Apple Updates iMac Lineup With Up to 8-Core 9th-Gen Intel Processors and Radeon Pro Vega Graphics Options

[xgman]

Stop right there, this excuse should only be used when taking about the removal of the Headphone Jack.

ha...

 

[Jack Burton]

Is the new GPU option in the iMac Pro a version of the Radeon VII? Hoping for eGPU support.

 

[harriska2]

Wow, Apple has no pride in their products if they still have HDDs. They should offer only SSDs and drop the upgrade prices. I paid $600 for 1tb. $700 is ridiculous. $400?

 

[T_Oscura]

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.

If the reviews say that there is throttling or constant high fan noise, I'm off to PC land. I'm done waiting for Apple to deliver.

 

[akbarali.ch]

What don't you get? Do you really think the average consumer cares or can tell the difference between 5400, 7200, Fusion, and SSD?

Ofcourse, the average consumer will definitely can tell the difference between 5400 and SSD. They surely can. Just ask them to boot or to open photos app or itunes app. SSDs are huge performace bump.

 

[Freida]

I think that some of the people commenting here and complaining about how slow 5400 rpm drives are aren't aware as to what 5400 rpm actually means. It is not the sole measure of a hard drive's speed and being 5400 rpm does *not* mean it's super slow. It is purely a measure of the *rotational* speed of the platters in the drive. While it is true that a 7200 rpm drive *with all other specs identical to a 5400 rpm drive* would be able to read data faster, there are multiple other factors. A drive also reads data faster if it is higher capacity per platter (the data is closer together and per revolution, more can be read), if it has more platters (multiple platters can be read at the same time) and if it is bigger (a desktop hard drive will be faster than an otherwise similarly specced laptop hard drive as there is more data being read per revolution further out).

There are genuine reasons for wanting to go with a 5400 rpm drive instead of a 7200 rpm drive - mainly that they are significantly less likely to fail and within the 3 years of AppleCare most people get, the hard drives are by far the most likely parts to fail as they are the mechanical parts that see the most use (optical drives similarly have a high failure rate which might be part of the reason why they're not included on Macs anymore).

If I were to complain about the standard hard drives in these models, I wouldn't be complaining that it's a slow 5400 rpm drive, I'd be complaining that it's not a *higher capacity* 5400 rpm drive. Chances are, a 2TB 5400 rpm drive would actually be faster than a 1TB 7200 rpm drive anyway. Although, I'm guessing that Apple is keeping the mechanical drive capacity option low so that the SSD options look more tempting.

You are kidding, right?

Ok, let me rephrase that for you. ANY mechanical drive in 2019 in such premium computer is SLOW and insulting. iMac should have been all SSD in 2017.

Lets not have this rpm conversation again, please. RPM drives belong somewhere else - not in iMac

 

[Swazaloo]

Do you really think the average consumer cares or can tell the difference between 5400, 7200, Fusion, and SSD?
[doublepost=1552999129][/doublepost]

Does the average consumer care? No, because they don't know any better.

Can the average consumer tell the difference between 5400, 7200, Fusion, and SSD? They sure as hell can, considering SSD is 100 faster than a 5400 RPM drive. It takes 2 minutes for an iMac with a 5400 RPM drive to boot up.

 

[Ubuntu]

What don't you get? Do you really think the average consumer cares or can tell the difference between 5400, 7200, Fusion, and SSD?

No, no, no, yup.

 

[nikaru]

I cant belive Apple is still offering brand new computers with 5400rpm HDD...

 

[ondert]

What were you expecting from an iMac spec update? Is there some pressing feature that hasn’t been implemented yet? Honest question.

After nearly 2 years of waiting, I was expecting them to update iMac with new Navi gpu and 9th gen intel cpus on all models. Many people were also expecting a redesign.
If they are still that lazy not even improving the cooling system, new iMacs will throttle like 2018 macbook pros. Also, just upgrading cpu and gpu were all possible in 2018. They even didn't go for all ssd iMac. Such a shame!

 

[theluggage]

Oh dear lord they've left the 5400RPM HDD.

Presumably, because people buy them. If you just want a computer for (e.g.) basic wordprocessing then it will get the job done. OTOH, so would a 128GB SSD, but then I guess some customers assume that TB beats GB...

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

I think its the (un-)mathematical equivalent of consulting a thesaurus, lexicon, onomasticon or language reference book in order to avoid repetition in your prose.

Weird. The new Mac Mini has 4 .

(TB3 ports)

Each pair of full-fat TB3 ports requires 4 PCIe lanes from the CPU or CPU chipset, which can only support a fixed number, some of which have to be traded off if you also want USB, Ethernet or SATA.

The Mac Mini doesn't have a discrete GPU, which frees up a bunch of PCIe.
The iMac Pro has a Xeon processor, which supports more PCIe lanes than a regular desktop chip.
The MacBook Pro junked all other ports in favour of TB3 (and the lower-end models have bandwidth limitations on 2 of the ports because their CPUs support fewer PCIe).

The iMac has a discrete GPU (scrub 16 PCIe lanes) and an internal SATA interface and USB3, Ethernet and SD ports (hurrah!) so its likely that alll the PCIe lanes are spoken for.

Interesting Apple are now offering i3 options - any reason in particular they never used to (premium image)?

With the 8th/9th gen CPUs there are no longer any quad core, desktop-class i5 processors - they've all gone hex core - so its part that the i3 is now a lot more powerful than it was, and part part artificial product demarcation (but then the whole i3/i5/i7 branding scheme is artificial product demarcation and a pretty poor guide to actual power).

All the anticipation just for a spec update?

Bad news: they didn't improve the design.
Good news: they didn't "improve" the design - we've still got the so-called "legacy" ports, no T2 issues and, presumably, upgradeable RAM (unless there's a nasty surprise lurking)...

 

[wigby]

OK so Apple only still uses the 5400 HDD in order to milk their most loyal fans? LoL

But who cares besides you?

 

[MVMNT]

Considering my 2013 iMac with a 5400 PRM drive takes 2 mins to boot up and my 2009 Mac Pro with a SSD takes 20 seconds, with most devices we now use use flash memory a mechanical drive should be a thing of the past in low profile devices like this.

 

[otternonsense]

This is not about average customer but rather, low-end but loyal Apple customers and there are a lot of them. Apple needs to enter the market with at least one competitively priced, lower performing model and this is the only way they can do it. They do the same thing with all iOS devices too by including the low storage capacity model. This is Apple's only all-in-one desktop so they cannot afford to neglect the +1 million customers who just want this computer on their desk to check email and nothing more. If someone doesn't know to spend the extra $100 on Fusion, they probably won't know or care about the speed difference anyway.

It's 2019. Apple should have offered the Fusion drive by default at the same price point as the 5400 HDD and phase out the latter entirely. Especially if you're a loyal Apple customer, this attitude is a spit in the face by Cook & co.

Just because they can still get away with mass selling such expedient configurations doesn't mean we shouldn't point out their blaring deficiencies using "the simple people who just want to check emails" as an argument.

How did you get the "+1 million customers" metric exactly?

 

[macphin]

even apple themselves embarrassed about the thick bezels

 

[nikaru]

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.

If the reviews say that there is throttling or constant high fan noise, I'm off to PC land. I'm done waiting for Apple to deliver.

eGPU are not realiable? Since when? You have eGPU chasis and GPUs with native support in Mojave. They work great and allow you to achieve around 80% of the performace of a desktop class GPU.

 

[Ubuntu]

Good to see these updates, especially with the rumours of the upcoming event not featuring any hardware. It's also really nice to just have the old "Oh ****, something new out of the blue!" updates happening a bit more often.

 

[klatox]

Hmm, I was waiting for an upgrade but I don’t think I can justify replacing my late 2015 iMac. For what I want, I specced a significantly more powerful PC on pcpartpicker for more than a grand less...although it wouldn’t have that sick 5K display. That’s the only bummer!

 

[Aston441]

Spec bumps without price changes, and without the appalling live show, reminds me of the old Apple we all loved.

May it continue.

 

[brendu]

What don't you get? Do you really think the average consumer cares or can tell the difference between 5400, 7200, Fusion, and SSD?

Yes. Even the least tech savvy people can absolutely tell the difference between any HDD and a SSD. It is night and day. It is mind boggling that in 2019 they are even allowing a HDD in a Mac. I am floored. Even the mac mini completely ditched hard drives, the iMac is now the only mac model that includes them. A fusion drive is acceptable but it should be the minimum with full SSD storage as the upgrade option. I feel bad for anyone unaware enough to get swindled into buying one of these things equipped with a HDD. I understand and respect almost every decision Apple makes for one reason or another. This however is just stupid and for lack of a better adjective, greedy. So much for the "best experience for our customers"

 

[xgman]

You can buy a new 1TB Samsung 2.5" ssd for $100. Why can't Apple offer this level of internal drive option as an alternative to integrated faster more expensive ssd storage, and then finally ditch the spins?

reference: https://www.macworld.com/article/33...er-than-ever-at-just-over-100.html#tk.rss_all

by the way, the "average consumer" has grown up! Take note..

 

[Howard2k]

Isn't the HDD user replaceable?

So a 5400 RPM drive and a post-purchase upgrade is likely to be a far better option than paying Apple's insane SSD prices right?

 

[manu chao]

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?

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.

 

[Defthand]

iMac needs an update, the chin needs to go away.

It’s an iMac, so I guess it was meant to appeal to the same demographic that are attracted to iDevices for their aesthetics. It was a misstep to confine pro-level needs to the same design. For pros, practicality is more important than appearances.

 

[iReality85]

Gotta laugh at that 5,400 RPM drive.

Also, Apple is killing me with these ginormous chins and bezels in 2019.