im not upgrading my 27" intel until we get oled.
I see through all these sideways and small upgrade tricks by apple.
I see through all these sideways and small upgrade tricks by apple.
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Apple's M4 iMac: What to Expect
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Apple is planning to refresh the 24-inch iMac as soon as 2024, so we could see a new model with an M4 chip before the end of the year. Apple is working to overhaul the entire Mac line with AI-focused M4 chips, iMac included.
This guide includes everything we know about Apple's plans for an M4 iMac.
M4 Chip
The next-generation 24-inch iMac is expected to get the M4 chip, which is the same chip that Apple used for the latest iPad Pro models. iMacs right now have the M3 chip, so the M4 will be a direct update.
The M4 is built on the same 3-nanometer technology as the M3, but it is a second-generation chip with some speed and efficiency improvements. In a Geekbench benchmark test, the M4 proved to be up to 25 percent faster than the M3 chip, which is a notable jump in performance.
The M3 had a single-core score of 3,087 and a multi-core score of 11,702, while the M4 had a single-core score of 3,695 and a multi-core score of 14,550.
Apple's M4 chip has a 10-core CPU and a 10-core GPU, featuring six efficiency cores and four performance cores. There is a variant of the M4 with a 9-core CPU that Apple has used in the iPad Pro, but it is unlikely that this chip would be offered in the iMac.
Other Macs will get upgraded M4 Pro, M4 Max, and M4 Ultra chips, but the 24-inch iMac is an entry-level product on par with devices like the MacBook Air, so it will only be offered with the M4 chip.
Design
Apple last redesigned the iMac in 2021, and there are no signs that a new look is on the horizon. It's likely that the 2024 refresh of the iMac will focus on the internals rather than any outward-facing design changes.
The iMac is an all-in-one machine that combines a computer and a display. It measures in at just 11.5mm thick, and has a slim profile that fits easily on a desktop. It comes in a range of bright colors, with a matching chin in a pastel color.
So far, we don't know of any updates coming to the iMac except for the M4 chip.
Larger iMac?
There have been persistent rumors of a larger-screened iMac that has a display that's around 30 inches in size, but that device was still in the early stages of development in mid-2023, and there is no word on when a larger iMac might come out.
There is a possibility that we could see it sometime in 2025, but it won't be coming in 2024. Apple this year will stick to the 24-inch iMac, as it has done since discontinuing the 27-inch model in 2022.
Release Date
Back in April, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that the 24-inch iMac would likely see an M4 chip update "around the end of the year." Apple sometimes holds events in October or November when new Macs are expected, so we could see the iMac around that timeframe.
Apple is also expected to update the MacBook Pro models and the Mac mini before the end of the year. The iMac was last updated in October 2023, so an October 2024 launch would come right at the year mark.
Article Link: Apple's M4 iMac: What to Expect
As someone who doesn't do video or graphics I'm not sure about the direction Apple silicon is heading. I do music and people who doing non-graphic work the M1 and M2 chips especially the Max versions are great performance for the buck chips. The M3 kept adding more for graphics and now the M4 AI focus. So I'll checkout the M4 numbers, but I'm really happy with my M2 Max.
I wasn’t implying 1 is both odd and even, I included 1 on both lists as the Mac Mini and iMac have both had M1 chips at the start of the Apple Silicone era…
That's not so bad as it sounds in today's money.
In 2017 I bought a new base iMac 27" for $1,800, and over the past few years inflation has gone wild.
So the price of that 2017 iMac today without AppleCare: $2,300
But I noticed your prices include AppleCare, so here's that calculation: $2,780
Effectively no change in real price since 2017, due to inflation.
The best part of an "AI-focused" chip would be to have the "AI" disabled
Who’s going to recommend you to eat rocks and use glue in your pizza?
ai hardware only gives energy efficiency (running ai code), but these desktops don't run on battery the only reason not to give ai features is to "force" users to buy new hardware.
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It really isn't about "throughput" and there still are technical reasons. Back in the "Target Display Mode" era the display handling was all discrete. The mini-Display Port out could be flipped into DisplayPort 'In' by slapping a discrete DisplayPort switch into the system and re-routing the signal to a different place ( and possibiy another switch to re-route from the display output of the GPU(s) to the display versus coming in from outside).
Even in early Thunderbolt era.
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The discrete Thunderbolt controller has a DP out port through its internal switch.
The technical issue now is that all of the Thunderbolt and DisplayPort stuff is all inside the SoC. You would pragmatically need to send it into all the way to the SoC so that it could come back out again. The discrete TB/DP switches were way more closer to the 'edge' nearby the port that was being flip-flopped between in/out mode.
They could also be left off of systems that don't need it. If push this to systems that don't really blend well with target display mode then those SoCs have overhead that never really gets used.
It isn't the bandwidth as much as the 're-routing' that is a issue. (part of issue with Thunderbolt as it evolved was that number 'in' and 'out' were not always the same ( if 5K requires two 'outs' and there is only one 'out' port then it is not enough. )
The Studio Display ( and XDR Display ) docking stations still have discrete Thunderbolt controllers in them. They have DP pass-through and 'offloading DP from TB data stream" built into them. (again though no guarantee that DPU out is same number as DP in on these controllers. )
Apple could choose to make the plain Mn SoC Thunderbolt 4 compliant but they don't. It is about how much complexity want to stuff inside of a limited sized SoC. This was all done before outside a chip with multiple BOM components.
"target display mode" would be a Rube Goldberg solution. A 'sane' work around would be just to add a 'video in" port that only did video in. But this is Apple where monitors have one , and only one, input port and Macs have none. Because having a 'plain Jane' video input port would be the end of the world. *cough* ( cause a problem with no input and then have to go Rube Goldberg to 'undo' the problem. )
Even bigger simplification is just not to put a large display that folks want to cling to past useful wholistic system life to the system at all.
There are also software modes with Screenshare/VNC and Sidecar where software on both sides can be useful for mainstream situations were don't need boot/recovery mode screen interaction. ( Apple has the Vision Pro as Mac's display mode now too. )
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.
There was a product intro about 8 (or more) years ago where Apple's Marketing chief made snide aside about how Windows PC folks were only upgrading every 4-5 years and Mac folks were doing on average every 3. Macs are likely in the same state PCs were back then ( and Windows PC are drifting even longer. 60% folks still on Windows 10 and it was suppose to be de-supported in 2025. Folks just move slower now. ) . Apple won't stop folks from buying new Macs every year or every two years, but likely are not planning on most folks doing that. That isn't the primary pitch.
I would estimate M5 is probably about the point where Apple will start making "Gee than M1 is kind of painful slow" noises. If you go to current M3 MBP marketing web pages the detailed CPU benchmark charts are baselined on Core i7 performance. (Yes there are M1 and M2 gen SoCs on the chart too , but the baseline is Intel).
When Intel falls off the chart then the M1 will be the 'target' .
M4 is faster at substantially more than just AI. M4 added CPU cores ( E cores but more ). M3 Pro did a shift on E cores ( and M3 Max added P cores and left the E core count alone. ) . Also narrow but substantive changes in AMX (AI/ML matrix or the CPU cores). The bigger jump was in a subset of graphics tasks, but there were general upgrades is several subsystems.
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. )
Someone suggested they’re still using or planning to 2x4gb at some point and dont want inconsistencies
I’m actually wondering though if they’re using 4GB as some sort of large inherently battery backed cache for the SSD
Decent change this "around end of the year" turns into 2025. (goes past end of year). If the MBP 14 and Mini are shifting to M4 that is likely 'enough' to soak up supply. Even more likely if Apple is rolling out M4 Pro and Max for the MBP/Mni line up also.
Leaving the iMac on M3 means it can soak up the trailing edge M3 SoC supply with the MBA 13/15. That coupling for a M4 transition makes more sense. In 2020 the iMac was time shifted away from the bigger cluster roll out and then left comatose for over 2 years. Doesn't make much sense why the product would "need" a major dose of churn now. IF the sales haven't jumped higher versus the Mini drifting then a new SoC probably isn't going to do much. They don't have to defer for two whole years, but "less than 12 months" doesn't make much sense return on investment wise. Waiting a Quarter wouldn't hurt and would be out of the iPhone demand bubble window.
And if Apple is putting plain iPhone and iPhone Pro on the same fab process again it is a bigger bubble than it has been for a while.
If the M4 iPad Pro makes the M3 systems (MBP , MBA ) go 'soft' on sales there will be even more M3 SoCs to soak up before turning them off.
The iMac isn't the primary strategic Mac system anymore ( even in the Mac Desktop subset of the product line up )
Gurman has a thing for the larger screen iMac. And churning the iMac is an indirect way of rubbing the wishing lamp for the bigger screen iMac to appear.
If the iPad Pro sales are slow and there is excess M4 SoC built up then 2024 iMac could soak those up ( and Apple estimates of M3 volume drop off are better than expected there would be lower need for iMac to sop up the overage. ). They could shift the mop up duties if the winds changed.
The iMac already has USB-C sockets and does NOT need the USB-C sockets for power.(there is proprietary magnetic plug that EU hasn't meddled in yet. ***) It is USB-C for power that is the primarily EU complaince issue. It doesn't ban all usage of USB-A sockets everywhere. USB-A sockets were not even on Phones/small computers etc. in the first place for power.
The Magic Keyboard and Magic mouse in the box would need changes (to their charge ports) , but there is about zero rational need to update the SoC to change the ports on the peripherals shipped in the box. Didn't the airpods container go USB-C without no changes in the Airpods themselves. Similar issue.
*** the range of desktop computer power needs are not bounded by what even the recently expanded USB-C power standard covers. Might be able to throw hocus pocus at laptops (even there high end laptops with big GPUs that is tough ). Yes pragmatically the iMac is a "iPad on a stick" , but regulation wise it should fall into the "desktop computer" category.
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There were 5 reasons I never bought an iMac
1. The price here in Greece is ridiculous.
2. The colors in the front, the ones you look at all day, are poop. Why they don't have it the same color as the back of the computer?
3. I have no money.
4. 24 is too small for constant use for me. 27 is the sweet spot. If I am going to have to use another monitor, why pick an iMac? Considering how ugly the Mac Mini is (no colors? really?), I will pass.
5. Still no money.
1. The price here in Greece is ridiculous.
2. The colors in the front, the ones you look at all day, are poop. Why they don't have it the same color as the back of the computer?
3. I have no money.
4. 24 is too small for constant use for me. 27 is the sweet spot. If I am going to have to use another monitor, why pick an iMac? Considering how ugly the Mac Mini is (no colors? really?), I will pass.
5. Still no money.
I'll just wait till the M4 Max chip comes out and get the mac studio, whenever that happens. Hope they don't wait till May 2025 🫠
Yes. Its nearly as if Apple deliberately decided that a non standard resolution should be the only fully supported resolution. And the only way to get that larger than 24” should be with a display priced as a 27” iMac without the computer part. Clever.
Looks like I’m not going for an iMac next time. It will be a Mac Mini and a LG 34” ultra wide display. I’m using that at work and yes - there are slight scaling issues, but for what I do it’s totally acceptable.
What’s not enough is the 8 Gb base specs on RAM. And I don’t think Apple is gonna change that until 16 Gb is bare minimum for surfing the web. So some apple tax is unavoidable 🙄
What’s not enough is the 8 Gb base specs on RAM. And I don’t think Apple is gonna change that until 16 Gb is bare minimum for surfing the web. So some apple tax is unavoidable 🙄
Apple should name the 24“ iMac the iMac Mini and offer an iMac (27“) and an iMac Pro (32“)
Btw every Apple product should have a Mini variant MacBooks, ıPads, ıMacs, ıPhones and even an AW.
Then everyone will be able to mix and combine his own „apple set“
Btw every Apple product should have a Mini variant MacBooks, ıPads, ıMacs, ıPhones and even an AW.
Then everyone will be able to mix and combine his own „apple set“