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Wait for Skylake Imac with 5K res?? or buy now??

S

shawn89

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 29, 2015
7
5
Hey all.
I'm on the fence now. I currently have a 2011 Imac with 3.4 ghz core i7 and 16 gb ram.
I want to update to the new imac 5k screen but i think i should wait for the next model with the new skylake cpu by intel and hopefully see a Nvidia GPU instead of AMD.

do you guys forsee any upcoming new imac releases with those specs?
Thank you!
 
It's doubtful that it will be announced next week as Intel are delayed on Skylake. Question is do you really need to upgrade now or just want to upgrade now. If it's the former then go for it, but if it's just a nice to have then wait.
 
shawn89 said:
Hey all.
I'm on the fence now. I currently have a 2011 Imac with 3.4 ghz core i7 and 16 gb ram.
I want to update to the new imac 5k screen but i think i should wait for the next model with the new skylake cpu by intel and hopefully see a Nvidia GPU instead of AMD.

do you guys forsee any upcoming new imac releases with those specs?
Thank you!
Click to expand...

Of course, nobody knows what's in the pipeline at Apple and the exact Skylake rollout schedule is also not completely certain. But yes, it's all but certain that we will see an update to the 5K iMac this year one way or another at some point.

If this was to be your first Mac (or your first Mac desktop) then I'd advise to get the 5K now. I own one and it's a fabulous machine, certainly the best computer I have ever owned.

But your current iMac is not THAT old, it's just a few generations old if you think about it and judging from the specs you posted, unless you are a power user, it probably still works great.

It's unlikely that the next generation of the 5K iMac will be a spectacular update, but it's still an update that will work that much better and work well that much longer. In the meantime, it's not like you don't already have a great computer you can use and enjoy.

So I'd wait, but that's just me.
 
vladobizik said:
Of course, nobody knows what's in the pipeline at Apple and the exact Skylake rollout schedule is also not completely certain. But yes, it's all but certain that we will see an update to the 5K iMac this year one way or another at some point.

If this was to be your first Mac (or your first Mac desktop) then I'd advise to get the 5K now. I own one and it's a fabulous machine, certainly the best computer I have ever owned.

But your current iMac is not THAT old, it's just a few generations old if you think about it and judging from the specs you posted, unless you are a power user, it probably still works great.

It's unlikely that the next generation of the 5K iMac will be a spectacular update, but it's still an update that will work that much better and work well that much longer. In the meantime, it's not like you don't already have a great computer you can use and enjoy.

So I'd wait, but that's just me.
Click to expand...

I might just wait for the new 5K iMac. hopefully they add an Nvidia GPU in the next one and the Skylake will of course be beautiful :)
I wouldn't mind waiting a little :)

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shaunp said:
It's doubtful that it will be announced next week as Intel are delayed on Skylake. Question is do you really need to upgrade now or just want to upgrade now. If it's the former then go for it, but if it's just a nice to have then wait.
Click to expand...

I just want to upgrade now.. lol
mostly for the 5K screen. but if i buy it , it will be maxed out settings probably.
so I'll wait for Skylake and the new GPU (hopefully Nvidia).
 
shawn89 said:
I might just wait for the new 5K iMac. hopefully they add an Nvidia GPU in the next one and the Skylake will of course be beautiful :)
I wouldn't mind waiting a little :)

----------



I just want to upgrade now.. lol
mostly for the 5K screen. but if i buy it , it will be maxed out settings probably.
so I'll wait for Skylake and the new GPU (hopefully Nvidia).
Click to expand...

I'm waiting too. It should be out by October, November latest.

----------

By the way, Computex starts in 3 days. New GPUs will be unveiled, and hopefully more info on Skylake will come from Intel as well. That should give us waiters a general idea of what to expect and when.

I honestly don't need a faster CPU than what is available now, just cooler, quieter, pretty please Intel!
 
shawn89 said:
I just want to upgrade now.. lol
mostly for the 5K screen. but if i buy it , it will be maxed out settings probably.
so I'll wait for Skylake and the new GPU (hopefully Nvidia).
Click to expand...

It almost certainly won't be Nvidia for numerous reasons. It will most likely be M390X/M395X. Which is fine - it will be a very good GPU and we'll see how it fares compared to Nvidia mobile GPUs. But everyone here keeps hoping for an Nvidia and that's a really good way to set your expectations wrong and be disappointed.

I don't have an M295X - but I'm very satisfied with my M290X. It runs great, rarely turns on the fan (only when playing games which run really good).
 
shawn89 said:
I might just wait for the new 5K iMac. hopefully they add an Nvidia GPU in the next one and the Skylake will of course be beautiful.
Click to expand...

Like aevan I also think the next 5K iMac will have AMD graphics and not Nvidia, for various reasons. AMD is better in high resolutions, needed to drive 5K. Furthermore Apple just started using the new 370 in the MacBook Pro.

I too have a 5K iMac with M290X and it looks and works fantastic. (I am not a hardcore gamer though.)
 
OP:
You're currently on a Mac which is only about 4 years old.

If it's still running OK for you, I think your best option is to wait until the next release.

I sense we're going to see some very nice improvements with the Skylake iMacs, such as USB3.1, thunderbolt 3 (?), true 5k video support (not an Apple-specific hack), etc.
 
I am in the same boat with a 2011 3.1ghz system. And I think i wait for the update. The lineup right now is with older hardware (u still pay the premium price for). There are many discussions about the iMac 5K its videocards and ski high temperatures that keeps me a little bit on hold as well.

The always zero information system from Apple to its community about a possible update (hardware specs) in the line-up is annoying me big time.

I am even playing with the possibility to switch back to windows and build my own monster setup. I would miss the beautifully looks of a iMac of-course. But plenty of upgrade anytime, when ever and what ever i want, makes it still interesting.

For me as a matte painter, the iMac is in the end just a tool. I would hold your horses and wait for the upgrade to Skylake. Maybe they found something to run cooler too.
 
I would wait, not because of speed or specs.

It´s the "this one don´t work as a standalone monitor witch all other iMacs do" that bothers me. The current 5K iMac will probably be junk in half the time than the next version will and since I´m quite sure Apple will bring back that feature once the proper display ports are available, I would wait.

With a bit of luck the next model can serve as your monitor for the next 10 years. I find it hard to believe any one would use the current model as their main machine for that long.
 
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Perhaps I am just the neigh sayer in the crowd, but I don't see why Apple would need to upgrade the 5K.

If you look at past few years with the iMac. they brought out a new model overhaul in 2012 for both the 21 & 27" models. In 2013 they upped a new processor into the mix.

Then in 2014, they brought out a new model of 27" Retina. There was no 21" bought out though. On the intel front they have a new Broadwell chip but non in quad core that I can see. There might be a broadwell chip released in the October/November time frame but is apple going to update the motherboard for what Intel has already described as a sort lived chip?

More than likely, the 27" iMac retina will stay just like it is for another year until the actual Skylake chip is released. They will release more than likely a retinal version of the 21" iMac.

just my thought anyways.
 
shawn89 said:
Hey all.
I'm on the fence now. I currently have a 2011 Imac with 3.4 ghz core i7 and 16 gb ram.
I want to update to the new imac 5k screen but i think i should wait for the next model with the new skylake cpu by intel and hopefully see a Nvidia GPU instead of AMD.

do you guys forsee any upcoming new imac releases with those specs?
Thank you!
Click to expand...

If you are ready to upgrade, you should do it. No one knows when a new iMac will be released. You could wait 3,6,9+ months. It gets nerve racking after awhile just playing the waiting game.

IMO, If I was in your shoes, I would keep the 2011 iMac 3.4 longer. It is a great machine.
 
Wahlstrm said:
I would wait, not because of speed or specs.

It´s the "this one don´t work as a standalone monitor witch all other iMacs do" that bothers me. The current 5K iMac will probably be junk in half the time than the next version will and since I´m quite sure Apple will bring back that feature once the proper display ports are available, I would wait.

With a bit of luck the next model can serve as your monitor for the next 10 years. I find it hard to believe any one would use the current model as their main machine for that long.
Click to expand...

Lol junk? That's kind of harsh. I wouldn't even really call the 2012 imacs junk. It would probably be more than enough for my parents. You're not going to use the next model for 10 years, trust me. I doubt it would even last 5. The target display mode feature seems pretty useless too. Why would you use for example a laptop hooked up to your imac as a monitor instead of the imac itself..

Anyways, I think it's in general dumb to wait if the current model satisfies your need. There's never going to be a "perfect machine", and I'm pretty sure they always leave something to be desired so that you upgrade to the next machine. Also, you can just sell then upgrade if the next one is that much better. You might lose like 500$, which after inflation adjustments might only be 250 current dollars. So, losing at least 6 months of productivity to save 250$ seems foolish.
 
I'm going to be completely honest here. The 5K iMac now is extremely fast and rivaling the Mac Pro's when it comes to software that doesn't utilize all those cores and threads. It is a very powerful machine and while I would highly suggest if you can wait...wait you won't be unhappy with the current maxed out iMac 5k. It is a computer that is as powerful as it is gorgeous. If you need a computer now i'd upgrade and wouldn't think twice. I've built dozens of computers up until the beginning of 2013 and we are really getting to a point where specifications are becoming less relevant. If your current machine is still working fine and doing what you need it to do i'd wait. You could snatch a deal for a refurbished 5K machine from Apple with the specs you're after and save quite a bit of money. With how impatient I am that's probably what i'd do regardless. I always suggest waiting because you can always get a machine with better specs for the same price but on the other hand that's always how it's going to be and the current machines are more capable than you'll need. Your choice.
 
roadkill401 said:
Perhaps I am just the neigh sayer in the crowd, but I don't see why Apple would need to upgrade the 5K.

If you look at past few years with the iMac. they brought out a new model overhaul in 2012 for both the 21 & 27" models. In 2013 they upped a new processor into the mix.

Then in 2014, they brought out a new model of 27" Retina. There was no 21" bought out though. On the intel front they have a new Broadwell chip but non in quad core that I can see. There might be a broadwell chip released in the October/November time frame but is apple going to update the motherboard for what Intel has already described as a sort lived chip?

More than likely, the 27" iMac retina will stay just like it is for another year until the actual Skylake chip is released. They will release more than likely a retinal version of the 21" iMac.

just my thought anyways.
Click to expand...

Skylake will be ready by September, I think they'll skip Broadwell for iMac
 
This is the problem with technology, and especially new technology. . . it advances and improves too rapidly to keep up with. Don't beat yourself up over it, and go with your gut. . . you will be happy you did!

I personally was going to wait, and even contemplated getting a late 2013 iMac due to the sometimes better Nvidia GPU (780m) but instead went with the middle ground retina with m290x, 1tb fusion drive, i5 3.5ghz, and I upgraded the ram myself to 24GB and all in all I have under 2K in the entire setup and couldn't be happier! I encode videos blazing fast with ease with multiple effect filters applied to the timeline and it's just been the most pleasurable experience in my computing history.

DON'T THINK ABOUT IT..BUY IT..it will make you happy for years to come :) You are only current with technology the day it's released, but realize they have already started working on the next best thing the day before that.
 
slimpsy said:
This is the problem with technology, and especially new technology. . . it advances and improves too rapidly to keep up with. Don't beat yourself up over it, and go with your gut. . . you will be happy you did!

I personally was going to wait, and even contemplated getting a late 2013 iMac due to the sometimes better Nvidia GPU (780m) but instead went with the middle ground retina with m290x, 1tb fusion drive, i5 3.5ghz, and I upgraded the ram myself to 24GB and all in all I have under 2K in the entire setup and couldn't be happier! I encode videos blazing fast with ease with multiple effect filters applied to the timeline and it's just been the most pleasurable experience in my computing history.

DON'T THINK ABOUT IT..BUY IT..it will make you happy for years to come :) You are only current with technology the day it's released, but realize they have already started working on the next best thing the day before that.
Click to expand...

I agree, but try to time you purchases with new releases. First time I bought an iPhone 3G, I wasn't aware of Apple's release cycle (it was my first Apple product), and I bought it in June. iPhone 3GS was released in July or something :)

So anyone wanting to buy an iMac 5K for example, should've done it at least a few months ago. Now it makes less sense because new iMacs are definitely coming in 4-5 months, for me, that's close enough, worth the wait so to say.

That being said, I'm always talking from an upgrade perspective. If you already have an older generation, why rush only to regret it a few months down the road? If you don't, or your old iMac died or is dying, sure, buy it today!

I'm also talking from a perspective of a not-so-frequent upgrader. When I buy things I like to use them for at least 4 years, I'm spending a lot of money as it is on devices and what not.

You also have to have a hunch for these things. For example, I wanted to buy a drone so badly, but I wanted a Phantom with a built in 4K camera. I expected them to release it in October, but they only released the DJI Inspire, which was 3 times the price of a Phantom. Normally I'd then settle for Phantom 2, but I just had the hunch that the camera that was in the Inspire was coming sooner or later in Phantom 3. And so it did, it was released last month and I am one of the very proud first owners. It's an amazing piece of hardware, photos and videos are just spectacular. I intend to use it until it breaks, I don't care about Phantom 4 or 5 :)

Wow, I wrote too much...cya!
 
mvnjpy said:
Lol junk? That's kind of harsh. I wouldn't even really call the 2012 imacs junk. It would probably be more than enough for my parents. You're not going to use the next model for 10 years, trust me. I doubt it would even last 5. The target display mode feature seems pretty useless too. Why would you use for example a laptop hooked up to your imac as a monitor instead of the imac itself..
Click to expand...

Just saying that there are still people that use their 30" cinema display as their main monitor but I don't think that there are a lot of people still running the 2004 iMac as their main machine.. The screen in the 5K iMac will probably still be considered good enough in 2025, the rest of the components not so much.. The target display mode would be nice so I can continue to use the screen when the CPU/GPU/RAM starts to suck.. It´s a waste of recourses to just trow away a perfectly good screen. :)
 
Mr. Retrofire said:
Wait for Skylake (iMac), because it will have a similar configuration as this:
- True 10 GBit/s USB 3.1 Gen 2
- Skylake i7 processor
- PCIe 3.0 x4 SSD interface
- Up to 32 GB DDR4 memory
- 3D camera
- USB 3.1 Type-C connectors

Source:
http://www.windowscentral.com/new-asus-zen-aio-pcs-combine-serious-power-serious-style
(via Asus Press Room/Computex/Taipai)
Click to expand...

What is this compared to current? You say "True" 10 Gb/s.. what is it currently? Is the RAM now DDR3? I have a late 2013 27" iMac and have been thinking of upgrading to 5k, but I might wait, depending on what the differences are.
 
cocky jeremy said:
What is this compared to current? You say "True" 10 Gb/s.. what is it currently? Is the RAM now DDR3? I have a late 2013 27" iMac and have been thinking of upgrading to 5k, but I might wait, depending on what the differences are.
Click to expand...
The USB 3.1 in the retina MacBook is USB 3.1 Gen 1 (5 GBit/s, like USB 3.0 in your iMac). DDR3L is the current RAM standard for Ivy Bridge and newer processors.

I doubt that you will see a difference (the retina display excluded). I would wait for OS X 10.11.x, because there are rumours that it is more optimized for retina displays (rMB, rMBP, retina iMac).

Benchmarks show no big performance increase:
Retina iMac (2014) i7-4790K vs. Skylake Core i7-6700K
http://vr-zone.com/articles/first-intel-skylake-desktop-cpu-benchmarks-arrive/90942.html
 
Hey all. I'm on the fence now. I currently have a 2011 Imac with 3.4 ghz core i7 and 16 gb ram.
Click to expand...
My own decision with this same mid-2011 i7 ( which runs great with an SSD ) is to wait for Intel's tock release( Skylake ). Even if Apple produces a Broadwell iMac, in my opinion the tock release versus the tick is preferable. Waiting isn't a problem for me, so the next significant improvement( Skylake plus possible upgrades mentioned by other posters ) will make me a buyer. Of course, personal choice and specific needs of each user vary, so YMMV.
 
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