27” IMac owners looking to upgrade: What will you do now that the 27” didn’t get an upgrade?

[familychoice]

Problem with the Mini IMO is that you will not want to go with a display that is less than retina in resolution. And such a monitor will be costly as it would have to be 5K in the 27" size.

I would wait until WWDC just to be safe. If we don't get the new bigger iMac at the event, and you don't want to wait until the fall, then I would get a refurbished 27" iMac which right now is $1,439. You can manually add more RAM if needed.

It’s a good plan, but I worry about investing in a temporary solution which is going to lose a lot of value quickly. As it is my intel MacBook Pro 16” won’t be worth much as a trade-in soon, so an M1 Mini would make a better short-term fix, and not lose too much cash in the process.

But yeah, I really want that retina screen. I could plug my MBP into my 24” old monitor here, but it’s such a downgrade in quality I usually don’t bother.

 

[blairh]

A 27” 4K monitor is 329 euro’s, a 32” 4K monitor is 629 euro’s. And a 32” 6K even without backlights will be considerably more, so I think it will be at least 600 euro’s more than the 24” iMac. Factor in higher chip manufacturing costs, and I think 2300 euro’s will be the lowest price we can expect.

Meaning $2,300 in America?

If so that would be a huge difference versus the past where I believe the price difference between an entry level 21" iMac and 27" iMac was always roughly $500. Now it would be $1000. Not so sure that will happen.

Also we don't know if the 27" update will be 32" and 6K (even though that's what I want). Could be 30" and.....5.5K?

 

[imdog]

I know how you feel! I seem to change my mind between a 24" iMac, an 8gb Mini and 16gb Mini on a daily basis!

I'd pretty much decided on the iMac a couple of days ago, but the screen size seems to shrink with every comment I read (just over 23" now), and my current (full) 24" HP monitor doesn't exactly feel huge.

27" would really have been a sweet spot for me, so common sense tells me to wait until the bigger iMac is released, but then if it's a 30 or 32", that'll be too big (and probably out of my budget).

So I swing back to the Mini, but half the recommendations are for a 16gb minimum, and the other half say 8gb will be fine.

I think the best option for me is to wait until June at least, and see if the bigger iMac is released, and if it's too big/pricey, throw my lot in with a decent 16gb Mini spec and 27" external monitor.

I’d give it a less than 5% chance of releasing in June

 

[blairh]

It’s a good plan, but I worry about investing in a temporary solution which is going to lose a lot of value quickly. As it is my intel MacBook Pro 16” won’t be worth much as a trade-in soon, so an M1 Mini would make a better short-term fix, and not lose too much cash in the process.

But yeah, I really want that retina screen. I could plug my MBP into my 24” old monitor here, but it’s such a downgrade in quality I usually don’t bother.

Short term fix? So you want to buy something to hold you over until the larger iMac comes out?

 

[familychoice]

I’d give it a less than 5% chance of releasing in June

Yeah, I can always hope though!

Short term fix? So you want to buy something to hold you over until the larger iMac comes out?

It really depends how long it's going to take to appear - if there's hints in June, and lots of rumours for an autumn release, then I can hang on with what I have. If it's going to be next year, then a refurb Mini I could then resell would be a useful stop-gap. Here's my list of preference for this year:

1. iMac 27/+" 16/512
If the price of the above is too close, or above £3k then either:
2. New Mac Mini 16/512 + a new 27" monitor, or (if the reviews are really good) iMac 24" 16/512

If the larger iMac looks set to be a 2022 release, then:

3. 8/256 or 16/256 refurb Mac Mini and current 24" monitor
This would then be traded in for the bigger iMac when released next year if I can afford it, or option 2. above if I can't.

Basically I don't want to fork out on a long-term desktop if the bigger iMac is coming this year, and within budget, and the 24" isn't attractive enough to jump in on that one yet.

 

[blairh]

Yeah, I can always hope though!

It really depends how long it's going to take to appear - if there's hints in June, and lots of rumours for an autumn release, then I can hang on with what I have. If it's going to be next year, then a refurb Mini I could then resell would be a useful stop-gap. Here's my list of preference for this year:

1. iMac 27/+" 16/512
If the price of the above is too close, or above £3k then either:
2. New Mac Mini 16/512 + a new 27" monitor, or (if the reviews are really good) iMac 24" 16/512

If the larger iMac looks set to be a 2022 release, then:

3. 8/256 or 16/256 refurb Mac Mini and current 24" monitor
This would then be traded in for the bigger iMac when released next year if I can afford it, or option 2. above if I can't.

Basically I don't want to fork out on a long-term desktop if the bigger iMac is coming soon, and within budget, and the 24" isn't attractive enough to jump in on that one yet.

Yeah I think what you should do is pretty obvious then. I would be shocked if the larger iMac refresh does not come in 2021. I just think you more likely will see it this fall vs WWDC.

If you can hold out until the fall, then for sure do so. And if for some reason it doesn't come by say October, you could get a Mini at that point to hold you over until it does.

 

[TitanTiger]

I just upped the RAM in my 2017 27" iMac from the stock 8GB to 40GB and the difference is so striking. I'll definitely be holding off on getting a new M1 iMac for a while, especially given Apple's insane pricing for the specs on the 24" ones.

 

[Geoff777]

My 27” 2017 with fusion drive and 16gb ram seems so slow after the upgrade to Big Sur. I just bought it new a year and a half ago. It was lightning fast on Catalina, huge mistake upgrading.

I’m debating an upgrade to the 2021 to get the fast m1 chip and ssd drive, or maybe just backload to Catalina.

I had the opposite issue.... out of the box it came with High Sierra (I think - long time ago!) and when I did update to Catalina it caused all sorts of problems, including bricking my iMac after "splitting" the fusion drive (according to the Mac experts that put it back together.) Didn't work well after that until I changed to Big Sur. There are certainly issues with Big Sur but I'm glad to have the snap back in the machine.
I hope one of the updates sorts you issues out, good luck! 🤞

 

[4743913]

Will never upgrade my 2020 5k.
bootcamp and applecare+ forever

 

[Hexley]

Just wait until the iMac 27" replacement is announced by WWDC 2021 or December 2021. I expect to receive that unit by Valentines 2022. So I do not obsesses or stress.

My desired I/O for any Mac with Apple Silicon

• 3.5mm headphone
• CompactFlash or CFexpress card slot (I use those devices)
• At least two 10Gbps USB-A/USB3 ports
• At least two 40Gbps USB-C/USB4/TB4 ports
• At least a 1Gb Ethernet port or faster
• HDMI 2.1 for Mac notebooks & Mac mini
• MagSafe 3 for Mac notebooks

Dongles wouldn't be a thing to have from 2016-onwards if Apple only kept to these I/O ports

 

[macmedal]

Just ordered 2020 27 iMac, need to upgrade and the currant inability to boot camp Windows makes it undesirable for me anyway.

 

[Geoff777]

Just ordered 2020 27 iMac, need to upgrade and the currant inability to boot camp Windows makes it undesirable for me anyway.

Apparently Parallels 16 works with M1 chips.....

 

[CWallace]

Apparently Parallels 16 works with M1 chips.....

Yes, but it is the ARM version of Windows and it's application support is still dominated by older 32-bit versions, though Microsoft continues to expand 64-bit support (and Office and Edge are now native64).

So if your Windows Workflow is mostly Intel (and 64-bit), getting the 2020 Core-family machines might be the better option.

 

[macmedal]

Windows is purely light gaming for me best speeds out of the 5700xt are in native windows it seems. Hopefully the future will include ARM boot camp for windows but I am not holding my breath.

 

[mikehalloran]

I see that some of the prices on the 2020 27" have come down. The one I bought is now only $5,999 + $629 for the RAM upgrade from OWC—pretty good value. My 18 Core iMac Pro smokes it on some tasks and runs quieter but either machine can do what we need around here.

Bottom line: no one's in a hurry.

That said, I could make do with an M1 if it had a bigger screen and 8TB storage and 10GBE onboard. If the replacement for the 27" doesn't have functionality, my iMP can go quietly chugging along for a few more years, no doubt.

Apple can keep the new color palette. I have no interest in it.

Just because there's no hurry nor immediate need, doesn't mean I don't want one.

 

[Traverse]

I will be waiting. I love my 27" iMac and wouldn't want to downgrade the screen. I planned on keeping my current iMac for a very long time as I don't do anything too intensive (a 2017 model), but the jump to Apple Silicone was far bigger than I thought.

I want the biggest iMac I can get the most storage I can afford (currently only have 1TB internal); so the current 24" model doesn't fit my needs. The rumors about a mini-LED screen excite me. I haven't been this excited for a Mac in a long time.

I am extremely curious to see what the higher-end iMac looks like. Is there a 27" iMac which is just a more powerful variant of the 24"? Do they do a 30" to 32" "Pro" model with mini-LED? My current model cost $3,200, so I'll be curious to see what I can get for that. I'm willing to go up to $5,500 depending on what the lineup looks like.

 

[Traverse]

Question: Is there anywhere to see a reliable comparison between the graphics performance of the M1 vs the 2017 iMac Radeon Pro 580? While geek bench provides a pretty good historical GPU test, not all the iMacs show on the graphics test and I feel like the 2020/2021 tests aren't on the same platform as any of the GPU tests.

Couldn't find it on Geekbench, but I did find this YouTube video that claims that the 2017 iMac still has 2x the GPU performance compared to the M1, but that's a dGPU vs the integrated M1. I'm really curious to see how Apple approaches higher-end GPUs.

 

[Lemon Olive]

Meaning $2,300 in America?

If so that would be a huge difference versus the past where I believe the price difference between an entry level 21" iMac and 27" iMac was always roughly $500. Now it would be $1000. Not so sure that will happen.

Also we don't know if the 27" update will be 32" and 6K (even though that's what I want). Could be 30" and.....5.5K?

You're holding on to the past here. The 24" iMac replaces the 21" and 27" iMacs, for the consumer space.
What's left is for Apple to release a Pro machine. And where that starts in price is not relative to the 24" model at all.

 

[petvas]

I am starting to think that Apple will replace the 27" model with a 32" one. If this is the case, then the new iMac would be too big for me, so I am thinking of buying the 24" iMac.. I had already placed an order for my wife, so I will wait to see if I like the display size and the general performance, before making a buying decision.

 

[blairh]

You're holding on to the past here. The 24" iMac replaces the 21" and 27" iMacs, for the consumer space.
What's left is for Apple to release a Pro machine. And where that starts in price is not relative to the 24" model at all.

Completely disagree. 24” is a concession for people wanting a larger iMac. They will release a proper larger model that isn’t Pro in price.

 

[blairh]

I am starting to think that Apple will replace the 27" model with a 32" one. If this is the case, then the new iMac would be too big for me, so I am thinking of buying the 24" iMac.. I had already placed an order for my wife, so I will wait to see if I like the display size and the general performance, before making a buying decision.

More likely to be 30”.

 

[Lemon Olive]

Completely disagree. 24” is a concession for people wanting a larger iMac. They will release a proper larger model that isn’t Pro in price.

They will not. And that could not be more clear at this point. You might not like that, but that shouldn't affect your ability to see what is happening. If Apple intended to offer a consumer level iMac that was the same as the 24" model but simply larger, they would have done so already. At the same time as the recent model. Also, the fact that they aimed for a 24" model that is 4.5K that splits the difference between the outgoing models hammers it home quite significantly.

The larger model will not simply be larger. It will be a Pro model in every way, sporting higher performance, higher resolution, and much higher starting price.

 

[blairh]

They will not. And that could not be more clear at this point. You might not like that, but that shouldn't affect your ability to see what is happening. If Apple intended to offer a consumer level iMac that was the same as the 24" model but simply larger, they would have done so already. At the same time as the recent model. Also, the fact that they aimed for a 24" model that is 4.5K that splits the difference between the outgoing models hammers it home quite significantly.

The larger model will not simply be larger. It will be a Pro model in every way, sporting higher performance, higher resolution, and much higher starting price.

I completely disagree. And you cannot say with any certainty that will happen, despite your tone. To not offer a larger iMac at a starting price of $1,800-$2,000 would be a huge mistake. You should not have to pay $2,500 and up just because you want an iMac larger than 24”.

 

[petvas]

We can only speculate about what will happen, but most reports and rumors suggest that the bigger iMac will be the pro model and will be probably bigger than 27". I guess time will tell. I just hope that the starting price will not be 5000$ but 2500-3000$.
I find the 27" display of my iMac big enough. Sometimes I think it is really big, but most of the times I am ok with it. If Apple makes a 32" or 30" iMac (Pro) I will have to start considering the 24". To be honest, I am already considering it. I find its design great and the M1 CPU is perfect for my needs. I just wished that RAM could be upgraded to 32GB, but 16GB is for most usage scenarios more than ok. (for me)

 

[subjonas]

They will not. And that could not be more clear at this point. You might not like that, but that shouldn't affect your ability to see what is happening. If Apple intended to offer a consumer level iMac that was the same as the 24" model but simply larger, they would have done so already. At the same time as the recent model. Also, the fact that they aimed for a 24" model that is 4.5K that splits the difference between the outgoing models hammers it home quite significantly.

The larger model will not simply be larger. It will be a Pro model in every way, sporting higher performance, higher resolution, and much higher starting price.

The only thing we can reasonably know for sure is that there is a bigger more powerful iMac coming, since it has always had at least 2 size+performance categories since near the beginning. The question we’re really asking here is merely how much more powerful it will be, which will indicate its name as well as its price.
Personally I see this bigger iMac getting the same processor as the 16” MBP, which would be more in line with the relationship between the previous 21” and 27” iMacs. For it to be more like an iMac Pro, it will need an even higher performance chip, closer to whatever they’re going to put in the AS Mac Pro. But I don’t think this is likely because it would probably make it prohibitively more expensive to the existing target market that is accustomed to the larger screen. After nearly two decades, why would Apple suddenly force the two 21” and 27” groups into one? Also keep in mind the new 24” is only slightly larger than the previous 21” iMac because of the shrunken bezels. And considering Apple has been shrinking bezels and growing screens and devices a lot as of late, it’s only reasonable the think they’d do the same for both the 21” and 27” iMacs. It’s more likely that the iMac Pro was a one off that only served to fill the void left by the infamous Mac Pro fiasco.
It’s certainly possible the larger iMac will be a “Pro”, but it’s not likely in my opinion for the reasons stated. In any case, it’s clearly far from clear.