I've been looking at getting an Imac for a while, but will hold off until Leopard is out. Now I hear that Apple have secured a load of the new Intel chips.

Does anyone know (based on past experience) how long it will take for new Imacs with these chips to be available? If it's before the end of the year or early next year I'll wait, otherwise I may as well get one next month.

hasn't been long since the last upgrade so probably wont be a new one for a few months atleast. There were rumors about some other new chip apple were interested in but im not convinced because its from a different family then the imac chips.

Don't think you're going to see new mobile Penryn-based chips in iMacs for a long time. The rumors you've been reading about are the server-class Penryn chips which are shipping in early November, and are likely to find their way into Mac Pros.

The iMacs were upgraded to the Santa Rosa platform not quite two months ago. iMacs traditionally don't even see minor updates for 6 months to a year.

I'd say the chips in the iMacs might be bumped around January to April next year, but that'll only be CPU swaps and not much in the way of features. The next major update for iMacs will be when they implement the Montevina platform, later next year.

So in short - if you're buying an iMac, after Leopard is released is a good time, at least for the next few months. Even then, nothing huge is going to happen other than small speed bumps for quite some time.

Golden rule: If you need it now, you should buy it now. If you can get by with what you have wait as long as you like. There will always be a better faster machine around the corner.

If the 26th is the release date for Leopard then buying from tomorrow gets you the cost of media upgrade deal. But with Apple there are never guarantees

Go ahead with Leopard is my advice. I went through various agonies of waiting before getting my own first Mac, ultimately succumbing to the advice "why deny yourself the fun of a useful modern computer" - there will always be a better computer, it's true. Any Mac will serve you well for quite some time to come.

i would wait. till next year. but depends how desperate you are for a mac

My view is given the current configuration of C2D's available in the Mac range, unless Leopard is poorly optimised, you would be safe with a current generation Mac. However out of caution I would be adding extra memory. For me I have 4gigs in my MacBook Pro which I would suggest would really have to be pushed by Leopard.

What's this? I know in the past apple have offered OS updates for a nominal charge for people who bought machines with the old OS within a certain period before the update... do we know the exact time 'window'? If so I'll suggest to my mum to go ahead and buy the current iMac now and bargain hard rather than wait for the new OS release.

No time window has been confirmed yet - we'll find out as soon as they confirm that the date is the 26th, and knowing how tight Apple has become in recent years, its unlikely to include any Macs purchased before the announcement of the release date.

So I'd wait at least until they make the announcement before buying at this stage.

I went into MyMac on Flinders St last week and asked about buying now and Leopard, and the guy there said they'd give a free upgrade. Of course, I'd get that in writing before buying one.

Just wait, 10.5, then wait for 10.6, and 10.7. Just wait. always wait.....

A good site to check before buying an Apple product is:
http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/
At the moment they are listing the iMac as "Buy - Product recently updated"

Marck at applesales (apple@arck.com.au) will sell you a new Mac with a free upgrade to Leopard -

(I bought a MB for my organisation a month or so ago with the same deal)

As others have said, if you need it now or in the next 2-3 weeks go for it when Leopard emerges from its lair. However Macworld San Francisco is now only about 3 months away and this is traditionally the venue for major announcements and I would guess that upgrades using the Penryn chips will be announced then - altho whether it will be Mac Pros. iMacs, Notebooks etc who knows.
Just my 3c.

I say get it NOW your missing all the fun were having with our new iMacs.