Yup, another Apple store outage reveals yet another bump in product specs. This time, it's the iMac getting the treatment just as
Geeksugar and our own sources predicted -- on a Monday though instead of Apple's customary Tuesday morning approach. So what's new? Well, for starters you're now looking at the latest Core 2 Duo Penryn processors. For the same starting price of $1,199, you now get a 20-inch iMac with 2.4GHz proc, 128MB of ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT graphics, 1GB of memory and a 250GB 7200RPM disk. The top of the line 24-inch model now sports a 3.06GHz processor, 512MB of NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GS graphics, 2GB of memory, and a 320GB 7200rpm disk for $2,199. Rounding out the specs across the lineup are Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, 802.11n WiFi, Gigabit Ethernet, built-in iSight cam, and 5x USB 2.0 (which includes the 2x on tethered keyboard) and 1x Firewire 400 and 1x Firewire 800. Same size, same weight and available now... yes, right now.
posted April 28th 2008 8:29AM
YAY!
It can't play Crysis.
Therefore its nothing more than an overpriced LCD Monitor.
(you can low rank me, but, I don't care)
Hello I'm a Mac - and I'm a Pc
*MAC: So whats doing PC?
PC: Well I upgraded to 4gigs of RAM, a faster video card (not that you would need one) and a new sound card to replace my onboard one. How about you Mac?
*MAC: Ive been refreshing the Apple Store, hoping i get upgraded. Gee i Hate waiting to get upgraded.
^^ epic fail? perhaps!
You know, in a worldly perspective, not everyone is a hardcore gamer or a power user. Regardless of your needs, it's still a good solution for what you would expect that average home user would need a computer for.
Play Crysis? You do know the gaming market for PC in terms of actual people favors games like Mahjong, Hearts, and WoW, right?
All of which the 8800GS will do just fine on. But I guess it's just an overpriced LCD because it doesn't meet your needs and I suppose you were going to buy one right this instance if it did play Crysis. Guess Apple messed up again.
"You know, in a worldly perspective, not everyone is a hardcore gamer or a power user"
If apple is aiming for the "average home user" then maybe they should price their products accordingly. You don't need to spend 1200 dollars on a computer for web browsing. And people wonder why Apple doesn't gain significant market share.
@Jason
So you mean the $2,199 model that has the 8800GS? With $2,199 I could build a PC that could not only run Crysis and all the other games mention, but I would also have enough left over to build/buy a seperate hackentosh.
well thats not a computer for just web browsing..
@kal326
I am sure the ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT would probably play the games just as well, if you want the lower price, but that would be nitpicking the topic.
Also I'll let you know how my grandmother does when she builds her computer to save cash. Though it might be awhile as she still has trouble figuring out email, that and trying to pry her away long enough as she combos the speed/strength while snapping Chinese in her 'nana' suit. She really loves that.
Can't play Crysis? Then Crysis' developers seriously need to look at optimising their engine. Unreal Tournament III runs perfectly at 1440x900 with all settings maxed on my nearly year old MacBook Pro.
I won't deny the coolness factor, but its still overpriced crap.
I love how everybody loves to call it overpriced or say "I can build a PC for so much less blah blah blah" while apparently ignoring the fact that the $2199 model comes with a 24" S-IPS panel monitor. No go ahead, price one of those out. And notice I said S-IPS, not some shit TN panel monitor.
I've fallen out of hardcore gamming, but if a 3.0Ghz Core2Duo processor, 2 GB of RAM, and a video card with 512MB on board still cant play a game reasonably well... thats fucked up!
@ James
"If apple is aiming for the 'average home user' then maybe they should price their products accordingly. You don't need to spend 1200 dollars on a computer for web browsing."
If you just want web browsing pay less and get a mac mini if you want a Mac.. if not then buy something else. iMacs are typically for more than just web browsing. They are more for the active family that would want to do some multimedia stuff. And actually if you break down the price its not a bad deal. 20" monitor at best buy would be like $279... Stand alone Desktop with similar specs around $750 - 800... not including the iLife perks of having a free consumer level programs for Video Editing, Photo Editing (thats more than just taking out red-eye/roatating/croping), Web Page maker. Yes there are much better deals for people to find, but if you put it in perspective of what it offers and compare that to competition and then figure in that it is an Apple product.. its not a bad deal.
"And people wonder why Apple doesn't gain significant market share."
Who wonders that? Apple has gained significant market share considering their business model. Apple price's itself and views itself as a High End Luxury good. And they continue to sell more and more products to more and more new comers... I'd say they are doing pretty well.
Zak, according to Wikipedia, they are using H-IPS on the iMacs. 24" H-IPS monitors currently cost over $1000 BTW. With that in mind, the price doesn't seem so bad.
Either way you can't argue that its not expensive.wayy overpriced
Actually you can play Crysis on the older iMacs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlwmP9kp7m0&feature=related
Bioshock on an iMac
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-f5KsGsBFE&feature=related
I'm not familiar with the intricacies of S-PVA vs. S-IVS but I can tell you that I just ordered a Core2Quad Inspiron 530 from Dell with a Q6600, 3GB RAM, 8600GT 256MB video card, 500GB 7200 RPM HD, dual optical drives (DVD/RW & CDRW/DVD combo), card reader, and TWO (yes, two) highly ranked Dell UltraSharp 2408WFP S-PVA monitors for $1,866 (PC was $668, monitors $599 each).
You'll have a hard time convincing me the iMac screen is twice as good as a 2408WFP. I'll also be using my monitors for at least two or three computers, saving me even more. 2408WFP Review: http://www.pcpro.co.uk/reviews/184416/dell-ultrasharp-2408wfp.html
Can't keep track of all these nvidia GPUs. Isn't 8800GT supposed to be better than the GS variant? Why the 'weaker' GPU for imac?
perhaps GS= GameSupported edition?
Maybe because you can't stuff the ginormous radiator+fan/water cooling system in the 2" thick case. Or because the 8800GT will suck the whole of the electricity the power supply of the iMac delivers.
Top of the line GPUs are nice and all, but they are power hungry and hot as hell.
It's probably a mobile chip, or a a low-power variant of the 8800 family. Apple tends to use one of those two for the iMacs to keep the thermals in check.
nVidia usually names their cards like this (from low to high):
GS -> GT -> GTS -> GTX
so the GS is the low end of that particular model, the GT is the standard, GTS is higher performance, and GTX is top of the line.
Cus if they used a GT it would compete with the Mac Pro, and we can't have that. Of course, they could pony up and release an 8800GTX/ULTRA or 9800GTX for the Mac Pro.
First of all, the 512mb 8800gs and 512mb 8800gt are not all that different to begin with - same chip (g92) and same memory (512), but thats about where the similarities end. To put it simply, you can think of the 8800gs as the cheaper version of the 8800gt, with nvidia basically putting the breaks on the card so it doesn't compete with 8800gt.
Second of all, the 8800gt isn't exactly a huge card and doesn't need water cooling by any means (its actually a single slot card). It definitely produces more heat than the 8800gs, but apple is never really known for graphical power, so thats why they can be expected to never choose the card that gamers want. For a computer as expensive as the mac pro, people would expect a 9800gtx or similar card, but you're lucky if you get an 8800gt. Put simply - if you plan on gaming at high res with the latest games, you're stuck with console or windows.
:: uses honesty magic to keep the apple fainbois at bay ::
No more "Millions of colors" on the 20-inch. Funny how that works ain't it.
iPhone ripoff
Actually Joe,
it still says millions of colours for the specs for all iMac systems.
from Joe. :)
So can this new graphics card play COD4 or TF2??
Why so much excitement? Seriously i can upgrade my PC anytime.
u do aware this is an Apple fanboy site right?
I dont think so.
But he may BE aware of it.
I'll let myself out.
you mean sort of like the old one could? do your homework.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8hUxhqYb3o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCrwmARnKCk
I play both of those games with ease using the last version 24 inch imac and updated drivers from ATI. Looks great.
I play both of them on my 1 year old MacBook Pro. Not only that but i also play TF2 native on OS X and CoD4 is being worked on too.
Well http://www.apple.com/imac/specs.html still shows the old iMac with "Millions of Colors" for now.
They updated it... still "Millions of Colors" it's probably unlikely they they're using a different LCD panel anyway.
Store is back up with iMac updates! 3.06 ghz speeeeeeeed!
Speed racer?
No quad-core? No thanks.
It's like they're encouraging people to build Hackentoshes.
@Mike Cerm
You want quad core? Buy a Mac Pro - Quad Core x 2.
Troll.
now am debating whether to get the dell laptop gaming machine with the dual sli geforce 8800gtx or this slick imac..advice people?
If you want to game, then the dell. For any other purposes, by the imac. If you run bootcamp, just use rivatuner to up the frequencies on 8800gs, and you'll make it basically equivalent to an 8800gt, which will run most games almost as well as the dual 8800mgtx's in the laptop. I would rather have the imac, but if you're a hardcore gamer, then the dell is what you'd want.
This is somewhat exciting I guess, but I was expecting a bit more, like a blender and billions of colors.
Such nicely underpowered machines at way too much $$
And people still buy that crap, tjeez...
Just built a comp for my bro : E6600, 2GIG DDR2 800mHz RAM, SLI abit mobo, 8800gt 512mb, 320GB HD, DVD burner, keyboard+mouse(logitech), 20" TFT acer....and all the other usual bells and whistles.
800$
Yes i did assemble it myself but hell...double the performance for 1/3rd price? Thank you very much indeed.
@ Michel
And this is the difference between an iMac and your new 'super' computer.
http://images.apple.com/imac/design/images/gallery/imac_5_20071026.jpg
owned
@TheSpecialist
And you're willing to pay $1400 more for a few hidden wires and an all-in-one machine you can't even upgrade yourself (barring RAM and hard drive, of course)? I'd take Michel's $800 over this iMac any day. Nothing a few zip ties and wire enclosures couldn't fix.
@ Fenix:
So what, you are going to zip-wire a monitor to an ATX case? eeewww...
I'm not in love with the hardware as much as I'm willing to pay the price of admission to use OSX. I'm absolutely in love with Leopard.
I'm just pissed they didn't bump the Mac Mini.
You ask any average guy out there on the street, ask him which one he will choose.
Most will go with the iMac, they don't need such power and tend to put looks over performance. Plus, they would crap themselves if you told them to upgrade the Random Access Memory, they don't need to upgrade.
And those on Engadget don't really count for the majority of the people.
Seriously... Every time i use Windows on Parallels the damned thing makes me restart for "critical updates," and I'm rudely reminded about why I made the switch. Part of the problem, admittedly, is that Apple comes off as so elitist that it makes DIYers and gamers see red, which is understandable, but you really do get a lot for your money. I couldn't even think about not having Front Row, iChat, and iMovie, plus you can get a ton of freeware programs that are fully functional (Quicksilver, Shakespeer, and Transmission (also on Linux) for example). For Windows, every little utility costs money or bugs you for it on a splash screen, and most don't work quite the way you'd like.
To OP, your $800 rig is pretty nice, but keep in mind that you're not really saving money on the hardware, you're saving money by cutting out parts of the product chain. Your labor costs are zero and the profit that would normally go to the company stays in your pocket.
Note to pocket-protector-wearing FrankenPC enthusiasts:
Some of us don't care about saving some bucks by building our own machines. Some of us don't have the 40 hours to research all the components we want and find the best deals, screw everything together, cross our fingers and hope the thing actually powers up. And IF it does power up, you're still stuck in the Hell that is Windows (unless you want to spend more time trying to hack together an OS X machine) and you're still stuck with something that looks like a homemade turd sitting on your desk.
Been there, done that. Not going back. Thanks.
The next time you're enjoying a nice lunch eating out, think how much money you could have saved by bringing a Top Ramen to the office. Yeah, it's just like that.
The "I could make it cheaper myself!" rants grow tiresome.