AppleInsider Staff
Availability of the 27-inch iMac is now limited at most retailers seen in the AppleInsider pricing guide. In particular, the low-end 2.7-gigahertz model is currently out of stock at Amazon, MacMall, MacConnection, Best Buy, and J&R. For now, the desktop remains in stock at B&H.
Availability of the high-end 3.1-gigahertz model is slightly better. That configuration is currently sold out at Best Buy and J&R, while limited stock is available at Amazon.
A shortage of 27-inch iMacs was also noted on Friday by MacRumors which found that the base-level machine is currently sold out at 120 of Apple's 249 U.S. retail locations, while the high-end configuration is unavailable at 135 retail stores.
While supply of the 27-inch iMac has dwindled, there are no such signs of constrained inventory for the 21.5-inch model. Both Apple's retail stores and authorized resellers show the smaller iMac model to have adequate availability.
Supply of the 27-inch iMac first began to dry up last month, as resellers started to see limited availability of the big-screen desktop. Supply constraints at Mac resellers is often one of the first signs that Apple is drawing down inventory ahead of a product update.
And the iMac line is due for an update, with the most recent refresh released over a year ago, in early May of 2011. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said in July that he expects Apple to refresh its iMac lineup with Intel's Ivy Bridge processors as soon as September.
Earlier this month, internal configuration files in Mountain Lion were discovered to make apparent references to unreleased new generations of the iMac, as well as the Mac Pro. The new iMac was labeled as (iMac13,0), while the Mac Pro was identified as (MacPro6,0).
In addition, a new 13th-generation iMac identified as "iMac 13,2" has already appeared in Geekbench benchmarks. That machine was seen running Mountain Lion with an Intel Core i7-3770 processor clocked at 3.4-gigahertz with 4 gigabytes of 1600-megahertz DDR3 RAM.
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57 Comments
Does anyone expect this to be a redesign or just a spec bump?
Hopefully with a matte display option. Or else it is a deal-braker, since it is a serious health and productivity issue. MacMatte.
It's not a serious health issue, relax. Talk about hyperbole.
(EDIT: If it IS a health issue for you, that's a different story. Your post made it seem as if it's a health issue for all, which is unnecessary.)
And I literally bought a 27-inch Thunderbolt Display yesterday. I knew it was due for a refresh, but I don't seriously expect (nor does anyone else, it seems) a Retina-upgrade in the relatively near future. A 27-inch Retina-quality monitor would be far more expensive than the current $999 price tag, and I don't think manufacturers are ready to pump those out quite yet in the masses needed for both iMacs and Thunderbolt Displays. At most, I would expect upgraded ports, like USB 3.0, maybe an additional TB. It will probably be a quiet update alongside a higher bump in the iMac. So I'm fine with that.
Does anyone expect this to be a redesign or just a spec bump?
Since it has taken them so long to release something that should have been out months ago, the optimist in me wants to say 'full redesign', but then the pessimist in me comes back from the bathroom and kicks the optimist back into his torture room.
They'll have no optical drives and be slightly thinner. Two Thunderbolt on the 21.5" and maybe three on the 27". That's it.
I don't even think retina, but they surprised me last time.
They'll have no optical drives and be slightly thinner. Two Thunderbolt on the 21.5" and maybe three on the 27". That's it.
I don't even think retina, but they surprised me last time.
If they redesign- I agree wholeheartedly. I would hope they wouldn't make it thinner as it gets crazy hot as it is. I'd like for them to put a small sdd boot drive in place of the optical and add an extra fan and push air right to left as well as bottom to top.
I would be shocked beyond belief if they had retina- I'd bed my house payment against it.
Although I, too, hope for a redesign... my gut tells me that won't happen until retina... which means we won't see it until late next year. Ivy Bridge, updated GPU, and 1666 ram... I think that's all we see (much like the macbook pros).
That said- if the base 27" is as fast or faster than my BTO 27" 2010 i7s- I'll upgrade one of them.