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ScifiterX wrote:

Pariah wrote:

If computers were cars I would say the Model "T"s were what we are all driving.

Actually I'd rate mine at about a Mini Cooper D with the convenience package automatic transmission a little extra trim.

I think he was talking about the ancient G4 he is still using.

ScifiterX wrote:

Then he should have said I instead of including every one else with we. Don't you think?

Absolutely but isn't that par for the course, him trying to shoehorn his particular view from his perspective onto how everyone should buy or use their machine? I mean seriously, calling the machines we use now Model T's when he is using a 7 year old machine and a bunch of us are using machines with Core 2 Duo processors. That is just funny.

Pariah wrote:

Czachorski wrote:

Pariah wrote:

An iMac from that era wouldnt have lasted that long and an iMac from today will not be usefull in 7 years like this G4 lasted.

I agree with the iMac of that era not lasting as long.  I think iMacs from this era will last longer than iMacs of that era.  Much longer.  Still less than the Mac Pro, but not nearly as hobbled as they were 5-6 years ago.

It's all speculation of course but my crystal ball tells me that we will be going into another round of CPU demand rising greatly over the next 5 years. The high definition revolution which is going to effect both Video and still images is going to be a biggie.
New, extremely processor and GPU intensive codecs will be implemented to enable the practical downloading of HiDef content. Even with good broad band (USAmerican good, not Japan good) uncompressed HiDef is far, far, far to big for online distribution.
Everyone who has a video camera will have a HiDef unit because in a short time those are going to be $186.87 at Wal-Mart, or less.
In for years every consumer level cheap assed digital camera will be outputting files the size that only top of the line professional cameras are.
Doubt that? 7 Years ago my Olympus @3 megapixels was considered a pretty good semi-pro level camera. Now cell phones take higher res pictures.
Man...what else...
AI is just going to keep increasing in games, physics simulations more complex.
I would be surprised if there weren't image editing and organizing software that employed feature recognition logic so you can tell your computer "This is cousin Malph" and then ask "Find all pictures with Malph in them".

See I get a sense that many here thing Computers have matured to a great extent. If computers were cars I would say the Model "T"s were what we are all driving.
The big jump to multi-core truely seems to have caught most software houses unprepared. It was like It's coming soon then BAM it was all over the place. That has provided a bit of respite from the typical way software developers have always found a way to consume what ever CPU horsepower is available. I think that is why we have this temporary situation where pretty much any current computer is plenty fast for most people.
All speculation, but thats what I think.

What does this have to do with usefulness of the iMac today?  Bandwidth is a far greater limiting factor on HD distribution than computer hardware specs.  My iMac is already set with an HD display, and can edit, encode, and decode HD perfectly well.  I have Firewire 800 for fast drive access and aditional storage.  I have gigabit ethernet, 802.11n, Bluetooth, USB 2.0, etc.  The ONLY limiting factor you might be able to impose on my iMac is the 256 Meg video card for gaming, but with the PS3, XBOX 360, and Wii, I just don't see gaming on my Mac being nearly as interesting as it used to be.  In fact, when I do game on my Mac, it is typically a Warcraft TFT type game (and the new Starcraft), which all will run beautifully.

I realize that software is on the verge of some interesting visual improvements, but I see no reason to doubt that the iMac will be obsolete for them.  The beauty of OS X on Intel is that if you own an Intel Mac now, you are actually ahead of the obsolecence curve already.  OS X on Intel is still maturing, and developers are still working on optimizing for dual core Intel boxes.  That maturation curve will actually see performance improvements on current hardware in the near future.

It is a different ball game now, and hardware specs don't mean what they used to. Hardware is being protected by delivery issues, codec optimization, and standardization problems.  My iMac is more than a year old already, and still feels like it is a top of the line platform for everything I want to do.  I have seen nothing on the hardware side of ANY platform that is compelling enough to even catch my eye with geek envy, let alone generate any desire to upgrade.

If it is the "any color as long as it's black" thing you are still off base and talking like Ace Ventura.

So can this thread end now?

Please.