New iMac With 'iPad Pro Design Language' and Thin Bezels Reportedly Coming at WWDC

[Brian Y]

Thing is, unlike MacBooks these days, iMacs still age well.

My 2017 with the i7, upgraded RAM and an external GPU should see me nicely for a few more years!

 

[Rogifan]

So will this be all iMac‘s or just the bigger one?

 

[yurc]

This is hot. Can’t wait how it’s looking.

 

[SRTM]

That mockup looks beautiful!
Don't let us down Apple.

 

[guzhogi]

It's about time. I was bullish on the Fusion Drive when I first got my iMac 5K. In theory it's the best of both worlds and the performance is massively better than an HDD and a lot cheaper than an SSD of the same size.

What they don't tell you, though, is that the SSD part of the Fusion Drive gets absolutely hammered with wear as you use it.

Data is constantly being migrated onto and off of it as you work. (That's by design -- after all, the logic is that the stuff you're actively working on is moved to the SSD). But all that throughput, with the tiny SSDs Apple provides in these systems, destroys them with wear. After about 4 years, the 128GB SSD in my Fusion Drive was showing less than 10% of its lifetime left before I opened the thing up and installed a big SATA SSD. So, as far as I'm concerned, Fusion Drives are basically a ticking time bomb. Also remember, some of the SSDs in Fusion Drives are a measly 32GB, exposing them to even worse wear rates than mine.

I'm half tempted to get a current iMac with Fusion Drive, and upgrade both the SSD & HDD with SSDs. I'd consider OWC, but I've had nothing but bad luck with their SSDs.

 

[ultrafiel80]

Maybe, just maybe, I will upgrade my 2011 model that is still going strong.

I'm on the mid-2011 also. Has lasted forever, but I'm all on a new iMac if released at WWDC. It will be nice to get on a computer that supports Metal and can run the latest OS again. Hoping the screen size goes to 32 inches and that SSD prices are reasonable—I'll get at least 1TB regardless.

 

[Dave245]

I can't believe you guys have only just worked out a new iMac was coming at WWDC - all the signs have been showing it for the last month now. All base level iMacs are out of stock until after WWDC.

With the pandemic, that could just be a stock issue. I'm hoping that this rumour is true tho, I REALLY want to update my 2012 iMac, I've been waiting on a new design for a while now.

 

[ignatius345]

As someone who used to opt for Fusion Drives for capacity, how do people with experiences of SSDs find the 128gb in this regard?

Feels tiny (my iPhone has twice that much storage space), but on the other hand, very fast external drives are now commonplace and affordable -- so, on a desktop Mac it's not the dealbreaker it would be on a laptop.

You'd just have to migrate your media libraries (Photos, Music, TV) onto said external drive and leave the internal for just the system and your more actively used files.

I'd still consider 256 to be a bare minimum for usability. I don't think they'd even sell a new iMac with a 128. If I had to guess, I'd say the base model SSD will be 512.

 

[triangletechie]

The base SSD should be at least 256 since that's what is offered in the Air and Mac Mini.

 

[seanharris50]

Long overdue! Do we think they will have Intel of Apple chips?

 

[KoolAid-Drink]

I'm glad Fusion seems to be phased out/gone, finally. Never really liked the idea of Fusion; seemed so complicated and janky. Putting a SSD in is a much simpler and easier solution. 💡

 

[JimmyBanks6]

Are they sticking with 27" as the largest size? Probably smart, as anything bigger really needs a curved display, imo. And I don't see Apple going curved.

Not true, I use a 4K 32" display each and every day as an external for my 13 mbp and it isn't curved, and it's a revelation compared to 23 or 27" screens.

The real estate allows you to have your code and references side by side with no compromises, and the text isn't prohibitively small like a 27" 4k. If you have good eye sight you can go full resolution and run the equivalent of 4 side by side 1080's.

No going smaller after this.

 

[ignatius345]

Not optimistic, but I really hope they don't screw us on the user-upgradable RAM. The 27" iMac is the last Mac (aside from the Mac Pro) where the RAM is easily user-accessible through that lovely little compartment in the back.

But, if this rumor is correct and they're picking up the "design language" of the iPad, I assume they'll hermetically seal it like an iPad.

 

[thejadedmonkey]

The base SSD should be at least 256 since that's what is offered in the Air and Mac Mini.

Try 512gb minimum. Amazon has 512gb SSDs for $50. Sure they're not Apple spec'd, but I'm not trying to buy 10,000 at once either.

 

[mindquest]

Not true, I use a 4K 32" display each and every day as an external for my 13 mbp and it isn't curved, and it's a revelation compared to 23 or 27" screens.

The real estate allows you to have your code and references side by side with no compromises, and the text isn't prohibitively small like a 27" 4k. If you have good eye sight you can go full resolution and run the equivalent of 4 side by side 1080's.

No going smaller after this.

What brand and model of the 32" are you using?

 

[and 1989 others]

The imaginary price point I am thinking off is causing a nose bleed. This is not going to be cheap.

 

[loybond]

Hope they go to 32”!!!

 

[Royksöpp]

So is it going to be completely squared off like the iMac G5 or will it have a rounded back like the current line? Hopefully squared off!

 

[Lone Deranger]

Hoping it supports Apple Pencil. (I'm an illustrator/painter. Don't hurt me.)

 

[ignatius345]

I'm half tempted to get a current iMac with Fusion Drive, and upgrade both the SSD & HDD with SSDs. I'd consider OWC, but I've had nothing but bad luck with their SSDs.

If you get a good price, it's not a terrible idea. If it was me I'd just try the FD out and see if it meets your needs, then do the surgery later on when it's out of AppleCare anyway. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

It's not a fun process (lots of glue strips) but it's doable. There's a big thread somewhere on these forums about replacing the blade SSDs, which you have to carefully match to your system. The SATA drive is generic and a piece of cake to source and replace, but a bit slower.

 

[aero7]

with a 4K front facing camera ?

Anything exceeding 720p would shock me at this point.

 

[mindquest]

27 inch Imac (late 2009) and I am BEYOND ready for this!!! Will be first in line for a BTO maxed out iMac!

 

[imola.zhp]

I sure hope the iSight (or whatever they call it now) camera's are not on one side or the other like the FaceID camera on my iPad Pro. Its my only complaint about the device but its a big one as the device is used in landscape 99.999999999999999999% of the time.

 

[Analog Kid]

I’ve been waiting for a new iMac Pro in hopes of avoiding fan noise. My understanding is that the Pros are significantly quieter. I’ve got a MP 2013 right now that is the perfect form factor for my needs but it’s getting a bit flakey in its old age and H265 conversion is impossibly slow.

 

[ipedro]

I’ve been waiting for a major redesign to update my 2012 iMac but year after year, it just never came. So the Mac that I have on my desk is going on 8 years. Somehow, it’s still perfectly usable.

Its FusionDrive died a few years ago, I run macOS off an external SSD. Its arm hinge snapped in the middle of the night a few months ago, I propped it up with some books. Now, the fan is starting to make funny noises an this iMac has received its likely final macOS update.

And now with a new iMac on the horizon, I’m not even sure I need a Mac at all. My iPad Pro has become my main computer. I think I would be fine with a nice Apple display that you can plug an iPad Pro into and get true multi display multitasking.