Apple iMac line gets speedbumped, low-end gets a Core i3
It's not as if we haven't heard the rumors building over the last few months, but Apple's long-standing iMac line is seeing its first real update since the Fall of last year on this fine morning. As predicted, the refreshed iMac line …
Context & Ripple Effects
Apple's iMac had been sitting on the fall 2009 redesign for the better part of a year when this speed bump landed, making it one of the longer gaps between refreshes in the line's recent history and leaving the low end without an entry-level Core i3 option while rivals moved down Intel's price ladder.
The refresh didn't arrive alone: on the same day Apple also announced a 12-core Mac Pro, a $999 27-inch LED Cinema Display, and the Magic Trackpad, with Icrontic noting the iMac switching to ATI graphics exclusively — a coordinated desktop-and-peripherals push rather than a lone spec bump.
First-order effects
- Buyers shopping the entry tier get a Core i3 configuration for the first time, lowering the floor of the iMac line without waiting on the pricier Core i5/i7 models.
- NVIDIA effectively loses the iMac socket to ATI, since the switch to ATI-exclusive graphics removes its discrete GPU slot in Apple's best-selling desktop.
Second-order effects
- The same-day 12-core Mac Pro announcement squeezes the space between prosumer iMac configs and workstation buyers, forcing customers to justify the Mac Pro premium more carefully.
- Peripherals become part of the pitch: pairing the refreshed desktops with the Magic Trackpad lets retailers bundle a multitouch input story onto desktop sales, which TechCrunch framed as signaling the mouse's decline.
Third-order effects
- If Apple keeps syncing desktop refreshes to Intel's Core release cadence rather than its own redesign cycles, the iMac becomes a twice-yearly spec story punctuated by occasional industrial-design overhauls — a pattern the line has followed before and after this gap.
- Exclusive single-vendor GPU sourcing on high-volume machines shifts bargaining power toward whichever supplier holds the socket, raising the stakes for ATI/AMD to keep Apple's designs on schedule.
The trend: Apple's desktop business was settling into an Intel-cadence refresh rhythm in mid-2010, with entry pricing stretched downward via Core i3 and the product story broadening from specs to bundled inputs like multitouch trackpads.