Credible Leaker Says New iMac to Feature 'Really Big' Display Larger Than Current 27-inch Model

[Zdigital2015]

Yes to lots of ports but no to USB-A ports. You don't need "dongles" for legacy USB. Just replace your current USB-A cables with new USB-C cables. They're backward compatible and you can replace your cables for pocket change at Monoprice. Get over USB-A. If manufacturers keep including it on new devices, lazy accessory makers will never feel compelled to update to the current standard.

As much as I despise USB-A, there’s no reason to skip USB-A on the iMac. Currently, you get 4 USB-A ports and that is sufficient for most people. Those here wanting 10 USB-A ports have to get a grip. This is why they make hubs. 4 USB-A, 4-USB4/TB3, SD Express, 1GbE/10GbE, Audio In/Out would be plenty.

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

Really big or really, really big?

Within a week of owning 'big', it won't seem as big. Funny how that happens...

I still wonder why they dropped the 17" notebook. Sure it was heavier, but there were/are a lot of people who could/are using a notebook that big. Heck, I saw a 17" Windoze notebook just the other day. Apple could build a bunch of the base systems, and then add the storage and processors as the stocked semi-populated boards were being put in the chassis and boxed to ship. That would somewhat mitigate the idea of how to manufacture something that different quickly. They shouldn't have to do that much for the chassis, aside from having the slabs, and programming in the machines handy. Just run a handful of the larger chassis, and keep them on hand. Seems like a good idea, and they could get that big guy back in people's hands.

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

As much as I despise USB-A, there’s no reason to skip USB-A on the iMac. Currently, you get 4 USB-A ports and that is sufficient for most people. Those here wanting 10 USB-A ports have to get a grip. This is why they make hubs. 4 USB-A, 4-USB4/TB3, SD Express, 1GbE/10GbE, Audio In/Out would be plenty.

Ah, but Big Sur is having issues with hubs. Just doing the upgrade on my IMP caused the OS to 'lose' my monitor that was connected to the hub's HDMI port. Hubs are great and all, but nowhere near perfect, or as reliable as an actual port on the MB. So many hubs use cheap chips, cheap boards, cheap connectors, cheap (or no) power supplies. I stopped using hubs decades ago after the damned things started being made in back alley 'plants'...

And the most USB ports I'd ever seen on a PeeCee was 14. I immediately had 'port envy'. MASSIVE port envy...

 

[macinfojunkie]

Dude. Ew. So, I’m curious. Are your posts meant to come across as elite or just desperate? Either way, I say again, ew.

What’s elitist about buying a 2nd monitor? I know these are 1st world problems and just being able to contemplate the purchase of any Apple product put people in a privileged position compared to many on this planet.

But the very admission that the poster is waiting for a a cheaper more affordable monitor reads the opposite of elitist. Otherwise just buy the current XDR?

 

[macinfojunkie]

iMac Pro in a Mac Pro design language with a 24" 4:3 Display which you can adjust height, tilt, swivel left and right and change from landscape to portrait orientation. 🤔

larger and with a wider aspect ratio.... but otherwise you’re describing a fantastic concept.

 

[topdrawer]

more displays to throw away after specs get outdated.

 

[macinfojunkie]

My guess is big one is the iMac Pro replacement. Expensive and powerful. Matches the size and design of the Pro Display.

Only the smaller iMac will come in colours and will be less powerful and slightly different/simpler design. A throwback to the original iMac.

You could well be correct. The higher spec won’t be far off old IMP pricing anyway.

oh and don’t you know how much bitching there will br about the price and how pointless it is? I hope they do this just to see the posts from the complainers. 🤣🤣

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

Dude. Ew. So, I’m curious. Are your posts meant to come across as elite or just desperate? Either way, I say again, ew.

I still have an Apple Cinema Display, and it's alive and kicking. It's so old, it had a FireWire and USB port extender builtin to it. It's AWESOME, and long lasting. I don't regret that purchase. Several 'good brand' monitors have lasted significantly less than that one. I actually told myself that I'd buy a new computer once that monitor dies. AND IT'S STILL WORKING. Obviously I had to get a new one anyway. If only that was a bigger monitor, I could see still actively using it.

 

[SeattleMoose]

32 inches would be nice

 

[alex2792]

Only if it has a target display mode, otherwise a few years down the road you’re gonna be throwing out a perfectly good monitor.

 

[KeithJenner]

I'm amazed how many people seem to be throwing away perfectly good computers.

 

[Roller]

I still have never wrapped my head around someone wanting an AIO (e.g. iMac) vs separate compute and display units. Buying a solid display should last you a good decade, whereas you may want to replace the CPU/GPU side every 18 months (especially now that we've started Apple Silicon where we could see solid yearly jumps).

Is it just having the single unit form factor (which is valid, though arguably a less sustainable/green choice)

I was an iMac skeptic until 2006, when I bought my first one. I've had three since then, including the 2017 iMac i'm using now. All of them went on to be used for years by other family members or were sold. My late 2012 iMac has been in service for nine years and is still going strong. All of them have been stable and trouble-free, and I like the convenience of an AIO.

When the time comes to replace my current iMac (mostly to hand it down to my wife, who needs a computer), I'll consider a Mac mini and monitor, though an Mx iMac with a larger screen will be hard to resist. It'll have to be height-adjustable, though — not offering that these days is crazy.

 

[EdT]

The anticipation for this iMac is beginning to look like the anticipation for an unannounced iPhone.

I am interested, but more than a bit unsure. I've had the ability to either dual boot or VM Windows and that is going away. Yes, I am thinking about gaming. I'd rather not spend a lot of money on a iMac and then need to spend significant money on a gaming machine. Gaming is becoming more interesting to me for the first time in a very long while because I MIGHT be able to connect thru Starlink and actually have decent speed for the first time in literal decades. Signed up for Starlink, haven't received notice its shipping yet.

 

[otternonsense]

This obsession with zero-bezels is a manufactured objective - like "megapixels" and "thinness".

Bezels are good. They separate your desktop from the background environment in your field of vision - reducing physical eyestrain and cognitive load.

Zero-bezel is like zero-depth "glass surface" keyboards. It might sound cool in the marketing department, and you can probably get a load of tech magazine/website editors excited by it .. but in reality it is a really bad idea.

Here's an illustration ....

View attachment 1753252

Even in that exaggerated illustration (my living room is not an acid trip), I like the left screen more.

 

[Alwis]

I still have never wrapped my head around someone wanting an AIO (e.g. iMac) vs separate compute and display units.

When buying my 2020 iMac I thought about buying a Mini and a good display, even had a look at the Pro Disolay, but decided for the iMac at the end. First there was no Mini with only approximate the performance of the iMac and there are not many (good looking) displays with the quality of the iMac. At the end such a combination would have been much more expensive.

Than I do not like cluttering my desk with cables, I even got the 4TB SSD to get rid of my external drive and I do not like placing the computer under my desk where I always hit it with my feet. At the end I decided for the iMac because it had the best performance for the buck and fullfilled most of my needs ( eside the bizzare bad reachability of the ports on the back).

The 2020 iMac replaces a 2014 iMac which I am still using as a secondary computer and I plan to do this with my 2020 iMac as well, so at the end I will probably get 10 years out of my iMacs.

But I agree, it is kind of ridiculous to throw away a perfectly good display when finally replacing the iMac to get a faster computer. And separate devices would make it easier to e.g. take the Mac to the store for repair.

 

[Matrix1776]

I’m sure it’ll be 32”, scaled back significantly from the XDR specs but a “bargain” for all you’re getting. It was the same way when it came out in 2012.

I’m still hoping to hear on the “Mac”. I have a gorgeous 43” HDR monitor that is hooked to my gaming PC. Although if they make a gorgeous iMac, it might just be my business machine that’s more suitable for the common areas.

Colors are a must! I won’t buy space Gray. I want them to bring back playful Macs.

 

[Exhale]

You’re throwing around meaningless words of a bygone era. You need to explain why SoC architecture, fast SSD drives and large super fast caches for processing (on the chip!) can’t solve your problem?

Because an SoC architecture doesn't solve the problem of having to fetch your data when you get a cache miss. Which is going to happen regularly when you're working with image sets that are in hundreds of megabytes, videos at several gigabytes, or games that use textures and models that measure at a sum of multiple gigabytes, or simply a combination of different applications which caching optimisation strategies cannot preempt well.

The entire point of the caches is that they take in the ballpark of 1/10th of the time/cycles to access that RAM does. Accessing data on SSDs is significantly slower than RAM. The exact same argument for onboard caches applies to RAM vs. SSDs.

And this is not considering that RAM still has many times higher bandwidth, or how modern GPU hardware uses use VRAM with 900GB/s of throughput (compared to an SSD with <4).

I'd also remind you that if your SSD is doing in the role of RAM, its going to be too busy to act in the role of storage.

 

[umbilical]

Who care's about the iMac! Give me a "cheaper" Apple Monitor!

MacBook + Display is the way to go!

 

[HowardEv]

Apple - don't mess this up.

iMacs are desktops...
Don't gimp the ports on the back just to make it "look good from behind in a Doctors office"

Offer them all - and lots of them - even some legacy USB-A please -- make them easier to access also.
Desktops and Dongles should never become a thing (barring weird edge cases)

Better to have just one USB C port on the back for both power and video, and put all the ports and the CPU and storage in a new smaller form factor Mini. And put batteries in both the mini and the display.

I don't want to have to choose between portability and power.

 

[HowardEv]

I just hope the fan noise won't be too horrendous.

There should be no fan, because there should be no CPU inside, it should just be a monitor. The CPU should be in a separate portable Mini that can be taken to the coffee shop and used with a lightweight laptop.

 

[Caliber26]

Two points on this topic:

#1: With Apple Silicon, the iMac should be able to do everything that Apple TV can do and just as simple. In fact, TVOS should be part of what makes every iMac an iMac. No reason for them to be running separate operating systems anymore. Functionality, at least for those specific things should be largely identical.

#2: Prices for the Apple TV should dramatically drop as well as for the Mac Mini as these are now less perceived as actual computers or computer like devices and more like cheap appliances. If Apple really wants to make Apple TV+ grow, make the device a loss leader into Apple Mac buying. Any one who has a cheap Apple TV will definitely consider replacing their clunky old Win PC with an iMac that does all that and far more. Apple sorely needs a low end device to get onto the real playing field and this is a golden opportunity, but I don't see Tim cook seeing the weeds through the trees on this. He's more of a cross the Ts and dot the I's, balance the accounting line kind of guy, not a visionary thinking ahead or taking a gamble.

I hope I'm wrong though.

I just want a “dumbed down” Apple TV HDMI stick that I can plug to my wall-mounted TVs. If Amazon and Roku can do it, there’s no reason Apple can’t. This feels like such a missed opportunity IMO.

 

[femike]

more displays to throw away after specs get outdated.

Precisely why I will never buy an iMac.

 

[cocoua]

Im buying this machine already. Cant wait anymore

 

[Caliber26]

iMac is aching to incorporate FaceID, as the physical limitations do not exist as it does on the laptop line. Expect rounded corners too as macOS seems to favour it.

You know good and well Timmy ain’t about to let that happen for the first-gen of an M-series redesign. That’ll come the following year as the new must-have feature. 😏

 

[Caliber26]

That's cool but I'm really interested in the smaller 24" one. I know the trend now is huge screens but I find I have to sit pretty far from a large screen to even be able to see everything on it and make use of the larger space. To me it just makes sense to have a smaller one. I hope also that they come out with some stand-alone monitors for the Mac Mini that don't cost an arm and a leg.

I’d love for them to resurrect the 27”Cinema Display.