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iMac Pro Now Listed as 'Currently Unavailable' in U.S. and Canada [Update: Back in Stock]
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I'm ruling out any CPU upgrade possibility with AS... maybe there will different models but you can bet they will be soldered. And there won't be any way to purchase the CPU separately anyway.
A good screen after 6-7 years isn't wasted if you are still using the computer. Apart from which after 6-7 years how far down the technological chain is that 6-7 year old good screen?
So if it wasn't AIO would you use that 6-7 year old monitor with a new Computer?
Screen burn or in the case of new monitors image persistence can still occur, especially if the machine has been a heavy workhorse.
Much of the adverse comments about AIO do not seem to hold under scrutiny.
Originally of course there were no AIO computers, as the first computer I worked with, was in a 12ft. x 8ft. smoke cloaked room, with double doors to prevent dust....with a memory in terms of a few K rather than Gb or Tb.
I believe more and more we will migrate to AIO units, and after recently having to install a PC system with a Dell Ultrasharp monitor and the cabling and set up it required in what was a very temperamental Windows system which still has a myriad of possible card combinations to deal with, the AIO seems to have a secure future.
The tendency is for electronics to become more streamlined, more powerful hence why AIO will in my opinion be the norm., although I note from experience that many gamers like to have cases big enough to store a main frame in!
The rate of change is so fast, who would have considered Apple Watch devices except on science fiction programs.
Moore's law still seems to be pertinent and with ever more technological challenging production techniques, including monitor construction a new industrial revolution with even 1nm chips now suggested let alone quantum computing.
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Yeah, that was something that occurred to me, not way they'd do upgradable CPUs but it may be less of an issue around longevity given how powerful the current M1 is?
I still have a 12 years old monitor at home. It's a 23" Philips FullHD and it doesn't look different from new cheap monitors, which most people is perfectly fine with.
I am seriously impressed, it worked an average of a few hours per day and the only aging sign is the backlight is a bit dark for the first few minutes. That's fine, since it's only the secondary display, the first one is now a 27" UHD. It used to be the first, with the second being a 23" Samsung FullHD monitor-TV, now relegated to being a TV in a bedroom.
Now, my country is going to switch to a new TV format, and as I don't care about TV anymore, I won't buy a new TV or an adapter for the bedroom; I'll probably use this as the secondary monitor in place of the Philips, as I may use its quite impressive array of analog inputs for my retro junk.
Sure, these 12 years old monitors are outdated compared to newer and fancier stuff, but they're still perfectly usable. Especially that TV, it's got something to say to newer ones: FullHD TVs at this size are hard to find, they're all crappy HD Ready. It's not like the old days, when the evolution was so frenzied, a monitor from 5 years prior looked like an ancient relic..
And these are cheap ones! The iMac displays were always a superior quality and would be wonderful monitors for almost everyone, especially the 27". Not to mention the environmental benefit of reusing stuff.
And luckily, there's a market of adapters to turn old iMacs into standalone displays. Remove the old boards, fit this in, and you're ready to go (some manual skills required).
There's nothing wrong with using 12 year old monitor if it suits you and does the job you want it to do. But then I have AIO's from 80's that are still working fine, except they are no longer efficient at the jobs I need them to do now. Often I redeploy Macs, and as each new Mac comes in, others that may no longer be able to compete job wise are often redeployed to less demanding tasks that way you increase their working life dramatically.
I often use a 2012 21.5imac, as its in my hall, and on hand for emails, bb's etc. All I did was take out the HD and put in a 500gb SSD.
I don't see the point of converting an iMac AIO into a monitor as if you are going to do that you might as well source any problem part and repair it, but where yet again its often not economically viable to do it, depending on the function the computer serves and the cost/reward of any new purchase.
Actually I'm more worried. The M1's are obviously transitional machines and may have defects that are not easy to spot. There's no telling how long Apple will support them, hopefully 5 years, but when they stop to update the OS, they will be basically bricks: using an unsupported OS online is a suicide already, and in we are going to be more and more dependent on permament online access, and apps will no longer be updated until they will stop working or being useful.
On an Intel Mac, at least, you can always install Windows or Linux.
It's GONE
But it will show up on EBAY... Price will be sky rocketed.
Refurbished 27 inch iMac Pro 3.2GHz 8 core Intel Xeon W with Retina 5K display - Apple
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Make the screen like a dock. The mini just pops into the back like some compute module. Then you can remove the mini and replace it when a new model comes out. But keep the screen and expanded set of ports on the back. It can also accept DisplayPort, Charging, Thunderbolt/USB-C inputs if used as a regular monitor/dock. With a Macbook, Mac Pro, iPad or third party computer.
I think the reusable screen issue will be fixed when they can bring target display mode back.
I forget the technical limitation, but I think it had to do with driving all the pixels of a retina class 20+ inch screen.
Perhaps Apple Silicone will solve that problem and future iMacs can act as second displays?
The design of the Intel iMac Pro certainly (and to an extent, the Intel iMac itself) is thermally constrained, something I was afraid of when they introduced it. I imagine the iMac Pro was really intended as a stopgap for the Mac Pro. Now, there does seem to be some demand for some sort of pro Mac without the Mac Pro’s internal hardware expandability, whatever the hardware form factor.
Now, I kinda like the all-in-one form factor, it allows for significant desktop space savings, especially if you put it on a VESA mount. And there does still seem to be some market for a mid-range workstation-y computer that could also be used as a family computer.
It's not Apple overpriced it. Intel was asking a huge amount of money for PCIe lanes and ECC support.
All Xeon workstation are "overpriced" for that reason.
D500's. They would constantly overheat, then hang, and it would cause kernel panics. Usually when rendering in davinci resolve. Had them replaced several times through apple but it kept happening. Sold it and got a 2017 imac which was just as fast for half the price and came with free 5K monitor lol
haha love that. I did the same, for different reasons.
The 5k screen is genuinely absolutely incredible. love it.
Some people cling to Windows for one reason or another, and this is their last chance to grab one of the last specimens of the slowly dying Intel Mac breed.
You could probably get it at a discount, and it seems that Apple is planning on supporting Intel on macOS much longer than PPC was supported (it’s not entirely clear Apple has a processor roadmap for a Mac Pro replacement, for instance, and Apple sold brand new models last year with Intel chips).