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UniDoubleU

macrumors regular
Aug 14, 2014
160
1
Thailand
Personally, I would never buy a first gen Retina product. Especially on as large of a scale as an iMac.

Granted, the Macs haven't suffered like my iPad 3 did, but still. It may not lag now, but future updates could punish it. Broadwell is supposed to have modest graphics improvements from what I read on these forums.

Integrated graphics improvements won't have an effect with iMac 5Ks as they all have dedicated GPUs. Unless Apple decided NOT to include dGPU in the next entry-level iMac 5K. :(
 

maflynn

macrumors Haswell
May 3, 2009
73,419
43,308
Broadwell isn't going to be a huge performance increase, its more of a die shrink and power savings. Plus consider how apple tends to delay iMac releases. Delay in the sense that they don't roll out new iMacs immediately after Intel releases a new chipset. That means we cannot expect to see iMacs shortly after Broadwell, there could be an extended time period.
 

Traverse

macrumors 604
Mar 11, 2013
7,688
4,399
Here
Integrated graphics improvements won't have an effect with iMac 5Ks as they all have dedicated GPUs. Unless Apple decided NOT to include dGPU in the next entry-level iMac 5K. :(

Oh, I see. For some reason I thought it used dynamic switching like the MacBook Pros. I could see Apple dropping the dGPU for the iMac, but not for a while. No iGPU can handle that machine with the level of performance expected at that price.
 

thundersteele

macrumors 68030
Oct 19, 2011
2,984
9
Switzerland
Also don't forget that iMacs use Desktop CPUs. In principle they are even upgradable, though that will depend on the Broadwell CPU fitting in the Haswell socket.

I don't know what the expected timeline is for Broadwell desktop CPUs. Same as mobile-H?
 

UniDoubleU

macrumors regular
Aug 14, 2014
160
1
Thailand
Oh, I see. For some reason I thought it used dynamic switching like the MacBook Pros. I could see Apple dropping the dGPU for the iMac, but not for a while. No iGPU can handle that machine with the level of performance expected at that price.

No batteries to save, so they didn't include that mode. As for the prices, rMBPs are ever more accessible thanks to base models only using Intel Iris. I wish Apple included 512GB SSD like in the top rMBP but 5K screens don't come cheap! :apple:
 

MindsEye

macrumors regular
May 3, 2010
241
23
You'll be most likely be waiting 9-10 months for the refresh which will most likely be a very modest spec bump CPU/GPU wise. No DDR4 RAM, Thunderbolt 3 or probably USB 3.1 either.
 

inhalexhale1

macrumors 65816
Jul 17, 2011
1,101
745
PA
What if the next rImac they released had a nvidia 980 as an optional upgrade :p

I can't see them going with AMD for the initial release, and then back to NVIDIA only. We'll probably see AMD across the board in the next update. But then again, who knows. :p
 

ixxx69

macrumors 65816
Jul 31, 2009
1,294
878
United States
I can't see them going with AMD for the initial release, and then back to NVIDIA only. We'll probably see AMD across the board in the next update. But then again, who knows. :p
Agree, but I hope Apple just goes with whatever is the best chip. Apple's been leaning toward AMD in the desktop market because AMD has offered the best OpenCL performance, and leaned toward Nvidia in the laptop market because Nvida has offered the better performance/watt. However, Nividia's Maxwell architecture appears to offer the best of both worlds (and has CUDA to boot) - it's really a hard platform to beat.
 

inhalexhale1

macrumors 65816
Jul 17, 2011
1,101
745
PA
Agree, but I hope Apple just goes with whatever is the best chip. Apple's been leaning toward AMD in the desktop market because AMD has offered the best OpenCL performance, and leaned toward Nvidia in the laptop market because Nvida has offered the better performance/watt. However, Nividia's Maxwell architecture appears to offer the best of both worlds (and has CUDA to boot) - it's really a hard platform to beat.

Everywhere I checked has the 980m gtx ahead of the 295x. Even the 970m gtx is supposed to be better, so I don't think they're choosing the best available.
 

ixxx69

macrumors 65816
Jul 31, 2009
1,294
878
United States
Everywhere I checked has the 980m gtx ahead of the 295x. Even the 970m gtx is supposed to be better, so I don't think they're choosing the best available.
That's why I mentioned Maxwell (the GTX 970m/980m are Maxwell GPUs). But that's only a recent development.

----------

when will these new features be available? cause IMO these are the upgrades that would really make a differnce to the current model ...
At this stage, the benefits of DDR4 mostly offer power savings, so the immediate benefit will be for laptops.

But none of the those technologies are available yet on the Haswell platform (DDR4 is on the Haswell-E platform, but that platform isn't suited to the iMac). Look for Skylake (late 2015) to offer some of those features.
 

xlr8or

macrumors member
Mar 9, 2013
38
0
I too am very much on the fence about which Mac to buy. Currently, I'm interested in either a maxed out i7 iMac or a maxed out i7 rMPB for my needs. Wait on a Broadwell refresh for both the current iMacs and or rMBP, or go ahead and get a new one now? I'm also a very disappointed customer in that Apple "dumbed down" the Mac mini that I was waiting on a refresh to buy. The information recently released by Intel on the Broadwell line of processors is appealing in that it apparently has some GPU and processing enhancements that may be worth waiting on.

I'm looking for a machine to use for heavy photo editing with either LR or the new Photos from Apple. I also plan on running some ham radio programming software and digital mode programs in a Windows 7 VM. A retina iMac would be nice, but I don't think I want to be the first generation beta tester on a large investment like a Retina iMac. This is why I'm looking at either a refurb machine or use an educational discount that I qualify for.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!
 

edjrwinnt

macrumors member
Mar 8, 2008
66
3
North Ridgeville, Ohio
If anyone is on the fence about buying a Retina Imac they should go to the Apple Store and see for themselves if that is possible. All of these little nitpicking issues you read about on this forum were not a issue for me when I went to the Apple Store, and played around with the base model iMac Retina for a while.

Now that I've had mine for close to a month, which has the same specs as as a base one but with the i7 processor and a additional 16 gigs of ram, I have found one issue, slow mission control, but I think this issue will be fixed once Yosemite is more mature.

I used to upgrade my computers about every 18 months in the 1990's and 2000's, but now I don't see it being necessary for what I use them for, and I've been using the same computer at work, an original i7 PC desktop, for 6 years. My late 2009 iMac i5 was more than good enough for my home office but I really wanted a retina screen. I don't do any video editing but I do run many programs at once including Dreamweaver, Photoshop, MS Office, a couple of different web browsers with 3-15 tabs open at a time, a couple of RDP sessions and screen sharing sessions.
 

roadkill401

macrumors 6502
Jan 11, 2015
457
93
I took a look at the release sechedule for Broadwell and I didn't see a any 4 core dual thead i7 on the list. Everything listed was all just 2 core stuff that I take was just for laptops.

Why would you wait for a processor that is slower than what is currently shipping?
 

nlr

macrumors 6502
May 27, 2010
457
1
London
I've been told that the GPU overheats quite a bit if you want to do intensive tasks especially things like gaming. I am personally waiting till this issue has been resolved.
 

AR86

macrumors member
Dec 7, 2014
66
1
I've been told that the GPU overheats quite a bit if you want to do intensive tasks especially things like gaming. I am personally waiting till this issue has been resolved.

There are always issues popping up all the time, once the supposed 'over heating' GPU is sorted (if it ever is, considering a lot of people seem to agree AMD GPU's simply run very hot) you'll suddenly get people finding another supposed problem then next thing you know you've gone from waiting for Broadwell to Skylake to Cannonlake for the perfect 0 problem Mac that mysteriously never pops up.
 

nlr

macrumors 6502
May 27, 2010
457
1
London
There are always issues popping up all the time, once the supposed 'over heating' GPU is sorted (if it ever is, considering a lot of people seem to agree AMD GPU's simply run very hot) you'll suddenly get people finding another supposed problem then next thing you know you've gone from waiting for Broadwell to Skylake to Cannonlake for the perfect 0 problem Mac that mysteriously never pops up.

good point! What do you suggest? I do want a quiet all-in-one which I can occasionally play games on.. and do web developing and photo editing.
 

Mac32

Suspended
Nov 20, 2010
1,263
454
I can't see them going with AMD for the initial release, and then back to NVIDIA only. We'll probably see AMD across the board in the next update. But then again, who knows. :p

If Apple continue to put AMD chips in the next generation of iMac retinas, they must be getting high on their own dope. Nvidia's Maxwell is so much better than the AMD option, both in terms of performance and thermals, that it's just depressing. I was planning to buy the retina iMac, but I refuse to buy the current version (I have a late 2012 iMac). I'm now waiting to see how the 2nd generetion turns out. Hopefully Apple will come to their senses, and use Nvidia again for the iMac.
 

robgendreau

macrumors 68040
Jul 13, 2008
3,465
329
good point! What do you suggest? I do want a quiet all-in-one which I can occasionally play games on.. and do web developing and photo editing.

Perhaps your problem is that you can't have something fast, cool, and quiet and expect max performance, all in one box.

Get a MacPro; they're very quiet, and were designed for that, with SSD storage and nice monitor. Or build a quiet PC, or even a hackintosh.
 

Alesc

macrumors 6502
Nov 11, 2014
253
11
France
good point! What do you suggest? I do want a quiet all-in-one which I can occasionally play games on.. and do web developing and photo editing.
I've got the same expectations than you, and I've bought two mounths ago a full loaded non Retina iMac. It is silent, flawless and very powerfull! :cool:
A lot of Photoshop and sometimes gaming (Bioshock 2, Max Payne 3, Alien Isolation...), this machine is perfect for me! And compared to my previous 24" iMac, the screen is stunning! :D

I will buy a Retina in one or two generations, I don't want to be a beta tester... And too many reports of lags or heat... I've tested the Retina in an Apple Store, and yes the screen is amazing, but the machine doesn't seem powerful enough to drive the screen (the GUI was laggy, displaying a HD takes a little time etc.).

Read this review, they have the maxed out Retina, I totally agree with their conclusion...
 
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