Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
69,401
40,442


Following the launch of the new Mac Studio and Studio Display, Apple has discontinued the 27-inch iMac.

imac-27-inch.jpg

The 27-inch iMac had remained in the iMac line alongside the smaller 24-inch iMac with Apple silicon and was one of just a few Macs that still featured an Intel processor.

Now with the 27-inch Studio Display that can be connected to any Mac, Apple has seemingly felt there is no need for a large-sized all-in-one desktop computer. The 24-inch iMac is now the only all-in-one desktop computer offered by Apple.

Article Link: Apple Discontinues 27-Inch iMac
 
Last edited:
Yeah the new Mac Studio Ultra and studio display is the perfect upgrade for 27inchers.
It's not really perfect when you see the price of the M1 Ultra and the 27" display cost compared to the old 27" iMac. It's at least double the cost and triple when you include the Studio display and a few upgrades like storage, RAM etc.
 
Well it depends which Mac Studio model you choose as the foundation of your upgraded computing experience. I don’t think there was a 27 inch iMac three times cheaper than $3500.
I don’t think there’s any configuration of the Mac Studio and Studio Display which is not significantly more expensive than a comparably specced 27” iMac would have been. Perhaps not “three times” as much, but it’s definitely a price hike.

Yes, it’s likely significantly faster spec-for-spec because of Apple silicon, but there is now a pretty substantial gap for mid-range Macs (the so-called “prosumers”) with the discontinuation of the higher-end Intel Mac mini and 27” iMac.

For example, you can’t currently spec a Mac with 32 GB RAM without spending $2,000. That certainly wasn’t the case before.

Edit: Turns out that high-end Intel Mac mini is still for sale. Hmm.
 
It's not really perfect when you see the price of the M1 Ultra and the 27" display cost compared to the old 27" iMac. It's at least double the cost and triple when you include the Studio display and a few upgrades like storage, RAM etc.

Well the RAM starts at 32GB with the Mac Studio, and upgrading to that with the old 27” iMac was a significant cost.

Perhaps the initial outlay is more than you’d like to spend, but once you’ve got the display you can pair it with future Mac Studio models at less cost.
 
Yes, it’s likely significantly faster spec-for-spec because of Apple silicon, but there is now a pretty substantial gap for mid-range Macs (the so-called “prosumers”) with the discontinuation of the higher-end Intel Mac mini and 27” iMac.
Apple didn't discontinue the higher-end Mac mini, it is still here. So it's still possible to spec a 32 GB RAM Mac below 2000$.

Apple may update the higher-end Mac mini soon, probably with M1 Pro and/or M1 Max. The price will probably increase a bit that said
 
Definitely a shame. My Dad's been holding out with his 2010 iMac, waiting for the equivalent Apple Silicon replacement. Not sure what his budget is, but this is definitely much higher than the iMac was, both on the low end and the high end.

I paid about $3500 for my maxed out late 2015 iMac (upgraded everything but RAM), and I would generally expect similar money to get me close to the current top end. But now that's the entry level. Even if you consider inflation (my iMac was $4100 in 2022 dollars), it's much closer to the new low end than the high end (approaching $10k for maxed out M1 Ultra + Studio Display!).

Obviously that new low end is more powerful than my top end was, but that's to be expected with any improvement in technology over time. It just feels like a worse value proposition when equivalent expenditure gets you something lower relative to the new product range.

It'll be interesting to see what people decide to do with the display - pay the ever-increasing Apple Tax for the Studio Display, or pay half or less for a very nice competing monitor? I do like the increased flexibility of not having your computer physically tied to your display, but ugh, the cost of that flexibility...
 
This is really great. Finally Apple comes to its senses and discontinues this stupid all-in-one Mac, which has many disadvantages. Didn't expect that from Apple.

It's much better to have a Mac like the Mac Studio, which is designed for good cooling (I hope so), offers many ports and where you have free choice of the monitor.

Great decision from Apple.
Only the price could be a little lower.

I have nothing against a 27" iMac as a supplement. But when it comes to Mac Studio or iMac in the product portfolio, it's clearly Mac Studio.
 
So humour me here - does anyone really think we will see an upgraded 27" iMac now - At all?

My hope is that maybe they just discontinued it for now, to push Sales of the Studio line. I have been hanging out for a new 27" iMac for a good 18 months now and don't know whether to keep hoping of face facts it's gone and the Studio setup will cost me a lot more than I had hoped!
 
Apple didn't discontinue the higher-end Mac mini, it is still here. So it's still possible to spec a 32 GB RAM Mac below 2000$.

Apple may update the higher-end Mac mini soon, probably with M1 Pro and/or M1 Max. The price will probably increase a bit that said
Yes, I updated my post to reflect that. The point was more that there’s no Apple silicon offering there at this time, this far into the transition.

Perhaps there’ll be some additional news on how they intend to fill this gap by June. If it doesn’t come there, perhaps Apple will allow the M2 to be configured with 32 GB RAM to help fill it, but that’ll take a while longer. Just a puzzling gap for now.
 
Let’s not forget that the M1 Mac mini is more powerful than most offered 27 inch iMacs excepting some of the most powerful options. So the 1599 dollar studio display + M1 Mac mini of 699 is likely the new iMac 27 inch entry comparison price. So like 2300 dollars. And the iMac 27 inch started at 1799.

Hmm I forget the keyboard and mouse (99 dollar without Touch ID and 79 dollar for mouse) which were also included with iMac. So almost 2500 starting price compared to 1799…. A 700 dollar increase is indeed a lot.
 
It's not really perfect when you see the price of the M1 Ultra and the 27" display cost compared to the old 27" iMac. It's at least double the cost and triple when you include the Studio display and a few upgrades like storage, RAM etc.
You don't have to buy an Apple display. You can buy very good displays from other companies.
The other Apple display, for example, can't display 100% sRGB at a price of about $5000. That's a joke. Warranty costs extra. And if you want to connect other PCs or Macs at the same time, you can't.
 
Definitely a shame. My Dad's been holding out with his 2010 iMac, waiting for the equivalent Apple Silicon replacement. Not sure what his budget is, but this is definitely much higher than the iMac was, both on the low end and the high end.

I paid about $3500 for my maxed out late 2015 iMac (upgraded everything but RAM), and I would generally expect similar money to get me close to the current top end. But now that's the entry level. Even if you consider inflation (my iMac was $4100 in 2022 dollars), it's much closer to the new low end than the high end (approaching $10k for maxed out M1 Ultra + Studio Display!).

Obviously that new low end is more powerful than my top end was, but that's to be expected with any improvement in technology over time. It just feels like a worse value proposition when equivalent expenditure gets you something lower relative to the new product range.

It'll be interesting to see what people decide to do with the display - pay the ever-increasing Apple Tax for the Studio Display, or pay half or less for a very nice competing monitor? I do like the increased flexibility of not having your computer physically tied to your display, but ugh, the cost of that flexibility...
The competing 5K display from LG doesn’t have speakers or a camera built in. You’re paying $300 more for some extra features and for everything to match. Not the end of the world.

I noticed they didn’t even bother to publish the contrast ratio in the tech specs, likely because it is so bad. So there’s a good chance I’ll be replacing all of these Studio Displays with Studio Display XDR next year (Mini-LED model).

I was disappointed that Apple just lowered the trade in value of my 5K iMac from $400 to $200!
 
I am an iMac 2017 27 inch user and I am disappointed about this news. Not that I was planning to upgrade but just in general, having a lot of power in an all in one was great and the iMac 27 was a real bargain as well. The price level for this new display and studio Mac is so much higher and not everyone wants a separate display.
 
I think the new equivalent is not so much the Studio Monitor with the Mac Studio but the M1 Mac Mini with the Studio Monitor. That price starts around $2300. The M1 Mini will perform better than almost any of the intel iMacs. If Apple upgrades the Mini to M1 Pro or M2 later this year, there is your full replacement for the iMac.

The Mac Studio + Monitor would be a replacement for the older iMac Pro.
 
And there goes what was one of the most popular "pro" Mac desktops for many years. We have quite a few of them set up at my college's Fine Arts building for audiovisual production. We can only hope a "pro"-level Apple Silicon iMac with a much larger display will also be introduced some time this year.
 
I’m seeing used iMac Pro 1,1 greatly discounted online. Maybe this will be my last Mojave computer.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.