[jszrules]

I realize the answer to this question is probably up in the air, but I'm curious if anyone has an idea of what the expected Intel chip schedule is for future iMacs? Thanks.

[mduell]

Actually it's pretty well defined in the near term...

CPU: Penryn (45nm shrink of Merom) in 1Q08; 2.5-2.6Ghz (3Ghz Extreme), 6MB cache, and a few new instructions (SSE4).
Chipset: Cantiga in 3Q08; DDR3 support.
CPU: Nehalem (new microarchitecture on 45nm process) in 4Q08 or 1Q09; mobile quads, return of hyperthreading (multiple threads per core), DDR3 memory controller on CPU, integrated graphics on package but off die, QuickPath Interconnect replacing the FSB, 8MB cache.
CPU: Westmere (32nm shrink of Nehalem) in 2009.
CPU: Sandy Bridge (new microarchitecture on 32nm process) in 2010.
CPU: Unnamed 22nm shrink of Sandy Bridge in 2011.

Applies to iMac/MacBook Pro/MacBook/Mac mini since they all use the Intel mobile platform.

[jszrules]

Cool, thanks. For Penryn 1Q08, is that when iMacs are expected to receive them or is that just an earliest possible date for inclusion in any Mac?

[mduell]

Those are all Intel's release dates; Apple's updates usually lag by 5 to 90 days. If I had to guess, I'd say late February for the next iMac update.