The good and the bad would be if Apple was to jettison the 21.5" and launch both a 27" 5K iMac and a 32" 6K iMac using the Pro Display XDR ID and at least 600 nits of sustained brightness with the P3 color gamut. Good, because the 21.5" just isn't a good value compared to the 27" model and bad because that means the cost is going up.
So basic specs would look like this, 32" iMac first:
- 32" 6016 by 3384 pixels, 600 nits brightness, 1000 nits peak brightness, Wide Color (P3)
- 8-core Comet Lake-S x.xGHz, configurable to 10-core Comet Lake-S x.xGHz
- 16GB DDR4-2666 DRAM, configurable to 128GB DDR4-2666
- 256GB SSD, configurable up 2TB PCIe SSD
- 8GB GDDR6 Radeon Pro 5800XT, configurable up to 16GB GDDR6 Radeon Pro 5900XT
- 802.11ax, Bluetooth 5.0 (802.11ax only if the 400-Series PCH supports it, which is still in flux)
- 1Gb Ethernet, configurable to 10Gbps Ethernet
- 2 Thunderbolt 3 ports (unless Intel has done something different, the CPU will still have a ring bus and only x16 PCIe 3 lanes, all for the GPU)
- 4 USB 3 (maybe USB-C 3.1 Gen 2)
- SDXC Card (support for UHS-II)
- Stereo speakers
- 4 microphones
- 3.5 mm headphone jack
- Support for “Hey Siri” w/Apple T2 Security Chip (not sure T3 is a reality or a thing yet, definitely in flux)
- 7MP True Depth Camera for FaceID, maximum 1080p at 30fps or 60fps
The basic specs for the 27" iMac would look like this:
- 27" 5120 by 2880 pixels, 500 nits brightness, 800 nits peak brightness, Wide Color (P3)
- 6-core Comet Lake-S x.xGHz, configurable to 8-core Comet Lake-S x.xGHz
- 8GB DDR4-2666 DRAM, configurable to 128GB DDR4-2666
- 256GB SSD, configurable up 2TB PCIe SSD
- 8GB GDDR6 Radeon Pro 5700XT, configurable up to 16GB GDDR6 Radeon Pro 5800XT
- 802.11ax, Bluetooth 5.0 (802.11ax only if the 400-Series PCH supports it, which is still in flux)
- 1Gb Ethernet, configurable to 10Gbps Ethernet
- 2 Thunderbolt 3 ports (unless Intel has done something different, the CPU will still have a ring bus and only x16 PCIe 3 lanes, all for the GPU)
- 4 USB 3 (maybe USB-C 3.1 Gen 2)
- SDXC Card (support for UHS-II)
- Stereo speakers
- 3 microphones
- 3.5 mm headphone jack
- Support for “Hey Siri” w/Apple T2 Security Chip (not sure T3 is a reality or a thing yet, definitely in flux)
- 7MP True Depth Camera for FaceID, maximum 1080p at 30fps or 60fps
So basic specs would look like this, 32" iMac Pro last:
- 32" 6016 by 3384 pixels, 600 nits brightness, 1000 nits peak brightness, Wide Color (P3)
- 8-core Cascade Lake Xeon W-22xx x.xGHz, configurable to 22-core Cascade Lake Xeon W22xx x.xGHz
- 32 GB DDR4-2933 ECC DRAM, configurable to 256GB DDR4-2933 ECC DRAM
- 1TB SSD, configurable up 4TB PCIe SSD
- 16GB GDDR6 Radeon Vega II, configurable up to 32GB GDDR6 Vega II Duo
- 802.11ax, Bluetooth 5.0
- 10Gbps Ethernet
- 4 Thunderbolt 3 ports
- 4 USB 3 (maybe USB-C 3.1 Gen 2)
- SDXC Card (support for UHS-II)
- Stereo speakers
- 4 microphones
- 3.5 mm headphone jack
- Support for “Hey Siri” w/Apple T2 Security Chip (not sure T3 is a reality or a thing yet, definitely in flux)
- 7MP True Depth Camera for FaceID, maximum 1080p at 30fps or 60fps
I expect pricing to start at $1999 for the base 5K iMac and $2999 for the base 32" iMac 6K, with the iMac Pro 6K starting at $4999.
The unknowns will be:
- Is the chassis is sealed on all models or not?
- Is the DRAM still SO-DIMM or do all three have the same full size DIMM slots?
- Is the SSD the same NAND blade as the 2019 Mac Pro or something entirely different in form factor?
The VESA mount will be the same $200 Apple mount making it easier and more reliable and eliminating a separate model. Just my 2¢.