Tuesday Updates: New iMac/eMac

[gwimby]

Tuesday Updates: New iMac/eMac

[gwimby]

Check out the apple site,
or macrumors.com or thinksecret.com

iMac:
Faster G5, more ram, more hard drive, dual layer superdrive, 128mb radeon 9600, Bluetooth 2, WiFi,
A pretty nice update.

eMac:
faster G4, 64mb radeon 9600, the more expensive one got dual layer superdrive and more hard drive.
A decent bump.

The iMac gives a lot more for the money, nothing radically new. I like it.
I think the eMac is preluding to what the iBook update will be.

EDIT: Oh yeah, and the iMac has a 400gb HDD option now too.

[TheEagleCD]

Mmm, interesting stuff. Especially the radeon 9600 upgrades make a lot of sense in combination with Tiger. Now I'm waiting for the Mac mini v2 with the same graphics chip...

Seriously though, I think the eMac is becoming more interesting again. For an extra 200€ (compared to the faster Mac mini) you get a 17" CRT and the updated graphics. While the Mac mini certainly has its size and style going for it the new eMac looks like a good 2nd choice as an entry system.

When is the iBook update expected?

[gwimby]

Expect iBooks to be updated by WWDC, the first week of June.
So in the next 3 weeks.
the mini, the emac, and the imac are all very interesting products,
and each one serves it own role well.

[UglyShoes]

dual layer super drive in the emac,  thats a  "why?"  deal there.   Wonder what ever happen to the G5 emac that was said to be ready to go but put on hold do to proc shortage (this was last fall, and stated from a apple person if I remember right).  I see the emac as a dying thing.  Soon as the mini goes G5 (maybe next jan),  the G4 mini might stay to take the emac, with some cheap LCD.  

I see the CRT as a major negitive, plus schools arn't very interested in having them (suck power, take up space, crush kids ).


Nothing really shocking here.   But this does bring up the important issue, that apple has just about run out of things to update.  So it's cleared things out for WWDC.    I expect G5 PBs and new iBooks (basicly built from current g4 PBs).   G5 PBs have to happen sooner or later. And apple isn't going to show up with speed bump ibooks, and 30, 60, 80 gig color full size ipods across the board.  They have to have something, and I don't see any new products flying out their bums.

I definitly don't see dual core PMs happening, cause they would have brought them out last week, and dual core will go in Xserves first.  

They will also need something for paris, maybe one of the new laptops then.

Something I never see, but I hope for, is high res LCDs.    like a 2500x something 23 incher, or a bit bigger, running dual DVI, thus the bringing out the cheap 9650 card that has dual DVI.  Apple has cut the prices twice in 5 months, sure they are over priced, but thats even a quick drop for apple.

People are going to be pissed if all steve has for WWDC is iPod Socks for the Shuffle.

[gwimby]

super drive in the emac, thats a "why?
Cause its cheaper to buy 1 kind of drive?

CRT....suck power, take up space, crush kids
More durable than an lcd (think "poking"), much harder to steal, simple all-in-one
It's eol (end-of-life) may be near, but it ain't here yet.

and dual core will go in Xserves first.
Who knows what/when/were/how/why dual cores will happen.
I think its easier to forecast the weather blind-folded than guess on this subject.
What do you think of them leaving the single 1.8 PM not updated, seemingly near eol,
making room for a new high end offering?

but I hope for, is high res LCDs
....and I hope for high res laptop displays.
Extra Pixels for everybody.

I'm in the camp thats thinking Jan '06 before any radically new hardware hits.
When is the Paris expo? I've read an aweful lot of people having high expectations for that event.
Thought: What if the WWDC is a repeat from MWSF - Tiger talk, macmini (update) and ipods.
Now that would piss off the mac zealots! lol.  

[UglyShoes]

Paris is sometime in the fall.


For the single 1.8, i thought it was odd it's still there.  I would expect it to go away.  The mini hits it's market.  If your going to buy a power mac, your not going to stop there,  might as well get an imac before it.  I think the single 1.8 is oddball and unappealing to pretty much anyone.  If your going to have a single proc headless box, like it, it needs to be it's own model.  As is, its a uber cheap powermac, which is a lot of money for not much. If your going to only get it, your not interested in much of the rest of the computer and are paying for extra case.  If apple took it, and cut it down into a smaller case, plastic case, ditched the big PSU and some expansion slots and made it's own thing, yet at the same price, or maybe a bit cheaper, it would sell.  

Things are always more appealing when they are the top of their line, or one of a kind, then the bottom of a line even if they are the same price and same performance.   This is pretty much what I expect the mini to be, I figured it would either be that, or something like what it did end up being.   I don't expect apple to come out with such a box though, it was a one or other deal, not both.  When the mini gets a faster proc the difference will be less.  The mini is for people who are real cheap, or don't have the money, or are testing the waters of Mac.  If you have some more money you will just go for a powermac.

[nervouschimp]

for what it is worth, the single 1.8 powermac does have a smaller PSU, which is a source for concern for those wanting to slap a 6800 ultra DDL in there. it is stripped-down in every way.

[UglyShoes]

nervouschimp,   how is yours doing for noise.   I've tracked my noise down to the PSU, which seams to be a problem with them.  Really pisses me off, when it was new I couldn't hear it,  now I can , and the HD isn't sounding very good,  stupid Maxtor, can't belive apple puts them in their stuff.

[nervouschimp]

my noise problems went away with 10.3.9, and i'm still quiet under tiger. i have a western digital, and i can't hear it at all, not even during a reformat or large file transfer. my 6800 ultra is quiet under regular load too. i can't complain. a replacement apple G5 psu will cost you about $240, but if you are under apple care, i'd bet they'll replace it for you under warrantee. it is not normal for the psu to be noisy. mine is not.

[UglyShoes]

I wonder what it takes to get apple to replace it,  I have apple care,  not sure if just complaining it's noisy does it, but in the apple forums I see lots of people have had them replaced.   I somewhat suspect it has to do with sucking dust and such off the floor.   I know those bottom handles develop a lot of crud, and I'm a very clean person.

Also be curious to find the manual that shows how to tear apart the Powermac,  I haven't figured it out yet, though haven't tried to hard.   I know some day i will want to replace some of the fans.   I think my HD fan has got a bit loud too, probably from trying to cool the maxtor.

Is yours a gen I dual 1.8 or a Gen II,  the gen IIs only have 4 ram slots, thats what mine is.

[melsmed]

240 for a PSU???
Holy S****. Man, someone must make a new word that describe this level of greed.
WOW

With that info, I will never, ever consider a Mac again. Good lord.

[nervouschimp]

uglyshoes, mine, unfortunately is the castrated 2nd gen. but to be realistic, i don't need more than 4 gigs of ram, and wil not have any need for pci-x, so i opted for the dual 1.8. i bought it refurbed, and it runs like a champ.

[UglyShoes]

My gripe isn't the problem of putting more then 4 gig in, it's the problem that to add ram I find myself removing ram.  I have the factory 256 sitting in a drawer.  I didn't care about PCI X either.   I find it funny how the PMs that came out last week, they did the same deal to the dual 2.0, it's basically a supped up 1.8.   It's real BS when the company starts to rip stuff out that was already there in previous generations to keep price structures.  I didnt' even know about the ram thing till I got mine home, that really pissed me off.

melsmed,   keep in mind the dual Powermacs PSU is about 450-500 Watts,  and unlike any other PSU out there in shape.  Apple did a nice design with it, it's thin and covers the bottom of the case. Oh, and is virtually silent, until it starts to not be silent.

[nervouschimp]

actually, uglyshoes, the dualies come with either a 600 watt or 650 depending on the processor speed. these power supplies are not ghetto by any means. melsmed, if you think the PSUs are expensive, a replacement G5 mainboard will cost upwards of $1000. Apple Care really is a worthey investment.

[melsmed]

That's way too much money. Im sorry, no computer hardware is that "good" unless is made of exotic materials or something like that.
Don't get me wrong, I always loved apple, espeacially when they launched the original Mac, but I can't justify all that money for a computer, just because Steve Jobs says so.

[UglyShoes]

chimp,  makes me think of anytime a persons laptop goes poof,  people walk into the store, clerk says it's a mobo and it's always a 1000 bucks.  One of the reasons I'm not a laptop person.

I don't think apple fairs any better there.  I know everytime I have been in a apple store near the Genius Bar  (help desk),  I see a few 15 inch PBs come in dead, and it's always the same answer "it's dead, toss it and buy a new one, will be cheaper".   Always 15 inchers, maybe cause there has been more of them.  But never fails to see 1-2 come in, actually, always laptops coming in.  

Yeah, I knew the PSU was a lot,  I had forgot what it was for sure, but I knew it was massively huge.