2018 iMac? I'm still wondering...

[Fravin]

Have you saw the 20 years iMac's cellebration in the front page of MacRumors?

I'm still wondering about it. I can't stop thinking how Apple dismissed the iMac design after Steve's death. Take 5 secs to look at the image below:

My point here is: The last iMac redesign was launched in 2012. It's labbeled as "today" in MacRumor's post.
But it was launched in 2012. One Year after Steve Job has passed away.

Since then, the iMac (the product that has ressurected Apple's business) still performs the same design. The new screens introduced in 2015 can't be considered a redesign. As the MacRumor's team have correctly represented the "tapered iMac" as a single design.

Do you think that Apple stil have the guts to launch a new iMac? Should us expect only iDevices redesign?

 

[294307]

They will eventually redesign it, I'm sure, but this happens with all technology that becomes mature. There are less rapid changes and form factors don't change as often. I think the problem people have is that we are now at a stage where its a gradual evolution of the technology rather than a big revolution every two to three years.

I also would like Apple to innovate more in the Mac space, and I think products like the Surface Studio are examples of the kind of innovation one would hope to see from Apple. I'm not talking about the touchscreen on the Surface Studio, but the hinge design.

Speaking of which, I do agree with Apple that a touchscreen on a Mac is a stupid and unergonomic idea. The operating system is not designed for it and may never be. There's a certain level of precision you get from a mouse/trackpad and keyboard that you just can't get on a touchscreen. I'm not just talking about pointer control and typing, but even down to things like being able to position the cursor in a text field or fixing a typo. It's just a slow thing to do on an iOS device without a Bluetooth keyboard connected.

They might be lacking in innovation with some of their Macs, but I still think the iMac is a good computer. The quality of the display rivals many other computers and all-in-ones, and is still one of the very few 27-inch all-in-ones you can get with a 5K display. But they definitely can't keep the same design going on for much longer. They need to innovate within the next year or two. Wouldn't it be nice if the iMac had a built-in adjustable stand?

 

[Southern Dad]

I love the iMac and its design. Would a touchscreen improve it? I think it would be a great next step. Still keep the mouse, keyboard, and touchpad. It wouldn’t be something that I always use but I would at times love to be able to pinch to zoom, or select an area.

 

[Minxy]

Hopefully as it will be the 20 year anniversary Apple has a redesign. I was looking at one yesterday in a store and it has massive bezels that make it look so dated. If they remove the need to have space for a HDD then maybe that can shrink it a bit. I personally would be happy with an Apple made 5K monitor and a separate box with all the internals.

 

[Fishrrman]

I've come to the conclusion there will be no new iMac introductions in 2018.

And even if there are, the "improvements" will be internal -- CPU, graphics, Truetone, probably not much more.

Externally -- the same, except space gray will become an option.

"that is all..."

 

[Fravin]

I think that the whole world loves the iMac design. Actually, I do believe that Apple could make some money selling anyone of the "old fashined" iMacs. I bet that any of them will sell like an iPhone!

My point itsn't how the actual design still handles against the competion. As @bbnck wrote, there's a lot of good designs out there.

It's a shame that Apple cellebrates the 20th anniversary of iMac. It appears to me that Apple is sending an ancient granpa a happy birhtday greetings card. The relation between Apple an iMac have been the same as we got with old uncles. Like @Fishrrman have quote us, expect only marginal improvemments in internals. What a shame!

I mean, Steve Jobs has redesigned it every two or three years with great wow effects in every one of them. Jhonathan Ive and Tim Cook have just pushing new internals inside the same design for 6 years! In the same six years, how many iPhones do we have? Or iPads?

Ok, to redesign an iPhone every year should be an incredible piece of work. But I have to remember you that Steve has introduced the iPad in 2010, the iPhone in 2007 and during those years, he had redesign iMac twice!!!

Is Apple loosing it?

 

[294307]

@Fravin, Steve Jobs did not redesign the iMac "every two to three years." He managed teams of engineers and designers that did. All of the ground breaking work that you are incorrectly attributing to one person is in reality the result of the tireless hard work and commitment from people that worked underneath that person. Please do not think Steve Jobs designed anything. He was a CEO, not a designer or engineer. Like Tim Cook, a CEO leads and directs teams; they don't architect and design products.

As to whether Apple are losing it depends on which part of the business you are talking about. If you're talking about the Mac Pro, for example, then yes they totally lost it. But they admitted to it (in their own way) and are making amends. They've pre-announced a new "modular" Mac Pro for 2019. Bear in mind the significance of that decision: they knew fair well by doing that, their competitors would also be given a head-start.

There is a lot of complexity that goes into the creation and distribution of new software and hardware products. When a manager asks a software engineer to allocate time to add a new feature into a software product, they don't usually appreciate just how many other components we as software engineers often need to create (or modify, such as when existing code needs to be refactored) in order to properly support the feature they are asking for. It's only too easy to make assumptions from the outside.

 

[Krayzkat]

The end game/perfect iMac design would be just a thin screen with a stand. They are getting pretty close to that, so not much exciting design changes can be made

 

[Fravin]

@Fravin, Steve Jobs did not redesign the iMac "every two to three years." He managed teams of engineers and designers that did. All of the ground breaking work that you are incorrectly attributing to one person is in reality the result of the tireless hard work and commitment from people that worked underneath that person. Please do not think Steve Jobs designed anything. He was a CEO, not a designer or engineer. Like Tim Cook, a CEO leads and directs teams; they don't architect and design products.

Yes, I undesrtand that. I have reffered to Steve Jobs and Tim Cook as CEOs, of course.

So, as Apple's CEOs they made decisions that contributed to the two different scenarios.

To let it clear, Apple under management of Jobs have redesigned iMac every two or three years (Just take a look at the picture). And Apple under management of Cook doesn't care about iMac.

But as you can think, Cook has too much to complain about: iDevices and so. But Apple under management of Steve Jobs has launched in the same period (during 1998 and 2012) the iPad, iPhone and a couple of iPod's versions. Of course we cannot exclude the launching of iCloud.

Can you picture yourself in the team that developed it?

I love Macs, and Apple stuff, since 1994. I want Apple back. I think that's a shame to cellebrate something like this. I mean, Tim Cook managed Apple to forget the iMac, a real savior of Apple's finances. In the last 6 years nothing was done. Just internals. Maybe a better screen.

So, Apple under managemt of Tim Cook has loose it?
[doublepost=1534720451][/doublepost]@Krayzkat I think that iMac can evolve too much in his form. As you mentioned, a screen and a stand are the form of iMac, and design is all about form and user's interaction. So in that way I think iMac has a lot to travel.

Don't you think that this image ilustrates the same thing? It is all about form and user interaction. Do you mind an iMac like that?

 

[294307]

Sure, their iMac needs to be updated soon. It is getting dated, but they are still good machines. I would love an iMac with a built-in adjustable stand but also a hinge design that allows me to bring the display closer to me when I'm doing design work (à la G4 iMac).

I know a lot of people complain about the "large bezels" on the iMac, but is it really innovation to reduce the size of them? I don't think so. I mean yes, they are a larger compared to most other all-in-one computers on the market, but it's not really all that important.

If they kept the bezels the same size but redesigned it so that it has a height-adjustable stand with a redesigned hinge so I can move the display back and forward, I'd call that innovation. Bringing out a new iMac with the same stand and hinge design but smaller bezel sizes... not so much.

So, Apple under managemt of Tim Cook has loose it?

Ask me again next year

 

[xgman]

I've come to the conclusion there will be no new iMac introductions in 2018.

And even if there are, the "improvements" will be internal -- CPU, graphics, Truetone, probably not much more.

Externally -- the same, except space gray will become an option.

"that is all..."

Probably right. If computers were anywhere near as popular as they were in the past this would have already be redesigned. I still think it will eventually get an update but judging from how unnecessarily long it is taking Apple, to come up with a mac pro, I'd say could easily be a couple more years. That said, I recall not much notice when they slimmed down the case at the last imac re-design, so anything is possible. But from a marketing perspective, it is understandable, albeit unfortunate, that this isn't going to be a priority ever again.

 

[Lammers]

I think there are three things (if not more) relevant to what is happening here:

1. The iMac plays a reduced role, in absolute terms, in Apple’s product portfolio. This is a function of the market shifting more to laptops than desktops over the years.

2. The iMac also plays a reduced role, in relative terms, in Apple’s portfolio. This is a function of the success of iPhone and iPad, resulting in the proportion of Apple’s income that comes from iMac reducing dramatically over time.

3. The AIO market is fairly stagnant as a whole - there isn’t much design innovation taking place (perhaps aside from the Surface Studio), and the iMac arguably still looks better than most of its competitor products.

In my view, these things, together with probably some other forces too, are why the iMac is receiving less design attention than it used to. And to be clear I don’t think that has anything to do with Jobs versus Cook.

(Actually maybe another one is that Apple’s design team probably got a bit sidetracked with the design and build of Apple Park. With that now more or less done, perhaps we will see more design attention returning to the Mac.)

 

[rpmurray]

The iMac needs to lighter, thinner, with fewer ports and totally closed so you can't upgrade it. Basically a 27" iPhone that you replace every couple of years and send the old one to the landfill.

 

[cwanja]

The iMac needs to lighter, thinner, with fewer ports and totally closed so you can't upgrade it. Basically a 27" iPhone that you replace every couple of years and send the old one to the landfill.

This is single handily one of the worst ideas I have ever heard.

 

[Krayzkat]

I could see a future of just a thin screen with thin bezel and integrated speakers/camera/mic etc, but with the main components inside a thin box that 'streams' to the display. Maybe so small it is built into the keyboard. I suppose we are getting to that stage where a display can't really get much better.

 

[294307]

This is single handily one of the worst ideas I have ever heard.

I really don't think rpmurray is being serious...

 

[Appleaker]

The iMac is actually only 2 years ‘overdue’ for a redesign, but you can expect one this year.

 

[TVreporter]

The iMac is actually only 2 years ‘overdue’ for a redesign, but you can expect one this year.

Source?

 

[cwanja]

The iMac is actually only 2 years ‘overdue’ for a redesign, but you can expect one this year.

Based upon...? You have made similar claims in other threads (https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/buy-or-wait-advice-please.2130582/#post-26328021) with no source to back it. And in searching your other posts, you make claims "concuring the VR headset" or "knowing the Mini refresh it coming".

 

[Lammers]

The iMac is actually only 2 years ‘overdue’ for a redesign, but you can expect one this year.

This is not consistent with the Kuo report. If the iMac was getting a redesign this year presumably supply chain sources would mean Kuo would have some indication of that.

 

[xgman]

This is not consistent with the Kuo report. If the iMac was getting a redesign this year presumably supply chain sources would mean Kuo would have some indication of that.

Was there any advance warning of the last case redesign? I don't actually recall any at the time.

 

[Lammers]

Was there any advance warning of the last case redesign? I don't actually recall any at the time.

Yes, but only a matter of weeks before the official announcement. But I’m not sure there was the same effort behind garnering intelligence from Apple’s supply chain then as there is now.

And it’s not like we have no leaks from the supply chain now; we do - they just say that the iMac is only getting a CPU refresh and a display performance upgrade. So to my mind the absence of an indication that there will be a redesign is reasonable evidence that there won’t be.