2017 iMac refresh wish list [merged]

[Trahearne]

If you want to match chip for chip, you have to look at the number of shaders & the planned power usage...not the TDP which represents the max the chip is capable of. As you announced, Vega & Polaris are going hand in hand. The only difference between the two (apart from shaders) is the updated design to optimize Vega. So why not update the Med & Low end chips with that? Because it won't be worth the money. Why didn't they release Polaris chips with the same max shaders as the high end previous gens? Because nVidia beat them to the punch & they want faster high end chips with the same chip size. That's how they make their money.

"Total Board Power" (while sometimes referred as TDP which has a pretty generic and loose definition nowadays) generally refers to the power the whole thing (GPU + memory) can burn at full utilization. Not sure what you meant by "planned power usage".

They are on the (more or less) same process node, so TDP tells you the relative value preposition. I wouldn't call a 232 mm^2 Polaris a "high-end" chip in any sense either. Polaris is just a quick attempt to recapture some lost ground in notebook and mainstream PC. Not brilliant, but it saved AMD some ground.

Vega 10 is expected to be more than a double of the size (and more or less the architectural scale) of Polaris 10 (>480 mm^2), with a more expensive but compact & efficient HBM memory. That's what really high-end is. Moreover, AMD already said there are two Vega GPUs, and if you assume both are using HBM, obviously the second Vega would not be anything weaker than Polaris 10. This means Vega is not going to cover the entire GPU spectrum, but only the high-end. So what fills the hole? Polaris.

 

[xgman]

If we are talking modern design, just look at all the latest TV's monitors and yes even the surface studio. What can Apple do visually to make the imac look more modern? Of course, the bezels... But I'm guessing that is saved for at least another years to refresh if at all. But with the rumors of the new ipad and iphones and bezel shrinking, why not this year? I'm guessing it's just Apple's fiscal priorities and really just design laziness.

 

[hurtmemore]

My wish-list. Semi realistic.

SSD storage - Bump what we get for the price. Too pricy right now for the 512gb option compared to what competition is offering. I hope 512 is the minimum SSD for the higher end iMacs.

Ram - Faster DDR4 specs. And for the love of god please still be user upgradable.

USB - USBC is a given - but I hope they still keep at least 2 USBA. Ease into it with iMac.

Monitor - Target display ability again. I hope I can use it as an external display when I move on down the line.


Redesign ideas

Thinner bezels. But, don't slim down the back too much, needs room for ventilation.

Major redesign (unlikely) - Remember the old iMacs with the internals in the base, monitor was on a pivot? In a lot of ways this could benefit Apple's desktop lineup, especially if they're phasing out Mac Mini and Mac Pro. If the base was modeled more after a Mac Pro - sleek black cylinder, hides behind the monitor - it has much more space for ventilation, better GPU options, user upgradable SSD. And Apple could make the display as thin and light as possible.

 

[pasadena]

My wish-list.

- Design : full glass display, no or small bezels. No chin. Bigger display with the same footprint. I don't care if it's thicker.
- Adjustable *and* removable stand with vesa
- Cheaper SSD storage (or better yet, user upgradable, but there's 0 chance of that) - and if they're going to keep a HDD option, 15k rpm.
- Target display.

- Not going to happen but I would spend all of my retirement money for it : Adjustable touch screen like the Studio

- Wireless keyboard with a numeric keypad and backlit keys.
- A magic mouse that doesn't kill my wrist.

With regards to connectivity, I don't use much, so TB3 would be nice, and at least 2 USB-A ports and Ethernet. If TB3, please update the Mac Mini with it too.

 

[JesperKD]

Wish-list:

• Bring back option to use iMac as external display for other PCs (and not just MacBooks)
• No or small bezel for the display
• Make real the dreams of connecting an external Thunderbolt3 display (matching iMac design) with builtin GPU (interchangeable even) to use as 2ndary display for more performance demanding tasks and/or gaming
• Maybe consider a ultrawide design (34") +/- curved (if not updating the Thunderbolt display)
• Better USB accessibility builtin (maybe at sides or bottom of the iMac)
• Cheaper SSDs

 

[Lankyman]

Perhaps the real question should be is there actually going to be a refreshed iMac or is there going to be 'the new iMac is coming' thread similar to the Mac Mini thread which is now over 3 years old?

All the front page of this forum appears to report on these days is Apple's mobile products.

 

[colodane]

A month or so ago Tim Cook released a statement saying that there would be more to come for the "Mac" later this year. So I'm fairly certain there will be something, at least for the iMac. How interesting it will be, when it will happen and if there will still be a Mac Mini and a Mac Pro are all still open for speculation.

 

[Brookzy]

Perhaps the real question should be is there actually going to be a refreshed iMac or is there going to be 'the new iMac is coming' thread similar to the Mac Mini thread which is now over 3 years old?

All the front page of this forum appears to report on these days is Apple's mobile products.

There will be a new iMac soon. Tim Cook late last year:

"Some folks in the media have raised the question about whether we’re committed to desktops. If there's any doubt about that with our teams, let me be very clear: we have great desktops in our roadmap. Nobody should worry about that."​

 

[richinaus]

There will be a new iMac soon. Tim Cook late last year:

"Some folks in the media have raised the question about whether we’re committed to desktops. If there's any doubt about that with our teams, let me be very clear: we have great desktops in our roadmap. Nobody should worry about that."​

This also gave me confidence that they will release a new Imac soon. It will be interesting to see what happens at that announcement and if other desktops are mentioned.

I will be ordering day 1 a maxed iMac whatever it looks like. could do with it now really but can hold for a few more months.

 

[ThisBougieLife]

My dream would be a 21" iMac with dGPU--that would be preferable to a 15" MBP. But since that's probably never going to happen, it's unlikely I'll be getting any iMac. But I'll be interested to see what they do, especially if they somehow decide to incorporate the touch bar.

 

[Dave245]

This also gave me confidence that they will release a new Imac soon. It will be interesting to see what happens at that announcement and if other desktops are mentioned.

I will be ordering day 1 a maxed iMac whatever it looks like. could do with it now really but can hold for a few more months.

I'm guessing a March event, we may also see iPad updates.

 

[Chud_Man]

Haha I am so desperately holding off a iMac purchase because my 21.5 2009 iMac cooked it's Logicboard and I currently have no computer and am trying to get by on an iPad alone lol come on Apple please announce something I don't want to be the sucker to get shafted with old hardware.

 

[dboris]

By the way, they will have a Thunderbolt 3 port so consider to use iGPU if you want killer performance in FCPX. It's cheaper than paying 300$ for mid-end GPU.

 

[Lankyman]

There will be a new iMac soon. Tim Cook late last year:

"Some folks in the media have raised the question about whether we’re committed to desktops. If there's any doubt about that with our teams, let me be very clear: we have great desktops in our roadmap. Nobody should worry about that."​

That's like a promise of 'jam tomorrow'. No one knows how long this roadmap is, so basically it's simply a mission statement. Talk about a 'teaser statement' and yet you have been hooked at the first opportunity.

Besides very few people in the UK can afford Apple's prices anymore due to Brexit and the collapse of the pound.

 

[richinaus]

That's like a promise of 'jam tomorrow'. No one knows how long this roadmap is, so basically it's simply a mission statement. Talk about a 'teaser statement' and yet you have been hooked at the first opportunity.

I think it would have to be more than a 'mission statement' otherwise Tim will look a bit stupid, but yes you are right, no one really knows how long the roadmap is.

However, I really don't think they can let it slide much beyond Much / April given Kabylake is out and they would have had test chips before Christmas. So lets say that gives them 6 months to sort their **** out - surely they will release them...... or not judging by the MBP wait

It's going to be an interesting few months I think and will also be a good indicator of their overall desktop intentions moving forward, when the iMac is released.

 

[phobos]

What I hope for the most is silent operation.
I own a late 2012 iMac and it can render for days without the fan spinning up.
At work some of my colleagues own maxed out 2015 iMacs. For demanding tasks the noise is unbareable.
After 1 or 2 minutes of the CPU being stressed the fans spin up and they don't spin down unless the task ends.
Zbrush cannot be used without constantly listening to ridiculously loud fans.
I really hope they can solve that otherwise I can't imagine myself using daily a machine that will be so noisy

 

[richinaus]

What I hope for the most is silent operation.
I own a late 2012 iMac and it can render for days without the fan spinning up.
At work some of my colleagues own maxed out 2015 iMacs. For demanding tasks the noise is unbareable.
After 1 or 2 minutes of the CPU being stressed the fans spin up and they don't spin down unless the task ends.
Zbrush cannot be used without constantly listening to ridiculously loud fans.
I really hope they can solve that otherwise I can't imagine myself using daily a machine that will be so noisy

the 2016 15" MBP is certainly a lot more quiet than my 2014 15"MBP so hopefully they will transfer this knowledge. The fans on my 2014 MBP absolutely do my head in !

If the fans are ridiculously loud on the new iMacs, it will be going straight back, and I will be considering my business relationship with Apple [they will remain my personal supplier of choice].

 

[saberfi]

What I hope for the most is silent operation.

I fully agree with this. At the very least under light operation!

I have the 13" MBP 2015, which is semi-passive by design, ie. the fan doesn't spin under low/medium loads. Watching youtube clips @ 1440p etc. still keeps the fans offline, as do all 'normal tasks'.

I understand the thermal constraints with the iMac, but I still believe it can get by easily without active cooling when just browsing the web/youtube/whatnot.

I have a 2008 design desktop as well - naturally it has fans spinning all the time, but in 2017 I pretty much expect dead silence in every day light/medium tasks, even though I hear iMacs are fairly silent even with their constantly active cooling.

 

[ThisBougieLife]

When I briefly had the 4K iMac last summer, I noticed the fans would go crazy just as I browsed through Photos. Though I wonder if that would not have happened on the 5K...

 

[CWallace]

My 2015 5K iMac runs quieter than my 2014 5K. I tend to only notice fan noise when playing video games (like Diablo 3). It's quiet playing videos and browsing the Internet / general purpose tasks.

 

[Icaras]

That's like a promise of 'jam tomorrow'. No one knows how long this roadmap is, so basically it's simply a mission statement. Talk about a 'teaser statement' and yet you have been hooked at the first opportunity.

Besides very few people in the UK can afford Apple's prices anymore due to Brexit and the collapse of the pound.

Yet I remain optimistic the iMac is just around the corner. Last time he gave a statement about upcoming MacBooks Pros last year, they were released shortly thereafter. And coming from a year of absolutely ZERO Mac desktop releases, the iMac must lead the wave this year and the earlier the better.

 

[richinaus]

Yet I remain optimistic the iMac is just around the corner. Last time he gave a statement about upcoming MacBooks Pros last year, they were released shortly thereafter. And coming from a year of absolutely ZERO Mac desktop releases, the iMac must lead the wave this year and the earlier the better.

yes, I don't think there will be many happy customers if this is not released in the next few months. There needs to be a desktop release otherwise there will be significantly more jitters.

 

[Icaras]

yes, I don't think there will be many happy customers if this is not released in the next few months. There needs to be a desktop release otherwise there will be significantly more jitters.

I already had the jitters when 2016 passed without an iMac

Yea. Can't be no longer than first half of 2017. Just can't. Also, I'm against the rumors of no redesign. The new MBP release was long, long overdue and the timing was right for a redesign and it happened. The same thing is currently happening with the iMac. This release is being stretched out beyond Apple's normal time frame. There's pent up demand from their missed release in 2016, and a redesign is due, according to the iMac's timeline. I also expect a Touchbar Keyboard to be released as well with the new butterfly hinge keys.

 

[richinaus]

I already had the jitters when 2016 passed without an iMac

Yea. Can't be no longer than first half of 2017. Just can't. Also, I'm against the rumors of no redesign. The new MBP release was long, long overdue and the timing was right for a redesign and it happened. The same thing is currently happening with the iMac. This release is being stretched out beyond Apple's normal time frame and a redesign is due, according to the iMac's timeline. I also expect a Touchbar Keyboard to be released as well with the new butterfly hinge keys.

I am in the same boat and really wanted the iMac in October, but understand that the CPU's were not available. I am ok as can wait.

I also agree on everything you say about a refreshed design. I would love to see it and it could be something very drastic in change of design [like when they went from the 'lamp' design to the all in one screen design. It is the right time for them to challenge the AIO design given MS are biting at their toes. I am also not that bothered if they don't as the current machine does look great. Reduced bezels only is enough for me really.

 

[Icaras]

I am in the same boat and really wanted the iMac in October, but understand that the CPU's were not available. I am ok as can wait.

I also agree on everything you say about a refreshed design. I would love to see it and it could be something very drastic in change of design [like when they went from the 'lamp' design to the all in one screen design. It is the right time for them to challenge the AIO design given MS are biting at their toes. I am also not that bothered if they don't as the current machine does look great. Reduced bezels only is enough for me really.

Thanks for mentioning the MS Surface Studio. I had almost forgotten about it. That alone is a strong reason right there to release a redesigned iMac.