2017 iMac Discussion (WWDC announcement)

[dgp1]

There was a technical reason - the RAM the 2014 21.5" model used was only available in a soldered format.

Wow, I didn't even know that was a thing. Why is this a thing? Yuck. To me, that's like a tire only available fused to a wheel.

I know it's going to make things thinner to not have slots, and that's why I tolerate it on laptops (but not desktops). But given how much of a waste it is to throw away a computer because it doesn't have enough RAM to keep up anymore, it just makes me sad.

I upgraded three separate friends' pre-retina MacBook Pros from a barely usable stock state at about 4-7 years old, to feeling like new, just by swapping HDD->SSD and maxing out the RAM. Roughly a $200 upgrade for each machine. Sadly, that won't be a thing for most Macs in the future.

 

[sheareb]

So i used to have an iMac ( 2010 iMac, 2.8 i7, 16gb Ram, 1TB HDD)-sorry can't remember the graphics and presently have a late 2013 mob retina (2.4 i5, 8g Ram, intel iris 1GB).

Logic tells me the new base 27 inch model would kick the ass of these and be a major step up? - just hard to equate a new i5 against a 6 year old i& albeit I know its not all about the processor

 

[inhalexhale1]

I plan on holding out for the iMac Pro. I'm very disappointed with the GPU options. I was really hoping to get a nVidia 1070 or 1080 performance equivalent, but we instead get a Radeon 580 that is about 5% below a 1060.

Sure, it's not as good as when they were using the best NVIDIA cards. But the best news is they're officially supporting external graphics. Plus, the 580 is a standard option and not BTO, which is nice.

 

[SoggyCheese]

Might finally replace my mid-2010 iMac in London. It's done its service well, but is beginning to show its age in places now. A Fusion drive equipped high end 21" with 16GB RAM would hopefully keep me going for another 7 years. Looks like a nice machine all in all, although it would be better if the Pound was worth what it used to be.

Saying that, does anyone yet know if Target Display Mode is back in these models? That would be really helpful for when I'm working from home on the company's MBP.

 

[freebo27]

Fusion or SSD? That is the question and any info greatly apprecialted!

 

[Growlernz]

Fusion or SSD? That is the question and any info greatly apprecialted!

Fusion then an external SSD if needed down the track

 

[Swissness]

A couple of random things I noticed:

They tout new improved speakers for iMac Pro. No such mention for the new iMac - it could be that they didn't bother to mention it, but it's a slight bummer if the new speakers are reserved for iMac pro only.

I was kind of disappointed not to hear anything bout the speakers as well.

 

[CWallace]

They tout new improved speakers for iMac Pro. No such mention for the new iMac - it could be that they didn't bother to mention it, but it's a slight bummer if the new speakers are reserved for iMac pro only.

It looks like the iMac Pro's cooling and component placement takes up some of the space the speakers do on the iMac so they had to go with a different design.

 

[Swissness]

You can search online to compare the desktop AMD Radeon RX 580 (Apple likes to replace RX with Pro) to the desktop nVidia GTX 1060 benchmarks.

I think it's a bit of a chilled out version (tech talk) of the RX 580. 5.5 teraflops as opposed to 6.17 or so I've read. I have absolutely no idea what a teraflop is but it's a thing and it's got quite a funky name so it must be important.

 

[SoggyCheese]

I think it's a bit of a chilled out version (tech talk) of the RX 580. 5.5 teraflops as opposed to 6.17 or so I've read. I have absolutely no idea what a teraflop is but it's a thing and it's got quite a funky name so it must be important.

Floating Point Operations Per Second. It's the measure of how fast a chip can do serious number crunching. Tera is of course the same meaning as in Terabyte. i.e 1024x1024X1024x1024, or 1099511627776 calculations per second.

So 5.5 times that number is quite a lot

 

[ivoruest]

I plan on holding out for the iMac Pro. I'm very disappointed with the GPU options. I was really hoping to get a nVidia 1070 or 1080 performance equivalent, but we instead get a Radeon 580 that is about 5% below a 1060.

That is if it is a true desktop card. Otherwise expect a lot worse performance. Especially knowing that Macs tend to have underclocked GPU variants.

So, yeah I'm lost a little bit as well.

 

[Swissness]

Floating Point Operations Per Second. It's the measure of how fast a chip can do serious number crunching. Tera is of course the same meaning as in Terabyte. i.e 1024x1024X1024x1024, or 1099511627776 calculations per second.

So 5.5 times that number is quite a lot

Just as I suspected.

 

[Sam_S]

I was actually impressed with the upgrades Apple offered today, you now get a pretty good package for reasonable money. No big price increase etc. Has everything I was looking for, dGPU in 21.5" and USB-C I'm happy

 

[kazmac]

My 2013 27" model is starting to feel really long in the tooth with the spinner and Sierra. I'll will stretch it out as long as I can, but am very happy to see some solid GPU options in both sizes amongst other things (I need more vRAM). The big test will be how I fare with the screen resolutions...

Can't wait to test these out at the stores.

 

[ajiuo]

i wish they would make it in space gray like the imac pro... a full sized wireless keyboard would also be nice.... only with touch bar support

 

[Crosscreek]

What the hell Apple.

https://www.appleworld.today/blog/2017/6/5/ram-in-the-new-27-inch-imac-isnt-upgradeable

 

[CWallace]

What the hell Apple.

https://www.appleworld.today/blog/2017/6/5/ram-in-the-new-27-inch-imac-isnt-upgradeable

Apple Chat is wrong.

Apple's product page notes that both the 21.5" and 27" use replaceable and upgradeable SO-DIMMs. As with the Late 2015 27" model, there is a cover in the back. The 21.5" will probably need the LCD panel removed (as was the case before the 2014 model).

 

[adnbek]

What the hell Apple.

https://www.appleworld.today/blog/2017/6/5/ram-in-the-new-27-inch-imac-isnt-upgradeable

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...rtainly-coming.1681773/page-395#post-24647060

 

[mollyc]

i wish they would make it in space gray like the imac pro... a full sized wireless keyboard would also be nice.... only with touch bar support

A full sized numeric keyboard is an option for the 27" if you BTO.

 

[CWallace]

A full sized numeric keyboard is an option for the 27" if you BTO.

It's also available for direct sale for $129.

https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MQ052LL/A/magic-keyboard-with-numeric-keypad-us-english?fnode=4c

 

[Crosscreek]

https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...rtainly-coming.1681773/page-395#post-24647060

Yeah, must be fake news or "covfefe".

 

[adnbek]

Yeah, must be fake news or "covfefe".

Covfefe approves

 

[Goetz]

If anyone buys one can you PLEASE check if Target Display Mode is now possible again.

THATS will be the only reason for me to buy a new iMAC !!

 

[dengkai]

"GPU upgrade options to...AMD Radeon 570, 575, or 580. With up to 8 GB VRAM"

These are bona-fide desktop GPUs right? Isn't this a huge upgrade over the mobile ones they have been sticking in their iMacs for the past few years??

It appears they're desktop GPUs, but they're somewhat underclocked compared with the normal RX series GPUs. AMD lists the specs here:

http://creators.radeon.com/radeon-pro/

For reference, the RX 580 and RX 570 come in at 6.17 and 5.1 teraflops, respectively. The Apple 'Pro' versions of the 580, 575 and 570 are listed as 5.5, 4.5 and 3.6 teraflops...pretty big drop in performance.

 

[havenyoung]

If anyone buys one can you PLEASE check if Target Display Mode is now possible again.

THATS will be the only reason for me to buy a new iMAC !!

This! I'm very eager to know too!