Intel Unveils 10th-Generation 'Comet Lake' Processors Appropriate for Updated iMacs

[Zdigital2015]

Intel i7 10750H has been released a few months ago.

No, it was announced on April 2, 2020. Damn, people cannot tell time around here.

Source: https://www.theverge.com/2020/4/2/2...ors-comet-lake-14nm-5-ghz-clock-speeds-gaming
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Living with Hackintosh computers for the last 2 years now, and keeping my MacBook Pros from 2013 and 2014 on standby, I am ready for Apple to release a Pro laptop with the AMD type processor. I keep a 12 inch PowerBook around for PPC programs I use. Using macOS on non-standard hardware is not recommended and of course is a violation of TOS.
The point of this post is not to advocate Hackintosh or to say Intel is a bad option. I have the option to purchase the latest iPad Pro and Magic Keyboard but do not choose iOS as "my computer". macOS is my choice OS and when Apple gives me a reason to upgrade my hardware I will be more than happy to make the purchase.
MacBook Pro from 2019 does not thrill me, neither does the Mac Pro or iMac. Apple, make me a Mac like the Razer Blade Pro with plenty of ports or give me one port and a form factor like the iPad and Magic Keyboard. Either way, it must run macOS and not iPadOS.
I want a touch experience with a bad ass trackpad that I can carry and has 64 GB and 4 to 8 TB of storage. The nonsense about not implementing touchscreens I don't understand as I have that with the Razer Blade Pro with a screen protector that is easily cleaned with a microfiber cloth. Touch is very useful, and the 4K display is not that bad. The iPad Pro has a great screen, and now with the Magic Keyboard holy crap! If that thing ran macOS for reals it would make the MacBook Pro irrelevant for most mobile power users.
For such a form factor I could easily understand the rationale for the single board, non-serviceable/expandable POSs that Apple sells for over $6k as top spec and calls "Pro". I am not fooled.

Apple is never going to release any Mac with an AMD CPU.

4K screen on a 15-inch is just a complete waste of GPU power and a battery drain.

64GB of DRAM AMD 4TB-8TB in a MacBook Pro is still going to cost $6K running AMD or Intel.

Touch is not useful in macOS...

 

[carlos700]

The reason the 2019 27" iMac has no i7 is because it like the i9 is 8 cores, but with no SMT. I suspect the 27" iMac will get the i7 again since it now has a physical difference from the i9.

 

[chucker23n1]

I agree, Intel is being lazy, but those CPUs are still fast and reliable, so as an end user I don’t really care about 14nm vs 10nm.
It is just a number.
Those “14nm old CPU” can reach an higher clock than the marvelous “7nm CPU” made by AMD.

Ehhhh. Right now, for perhaps a brief moment, AMD is kicking Intel's ass, and part of that is indeed because AMD has a newer process node.

 

[FlyingDutch]

No, it was announced on April 2, 2020. Damn, people cannot tell time around here.

Source: https://www.theverge.com/2020/4/2/2...ors-comet-lake-14nm-5-ghz-clock-speeds-gaming
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Apple is never going to release any Mac with an AMD CPU.

Sorry my mistake. I meant a few WEEKS ago.

 

[RayMac]

Please stop calling it a Mac mini‌ update.

 

[Emanuel Rodriguez]

I had the impression that those new chips are good for the air and 14” but aren’t appropriate for the 16”, and so we’re still waiting on 16”-appropriate chips... Or did I catch that wrong?

No, they're out already. The 16 inch currently uses as one of its options the i7-9750H. The i7-10750H would be the equivalent 10th gen:

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/...e-h-laptop-processors-with-up-to-5-3ghz-turbo

As you can see, it has been out for a little while already.

 

[FlyingDutch]

Ehhhh. Right now, for perhaps a brief moment, AMD is kicking Intel's ass, and part of that is indeed because AMD has a newer process node.

AMD is doing well, but at least in this segment is not kicking any ass. They are both good products.

 

[MacsRgr8]

'Appropriate for Updated iMacs'? As soon as Apple gets rid of the slim all-in-one case, maybe.

Hoping for that too... otherwise how else would the Radeon VII fit in there...?

 

[Val-kyrie]

Slower than 9th gen ? Based on what ?

Benchmarks. Go look them up. The CPUs get hot very quickly and then throttle way down to stay within their thermal envelope. This is due to the die shrink. Comet Lake offers perhaps slightly faster short term performance than the previous gen but it is slower for anything other than short term tasks (<15 sec). Ice Lake offers better graphics performance than Comet Lake and Intel’s 9th Gen GPUs, but offers the equivalent CPU performance of Intel’s 9th Gen CPUs. It is the better Intel option. Even Intel’s 9th Gen CPUs struggled to outperform their 8th Gen CPUs, especially in the U-series. OEM chassis design hasn’t helped the matter. Put simply, the performance of Intel‘s CPUs has been stagnant for a while.

 

[nutmac]

Here's the actual comparison (bold indicates improvement).

iMac Model (Retina)	Current CPU (9th)	Potential New CPU (10th)
21.5" Base	3.6GHz 4-core i3	3.6-4.3GHz 4-core i3
21.5" Better	3.0-4.1GHz 6-core i5	3.1-4.5GHz 6-core i5
21.5" Best (Custom)	3.2-4.6GHz 6-core i7	2.9-4.8GHz 8-core i7
27" Base	Same as 21.5" Better	Same as 21.5" Better
27" Better	3.1-4.3GHz 6-core i5	3.3-4.8GHz 6-core i5
27" Best	3.7-4.6GHz 6-core i5	4.1-4.8GHz 6-core i5
27" Best (Custom)	3.6-5.0GHz 8-core i9	3.7-5.3GHz 10-core i9

Minor clock speed bumps all around, except for built-to-order CPUs that add 2 additional cores (Apple will likely down clock maximum Turbo Boost to keep thermal under control).

That would be my preference as well. I am only going by MacRumor's speculation:

Natural replacements for the 21.5-inch iMac lineup include the new Core i3-10100, Core i5-10500, and Core i7-10700, while the 27-inch iMacs would see the Core i5-10500, Core i5-10600, and Core i5-10600K, in addition to the high-end i9 option.

Their speculation does not include 8-core CPU for 27".

 

[Black Magic]

My wallet is waiting, Apple... new iMacs at WWDC, please. Would be so nice if y'all allowed us to spec 2TB+ storage in the 21.5" iMacs again, like an SSD or something.

Waiting as well. Hoping for a redesign with full screen goodness.

 

[jjudson]

Comet lake?

Fires, Economic Depression, Coronavirus, Kim Jong Un Dead...

Is Intel trying to tell us something?

 

[Jury]

The new x86-Based Zen 2 is more appropriate for redesign iMac.

 

[dragoon2745]

I'm already looking toward Rocket Lake with either the Sunny Cove or Willow Cove architecture for a real IPC increase.

 

[iGeek2019]

Why wouldn't the 27-inch iMac have a 10th gen i7 but the 21.5" would?

I wouldn’t be surprised if the base iMac 21.5” still has an older generation Intel processor if/when Apple update.

 

[827538]

Christ, I would not be happy as an Intel shareholder.
2020 and yet another 14nm flagship CPU? Same monolithic core design which will mean these 10 core CPU's are expensive to produce, even on a very mature 14nm process. This is a six year old lithography process now.
I don't want to even think what the power consumption and temps will be like.

The future for Apple is definitely ARM/AMD. The more I see Intel flopping around like a fish out of water the more I come round to the idea of a MacBook pro with an ARM CPU. I still think x86 is ideal for the really powerful stuff like the Mac Pro.

AMD's quarterly report shows they are continuing going from strength to strength. Zen3/Zen4 could be a devastating blow to Intel.

 

[1146331]

The day Apple actually provides a computer that can perform is the day hell freezes over. Or maybe the day that little Timmy cook gets the boot.

 

[b656]

How about iMac or iMac Pro with these specs?
-AMD Ryzen CPU
-Radeon Pro W5700X with 8 or 16GB
-27 or larger screen
If Apple releases something like this I would preorder right away.

 

[chucker23n1]

AMD is doing well, but at least in this segment is not kicking any ass. They are both good products.

Well, you said "Those “14nm old CPU” can reach an higher clock than the marvelous “7nm CPU” made by AMD", which is technically true but quite misleading. AMD's design will simply be more efficient (due in part to the smaller process node), so the same kind of clock isn't needed.

 

[RaoulDuke42]

WWDC: macOS on ARM is announced. New, redesigned iMacs with 10th gen Intel processors, along with A12 or A13 coprocessors, are released. macOS on ARM development can be performed and tested using these machines. Would that be crazy?

I first got into Macs in middle school when they taught us typing using the Apple ][ version of Mavis Beacon running on a full IIe PDS card inside a Macintosh LC. Whenever the teacher would step out we would all hit command-return to switch over to the Mac environment and play Lunatic Fringe that was a part of the After Dark screen saver collection. Why our school had the full After Dark suite on every Mac in the lab is beyond me... but anyhow, yeah wildly different processors in one machine isn't too crazy (and really kind of already exists what with the T2 chips in many Macs) and I'd imagine the software could be integrated way better now than in the early 90's.

 

[QCassidy352]

I want to buy an iMac. I don't need the new processors, but I do want them to update the storage options (SSD standard), and I know that won't happen without the processor update, so bring it on.

 

[anshuvorty]

That would be my preference as well. I am only going by MacRumor's speculation:

Their speculation does not include 8-core CPU for 27".

That 10 core i9 in a iMac enclosure? Yeah, it is going to be thermal throttling and no way going to be reaching sustained speeds of 5.3 Ghz if you need that horsepower.

The i9-9900K from last generation had trouble even maintaining 5.0 Ghz sustained on air cooling.

 

[Macbookprodude]

Intel is dead. Long live AMD!

No, Long live ARM !
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I’m planning on getting the next iMac that Apple releases - I bought my current iMac back in 2014

I wonder which iMac Apple will upgrade first - the iMac or the iMac Pro - or possibly even both at the same time

It would be nice to see Apple lower the price of the next iMac Pro as well

I would wait till COVID19 is over before thinking about that.

 

[Freida]

no such thing as 2020 iMac (yet). What you are referring to is 2019 model. With 2018 tech.

My top of the line 2020 iMac is already faster than most of the iMac Pro configurations, if the iMac is refreshed with the new 10th gen chip, it's going to be even less fair. Hopefully apple does a pro refresh soon.

 

[SRLMJ23]

Living with Hackintosh computers for the last 2 years now, and keeping my MacBook Pros from 2013 and 2014 on standby, I am ready for Apple to release a Pro laptop with the AMD type processor. I keep a 12 inch PowerBook around for PPC programs I use. Using macOS on non-standard hardware is not recommended and of course is a violation of TOS.
The point of this post is not to advocate Hackintosh or to say Intel is a bad option. I have the option to purchase the latest iPad Pro and Magic Keyboard but do not choose iOS as "my computer". macOS is my choice OS and when Apple gives me a reason to upgrade my hardware I will be more than happy to make the purchase.
MacBook Pro from 2019 does not thrill me, neither does the Mac Pro or iMac. Apple, make me a Mac like the Razer Blade Pro with plenty of ports or give me one port and a form factor like the iPad and Magic Keyboard. Either way, it must run macOS and not iPadOS.
I want a touch experience with a bad ass trackpad that I can carry and has 64 GB and 4 to 8 TB of storage. The nonsense about not implementing touchscreens I don't understand as I have that with the Razer Blade Pro with a screen protector that is easily cleaned with a microfiber cloth. Touch is very useful, and the 4K display is not that bad. The iPad Pro has a great screen, and now with the Magic Keyboard holy crap! If that thing ran macOS for reals it would make the MacBook Pro irrelevant for most mobile power users.
For such a form factor I could easily understand the rationale for the single board, non-serviceable/expandable POSs that Apple sells for over $6k as top spec and calls "Pro". I am not fooled.

I do not think the iPad Pro would make the MacBook Pro irrelevant for power users if it ran macOS, just my opinion.

Also, you cannot service/expand an iPad Pro (or any iOS device) at all either.