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We're back to a time where Apple's pro display is out of date again. Ah, memories...

Can we for real get a 6K 120Hz 32" display for normies already?

I never thought I would see the day where the Mac mini gets regular updates but the iMac is left behind. What a world!


LOL I bought one of these for my grandpa not too long ago. And then I borrowed it from him earlier this year when I was archiving things off my old DVD-Rs I found in a closet. It's amazing how many of those you can fit on modern drives. Reminds me of floppies by comparison.
You’ll probably have to wait for Thunderbolt 5 to be able to drive that 6K 120Hz display. Thunderbolt 3/4 can barely do 5K 120Hz and only then with video stream compression. Maybe Apple has some sweet displays ready to go once Thunderbolt 5 is finalized.
 
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"The Apple Pencil is very outdated"???

I say to you, IF IT AIN'T BROKE, DON'T FIX IT!

Where's MacRumour's article discussing what is needed from a new model? I love my Apple Pencil. Yes, I have things I'd like to see from an upgrade but I won't die without that upgrade and I sure would die without my current Pencil.
 
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None of these feel particularly old. How often does a speaker / monitor need to be updated?

If they are going to continue to sell it for day 1 price until the second it’s discontinued, then fairly frequently.

Every other company will start to discount older models. Not Apple. The only time an Apple product is even close to worth what you paid for it is within about a month of release. After all this is why the MacRumors price tracker exists, because Apple will not tell you this themselves. They are perfectly happy to sell you the old model for full price, knowing full well it’s not a good deal (Apple Watch 3.)

Apple has more than once released a product and then within the same calendar year released a vastly better replacement (to the point that they should not have even released the bad one (iPad 3, last Intel MacBook Air, etc)) and acted like the old model never existed.

So while I agree with the point I think you were making, in this particular case Apple has set themselves up for this expectation.
 
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All of these make sense. Pro Display - yes it should be updated, but you don't want people to think their $6000 display will be outdated in 6 months, or they won't buy another $6000 display from you. Same with AirPods Max but at a lower price point. Even normal Airpods/AirPods Pro are on 18 month cycles.

The one on this list that is surprising is the iMac. The M1 iMac was awesome, and I don't see any reason they didn't just spec bump it with M2, other than maybe they are using the iMac to clear out old M1 fab inventory and will update it with an M3.

The Apple Pencil doesn't make much sense. Yes, you could add a real-life color picker or eraser, but there's not much more to add to improve the user experience. The current product, as-is, is a stable, mature product. Even the original Apple Pencil is.

Those styli are such mature products that even Wacom, which is the biggest reference, doesn't update their Wacom Pro Pen often. The last update to it was in October 2017, and it's still a darn good product.
 
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I have an M1 iMac and and an M2 Macbook Air, both at 16GB. There is zero difference in the computing performance of the devices in day to day use. I am not sure how outdated the M1 iMac is from a computing standpoint. From a design standpoint, the design is basically brand new.
 
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Recommendation: Do not buy an iMac right now unless absolutely necessary. A new model is likely months away from launching.

I say don't buy one at all. My 2017 iMac Pro is still going strong, but Apple has relegated that type of iMac to the dustbin of history. With the powerful Mac Minis and Mac Studios, I'd say the iMac should be retired altogether (unless or until they come out with a larger model.)
 
The MacRumors article was edited to remove a line that stated the Apple Pencil was "very outdated." Doing so, it makes of the references about the Pencil in the comments section seem random and out of place.

Macrumors should at least have made a notation as to why the line about the Pencil was eliminated from the original article.
 
The only time an Apple product is even close to worth what you paid for it is within about a month of release.

What a silly statement. A product is "worth" what a buyer is willing to pay for it. That is always true across the breadth of commerce.
 
The iMac is the spiritual successor to the original Mac and a defining product in Job's reinventing of Apple so I believe it will be in the product line for as long as Apple continues to make Macs which will probably be for decades to come.

Concur.

Yet for many people here in late 2023, the "computer" they use is their smartphone.

When the iMac was introduced it was believed that every household, if not every person, would need a computer to live in the modern world.

Today the story has flipped. Now smartphones are thought of as needed for life in the 21st century. Having a large computer is now not assumed.

The every-person's "computer" is the iPhone. And that is why it is Apple's number one priority.

Me - I'm still using a 16 year old iMac, waiting to see if a new iMac is coming, only because the reality is that there is much software I can not now use. Otherwise, operationally, this old iMac still runs fine. I expect the next iMac I get to be the last computer I buy, hoping for it to last the rest of my life.
 
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None of these feel particularly old. How often does a speaker / monitor need to be updated?
Welcome in the new era of consumerism. Where everything is old after few weeks.
People here are wondering if they need to upgrade their 10 months old maxed out system for the brand new one that provides 3% more efficiency.
 
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What a silly statement. A product is "worth" what a buyer is willing to pay for it. That is always true across the breadth of commerce.

I don’t think that’s quite true. I think what you’re thinking of is the idea that the price is what the market will bear. That’s true. Still not a good value to buy an 18 month old computer for full price a month before a new model puts it to absolute shame.

Are you going to buy a new iPhone right now? Yes, we as Apple fans know that’s a bad idea. But Apple’s official statement is that the 14 Pro is the best newest most magical device ever, still worth every penny it was a year ago.

My only point is that for a company that famously never, ever discounts products no matter how old they are or how close to the next release, it’s just a bad idea to buy their products any time except when they are brand new.

As I pointed out, this is why the MacRumors Buyer’s Guide exists, is it not?
 
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If Apple expects people to upgrade iMac's every few years, they need to figure out a way to extend the life of an iMac as a target display or even scheduling service to swap out a SOC module. Hard to claim they're being green when users literally have to trash (or recycle) a perfectly fine 4.5K monitor as part of an upgrade. As it stands right now, more people are better off with mini/studio + monitor to fulfill the iMac need. Even a case to be made for one of the MacBookPro options + monitor.
Well said, that is exactly the reason I went away from iMac to TBD+ Macbook.
 
The Magic Mouse works perfectly fine. No need for update. The charging port is designed so people don't use it wired. Controversial, maybe, but the battery life of that thing is beyond fantastic.
 
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Recommendation: Do not buy an iMac right now unless absolutely necessary. A new model is likely months away from launching.

I say don't buy one at all. My 2017 iMac Pro is still going strong, but Apple has relegated that type of iMac to the dustbin of history. With the powerful Mac Minis and Mac Studios, I'd say the iMac should be retired altogether (unless or until they come out with a larger model.)
Yeah, I don’t really understand why they discontinued the iMac Pro and the 27” iMac. For most people 24” is too small, so buying a Mac Mini/Studio with the desired monitor size makes more sense. I’m guessing they probably have too much of it in stock because it wasn’t selling well, which could be the reason they didn’t bother update it with M2.
I don’t think they’ll ever discontinue it though, but the current model is seemingly not selling well. They need to make it at least more configurable if they want to increase the sales, such as offering more options for the monitor size or maybe make another model where they could fit an M Pro/Max chip.
 
Yup, same here. Purchased a couple years ago to replace a 10 year old imac that died. Still working fine, even with one of the parents that passed away. When the other parent passes, we will likely take it back and have it replace the 10 year old imac in the basement.
Sadly, the other parent passed away so this ”old” 2021 imac is now nestled in our basement.
 
I don’t really understand why they discontinued the iMac Pro and the 27” iMac. For most people 24” is too small, so buying a Mac Mini/Studio with the desired monitor size makes more sense
That might have been their plan, but I strongly believe that for many many 27” iMac customers (including myself) we get the Mac mini but then buy a 3rd party (Dell, LG, Samsung, etc) monitor instead. Seem like I see lots of these M1 iMac on receptionist’s desk.
 
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