple's part. Woo.

Spectacular! I'm now deeply thinking of buying my first Mac Desktop. This is really great.

i got a solo mac mini

Well Mac Mini, if you got anything else you'd have to change your name...

Now I can't decide what I want... a Mac Mini, or an Alienware laptop

grr i got a solo mac mini

its cool. im in the same boat. everyones gonna be wowing over the new macbook pros with updated gfx cards and processors while im here with a retro one. its cool though. these will be collectors items.

you could always sell the core solo. im sure they are many people who would buy it and make it a server. ehll, people are looking for the old ppc ones.

Thank God I bought my 17" iMac 24 days ago, now I can be a little SOB and return mine to CompUSA, get the new Core 2 Duo, and get $100 back

Thank God I bought my 17" iMac 24 days ago, now I can be a little SOB and return mine to CompUSA, get the new Core 2 Duo, and get $100 back

Is there no charge in returning it since you've opened the package and used it?

Also the 24" seems to be 40% brighter than the other models. Interesting. Gotta go and check it out for myself.

Mac mini

cant u just drop a core 2 in there and then you will be very happy.

Is there no charge in returning it since you've opened the package and used it?

 

Also the 24" seems to be 40% brighter than the other models. Interesting. Gotta go and check it out for myself.

Well turns out most I can get is store credit for what I purchased, but if I can't get that I'm going to wait till Leopard comes out then buy a new iMac, and sell my current one to my parents.

BTW - if you go the BTO route and upgrade the graphics card, it triples your wait time to 5-7 days. I'm so impatient!

You lost me here, no doubt due to my ignorance

OK, I will try again. Two points related to the 64-bit question:

(1) While the new iMac has a 64-bit CPU, it almost certainly is using some 945 chipset which is 32-bit (it will only address up to 4GB of RAM or less). This chipset situation will change next year when Intel releases the new mobile chipset designed for Core 2 Duo.

(2) There is no inherent performance benefit to running a 64-bit application over a 32-bit one. In fact, the opposite is true. The "pointers" (addresses) to memory in a 64-bit application are twice as big, so they take up twice the space in the chip's limited on-die highspeed cache and memory bandwidth. The only people who benefit from a 64-bit application are those who have more than 4 GB of RAM installed, because then a single application "process" can address it all. These people are the ones running Mac Pro with the full 16GBs installed, they are "pros".

For all you, Intel Mac Mini owners, to know how to upgrade to an Intel Core 2 Duo look here:

http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=26444

BTW, awesome move!

I'm going to buy a 20" with the Vram ugrade

For all you, Intel Mac Mini owners, to know how to upgrade to an Intel Core 2 Duo look here:

 

http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=26444

 

 

BTW, awesome move!

I'm going to buy a 20" with the Vram ugrade

Nice one, Don Luca. BTW, I see plenty of people have read your thread about the upgrade, even if no-one has replied in that thread. C'mon folks, feedback is good!

Update - I just read this from The Inquirer - Apple to delay Merom Notebooks - it may have been reported elsewhere on the forum, but as it's fresh today I thought it worth posting here.

OK, I will try again. Two points related to the 64-bit question:

 

................................................................

Thanks Bofors

OK, I will try again. Two points related to the 64-bit question:

 

(1) While the new iMac has a 64-bit CPU, it almost certainly using some 945 chipset which is 32-bit chipset (it will only address up to 4GB of RAM or less). This chipset situation will change next year when Intel releases the new mobile chipset designed for Core 2 Duo.

So I should defidently wait untill that chipset comes out for the iMac before I buy my Core 2 Duo?

I guess I might be the only one who thinks this is kind of bad, but I mean for all those that might have wanted a cheaper iMac and bought a Mini or something else, now kick themselves over the $999 iMac. Those that had the money to put down on a higher end mac now are kicking themselves that the 24 inch is out. It is good but Apple needs to not change so much cause they are going to make buying the new Intel Macs a pain cause people will always wonder if they should wait. Now if this was JUST a speed upgrade in the cpus, that would be ok since they do go up over time, but this is a complete restructure of the line. I hope Apple doesn't restructure again and leave some with "old" models and kick themselves over it.

On a better note, I am wondering if the Macbooks will go down in price. I mean a 17 inch iMac with all that stuff is $999 then why is the Macbook (It doesn't matter it is laptop, the iMac is built the same way as a laptop so the price should be about the same) $1099? I mean I could see the low end Macbook is $899 or maybe $799. I can only hope.