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China Times reports (the original article is in Chinese) that Q-Run, a member of of Hon Hai Group (known by the Foxconn tradename in the US) is producing 17-inch iMacs and is expected to begin full-scale production of 19-inch LCD iMac soon. Test runs are already underway according to the report and shipments of production-run 19-inch models is expected to begin in Oct. Output in during that month will be about 10,000 units. This coincides with the end of 15-inch iMac production, which IGM reported in August will end in Oct. Korea's Samsung is reportedly the OEM for 19-inch LCDs being used to produce Apple's as-yet-unannounced high-end iMac. Hon Hai -- a long-time Apple OEM that manufactures the original iMac (production of these models is also expected to end soon) -- has not only won the contract for LCD iMac production away from Quanta, the China Times claims it is angling to win the contract for iBook production as well. A telling detail in the report says that Hon Hai is working to perfect aluminum-magnesium-alloy notebook enclosure engineering and production techniques. This coincides with recent rumors that the next rendition of the iBook will have a more TiBook-like appearance. With this aim, Hon Hai has been scalping engineering talent from Alpha-Top, the current maker of 12-inch iBooks. A pissing match Quanta, however, isn't taking its loss of the lucrative iMac contract lying down. According to local Taiwanese media reports, Quanta is barring any of its suppliers from doing business with Hon Hai or its affiliates in an effort to stall that company's plans to enter the portable market and perhaps even steal away (speculation) the PowerBook contract. Editor's note: At the earliest, Apple will be able to ship 19-inch iMacs to customers by the end of Oct. However, it seems more likely that it will wait until early or mid-November to announce the new model. This will be in time for the post-Thanksgiving sales rush. The complete lack of model specifications for the 19-inch iMac in local media reports leaves much room for the punters and their guesses. This pundit is putting his money on 1GHz at the top end with a SuperDrive2 and an nVidia low-end chip plus 32MB of graphics memory. What's your take?
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