Buy iMac now or wait?

They just refreshed the iMac, so I highly doubt we'll see anything new for iMacs. The MBP is expected to get some love next month but not the iMac.

You'll be waiting for a while. I wouldn't buy a retina MacBook Pro though.

Apple seems to be updating the iMac about every 18 months now so you might be waiting until next spring for a new model.

with the way apple is thinning devices and moving away from powerhouse systems...you might as well get an iMac while you can before Apple EOLs those like the Mac Pro

I am waiting mainly to see what happens to the Mac Pro. iMac wise, the new SSD options make it hard to sit on the fence, however my previous generation iMac with 6970 graphics does more than well enough for me currently that upgrading would merely be whim like

pulse83 said:

Hello

I'm considering buying a new 27" iMac, but with the WWDC coming up, I'm having second thoughts. I really want an iMac NOW (!!), but I'm afraid I'll regret it, if new updates for the iMac are announced on WWDC.

What are your thoughts? Is it likely that the iMac will receive any significant updates following WWDC?

Click to expand...

The odds seem unlikely that Apple will update the iMac in the next couple of months. However, anything could happen.

What you will see in a new iMac is a Haswell processor and different graphics.
What you may see is differences around disk sizes and costs.

For a desktop system with discreet graphics, the performance improvement will be probably in the 5 to 10% range.

In short, I'm not sure I see anything that will be in the next iMac update that is worth waiting for. Which brings up the question of: If no new iMac is announced in June/July do you then worry about what may be announced the following month?

If you need a new iMac, buy it. If you want it but don't need it, only you can decide how much you want it. As for what I want, I want (but don't need) a new iMac, but I can't justify replacing mine yet. I probably won't replace it until it either fails after AppleCare expires or it can no longer reasonable handle what I need it to do.

I'm not the OP but I've decided to wait (again)

Not for performance reasons or "the next one will be better" hopes

But for the Image Retention issues

I opened a post the other day and got mixed-suggestions about getting it now or waiting.

Then I saw a couple at the store with quite bad IR. And then visited a friend over the weekend that just got one one and it also had IR.

Meanwhile my last 3 monitors were IPS and no IR on them. Heck, my current one is a 27" Dell IPS that's around half a year old. It's fine.


So, I'm gonna wait until they replace the screens to resolve the issue. I have bad luck and zero patience, so I don't want to replace it over and over until they get it right.

karpich1 said:

I'm not the OP but I've decided to wait (again)

Not for performance reasons or "the next one will be better" hopes

But for the Image Retention issues

I opened a post the other day and got mixed-suggestions about getting it now or waiting.

Then I saw a couple at the store with quite bad IR. And then visited a friend over the weekend that just got one one and it also had IR.

Meanwhile my last 3 monitors were IPS and no IR on them. Heck, my current one is a 27" Dell IPS that's around half a year old. It's fine.


So, I'm gonna wait until they replace the screens to resolve the issue. I have bad luck and zero patience, so I don't want to replace it over and over until they get it right.

Click to expand...

I'm currently in the same waiting-to-buy-an-iMac position as you and was getting worried about the IR. To be honest I think I was blowing the problem out of proportion in my mind, because the thought of spending so much cash on a machine that has such an irritating (to me) fault scares the crap out of me.

To be honest, I can't see the IR "issue" being resolved. As far as I know there has been the possibility of having IR with every generation of iMac I've come into contact with, it is in no way specific to the late 2012 models. Also, as many people will tell you, just because there is a handful, or perhaps a couple of handfuls of people on forums such as this one saying they have IR, doesn't mean it's a widespread issue.

I think I've talked myself out of worrying about it and I'm going to go ahead and get mine as soon as possible because I do really need it for work (2008 Macbook Pro is starting to struggle a fair bit with larger Logic projects). Funnily enough, I wasn't scouring every forum post on the internet before buying my Macbook Pro in 2008, and I'm sure there were possible issues with that that I wasn't aware of. Sometimes I really do regret checking this place every day; I've never felt more anxious before a purchase!

But if I do in fact have IR on my screen I'll of course blame everyone here for not telling me to wait.

I just ordered a 27" refurb. I'm hoping it's less likely to have any issues since it's been quality tested by Apple. And if it does I'll take satisfaction that it comes with the best warranty and service in the industry. Plus I'll get AppleCare.

Buy now. The iMac just recently got updated, but down the road Haswell's will get put into iMac's. Depends if you need that update.

pulse83 said:

As far as IR (or any other malfunction) goes, I'm not even gonna read about it, 'cause I know it's gonna drive me crazy, if I start digging into potential problems with the iMac.

Click to expand...

To go along with this keep in mind that people are a lot more likely to be vocal when they have a problem with their computer. Some people are also a little too picky when it comes to certain things (not that you really shouldn't be when spending upwards of $1500 on a machine, but some folks go overboard).

Same question I had https://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=17236062#post17236062

Haswell is not worth the wait. Broadwell is though. 14nm!

I bought a iMac now with the hopes of selling it after two years to upgrade to a Broadwell iMac.

By then I'm pretty sure all macs will come with ssds by default and the old macbook pro line will be discontinued. Maybe even a resolution bump for iMacs. I'd be really surprised and impressed if they decided to take the iMac line to retina resolutions.

Do you think in 2014 we will see a graphics bump from 2gb to 3gb or even 4gb.

karpich1 said:

I'm not the OP but I've decided to wait (again)

Not for performance reasons or "the next one will be better" hopes

But for the Image Retention issues

I opened a post the other day and got mixed-suggestions about getting it now or waiting.

Then I saw a couple at the store with quite bad IR. And then visited a friend over the weekend that just got one one and it also had IR.

Meanwhile my last 3 monitors were IPS and no IR on them. Heck, my current one is a 27" Dell IPS that's around half a year old. It's fine.


So, I'm gonna wait until they replace the screens to resolve the issue. I have bad luck and zero patience, so I don't want to replace it over and over until they get it right.

Click to expand...

I have a 2012, and no image retention here. I don't think it qualifies as an "issue" yet since those are people's opinions/anecdotes and there's no flood of complaints on this forum or anywhere else. It's in the same category as the Iphone 4's "antenna issue".... ie here-say.

karpich1 said:

I'm not the OP but I've decided to wait (again)

Not for performance reasons or "the next one will be better" hopes

But for the Image Retention issues

I opened a post the other day and got mixed-suggestions about getting it now or waiting.

Then I saw a couple at the store with quite bad IR. And then visited a friend over the weekend that just got one one and it also had IR.

Meanwhile my last 3 monitors were IPS and no IR on them. Heck, my current one is a 27" Dell IPS that's around half a year old. It's fine.


So, I'm gonna wait until they replace the screens to resolve the issue. I have bad luck and zero patience, so I don't want to replace it over and over until they get it right.

Click to expand...

27" 2012 iMac owner here. No IR issues. The screen is fantastic.

This whole "image retention is a huge problem!!!" thing is blown out of proportion. If you get one with IR, have Apple swap it out. It's very unlikely you will get one like that though.

Remember for every 1 person on the forum crying about Apple's "terrible QA, Steve would never have allowed this! zomg! The sky is falling!" there are a hundred or more people happy with their perfect product. Mass produced consumer goods will always have some defective items. 100% perfection is not possible (at least, not economically). This is why warranties exist, and Apple's is a pretty damn good one.

I read up on the image retention issue before buying and it can put you off. But guess what get the machine, transfer all my files onto it and then notice after 2 or 3 days that it has very bad image retention issues.

tardman91 said:

I just ordered a 27" refurb. I'm hoping it's less likely to have any issues since it's been quality tested by Apple. And if it does I'll take satisfaction that it comes with the best warranty and service in the industry. Plus I'll get AppleCare.

Click to expand...

It's a great option. Both my current 2009 13" MacBook Pro and 2011 27" i5 iMac were Apple refurbished and I have had zero issues with both.

My 2009 MacBook Pro actually had the larger HD and more memory than advertised so that was a nice surprise and my iMac came with 8 GB of memory instead of the advertised 4GB. Both were a nice trade off vs new Apple packaging.

maflynn said:

They just refreshed the iMac, so I highly doubt we'll see anything new for iMacs. The MBP is expected to get some love next month but not the iMac.

Click to expand...

This!