Retail Sources Confirm iMac Refresh

Following early rumors that the iMac would finally see revisions next week, we've heard from multiple retail sources that new iMac part numbers have indeed appeared in their systems.

As GeekSugar predicted, the prices for U.S. systems appear to be identical to existing iMac configurations ($1199, $1499, $1799). Delivery of inventory appears to be targeted on Monday or Tuesday of next week. No stores have seen any evidence of Mac mini product revisions, however, so it appears the iMac is the only system to be updated.

The iMac was last updated in August 2007. Rumors leading up to this revision have been relatively sparse, with the obvious upgrade being the use of the recently introduced Penryn Intel CPUs. We previously examined the real-world advantages of these new processors:

As we await the Penryn revisions for the iMac, readers should be aware that Penryn's reduced power consumption will not be particularly beneficial to desktop computers. Unless Apple adds other compelling features to the next iMac revision, readers may want to pause a moment before reflexively ordering the newest Mac.

With that in mind, Apple may upgrade other iMac components, such as the video card, RAM and hard drive.