No, not a thread about what new widgets Apple are going to put in the next batch of machines.
I'm thinking about a new machine, and whilst playing the favourite game of 'Speccing your Mac with Apple and then seeing if you can get the RAM & HD cheaper elsewhere', it's now cheaper to have Apple install your 8GB of RAM in your 27" iMac than buying in from Crucial.

There's something fundamentally wrong with the Universe.

Having said that I wouldn't buy a 27" iMac anyway - they're looking increasingly like a right lemon of a product. Get a 24", they seem to have had very few problems.

Jon

I checked the other day, it would cost me about £470 from Crucial to up my Mac Pro to 16GB...
In three years I may look at upgrading the CPU's on my Mac Pro. It won't be supported, but it'll be out of Apple Care by then...

They don't make a 24" any more.

I just got the 21.5" model and it's rather nice. I'm going to get the extra 4GB RAM & applecare through work though as it's cheaper to buy it trade (but there's no margin on the actual imacs).
I almost got the 27" but it would have been too big for my desk.

Same here. The Mac Pro memory is really odd though, so the price isn't benefitting from the same economies of scale as some others.

Jon

I must confess a shiny new MacPro would go down very well here as the G5 is being sadly left behind by the march of the Intel Macs.
Shame I don't have a spare £2000 to spend really.
While I like the look of the iMac I just like the idea of being able to cram a bunch of stuff in an upgradeable case and being able to pick my own monitor more.

Thing is though, at the moment, unless you're doing a lot of really CPU intensive stuff where the 8 cores would be useful, the i7 iMac is vastly better value for money.
I'm running an old VGA 22" CRT, which logically has only has so much life left in it.
Try speccing the Pro and the iMac to similar standards, and see which one gives you better value for money. For me, it's the iMac by a country mile.
What appeals about the Pro is potential onboard storage space and higher RAM ceiling, but really, honestly, a 2TB HD from Apple would be more than adequate for me at the moment. 8GB would also be ample, for the moment.
If I get a Pro, then I'm into a new display anyway. If I get the iMac, then I get a new display with a built in cam thrown in.

If you get the 27" model you can use it as a screen if you decide to upgrade to a pro later

It was when I bought my 24" machine two years ago. And the memory is covered by Applecare into the bargain.

I know all that is true but I really, really don't like the reflective screen on the iMac. Now, if they gave you the option of a matte display then that would be different (upgradeable graphics would be good as well but rather unlikely).

I used the 24in version for a year. Yes, it's glossy, but you only see reflections under certain lighting conditions.

Seriously, I haven't found glossy to be that much of an issue in the real world. My MBP is glossy, and I can't see any reflections in it right now.

But they've stopped making the 24" iMac computer, they've only got the 21.5" iMac TV left

I wouldn't replace my current 24" iMac with one with a smaller display!

I like the 27" display, that is a nice size. If they've finally sorted out the issues, it is a great machine. It is the only machine that they make with "modern" processors as an option. The MacBook (Pro), Mac mini and Mac Pro are all specced with obsolete processors and are in desperate need of a refresh.

I've been looking at a new laptop for a while and want a MacBook Pro, but given that I can get a quad core (with hyperthreading for 8 virtual cores) laptop for around a grand, the dual core MBP with half as much RAM for 2K looks like a poor deal.

Indeed.
There are however, some for sale on the refurb store at the moment...

We had 5 27"ers delivered last week They are massive! Don't know if I'd want one personally but for the multitasking multimedia person they would be good. Set up Lotus notes on one and the software didn't even take up a quarter of the screen.

Got a glossy screened MBP now and I don't have a problem with the screen. Really impressed actually.

When I got my MBP it came with a glossy screen. The colours look great but the screen was not so great in really bright sunshine, which basically meant when I was out in the garden.

The 27" iMacs all seem to come with glossy screens and with the position one of mine is in it means that I cannot really watch videos for a few hours when the sunlight is directly on it. That said the huge size of the screen means my menu bar is only half full now, even with all the apps that are running. My dock looks minute as well. The only problem is finding great 2560 x 1440 wallpaper.