“A good indication that an Apple product refresh is coming soon is when the respective product’s supplies begin tightening up,” Mark Gurman reports for 9 to 5 Mac. “Most recently, this process happened with the iPad prior to the iPad 2 launch and with the MacBook Pro prior to the MacBook Pro refresh with Thunderbolt and quad-core processors.”
“Now, it’s the iMac’s turn for a refresh. We have been told by three people familiar with the matter – all in different countries including the U.S. and an Asian country – that iMac supplies are tightening,” Gurman reports. “Previous reports claim that new iMacs with faster, Sandy Bridge processing chips and Thunderbolt I/O ports are launching between late April and early May.”
Read more in the full article here.
Bring em on…I’ve been patiently waiting for this refresh to replace my circa 2006 model white iMac.
Same here.
Money burning hole in my bank account.
Been waiting for almost 2 years now.
Same thing here.
I’ve saved up for this refresh. Looking forward to replacing my 1st gen MacBook Core Duo.
Great at lightning speed!
Yes please. My early 2007 white 24″ is ready to retire to the spare room.
Can’t wait! My 1st gen eMac (yes, an “e”Mac, not an “i”Mac) recently died after NINE years of faithful service. (How’s THAT for Apple quality? 🙂 )I LOVED my old machine, but, yes, it is LONG overdue for me to upgrade.
eMacs were unsung champs.
I have bought two 1.25 GHz for my kids.
Workhorses.
have a MB 1st gen core duo waiting for a MB air with thunderbolt…don’t need it but want it 😀
price isn’t the issue…just want that throughput port on the MBA before I commit to a new laptop
I’m waiting on the mini – should be soon as well. Might replace my macbook core2duo 2ghz
Thing runs great but might be time for an upgrade – use the mini as a media server.
Yeah, but are they zippier already?
I’m dying for a Mini refresh. I want a Miniiiiiii
I know, Me too! I run my Graphic Design Biz on a mm core solo and it suffices, but looking forward to the new “screamer” port.
Why is it even marked as a rumor? Isn’t it obvious already?
Everything I’ve heard/read hasn’t touched the thing that excites me about thunderbolt — lightning-fast syncing and backing up of iOS devices (once those devices ship with thunderbolt, of course).
AFAIK, NO ONE has mentioned this, but it could be really cool. Imagine setting up your new iphone and moving everything onto it in a minute. If we’re gonna be stuck with wires until the cell carriers catch up with demand, this could be a REAL differentiator.
What do you think? I’m curious what people think about this.
I think it will not be too much longer before iOS devices are considered “equals,” and not dependent on a Mac (or Windows PC) for setup, maintenance, and “syncing.” Customers will be able to use one without having another computer that runs iTunes.
There will obviously still be syncing and backup activity for iOS devices, but I think it will work over a local networking connection, or to the MobileMe “cloud,” not through a Thunderbolt-based replacement of the USB docking cable.
what you describe IS the dream, but man, the idea of moving gigabytes of data up to the cloud over (especially) cell networks just does not sound feasable.
I’d love to not have wires with my iOS devices, but I think we will for a while… And a faster wire would be a lot better.
And of course you are right that NO wire would be best.
Monitors aside, I think Apple should also have a Thunderbolt peripheral to give users a reason to care about the new plug.
Thunderbolt for the win!
I noticed desktop sales were down while Laptops were WAY up for Apple’s Q2.
I’d like EVERYTHING to go Thunderbolt. Cloud syncing over wireless is years off due to bandwidth and mainly cost to consumer. WiFi syncing should be here already for iOS devices. But nothing can compete with the speed of Thunderbolt, the new standard. USB 3.0 will be a distant second.
Whew, close call, ordered 4 27″ iMacs Monday, saw this post, and was able to cancel the order, can wait for these….
Yep! Thunderbolt* is a must on the next iMac generation.
Perfect to load a HD Feature Film in 30 Secondes. 🙂
The wole computer system (all brands) will be equiped with Thunderbolt. * an Intel product. Already, LaCie put a compatible product for it:LaCie Little Big Disk http://www.lacie.com/products/product.htm?id=10549