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FRUIT THEMED gadget designer Apple is likely to launch an Imac personal computer with integrated TV capabilities before it comes out with its HDTV.

According to BGR, analyst Brian Blair from Wedge Partners said Apple’s next Imacs that it might launch during the first half of 2012 will integrate some features of the Apple TV set top box to create a “slimmer all-in-one PC with TV capabilities”.

Blair said, “Apple could effectively start with what they already have on the manufacturing line and slowly push their offering from 27 inches and scale up from there to 32 inches and then move on to the 32, 50 and 55 inch market.”

However, he did not mention Apple’s Siri personal assistant, which some think Apple will use in its HDTV so a remote won’t be needed.

Microsoft recently enhanced voice control for its Xbox, while a video of Siri being used with a TV has also emerged, showing that it might not be long before remotes are replaced by voice control in TVs. µ

A couple of weeks ago, a big box showed up at my doorstep. Inside? The new 2011 high-end 27-inch iMac. More or less it's the 2011 MacBook Pro mated to a 27-inch LED backlit Cinema Display. It's basically my personal setup but in an all-in-one desktop.

I never liked the iMac. I understood the appeal, but it wasn't for me. The CPUs and GPUs weren't fast enough, there weren't enough drive bays and the display was always worse than what I already had on my desk. However the same series of events that allowed me to dump the Mac Pro and use a Sandy Bridge MacBook Pro have made the iMac that much more interesting.

Moore's Law (or more specifically, hundreds of super smart process and chip engineers) have more or less solved the performance problem in these integrated machines. We've been on the longest run I can remember of software being outpaced by hardware and as a result machines like the iMac look a whole lot more powerful than they did just a few years ago.

SSDs and very high capacity mechanical drives fixed the storage problem, while the advent of 27-inch high resolution LCD panels fixed the display problem. The new iMac can easily be a real workstation for users today, when in the past it was more of a machine you'd give to your parents. To be honest, after using it for a while, I actually like the new iMac.

Read on for our full review of the new 27-inch iMac.

HARDWARE TEARDOWN OUTFIT Ifixit has taken apart Apple’s latest Imac, finding that the latest generation of Apple’s all-in-one PC has many similarities with the older models.

Ifixit took apart a 21.5in Imac powered by an Intel Core i5-2800S processor with 6MB of cache. The AMD GPU can be detached from the main motherboard, or logic board as Apple calls it, meaning that if the GPU bites the dust, Apple does not need to replace the whole motherboard.

Apple’s latest Imacs are the first to feature Intel’s Thunderbolt I/O technology, though Ifixit found a different controller than in Apple’s Macbook Pro, the first Apple device to sport that data transfer interface. This could be down to the fact that the 27in Imac sports two Thunderbolt connections and perhaps Apple didn’t want to have separate chips for each Imac model.

Other chips on the motherboard include a Broadcom BCM57765B0KMLG gigabit Ethernet controller, a Cirrus 4206BCNZ audio chip and a SMSC USX2061 chip that Ifixit believes is the USB 2.0 hub controller. The Broadcom BCM2046 bluetooth chip is the same one found in the first Macbook Air, which originally came out in 2008.

All of these chips are found behind the 21.5in LED backlit screen supplied by LG Electronics. LG has been a long time supplier of displays to Apple for its Imac. One of first 24in Imacs that was taken apart in The INQUIRER’s labs a couple of years ago also sported an LG unit, so it seems that Apple doesn’t want to give that business away to Samsung just yet.

Ifixit gave Apple’s latest Imac 21.5in model a 7 out of 10 score for repairability. That’s a bit impressive, considering how much kit Apple manages to pack into relatively small spaces behind and under the screen. µ