Kasper JadeMore specifically, people close to the Cupertino-based company have picked up on chatter suggesting that earlier plans to offer Blu-ray technology on the new all-in-one desktops may have been pulled back just before the systems went into production last month.
Either way, it's believed that the technology would have found its way into the new models largely in the form of build-to-order options, given steep pricing still associated with Blu-ray drives.
Around the same time, others with connections to the Mac maker have shared word that Intel's recently released Core i7 'Clarksfield' quad-core mobile processors may find their way into the new iMac line in some capacity, making the new models the first consumer-oriented Macs with four processing cores.
The chips are available in 1.6GHz and 1.73GHz flavors, in addition to a pricer 2.0GHz variant that Apple would appear less likely to adopt in a consumer Mac given a price tag north of $1000.
Although AppleInsider has been unable to confirm either of these rumors with 100% certainty, it publishes them for the sake of completeness.
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251 Comments
It's difficult to imagine Apple putting a $500 CPU into an iMac, let alone a $1000 CPU. There are powerful enough CPUs in the $300 to $400 range.
If this true about Apple scrubbing plans to include a Blu-ray option in the upcoming iMac refresh, it'll be really disappointing. Why in the world do you include the capability of burning to Blu-ray in Final Cut Studio if you refuse to offer any way of doing it without resorting to 3rd-party drives? Yes, I understand that FCS is a "pro" app and as such is really meant for the Mac Pro, but Apple doesn't have a Blu-ray option there either. And as far as calling pricing on Blu-ray drives steep, I beg to differ. You can now get the new Pioneer internal Blu-ray burner for $250. That's half of what I paid for a DVD burner when they first came out. Come on Apple and get over this whole Blu-ray issue.
Apple is dragging its feet in adopting Blu-ray technology and at this point is far from being innovative. This rumour is truly annoying. Is it that difflicult to provide this as an option?
If this true about Apple scrubbing plans to include a Blu-ray option in the upcoming iMac refresh, it'll be really disappointing. Why in the world do you include the capability of burning to Blu-ray in Final Cut Studio if you refuse to offer any way of doing it without resorting to 3rd-party drives? Yes, I understand that FCS is a "pro" app and as such is really meant for the Mac Pro, but Apple doesn't have a Blu-ray option there either. And as far as calling pricing on Blu-ray drives steep, I beg to differ. You can now get the new Pioneer internal Blu-ray burner for $250. That's half of what I paid for a DVD burner when they first came out. Come on Apple and get over this whole Blu-ray issue.
Not to mention we have iMovieHD and can't burn it's files properly?
You can buy a Blu-ray machine now for $200!
It's difficult to imagine Apple putting a $500 CPU into an iMac, let alone a $1000 CPU. There are powerful enough CPUs in the $300 to $400 range.
These will be for the higher end iMacs.
I'm sure there will be a low end iMac that will keep on using a Core 2 Duo with 9400M chipset.
As for BluRay, BluRay readers with DVD+RW capability might cost more, but they're not that much more. BluRay burners are another thing entirely however.