More on the Next-Generation iMac Rumor
Clearly, the hot topic of the week is the next round of iMacs, presently projected to ship at Macworld New York this July. Late last week a series of novel speculative-mockup images of the machine paired with a clearly unrealistic report made the rounds through the Web, and more recently hawk-eyed Mac users have spotted another unrealistic but novel mockup image displayed at the site of one "Acorn Creative". But so far, no detailed reports or images have stood the test of common sense, to say nothing of the more reliable corners of the grapevine.
The first round of mockups focused on what almost seemed a postmodern take on the old beige "pizza-box" Macs of the early and mid 90´s -- in some ways reminiscent of the new 2001 portable Macs, but not generally inspiring a sense of progress. Aside from the technical flaws in the accompanying report that made the rounds -- in short, there is no presently known way to pack the hardware required into a consumer-priced package, not even close -- the enclosure clashes with the word on the grapevine and just doesn´t capture the imagination the way a good new Apple product should. This newer mockup, while far closer to what little is known about the new iMac enclosure, ignores the impossibility of putting a 17-inch widescreen flat panel into the iMac´s cost bracket for at least another year.
So what is the real thing like? Well, truth be told, even the high-and-mighty rumormongers in their not-for-publication dirt-dishing sessions aren´t giving the kind of details we´ve come to expect as far as the enclosure is concerned. By all appearances the core spec sheet should be roughly what one would expect:
* PPC 750CX/CXe G3 processors at 466, 600, and 733MHz
* Same 133MHz main bus and PC-133 SDRAM as present PowerMacs
* 16MB nVIDIA GeForce 2MX accelerator soldered on-board, via 4X AGP bus
* 14-inch flat panel display (remember, the existing iMac´s 15-inch CRT only has a 13.8-inch viewable area, so this will actually be a size increase) with 1024x768 resolution
* Entry-level model will include CD-ROM, mid-range a CD-RW, and high-end a combo CD-RW/DVD-ROM drive.
* Updated Harmon Kardon Odyssey sound system. Functionality should be similar; styling is reported to be similar to Apple´s Pro Speakers.
* Same 10, 20, and 40GB ATA-66 hard drives as present models with some chance of minor size increases (16, 32, and 48GB versions have been suggested on the grapevine, but are unconfirmed).
* Entry-level models will move to 128MB of PC-133 SDRAM standard; the Special Edition will include 192MB, possibly even 256MB. This, of course, is to provide optimum performance under Mac OS X.
....but as far as the enclosure is concerned, we have only generalized reports to work with. The enclosure has been described as generally similar to the Acorn Creative image (but clearly that particular design would look strange with a standard-aspect 14-inch display), a vertically oriented all-in-one design with integrated speakers and some form of hinge-based angle adjustment. No flight-of-fantasy features like the suggested removable tablet-capable display, and nothing larger than, at most, a wide-aspect 15-inch flat panel like the Powerbook G4´s. Far more likely is a less costly 14-inch model as described above.
The new enclosure is expected to be a compromise between the intensely sleek, minimalist Powerbook G4 Titanium/2001 iBook/G4 Cube families - and the funky, colorful present generation of iMacs. A front panel surrounding the display will take over the "theme panel" duties from the top shell panel of the current models, making room for Apple to add pattern schemes similar to Blue Dalmation and Flower Power as well as the more reserved simple colors.
One thing is for certain -- the appeal of the existing iMac, while still strong, is waning. Most of the computer buyers in the marketplace who are attracted to its sloping lines and VW-Beetle-esque styling have already bought one; simply adding more outrageous schemes like Flower Power was a weak tactic to begin with -- and that was almost five months ago. Apple will be hard-put to come out with an even more revolutionary enclosure, but we´re confident they´re up to the task. One way or the other, Macworld New York should be quite a show indeed.
