Apple to Launch 4K 21.5-inch Retina iMac Next Week, iPad Pro in Early November

[BayouTiger]

Well... that's how Apple makes all their money. They take older tech specs that are at least a year behind and package it up all pretty. The average user has no clue what the specs means with i5 and i7 and 390X... all they know is "hmm...7 is higher than 5, so 7 must be better than 5".
The sad fact is that Apple is now playing 'keep up' with the rest of the world. Larger iPhone and iPad pro are just a few examples of Apple having to catch up with their competitors. I'm still surprised we have no iPhone with a Retina display.... seems like that should be the next thing that Apple needs to do to keep up with the tech world.

Nice little piece of hate there it was true, but it's not. Apple has generally release new machines right along with Intel's chip release. MS showed new Surface Books with the new chips , but only as a preorder. If Apple is just doing a spec bump, you could see it at any given day. They do this without a bunch of flourish. In fact Apple used to be the first with the new chips when they first switched, but in the last few years, they've generally been right there with the rest. The bigger dilemma is to actually walk into a store and buy a laptop with the current chips. I can say that there will be absolutely none here in my area which has nothing except BestBuy until the Microsoft Store opened. Microsoft does fill a big need when t comes to being able to walk in and buy a top spec laptop, yet their store is a ghost town just a few doors down from the ridiculous zoo that is the Apple Store.

I was going to add my usual disappointment at no 4K or 5K TB display, but frankly my 34" LG curved display (purchased from the afore mentioned Microsoft Store) is so freaking awesome, I don't care about a new Apple display any more!!!

 

[MagnusVonMagnum]

Well... that's how Apple makes all their money. They take older tech specs that are at least a year behind and package it up all pretty. The average user has no clue what the specs means with i5 and i7 and 390X... all they know is "hmm...7 is higher than 5, so 7 must be better than 5".

I don't know that it's really any different for "average" Windows users, perhaps worse in some cases as "fanaticism" in the Apple domain does lead to people following things more closely than someone who simply wants to get work done in the Windows world and couldn't care less about the details.

The sad fact is that Apple is now playing 'keep up' with the rest of the world. Larger iPhone and iPad pro are just a few examples of Apple having to catch up with their competitors. I'm still surprised we have no iPhone with a Retina display.... seems like that should be the next thing that Apple needs to do to keep up with the tech world.

It wouldn't be so bad if Apple's prices weren't the highest out there. You expect to be a "cut above" when you're paying 1.5-3x as much for something as another brand. The worst thing happening is that Samsung is releasing superior hardware at half the price. That is what will ultimately kill Apple if left unchecked. There's a reason Apple almost went bankrupt in the '90s and it's because they cost too much for under performing hardware that couldn't even properly multitask. As bad as Windows95/98 was, it was miles above OS9 in terms of multitasking, gaming capability, etc. Frankly, Metal is the first step I've seen from Apple since OSX's inception to do ANYTHING about the sagging graphics issues of OS X. Given its current limitations (tests I've seen so far show OpenGL is faster in half the tests on average and that undercuts everything Apple said about it), though I wish they had finished updating OpenGL to current specs before proceeding with Metal, though but that was asking too much.

What really bugs me, though is that Apple isn't the poor company it was in 2001. It's the richest tech company out there today and yet they somehow some way CANNOT manage to be the BEST in graphics drivers, APIs, etc.? Obviously, they aren't spending their money wisely (or at all; they just hoard it).

Why do I have iPhoto and OS X Server updates listed as available in the Mac App Store since I "upgraded" to El Capitan? They aren't available for this OS version so why are they there and why can't I get rid of them? I've sent a complaint to Apple, but it's like pulling teeth. Apple's "support" is a fracking joke. You report bugs or missing features (e.g. NFS networking won't stop OS X from going to sleep and I've reported this several times over the past three OS versions and it NEVER EVER GETS FIXED and it would probably take them about 5-10 minutes to do so. I report it and it gets thrown in the trash. There is no way to get the bugs reported to the actual programmers. It's beyond frustrating for things so damn basic.

All the reviews of El Capitan talk about it being a minor update, but so many software Apps have broken. Why? Are they all SIP related? I don't think so, but I see multiple programs with a "NO" line through them now and more that won't even start or immediately crash. Lovely update. That didn't have when going from Snow Leopard to Mountain Lion and Mavericks, even (save Rosetta). My 2nd monitor stopped working even. WTF!?

Why did Apple release an iPhone with 4K but they have zero support for 4K in iTunes and the new AppleTV??? What the HELL does Apple think people are going to play those files back on, exactly? Roku? Amazon? Not AppleTV, that's for damn sure. Does one hand at Apple even TALK to the other? I don't think so. They're building these giant spaceship campuses but the feedback guy doesn't talk to the programming guy who doesn't talk to the iPhone guy who doesn't talk to the AppleTV guys and NOTHING lines up AT ALL anymore. It's turning into a mess with constant updates that don't work together.

But the fan boys will scream at the top of their lungs all day long on here how Apple clearly knows what they're doing because they're making money and no one wants 4K (so why is it on the new iPhone then? They can't answer that because they're emotionally driven illogical people) and no one uses real features of UNIX so SIP doesn't matter and NFS networking doesn't matter and nothing matters but texting their friends all fracking day long....

 

[vampyr]

Why do I have iPhoto and OS X Server updates listed as available in the Mac App Store since I "upgraded" to El Capitan? They aren't available for this OS version so why are they there and why can't I get rid of them? I've sent a complaint to Apple, but it's like pulling teeth. Apple's "support" is a fracking joke. You report bugs or missing features (e.g. NFS networking won't stop OS X from going to sleep and I've reported this several times over the past three OS versions and it NEVER EVER GETS FIXED and it would probably take them about 5-10 minutes to do so. I report it and it gets thrown in the trash. There is no way to get the bugs reported to the actual programmers. It's beyond frustrating for things so damn basic.....

Same problem here.. just drag your app to the trash, then go to your Purchased tab in the Apple Store... find iPhoto, and download and install it again. You probably upgraded to El Capitan from Maverick... which is what I did.

 

[Rogifan]

Microsoft's Surface Book is available from October 26th, with Skylake.

Surely Apple must be upgrading all Retina iMacs and Macbook Pros to Skylake this month???

Or perhaps they're being redesigned and will be announced next Spring? It seems pretty clear the MacBook Air is going away so I would imagine Apple wants to make the Pro lighter if possible.

 

[Jimmdean]

Just to reiterate, the 21.5" iMac uses desktop-class intel processors with a 65-watt thermal envelope. Since no physical redesign is expected, they should continue at the same level of CPU. Now whether or not they are broadwell or skylake matters a lot less than people think. At that CPU class the architecture change is much less important than the overall clock speed and number of cores. I suspect we'll see broadwell, since skylake with the iris pro igp would not be ready yet, but we could see a curveball where they did end up going with skylake, and all models have dedicated graphics. Personally I don't pay much attention to the griping about GPU in iMacs - if the available cards for that type of thermal design do not meet your need you should probably not be buying an all-in-one.

I - like many people - am mostly concerned with the storage options. I've been running a 2012 model with external SSD (via Thunderbolt) simply because Apple has yet to come out with an iMac with storage options that make sense from a performance standpoint. If this release can't match up to the storage numbers we've seen coming from the 15" MBP (or even the 13") then I won't be buying this generation either.

 

[batistuta]

Wish they would bring back the 24" model, I loved that one. 21.5" always seemed a bit too small and 27" a bit too big. Regardless it will be nice to have retina across the line.

Actually wish they would make a larger model - at work I have a 32 inch 2560x1440 display which makes for a good text size. The laptop driving it can't handle 4K, otherwise I might have gone for 40 inch 4K.
If a new Skylake Mini could handle 4K I might change my current Mini and 30 inch Dell, as the screen doubles as a living room tv.

 

[toke lahti]

It's a laptop on its side, that's all. If it had desktop internals, it would be about 10cm thick to house all the fans and heatsinks.

The foot and therefore the footprint are (and has always been) 17.5cm & 20.3cm (21.5" & 27") thick. So what's the problem here?
With laptops there are thin for those who prefer that and powerful for those who want that. We need iMacPro...

Not going to happen. The optimal size for touch-targets and click-targets differs by a lot. You can't have both without either the icons being to close together to be comfortably touched or to far apart to be comfortably clicked. Besides you have to alter the whole UI for something that is completely redundant. And we have seen how this experiment plays out in reality with Windows 8.

Tell to Steve Job's ghost that Apple can't do something that Microsoft messed up...
You can have 2 UI's to one OS and change from the other with a flick of a switch or shouting Siri. Or you could just leave those icons apart. There's lots of space in 5k desktop. Also there's this new thing invented after Jobs passed away. It's called pencil.

Personally I don't pay much attention to the griping about GPU in iMacs - if the available cards for that type of thermal design do not meet your need you should probably not be buying an all-in-one.

Meaning not to buy a mac. Meaning not to use osX.
(The mac I'm writing this has GTX760 & HD5770. Can't buy a new mac with that kind of price-performance GPU.)

I - like many people - am mostly concerned with the storage options. I've been running a 2012 model with external SSD (via Thunderbolt) simply because Apple has yet to come out with an iMac with storage options that make sense from a performance standpoint. If this release can't match up to the storage numbers we've seen coming from the 15" MBP (or even the 13") then I won't be buying this generation either.

My macbook has Fusion drive. Can't buy a new macbook with that kind of speed and storage space. Just wondering why?

 

[skwood]

Have they just replaced their iMac 21,5" or the other ones too? Hoping for a processor upgrade on the 27" iMac non retina!

The entire iMac line had gone. When I asked why they weren't on the sales floor anymore, they said they couldn't tell me, smiled and walked off. Typical Apple.

 

[Gudi]

That is what will ultimately kill Apple if left unchecked.

Stop talking or I can't stop laughing. See the company that's making half the profit of the entire PC market? That's the one going to die. Unless it listens to your smart advice.

 

[MagnusVonMagnum]

Stop talking or I can't stop laughing. See the company that's making half the profit of the entire PC market? That's the one going to die. Unless it listens to your smart advice.

You're the reason Mac users have such a bad reputation world-wide. Blind fanaticism.

Notice everyone else how he stated the exact reason (Apple is making money right now) that I stated. Predictable as mud.

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

Just because you place it on a desktop to use doesn't make it a desktop-class computer internally.

I can share more if there's a genuine learning opportunity here, but if not, I'll pass.

It won't be a learning opportunity, I'm sure...more like a "let's hear the personal, modern interpretation of what Irishman thinks a desktop is" opportunity.

Plain and simple, a desktop PC is one that isn't designed to be mobile. If you put a notebook PC on a desk and use it, it's not instantly reclassified as a desktop PC, it's still a mobile PC sitting on a desk.

An iMac is not designed to be mobile, last time I checked (although I'm sure you will say it can be).

 

[MagnusVonMagnum]

Same problem here.. just drag your app to the trash, then go to your Purchased tab in the Apple Store... find iPhoto, and download and install it again. You probably upgraded to El Capitan from Maverick... which is what I did.

Yes, that worked. Thanks. I deleted server too. Of course when I ran iPhoto again it warned me that that it had already moved to Photos and that anything done in iPhoto would be ignored or something.

 

[velocityg4]

Hopefully with more realistic SSD pricing. Better yet hopefully they drop the hard drive like in all the laptops and just do SSD.

 

[kyrrebs]

Does iPad Pro release in early November mean pre-order or actual delivery times/retail time?

 

[Gudi]

You're the reason Mac users have such a bad reputation world-wide. Blind fanaticism.

Oh, thank you very much. So far I've only been made responsible for the bad reputation Berliners are supposed to have in Germany. This widens my scope globaly. But notice, we here choose to call it arrogance not fanatism. It's when I let you know, that I'm right and you are wrong. And you have no chance to win the argument. Most people don't take it lightly.

Notice everyone else how he stated the exact reason (Apple is making money right now) that I stated. Predictable as mud.

Predictable as the future. Being two times more expensive is only a problem for products nobody wants. Otherwise a higher profit margin is a competitive advantage. Apple can out-spend and out-innovate all the other competitors in the PC market combined. It's hard to lose, when you are winning.

Company Survival 101: Never Become a Commodity
Someone makes an innovative breakthrough, and by doing so they stand out as unique in their field. However, because of the breakneck speed of technological advance, soon everyone else is offering those same features. A product feature that was special, unique, even astonishing, rapidly becomes a standard feature. This is why the reinvention imperative is about not occasional reinvention but continuous reinvention.

The stupid Intel Skylake chip is a commidity soon to be available to all the manufacturers alike. The exact same thing you want Apple to do is what kills other PC companies like Dell. You don't innovate by chasing Intels release cycle. It's all the stuff you can't buy from Intel, that makes your products unique and valuable to the customer. Apple will release Skylake Macs soon enough, but all the talk will be about some feature only Apple can pull off. Maybe it's just a tiny bit of software that uses Force Touch in an unexpected yet incredibly useful way. We will see.

The guys at Apple know what they are doing and maybe in seven years you will be able to buy a Microsft Surface with a pressure-sensitive trackpad too. Or maybe by then Google will have replaced Microsoft as the place to go for cheap knock-offs of Apple products. Either way is possible. Just not the dead of Apple.

 

[Gudi]

You can have 2 UI's to one OS and change from the other with a flick of a switch or shouting Siri.

But not as fast and frequent as you can switch between trackpad and keyboard shortcuts. SplitView for iPad switches two UI's, but once you've choosen a view everything pretty much stays where it is.

Or you could just leave those icons apart. There's lots of space in 5k desktop.

Low Information Density - that's point 4 in on why Windows 8 has disappointing usability for both novice and power users. It is doable, but it has downsides.

Also there's this new thing invented after Jobs passed away. It's called pencil.

And it's not meant to be used with an iMac or MacBook. I wonder why?

 

[MagnusVonMagnum]

Oh, thank you very much. So far I've only been made responsible for the bad reputation Berliners are supposed to have in Germany. This widens my scope globaly. But notice, we here choose to call it arrogance not fanatism.

It's when I let you know, that I'm right and you are wrong. And you have no chance to win the argument. Most people don't take it lightly.

If you want to be right you can start with spelling "globally" and "fanaticism" correctly. I mean come on, the dictionary highlights these things for you for goodness sake.

The mere fact you think I have no chance to win an argument speaks of fanaticism, not arrogance. You have to actually be right to call it arrogance and you're not even close in reality, but then fanatical types don't live in reality and so I can understand why you'd think you're just being arrogant.

Predictable as the future. Being two times more expensive is only a problem for products nobody wants.

What they're making in the present has little to do with the problems pointed out about the future. Apple is still reaping profits from Steve Jobs' baby. What happens when Apple has a "Windows ME" or "Vista" with an iPhone model? The market is highly volatile and tablets are already starting to tank in general. Oh, but we don't think of these things in the land of pretzels and beer now do we? (incidentally the only things I'll be thinking of when I'm in Germany next year).

Otherwise a higher profit margin is a competitive advantage. Apple can out-spend and out-innovate all the other competitors in the PC market combined. It's hard to lose, when you are winning.

Point out a single real innovation Apple has had in the past year other than pressure-sensitivity which has been available for ages in drawing tablets that Apple copied the idea from in reverse (i.e. make the trackpad sensitive rather than a drawing stylus).

The guys at Apple know what they are doing and maybe in seven years you will be able to buy a Microsft
Surface with a pressure-sensitive trackpad too. Or maybe by then Google will have replaced Microsoft as the place to go for cheap knock-offs of Apple products. Either way is possible. Just not the dead of Apple.

The Surface Book does something Apple's Macbook Pro cannot do and that is turn into a tablet and separate from its keyboard. Plus it has an extra battery in the screen (combination leads to 12 hours of battery life supposedly). Windows 10 supports a hybrid device. Apple hasn't even figured out how to make a touchscreen work in a Macbook. Apple released Siri, but failed to bring it to OS X before Microsoft brought Cortana to Windows. Apple is copying Samsung more than Samsung is copying Apple these days.

Talk about current profits all you want, but I'm looking at future products and Apple is falling behind. Apple never did understand the importance of graphics hardware and gaming for that matter in OS X. Johnny Ive took a perfectly lovely GUI and turned it into a Kindergartner's dream (that's progress?) and yet Apple can't fix the sleep token bug for NFS now in the past two OS versions. But that's okay, they're making money off their phones so it's ALL just fine....

 

[solamar]

I just want a Thunderbolt 2 display to connect to a MacBook Pro...

Eh? I already have two Thunderbolt 2 monitors connected to my rMBP

• LG 27MB85Z-B Black 27" 5ms WQHD HDMI Widescreen LED Backlight LCD Monitor IPS 350 cd/m2, DFC D-Sub, DVI, DisplayPort, Thunderbolt 2 x2. (no speakers)
  
• LG 34UM94-P Black 34" 5ms Widescreen LED Backlight LCD Monitor IPS 320 cd/m2, HDMI x 2, DisplayPort, USB 3.0 x 3, ThunderBolt 2 x 2 and Built-in Speakers (7 watt)

I love these monitors.. I know, no power to your Macbook Pro, but has everything else. I have them daisy chained, USB 3 works great off them. I can also confirm they are both Thunderbolt 2, even though they generally do not specify the version in the specs. System Info says the Bus for both monitors is 20 Gb/s. My old TB1 dock says 10 Gb/s.

 

[asiga]

What they should release next week isn't a new iMac (skylake not ready yet for it, so it's better to wait), but an update to the Retina MacBook, with Skylake and 16GB RAM. Otherwise, we're having to wait with all the current line of Macs outdated for a year or so.

 

[Zarniwoop]

Point out a single real innovation Apple has had in the past year other than pressure-sensitivity which has been available for ages in drawing tablets that Apple copied the idea from in reverse (i.e. make the trackpad sensitive rather than a drawing stylus).

From mouse to iPhone, what Apple really has invented is how to use someone else's inventions in a new, better or fresh way. And then market and declare it revolutionary. Apple has been very stingy when it comes to r&d. They haven't invented a wheel themselves, but made the old one nicer with Apple logo on it.

Apple Automobile with carOS can be next wow, the why-didn't-we-think-of-this-before experience. They have found something how cars can become better. But still they'll do it (most probably) by combining existing technology in a new, better or fresh way..

 

[toke lahti]

But not as fast and frequent as you can switch between trackpad and keyboard shortcuts. SplitView for iPad switches two UI's, but once you've choosen a view everything pretty much stays where it is.

Nope there's only one UI: ipad's UI on both sides of the splitView.

And it's not meant to be used with an iMac or MacBook. I wonder why?

Why don't you tell that to Wacom?

 

[Gudi]

If you want to be right you can start with spelling "globally" and "fanaticism" correctly.

Nope, that's Apples jobs to fix AutoCorrect and make it work reliably in a dual language environment.

What they're making in the present has little to do with the problems pointed out about the future.

You pointed out nothing about the future. You're so-called problems are just things Apple always made different and became the biggest company doing so.

Apple is still reaping profits from Steve Jobs' baby. What happens when Apple has a "Windows ME" or "Vista" with an iPhone model?

That already happened with iOS 7. And the "Snow" and "Mountain" versions of OS X, that's their way of saying we screwed up last time let's change the name of Windows again.

The market is highly volatile and tablets are already starting to tank in general.

What are people using instead of tablets? Bigger iPhones, smaller MacBooks? Apple has you covered either way.

Oh, but we don't think of these things in the land of pretzels and beer now do we? (incidentally the only things I'll be thinking of when I'm in Germany next year).

You're excused nobody expected deeper knowledge from you. I'm surprised you didn't came up with Hitler.

Point out a single real innovation Apple has had in the past year other than pressure-sensitivity which has been available for ages in drawing tablets that Apple copied the idea from in reverse (i.e. make the trackpad sensitive rather than a drawing stylus).

How about a variable display scan rate, increased when using the pencil to further reduce lag, while maintaining battery life when not working with the pencil. Or a four speakers system with balanced sound depending on how you're holding the iPad Pro. You don't have to reinvent the wheel every year to be innovative. A Wacom graphics tablet is an input device to a PC. It's not a tablet computer in and off itself.

The Surface Book does something Apple's Macbook Pro cannot do and that is turn into a tablet and separate from its keyboard.

Something Apple's MacBook Pro chooses not to do. It is fine to be the best notebook it can be and doesn't pursue to be a hybrid of two other devices. It is Microsofts failure to establish a successful smartphone OS, which forces the old company to address the tablet market with hybrid devices.

Windows 10 supports a hybrid device. Apple hasn't even figured out how to make a touchscreen work in a Macbook.

Apple could start making hybrid devices any day, but Microsoft can't make real ARM-based tablets, because it doesn't have the support of third party app developers, developers, developers, developers, developers ...

Apple is copying Samsung more than Samsung is copying Apple these days. Talk about current profits all you want, but I'm looking at future products and Apple is falling behind.

No, it doesn't. Bigger screens was all Samsung had as a competitive advantage. Since the iPhone 6 Samsung saw several quarters with declining operating profits. And just now profits come back, not with selling their own phones, but with the production of more and more Apple-designed ARM chips.

Apple never did understand the importance of graphics hardware and gaming for that matter in OS X.

And since the Mac became the most profitable brand without gaming, we can conclude that raw graphics power isn't related to success in the market. Sorry to spoil your dreams. You're wrong again and can't win an argument.

Johnny Ive took a perfectly lovely GUI and turned it into a Kindergartner's dream (that's progress?)

Yes it is, first up nobody came up with another perfect looking UI, so UI design is kind of a strength of Apple. And then you can't stick with the old look forever, no matter how beautiful it is, at some point you have to modernize. Which went rather successful with OS X, not so with iOS.

 

[Gudi]

Nope there's only one UI: ipad's UI on both sides of the splitView.

No it's not. When you narrow down the SplitView area it changes from iPad UI to iPhone UI. For example in the Safari app, when there is enough space in width all the controls are in the top bar. But when there is not enough space the address bar stays alone on top and the buttons move to the bottom. Just like the app would look on an iPhone.

Why don't you tell that to Wacom?

A Wacom pencil works with a Wacom graphics tablet. It doesn't work on the screen of an iMac or MacBook. And for a good reason, these screens don't lie flat on a table, but stand vertically. In this situation a pencil or touch input is uncomfortable and useless. So naturally Apple won't add a Touch UI to OS X.

 

[Celebion]

What they should release next week isn't a new iMac (skylake not ready yet for it, so it's better to wait), but an update to the Retina MacBook, with Skylake and 16GB RAM. Otherwise, we're having to wait with all the current line of Macs outdated for a year or so.

But Intel has only released desktop CPUs yet!

i5 6600K and i7 6700K

 

[Irishman]

The Surface Book does something Apple's Macbook Pro cannot do and that is turn into a tablet and separate from its keyboard. Plus it has an extra battery in the screen (combination leads to 12 hours of battery life supposedly). Windows 10 supports a hybrid device. Apple hasn't even figured out how to make a touchscreen work in a Macbook. Apple released Siri, but failed to bring it to OS X before Microsoft brought Cortana to Windows. Apple is copying Samsung more than Samsung is copying Apple these days.

Talk about current profits all you want, but I'm looking at future products and Apple is falling behind. Apple never did understand the importance of graphics hardware and gaming for that matter in OS X. Johnny Ive took a perfectly lovely GUI and turned it into a Kindergartner's dream (that's progress?) and yet Apple can't fix the sleep token bug for NFS now in the past two OS versions. But that's okay, they're making money off their phones so it's ALL just fine....

You're peddling Windows and Samsung evangelism to the wrong crowd, guy.

Why DO you own any Apple products, with as much as you hate them?

And now you have personal access to future product pipelines of Apple, Samsung and Microsoft, and based on that, you've judged Apple to be falling behind. Maybe. But more likely you're just full of crap.

Oh, by the way, the least you can do is spell Jonny Ive's name properly. Come on!

How, oh, how can I make it through my day when my OS's sleep tokens don't work to your satisfaction?!?!?