So the Apple rumor world is all about the idea of brushed metal iMacs, which the possibility as dropping on us as soon as next week at WWDC. I think it's interesting. I own a G5 iSight model iMac, which is starting to somewhat show its age (missing out on Parallels and VM Fusion on my primary machine makes me cry), but all in all, I really love the iMac form factor. Screen looks great, the lines are clean, and having everything right in front of me is convenient.
Having a brushed aluminum iMac, much like the Pro series of Apple's lineup (Mac Pro, MacBook Pro, Xserve, etc.), brings up the idea of making it look like regular Cinema Displays, which makes sense. I think the most tantalizing notion to come out of this rumor is the idea that they can somehow drop the "chin" on the bottom of the iMac and have it look nearly identical to Cinema Displays. That way you'd get the natural option to pick up an iMac and then pick up an extra Cinema Display to dual-screen with, and the bevel would match between the two. Although, to do that you'd have to think they'd have to make the whole iMac deeper than it already is.
And then this also gets some people talking about the breakdown between Pro and Consumer additions of Apple's hardware. Typical Pro hardware got the brushed metal look, and consumer hardware got the shiny, translucent white look (or, with the MacBook, black). It might just be a lot of speculation (as all rumors are), but maybe the iMac is going to be transitioned more towards the Pro end. With rumors of the Mac Mini getting retired (which I'm still not sold on), perhaps there will be a replacement for both the Mini and the current consumer-level iMac. Oh, speculation, how much fun (and worthless) you are.
At least this is less speculation than normal- we'll find out in less than a week.