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Macworld: No new Towers, But 17-inch iMac

Les writes "Mac insider site Think Secret has its scoop on what Apple CEO Steve Jobs will announce at Macworld Expo in New York next week. The site says that Power Mac G4s won't be updated until August, but we'll instead see a 17" flat-panel iMac and a demo of OS X 10.2 Jaguar."

28 of 266 comments (clear)

  1. There goes their ticket to Macworld... by 1010011010 · · Score: 5, Funny


    I assume they're "on the list," now.

    --
    Napster-to-go says "Fill and refill your compatible MP3 player", which is a lie. It's not MP3. It's WMA with DRM.
  2. Rumors! The Expo has not yet happened. by EchoMirage · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Unfortunately Taco forgot to denote that these are rumors. Although Think Secret claims to "know" definitively, they only publish rumors based on heresay, second-hand knowledge, and claimed industry "insiders." Many times, they have been wrong.

    If you will remember a day or three ago, sites like Think Secret were prevented from obtaining a media pass to the Expo because of their ability to wildly spin incorrect information (amongst other conspiracy theories).

    In other words, this is only a possibility, but the Expo hasn't happened yet.

    1. Re:Rumors! The Expo has not yet happened. by Saint+Fnordius · · Score: 5, Insightful

      1. ThinkSecret is less than useless, since their rumor hit miss ratio is equal to "dart board" methods.

      2. Ziff-Davis (ZDNet and C|Net) seem to be the source of this smokescreen. Also not the most accurate source of Apple news. Sometimes I get the feeling that the guys over at C|Net are more knee-jerk than factual (although David Coursey got real Mac-lustful after his trial with a flat-screen iMac).

      3. The other rumor was the resurrection of the Cube, bundled with 17" flatscreens. After all, the Cube wasn't killed, just put into hibernation. Maybe they had to pull it back out of the freezer to make room for Ted Williams?

      4. If it is true, then Apple needs to lower their inventory of current iMacs, as their price is going to drop as soon as the bigger, better version hits the market. The only explanation as to why they haven't done so yet is because they know it's a sign the sages look for. But it isn't a good reason at all.
      5. There was a fifth reason to discount this rumor, but the RDF rays are wearing off. Fnord.

  3. Flawed reasoning by YanceyAI · · Score: 4, Insightful
    According to the article:

    How are we so certain that Macworld won't bring new towers? Use common sense! Just look at the Apple promotion announced earlier this week offering $300-$500 back when a Power Mac G4 is purchased along with a 17-inch Studio Display, 22-inch Cinema Display, or 23-inch Cinema HD Display. This is a clear sign that Apple is sitting on a huge inventory of G4 towers. (emphasis mine)

    I'm not saying that they're wrong, just that the speculation is weak. They may have a ton of displays, or they may be trying to move the inventory for the very fact that they are releasing a new tower.

    --
    Can I bum a sig?
  4. Take This With a Grain of Salt by TomHandy · · Score: 4, Insightful
    ThinkSecret is one of the less accurate rumor sites......and I don't think they're even all that good. Look at their explanation for why they are so sure G4 speed bumps won't be announced.....all they are going on is "common sense" that there is a special promotion running right now for current G4's.

    And some of their other rumors reported for Macworld New York are patently ridiculous, despite being labeled as 100%....i.e. iTools being renamed .Mac.....which is so inherently stupid it isn't even funny, considering that the name makes no sense at all since it would only cause consumer confusion, especially since there is no .mac TLD to use for such a thing. And it would probably add unnecessary confusion with .NET as well, even though iTools and .NET are not really related technologies or systems at all.

  5. Yeah, Think Secret is reliable by francism · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Seriously, Think Secret might be the only rumor site still spewing out stuff on a daily basis, but they have NO RELIABILITY! Before AppleInsider disappeared and As the Apple Turns turned into a 'sometimes weekly depending on the baby' show, Think Secret was the joke of the Mac community. They were like Weekly World News; amusing but you knew you were reading garbage. Now we are expected to take their 'rumors' as fact? Sure, they can speculate like everyone else, but the fact that Slashdot and CNET News.com run the story at all is embarassing. The guy does this for hits, plain and simple. If they were somewhat reliable, don't you think that Apple would take them down? This especially holds true when the mass media picks up the story.

  6. C|Net too by JHromadka · · Score: 4, Interesting

    C|Net has an article that almost mirrors what ThinkSecret is saying. Personally, I'm happy with my PowerBook, so if the big news is getting 10.2 on August 5, I'll be happy.

    --
    "The objective of securing the safety of Americans from crime and terror has been achieved." -- John Ashcroft
  7. Macworlds are always ruined by high expectations by elliotj · · Score: 5, Funny

    The problem with the Mac web is that expectations run much higher than Apple can realistically deliver. So there's always a lot of hype prior to a Macworld and then much dissapointment following. Just look at the iPod: when it launched, the /. discussion was very critical, but now there's an abundance of stories about what a ground breaking product it is. That's ass-backwards if you ask me.

    So, I'd like to help make this a better Macworld, and at risk of incurring the wrath of Apple, I'd like to give you my rumor list for what we'll see:

    - A return to beige towers and CRT monitors
    - No more G4s. All Macs will now run on 1st generation G3s
    - Mac OS 9 will rise from the dead, and Steve will hold a funeral for unix (which is, afterall, dying .... if you believe the trolls around here).
    - An all new iPod will be 5 times the size and hold upto 7 songs!

    There it is. Don't hold your breath, but I think this is what we'll be seeing next week.

  8. CNET by aengblom · · Score: 4, Informative

    CNET has a story on the 17inchers too.

    --


    So close and yet so far from the world's perfect ID number
  9. Re:i like mac and all but.. by Alan+Partridge · · Score: 3, Interesting

    it's built into the machine, numb-nuts. Apple have been selling larger screens for years. But we're all really impressed with your big LCD - I bet it drives all the girls crazy when you tell them about it.

    --
    That was classic intercourse!
  10. My predictions... by Jon+Abbott · · Score: 4, Funny


    - The current Apple Macintosh line will be cancelled.
    - New Apple computers, such as the Golden Delicious and Granny Smith will be unveiled.

    What do you think?

  11. Steve and the PDA... by soboroff · · Score: 4, Insightful
    "0% - Mac PDA or tablet
    Our sources tell us Steve Jobs constantly complains about how bad the user experience is for Mac users using PDAs. From one source: "'Why is it so complicated?', Jobs has often said." Apple is working on something, that's for sure."
    I wonder if the user experience with PDAs wouldn't have been so bad if Jobs hadn't killed the Newton. I love my Palm, but I can't count how many times I wished it was a 4oz Newton!
  12. No matter what by feldsteins · · Score: 5, Interesting

    No matter what Apple finally announces, at this or any other keynote, about half the comments in these forums will be filled with "no big deal" or "The Man is trying to crush us!" or some other wacky thing. Sometimes intelligent conversation about the Macintosh platform is hard to come by on slashdot. And that's a shame.

    I'm thinking back to when the iPod was branded "lame" on the front page of slashdot within minutes of it being announced. Of course it if had run Linux it would have been heralded as an indredible technological breakthrough and an "industry leading" product and a shining example of why open source software is better than other kinds.

    --
    You like your Macintosh better than me, don't you Dave? Dave? Can you hear me Dave?
  13. Re:iMac prices here in my country by Large+Green+Mallard · · Score: 4, Informative

    Brazil has tried this before.. have a look at http://www.applefritter.com/macclones/unitron/ for a 1980's Brazillian Mac clone :)

  14. ThinkSecret Credibility by usr122122121 · · Score: 3, Informative
    I recently emailed the guy in charge of ThinkSecret to ask him if he thought that it spoke any to his credibility the fact that the "System Preferences Screenshot" has "firewall" misspelled as "firewal"... and I encouraged him to place the "l" there in order to seem more credible...

    He replied that it was Apple's mistake, and that they need to fix it, not him.

    He left that image alone, but released a Newer One that is in almost a completely different style- look at the tabs... and "firewal" is now fixed.

    I will be SO MAD if apple does the .Mac sh*t. Since when do we copy Microsoft?

    Think Secret's integrity as a rumors site is existent only in the fact that it is one of the few rumors sites remaining. This, in turn, is because I believe that Apple is playing them: feeding them doctored images, blatantly false rumors, and such. That would explain why they haven't gotten in trouble yet with apple... and would also explain why half the stuff there seems ludicrous!

    I do have to confess, though, I do read Think Secret regularly. Definitely not for an authoritative source of information, but just for fun. Every thing they say should be taken with a grain of salt. No, change that, the whole salt shaker.

    uh-oh, i'm 2 cents poorer

    --

    -braxton
  15. Improved powermacs by Space+Coyote · · Score: 3, Interesting

    If anything, Apple would be stupid not to bring some of the technology from the Xserve into their desktops, like DDR RAM. If they leave new Power Macs off of the table completely I think we can be sure that they'll come shortly afterward, with the only reason for a delay being inventory backlog of current G4 units and supply problems with faster G4 chips.

    --
    ___
    Cogito cogito, ergo cogito sum.
  16. RumorTracker by EyesWideOpen · · Score: 3, Informative

    If you have a rumor fix, the site RumorTracker acts as a sort of rumor portal including rumors from seven different sites including MacOSRumors, ThinkSecret and SpyMac.

    --

    As with the sun's light
    My mom was magnificent
    Unquestionable
  17. 17" iMac! by mosch · · Score: 4, Funny
    Holy shit, I can't wait for the 17" flat-panel iMac!

    It's... slightly larger!!

  18. Re: Is ThinkSecret trolling? by interactive_civilian · · Score: 4, Insightful
    I dunno if they are trolling or not. Some carracho bandits out there are reporting that this is the latest builds of Jaguar, under the Internet tab in the System Preferences (where it is currently iTools).

    Some have speculated that this might be Apple competing w/ Microsoft as far as brand recognition (note these are pretty much the same people who said the same thing when Microsoft decided to call the latest Windows "XP" about a month before OS X 10.0.0 was released).

    However, for my own useless speculation, I don't think this will be a direct competitor to the .Net idea, but being a fairly nice set of network services (homepage, file storage, email, iCards, etc) might make some think that it is close enough.

    Just my humble opinion.

    --
    "Empathise with stupidity, and you're halfway to thinking like an idiot." - Iain M. Banks
  19. why need a TLD? by interactive_civilian · · Score: 3, Insightful
    Here's a potential idea. Right now iTools users accounts are located at:

    http://homepage.mac.com/username/

    Well...it could be really cool if Apple did something more like this:

    http://username.mac.com/

    Then all Apple users would have their very own .Mac(.com) domain name. Of course, there is absolutely no proof of this...just rampant speculation.

    But, isn't that what this entire story is about?

    --
    "Empathise with stupidity, and you're halfway to thinking like an idiot." - Iain M. Banks
  20. Business Reasoning by maggard · · Score: 3, Insightful
    How are we so certain that Macworld won't bring new towers? Use common sense!

    Er, howzabout economic sense?

    Apple is looking to bump their numbers.

    While Apple has weathered this downtown better then almost any other PC manufacturer they did just have a 5%+ layoff in Cupertino, their numbers are down, and things likely won't heat up until late August/September when back-to-school starts (traditionially a strong season for Apple.) So they're trying to push what appears to be their slowest moving boxes - the top-of-the-line ones with the lovely Apple LCD displays. This doesn't require any great insight but just a quick course in modern make-the-books-look-good-for-The-Street management.

    Will there be a 17" flat-panel iMac (remember they're still selling the old all-in-1-CRT iMac as well as the 17" eMac)? I hope so - I just advised a buddy to buy an eMac for the extra screen-space & faster processor for only $100 more. On the other hand that arm is a complicated device, there have been complaints about it, and scaling it up to 17" may be a jump Apple's not ready to make so soon.

    My own guess? With the announced new graphics pipeline through OpenGL and it's requirement of 32 MB of video RAM I'm betting we'll see that met across the board. But Towers? If they're ready in time; otherwise they may wait 'till late summer. It depends on what other marvels Steve has to trot out and if new towers would get much attention next to those (really they're more-of-the-same-but-faster.)

    --
    I don't read ACs: If a post isn't worth so much as a nom de plume to its author then I wont bother either.
  21. Cube - yes please! by iainl · · Score: 3, Interesting

    "The other rumor was the resurrection of the Cube, bundled with 17" flatscreens"

    I'll take one of those! Particularly if they make them in purple this time, to match my Nintendo Cube. A friend has one of the Apple Cubes from last time, and they are a thing of beauty and a joy to behold.

    --
    "I Know You Are But What Am I?"
  22. CPU is, literally, small apples. by 2nd+Post! · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The CPUs, at 800MHz or higher, is no big thing. Really.

    The current bus speeds, at 133MHz, is nearly 6-8 times slower than the the CPU. Some of that memory bandwidth is also being allocated the AGP, DMA transfers, firewire transfers, and just about anything else in the Apple mobo that uses the RAM. So the CPU is *starving* at the GHz level, especially at the dual CPU level.

    Being force to wait 10 cycles while waiting for memory is bad.

    On the PC side a CPU may be 2GHz now, but the memory is also quad pumped 133MHz as well. 2x the CPU but *4* times the memory bandwidth.

    So yes Apple needs faster CPUs, but they need faster memory even more.

    Let's hope for DDR interfaces come MWNY

  23. Zdnet and Cnet spilled the iMac beans last night by Arcturax · · Score: 3, Interesting

    http://news.com.com/2100-1040-942608.html
    http:// zdnet.com.com/2100-1103-942646.html

    Both of them stole Jobs thunder, I wonder if they will join the MacWorld blacklist now?

    Then again, if Jobs doesn't throw a wobbler and Apple did let them post this early, then that can only mean that Jobs is still sitting on something else that is very significant.

    --

    --Won't that be grand? Computers and the programs will start thinking and the people will stop. - Dr. Walter Gibbs
  24. Re:Apple's long-term trouble. by nobodyman · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Are you seriously claiming that a 2.5 GHz x86 processor (Intel, AMD or whatever) is exactly 2.5 times "faster" than a 1 GHz PowerPC G4 chip?

    Um, no. I'm re-reading my post to try to fathom where you came up to with that. Let me restate.

    Fastest x86 cpu 2 yrs ago: 1ghz
    Fastest x86 today: 2.5ghz
    Speed gain: 250 percent

    Fastest g4 2 years ago: 766mhz
    Fastest g4 today: 1ghz
    Speed gain: 30 percent

    What I'm saying is that either a) the G4 is reaching the end of it's lifecycle or b) Motorola sucks. I'm leaning towards b). Either way, Apple has a problem on their hands. They need to up the cpu speeds and especially the bus speeds (as another post intelligently pointed out).

  25. Bullshit rumor. Current Powermac G4 EOl'd by d0n+quix0te · · Score: 5, Informative

    The current crop of PMG4's have been EOL'd. Yup. Limited shelf life plus great discount packages can only mean one thing:

    New PowerMacs at MacWorld!!!
    ----
    http://www.cube-zone.com/ reports:
    The current PowerMac line has been EOled. ... the current PowerMac line (800 Mhz, 933 Mhz and dual 1 Ghz) has been EOled. Computers dealers cannot order those computers from Apple anymore...

    ---

  26. The Quartz Extremem "requirments" myth by PythonOrRuby · · Score: 3, Informative

    Quartz Extreme will only require 16MB of Video RAM on an AGP 2x bus. All of Apple's current machines, minus the old iMac currently meet this. Yes, it would be nice to see all of them meet the reccomended 32MB, but as it is, they'll all be able to take advantage of hardware accelerated Quartz when 10.2 ships.

  27. Consider the source by inkswamp · · Score: 3, Interesting
    Mac rumor sites are a strange thing (are there such things for the Wintel world? I really don't know.) I've monitored them for some time and I can say that the only one with any track record to speak of is macosrumors.com. They have consistently outguessed nearly every Apple announcement that I've seen in the last two years, and they only publish stories when something is worth publishing. I suspect the person behind the site has some knowledge of journalistic methods and waits until he can independently verify news before reporting. The site really is shockingly accurate and I suspect the publisher has lots of contacts with beta-testers and Apple seed recipients willing to quietly break their NDAs.

    The only thing macosrumors didn't immediately predict was the flat-panel iMac, but they didn't have to. They mentioned it almost a year before its release (along with a couple schematics of its design) and then left the rumor alone.

    Rumor sites are fun but should not be trusted. Mainstream sites reporting off those rumors should not be trusted either. Think Secret in particular has no credibility, but they often publish tantalizing screen shots prior to releases so they are worth watching for that only.

    --Rick

    --
    --Rick "If it isn't broken, take it apart and find out why."