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Since 6K screens are getting cheaper, a 32" 6K high-end iMac with M5 Max would be the tops.
(I recall the nice 5K Intel iMac that I used at a friend's house.)
2026 iMac 32" 6K ideally with these price points

- $1,799 M5 16GB memory 256GB storage
- $1,999 M5 16GB memory 512GB storage
- $2,299 M5 24GB memory 512GB storage
- $2,499 M5 Pro 24GB memory 512GB storage
- M5 Max 36GB memory 512GB storage
- M5 Ultra 96GB memory 1TB storage
 
I can see the M6 being a real proper upgrade across the board, especially for the Studio. They may as well scrap the Mac Pro now, I can’t imagine it has very high sales numbers?
I also do not think they will ever launch a 27” iMac now as the Studio has taken over from that, or Apple will not want to cannibalise some of it’s sales with a 27” iMac.

I will be surprised if they update the Mac Pro.
 
Frankly, the M4 is so prodigious and ahead of the competition that Apple should reuse it and reserve the M5 for upper-tier models. Segmentation will help make cheaper options available and guide the consumer.
This is a great mindset to completely loose your lead, a lead - I might add - that isn't that great in the first place, if it still exists at all.
 
Think the first MacBook with M5 will be available by month end. The MacBook Air will launch as usual in March. Not sure about any of the other Macs. Wonder whether Apple will have new colors for iMac.
 
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Great. I am looking into replacing my macbook pro from 2013 to a mac mini and an Asus 6k monitor in 2026 so the timeframe fits perfectly to my plans for the new m5 mac mini model.
 
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2026 iMac 32" 6K ideally with these price points

- $1,799 M5 16GB memory 256GB storage
- $1,999 M5 16GB memory 512GB storage
- $2,299 M5 24GB memory 512GB storage
- $2,499 M5 Pro 24GB memory 512GB storage
- M5 Max 36GB memory 512GB storage
- M5 Ultra 96GB memory 1TB storage
Unlikely to be that cheap. Kuycon G32P retails for about $1,700. So add another $1,000. $2,699 would be the cheapest configuration I'd expect if it was to become real.
 
Apple is neglecting the Mac Studio and the Mac Pro.
The Pro, yes ( quite simply they keep the Pro in the line-up because it is assembled in the USA, so they have one product that can tick the "assembled by US workers" bo, bu they don't actually want people to buy it), but you can't really claim the Studio is being neglected - the most recent chip bump was less than a year ago.
 
The M-series have been great. Still rocking my MacBook Pro M1 Max 64GB that's now almost 4 years old. Really no need to upgrade. Running LLM and VLM pipelines, machine not breaking a sweat... just had to replace a wonky USB-C port last year. I'll hold off until the M6 Max 192GB ;)
 
2026 iMac 32" 6K ideally with these price points

- $1,799 M5 16GB memory 256GB storage
- $1,999 M5 16GB memory 512GB storage
- $2,299 M5 24GB memory 512GB storage
- $2,499 M5 Pro 24GB memory 512GB storage
- M5 Max 36GB memory 512GB storage
- M5 Ultra 96GB memory 1TB storage

256GB is ridiculously small in 2025. 512GB should be the bare minimum and anything labeled Pro (name or chip) needs to start at 1TB.
 
I wonder if ultra chips really are harder or slower to develop or whether they're simply way down the list in terms of commercial impact, which means they get worked on later and with less resources.

My guess is it's the latter, but 🤷‍♂️
 
It means designing and manufacturing a new motherboard, though. A giant, mostly unused PCB designed solely for PCIe slots. The Mac Pro is beyond niche at this point.
It also means designing a new Ultra chip.
I believe that was speculation about why Apple didn’t update the Mac Pro to M3 Ultra at the same time as the Mac Studio.

I think if the Mac Pro chassis lives on, the M2 Ultra motherboard could be exchanged for the M5 Ultra motherboard—the design of the current Mac Pro makes that feasible—everything is on one board, more or less. Embrace the niche!
 
A man can dream that under some crazy circumstances, Timmy Apple decides to start using standard NVME drives instead of the user hostile crap currently in Mac Minis and Studios.

But we know, it wont happen, we are not being fleeced enough.
 
I'm going to hold out for the M6 line (especially for the MacBook Pro for the redesign), but these should be solid upgrades as each generation of Apple Silicon has brought nice benefits.

As for the Mac Pro - very curious to see if it lives to fight another day.
Not me, I am waiting for the M9. That is going to be awesome. Musk wants embedded Neural Link hardware, but Cook is balking about that. Cook is probably thinking, "That is just too damn much innovation!"
 
I wonder if ultra chips really are harder or slower to develop or whether they're simply way down the list in terms of commercial impact, which means they get worked on later and with less resources.

My guess is it's the latter, but 🤷‍♂️
No, they're MUCH harder to build, and the yields are very low. Apparently, the interconnector fusing the two packages together is extremely prone to failing at the testing stage.

It wouldn't surprise me if soon, a new type of "Ultra" chip is released that isn't two Max SoCs fused together, but it a completely new chip instead, as it might end up being cheaper and easier to do.
 
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Frankly, the M4 is so prodigious and ahead of the competition that Apple should reuse it and reserve the M5 for upper-tier models. Segmentation will help make cheaper options available and guide the consumer.
This is the type of thinking that caused Intel to die. Never let a marketing org rule a technology company as it will be their downfall. We see this already at Apple with all the garbage iPhone names and the confusing phone overlap. It's a disaster.
 
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