Apple's M4 iMac: What to Expect

[mectojic]

It is not really a "entire product line". In terms of the Mac, the iMac and Mac Pro are the only mac systems that come with a discrete keyboard and mouse (**) . (kind of odd Apple puts both in the box with the rack mount version. That likely is a 'waste' over the aggregate systems sold. However, some folks use the rack version tipped sideways as a desk-side version so not always a waste. I can somewhat see why they do it. ) It would expect the keyboard and mice to be almost identical. (the port and a few power management chips inside the only difference). They probably will not have both Lightning and USB-C ports on them. Once they have a USB-C one there is little good reason to keep the Lighting one around. Folks would only need to buy a general USB-C (or A)-to-Lightning cable to charge the 'old ones'. If they have had an older iPhone/iPad how likely is it that folks don't already own one of those cables? ( millions of folks already have these. Especially old keyboard/mouse users. ) Apple is likely going to want to sell the new units at maximum volume.

Apple used the "same cable" for the iPhones as the keyboard/mouse. Well Apple is deep into transitioning the whole iPhone line up to USB-C. Same with the iPad line up. Mac laptop line up ... many (although MagSafe is back). Lots of folks are already have USB-C cables even if been in the Mac ecosystem for a while.

For typing and pointing product line the "Magic Trackpad" needs an update also. ( two keyboards, mouse , and Trackpad ) all in one shot.

** The Mac Pro 2013 skipped the keyboard. In part, because the box was relatively small. For a long while it was only the iMac.

[ Maybe there is a new mouse to adjust so that can use it while plugged up. I suspect they are going to stick with the that "hide the port, it is magical in appearance " dogma though. If there is a redesign that is likely part of the delay. ]





I strongly suspect Apple sells at least an order of magnitude more AirPod containers than they do keyboards and mice. There is way more inertia to get over there than with the keyboard. Plus these "touch ID" keyboards have been relatively new ( given average service life Apple assigns to selling their keyboard mice. Apple goes many years with no changes. ). Pretty good chance they will stretch these "new-ish" Lightning ones out to the 'last minute' and flip them just in time to avoid EU drama. Use most of 2024 to draw down inventories to as low as possible.

Yeah all valid points.
But there is some stronger argument in updating the Magic Mouse and Keyboard these days, due to one changed reality: both the keyboard and mouse are supported in iPadOS. There could be incentive there to make the more compatible, like integrating the TouchID function.
Don't forget about the Mac Studio and Mac Mini too; though they're not in the box, Apple recommends them when buying on the store. For the Studio and Pro, they sell the black one.

 

[satchmo]

One thing is clear from this thread, people have different needs.

It’s funny how Apple will give us every possible size under the sun when it comes to MacBooks and iPads, but not so with iMacs.

Sure, it’s a niche product now. But imagine offering it up in 24, 28, and 32 inch sizes?
(4.5K, 5K and 6K respectively).

 

[TruthAboveAllElse]

Having to additional cables! And they still insist on putting the port for the Mouse on the bottom.

That’s just because the mouse has not been redesigned since it had replaceable batteries. People love to blame Ive for this, but I doubt he was involved.

 

[TruthAboveAllElse]

Mac desktops are way down the list of priorities for Apple. And Apple (under Tim Cook) sometimes forgets about them for years. A classic example, the mac mini was totally ignored for just under 5 years, and they were still selling them at the release day price! The current iMac is a total waste being a disposal unit. I wish people would stop buying these machines to send a message to Apple, but I guess colours more important.

If people stopped buying them Apple would probably just discontinue them.

 

[DELLsFan]

An M4 iMac later this year would be such a pleasant surprise, given that Apple seems to have put the iMac near the bottom of their list of priorities. 😭

Near, but not the bottom. Mac Mini is overdue for it's next processor.

There is absolutely no reason for anyone ever to get an Apple Studio Display. You can get a 4k 42" tv for a third the price, and have vastly more real estate and flexibility. Failing that, third party computer monitors.

Peeps loving their 5k+ displays might disagree. Sorry, but I can't bring myself to pay that much for an Apple Studio Display.

 

[theluggage]

It’s funny how Apple will give us every possible size under the sun when it comes to MacBooks and iPads, but not so with iMacs.

Apple seem to have a fairly high bar on what they consider adequate sales - MacBooks and iPads almost certainly sell in far higher quantities than desktop Macs, so Apple can afford a bit more overlap between models... and the trend is still away from desktops as laptops and mobile devices get more and more powerful.

Economies of scale are a huge factor in the cost of making computers - the less something sells, the more Apple are going to charge for it.

Sure, it’s a niche product now. But imagine offering it up in 24, 28, and 32 inch sizes?

Yes it would be great for consumer choice if those could be offered alongside the current Mini/Studio/Pro lines , but considering that desktop Macs are already low-sellers (by Apple standards) that would spread the already sparse sales between multiple models.

The demise of the 27" iMac has also seen a huge improvement in the choice of "headless" desktops which are really competing for the same market. I wouldn't want to see that sacrificed for an iMac.

I also think that, while a 28" iMac would probably be no larger than the 27" was, 32" is going to start to get a bit cumbersome - strictly for people who never need to reach around the back to plug something in.

 

[mrhick01]

Apple has no business making a larger/high-end iMac again unless they add back Target Display mode. This way the iMac doesn’t become a gigantic paperweight once the CPU is past its useful lifespan. I have 2 iMacs collecting dust, both with gorgeous 5K displays that still work just fine and would cost over $1000 a piece on the open market just for the panel, that are useless today. Can’t sell them because they are humongous and a bitch to ship, can’t use them because old Intels are worthless, and can’t repurpose them because no TDM.

The panels can be reused, but you have to be an enthusiast and like to tinker.

You can use the monitor by gutting the machine and purchasing a control board from eBay.

 

[Realityck]

I also think that, while a 28" iMac would probably be no larger than the 27" was, 32" is going to start to get a bit cumbersome - strictly for people who never need to reach around the back to plug something in

If you minimized the bezel similar to how it is on a 16" MBP in the 27" iMac form factor I approximated you could have a 29.5" panel and call it a 30" iMac. So even if you kept to using the current 1/2" bezel as the 24" iMac some in larger iMac of the same design would be easy to stick a 28" panel in it.

 

[Fomalhaut]

I'd love to have an iMac at work, but without 4TB or 8TB storage options, it's out of the question.

why not stick a couple of 4TB Thunderbolt SSD enclosures on the back of the iMac? You’ll never tell the difference in performance for just about every use case….

 

[seek3r]

Firstly when have you ever had such a choice with an iMac or MacBook for that matter? The first iMacs all had the same bezels regardless of what colour the chassis was. Later iMacs were all with the same colour bezel as were the MacBooks as well.

And who says there is no data? Many are assuming Apple chose the white bezels simply arbitrarily when they may indeed have data on this very thing that influenced their final decision.

I also understood there were supposedly aftermarket masks available to cover the white bezels and make them black.

More seriously nothing is ever perfect—everything involves a compromise or trade-off. If you’re are deterred from a device that suits all your needs simply because of one small aesthetic compromise then there must be some other issue at play.

Also as I noted in another thread 4 (og, g4, g5/first gen intel, and the current) out of the 5 main designs the imac has had have had white bezels (only the aluminum intel imacs didnt). It’s actually more “normal” for an imac design to have white bezels.

 

[rafark]

It’s actually more “normal” for an imac design to have white bezels.

Is it though? Because we had black bezels from 2007 to 2020.

 

[Abazigal]

One thing is clear from this thread, people have different needs.

It’s funny how Apple will give us every possible size under the sun when it comes to MacBooks and iPads, but not so with iMacs.

Sure, it’s a niche product now. But imagine offering it up in 24, 28, and 32 inch sizes?
(4.5K, 5K and 6K respectively).

A common complaint with the 5k imac was that people preferred a modular Mac which allowed them to use their own monitor. However, I suspect the demand for a headless Mac was always drive more by the desire to upgrade the ram and storage on their own (and therefore sidestep Apple’s pricey spec bumps).

It’s therefore little surprise now that when Apple has released a Mac Studio and studio display combination which is both expensive and lacks upgradability, that people are now clamouring for a larger iMac because they realise that they are not going to save any money this way.

But it’s also because of this that I don’t see Apple releasing a larger iMac. Because a more premium option now exists which they can funnel consumers towards.

 

[mrhick01]

Apple is primarily trying to sell to folks with 3-5 year old Macs/PCs. There are likely still 10's of millions of folks still on Intel Macs that haven't moved. ( when transition started there were about 80+ million Macs. Those all were not going to disappear quickly. Even if Apple 'chopped off' 10-12M a year it is going to take time.) And 10's of millions more on x86-64 PCs. ( or no PC/Mac at all.) Those are the folks they are primarily selling to. There are far more folks who do not have an M-series than do.

[...]

Every subcomponent doesn't get revolutionary changes on every upgrade. That actually would be a recipe for eventual disaster. Changing too much at one time tends not to get you the most stable systems over time. (.e.g, Intel trying to change 5-6 factors in jump from 14nm to 10nm ... or Intel's broadscope jump into discrete GPUs ... etc. )

For what it's worth, I also note that the M4 line is using ARMv9 instructions as well

 

[ric22]

why not stick a couple of 4TB Thunderbolt SSD enclosures on the back of the iMac? You’ll never tell the difference in performance for just about every use case….

I've tried using external storage in this way, but Mac OS caused me problems when I tried to use external storage 24/7. It actually bricked an expensive Samsung SSD 😧

 

[dumastudetto]

I'm definitely expecting an M4 processor in an iMac next year.

 

[Schizoid]

8½ gb of RAM, 257GB of storage
An amazing entry-level iMac for only £1999
We think you’re gonna love it.

 

[theluggage]

However, I suspect the demand for a headless Mac was always drive more by the desire to upgrade the ram and storage on their own (and therefore sidestep Apple’s pricey spec bumps).

Except one killer feature of the (non-pro) 27" iMac, right up until it was discontinued, was that it did have easily user-upgradeable RAM via a neat little tool-free hatch, and you could get a third party upgrade for a fraction of the price of Apple's BTO options. But for that, the base 8GB - even in the top end i9 models - would have been the subject of derision. In 2017 I got an iMac and upgraded the RAM to 24GB for significantly less than Apple wanted for an upgrade to 16GB. Even the iMac pro and 21.5" iMac had upgradeable socketed RAM if you didn't mind taking a pizza cutter to the screen adhesive...

As I pointed out in an earlier post, a 32GB Studio Max + Studio Display combo costs the same as (and mostly outperforms) a tricked out 2020 iMac i9 if you include the Apple price for upgrading the iMac to 32GB.

As for storage - there was no headless Mac desktop with officially user-upgradeable internal storage between 2013 and 2019, and the 2019 and 2023 Mac Pros were priced out of the range of anybody without (well-funded) specialist requirements. OK, you could unofficially upgrade the drive in the 2014 Mini, but the same was true of the iMacs (and the 2014 Mini was the Worst Mini Ever).

If you need more than ~1TB storage and don't want to pay an astronomical price for Apple's internal SSDs you'll need to use external drives, and every extra box or cable you have to plug in reduces the case for having an all-in-one in the first place. For that matter, if you have that much storage you're likely to need wired external backup drives as well. You can get nice-looking enclosures that stack neatly with a mini/studio.

 

[antonrg]

The alternative is a Mac mini or studio. Problem with all Apple devices is that they’re not upgradable. All is soldered or glued together with one purpose in mind… buy a new one. Apple should be ashamed when talking about how much effort the put in the environment.

Their environment work is a complete joke, everything is glued together. Aside from that, there are hundreds of thousands of iMacs now at houses and offices with perfect screens that cannot be used with Apple’s own newer hardware as secondary displays. I will not buy an iMac ever again as I simply cannot keep on piling them on at home because there is no way I’m throwing out a machine in an excellent condition. And I am sure I’m not the only one.

 

[Warped9]

I'm definitely expecting an M4 processor in an iMac next year.

I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw it sometime later this year.

 

[ric22]

Their environment work is a complete joke, everything is glued together. Aside from that, there are hundreds of thousands of iMacs now at houses and offices with perfect screens that cannot be used with Apple’s own newer hardware as secondary displays. I will not buy an iMac ever again as I simply cannot keep on piling them on at home because there is no way I’m throwing out a machine in an excellent condition. And I am sure I’m not the only one.

100% correct on all of that. It's shameful from Apple, considering how they pretend to care about the environment.

 

[lewchenko]

There is absolutely no reason for anyone ever to get an Apple Studio Display. You can get a 4k 42" tv for a third the price, and have vastly more real estate and flexibility. Failing that, third party computer monitors.

4K is not 5K. The difference is there and noticeable when working on a monitor.

 

[Warped9]

It’s been mentioned a number of times that many would have preferred if Apple had retained the Apple logo on the chin of the iMac. I agree. It’s also been mentioned the iMac comes with stickers. True, but they‘re way too big for the chin of the iMac so thats a bust. You can put them on the back, but there is a logo there already. You can also put it on the pedestal, but that looks weird.

 

[theluggage]

Aside from that, there are hundreds of thousands of iMacs now at houses and offices with perfect screens that cannot be used with Apple’s own newer hardware as secondary displays.

Yes, this frustrates me too, and is one reason I happily switched to a Studio so hopefully that's the last time it will happen.

When the 5k iMac first came out, there was no standard external display connector that could drive 5k (best you could do was *two* DisplayPort 1.2 cables - and even Thunderbolt 1/2 peripheral controllers could only split off one of those at a time) - so, initially, there was at least some excuse for dropping Target Display Mode. However, as soon as TB3 came out, that could have been rectified.

Also, "target display mode" was a bit of a two-edged sword "green"-wise: you had to have a whole Intel-based Mac running doing nothing - and consuming power (a lot more than Apple Silicon) - just to use it as a display.

You'd think there would be businesses springing up offering to convert old iMacs to displays: there *are* controller boards available to do this if you fancy a bit of DIY and don't mind a slightly messy result. Probably, though, the best thing would be to find a good home for the old iMac as a "going concern" (perhaps installing Windows or Linux on it if it falls out of MacOS support).

However, that's the elephant in the room with right-to-repair: it's great for DIY enthusiasts with time to spare, but otherwise repair is labour intensive and expensive whereas brand new kit assembled by robots and/or in low-wage countries.

 

[bejaxn0623]

Spoken like someone who knows absolutely nothing about displays, or TVs.

I ended up returning my Studio Display and went with the LG C3 OLED. Mostly because I use it for consumption like YouTube, gaming and when I want too it’s an extended display for my M3 MacBook Pro. If I was only going to use it as an extension of my MacBook I would have kept the Studio Display.

I feel 4K is a good option for Windows users not so much for Mac. Also for some the Studio Display price point may be hard for some to afford or even if they can feel it’s overpriced.

I am in the camp that wishes Apple just released a 27” iMac. I had a 2015 and I loved it. I did try an M3 iMac but unlike the 27” iMac and the Studio Display the IPS glow was god awful so I returned it.

 

[9081094]

Does the M4 beat the new snapdragon X Elite in NPU-scores? Seems to be important in using AI. X Elite delivers > 45 teraflops? Anyone knows what the M4 delivers?