New iMacs: Apple to offer both quad, dual core models
A leading Mac watcher believes the mothership has settled the question of using two or four core processors in an upcoming revision of the company’s prosumer desktop. Moreover, we shouldn’t have to wait too long to get them either.
In Apple’s first fiscal quarter of 2009, although overall computer unit volume increased 9 percent, desktop sales actually declined 25 percent. With all three of Apple’s desktop offerings a year or more since the last major update, the time to release updated hardware is definitely ripe.
That said, people who make it their business to monitor Apple’s channel say that iMac supplies have become constrained, a move the company announced to resellers and one that could presage the imminent release of new kit. However, it bears remembering that Cupertino also told resellers in August of last year to expect reduced iMac supplies and nothing came of that.
Furthermore, Kaufman Brothers analyst Shaw Wu also believes updated iMacs will arrive within weeks, adding that the question of whether use dual or quad core processors with a resounding, “yes.”
In a not unprecedented move (back in the day, dual and quad core Mac Pro models were sold side-by-side), Wu posits that Apple will offer a high-end quad core model with a 24 inch screen, as well as a pair of dual core units in 20 and 24 inch configurations.
Big iron
In related news, Fudzilla—yes, Virginia, there really is a “Fudzilla”—adds that Intel has begun shipping Mac Pro friendly new Xeon W processors with additional high-end chips due in the channel by the end of March. This could be a sign of nothing or that Apple will finally update their their big iron desktop, which last saw a refresh just ahead of Macworld San Francisco 2008.
Assuming any or all of the above is true, is there enough substance here to steam the ongoing slide in Apple desktop sales or is the desktop the latest technological dinosaur to live past its sell by date?
What’s your take?
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February 4th, 2009
I think a single quad core 24″ iMac would be the obvious choice, with Core2 duos filling the other models.
The 24″ iMac is already a favourite weapon of choice among designers and wouldn’t white-ant MacPro sales at all. The MacPro could then have a twin quad core as its entry point, being a main point of difference between the iMac and MacPro. And the mid & top MacPros could then be quad quad core machines.
Makes perfect sense, really…