Gurman: Apple Still Working on 'Pro' iMac With Larger Screen

[Apple Knowledge Navigator]

Studio doesn’t live up to all its expectations. It’s too noisy for starters. Screen leaves a lot to be desired. Enough said

Too noisy? It's barely whisper quiet. It's the first device in years where Apple has actually prioritised performance and function over form. Half of the enclosure includes a heatsink and two large fans. It's barely whisper quiet and runs below 40 degrees at idle, or around 65 degrees under maximum load.

And the Studio Display has better contrast than the already excellent 5k iMac display.

 

[Benjamin Nabulsi]

A 27inch with "old" design with M2 chip wouldn't be a bad decision until they have something better..

 

[Macmamamac]

Labyrinthian product line…please stop…

 

[thv]

Not sure I see them releasing a pro level iMac when the mac pro, MBP, studio and display/XDR exist. Yes, it's expensive when you add a studio display or XDR but if you're actually making money off your equipment...

Lots of studio noise critique coming from those who don't even have one haha

I do see the want for a consumer type 27" iMac though, I think that's possibly a larger market being missed than pros who don't want to drop $ on the other options? Call me a sheep but the studio is a great upgrade for me, exactly what I needed, but I had a 27" for ages and even if I was still only doing lighter work I'd never want a smaller desktop screen/the white bezels (I'm buying a Mac, I want it to look nice and expensive, sorry).

In the end though before they released the M1 24" iMac I heard rumors of a 30 or 32" iMac coming soon, people will just say anything

 

[Realityck]

A 27inch with "old" design with M2 chip wouldn't be a bad decision until they have something better..

Would prefer it to be M1 Pro not the smaller M2, because of 10/16 versus 8/10 and it allows 32 GB RAM.

 

[Maigrais]

In 2017 I swapped to an iMac Pro + LG5K. I’ve now moved to a 14 Max MBP and the same LG. But now the LG5K is now displaying pink round all the edges. Even if I could get hold of one, the studio display feels like a rip off - the price for what is pretty much the same screen as I’ve had for 5 years is not right. I’m tempted by the Pro Display XDR because you can’t unsee how good the MBP screens are but even though that is actually fairly priced and modern, it’s probably outside what I should spend for my needs. My current plan is to wait until the Oct event (if I can) and see if they launch something new along side the Mac Pro which I assume must be announced by then.

That new display could very well be even pricier than Pro Display XDR. It rumoured to feature a 7K Pro grade display that could only be powered by a Mac Pro. Everything else apple sells can output up to 6K.

 

[Maigrais]

Who knows what the iMac Pro would even be now. If they released a larger version of the M1 iMac, but with the M1 Pro chip in it (for argument's sake), that might take away a lot of potential customers for an iMac Pro.

Not to mention the Mac Studio and Studio Display/XDR combo has also taken away some of those customers for whom an iMac Pro might have been an option (I count myself as one of them).

How could they differentiate a standalone iMac Pro from the rest of their lineup - other than it being an all-in-one machine obviously?

The iMac Pro was a much-loved machine by those of us who bought it, but it was a short-term fix until the Mac Pro came along and the M1 chips have since addressed a lot of the other shortcomings in the Intel-based lineup which made people buy the iMac Pro.

That’s the thing though. We don’t know what kind of advancements M3 will bring. My opinion is that Mac Studio is to iMac Pro what the latter was to Mac Pro back in 2018… a stopgap. A 5 nanometer architecture at that level of power required fancy cooling that they just couldn’t do with iMac Pro (while retaining a reasonable thickness).

 

[macduke]

I think if they’re gonna do it it will be a 32” 6K iMac Studio. It will come with an M3 Max standard with the option to move up to the M3 Ultra, which will have up to 256GB of RAM and up to 16GB SSD. They can do a wide but thinner copper heat sink for M3 Ultra, it will probably be 3nm so shouldn’t get as hot as M1 Ultra.

 

[Rafael Santos]

M2 Max Mac Pro, M2 Max Pro, M2 Max Pro Extreme Mac Pro.

M2 Max Pro Extreme Mac Pro with SPAM. M2 Max Pro Extreme Mac Pro with eggs and SPAM. SPAM, SPAM, M2 Pro SPAM with SPAM. etc.

 

[SpotOnT]

Why? One is an all in one with a built in monitor and the other is just a computer. I fail to see why you think they’re similar products.

It is not that they are the same product, but rather that they can be used to serve the same purpose and ever since Steve Jobs came back in the late 90s, Apple has kept a pretty limited product lineup.

From Apples perspective, the number of people who want to buy a M1 Max desktop is pretty fixed. If they offer the M1 Max only in the Mac Studio, then everyone will buy that. If they offer it in both the Max Studio and iMac Pro, some will buy the Mac Studio and some will buy the iMac Pro, but the total number of sales (that is people who would only buy a Mac Studio or only buy an iMac Pro is small) won’t go up very much. So there is no reason to design, market, produce, stock, two separate products when the total number of sales won’t change much from one product.

 

[Musocat]

Why does it have to be an iMac Pro? Maybe it'll just be a plain ol' 27" iMac. The "Pro" power can be had with the Mac Studio, and the 27" iMac M2 (or M3 or whatever) can be priced somewhere in the middle.

 

[aidler]

Glad I bought the last 27” 2020 Intel iMac. My next Mac isn’t up before 2025 and by then they can hopefully offer more for consumers then a 24” iMac with white bezels (a big F).

 

[CosmoCopus]

In this case it may be justified, but Apple has so completely worn out the 'pro' moniker that I don't even know what the heck that means to them anymore.

Seems like it means more money in Apple’s pockets.

 

[Realityck]

Glad I bought the last 27” 2020 Intel iMac. My next Mac isn’t up before 2025 and by then they can hopefully offer more for consumers then a 24” iMac with white bezels (a big F).

You be lucky to get four years, the design is just too inefficient removing heat with the single fan and heat exhaust next to the memory, and the stand blocks the air movement. It's good for heating up a room though. I've gone thorough two intel iMacs. A redesigned M1/M2 something large iMac would be far cooler sustained if doing a lot of processing.

 

[trip1ex]

starting at $3k

 

[mrr]

Good news. Since Apple just obsoleted my 2015 27” Retina iMac, I am waiting until a new 27” inch iMac.

 

[ascender]

That’s the thing though. We don’t know what kind of advancements M3 will bring. My opinion is that Mac Studio is to iMac Pro what the latter was to Mac Pro back in 2018… a stopgap. A 5 nanometer architecture at that level of power required fancy cooling that they just couldn’t do with iMac Pro (while retaining a reasonable thickness).

Agreed, we have no idea what the future will bring. I guess the main difference with these Macs based on Apple Silicon is that regardless of the architecture size, there's very few compromises in terms of performance, thermals etc whereas all Intel machines other than the iMac Pro appear to have been hampered by the Intel architecture.

 

[mrr]

University computer labs around the country depend on 27” iMacs.

 

[Tagbert]

I really don't see Apple releasing both an iMac Pro and the Mac Studio. Maybe they are just waiting to see how sales go to decide which one to go with.

The weak link in the Mac Studio set up is the Studio Display. They really need to get mini-LED/HDR and Promoton on that to make it attractive.

And are you willing to pay the price that Apple would charge for such a display?

 

[MBHockey]

I guess this guy has never heard of the Mac studio.

How would there be room for both a Mac Studio and iMac Pro in apple's lineup?

 

[Edsel]

Remember, Apple is working on "VR" glasses that could supplement or replace traditional desktop monitors.

 

[Strider64]

From what I understand was the iMac Pro was just supposed to be a stop-gap measure so they could have time to release the next Mac Pro. Though I still think they did a poor job to a certain with that, but that is a different topic for a different day. I really can't see Apple developing a new iMac Pro when the Studio fits the needs. I can see an new Mac Pro with the M3 (or maybe even the M2) in it as that would be more logical in my opinion.

Though this is a person who thought putting a KFC restaurant in a certain location was a bad idea, but that place is now rocking with business. So what do I know? 🤣

 

[JippaLippa]

I'm sure we'll eventually see a new 27" iMac, however I'm more keen to see it with the M3.
Perhaps there will also be an iMac Pro ar 30" with the M3 Pro, but I find it harder to believe.

 

[hans1972]

I just want a large iMac Amateur.

 

[JacquesleMac]

I feel your missing the point that Apple has just closed a gigantic gap between the Mini and MacPro that had existed eversince G4 times....

Apple won't go back to pre Jobs times with 267 overlapping Macs. I also don't think the will go back the 4 product square that Steve advocated in late G4 times.

Or in short for every new Mac line another one will be discontinued.

The 'gigantic gap’ remains. It's between the undersized (relatively) underpowered 24-inch M1 iMac 8CPU/8GPU/8GB RAM ram for £1650 and the M1Max Studio (10/24/32) for £3500, inc. display. (In reality it would be around £4000 to include keyboard, mouse and 1TB SSD.) The ideal machine for me lies in the middle – a 27-inch 10/16/32 (16GB RAM, at a pinch) 1TB M1 Max 27-inch iMac for around £2650. I don’t need massive processing power (I just need to manipulate chunky RAWs in Photoshop), but I do need a bigger monitor than the 24-inch iMac. I’d pay more for pro-motion and HDR, significantly more for a 32-inch screen. So let’s say:
£2000 for decent spec 24-inch M1 iMac
£3000 for 27-inch M1 Max iMac ❤️
£4000 for Mac Studio + monitor

I get that we may have to wait for a cooler-running chip to squeeze into a faster iMac, but my point is that everyone’s mileage varies. My dream machine lies bang in the middle of that gap. Let’s see what specs the M2 Mini has.