Now if 10.6 would come out too, I can upgrade my wife's computer.
But weren't there "shortages" on something last year and the alleged refresh was months afterwards. It seems these shortages are sometimes just low stock.
It might also be reduction of inventory in the face of a poor economy.
An iMac refresh (not redesign) is overdue. We all know it's coming, but when, and in what form?? This article on AppleInsider from last week posits that Apple still had not decided whether to go quad-core on the iMacs or not.
My current iMac is getting a little long in the tooth. I'm primed to order a 24" quad-core model as soon as it's available. However, if they skip the quad-core this next refresh I can wait.
The question is will they come out with larger iMacs, like a 30" model? My guess would be no (rumors of a 28" iMac notwithstanding) because even the 30" ACD refresh hasn't yet materialized. Where are those Display Port ACDs, Apple?
I'd guess no, too. A 30" iMac would cost about $3000, and so far Apple's iMac line has been well under $3k. The iMac line alrady has the most baseline choices with four; adding a 30" further complicates the choices which Apple clearly wants streamlined. And 20" monitors are still very popular and a good size; so it's too early to drop that for say a 24" & 28" lineup.
They could opt for a 22" and maybe 25"-28" model to replace the current sizes. There is certainly no problem with availability of such panels.
If they did that, it would open up a little room for a lower end model with a 19" panel coming in under the current low end price. This might help sales in our current economy.
Speaking of low cost Macrumors has a purported Mac Mini picture with a FW800 & dual video out (Mini Display Port/Mini DVI), 5 USBs. Hope it's true, and that there is at least BTO a relatively fast processor. Blu-ray -- not likely to put it mildly.
FWIW, the guy who originally posted the MacMini photo on Macrumors is claiming mid March updates.
The question also is if Apple will have a special event or just silently release everything. My money is on a special event, which means 10+ days lead-time for press invites.
It's rare that their financial conference calls have much product info in them, but since this will be the first one sans Jobs, tomorrow should be interesting.