When should I buy a new 27" iMac

[patearrings]

Hi guys,

I wonder if you can help me. I want to buy a new 27" iMac (probably retina) but after reading the buyers guide I am a little confused as to what has been speed bumped and when. I read that the 21.5" is expected to get an update in an October event but no mention of the 27" or 27" retina.

If someone could explain exactly what was updated when and if it is prudent to buy a 27" retina now or wait I would be really grateful. I don't want to wait another 2 months for the October event if I may as well just buy it now.

Also, do the 21.5" & 27" iMacs still allow you to upgrade your ram or have they stopped that now?

Many thanks!

 

[Liffey]

The last refresh was October 2014. There will likely be another one this October.

Depends what you are using it for. If it is basic usage like browsing and documents, it really doesn't matter. If you are doing heavy tasks, you should wait til October.

Only 27" iMacs let you upgrade RAM.

 

[redheeler]

Even I get confused when looking at the iMac Buyer's Guide. It's a mess. Let me clarify:

The 27" Retina was introduced on October 16, 2014. There is a mid 2015 model, released on May 19 of this year, but it's a separate low-end model and uses lower-end versions of the late 2014 hardware. The 27" and 21.5" non-Retina were both last updated in October 2013, with the exception of a low-end 21.5" from June 2014.

A 27" Retina update is still possible in October, but it also might not happen until 2016. We really don't know for sure yet, seeing as most of the attention will be on a 21.5" (likely Broadwell) Retina 4K come October. The current Retina iMacs are still great machines, so it's up to you if you decide to wait.

The RAM on the 27" is user-upgradeable, but not so on the 21.5", at least not nearly as easily.

 

[patearrings]

Thanks ever so much for these wonderful replies guys. You have cleared it up for me. I'm glad I'm not the only one confused by the buyers guide info.

As know one know for sure, I think I will wait until the October event and see what they release. If there is no 27" (non-retina) upgrade, I will probably just go for the 2014 27" retina as I want a strong machine.

 

[redheeler]

If there is no 27" (non-retina) upgrade, I will probably just go for the 2014 27" retina as I want a strong machine.

The 27" non-Retina is being phased out, so I highly doubt there will be an update. Retina/HiDPI is the future.

 

[AlifTheUnseen]

Thanks ever so much for these wonderful replies guys. You have cleared it up for me. I'm glad I'm not the only one confused by the buyers guide info.

As know one know for sure, I think I will wait until the October event and see what they release. If there is no 27" (non-retina) upgrade, I will probably just go for the 2014 27" retina as I want a strong machine.

Good decision. The Skylake 4-core i7-6700k is out, as seems to be the NVIDIA 990m GPU… don't know much about the amd gpu schedule (there's another thread on the current first forum page on the AMD M395x). So, basically, I think most of the 'visible' components should be available for a October event. Don't know about interfaces etc...

However, Apple may choose to wait for an updated (Skylake-E) edition, maybe spring 2016? Who knows? The spring release would open up some interesting gpu options… so… it's basically open…. I personally wait for october to replace my mid-2010 iMac…

 

[patearrings]

The 27" non-Retina is being phased out, so I highly doubt there will be an update. Retina/HiDPI is the future.

So you think there will be no new 27" imacs, retina or non-retina in the October event?

 

[redheeler]

So you think there will be no new 27" imacs, retina or non-retina in the October event?

As I said, there's a chance for a 27" Retina update, but it also might not happen until 2016. The non-Retina is being phased out and likely won't see another update, just like what happened to the non-Retina MBP.

 

[patearrings]

As I said, there's a chance for a 27" Retina update, but it also might not happen until 2016. The non-Retina is being phased out and likely won't see another update, just like what happened to the non-Retina MBP.

Many thanks for your help Red, I'm very grateful.

 

[Serban]

The retina 27" will be updated in oct, with skylake and amd M395x or Amd nano, with thunderbolt 3 and the fastest SSD read and write around 1400.
Also the 21.5" will take the 4k skylake cpu
Remember it is a question about skylake and if Intel will ship to Apple in time for November release

 

[loekf]

Announcements next month I think. Usually they do iPhones first, iPads + iMacs at another event in October. There's some doubt though (rumors) that Intel's Skylake CPUs won't be available until early Q1.