As reported last week, it was rumored that a newer iMac line would be launched this week. Well, right on cue (in fact, a little early) Apple has done just that. The new iMacs have been launched and they are bigger and more powerful than ever.

Faster CPU and GPU options are available. 2.4GHz or 2.66GHz are available on the 20″ model… and 2.8GHz and 3.06GHz are available on the larger 24″ model.

New graphics options are also available. You can choose between the ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro (256 MB) or the NVidia GeForce 8800 GS (512MB) in the 24″ iMac. The 20″ model still has the ATI Radeon HS 2400 XT available… But if you fork out another $300 you can upgrade to an ATI HD 2600 Pro, another 260MHz and 70GB of extra hard drive space.

Pricing starts at $1,199 and $1,499 for the 20″ models, and $1,799 and $2,199 for the 24″ models. All systems still come standard with the good ‘ol Apple Remote

Read more about the new iMacs at Apple >

[via arstechnica]

written by Mr. Mayor \\ tags: Apple Store, iMac

In a tip sent to Geeksugar, a new upgrade in the iMac desktop line could be available as early as next week. The tip claims the new iMacs will keep similar price points but will have upgraded processors and potentially a new hard drive setup as well. This would mark the first round of changes to the current generation of iMacs since the aluminum design was unveiled last August.

The rumors are unsubstantiated at this point, but the rumor apparently came from the same source that was accurate in predicting the latest round of macbook refreshes.

Keep an eye open for this in the near future. I wouldn’t be surprised to see a refreshed iMac line in the Apple Store by next week.

[via Geeksugar]

written by Mr. Mayor \\ tags: Geeksugar, iMac

I’m sure you all remember the ‘millions of colors’ lawsuit that was settled out of court not so long ago. The suit claimed that MacBook and MacBook Pros were ‘fooling’ Apple users into thinking the displays output millions of colors… When in reality a dithering technology was being used to simulate the promoted color depth. The suit never took off due to the plaintiffs having a tough time finding support for their views… And now it looks like we have another ‘copy cat’ case.

This latest lawsuit was filed in San Jose and is arguing basically the same thing, except this time it’s all about the 20-inch iMac. The issue remains that Apple claims the 20-inch iMac can display ‘millions of colors at all resolutions’ when in reality the plaintiffs are arguing that the dithering technology ‘tricks’ us into believing we have that color-depth.

The 24-inch model of the iMac has an 8-bit display and does indeed display millions of colors. Over 16 million in fact. However the 20-inch model is a 6-bit display and will only display slightly over 260,000 colors BD (before dithering)

We’ll have to see if this suit can drum up the support the previous ‘millions of colors’ case lacked. Time will tell what happens… If nothing else this is keeping Apple’s legal team on their toes.

[via arstechnica]

written by Mr. Mayor \\ tags: Dithering, iMac, Lawsuit, Millions of Colors