I have a G4 and already advise three friends to buy an iMac.
Another one wants to buy an iMac for Christmas. I think he should wait
the appleExpo in January to get the Mac OS X and a new configuration.
Anybody have any information about new iMac?

Thanks,
Regis.

[rjenkinson]

if they want the machine for christmas, well, they're gonna have to buy it before the 24th. however, if they wait until the macworld expo in january they will either get the current models for a discounted price or a model with better specs for roughly the same price. but don't expect OS X to be released until after the expo...

-r.

[slider]

I too have to deal with this question, several people have asked me about it and I am not sure. I give them a recommendation and tell them that there is a MacWorld Expo in January and there might be price reductions and/or system improvements. However, I am not expecting anything from the iMac side of the house. I thought it would be mostly new PowerBooks and some G4 media recorder changes. Do you have some information beyond this? I am a little unsure because with the fall in stock prices I am thinking that Apple might try to introduce some new products a little earlier than they had originally plan on to boost sales.

[Danny DLT]

Mac OS X will not be released until February 24, 2001.

--Danny

------------------
Daniel De La Torre
iMac DV/400/192/10/9.0.4

[Scott_H]

I just talked to an Apple employee about OS X and he said "First Quarter" which in Apple talk mean the last day of the first quarter.

If it were me. I'd wait.

The fact is, no one knows for SURE what Apple is going to announce at Macworld SF...we can only take educated guesses.

Jobs did say publicly that Apple 'blew it' by not including CD-RW drives, and that the problem will be 'fixed shortly'.

There are also a lot of rumors floating around about IBM making higher-speed G3 processors.

So, my educated guess is that Apple will *announce* iMac revs at Macworld SF (but the new iMacs won't be actually shipping until a few weeks after MWSF), and you'll see some modest processor speed bumps, maybe bigger hard drives, and CD-RW/DVD drives replacing the DVD drive on the DV SE and *maybe* the DV+. They'll probably ship with OS 9.1 instead of 9.0.4, and they'll have Apple's new 'iMusic' software (see appleinsider.com for details).

They won't have OS X on 'em, I think. February 24th has been cited as an OS X release date, but my guess is that date is highly subject to change. Financially and quality-wise, it does make more sense for them to release it at the beginning of the new quarter instead (like March 31/April 1).

Buy an iMac now or wait? Depends. There are some pretty good deals on iMacs now (like a free HP printer with even the base iMac), but if you are at ALL interested in CD-RW capability or OS X, I'd wait. Because the CD-RW capable iMacs aren't out yet, and if you wait until OS X comes standard on iMacs, you'll save yourself probably a cool $129 (i.e. what OS X will likely go for retail).

Just my thoughts. I could easily be wrong.

--lee

[alexkent]

even if osX does ship at mwsf (which i seriously doubt) it won't be bundled with any machines for another 6 months.

Originally posted by alexkent:
even if osX does ship at mwsf (which i seriously doubt) it won't be bundled with any machines for another 6 months.

How do you know this? Have an Apple source? If so, give us the nitty-gritty

On the other hand, if you're just going by Jobs' old OS X schedule (OS X out as a seperate product by summer of 1999, and OS X standard on shipping Macs by January 2000), there's no hard indication that he's still going with that same 6 month lag time between OS X shipping and OS X shipping on Macs (though I agree that it makes sense to wait a little while, i.e. until there's a fair number of OS X apps).

But you're right...it's hard to see OS X shipping on new Macs before Macworld NY in July.
Even though they do need to include it soon in order to boost sales, shipping a fledgling OS while it still has few apps is very risky, and Jobs has to balance those two factors.

--lee

[Kong Kok Ooi]

I think the question " when to buy ..." should base on why one buy an iMac. You need it urgently or as a Christmas gift, then I don't think you should wait anymore. If you want to get the latest and the best among the iMacs, you will end up waiting all day long - as the new and more advance machines keep coming in 6 months or so. So, just sit back and relax, then take a deep breath and list down the reasons why you need an iMac. These will decide if you need an iMac or G4 or cube and also when you should get one. Do not upgrade (or purchase a new machine) unless it is absolutely necessary.