The Apple Core

Jason D. O'Grady & David Morgenstern

Apple refreshes iMac with Sandy Bridge, Thunderbolt

By Jason D. O'Grady | May 3, 2011, 12:00pm PDT

Summary: Apple today announced a refresh of its iMac line that includes modern Intel processors and its brand-new ThunderBolt I/O technology. New features include: Quad-core Intel Sandy Bridge processor AMD Radeon HD 6750M graphics Thunderbolt I/O technology FaceTime HD camera 21-inch iMac - $1,199-1,499 2.5 or 2.7GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i5 1920 x 1080 resolution 4GB memory 500GB or 1TB hard drive AMD Radeon HD 6750M or [...]

Apple today announced a refresh of its iMac line that includes modern Intel processors and its brand-new ThunderBolt I/O technology.

New features include:

Quad-core Intel Sandy Bridge processor
AMD Radeon HD 6750M graphics
Thunderbolt I/O technology
FaceTime HD camera

21-inch iMac - $1,199-1,499

2.5 or 2.7GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i5
1920 x 1080 resolution
4GB memory
500GB or 1TB hard drive
AMD Radeon HD 6750M or 6770M with 512MB

27-inch iMac - $1,699-1,699

2.7 or 3.1GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i5

2560 x 1440 resolution

4GB memory

1TB hard drive

AMD Radeon HD 6770M with 512MB or 6970M with 1GB

Is there any doubt that Thunderbolt is coming to the next MacBook Air?

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Topics

Apple iMac, Apple Inc., Desktops, Hardware, Jason D. O'Grady

Jason O'Grady is a journalist and author specializing in mobile technology. He has published six books on Apple and mobile gadgets and his PowerPage blog has been publishing for over 15 years.

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RE: Apple refreshes iMac with Sandy Bridge, Thunderbolt

vkris 12th Oct

It's nice iMac has upgraded with Thunderbolt technology. I hope they also have this with Macbook Pro and Air which I think are two of the best laptops around. I love Macbook Air, even when I use it only for browsing, uploading and editing cool pictures and videos and for doing research on topics such as for eating disorders. I love MB Air's design, weight and performance.

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RE: Apple refreshes iMac with Sandy Bridge, Thunderbolt

dvm Updated - 3rd May 2011

IMO, the iMac's have an excellent price for their specs. They should do the same with the MacBook Pro's. They are too expensive when you compared them with Lenovo Thinkpad's and HP Elitebooks.

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RE: Apple refreshes iMac with Sandy Bridge, Thunderbolt

doh123 3rd May 2011

@dvm
"specs" aren't everything, there is a lot to design (I don't mean just looks), as well as screens, touchpads, keyboards... etc... The Macbook Pros are priced decently, even compared to Thinkpads and Elitebooks.

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RE: Apple refreshes iMac with Sandy Bridge, Thunderbolt

dvm Updated - 3rd May 2011

@doh123,
I check the new Elitebook prices, and a model with better specs than a MBP and 3YR warranty was about $300 less than the less expensive MBP. If you wanted the 3YR warranty on the MBP, it would add $350 more, so it becomes a $650 of difference. So you will have a better price, performance and quality of construction with the HP Elitebook for $650.00 less. IMO, that's too much of a difference.

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But Elitebooks etc do not have Thunderbolt, so not all specifications are

DeRSSS 4th May 2011

@dvm: ... better.

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RE: Apple refreshes iMac with Sandy Bridge, Thunderbolt

Rick_K Updated - 4th May 2011

@dvm
How is an Intel I7 740QM- 1.73 GHZ better than an Intel I7-2720QM- 2.2 GHz? How is a 14 1366 x 768 LED backlit display, better than a 15' 1440-by-900-pixel LED-backlit glossy display? How is the NVIDIA NVS 3100, with 512 MB dedicated video memory, better than an AMD Radeon HD 6750M graphics processor with 1 GB of dedicated GDDR5 SDRAM? I am trying to see where the $472 price difference is when the Elitebook has better specs than a MBP?

Edit: these are prices based on similar configurations (where possible), and both notebooks having a 3 year warranty.

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RE: Apple refreshes iMac with Sandy Bridge, Thunderbolt

dvm Updated - 4th May 2011

@Rick_K,
What you posted didn't match the Elitebooks specs. For example, every 8560p includes an AMD Radeon HD 6470M 1GB of video RAM (vs 256MB on the entry MBP) and 3YR warranty (You can even add on site support, something not available on the MBP).
The model I was refering on my post was the HP XU063UT, which includes an i7-2620M @2.7GHz, 4GB RAM, 500GB@7200 (vs MBP 15" 500GB@5400) and a screen with 1600x900 (vs 1440x900 on the entry MBP). And is MIL-STD-810G certified for drop, vibration, dust, humidity, altitude, and temperature, something a MBP lacks. This specific model costs $1500.00 in the HP website. The entry MBP costs $1799 with 1YR of warranty.
That's about $300 of difference, and will be $350 more if you add the 3YR warranty to the MBP, and still don't have onsite support. Maybe the price difference is because of the quad core processor included on the MBP, while the HP includes a dual core processor (the MBP is 2.0GHz w/6MB of cache vs 2.7GHz w/ 4MB of cache).

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RE: Apple refreshes iMac with Sandy Bridge, Thunderbolt

Rick_K 4th May 2011

@dvm
Well I am having an issue finding that particular one. The one I compared was listed on HPs website.
http://h71016.www7.hp.com/MiddleFrame.asp?page=config&ProductLineId=539&FamilyId=3155&BaseId=32330&oi=E9CED&BEID=19701&SBLID=
And is listed at:
System price $2,076.00
I compared it to this particular MacBook Pro (which is the one I would personally buy):
http://store.apple.com/us/configure/MC723LL/A?mco=MjEyOTY4OTQ

And is listed at:
$2,548.00

That works out to about $472. The HP doesn?t not have specs even close to the MacBook Pro. I am unable to find customization options for the model you listed. Also of note the Intel? Core? i7-2620M is only a dual core processor (more comparable to the 2010 MacBook Pro). So you cannot say it is better than the Quad core I7 in the Macbook Pro.
http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=52231
Also the HP you listed uses DDR 3 for Graphic RAM while the current MacBook Pro uses DDR 5.

What it looks like it the HP has half the horsepower (CPU) and isn?t in the same class of notebook.

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RE: Apple refreshes iMac with Sandy Bridge, Thunderbolt

dvm Updated - 4th May 2011

@Rick_K,
Here is the link of the notebook I was talking about,

http://shopping1.hp.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/WFS/WW-USSMBPublicStore-Site/en_US/-/USD/ViewProductDetail-Start?ProductUUID=XIAQ7EN5eRQAAAEu4EwoLTf_&CatalogCategoryID=YdwQ7EN63pIAAAEuA6c4ORFM

The HP model you posted has been replaced with the Elitebook 8640p. The 8560p is the same model, but with 14" screen.
Like you mention, the HP uses DDR3 vs GDDR5 on the Mac, but the entry model only have 256MB while every Elitebook includes 1GB. Maybe that's the reason it has a higher screen resolution.
This model includes an i7-2620M while Apple includes the Quad Core 2.0 processor, so it's clear the Apple advantage. This month HP will release the mobile workstations, which includes standard quad core processors and GDDR5. Let's see how is the pricing on those models.
I went to HP and Apple website and created this configuration on both notebooks,

Intel i7 Quadcore Processor 2.0GHz
4GB RAM, 500GB@7200 HDD
1600x900 screen, 3YR warranty

The HP was $2204 and the MBP $2398. In this configuration the Apple had 256MB of video RAM vs 1GB for the HP. If you replaced the processor with the 2.2GHz Quad Core the HP was $2284 and the Mac $2584. In this configuration both notebooks had 1GB of video RAM. So the HP was less expensive (you cannot use the word "cheap" with these modeles), altough not by much. So it looks like Apple had and advantage with the GDDR5 video RAM while HP has a better quality of construction.

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RE: Apple refreshes iMac with Sandy Bridge, Thunderbolt

Rick_K 4th May 2011

@dvm
I don?t know about that. The build quality of my MacBook Pro is quite nice. There is little (if any) flex to this notebook, and everything feels pretty robust. I cannot say as much for the majority of HP notebooks I have seen.

I looked at the computer in the link you provided and it has a few more shortcomings. First one that come to mind is the single RAM Slot, which limits the amount of RAM the computer can hold. Apple may only officially support 8GB of RAM, but according to OWC, you can indeed put in, and use 16 GB of RAM. The Elitebook surely cannot support 16 GB of RAM.

You can also get a higher resolution display for the MacBook Pro you have the option to get a 1680-by-1050 glossy or antiglare display, for as little as $100 more.

There is another issue (at least for me) the standard battery in the HP will only last 2 or 3 hours. To be honest my batter does not last a full 8 hours, but averages between 5.5 to 6 hours regularly. Mind you I looked at several computers before I purchased the current MacBook Pro. The cost of software would have been prohibitive buying a Windows PC. When you have $3,000 is software, switching is not an easy thing. I have even recommended Windows 7 PCs to some people for that very reason.

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RE: Apple refreshes iMac with Sandy Bridge, Thunderbolt

msandersen Updated - 5th May 2011

@Rick_K
Without getting into the minutiae of which has "better" specs for better value, having more video RAM is not necessarily a good thing on a Windows 32-bit machine, as the memory space overlaps main RAM, so having more video RAM means less application and system RAM. As it is, Windows 32-bit with an average video card can access between 3-3.5 GB RAM, a portion of which is reserved for the system, so application RAM is left at around 2Gb. Having 1Gb of video RAM cuts down quite a bit on application RAM on Windows. Originally Windows showed the amount available to the system, but OEMs like Dell lobbied Microsoft to show the total amount installed, so in essence Windows users are being deceived when they think they have 4Gb to play with. Macs on the other hand with their 64-bit addressing they've had since Leopard have all the RAM available, for as much as you can fit in, which in the Macbook Pro is officially 8Gb, unofficially 16Gb. As for video RAM, what really matters is how much the system needs to run well, and Apple is in a good position to tweak their machines to run optimally as they control both the hardware and operating system. You seem to think 256Mb video RAM on a Mac is not sufficient. If you do video editing and need to mirror to an external monitor, perhaps, I'm not in the field, nor have a Macbook.
Specs alone says very little of performance, as not only does the quality of the logic board make a difference, but the efficiency of the operating system. It takes side-by-side real-world tests to determine which is "better" or better value. Does it do what you want efficiently for a good price? If you run Vista on a pice of hardware, it would not run as well as if you ran Windows 7 or XP. If you compare specs within the same brand with the same operating system, it might mean something, not as much when comparing PCs to Macs with their disparate OSes.

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RE: Apple refreshes iMac with Sandy Bridge, Thunderbolt

dvm Updated - 5th May 2011

@Rick_K,
"The build quality of my MacBook Pro is quite nice. There is little (if any) flex to this notebook, and everything feels pretty robust. I cannot say as much for the majority of HP notebooks I have seen."
HP Elitebooks are very different from consumers HP notebooks and MBP. Elitebooks are MIL-STD-810F certified, something the MBP don't have. Here are more details of what the certification means,
http://www.hp.com/sbso/solutions/pc_expertise/professional_innovations/hp-military-grade-specifications.pdf
The MBP are well constructed notebooks, but you feel the difference with you compared the two side to side.

Apple may only officially support 8GB of RAM, but according to OWC, you can indeed put in, and use 16 GB of RAM. The Elitebook surely cannot support 16 GB of RAM.
From the Edge Tech Corp website,
"What is the maximum amount of memory that I can add?
Your HP Compaq EliteBook can support up to 16GB of memory. For optimal performance install the maximum amount of memory in each socket'
http://www.edgetechcorp.com/ram/HP-Compaq/EliteBook/8560p-Memory
Although the 8GB is not available right now, it looks like the Elitebook is capable, although not with options from HP.

"You can also get a higher resolution display for the MacBook Pro you have the option to get a 1680-by-1050 glossy or antiglare display, for as little as $100 more."
The 8560p have a maximum of 1600x900 resolution. If you want more, you have to move to the 8560w, a notebook that goes up to 1920x1080, is capable of 32GB of RAM and up to 2GB of video RAM, options not available on the 15" MBP.
http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/us/en/sm/WF06a/321957-321957-64295-3740645-4307559-5071171.html

"There is another issue (at least for me) the standard battery in the HP will only last 2 or 3 hours."
Based on this test, a 8460p lasted 6 hours,
http://www.laptopmag.com/review/laptops/hp-elitebook-8460p.aspx?page=2
I suppose that it's a little bit lower on the 8560p because of the screen size, IMO that's a very good battery life. Still, you can move to a 10 cell battery, extended and ultra extended addon batteries.

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RE: Apple refreshes iMac with Sandy Bridge, Thunderbolt

DannyO_0x98 3rd May 2011

Don't know why you asked me, because I know nothing, but you did, so here goes.

Before Thunderbolt comes to MBAs, general availability of consumer-targeted Thunderbolt accessories - let's call this "Is it in Best Buy, yet" moment - has to occur.

That absolutely will not happen before storage and peripherals are available and established sellers for professional users, who will pay extra for performance and subsidize the ramping up of production lines.

Before MBAs, we'll find this tech deployed along these lines: Mac Pros, Mac Minis, and MacBook Pros.

So, next MBA? No, because I guess those will be out by late fall this year. But MBAs in the last quarter of 2012? That's a possibility.

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RE: Apple refreshes iMac with Sandy Bridge, Thunderbolt

kenosha77a 4th May 2011

@DannyO_0x98

I would cast my vote for inclusion of Thunderbolt tech in the next gen MBA because of one simple reason. Apple may wish to have a common interface for external display monitors across their whole computer lineup.