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.
RELEASE DATE
- Thread starter CHERYLLANE
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
They were upgraded with the Skylake Processor (27" at least) not too long ago. If you go to www.apple.com you'll see the "New" symbol on the iMacs.
It doesn't show skylake on the page as an option. It's 4.0GHZ QUAD-CORE i7, turbo boost up to 4.2ghz
All of the processors in the Late 2015 iMac 27-inch are Skylake. It's not optional.
I very much doubt Apple will be updating the 27" iMac anytime soon with a new GPU. They have updated the CPU on this range to the Skylake chip just over 6 months ago (Late 2015). If they were to upgrade the GPU, surely they would have done it then?
If anything, it's more likely they will upgrade the 21" iMac's CPU up to the Skylake chips because they are still running on the Broadwell chip.
Last edited:
Umm... They did update the GPU then, from the M290 and M295X GPUs used on the prior models.
There will probably be another update this year with new GPUs and possibly some goodies like USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 and DDR4, maybe even a case redesign, but I doubt it'd happen anytime before the fall.
Oh yeah, they did replace the GPU to the M390 and M395X didn't they? My bad!!
Seriously doubt there will be any more updates to the 27" iMacs before the end of this year
I'm in the same boat (current iMac dying (late 2007 - it had a long life)). The iMacs typically refresh around October each year, no? I don't anticipate anything sooner, and it sounds like the posters above don't either. but I would think we should see something certainly before the end of the year. In my case, and possibly the OP's case, I can't really wait that long.
Another question - how have the current round of 5K iMacs been holding up? Anything to be wary of?
Another question - how have the current round of 5K iMacs been holding up? Anything to be wary of?
I was thinking the exact same as you before I bit the bullet 3 weeks ago!
I had a mid 2007 20" iMac which I was desperate to replace with a brand new 5K iMac. For the last 2 months I've been to and fro on this forum, the Apple website and everywhere else to try and work out when the latest spec was due to be released because that's what I wanted. What I learnt is that it's pretty clear that the current range of 5K iMacs has an excellent spec - you won't be disappointed. Your current iMac is not much newer than mine was - trust me when I tell the difference in performance is night and day!
I haven't seen many posters on here complaining about the lack of processing power etc on the current range either, so unless you have a real need Thunderbolt 3 or perhaps USB-C (which may be on the next gen later this year), there's absolutely no reason to wait until the end of the year.
Do it!!!
Yeah, I'm going on the second week of unsuccessful attempts at reviving the hard drive. I can boot to safe mode now, but that is it. The next attempt will be a fresh OS install. But I also am pretty sure I am having graphics issues as well because I am seeing blocks of white going up the screen as the screen is refreshing. Unless that is a feature of Safe Mode.
I am certainly not going to put any money into fixing a computer this old, and it is really starting to take up too much of my limited free time as it is.I won't max out the specs as you did though. I'm currently debating on the base m380 with 2TB fusion or the m395 which comes with the 2TB fusion. $130 price difference. I don't game. Mainly Lightroom/Photoshop and occasional video editing.
Yeah, I'm going on the second week of unsuccessful attempts at reviving the hard drive. I can boot to safe mode now, but that is it. The next attempt will be a fresh OS install. But I also am pretty sure I am having graphics issues as well because I am seeing blocks of white going up the screen as the screen is refreshing. Unless that is a feature of Safe Mode.
I won't max out the specs as you did though. I'm currently debating on the base m380 with 2TB fusion or the m395 which comes with the 2TB fusion. $130 price difference. I don't game. Mainly Lightroom/Photoshop and occasional video editing.
That spec will be plenty enough for your needs. The 8MB RAM should suffice as well, but if you require additional RAM, remember it's far cheaper to source from a third party instead of buying it direct from Apple.
I will add, I suggest if you buy a Late 2015 model, at least get one with a Fusion Drive. I bought the 1TB, without the Fusion Drive, and quickly noticed that it was slower than my rMBP, that I just bought the week prior. Why? No SSD.
Long story short, I returned it and bought the 1TB Fusion drive model (what I could afford). If you can swing for the 2TB Fusion model, or even configure it all with SSD, even better.
Yep, been there, done that...
Long story short, I returned it and bought the 1TB Fusion drive model (what I could afford). If you can swing for the 2TB Fusion model, or even configure it all with SSD, even better.
Yep, been there, done that...
This is the thread that I was thinking of - https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...-graphics-chips-headed-for-2016-macs.1968541/
Of course it's speculation but we'll see.
Of course it's speculation but we'll see.
Even if this was to happen later on this year, I wouldn't expect a huge jump in increased performance from the current gen of CPU's. Under normal working conditions you may see a 10 - 20% increase. Is it worth waiting another 5 months for that?
The current GPUs in iMacs are based on pretty old (28nm) technology that dates back to 2011. The 14nm FinFet process is dramatically more power efficient, so not only do you get faster GPUs, but also ones that consume a lot less power and by implication run cooler, which is very useful in the case of tightly-spaced iMacs.
nVidia has already launched their own 16nm GPUs, which in many scenarios are equal to dual GPUs of the earlier design in power (GTX 1080 = 2 x GTX 980) - I'm not saying the same performance leap will happen with the new (mobile) GPU in the next iMac, but I expect there will be tangible performance and thermal benefits.
You should also get Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C in the next iMac.
The new iMac likely also once more features Target Display Mode (thanks to the connectivity and GPU), which may be useful.
For me even the GPU is enough reason to wait (sporting a 2008 PC at the moment and giving iMacs longing looks at the moment), 'cause I like to fire up the occasional game and not have the GPU run at 100 Celcius while doing so.
Are these significant reasons for everybody to continue waiting? I cannot say. I'd likely be very happy with the 2015 iMac in the end, but here I continue waiting.
So whatever floats your boat. If the above is not specifically important to you, I think the current iMac is probably a good buy.
To me the next big thing in iMac is definitely the port and protocol change moving to USB-C with super speed USB and TB3 transport. Hopefully they will update the Skylake based iMacs with the ports and needed chipsets this year. If not, we have to wait for 2017 for the next CPU generation to get the change in ports and protocols. Maybe we will know more at WWDC.
of course those chip and port changes mean new motherboards, cases, cables...etc. So there are significant hits when Apple fully moves to USB-C with TB3.