Hi. I am planning to buy a 24" Imac and I was thinking of buying it in
mid-December. However, the tech guy at the company where i work told me
I should wait until January because Apple might annouce a quad-core Imac
at MacWorld Expo in San Fran. I have not found any rumors or
information online that seem to corroborate his opinion. I'm curious
what other knowledgable people here think. Is there a real possibility
of a quad-core Imac in January? If most people seem to think it's very
unlikely I may stick to my original plan and purchase my new Imac in
December.
Thanks in advance for your replies.
Mirsky
David Empson - 17 Nov 2007 05:32 GMT
> Hi. I am planning to buy a 24" Imac and I was thinking of buying it in
> mid-December. However, the tech guy at the company where i work told me
> I should wait until January because Apple might annouce a quad-core Imac
> at MacWorld Expo in San Fran.
Intel have said that the processors which would be required for this
will be introduced in the first quarter of 2008, if my recollection is
correct. January is pretty early in the first quarter to be releasing a
product based on those processors.
Apple might announce one, but it may not be available for a couple of
months. I think an announcement with immediate availability around March
or April is more likely.
I suggest doing some more research on the estimated timeline for the
release of Intel's new Penryn processors (Core 2 Quad models, not Xeon),
and assume Apple is likely to release a new iMac based on them within a
month or two of the processors being available.

Signature
David Empson
dempson@actrix.gen.nz
Henry - 17 Nov 2007 16:04 GMT
> Hi. I am planning to buy a 24" Imac [sic] and I was thinking of buying it in
> mid-December. However, the tech guy at the company where i work told me
> I should wait until January because Apple might annouce a quad-core Imac
> at MacWorld Expo in San Fran. I have not found any rumors or
> information online that seem to corroborate his opinion.
According to the Mac Buyers' Guide
http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/
over the past five years (almost) the iMac has been updated on average
every six months. It is now about 3 1/2 months since the latest new
models, so the time of MacWorld would be about five months.
There is no guarantee, of course, that there will be new ones announced
then or, even if there are, that they will be quad-core CPUs.
I guess the old adage is still valid: if you need it now, buy it now; if
you can wait 'a little longer', then wait -- because something better is
_always_ right around the corner.
cheers,
Henry