Apple: 27-inch iMac won't ship until next year
If you're a UK fanboi, prepare to pay dearly
Agentless Backup is Not a Myth
Apple's long-delayed 27-inch iMac is now scheduled to ship to US customers sometime next month, according to an updated page on the company's stateside online store.
That's the US store on top, the UK store below
The UK store, on the other hand, still lists the "Dispatched" date as being in three to four weeks – which would likely land the ship date in early January, although that three-to-four-week projection has remained the same for some time now.
The other striking difference between the two online stores is the price that Apple is asking for its two standard 27-inch iMac models. In the US, the 2.9GHz Intel Core i5 model with an 512MB Nvidia GeForce GTX 660M goes for $1,799, while the 3.2GHz i5 with a 1GB GeForce GTX 675MX fetches $1,999. The UK prices for the same two models are £1,099 and £1,249, respectively, reflecting the traditionally higher prices paid in Blighty for Apple kit.
At Friday's exchange rate, those UK prices work out to $2,400 and $2,725. Of course, the UK prices include that country's Value Added Tax (VAT), which Apple says is about £250 for the 2.9GHz model and £283 for the 3.2GHz version. After conversion of VAT to dollars, however, the pre-VAT UK prices are still noticeably higher than the US models: about $2,000 and $2,275.
You might argue that the US has sales taxes, as well, and you'd be correct. However, the US sales-tax landscape is a hodgepodge of rates, with Alaska, Montana, Oregon, Delaware, and New Hampshire having no state sales taxes, and the latter two generally having no local sales taxes, either.
When the new iMac was announced at the iPhone-5-and-a-bunch-of-other-stuff event on October 23, Apple said that the 21.5-inch version would be available in November and the 27-incher in December. The 21.5-inch version barely made its deadline, hitting store shelves – well, in the brick-and-mortar Apple Stores' case, handsome blonde-wood tables – on November 30.
Fanbois hoping for a 27-inch iMac underneath their Christmas tree, Hanukkah bush, or near their Kwanzaa candles will be disappointed – although since Kwanzaa ends on January 1, there's a vanishingly slim chance that a 27-inch iMac may make its appearance in time.
But don't bet on it. If Apple plays true to form, you'll have plenty of time to plan that vacation to Delaware or New Hampshire for late January. We hear the skiing is quite fine that time of year at Gunstock Mountain. ®
COMMENTS
Re: @JDX
OK, I'm getting rather tired of this. Hereby the brick you deserve.
"because money doesn't just burn itself you know"
"many of us actually use them"
Oh really? How do you manage between all those updates and the crippling cost of software? I rather pay once, have a good machine for 4..5 years or so with affordable software which I am licensed to use on all machines I can log into than bleed cash through the backdoor on let's-hope-it-works-this-time OS upgrades, mucho need for support (nicely handed off to forums) and a lack of usability that a first year UI design student would be ashamed to hand in as first project - yet still have a system that is commercially supported and sports a UI that even a non-nerd has no problem getting used to because making things easy (no, not simple) is a deliberate feature of the platform.
Oh, and the advantage of telling friends to get a Mac is that you can have normal conversations when you meet friends instead of having to dig them out of whatever problems the PC has created. Heck, you may even NOT talk about computers. I know, I know, hard to believe..
How do I know? Because I made that switch only 2 years ago, and originally purely for research. I wasn't planning on changing to OSX but I needed to be conversant with it as it was the only gap in all the versions of commercially supported platforms and versions of Unix I normally use. I gave myself a month to get used to OSX. Within 2 weeks I knew just how much time I was saving, within a month everything Windows had gone, with every software I was using on Windows replaced by an usually better and cheaper OSX equivalent. I've got MacPorts to give me all the things I need in Unix, and the only vestiges of the Windows are some Adobe crap, a copy of MS Office for compatibility reasons (which rarely gets used), and a WinXP VM in case I need it. It's not just the usability I enjoy, it's also the silence of not having to upgrade software every other hour.
The WIn XP VM is interesting: as I only look at it every 2 weeks, starting it means a good 30 minutes of frantic downloads before it is usable. Here is an experiment for you: do NOT use a Windows machine for 2 weeks and see what happens when you switch it on. Xmas may be a good time to try this at the office.
However, no single brand is God for me - in >30 years experience in electronics, computers, network architecture and security I have learned that you take what works for you and that needs differ for everyone. You thus don't hear me slag off other choices other than from a quality aspect - and I have yet to come across anyone who accuses Microsoft of producing quality..
So you can crawl back under your rock and continue your ignorant life or maybe try another platform for at least a month and see what happens. After all, you can still put Windows on a MacBook. It would be the equivalent of filling up a Porsche with a foot of concrete and yanking up the handbrake before you use it, but that's your choice too. At least it is an INFORMED one at that point, and it may even enable a more adult view on other people's choices.
Sorry for the rant, but it's starting to seriously annoy me that brand w*nking seems to become the norm for a place that normally has reasonably intelligent debate. It appears it has become norm that mentioning a preference for one brand (whatever brand, and for whatever reason) HAS to attract some comment from a Repetitive Stain Injury Sufferer (yes, I left that "r" out) of the perceived "other camp" that it's rubbish and the commentard is a fanboi, usually in a comment laden with indications that the RSIS has never even been in the vicinity of said platform, let alone has tried to use it productively. This then annoys people who know that other camp well, so you trigger a slagging war which is frankly beneath everyone on this site. WTF?
There are arguments for and against every platform, and although I personally have lost the will to live using Windows there may be other people for whom it works - I have even encountered people who like Windows 8. Well, more power to them, and I won't diss their choice. I will, however, reserve the right to diss the supplier, as much as I diss Apple for it's litigation. But not users. It's OK to argue WITH REASONED FACTS for what you believe in, but stick to factual arguments, not personal invective or religion (as an aside, I qualify believing "do not evil" as religion too - I research breaches of law as a hobby) and not every .. bloody .. time ..
No manufacturer could pay me enough to become their fanboi and if anyone accuses me of being one, well, then he/she/it invited the result all by himself. Because I *do* have qualified reasons for my choice, and after experiencing Microsoft for most of my career I can spot BS, empty arguments and creative use of statistics pretty well, even at government and military level. It's the advantage of experience, and being an insider in many camps.
I actually just got an idea for these sorts of messages. I'll have a word with El Reg about this, it may save everyone time.
Let the downvotes begin.
Ahh! Apple - because money doesn't just burn itself you know
@JDX
Whilst you sit and look at your computer many of us actually use them.
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