Considering Buying an iMac - New iMacs Soon?

[orr971]

Hello!
I'm strongly considering buying an iMac now. I really want to buy it, even this week. The only thing that's holding me back and making me doubt my decision is: I don't know if Apple are planning on announcing new iMacs soon, and then I'll end up buying one just before new ones come out (happened to me with the iPad Air... not pleasant).
So I ask the people here who follow the rumors/patterns closely: Are there new iMacs planned for the near future? Maybe at WWDC?

 

[tomscott1988]

Have a look down the last 15 threads in the iMac section loads on info and opinions.

 

[orr971]

Have a look down the last 15 threads in the iMac section loads on info and opinions.

Haha I asked here because I thought that someone that has been following it closely could sum it up for me.

 

[xgman]

Sum = no solid info whatsoever.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP wrote:
"I'm strongly considering buying an iMac now. I really want to buy it, even this week. The only thing that's holding me back and making me doubt my decision is..."

The oft-repeated saying:
If you need it "now", BUY now.

If you don't absolutely, positively have-to-have it today, and if what you have is still chugging along well enough at the moment, it may behoove you to wait until July-August, when the 2018 iMac lineup may be announced...

 

[orr971]

OP wrote:
"I'm strongly considering buying an iMac now. I really want to buy it, even this week. The only thing that's holding me back and making me doubt my decision is..."

The oft-repeated saying:
If you need it "now", BUY now.

If you don't absolutely, positively have-to-have it today, and if what you have is still chugging along well enough at the moment, it may behoove you to wait until July-August, when the 2018 iMac lineup may be announced...

I mean, I do need it now but you can always wait, question is how sure are we in new iMacs and when are they coming?

 

[Internet Enzyme]

I dont think anyone here can provide you with the type of info you want, since none of us are employees and their havent been any rumors on the topic. I’m in a similar boat as you, and im banking on them releasing a 2018 imac spec refresh. If they don’t, they might release a mac mini. Which I would be down for.

 

[partsofspeech]

I am one of those who are waiting for the WWDC announcement. What possible causes can there be for a company staffed with great engineers like Apple not keep up with its competitors in selling newer products? Probably no one in their management knows what to do with the future of iMac.
[doublepost=1524841353][/doublepost]I hope the new iMac would have Coffee Lake CPU, Face ID, no hard drive to have the same termo control as the Pro version.

 

[spencecb]

I bought the high end iMac 27” 5k on Monday this week, and I don’t regret it whatsoever. They are fantastic machines. My situation may be different than yours, though. I was upgrading from an early 2009 iMac 24”. So, it does not matter what Apple upgrades the new iMacs to, because that new iMac will only be marginally better than the existing one. For me, upgrading now was always going to be an exponentially better option than waiting until the next version.

It is widely believed that they will be updated this year, but certainly not confirmed.

I LOVE the new computer.

 

[PastaPrimav]

I am hanging in there with a 2014 5K iMac, and I'm holding out for one with Face ID. My next iMac needs to have Face ID. There is nothing I despise more about the user experience of a Mac (which I work on 8 hours a day) than entering my password. And these days, I have to enter it more than I ever used to with any previous OS. I get the security needs, but there is something bizarre about constantly prompting the private, authenticated operator for their password.

 

[spencecb]

I am hanging in there with a 2014 5K iMac, and I'm holding out for one with Face ID. My next iMac needs to have Face ID. There is nothing I despise more about the user experience of a Mac (which I work on 8 hours a day) than entering my password. And these days, I have to enter it more than I ever used to with any previous OS. I get the security needs, but there is something bizarre about constantly prompting the private, authenticated operator for their password.

I find that using my Apple Watch to unlock is a welcome function. If you have one, I would recommend enabling it.

 

[Ifti]

So, it does not matter what Apple upgrades the new iMacs to, because that new iMac will only be marginally better than the existing one.

The next update could be quite a jump, possibly to 6 core.......

 

[zedsdead]

You should wait at least until WWDC. If it doesn’t come there, it will be late fall then. The next models will have options for a 6 core processor. This is one of those times where if you can wait you should.

 

[kschendel]

I mean, I do need it now but you can always wait, question is how sure are we in new iMacs and when are they coming?

Nobody is sure, and if anyone here tells you they are, they are either lying or about to be fired from employment with Apple.

There are some reasons to think that they might update (new CPU's) and some reasons to think they won't (lack of GPU update and/or supply, SSD prices not dropping enough yet, etc). Personally I think we might, maybe, see a minor update with more recent CPU's and a few fiddles with the storage side of things. But then again we might not.

The fact that there are multiple guessing-game threads each with many pages of posts probably could have told you that nobody knows.

 

[partsofspeech]

In the order of possibility, iMac 2018 would have upgrades of
6-core CPU: 90%
FaceID: 80%
A-10 chip: 70%
Faster GPU: 65%
All SSD (at least one model): 60%
Narrow bezel: 0%

 

[sputnikBA]

In the order of possibility, iMac 2018 would have upgrades of
6-core CPU: 90%
FaceID: 80%
A-10 chip: 70%
Faster GPU: 65%
All SSD (at least one model): 60%
Narrow bezel: 0%

I'd say these aren't going to happen this year. FaceID manufacturing is probably going to be 100% dedicated to making units for the 3 rumoured models of iPhone at the end of the year (maybe 4 if the SE2 gets it as well), plus iPads.

There don't seem to be any new AMD GPUs this year because they are focusing on mobile. Only rebadged units with driver updates -- eg, the 580 will become the 580X.

If there were a cosmetic design change on the way, even with Apple's crackdown on leaks, we would have heard at least some hint of it.

 

[partsofspeech]

I'd say these aren't going to happen this year. FaceID manufacturing is probably going to be 100% dedicated to making units for the 3 rumoured models of iPhone at the end of the year (maybe 4 if the SE2 gets it as well), plus iPads.

There don't seem to be any new AMD GPUs this year because they are focusing on mobile. Only rebadged units with driver updates -- eg, the 580 will become the 580X.

If there were a cosmetic design change on the way, even with Apple's crackdown on leaks, we would have heard at least some hint of it.

[doublepost=1525762806][/doublepost]https://www.google.com.tw/amp/s/www.digitaltrends.com/computing/apple-patent-faceid-imac/amp/

FaceID is technologically ready for iMac. If Apple skips this upgrade this year, maybe they will put an A10 chip in the iMac first, and activate FaceID later by OSX update.

 

[George Dawes]

After the fun and games I've had recently with mac desktop hardware - I wouldn't bother with any mac desktop hardware - get an iPad , the os and the hardware on current macs are imo utter crap

The iMac that I've just received after my old mini packed in won't recognise any of my TM backups that have work going back years whereas conversely my Iphone & iPads just work so seamlessly , iCloud etc etc - like macs used to 'just work' - has put me off ever buying a mac ever again...

 

[kschendel]

After the fun and games I've had recently with mac desktop hardware - I wouldn't bother with any mac desktop hardware - get an iPad , the os and the hardware on current macs are imo utter crap

The iMac that I've just received after my old mini packed in won't recognise any of my TM backups that have work going back years whereas conversely my Iphone & iPads just work so seamlessly , iCloud etc etc - like macs used to 'just work' - has put me off ever buying a mac ever again...

Did you ever check any of those backups to make sure they were readable? maybe it was the mini at fault. Anyway, just because you got one bad piece of hardware doesn't make the entire lineup junk.

I will agree that if you get your work done on an iPad, you didn't need a desktop or even laptop in the first place. They are for entirely different workflows.

 

[George Dawes]

A mac mini that hasn't ben updated for almost 4 years and a mac pro that looks fittingly like a trash can+..

( I sound like I'm trolling - I'm not - I'm just VERY ***ed off )

The iOS range is fine , the mac range has been allowed to languish far too long , where's that famous pipeline Timbo ?

For a company the size of Apple to claim they don't have the engineering resources is laughable.

The mini crashed and nothing would revive it - I googled it and it seems like a problem with some macs over 4 years old , almost like they're designed to fail - so you buy a new one.. ??\

New one ? a 4 year old one...!!

 

[tomscott1988]

Im pretty sure your issue is easily resolved...

 

[sublunar]

A mac mini that hasn't ben updated for almost 4 years and a mac pro that looks fittingly like a trash can+..

( I sound like I'm trolling - I'm not - I'm just VERY ***ed off )

The iOS range is fine , the mac range has been allowed to languish far too long , where's that famous pipeline Timbo ?

For a company the size of Apple to claim they don't have the engineering resources is laughable.

The mini crashed and nothing would revive it - I googled it and it seems like a problem with some macs over 4 years old , almost like they're designed to fail - so you buy a new one.. ??\

New one ? a 4 year old one...!!

How about extracting the hard drive from the Mini and seeing if the data is intact on it?

Back on topic - the buyers guide probably tell you what you need to know summed up about the iMac. WWDC is 4 weeks away (and 12 months after the 2017 iMacs came out) so it's most likely the ideal time to unveil new hardware, especially if there's not too much in terms of software features to reveal.

FaceID seems to be a logical feature to add to next year's iMacs rather than anything this year - mainly because iMac Pro doesn't have it and I doubt that machine will be on an annual refresh treadmill. There's no sign of next generation Xeon W CPUs at the moment.

Or Apple could launch any time between then and the 'traditional' October update. It would be fairly unusual for Apple to delay so long between updates though - the last time this happened Intel were stuffing up massively with the Broadwell desktop CPUs and Apple largely skipped them and went direct to Skylake months later instead.

 

[afir93]

[doublepost=1525762806][/doublepost]https://www.google.com.tw/amp/s/www.digitaltrends.com/computing/apple-patent-faceid-imac/amp/

FaceID is technologically ready for iMac. If Apple skips this upgrade this year, maybe they will put an A10 chip in the iMac first, and activate FaceID later by OSX update.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding you, but if they put all the necessary technology for Face ID into the iMac, why would they wait a few months before then activating it via software instead of having it work right away? And if they don't put all the necessary tech in it and "only" the A10 chip, then Face ID couldn't be enabled later via software as it requires much more than just the current 720p camera in the iMac.

I'm also not sure where you're getting the A10 chip from as the A11 chip was the earliest with the neural engine required for Face ID.

Also, technologically ready... yeah, most likely. But we don't really know how good their supply of the TrueDepth sensors and all is, and if they have finalized putting it all into the iMac design, etc. And this year the focus in regards to Face ID is gonna be on getting it into the rumored three new iPhones and the rumored new iPad Pros. Macs with Face ID are gonna come next year at the earliest, potentially even later than that, and even then it might not be all Macs at once.

 

[partsofspeech]

Maybe I'm misunderstanding you, but if they put all the necessary technology for Face ID into the iMac, why would they wait a few months before then activating it via software instead of having it work right away? And if they don't put all the necessary tech in it and "only" the A10 chip, then Face ID couldn't be enabled later via software as it requires much more than just the current 720p camera in the iMac.

I guess Apple hardware is often ahead of Apple Software.
[doublepost=1525862054][/doublepost]

I guess Apple hardware is often ahead of Apple Software.

I don’t know much about the hardware of true depth camera except that it wobbles in the iPhon X. In principle, from the 2-D wobble data, 3-D depth could be computed. Yes, 2018 iMac should have that camera installed first before true depth can be activated.

 

[afir93]

I guess Apple hardware is often ahead of Apple Software.

True in some cases, but the software for Face ID is already there on iOS since last fall, and biometric unlock features are already on the Mac via Touch ID. So not only should the software side of things be the easy part of getting Face ID to the Mac, but I also can't see Apple selling a new iMac with the mentality of "well we put the sensors into the new iMac, but the software is gonna take another half a year so all these expensive sensors you are paying for right now are practically worthless until then".