[madmanXwater]

With all the talk of possible Intel Macs in January, what are the chances of Apple coming out with Dual-core iMacs or Minis? Maybe a Dual-core iMac with the new hi rez screens like the PowerBooks??? What do you think??

Mike

[iREZ]

not likely...

[harrisjamieh]

Doubt it, because then if the iMac runs at similar speeds to the powermac, there would be little need to fork out more money for the PM (except for it being upgradable)

[madmanXwater]

But wont the Intel Yonah chip be a dual core if that's what happens on the 10th??

[ph0ust]

seems to me that the imac lags behind the powermac in processor for a while then they change the lineup ever so slightly. i bet we see a change to all dual-core/dual-proc powermacs and a single dual-core imac. no idea when, but this is basically what they did with the g5 imac (which no one thought they would release because it would be too similar to the pm.... but then they just made all the pm's dual proc). anyway, i think this is what we will see sometime in '06. besides.... the writing is on the wall- everything will be dual-core soon.

[iREZ]

i agree with the above statement.

[madmanXwater]

So do you think the iMac will go to a dual-core G5 chip first, or just skip that and go straight to an Intel CPU?

[ph0ust]

that's anyone's guess. apple seems to be getting more and more serious, so i think '06 will be a better year than most of of speculate. i don't know when they will do it or whether it will be a g5 or intel processor. i could speculate, but what do i know.... mwsf will be the telltale indication of how aggressively they plan to move ahead with intel. good thing is that it is only 2 weeks away :-)

[neilw]

Cooling requirements for the dual-core G5 suggest that the iMac will never go that route. I fully expect the first Intel iMacs to be dual-core, probably Yonah-based but you never know. Remember that:

1) There are two versions of Yonah, a lower-power, lower-performance model, and a higher-performance model. I'd expect the iMac to get the higher-performance model, to differentiate from the Mini and/or iBook. PowerBook probably gets the same chip as iMac (remember that iMac has for a while been *faster* than the PowerBook). But I could see PowerBooks getting a newer chip, if Apple can hold out and Intel can deliver.
2) Yonah is not the be-all end-all of Intel's roadmap. There's plenty of room to make a PowerMac much more powerful than the iMac, when the newer chips (Conroe I think? Can't keep all these Intel names straight) come out.

I don't know if the Mini will come out dual-core. I suspect it will, with one of the low-power chips. Should be a mighty interesting 6 months coming up...

[ph0ust]

i think you are right neilw. seems everyone believes that mwsf is going to see something like maybe 4 intel based macs released. i think that would be great. by the time photoshop cs3 for macintels is out i can upgrade to a new imac (don't want to even try running cs2 under rosetta). keep your fingers crossed!

[johnnybmxer]

You know, I read all this about the new Macs with Intel, but what what's to be said about pricing?

[madmanXwater]

If Intel Macs are announced, I don't expect much if any of a price drop, maybe $100.00 or so. From what I've read, the Intel chips are not going to be cheap when they are first introduced and I don't think Apple will be getting any better deal than Dell or other large company.

I have to get a new Mac for home and it's killing me to wait for the 10th to see what happens. As much as I want to see Intel Macs introduced, unless the Apple Pro Apps are released for Intel as well I still think I will buy one of the G5 models, the 20" iMac or a 2Ghz PowerMac.

I also wonder if a brand new form factor Mac might be introduced? Something between the Mac Mini and the PowerMac maybe? A dual-core G5 without the size of the PowerMac but without a screen like the iMac, some kind of mid-tower design? There has been talk of such a Mac before.

Mike

[jcarr]

We'll know more after the Intel annoucement this week (and certainly the Expo Keynote next week), but it is my understanding that the Yonah processor family will replace the Pentium M and be rebranded/marketed as Centrino Core Solo & Centrino Core Duo. Either of these processors should work fine in iBook/iMac, Mac mini or PowerBook products. I'd expect Core Solo processors in low end consumer machines, and Core Duo processors in the high end.

[Commodus]

I think Apple will stick with Core Solo chips for iMacs and Mac minis, and Core Duos for Power Macs and PowerBooks. The prices are probably restrictive, and the power requirements go up as well (which requires a larger enclosure to deal with heat, and/or a better battery).

[macintologist]

Looks like most of you were wrong

[quiklee]

whichever one . . . i'm sure it'll be good to go!

[hickey]

I hear they might have an ipod video?? That'd be cool!!