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When can we expect Skylake DDR4 iMacs? Is it worth to wait?

I

iRight

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 18, 2013
24
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As the title says.

I expect it to not lag while editing Full HD video and while working with Photoshop.

As for gaming: Blizzard games + Lineage Eternal ( on boot camp or parallels) https://www.youtube.com/user/lineageforums

I need it to run smoothly the things I mentioned at least for 5 years.

I'm thinking about buying 32GB DDR4 version with high-end Graphics, high-end Skylake processor and 256GB SSD (it's enough for me).

Thank you.
 
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iRight said:
As the title says.

I expect it to not lag while editing Full HD video and while working with photoshop.

As for gaming: Blizzard games + Lineage Eternal ( on boot camp or parallels) https://www.youtube.com/user/lineageforums

I want it to run smoothly at least for 5 years.

I'm thinking about buying 32GB DDR4 version with high end Graphics, high end Skylake processor and 256GB SSD (it's enough for me).

Thank you.
Click to expand...

Difficult to say... I wouldn't necessarily blame apple for the Photoshop lag though, as its nothing new that Adobe doesn't always optimize very good.

Like most people will say, if you can wait, wait, if you need it now, buy it now. You wont be disappointed either way.

Skylake wont be as much of a difference for desktop as it will for laptop, from what we know as of now.

But dont expect wonders...
 
Dubadai said:
Difficult to say... I wouldn't necessarily blame apple for the Photoshop lag though, as its nothing new that Adobe doesn't always optimize very good.

Like most people will say, if you can wait, wait, if you need it now, buy it now. You wont be disappointed either way.

Skylake wont be as much of a difference for desktop as it will for laptop, from what we know as of now.

But dont expect wonders...
Click to expand...

I just wonder if the new iMacs will switch over to the new USB-C. I have a 2010 iMac and just missed USB 3, which has sucked for the past couple of years. I personally am going to wait for the new model for a variety of reasons, but not wanting to miss another industry shift is definitely one of them.
 
richpjr said:
I just wonder if the new iMacs will switch over to the new USB-C. I have a 2010 iMac and just missed USB 3, which has sucked for the past couple of years. I personally am going to wait for the new model for a variety of reasons, but not wanting to miss another industry shift is definitely one of them.
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I understand that missing USB3 is a big one, but I really can't see them ditching all USB3. They might replace a few of them, but not all.

I could see them replacing regular USB in the Late 2016 at the earliest.

There is a big difference between the mobility concept of the New MacBook compared to the iMac. Therefore I don't think that they will replace all the regular USB3 yet in the iMac.
 
iRight said:
As the title says.

I expect it to not lag while editing Full HD video and while working with Photoshop.

As for gaming: Blizzard games + Lineage Eternal ( on boot camp or parallels) https://www.youtube.com/user/lineageforums

I need it to run smoothly the things I mentioned at least for 5 years.

I'm thinking about buying 32GB DDR4 version with high-end Graphics, high-end Skylake processor and 256GB SSD (it's enough for me).

Thank you.
Click to expand...


Lag? Well, it depends what you consider 'lagging'. Because I tried running Photoshop CC 2015 on a 2009, Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro and it doesn't 'lag' with some very large images. At home, I have the i5 M290X 16Gb RAM iMac 5K and it never lags in the latest Photoshop. And I work with 7000x6000px images all the time, with lot's of layers.

And for gaming, Blizzard games fly on current iMacs, even the base model.

Maybe I misunderstood you, but it's not like we need Skylake for iMacs not to lag while editing Full HD or Photoshop. And it's not like you need upgraded CPUs and GPUs. For example, Photoshop flies on current i5 CPUS. And last gen CPUs. Honestly, I have a Core 2 Quad Q6600 that is 7 years old in my old PC and Photoshop doesn't lag. In truth, you won't see any difference with Skylake when it comes to Photoshop.

Also, since you mentioned it in both the title and the post - just to make it clear "DDR4" RAM won't make no perceivable difference in performance to current DDR3 RAM whatsoever. None.

So, while it's fine to wait for new iMacs at this point, all the things you mention are perfectly achievable with current iMacs, and they will most likely last for 5 years for Photoshop and video editing. I'm not sure what Blizzard games will need in terms of hardware 5 years from now, but you'll probably be able to play those too.

As for Skylake, they should supposedly launch this month if I'm not mistaken, which means that it's possible we'll see new iMacs in a few months, so waiting is probably not a bad idea. Then again, everything is just speculation and no one knows what Apple will do.
 
Dubadai said:
I understand that missing USB3 is a big one, but I really can't see them ditching all USB3. They might replace a few of them, but not all.

I could see them replacing regular USB in the Late 2016 at the earliest.

There is a big difference between the mobility concept of the New MacBook compared to the iMac. Therefore I don't think that they will replace all the regular USB3 yet in the iMac.
Click to expand...

They probably won't replace all of them - but this Apple and they are not prone to hanging onto legacy devices or technology - look at the new Macbook.
 
richpjr said:
They probably won't replace all of them - but this Apple and they are not prone to hanging onto legacy devices or technology - look at the new Macbook.
Click to expand...

Yes of course, but the reason they went with the new port for the New Macbook was for the sole purpose of having an extremely mobile device that could use one port to charge etc. There is no indication that the new iMac will replace that many ports this year, and therefore render the older USB3 iMac's obsolete.

The New Macbook is an extreme portable, the iMac is not, therefore there is no rush to replace the USB3 ports. The market hasn't even filled with USB C devices yet. No one is going to want to use adaptors for their iMac.....
 
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Dubadai said:
Yes of course, but the reason they went with the new port for the New Macbook was for the sole purpose of having an extremely mobile device that could use one port to charge etc. There is no indication that the new iMac will replace that many ports this ear, and therefore render the older USB3 iMac's "useless".

The New Macbook is an extreme portable, the iMac is not.
Click to expand...
Why would it render anything "useless"? All you need is a USB3.1 Type-C to USB3 Type-A adapter or replacement cable. You can already get them for less than $10.

I think it would be very like Apple to change all the USB Type-A ports to Type-C ports. Not saying it will happen, but I wouldn't be surprised if it did.
 
ixxx69 said:
Why would it render anything "useless"? All you need is a USB3.1 Type-C to USB3 Type-A adapter or replacement cable. You can already get them for less than $10.

I think it would be very like Apple to change all the USB Type-A ports to Type-C ports. Not saying it will happen, but I wouldn't be surprised if it did.
Click to expand...

I changed my post just as you replied to it.

I just believe that it will be too big of a change in one year, especially since the market hasn't adapted fast enough. I work at one of the largest computer stores in Sweden and we don't have a single USB-C product yet. The market isn't ready. The use of it in the new MacBook is due to the size and use of it for everything that it needs. It's not meant to be plugged in. An iMac is meant to be "plugged", hence why people use it as a workstation.

How on earth is a full on USB-C adaptation this fall something realistic...?
 
Dubadai said:
I changed my post just as you replied to it.

I just believe that it will be too big of a change in one year, especially since the market hasn't adapted fast enough. I work at one of the largest computer stores in Sweden and we don't have a single USB-C product yet. The market isn't ready. The use of it in the new MacBook is due to the size and use of it for everything that it needs. It's not meant to be plugged in. An iMac is meant to be "plugged", hence why people use it as a workstation.

How on earth is a full on USB-C adaptation this fall something realistic...?
Click to expand...
The same thing could be said about a lot of transition to various ports. It's just not like Apple to offer redundant ports solely because of form factor. Unlike PCs that still have a mishmash of USB2 and USB3 ports, and VGA, DVI, DP, HDMI... it's not uncommon to see a single PC with all of those.

Apple went to the original USB all at once (they didn't keep the legacy ports). From USB2 to USB3 all at once. FW400 to FW800 (different port form factor) all at once. When they transitioned to TB, they eliminated FW, they didn't have both.

When those transitions happen, people use adapters where needed, doesn't matter if it's a laptop or desktop.

Again, I don't disagree that this fall might be too soon, but again, I wouldn't be surprised. And I wouldn't be surprised when it does happen that all of the USB ports are switched to Type-C rather than having both.
 
USB-C on an iMac won't be that useful until the following things happen:

Economical USB-C flash drives, which actually do need to be plugged and unplugged more than once in a great while.

20111004.gif


Zach Weiner SMBC

And 10 Gbit USB-3.1 or Thunderbolt 3. Until those things happen, USB-C is interchangeable with USB-A.
 
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Dubadai said:
In other words, unless the new iMac has a drastically improved GPU, along with some new features in managing the heat, there is no need to feel like a hopeless loser when the new iMacs comes out ;)
Click to expand...
Pretty much a spot on summation.
 
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I would expect the Skylake iMacs to have USB 3.1 with perhaps 3 standard "type a" connection ports, and perhaps one USB-c port thrown in for good measure.

If no USB-c port, expect 4 USB3.1 type a ports...
 
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Dubadai said:
In other words, unless the new iMac has a drastically improved GPU, along with some new features in managing the heat, there is no need to feel like a hopeless loser when the new iMacs comes out ;)
Click to expand...

Most CPU generations only offer an incremental update. The advantages come with new feature support. With Skylake this appears to be DDR4 RAM, which could make a decent difference for some tasks, and Thunderbolt 3 support, so an external 5K monitor will be possible to match the retina iMac screen.
 
Moonjumper said:
With Skylake this appears to be DDR4 RAM, which could make a decent difference for some tasks
Click to expand...

Not really a lot of difference.

For every computing task, you can come up with an edge case that pretty much depends on the newer tech.
4k video editing (SSD)
photoshop with really big images and many layers. (lots of memory)

I'm sure DDR4 has a similar edge case--perhaps related to scientific computing, though interconnect speed is probably much more important.

But, it's hard to hit. Perhaps the Iris Pro GPU can make use of it, though most serious 3D is done on a card with its own ram.
 
Moonjumper said:
Most CPU generations only offer an incremental update. The advantages come with new feature support.
Click to expand...
Not really. This wasn't the case not that long ago. But now AMD offers no competition and I suspect that we're also running up into the limits of what we can do with silicon. Intel are now extending the tick tock cycle to 3 years from 2 and Moore's law is in trouble.
 
With Z170 and Skylake Deskop Processors launching today and can order online where they have unstuck then in theory shouldn't be too much longer to wait.
With Alpine Ridge being the Thunderbolt Controller also adding support for USB 3.1 then no particular reason why no USB-C style connectors on new iMacs. Z170 itself only supports USB3. Unless of course Apple doesn't implement TB on the new iMacs. I would imagine this is unlikely.
AMD (seem to be Apples Choice of GPU these days) M3xx series chips are out as well offering (some) upgrade over the M200 used in the existing iMac

As such the parts are out now, so really shouldn't be too much longer. Maybe launch with El Capitan?
 
jerwin said:
source?
Click to expand...

note that is in brackets, and the words "seems to be"
It is a comment not a statement!

when was the last nvidia gpu launched in a Mac

Mac Pro's - AMD GPU's
Retina MBPro's - AMD GPU's
Retina iMacs - AMD GPU's

You have to go back to the current non-Retina iMacs (launched 2013) to find an nVidia GPU in a current shipping Mac.

Hence the comment that AMD SEEMS to be be Apples Choice of GPU these days. I am not saying that they will come with AMD GPU's simply that current launches indicate that Apple are choosing AMD GPU's these days over Nvidia. As recently as May then the rMBP launched with M370x GPU's from AMD, so there are upgrades from the M200 series used in the Retina 5K iMacs available and out for a Skylake iMac.
 
Actually, I'm more curious about any benchmarks which point to the m3xx as being anything more than rebadged m2xx chips.
 
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