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The T2 chip has been causing kernel panics in all of apple's produces for the last 2 years..... I don't want the iMac but I'm glad they decided to leave it out. It will make many consumers happy.

a subset of users have had problems with the T2. Just about all of the iMac users tracked into APFS on HDDs probably will over time will have substantive interruptions. . macOS isn't designed for HDDs anymore.
 
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What bothers me more is what is not on offer than some configurations I don’t have to buy. Since 2012 the largest amount of storage you can get an iMac with is 3 TB. Where are we now with maximum HDD sizes, 12, 14 TB?

The interesting thing is that the best way to get cheap and fast storage is to get the 5400-rpm model and have the 2.5” HDD replaced with a large SATA SSD.

It bothers me because the iMac is a supposedly high end machine that Apple is crippling with the HDD. Modern MacOS is a pitiful experience on sipping HDDs.

But yes I agree. They could create a pretty fast solution by putting in a fast 256 m.2 SSD paired with a 2TB SATA SSD, or say a 500GB m.2 paired with a big 4TB 7200RPM HDD.
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There’s very little difference in price nowadays between a 1TB 5400 rpm old drive and A 500gb SSD... but the speed difference is crazy! Just seems stupid by Apple as iMacs running those crap old drives are dog slow.

My point exactly. SATA SSDs are VERY cheap and offer far superior performance to 5400 rpm HDDs...

At the very very very least fusion drives should be standard.
 
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Apple says the new 21.5-inch iMac models deliver up to 60 percent faster performance than the previous generation, while the new 27-inch iMac models deliver up to 2.4 times faster performance than the previous generation, narrowing the gap between the high-end standard iMac and the iMac Pro workstation.

Why use two different speed comparison units? 60% then 2.4x is it just fun for marketing to confuse things?

I will bet money that with the same amount of RAM, the iMac with the 8-core i9 will be faster than any of the iMac Pros at rendering After Effects projects; although the wimpy GPU on the iMac may make it a close call.
 
Since the 2019 model just came out, I don't see any possibility for a redesign in next 12 months. So sad.
BTW, where are the Apple branded retina standalone displays?

I agree - I thought we were on the cusp of a redesign, and was hoping they would consider multi-monitor setups in that redesign. A refresh means that a redesign has to be 12 months out, unless they plan to add another product line between Mac Mini and Mac Pro. Currently, the iMac looks outdated, and worse when you put a monitor that absolutely doesn't match right next to it. They really need a bezel free design iMac, with matching standalone Apple displays to add as nice-looking accessories.
Mac Mini would be a great option for desktop multi-monitor, but they gimped the graphics. I'm still sitting on my money. Nobody wants integrated graphics for a desktop multi-monitor setup.
 
What don't you get? Do you really think the average consumer cares or can tell the difference between 5400, 7200, Fusion, and SSD

They don’t care what the name of the technology behind it but they DO care about how fast or slow their computer feels.

I work in IT and I can tell you one of the biggest improvements I routinely make (or used to make) was putting an SSD in a mid 2012 MacBook Pro. No, the end user didn’t say “please upgrade the 5400 RPM Mechanical Drive to a SATA SSD, they said “My Mac is unbearably slow, even after the clean install you did” and I would say “right,I’ll upgrade it to a faster Hard Drive”. Next, the SSD went in and the comment was “Oh it feels brand new”.

Same with one of my clients who went from a 2011 iMac to a 2017 iMac (baseline) without consulting me - and she now complains of how very very slow it is, slower than the 2011 iMac (which the baseline had a 7200RPM HDD in).

So no, the end user doesn’t care about the technology itself, they care about the experience and yes they can tell the difference between a HDD and an SSD.
 
Welcome update although it seems the penny pinching at this point will just be endless under Cook's management. Fusion drive still really?
 
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What are the chances we see an all new design later this year to by mid next year? Can someone give me a logical opinion with no bias or emotion.

I think this update happened for one of two reasons.

1.) They have been waiting on Intel and AMD to get around to updating their CPUs and GPUs and simply could wait no longer and went with what was available. The fact that 8th-gen CPUs are standard is interesting and suggests that the 9th-gen are not available in enough quantity to be standard yet for Apple. Navi is rumored to be delayed until the Fall, so we get Polaris GPUs, including the 580x which is likely identical to what the old iMac had at a higher clock speed. All this adds up to having to put out something now and settling for what was available as a stopgap.

In this scenario I could see a new iMac that is redesigned coming in the Fall when presumably most of the hardware they would want would be available.

2.) This is the last Intel iMac and they need something to hold them over until summer 2020. All speculation from here. I think it is possible that anything without "Pro" in its name could be running on ARM next year. It is possible that the iMac Pro, MacBook Pro, and Mac Pro stay on Intel for a while longer and the MacBook, MacBook Air, and iMac all move to ARM next year. The mini is a wild card. It lines up with this small spec bump that still leaves the iMac behind current Mac standards, the Mac Pro being released this year (it will have to be Intel), and the MacBook not receiving any meaningful updates. I can't see why they would release an all new Mac Pro design only to ditch it a year later.

In this scenario I think we see a MacBook and iMac introduced summer of 2020 running on ARM.

In either case, I think it is obvious that this was an update out of necessity and that this iMac will not be around for long before it is superseded. It definitely feels like a stopgap. Of course it could be the 2014 mini all over again which would be pretty upsetting.
 
By the time you spec it out like a base iMac Pro, it costs as much as a refurbished iMac Pro, and the Pro's cooling is leaps and bounds ahead.
How does anyone know anything about the thermals in this new iMac yet? Maybe they changed something.
 
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iMac needs an update, the chin needs to go away. I bet they will do a redesign similar to the new Apple Cinema Displays once they are released.

LOL, everyone learned the terms "chin" and "bezel" over the past year or so and suddenly it's some kind of issue. Please.
 
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How does anyone know anything about the thermals in this new iMac yet? Maybe they changed something.
I see no indication of any major changes to the cooling. The fact that the Fusion drive is still an option rules out an iMac Pro-style cooling system which would require that space.

But we'll have to wait until the teardown to know for sure what the cooling system looks like.
 
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They average around 60-70 MB/s if I'm not mistaken. The random access speeds are even worse when compared to an SSD, and this is the main reason why MacOS runs so slowly on one.

It’s abysmal.

My favourite part is that the Apple store will say “oh its fine for most people”. I was helping an elderly relative in another state upgrade his computer early last year.

He had a 2009 Mac Mini with Snow Leopard which was relatively sprightly, but obviously unsecure and couldn’t run the applications he wanted/needed. I sent him to buy a Mac Mini with a fusion drive or SSD so it would be there when I arrived to setup, however there was a long wait for SSD models. He put me on the phone with the store so I could tell them what model he needed specifically they had no fusion drive models in stock - they tried to tell me that the HDD model suited most people, and tried to push him into one of those! I knew that a HDD 2014 Mac Mini with High Sierra would have felt slower than the 2009 with Snow Leopard. So I rescheduled the trip in order to get an SSD model!
 
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I see no indication of any major changes to the cooling. The fact that the Fusion drive is still an option rules out an iMac Pro-style cooling system which would require that space.

But we'll have to wait until the teardown to know for sure what the cooling system looks like.
Well let's hope they did SOMETHING to the cooling. I don't expect the same system as the iMP, but I am certainly hoping for SOMETHING better. I wonder if MR could reach out to Apple and ask?
 
Oh dear lord they've left the 5400RPM HDD.

I really don't get it. Either they leave really old slow 5400RPM drives in, or they go full blazing fast propriety SSD.... Why can't they put in SATA SSDs or fusion drivers where the SATA SSD is the small drive instead?

I have two clients with 2017 iMacs with HDDs and they're as slow as all get out.

I mean, I guess you could use that option to save money and then boot off an external SSD? Still, very lame to even be offering it at this point.
 
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Well, I really like they're finally upgrading their line up. But to be honest I'm quite disappointed it still has the same form factor. This is an update they should have been doing every year in the first place: making the internals up to date with the latest technology.

I would have expect some redesign. It's been like 10 years we've been seeing this same form factor. I was hoping it would resemble the video as seen in the Zone of Tech:


I really was exiting seeing this... But as it has been obvious since 2012 they don't care :(
 
Well let's hope they did SOMETHING to the cooling. I don't expect the same system as the iMP, but I am certainly hoping for SOMETHING better. I wonder if MR could reach out to Apple and ask?
Don't get your hopes up regarding improvements to the cooling. None of Apple's promotional pages mention anything about it. So you'll likely be disappointed.
 
I will wait for the reviews but I doubt that without a redesigned cooling system this can handle the heat of an i9. I'm searching for a capable machine with enough processing power for audio production and with more than an integrated GPU. The Mac Mini is a no go because I don't think that eGPUs are reliable enough, and I don't trust the 3rd gen butterfly keyboard on the MBP either.

I agree. Even the 2017 5K iMac couldn't really handle the heat of the i7 7700K.

The problem with the mini, as far as audio is concerned, is the T2 chip. There is a long thread at Gearslutz about this.

I'm using the 2017 5K with an i5 6500K for hobby audio production. Performance is great and produces very low noise, if any. There are lots of pros using it too. I imagine the newer i5 chips should work great with the iMac cooling system.
 
I mean, I guess you could use that option to save money and then boot off an external SSD? Still, very lame to even be offering it at this point.

Yeah it is an option i’ve Gone down.... but my argument to that is that Apple is meant to be a ‘it just works’, ‘premium’ and ‘offer the best experience’ company - having to buy an external add on just to make an allready expensive computer perform at a decent level is none of those things.
 
This is so so bad. Just bad.
Last year's (or 2 years ago) processors for today's full price (plus apple tax)
Still pushing inferior AMD video
Spinning drive (5400 RPM LMFAO) sata ssd 1TB retail for $100 - too much for Apple! Gotta charge $200 "upgrade" fee...
i9 lmao more like i4.5 because it will never reach speed with those thermals

"Can't innovate anymore my ass!"
Look at that courage to still try to pawn off spining hard drives
Look at that Ferrari computer, with Ferrari price- and a 4 banger Honda engine...

If this is a sign of what's to come with the new Mac Pro then I can see Dell will get my money again. And it's Dell. Dell.
Let that sink in.
 
Excellent, besides the 6-cores, not much improvement from my current iMac :D

I’ll wait for the 2021 redesign.

Yep. I figured that their doubling their 4 year redesign average so 2021 it is! Looks like I’ll be waiting till then too :mad:
 
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