Year of the retina iMac

[Velin]

Dammit. I am about to pull the trigger on a 2013 refurb iMac, and you had to go and post the Yosemite 4K screen story.

So, will a retina or 4k iMac be released this year, or not. I NEED THE ANSWER.

 

[Roller]

Dammit. I am about to pull the trigger on a 2013 refurb iMac, and you had to go and post the Yosemite 4K screen story.

So, will a retina or 4k iMac be released this year, or not. I NEED THE ANSWER.

Here's your answer: It'll be released or not. 🙂

Seriously, that's all any of us here know for now.

 

[zarf2007]

Dammit. I am about to pull the trigger on a 2013 refurb iMac, and you had to go and post the Yosemite 4K screen story.

So, will a retina or 4k iMac be released this year, or not. I NEED THE ANSWER.

oh wait let me go and call apple.....why do you assume we would have an answer? this is a rumours site....

 

[thedeske]

Dammit. I am about to pull the trigger on a 2013 refurb iMac, and you had to go and post the Yosemite 4K screen story.

So, will a retina or 4k iMac be released this year, or not. I NEED THE ANSWER.

The 2013 is a fantastic machine. Waiting when you need a new machine is silly unless the rumor is about days. All these rumors are in the months range, as in October 2014 to well past the start of 2015.

 

[robgendreau]

Apple may never release a "retina" iMac. Remember that "retina" is a relative term (or marketing), not a standard. It refers to a pixel density at the normal viewing distance that is dense enough that individual pixels can't be discerned. I imagine most folks sit further from an iMac than a MBP, so what would we expect for an iMac over the existing density of say 110? Is there even a panel out there Apple could use and still have an economical iMac?

There are 24" panels with a pixel density of 185. 30" is down around 140; would either qualify as "retina" and be enough of an improvement over the existing panels Apple uses? I'd say conservatively it would drive the cost of an iMac way too high, even for Apple. But maybe not. There's a point where a very large very dense monitor just doesn't make sense from either a performance or a design viewpoint. Unless you like sitting in the front rows of theaters. Apple, if anyone, is probably very sensitive to this. Maybe, since we're speculating, with the integration of iOS/Mac OS we'll have iPads to use as retina displays for iMacs.

Meanwhile, you can wait for a new Apple display instead 🙄 I'm sure there's a rumor thread on that too.

 

[petvas]

Dammit. I am about to pull the trigger on a 2013 refurb iMac, and you had to go and post the Yosemite 4K screen story.

So, will a retina or 4k iMac be released this year, or not. I NEED THE ANSWER.

You should just get a computer when you want and need to, and not depending on rumors. I believe we might see a 21" retina iMac this year, but no 27" model.

 

[Velin]

Thank you for the responses, read all of them. Back to scanning the refurb store.

Someone please return a 27" 780 with 1 gig of flash so I can buy it for $500 less.

 

[robgendreau]

Thank you for the responses, read all of them. Back to scanning the refurb store.

Someone please return a 27" 780 with 1 gig of flash so I can buy it for $500 less.

Hmm, what if YOU did that? Not that I'm advocating that but I wonder if anyone ever wound up with a machine they were already familiar with? Where DO those refurbs come from?

 

[PatriotInvasion]

The ASUS PB279Q is supposed to be out soon, and it is a 27-inch SST 4k IPS display with 10-bit color and 100% sRGB coverage. So, it is basically the 4k version of the panel currently used in the iMac. ASUS said that the price will be well under $1k.

The 27-inch Cinema Display was $999 when the 27-inch iMac was released, so they could technically use this new 4k panel and keep the price the same as it is now, but of course Apple would be losing money because I imagine the 27-inch panels cost much less today than they did when the 27-inch iMac was announced.

Fair enough, but that display isn't even out yet and Apple has never been one to compete on price with lower-cost display manufacturers. Regardless of when and if a 4K iMac is released, expect to pay a hefty premium for it at least initially unless Apple is willing to eat into their margin to drive demand.