Apple Announces 27-Inch iMac With Retina 5K Display Starting at $2500

[N19h7m4r3]

All 4k & 5k displays made next year will need displayport1.3. How many macs support this? NONE.

That's same for all current Graphics cards as well.

The Dell 5K display needs two Display 1.2 ports just to drive it as well.

Both AMD, and NVIDIA are only talking about supporting above 4K now.
http://www.tweaktown.com/news/40597...-toward-8k-resolution-or-7680x4320/index.html

So it'll still be a while, and then monitor manufacturers and their controllers still need to catch up as well.

 

[Aloft085]

While impressive, the one thing I've taken away from this announcement is my excitement for next years iMac refresh. GPU's right now across the board are really struggling with 4k, so once they catch up I'll be excited for a new 5k iMac. I'm sure the one included in this machine is good enough, but to really shine 5k needs some major horsepower behind it.

Agreed. It'll still look beautiful at web browsing and basic use, but you won't be able to run that resolution while gaming or video editing. It's a shame. I'd rather buy 4k monitors for my desktop PC and not be so limited. I wish Apple were more serious about providing GPU power. A 5k monitor really needs a desktop-class graphics card, or at least two mobile ones in SLI. I own an Apple version of nearly everything, but their desktop products are just too little performance for the price. The added value of a beautiful product doesn't really help me if it's just sitting on my desk at home.

 

[RedBanana]

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/sxB76h

And I'm still paying retail markup; Apple is buying parts for far cheaper than me.

Agreed tho, if I went with a 4k IPS display then my build would cost an extra 1000 dollars

*IPS is LCD, I think you mean TN.

OK you have a nice machine there. Add a decent Crossair 780T case and you are at $2450. Assuming 5K IPS monitors are about $1500 in the near future and you'd be at $3595 (minus your $355 monitor in the spec).

The price for a spec'd iMac Retina with 4Ghz (4 core=16Ghz)+512 SSD+16GB DDR3 is $3199. Add an external USB3 1TB hard drive for <$80. $3279.

At those specs you still win by an extra 3.8GHz speed, faster DDR4 RAM and 2x faster 980GTX. Plus better cooling in your big case. This is a great setup for a gamer.

But the iMac looks nicer and oozes quality (the Apple premium). I'm actually quite surprised this Retina iMac is really good value. It is going to sell bucket loads. I honestly don't think I could convince someone who is looking to spend $2500-$3500, to choose a PC system over this machine. Oh and it comes ready made!

 

[TheWatchfulOne]

We still need the headless iMac. Only been asking for 15 years.

It's called the Mac Mini and they've already been selling it for several years now. They even updated it today.

 

[hifoo45]

OK you have a nice machine there. Add a decent Crossair 780T case and you are at $2450. Assuming 5K IPS monitors are about $1500 in the near future and you'd be at $3595 (minus your $355 monitor in the spec).

The price for a spec'd iMac Retina with 4Ghz (4 core=16Ghz)+512 SSD+16GB DDR3 is $3199. Add an external USB3 1TB hard drive for <$80. $3279.

At those specs you still win by an extra 3.8GHz speed, faster DDR4 RAM and 2x faster 980GTX. Plus better cooling in your big case. This is a great setup for a gamer.

But the iMac looks nicer and oozes quality (the Apple premium). I'm actually quite surprised this Retina iMac is really good value. It is going to sell bucket loads. I honestly don't think I could convince someone choose a PC system over this machine (who has $2500-$4000 to spend on a desktop computer). Oh and it comes ready made!

Actually, the only announced 5K monitor right now is the Dell, which ships in December and it has the retail cost of $2500... So yeah, the iMac currently is a pretty good deal. Future costs should never be a valid argument.

 

[Robotti]

Somehow it bothers me that when the 5K display arrives, you can't use it with this iMac. I understand why, but still.

 

[Serban]

You can do everything very well but gaming at 60fps. For that you need the 1440p resolution and thats it.

Final cut pro it is simply gorgeous

 

[MacRazySwe]

I was kind of hoping for a new design, but I guess it's hard to improve upon perfection. Anyway, this is great! Y'all can beta-test these expensive iMacs for now, and in 2-3 years I bet the old 27" will be gone, and the range will be all-retina at today's prices, possibly with pure SSD - and that's when I'll upgrade!

However, I can't help but noticing the decline of iMac sales here in Sweden. The used market reflects this as well. On our equivalent of Craigslist, I've seen the 2013 27" model sell for around 55 % of MSRP. Not only that, but I found a 2011 27" model for as little as a third of its retail price in 2011. These were no scams either, they reflect the general price level. Seems like most people don't want iMacs anymore. Oh well, the better for me. I might just pick one up sooner of later and upgrade to the 27" while waiting for the Retina-model.

 

[pipa]

Only $2300 education pricing. This means with the i7 upgrade, it's $2524. Maybe I can pass off my "old" iMac (late 2013) to a colleague and get one of these.

If anyone is wondering, the graphics card should be able to play pretty much any new game at 1080p at ultra quality: http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Radeon-R9-M290X.108643.0.html

Yes, there are better mobile cards but the R9 M290X is no weakling.

Run arma 3 on even high settings and watch this computer fold. Forget about ultra. And this is coming from someone who will pick one of these bad boys up day one!!

 

[Serban]

I was kind of hoping for a new design, but I guess it's hard to improve upon perfection. Anyway, this is great! Y'all can beta-test these expensive iMacs for now, and in 2-3 years I bet the old 27" will be gone, and the range will be all-retina at today's prices, possibly with pure SSD - and that's when I'll upgrade!

However, I can't help but noticing the decline of iMac sales here in Sweden. The used market reflects this as well. On our equivalent of Craigslist, I've seen the 2013 27" model sell for around 55 % of MSRP. Not only that, but I found a 2011 27" model for as little as a third of its retail price in 2011. These were no scams either, they reflect the general price level. Seems like most people don't want iMacs anymore. Oh well, the better for me. I might just pick one up sooner of later.

because most of the people are on a budget and must choose. There are people fine with just their smartphones, there are with ipad and don't need a computer(desktop/laptop). People that are not looking at their wallets buy all of them because all are the best for their purpose

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Run arma 3 on even high settings and watch this computer fold. Forget about ultra. And this is coming from someone who will pick one of these bad boys up day one!!

Arma 3 is playing just fine at 1440p Medium at 60 fps so i guess the top amd mobile gpu will be even better

 

[CIA]

ahhh . there will ALWAYS be something better next year!

Yes, but we all kind of knew that the iMac update from 2012 to 2013 wouldn't be that big. Sure enough, it wasn't. We knew this because Mac's are tied to Intel chips, and when nothing exciting happens from Intel, Apple is stuck. In a way, the retina iMac covers up yet another Intel fail this fall... If this was a normal iMac release without 5K everyone would be bitching.. But that's Intel's fault really not Apple.

Anyway, the point is, this year I know we have a (on the GPU) underpowered machine. So for once I'm really psyched for the next update when I hope the GPU is badass for 5k.

It's the iPad3 all over again.

 

[RedBanana]

Actually, the only announced 5K monitor right now is the Dell, which ships in December and it has the retail cost of $2500... So yeah, the iMac currently is a pretty good deal. Future costs should never be a valid argument.

But lets face it, Dell will have to reduce the launch price sharpish now that Apple have a 5K IPS iMac or PC people will be asking questions (hence my use of "future costs", saying a 5K IPS monitor will be $2500 doesn't work from today thanks to Apple).

 

[TBR]

Not bad...

I tried spec'ing the non retina iMac to the closest equivalent retina iMac configuration, this is what I came up with,

27" non retina iMac, 1tb fusion drive with 3.5GHz quad core i7 = £1949
27" retina iMac, 1tb fusion drive with 4GHz quad core i7 = £2199

So £250 more for the retina screen with a more powerful CPU.

That doesn't seem that bad at all.

 

[ISanych]

Where can I get one of these from?

black magic intensity for example - https://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/intensity/models

 

[Vanilla Face]

I don't buy that.

A) It's not profitable.

B) A BTO retina iMac with quad-core i7(~4790k?), 16gb of ddr3 ram and 4gb video ram costs 3200 [3500 after taxes]

I just built a hexa-core i7-5820k, 16gb of ddr4 ram, and gtx 980 computer with a 2k (1440p) display for about 2,000 after taxes.

So Apple is charging a ~1500 premium for a 2k->5k display upgrade.

Don't buy it all you want. It's widely believed that the Retina iMac shares the same display that Dell's new monitor 5k monitor is based on. Dell will be selling that for plastic enclosed monitor for $2,500. The same price that you can get the Retina iMac. There are few 4K IPS monitors available, and they are priced in the thousands as well. 1440p IPS monitors are widely available for under $500.

 

[PMehta]

There's no reason this display technology couldn't be the precursor to a true Apple TV.

Maybe the new [if they update it] TB display will be the Apple TV?

 

[Renzatic]

So. Enlighten us then?

It's kinda out of date, and total fanboy rage bait, but...

 

[mdelvecchio]

Once again, I see the issue of a system with a very high resolution display coupled with inadequate CPU/GPUs.

so you've used one? where did it appear laggy to you? if not....how on earth can you know?

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Apple has lost its way. Give it proper specs and price it for $2999 please.

lost its way? apple has ALWAYS been a consumer-focused computer company. computers "for the rest of us". you want high-end specs, build it out.

 

[manu chao]

No new Thunderbolt Display

One could almost say that they did release a TB display. It has a 5K resolution and costs $2500, cheaper than the Dell version. You just have to use the iMac in Target Display mode.

Except that Target Display mode is not possible because TB 2 is not fast enough to support a 5K video stream. And combining two TB ports also doesn't help because the two TB ports share the same controller. And why do they share the same controller? Probably because the CPU and chipset don't have enough PCI lanes to provide the bandwidth for it.

And for Macs being able to drive a 5K display, at least theoretically, only the Mac Pros have more than one TB controller.

 

[Renzatic]

so you've used one? where did it appear laggy to you? if not....how on earth can you know?

I've looked at benchmarks for that card, and while it's not fast when compared to a $1000+ Nvidia Titan, it's more than powerful enough to draw the desktop even at 5120x2880.

I don't know why everyone is acting surprised. Apple's never gone with the most cutting edge high end best of the best GPUs for their mid-line/entry level high-end computers, which is what the retina iMac is. They go with whatever will run applications well on the desktop at X resolution. Nothing less, nothing more.

 

[mdelvecchio]

….and then add hundreds, maybe thousands of dollars for a monitor?

yeah, if you're demanding pro specs. otherwise, enjoy your consumer grade all-in-one offering.

"back in my day" $2500 got you a 50mhz 486DX with a 14" SVGA monitor. and we liked it.

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Agreed. It'll still look beautiful at web browsing and basic use, but you won't be able to run that resolution while gaming or video editing. It's a shame.

say what? did you watch the event? of course you can do video editing at native 4k, that's the whole point of 5k -- to give you extra pixels for editing software UI. you wouldn't want the video at 5k because that's higher than any television can view it.

 

[ksuyen]

Specs are terrible; core i5 and mobile AMD gpu.

I think it's unfair to judge that based on the entry level. I myself want to get this.

1. 4.0GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 4.4GHz
2. 32GB 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 4x8GB
3. 1TB Flash Storage
4. AMD Radeon R9 M295X 4GB GDDR5

 

[bmt134]

5k? Stop pushing specs and actually start innovating, Apple!

 

[DooDuh]

Question: How difficult is it to get the "Education Pricing" for the iMac? Do you have to show proof that you're a student or teacher... or that you're buying for a student?

 

[ennerseed]

Screen Reflection

What I want to know is how reflective the screen is. The thunderbolt displays are like a mirror ...well not quite but they are extremely reflective. My girlfriend has to work in an unlit room to do photo retouching on it. It would be nice to allow her be able to be in a lit room for an extra 8-12 hours a day.