Would like to see a larger iMac launched along with the refresh of the 24" model.
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New iMac Not Expected to Launch Until Late 2023 at Earliest
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I really believe Apple is being very strategic about how they are releasing products. 2022 had a ton of supply issue from chips to COVID shutdowns. They realized they weren’t going to be able to meet the demand for what they had, so why make it worse with new and updated products.
What happens when the A13 is obsolete? Nothing. It’s just the controller inside a monitor. You won’t new new updates and new features. That’s it. The monitor will still continue to work just the same.
I have very mixed feelings about the iMac now. I happily used my late 2013 iMac, paired with an Apple Thunderbolt Display for nearly 10 years now. It is still working, but it has gotten slow and is no longer supported. However, the screen is still working perfectly fine.
I dislike that I have to throw away the screen just because the CPU got old. My replacement will be a mini, and while it is no longer as compact, I can upgrade the screen and cpu independently and as needed.
I dislike that I have to throw away the screen just because the CPU got old. My replacement will be a mini, and while it is no longer as compact, I can upgrade the screen and cpu independently and as needed.
except for the cost. A whopping $3498 for basic Mac mini and Basic Studio Display. Apple won't release a 27inch iMac because it will cannibalise the Studio Display Sales.
Good news for me. This gives me nearly 1 more year to save up for my next desktop (which needs to be at least M2, preferably even M3).
I'm holding on to my much-loved reliable 2017 Intel quad-core i7 iMac 4K Retina... a beautiful machine... of the past.
Of the past. 😢
I'm holding on to my much-loved reliable 2017 Intel quad-core i7 iMac 4K Retina... a beautiful machine... of the past.
Of the past. 😢
Not sure what country you are in. In the US, the base Mini is $599 and the Studio Display is $1599 for a total package cost of $2198. That is pretty close to what a 27” iMac might cost today with inflation since 2019/2020 ($2035).
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I just recently purchased one and use it with an additional display. It looked like it wouldn't be updated anytime soon.
I wonder if they're letting the iMac sit because of all the custom color parts?
The keyboard, mouse, power cable, lightning cable, etc. are all custom colored. If they refresh the shapes or colors of these with an update, all of these pieces have to be updated in all the colors.
The colors seem to make it a much more complex product to deal with on every level.
I wonder if they're letting the iMac sit because of all the custom color parts?
The keyboard, mouse, power cable, lightning cable, etc. are all custom colored. If they refresh the shapes or colors of these with an update, all of these pieces have to be updated in all the colors.
The colors seem to make it a much more complex product to deal with on every level.
The display in the 5K iMac is the $1300 LG Ultrafine 5K. The display in the Apple Studio Display is a newer display and is better than the one found in the $1300 LG Ultrafine 5K.
And the $1799 iMac was a super cheap PC for $1800. You could build the same PC for less than $300 without the display as a consumer. And Apple was getting cheaper prices than consumers.
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For the mainstream consumer 2 year old tech is hardly obsolete. It is obsolete only in the eyes of those obsessed with the latest and greatest. Two years on and the M1 MacBook Air is still a better buy than most mainstream laptops.
If I were doing only Photoshop and Illustrator on my computer the current M1 iMac would be fine. But with 3D modelling and wanting the computer to last me several years then I want a bit more to more likely ensure that.
If I were doing only Photoshop and Illustrator on my computer the current M1 iMac would be fine. But with 3D modelling and wanting the computer to last me several years then I want a bit more to more likely ensure that.
For 2198 I used to get a nicely souped up machine, not a base model, and I could cheaply update the ram to 40+GB. This 8gb ram and 256gb drive is just not acceptable for professional use
IMO the Mac lineup has gotten quite convoluted and I can see how that makes it difficult to keep every model up to date with the latest component parts. Even though I've owned 27" iMacs in the past, I've determined a 27" display paired with a mini is a much better option for me.
I suspect it's the reverse. Apple is "demoting" the iMac wholly to the consumer Mac segment when previously, it doubled as both a consumer and a professional Mac. They then had to release the iMac Pro as a stopgap measure to fill the gap between the iMac and the trash can Mac Pro.
The iMac, with its myriad of colour combinations, is meant to be placed in locations where it can readily seen by other people, like at the cashier in a shop. Or as a family computer in the living room where minimal clutter matters.
Conversely, a Mac Studio + Studio Display combination, at $3600, is actually very affordable when you consider that prior to this, a Mac Pro + XDR display would easily set you back $11,000 at least.
Based on this new paradigm, I find there really isn't any place for a 27" iMac, especially when you consider that pros have been championing modularity all this while.
The Apple Studio Display + Mac Studio at $3600 is basically the base $5000 iMac Pro replacement. So you save alot of money in the end.
Let's be honest.
M2 is pretty much a dud. And is pointless buying unless you were waiting for the M2 to get your 1st product.
Otherwise, it's obvious to pretty much everyone, hold onto your M1 device until M3.
M2 is pretty much a dud. And is pointless buying unless you were waiting for the M2 to get your 1st product.
Otherwise, it's obvious to pretty much everyone, hold onto your M1 device until M3.
I'm so glad I didn't wait around when it was time to upgrade my 27" iMac. I reluctantly ordered the 16" M1 Max MBP but have really enjoyed using it with the Studio Display. Seems a bit of a waste though as it remains closed most of the time. Of course what I would have preferred is a Mac Studio which released a few months after and caught me completely by surprise. Having now used a setup where the display is separate, I can't see myself ever going back to the iMac.
Belgium
mini specs
949 EUR - Mac mini with ram upgrade to 16 GB
1.779 EUR - studio display (all standard specs)
320 EUR numeric keyboard w Touch ID + Magic Trackpad
total is 3.048 EUR
iMac specs
2.029 EUR - midrange model (256 GB storage) with ram upgrade to 16 GB
85 EUR magic trackpad upgrade (instead of the mouse)
26 EUR - keyboard upgrade to include numeric
total = 2.105 EUR
thats still nearly 1.000 EUR difference for
* some ports i’ll never use
* a 3.5 inches bigger display
* 5K vs 4.5 K
I think mini makes sense if you have your own display and such but if you go all Apple it’s a different story. Problem is the studio display is about 20% overpriced + iMac already includes keyboard and mouse or trackpad
Not surprised if there's no M2 version, as I've avoided the M2 range completely, as I don't believe the performance leap warrants changing kit and where I'm still getting value out of the older kit.
I still think M2 wasn't what Apple envisaged either, coming midst lockdowns/pandemics/chip constraints and constraints on production.
Much of the comment on this bb seems in line with the 'my things bigger than yours' where some people just must have money to burn, awaiting every new incarnation of the Mac, and from a business perspective that's untenable.
I did buy several M1 iMacs base machines, which have proved fantastic machines for the purpose I bought them, which was for the admin. staff and accounts, and they are a super economical home computer for most people.
Must admit though I was not impressed with the SSD issue, even though for most it doesn't warrant too much concern, it is the principle that performance in general should improve with each new product.
Some strange comments though about 24in. monitor on iMac being too small, when it replaced a smaller monitor!
Equally I'm not to sure some comments about iMac relating to the waste if one part of it goes wrong, but where from my perspective I've never had a iMac last less than 8 years, and by that time monitors, CPU's and GPU's have changed dramatically anyway.
I also see and am surprised at comments about upgrading high levels of RAM on older machines, as if that necessarily means better performance compared to the M1 even with the standard 8GB, when that is often not the case. RAM specs are quite different.
Mark though can't lose can he, referring to M3 iMac....yes and I predict there will be an M4 iMac, an M4 studio etc. etc., its like predicting tomorrow comes after today.
I still think M2 wasn't what Apple envisaged either, coming midst lockdowns/pandemics/chip constraints and constraints on production.
Much of the comment on this bb seems in line with the 'my things bigger than yours' where some people just must have money to burn, awaiting every new incarnation of the Mac, and from a business perspective that's untenable.
I did buy several M1 iMacs base machines, which have proved fantastic machines for the purpose I bought them, which was for the admin. staff and accounts, and they are a super economical home computer for most people.
Must admit though I was not impressed with the SSD issue, even though for most it doesn't warrant too much concern, it is the principle that performance in general should improve with each new product.
Some strange comments though about 24in. monitor on iMac being too small, when it replaced a smaller monitor!
Equally I'm not to sure some comments about iMac relating to the waste if one part of it goes wrong, but where from my perspective I've never had a iMac last less than 8 years, and by that time monitors, CPU's and GPU's have changed dramatically anyway.
I also see and am surprised at comments about upgrading high levels of RAM on older machines, as if that necessarily means better performance compared to the M1 even with the standard 8GB, when that is often not the case. RAM specs are quite different.
Mark though can't lose can he, referring to M3 iMac....yes and I predict there will be an M4 iMac, an M4 studio etc. etc., its like predicting tomorrow comes after today.
Many things in the comments section I don't quite grok.
The M2 is a fine chip, and a perfectly reasonable "same process node" product. We're never getting new process nodes every generation, so... deal? Having manufactures need to find greater efficiency/power on the same process node is wonderful opportunity for architectural improvements that will benefit later chips as well.
Why does Apple not make an M2 24" iMac? That's pretty easy to guess: because they don't think it will make enough greater sales over the M1 24" iMac to be worth their time. I'm sure Apple has the math.
Apple has always left hardware rotting on the vine if it suits their calculated RoI. This isn't bad, it is just Apple being efficient (one thing Cook's Apple is VERY good at).
Apple has ONE product that is really worth updating annually and that is the iPhone. Apple will hold the iPhone release schedule paramount and nothing else really matters. Outside of this forum, few really care if Apple releases a new Mac every year, or every 2-3 years. It just doesn't matter that much.
I'll still be surprised if we see the M3 before 2024, but time will tell.
So what are we going to see? Hard to say because we haven't seen a full cadence cycle ARM Mac releases yet, but I'll still expect that we'll see a new M* class chip every ~18 months, and the low volume Macs might periodically skip an M* release. I do expect M3 will be the first M* to skip an A* generation, being based on the A17.
I still guess that the Mac Pro and Mac Studio might just trade off releases:
M1 Mac Studio -> M2 Mac Pro -> M3 Mac Studio -> M4 Mac Pro
... because, why not if Apple thinks that will make them the most money?
The days of an affordable bigger iMac are likely gone, just like the days of affordable expandable desktops. Apple has moved on, and unless we change to a different OS, we have no choice but to move on as well.
While Apple could release a 27" iMac based on the out-of-date Studio Display screen, that seems unlikely to me. I would expect them to come out with an iMac with the rumoured miniLED screen, and I would expect any such iMac to cost about $4500-$5000.
I've been buying iMacs since 2009, and for only one reason: Apple wouldn't chip a headless Mac, with a reasonable GPU, for a reasonable price. Well, times have changed and the Mac Studio is easily the closest thing to the xMac we're ever going to get. Heck, even the M2 Pro Mac mini now has a OK GPU.
Will Apple make more iMacs, or just move to external displays only? Who knows? I don't. I could see both happening, and I'm sure that debate is always raging inside Apple too. What I wouldn't bet on is: anything cheap.
The M2 is a fine chip, and a perfectly reasonable "same process node" product. We're never getting new process nodes every generation, so... deal? Having manufactures need to find greater efficiency/power on the same process node is wonderful opportunity for architectural improvements that will benefit later chips as well.
Why does Apple not make an M2 24" iMac? That's pretty easy to guess: because they don't think it will make enough greater sales over the M1 24" iMac to be worth their time. I'm sure Apple has the math.
Apple has always left hardware rotting on the vine if it suits their calculated RoI. This isn't bad, it is just Apple being efficient (one thing Cook's Apple is VERY good at).
Apple has ONE product that is really worth updating annually and that is the iPhone. Apple will hold the iPhone release schedule paramount and nothing else really matters. Outside of this forum, few really care if Apple releases a new Mac every year, or every 2-3 years. It just doesn't matter that much.
I'll still be surprised if we see the M3 before 2024, but time will tell.
So what are we going to see? Hard to say because we haven't seen a full cadence cycle ARM Mac releases yet, but I'll still expect that we'll see a new M* class chip every ~18 months, and the low volume Macs might periodically skip an M* release. I do expect M3 will be the first M* to skip an A* generation, being based on the A17.
I still guess that the Mac Pro and Mac Studio might just trade off releases:
M1 Mac Studio -> M2 Mac Pro -> M3 Mac Studio -> M4 Mac Pro
... because, why not if Apple thinks that will make them the most money?
The days of an affordable bigger iMac are likely gone, just like the days of affordable expandable desktops. Apple has moved on, and unless we change to a different OS, we have no choice but to move on as well.
While Apple could release a 27" iMac based on the out-of-date Studio Display screen, that seems unlikely to me. I would expect them to come out with an iMac with the rumoured miniLED screen, and I would expect any such iMac to cost about $4500-$5000.
I've been buying iMacs since 2009, and for only one reason: Apple wouldn't chip a headless Mac, with a reasonable GPU, for a reasonable price. Well, times have changed and the Mac Studio is easily the closest thing to the xMac we're ever going to get. Heck, even the M2 Pro Mac mini now has a OK GPU.
Will Apple make more iMacs, or just move to external displays only? Who knows? I don't. I could see both happening, and I'm sure that debate is always raging inside Apple too. What I wouldn't bet on is: anything cheap.
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I really hope to see a 27” (or larger) iMac soon. I just love the clutter-free AIO form factor.
I think people would be more open to switching to a Mac Mini/Studio if Apple could either slash the price of the Apple Studio Display (not going to happen) or release a version without the fancy camera or speaker system.
There just aren’t enough alternative 5K displays available to choose from currently.
Thankfully Samsung may have an alternative solution with their upcoming ViewFinity S9 display but pricing still hasn’t been announced.
If they could price around the £1000-£1200 price mark then I may end up going with this and a Mac Mini Pro instead…
I think people would be more open to switching to a Mac Mini/Studio if Apple could either slash the price of the Apple Studio Display (not going to happen) or release a version without the fancy camera or speaker system.
There just aren’t enough alternative 5K displays available to choose from currently.
Thankfully Samsung may have an alternative solution with their upcoming ViewFinity S9 display but pricing still hasn’t been announced.
If they could price around the £1000-£1200 price mark then I may end up going with this and a Mac Mini Pro instead…
I think you are being somewhat generous on the amount of padding in the Studio Display’s price, I think its considerably more than 20%. Webcam, speakers, and microphones are not that expensive and neither is an A13 chip, I would say the added value is 200 USD at most. You’re basically paying 500 USD for the privilege of buying an Apple display, which I think is crazy. It should be 1000 USD or so.
Compared to PCs, Macs are still very expensive. Yes, once you factor in the software costs over the lifetime of the device things look a lot better, you get a lot of cloud-integrated software that PC users have to pay for. But some things you never get, like good gaming capabilities.
Yes, but only because Apple moved the goalposts. The 27" iMac was the perfect all-in-one for many people. A 2 box solution with a £400 add-on for height adjustment is not a winning combination.
Pathetic transition… they control whole HW yet can’t update on time, release all models that customers want (and make economic sense)
But still have audacity to go on YT and pat each other on the back on how unbelievable these chips are.
I said it before and I’ll say it again - they should have kept previous designs (without butterfly keyboard and touch bar) and ship latest Mx chips inside. Then when 3nm kicks in and you widen the performance per watt gap even further, launch all new designs across whole product matrix.
This staged releases are either gross incompetence of HW teams at Apple or very deliberate prioritization based on margins & revenue
But still have audacity to go on YT and pat each other on the back on how unbelievable these chips are.
I said it before and I’ll say it again - they should have kept previous designs (without butterfly keyboard and touch bar) and ship latest Mx chips inside. Then when 3nm kicks in and you widen the performance per watt gap even further, launch all new designs across whole product matrix.
This staged releases are either gross incompetence of HW teams at Apple or very deliberate prioritization based on margins & revenue