New iMac rumors growing, new iLife to come as well?

Looks like a new iMac could be arriving very soon.

(Credit: Apple)

The back-to-school season is always one of Apple's most important quarters of the year. Buzz is building that the company won't let the season pass by without a new iMac.

The latest report, courtesy of Think Secret, claims that Apple has nailed down August 7 as the release date for new iMacs. It's probably about time; Apple hasn't released a new iMac in quite some time, and Intel released new chipsets in June.

AppleInsider has also pointed to late July/early August as the time frame for a new iMac launch, which would give Apple time to get those systems out in its stores so that a new crop of college students can update their Facebook profiles. The new iMacs are said to come in 20-inch and 24-inch varieties, with a new keyboard and the brushed aluminum exterior found on the Macbook Pro.

Think Secret is also claiming that an updated version of Apple's iLife suite of multimedia software could arrive around the same time. Apple hasn't released an update to the suite--which includes iPhoto, iDVD, and Garage Band--this year, but that could be blamed in part on the delayed release of Leopard.

[GreginChicagoland]

Cart before the Leopard

With Leopard coming in october, would anybody want to shell out the duckets for a new imac and then turn around like 2 months later and throw down another 129 on a new operating system? Sure, new imacs are waayy overdue but imacs and ilife coming before Leopard sounds too awkward. If we want to kick Apple rumors around, how about 10.5 coming out early, with new machines and ilife '08.

Discuss...

[Lee in San Diego]

Remember it is only a rumor

Apple has said nothing about new iMacs next month or next year,
only that Leopard is planned for October. That being said nothing
is stopping Apple from releasing Leopard early and concurrent with
new iMacs.

[heavydevelopment]

They probably do what MS did

Give out free upgrade coupons for Leopard. In fact, I'm probably 100% certain that tell will do this for back to school. Unfortunately I don't think they are going to release Leopard early....I was actually disappointed that they pussed the date back originally. Apple has had A LOT on their plate. Think about it. A new TV/entertainment console, a market changing cellular phone, an upgrade to one of their top selling computer models, and a major OS release. That's pretty amazing. I know, I know I'm a fanboi--so sue me.

[Tom Krazit]

People buy when they're ready to buy

Most people buy PCs or Macs when they need a new PC or Mac, and the back-to-school season is a prime example. If you need to send your kid off to college with a computer, and he or she wants a Mac, new iMacs could arrive at just the right time. They can get around to upgrading to Leopard at some point in the future, there's still plenty of people running Panther (At WWDC Jobs said 2/3rds of Mac OS X users are currently running Tiger).

[bri0831]

From an IT buyers point of view...

I don't use Mac's but unfortunately I have to purchase & support them for a few folks at my company.

We got "burned" when the PowerMac G5 and G5 iMac's came out. I say burned because Apple is famous for pulling the switcheroo on you with hardware and the famous $129 OS "upgrades."

I say to anyone wait and buy a new iMac after Leopard is released. They'll most likely have worked out bugs in the hardware and probably the OS by Christmas so save your pennies for now.

Although the aluminum iMac housing does sound nice. I'll stick with my widescreen ThinkPad T61!

-Cheers

[there can be only one]

well...

that's because you're a boob.

[shuster420]

also new iPods coming

this was announced earlier this morning
http://www.9to5mac.com/August-Aug-7-seventh-iMacs-Apple-Event-ipod-ipod-micro-nano-3450897543

[Lee in San Diego]

Not announced

Apple may indeed announce new stuff, but don't take a rumor site
as fact.