When's the next big update in Mac platform technology?

[Andrew LB]

Even though I'm a PC guy and ended up buying a Dell M1530 a few weeks ago instead of the Mac Book Pro (due to money at the time), I need some advice here.

My mother bought an eMac M9461LL/A in 2005 even though I told her that the Mac would be the end of the RISC Power PC processing architecture from Motorola and Intel was going to take over the show for Mac's hardware.

http://www.dealtime.com/xPF-eMac-SuperDrive

Basically, she spent some $1400 on the thing anyway and as we all know if you saw those specs in my link above, she definitely got burned.... BAD.

I'm going to be buying her a new I-Mac 20" to replace her old eMac which I think I may use it at target practice next time I go target shooting out in the desert.

The latest 20" I-Mac's are running the Penryn Core 2 Duo processors, and I believe pretty much the same platform and chipset that my current Dell M1530 is running on.

Even though they're saying this new I-Mac is "new" because of the Penryn processor, does anyone here think we'll see the next big jump in chipset technology anytime soon? Such as Tylersburg and Nehalem coming to any upcoming I-Mac platforms in the near future? I do know these platforms are slated to be in production in the 2nd half of 2008.... so I just don't want to buy her this I-Mac and find out one month later that I got screwed (kinda like when she ran out to buy her eMac and within 2 months found out about the Intel/Mac deal... which has now made her computer useless because she cannot run any of the newer software. Heck, she's still stuck with Panther.


So currently, this is what i'm looking at getting her:

NEW 20'' iMac
2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
2GB/250GB/SuperDrive/2400XT
$1,244.00

- 20" Glossy Widescreen Display
- Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz (penryn)
- 2GB 800MHz DDR2 SDRAM
- 250GB SATA (is this a Notebook HDD?)
- 8X SuperDrive,
- 10/100/1000
- ATI Radeon 2400XT (128mb GDDR3)
- AirPort Extreme 802.11n
- Bluetooth 2.0
- iSight
- OS X 10.5 Leopard
- Apple Keyboard and Mighty Mouse



As for use, she pretty much just screws around on the internet, does light photoshop and i-photo work to touch up the photos she takes with her Canon DSLR camera, and other light tasks.

Also! Do any of these "NEW" I-Mac's come with LCD screens with LED back lighting? I love the LED back lighting on the MBP and my new Dell, and I'd like to avoid getting here an "ALL-IN-ONE" computer containing a CCFL backlit display.


So.... please give me your thoughts, comments suggestions, concerns, and ridicule. :)

Best regards,

-Andrew


EDIT: I just browsed some roadmap sites and it seems the Nehalem-based mobile chips wont be out till 2009.

[Nater]

Yes, it seems you've answered your own question. The mobile stuff should stay in Penryn land for sometime to come. Even at 45nm, quad cores put out too much heat for all but the most insane DTR notebook. In all honesty, I think that a mobile quad would probably work quite well in an all-in-one like an iMac.
Even so, I don't see any serious changes to the iMac (unless it's cosmetic, Apple always has to be pretty) until 3rd quarter 2009. Even if the parts are out, Apple usually follows a set update schedule and won't upgrade it's produce lines until it's time.

As far as I know to answer your question about the hard drive, yes it's a 2.5" laptop formfactor hard drive