[Eug]

4 memory slots up to 16 GB
Core 2 Duo in low end
Core i5 or i7 desktop Quad in high end
Only one FW 800 port

Sorry for the incomplete post but I'm on my iPhone.

[nickw311]

I just listed my G5 iMac on eBay last week in anticipation of a new iMac. Perfect timing

[Mrjinglesusa]

Damn! That $1,499 21.5" iMac looks mighty tempting.

[dowNNshift]

21.5 features the best Core 2 Duo processors offered by Intel -- and the 27-in features the cutting edge i5 / i7 processor line up. The ultimate design workstation!

Very cool Apple!

[Eug]

For the quad:

2.66GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 processor with 8MB shared L3 cache; Turbo Boost dynamic performance up to 3.2GHz

2.8GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 processor with 8MB shared L3 cache; Turbo Boost dynamic performance up to 3.46GHz; Hyper-Threading for up to eight virtual cores

[nickw311]

I'm not sure if I want to drop the extra $500 for 5.5 more inches of real estate.

[P]

That's the desktop CPUs in the iMac - Core i5 750 and Core i7 860. LED backlight, IPS panels... Only SO-DIMM slots, though - that's probably the only downside I've seen so far. And that they don't deliver the quads yet. Otherwise these are some juicy models.

[Eug]

Originally Posted by nickw311 

I'm not sure if I want to drop the extra $500 for 5.5 more inches of real estate.

Quad

Originally Posted by P 

That's the desktop CPUs in the iMac - Core i5 750 and Core i7 860. LED backlight, IPS panels... Only SO-DIMM slots, though - that's probably the only downside I've seen so far. And that they don't deliver the quads yet. Otherwise these are some juicy models.

Yep I'm surprised but happy they used the desktop versions. I just hope they're quiet.

[Thorzdad]

Oh man. I was thinking that, when I finally retired my G5, I'd replace it with an iMac. These new machines are exactly what I am looking for. My biggest question would be whether I accept a slight screen decrease (I'm currently using a 23" Cinema HD Display) or spend for some added screen real estate.

Decisions, decisions...

Of course, it's all academic. It's not like I have a spare $1,200 laying around (let alone $1,700 for the 27" iMac)

[sek929]

I have a few friends that I told to hold off buying a Mac until they revamped some of the lines. The 'base' 27" looks like a mighty fine machine, price looks right too.

[The Final Dakar]

Yeah, there's no arguing with the 27" price.

[mattyb]

Has anyone been able to find the TOTAL height of the 27" iMac. I can find the height of the screen, but I'd like to know the height of the stand as well.

[nickw311]

I'll be buying AppleCare as well so I think the 27" model may be out of my price range. Anyway, I'm not a graphic designer or video gamer, I just use it for internet, burning DVDs and organising my pictures. I think the 21.5 base model will be plenty powerful for me.

[Eug]

Originally Posted by mattyb 

Has anyone been able to find the TOTAL height of the 27" iMac. I can find the height of the screen, but I'd like to know the height of the stand as well.

Whatever the height, it will be too high for good ergonomics, because of that chin. In fact I think the the 24" is already too high for this reason.

Thus, I'm strongly considering buying a VESA mount for the 27".

[SeSawaya]

my 24" all of the sudden looks small.....

[slugslugslug]

Anyone mention the video input on the 27"? Really makes me want to go back to the old days of having a desktop and a laptop.

[EndlessMac]

I'm not really into desktops anymore but even I say these updates look interesting. The switch to ATI graphics cards seems to indicate a possible lineup direction change from Nvidia in the future. Also with the new mouse Apple has finally done it...now there are NO buttons.

Originally Posted by nickw311 

Anyway, I'm not a graphic designer or video gamer, I just use it for internet, burning DVDs and organising my pictures. I think the 21.5 base model will be plenty powerful for me.

Yes, it will be more than plenty for your needs. It's time to dust off the credit card.

[mattyb]

Originally Posted by Eug 

Whatever the height, it will be too high for good ergonomics, because of that chin. In fact I think the the 24" is already too high for this reason. Thus, I'm strongly considering buying a VESA mount for the 27".

Yeah, think that a vesa mount might be in order for me too. I looked a while ago and couldn't find many that sat on a desk that could hold nearly 14kg. If you have a particular supplier, do let me know.

[ajprice]

Originally Posted by slugslugslug 

Anyone mention the video input on the 27"? Really makes me want to go back to the old days of having a desktop and a laptop.

[thinking out loud]So... can you get a DisplayPort adapters and switch/KVM so I can plug in my PS3 and 360 into an iMac?? And how much can I get for this white MacBook 2.16 and Dell 2407 at the exchange shop...[/thinking out loud]

iMacs do look really nice, shame about no Blu-ray (yet) but I've got a PS3 for that.

[Eug]

Hmmm... The VESA mount is already listed on Apple's store.

As for memory, I think I might just get it through Apple, to make use of the 3-year warranty with Apple Care.

Question though: Does the Mini-DisplayPort adapter to dual-link DVI adapter work with single-link DVI screens?

[mattyb]

Originally Posted by Eug 

Hmmm... The VESA mount is already listed on Apple's store.

As for memory, I think I might just get it through Apple, to make use of the 3-year warranty with Apple Care.

Sorry, I meant something to mount the vesa mount to.

This seems interesting for me.

The more that I think about it, the 51 cm must be overall height. I reckon that their diagrams haven't been updated properly.

[Eug]

^^^ Yeah, I know. I just meant you can get the actual adapter on the store already. I didn't order it because there is no education discount on it, so I can get it any time.

P.S. My order:

27-inch iMac
Part Number: Z0GF
2.8GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7
2TB Serial ATA Drive
Apple Magic Mouse <-- I hate Apple Bluetooth products, but I'll give this one a shot since it doesn't cost extra and I already have wired and RF mice.
8GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 4x2GB
Apple Keyboard with Numeric Keypad (English) and User's Guide <-- Yes I prefer the wired keyboard.
ATI Radeon HD 4850 512MB
Country Kit
8x double-layer SuperDrive
1 $2,681.00 $2,681.00
Ships: November
AppleCare Protection Plan for iMac/eMac - Auto-enroll
Part Number: S2511Z/A
1 $139.00 $139.00
Estimated Ship: Same business day
Livre en 8 a 12 jours ouvrables apres l?expedition
Please note that your order subtotal does not include applicable sales tax or rebates. Sales tax, if applicable, will be added when your order is processed.

Order Subtotal: $2,820.00
Free Shipping: $0.00

Estimated Total: $2,820.00

Note the prices above are CAD$, education prices.

[nickw311]

If I do the regular shipping how long does it usually take?

[EndlessMac]

Originally Posted by nickw311 

If I do the regular shipping how long does it usually take?

About 3-4 days once the computer has been shipped. That's been the amount in the past for me. You do have to read the handling days too because that will add to the overall days it will reach your house. Usually if you buy it stock without custom upgrades then the handling can be within 24 hours unless they have a huge demand and are back ordered.

[mattyb]

Originally Posted by Eug 

^^^ Yeah, I know. I just meant you can get the actual adapter on the store already. I didn't order it because there is no education discount on it, so I can get it any time.

P.S. My order:

27-inch iMac
Part Number: Z0GF
2.8GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7
2TB Serial ATA Drive
Apple Magic Mouse <-- I hate Apple Bluetooth products, but I'll give this one a shot since it doesn't cost extra and I already have wired and RF mice.
8GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 4x2GB
Apple Keyboard with Numeric Keypad (English) and User's Guide <-- Yes I prefer the wired keyboard.
ATI Radeon HD 4850 512MB
Country Kit
8x double-layer SuperDrive
1 $2,681.00 $2,681.00
Ships: November
AppleCare Protection Plan for iMac/eMac - Auto-enroll
Part Number: S2511Z/A
1 $139.00 $139.00
Estimated Ship: Same business day
Livre en 8 a 12 jours ouvrables apres l?expedition
Please note that your order subtotal does not include applicable sales tax or rebates. Sales tax, if applicable, will be added when your order is processed.

Order Subtotal: $2,820.00
Free Shipping: $0.00

Estimated Total: $2,820.00

Note the prices above are CAD$, education prices.

Canadian Applestore mixes English and French?

With the i7 and Apple Care its 2158€, I'll settle for the 1TB HDD and I already have a wired keyboard. I'll order in January though, just before Apple care runs out for my Feb 2007 Plastic 20" iMac.

You actually getting one NOW? To go with the 7D I'll bet.

[Eug]

Weird that the French showed up there. The site is in both English and French, and sometimes they duplicate the same text in both languages, but it must be an error that they have part of the text only in French.

But yeah, it's gonna help out a lot with the 7D. Video encoding takes forever, and I'm also out of space for Aperture. I could just get an external hard drive, but the 2.33 GHz Core 2 Duo is really showing its age. If it was only that I'd could deal with it, but even worse is the 3 GB RAM limit. Disk thrashing is common when running apps like Aperture along side other apps.

I was tempted to put it up for sale on Friday last week, but chickened out, because I wasn't 100% sure we'd get a quad-core I like. I was predicting a quad-core mobile i7 without as many other upgrades for a lot of money, and if that was the release I would have hesitated buying and might just have waited until the next iteration.

Oh well, I won't lose that much money, considering that the lower end models are still all Core 2 Duo like mine.

[P]

Originally Posted by slugslugslug 

Anyone mention the video input on the 27"? Really makes me want to go back to the old days of having a desktop and a laptop.

Ah yes, the 27"er accepts DisplayPort input now. Nifty. It also supports a headset, presumably the one for the iPhone.

The included RAM is only 1066 DDR3, btw, but the Core i5/i7 support 1333 DDR3. Room for a future upgrade there.

[Eug]

Originally Posted by P 

Ah yes, the 27"er accepts DisplayPort input now. Nifty. It also supports a headset, presumably the one for the iPhone.

Nice, but it's the same port as the video output, so you can't have an external monitor and a video input at the same time. Oh well, better than what we had before, and more than I was expecting.

P.S. For the top of the line 27" I think it's rather odd that Compact Flash is not supported, just SD. It's exactly what I expected, but think CF is more appropriate, as the machine will be the iMac of choice for many higher end dSLR shooters. Not a big deal though. I'll just use my Firewire 800 Compact Flash reader. Which reminds me... As expected, it looks like I will need a Firewire 800 hub. Any recommendations?

P.P.S. It appears that at high resolutions the Radeon HD 4850 is faster than the nVidia 9800 GTX. Pretty good. One feature the Radeon HD 4850 also supports is sound over HDMI, but I'm pretty sure that the Apple version won't support that.

[pra9ab0y]

WOW. And I am just considering buy a 2nd desktop! I think the 27" will do me fine. but what happens if I want to use a 30" up against it? Wont the sizes be odd and not match up unlike the previous line? Got a Apple Store Genius thing book on saturday for my macbook pro. Now these are out I can see my day getting better and better! Me want one now! Higher than Hi Def screens? I think I might faint!!

[Eug]

The 24" iMac already has a higher than HD screen.

[slugslugslug]

Whoa, it didn't even occur to me that DisplayPort ports could be bidirectional like that. With a monitor that big on my desk, I think I'd be more likely to use the port for input than to bother having a 2nd display for the iMac.

[pra9ab0y]

Originally Posted by Eug 

The 24" iMac already has a higher than HD screen.

WOAH! I never knew. I will be trying this at work tomorrow! Still worried about the screen issue. Spose I will find out saturday!

Anyone want me to ask any questions? I know its a while away but I think I am in love with these new machines!

[pra9ab0y]

Anyone noticed how if you change from a magic mouse to a mighty mouse on the configure screen all the prices change on the ram and processor? - UK Store!

Take the Processor for example!
Magic Mouse Price - 2.8GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7 [+ £139.13]
Apple Mouse price - 2.8GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7 [+ £160.00]

Ram
Apple Mouse
4GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x2GB
8GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 4x2GB [+ £139.13]
8GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x4GB [+ £480.00]
16GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 4x4GB [+ £973.91]

Magic Mouse
4GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x2GB
8GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 4x2GB [+ £160.00]
8GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2x4GB [+ £480.00]
16GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 4x4GB [+ £1,120.00]

[slugslugslug]

^ Yeah, same number of horizontal pixels, but 120 more vertical ones, versus 1080p.

(whoops, that was directed at the posts 2 above this'un)

[Eug]

Originally Posted by pra9ab0y 

Anyone noticed how if you change from a magic mouse to a mighty mouse on the configure screen all the prices change on the ram and processor?

Makes no difference which you choose on the Canadian edu store.

----

Hmmm... Interesting. It might be possible that the 27" iMac is even shorter than the 24" iMac. Or at least the same height:

27-inch iMac:
Height: 20.4 inches (51.7 cm)
Width: 25.6 inches (65.0 cm)
Depth: 8.15 inches (20.7 cm)
Weight: 30.5 pounds (13.8 kg)

24-inch iMac:
Height: 20.5 inches (52.0 cm)
Width: 22.4 inches (56.9 cm)
Depth: 8.1 inches (20.7 cm)
Weight: 25.4 pounds (11.5 kg)

If the 27" has a smaller chin, the top of the screen might actually be slightly lower than the 24" iMac, assuming the space between the table and the bottom of the iMac is the same.

[voodoo]

Hmmm.. still a glossy display. Really, Apple. ... whatever, I'm in no hurry. This is a dealbreaker for me, no matte display, no sell.

I actually need to see what is on screen, not what is behind me.

[Eug]

Yeah, glossy is annoying, but luckily in my setup at home it should be OK. In my office it would be terrible in the morning though, since the window is directly behind my seat.

[pra9ab0y]

That just means you get the morning off or you'd have to re-arrange your office. Whichever suits you best!

[Eriamjh]

One can still select the wired keyboard with number pad at the Apple store.

I wanted a 24" iMac. Not anymore!

[Eug]

Originally Posted by Eriamjh 

One can still select the wired keyboard with number pad at the Apple store.

I wanted a 24" iMac. Not anymore!

That's what I ordered with my quad. Wired keyboard with numeric keypad and dual USB 2 ports.

P.S. Crucial now has the quad iMac listed on their site, with 2 x 4 GB for $94 US, with free shipping in the US. It's an extra $15 shipping to Canada which isn't bad, although their website sucks for Canadian orders. So, I cancelled my 8 GB iMac order and re-ordered with 4 GB. Having 4 memory slots is perfect.

[EndlessMac]

Originally Posted by Eug 

P.S. Crucial now has the quad iMac listed on their site, with 2 x 4 GB for $94 US, with free shipping in the US. It's an extra $15 shipping to Canada which isn't bad, although their website sucks for Canadian orders. So, I cancelled my 8 GB iMac order and re-ordered with 4 GB. Having 4 memory slots is perfect.

Adding more than stock RAM from Apple is always a rip-off. It's a good thing you were able to change your order in time.

[Eug]

Originally Posted by EndlessMac 

Adding more than stock RAM from Apple is always a rip-off. It's a good thing you were able to change your order in time.

The Core i7 Quads are not shipping until November, so I wasn't worried.

BTW, sometimes with laptops getting Apple RAM upgrades aren't really much more expensive. eg. Going from 1 --> 2 GB with a MacBook way back when wasn't so bad. The difference though is with Apple you have 2 GB, and with 3rd party you have the original 1 GB and then the new 2 GB.

[nickw311]

Just ordered the 27 inch model. Ugh, next months credit card statement is going to be ugly.

IMAC 27"/3.06/2X2GB/1TB/4670-256MB-USA MB952LL/A $1,699.00 1 $1,699.00
Ships: 1 - 3 business days
Delivers: Oct 22 - Oct 28

[Eug]

Where the heck do you find Firewire 800 1394b hubs?

EDIT:

Hmmm... I want to get another external hard drive for a scratch disk, and it'd almost be cheaper for me just to get a Firewire 800 hard drive, that includes an extra FW 800 port and another extra FW 400 port.

[EndlessMac]

Originally Posted by nickw311 

Just ordered the 27 inch model. Ugh, next months credit card statement is going to be ugly.

Wow, so someone talked you into the 27" model? You must be planning on doing some intense web surfing with this computer... while your computer finds the cure to cancer in the background.

[Big Mac]

I must say these iMacs look quite impressive. I wonder how they pulled off desktop components in such a thin, sleek enclosure. The chins even look smaller now. Congrats to Apple on getting an upgrade fully right. Of course, the iMac is the only line of Mac I've never purchased. Perhaps that will change going forward.

[hyteckit]

I love the new iMac. Although I think they should've kept the 24".

[driven]

How great is the performance increase of the Quad i5 / i7 over the Core 2 Duo? (Even with the lower clock speeds of the quads)

[mattyb]

I asked this in a thread in the Lounge as well. Can one hook up a game console to these new iMacs? I've got an Xbox. Anybody care to point me to somewhere that explains this?

Cheers.

[ajprice]

From the iMac Tech Spec page

27-inch models also support input from external DisplayPort sources (adapters sold separately).

Its interesting that this can happen now, my query would be about resolution. As the 27" is higher than 1080p, would it show 1:1 1080p in the middle of the screen, or upscale to the 2560x1400 27" resolution? As far as I know 1080p is the highest resolution the PS3 and 360 can display. You would need a Mini DisplayPort adapter, but that should be fine, even if its HDMI to DisplayPort cable > DisplayPort to Mini DisplayPort dongle.