15inch iMacs and 15inch LCD's Discontinued?

Not to take away from IBM's new PowerPC news... it appears that changes are coming soon for other parts of Apple's line.

Apple's 15" LCD iMac is close to be discontinued with removal of the unit from dealers' lists as well as inventories approaching zero across the country. Digitimes reported back in August that 15" LCD iMacs would be discontinued in October, and they appear to be correct. In May, they also reported that 19inch iMacs were on the way, however current sources don't correspond with this prediction.

Apple's 15" LCD also appears to be approaching EOL status, and updates have been expected. Apple currently has Display Rebates until December 31, 2002.

Finally! They haven't updated the iMac since Jan 2002, it is time for an upgrade Apple! What specs, I can only guess, my predictions:

iMac 17 across the board (I don't think we are going to see any 19 inch displays yet)
800-900mhz low end

most likely 1ghz high end,
new graphics card, higher speed cdrw drives, and bigger hard drives. I am not sure about the memory, but I think 128mb is going to stay on the low end, and high end will have 512mb.

What do you guys think?

I'm betting on 900-1100MHz, with a possible bus speed change. This might be a little much, but I doubt we'll see only 100MHz seperating the two products, and I doubt that we'll still have an 800MHz iMac available.

Although, I do believe that we'll see the last of the iMac 15" (if slowly).

One possibility is that we'll see 15" iMacs phased out with the 15" iMac being placed at the low-end with an 800MHz processor, and removed when supplies run out.

Apple can't upgrade the iMac any higher than 1ghz...it just wouldn't make sense. However an all 17inch lineup does not make sense either...but an upgrade is in order...superdrives across the line (important in my mind)...Oh by the way are the current 17inchs sold out too?...anyway my predictions

15-inch low end (until Mac World San Fran where 19inch is introduced)
800 mhz processor
100mhz systembus
Superdrive
60 Gb Hard Disc
Gf2MX
1399$

17inch middle
800 mhz processor
100 mhz bus
Superdrive
80 GB Hard Drive
Gf4mx
1799$

17inch high end
933 mhz processor (or 1ghz possibly)
133 sysbus
Superdrive
100GB Hard Drive
Built in BlueTooth
Ati Radeon 9000
2099$ (to 1999$ by December 1st)

Updates made at same time as Powerbooks and new bluetooth device

Its just to crazy for the 19inch already (thats a big deal update)...Superdrive eMac same price as 15inch iMac

Originally posted by Flyers486
Apple can't upgrade the iMac any higher than 1ghz...it just wouldn't make sense. However an all 17inch lineup does not make sense either...but an upgrade is in order...superdrives across the line (important in my mind)...Oh by the way are the current 17inchs sold out too?...anyway my predictions

17inch models still around.

15inch models unavailable at this time.

arn

Given that the 15" iMacs appear to be history (as in, completely gone, not just relegated to the low-end), we have to assume that Apple will be able to sell the 17" version for nearly the same price as corresponding 15" model. It would not make sense for them to raise prices on the iMac to accommodate the larger display. With the cost of flat panels declining, they might be able to pull this off.

I just checked the Apple Store for Education Institutions(K-12) and there are no listings of the 15" LCD Studio display ANYWHERE! (all listing have been removed) I believe that is pretty concrete evidence that they are EOL.

who know's what tomorrow will bring......

Originally posted by IJ Reilly
Given that the 15" iMacs appear to be history (as in, completely gone, not just relegated to the low-end), we have to assume that Apple will be able to sell the 17" version for nearly the same price as corresponding 15" model. It would not make sense for them to raise prices on the iMac to accommodate the larger display. With the cost of flat panels declining, they might be able to pull this off.

The only caveat is that they could introduce new 15" models with new product numbers.

All that can be assumed is the current 15" product line is going to be discontinued.

arn

I agree on the all-17" possibility, given the various sources seeming to point to the same thing. I also suspect that they'll move to a 133 MHz bus, as the PowerMacs will be beyond that within a month or two of MWSF.

Here's what I'd realistically expect to see, assuming this holds true:

CD-RW

- 867 MHz G4
- 133 MHz system bus
- 256 MB of PC133 memory
- GF4 MX video
- 17" widescreen display
- 60 GB hard drive
- $1299

Combo

- 867 MHz G4
- 133 MHz system bus
- 256 MB of PC133 memory
- GF4 MX video
- 17" widescreen display
- 60 GB hard drive
- Apple Pro Speakers
- $1499

Superdrive

- 1 GHz G4
- 133 MHz system bus
- 512 MB of PC133 memory
- GF4 MX video
- 17" widescreen display
- 80 GB hard drive
- Apple Pro Speakers
- $1799 (maybe $1699)


If the 19" iMac is true, it would be in a similar setup as the Superdrive model mentioned above, but possibly with better video (maybe a Radeon 9000 Pro?) and, more likely, a 120 GB hard drive. It would have the same going price as the current 17" iMac ($1999).

If you're more pragmatic, drop every screen size down a notch (so we're back to 15/15/15/17 again, just with better specs).

120gb hd:p


funny: