Well, considering the size and weight of external SSDs you can simply velcro one to the back of the imac and forget it’s there for much less than the internal solutions.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
macOS Big Sur 11.3 Beta 5 Includes References to Two Unreleased iMacs
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
People that want a really nice screen bigger than laptop, great speakers, great microphone, 1080p camera, more performance, usually more ports. All with one power cable.
While I agree that a Mac mini might be more versatile, there's no way to get everything an iMac has in an elegant solution. You'll have wires everywhere, and you'll have to spend a good bit of money more than an iMac once you add everything in.
In the past an iMac has also had more performance and options than a Mac mini. (More ram, higher end cpu's, etc)
I personally like the Mac mini approach, only because I like ultra wide monitors. But if they always keep the lowest processor and limit the memory in the Mac mini, then I'll pass and just attach an external monitor to an iMac.
I'd say 5K is the new low-end standard. I love the display on my 2015 retina iMac. Won't go back!
So Apple will suddenly realise all those 27" iMacs they have been selling since 2009 were too big and make it smaller? I don't think so.
And it wasn't suddenly going retina that made me think the bigger size was better, although that was an improvement. But because I already had retina for iPhone, iPad, and MBP meant it didn't make me go wow as something new.
27" was brilliant for me because of the work space. I could do with more, especially vertically. The one thing that was a downgrade on the 27" was the 16:9 ratio. The 16:10 of my 24" iMac was a nicer ratio, but the move from 1200 to 1440 workspace vertical resolution was made possible by the larger size.
24" is the right size for some, and it looks like Apple will be making a device to suit them. But there are many that crave as much screen space as possible, especially in a professional environment. There are a lot of different monitors in the 27-32" range, more than would be expected because of their price range. That shows there is a demand for larger.
Why are you reading news stories that are simply ad revenue drivers? It's not like they hid what the content of the article was going to be about.
I guess some people forgot to mention that the 30" Cinema Display was $3000.00 USD. A 30" iMac certainly won't be cheaper than that.
But I agree with that other poster you quoted. Even you yourself said they the beta OS code suggest that new iMacs are not far off. Oh big news, that's to be expected. That other poster was spot on. These news articles telling us what someone saw buried down in code is already something people were expecting. I'm sure nobody here honestly thought Apple Silicon iMacs were not going to be out until 2 more years. Of course they will be introduced this year and it's a good chance they'll be announced by WWDC.
I wonder if Samsung, Google, Lenovo, HP or Sony's customers constantly refer to or indirectly talk to the CEO by name when they want new products. 🙄
Yeah I think they are going to continue the trend of non-standard display sizes and resolutions to achieve the Retina displays that they are after.
24" (4560 x 2565) 16:9, 218 ppi.
30" (5632 x 3168) 16:9, 215 ppi.
Something like that.
The 2009 could be booted off a FW800 SSD.
I have one of my 2011 iMacs booted off a TB3 NVMe SSD and the SSD performance is a little faster than an internal SATA III SSD would achieve. TB1 is faster than SATA III but not by a lot.
If you're the kind of user who pushes a computer to its performance limits a lot then a SSD replacement isn't going to suddenly make it a new machine but if you don't push it to its limits a lot, then SSD and RAM upgrades can breathe new life into old hardware.
It's expensive to replace multiple old machines but considering the age of some of my computers I think I will have no choice sooner or later.
That would be an innovation for sure, but mini LED points to uniformly thicker display because of the backlighting requirements even though the overall profile will be flatter because hard drives are going and massive cooling solutions due to CPU will be less important.
The overall thing that average people will look forward to - which is hardly ever mentioned - is whisper quiet performance under load, responsiveness, and a quality larger screen (because 21.5" is now a rare typically budget size nowadays).
If you ran MacRumors knowing people want news on any new products, love to speculate about it, and this story came to you, you wouldn't publish it?
What news would you like?
When they switched from G3 to G4 and from G4 to G5, they did a complete redesign. The switch to Intel was the only one that didn't come with a redesign. I think the more compact internals and lower cooling requirements mean we'll get a redesign this time around. I just hope the display won't get rounded corners like the mock-up.
Supply of newer CPUs and GPUs is becoming tricky so I wouldn't like to be trying out new Intel or AMD parts at this moment in time or have to support it in years to come.
I've done no research on Rocket Lake because I can't see Apple wasting time engineering for it after what they said during the ARM reveal - quick search suggests Rocket Lake won't fit on Comet Lake motherboards (unless I have misinterpreted the Anandtech article).
If Apple were needing to keep the 27" iMacs around till next year they'd simply leave the Comet Lake ones on sale another few months - improve the storage if they need to add value.
What they CAN get rid of is the 21.5" iMac which is already 2 years old having not been refreshed and it's still on 8th generation CPUs for the majority of it.
What may dictate the design change is mini LED screens. If mini LED is not available in force till next year and is coming to the entire iMac range then a redesign is required.
If mini LED is coming to a future iMac 27" only (potentially making it more expensive) then the 21.5" design could continue to use the 4k display panel for at least one more iteration.
Remember a redesign to accommodate a thicker all around iPad slab side shape for mini LED screen could also allow Apple to include that 1080p cam and potentially FaceID.
Externally the G5 iMac and intel iMac were the same. Internally was chalk and cheese. G5 well laid out and easy to repair. Intel imac was a nightmare, to the point it had to be deliberate.
Very good points there, the Mac mini not getting a redesign is down to data centres wanting the same size unit which is fair enough, the case is now well placed for taking on an M1X CPU to replace the top SKU this October for instance. I'd still like to make it easier to take apart for cleaning even if parts are not easily replaceable.
Laptops are more of an interesting thing. ARM transition was the perfect time for Apple to get rid of the Touch Bar. With rumours of the 16" ditching the Touch Bar it does make you wonder why Apple wouldn't have drawn the line under it at the same time as a redesign.
It's even more interesting with 14" model rumours coming about, especially with mini LED on the horizon. Will Apple continue the Touch Bar on a redesign?
Thing is though, the heat will have increased between G3-G5 whereas the Core CPUs probably won't have been as hot running as G5 and we know that the M1 runs a lot cooler.
Apple will have a heat profile for the M1X though, and I expect they'll be very happy with how it fits into a 16" MBP and Mac mini upper SKU. Ultimately, this will work for any future iMac iterations too.
I have an internal SATA SSD in my MBP 2012 and a M.2 external USB3 drive. Booting off the USB3 takes twice as long, but other than that, I can’t tell the difference in usage between the two.
Nope.
When they switched from 68k to PPC, they kept many of the same designs. Granted, Apple was a mess with dozens of designs and form factors, but the switch didn’t involve drastic changes to the enclosures.
There were even certain models where Apple would sell you the new logic board to swap into your old machine...
That was at a time when few monitors were over 20”, which is very different from now. Just over $3000 will now get you a 32” 8K monitor, something Apple are unlikely to go near in terms of resolution. The iMac has had a 27” 5K screen for 7 years, a period where high resolution screens have got more common and cheaper. A modest increase in size should easily be possible in the current price bracket.
Right there with you. What I love in particular is that they’re not even bothering with subjunctives anymore. They present wild and completely unfounded speculation as facts:
Rather than a curved rear design, the new iMac models will feature a flat back, and at least one of the new models will measure in at 23 to 24 inches. Apple silicon chips will be included, and some dubious rumors have pointed toward color options that match the iPad Air colors.
It’s like they just can’t be bothered... then again we do live in a post factum era so I shouldn’t really be surprised.
Darth Tulhu
macrumors 68020
I really hope Apple redesigns these iMacs into something completely unexpected.
I miss the days when we went from one gen to the next, and the changes were significant.
The iMac G3 looked NOTHING like the G4, the G5 was also different, and even the unibody aluminum iMac was noticeably different from the white ones.
As much as a giant iPad would please me (and that would be itself a significant change from the previous gen), I'd love a borderless display on a trick arm (like the G4) with Pencil support, or something like that.
I want to be shocked again.
I miss the days when we went from one gen to the next, and the changes were significant.
The iMac G3 looked NOTHING like the G4, the G5 was also different, and even the unibody aluminum iMac was noticeably different from the white ones.
As much as a giant iPad would please me (and that would be itself a significant change from the previous gen), I'd love a borderless display on a trick arm (like the G4) with Pencil support, or something like that.
I want to be shocked again.
Darth Tulhu
macrumors 68020
When you have a lot of different apps open, you want screen real estate.
While I use Windows for work, I often have art least 2 SSH sessions, and RDP session or two, Chrome, Outlook, Teams, Excel, an SQL DB editor, and Word open at all times.
A large screen like the 27" or 30" would reduce the need for multiple monitors for me and/or desktop switching (which is NOWHERE NEAR as smooth on Windows).
I'm sure video and audio pros also appreciate the real estate.