Any educated guesses on the 2018 iMac (not pro)

[Mr. Dee]

Huh? Pretty much all those things (except for maybe HomePod) would get updated every year, or almost every year.


They will not delete all the K models. That would be a very foolish business decision, as they are extremely popular upgrades that generate increased revenue. The problem with the iMac Pro is that it is way over the budget of many at iMac customers.

Most people aren’t going to jump an 8-core iMac Pro just because a 6-core i7 is not available.


The chin is too big, which makes the screen quite high. Not the best for ergonomics.

According to Jony Ive, engineering revisions to each product is not a drop in some new chips and be done with it. If that was the case, we would have MacBook Pro's with Coffee Lake chips already.

These things take time to test and engineer. Work on the iPhone X started back as far as 2014 if you take into account Face ID; and they had to work hard to engineer the Super OLED. The iMac Pro wasn't a one year decision either. I'm sure to create a Plus variant of the iPhone X is not gonna be easy because they got the hard work done with the X.

Can you manufacturer a 6.5 inch all super OLED phone at scale? Can you make it convenient to hold, can we get enough OLED panels for it. What are the performance criteria's for the SoC?

They don't have engineers in great abundance they can just allocate to these projects. Most times, its the same team that did both Mac and iPad and HomePod. Thats a lot of work for a still relatively small group of people.

 

[EugW]

According to Jony Ive, engineering revisions to each product is not a drop in some new chips and be done with it. If that was the case, we would have MacBook Pro's with Coffee Lake chips already.

These things take time to test and engineer. Work on the iPhone X started back as far as 2014 if you take into account Face ID; and they had to work hard to engineer the Super OLED. The iMac Pro wasn't a one year decision either. I'm sure to create a Plus variant of the iPhone X is not gonna be easy because they got the hard work done with the X.

Can you manufacturer a 6.5 inch all super OLED phone at scale? Can you make it convenient to hold, can we get enough OLED panels for it. What are the performance criteria's for the SoC?

They don't have engineers in great abundance they can just allocate to these projects. Most times, its the same team that did both Mac and iPad and HomePod. Thats a lot of work for a still relatively small group of people.

Case in point:

iMac i7 7700K is loud under load.
iMac i5 7600 is quiet under load.

Both machines use the exact same cooling. There is no custom design for each chip class. They just came up with one design and dropped in the various chips.

 

[danielwsmithee]

Case in point:

iMac i7 7700K is loud under load.
iMac i5 7600 is quiet under load.

Both machines use the exact same cooling. There is no custom design for each chip class. They just came up with one design and dropped in the various chips.

This is exactly why it wouldn't surprise me if they stop offering the K series CPUs on the iMac Pro. The current iMac simply isn't designed to run quietly with a 95W TDP CPU.

I hope they update the standard iMac with the thermal cooling system of the iMac Pro which supports 140W CPUs.

 

[Mac32]

For standard desk height and mainstream seating and physical height ranges, it is too tall by most ergonomic rules. And yes, I know several people who complain about its height, myself included.

Yes personal preference is important but monitors have less issues because the chin is smaller and many have adjustable heights.

There is a partial solution though, which is to use a third party VESA mount. Unfortunately, good quality ones that work well with the 27” iMac are very expensive and are restricting. Plus they are still limited by the chin.

That’s totally wrong in my experience. It’s the low monitors that hurt your neck. The chin on the iMac is great in that way - for ergonomics that is.

 

[fokmik]

i wonder if the upcoming imac 2018 will run quieter under load

 

[EugW]

That’s totally wrong in my experience. It’s the low monitors that hurt your neck. The chin on the iMac is great in that way - for ergonomics that is.

According to standard ergonomics guidelines that is generally not true, but of course if you happen to be 6’6” that probably wouldn’t apply to you.

Generally eye level should be near the top of the screen. ie. Eye level should be where the macOS menu bar is located. This is from nationally recognized guidelines in various countries.

One of the reasons some occupational therapists loved the lampshade iMac was because of its height adjustability.

So if you’re a 5’2” female then in most scenarios the 27” iMac is too tall, but can’t easily be adjusted lower.

It’s easy to adjust higher with a stand but with the 27” iMac it’s a major hassle and major expense to adjust lower, and even with that expense it’s limited adjustment because of the chin.

 

[fokmik]

that is not a problem, a modular chair fix it

 

[Trebuin]

i wonder if the upcoming imac 2018 will run quieter under load

If they swap to the pro interior design, it will be quieter. If you want it quiet now...just disabled the turboboost feature until you actually need it.

If you have a program that stresses every core it has assess to, turboboost won't help much at all. For an i7, it would be like having 4 full threads & 4 additional threads that only give you about a 5% overall performance boost for double the power & heat. Shut them off & you lose 5%, but they run much, much cooler & don't need the fans running.

I'm surprised Apple hasn't taken advantage of this.

 

[fokmik]

i dont think for me the cpu is the problem...since my last imac with 780M never ever had more than 1800 RPM...and now i almost have in the same scenarios 2200RPM

 

[Ph.D.]

With the iMac Pro giving power-users an option, and plenty of mid-range options in the current crop of iMacs and their likely follow-ons, I think there's room for a fanless iMac.

It could use a powerful laptop-level CPU with a next-gen high-end laptop GPU (maybe one of those new processor+graphics hybrid units), flash only, low-power ram, etc. A slimmed-down (e.g. laptop-thin) aluminum enclosure - perhaps finned - could itself act as a giant heat sink.

There are plenty of people who would like something like this for office applications, etc. Even if a fan remains absolutely needed when playing a game or something, Apple needs to drop the minimum (idle) fan speed to 0 RPM. The present minimum of 1200 RPM is far higher than necessary at idle (don't ask me how I know!).

Oh, and slim down the bezels and chin and/or offer a larger screen - preferably OLED, though that likely remains out of reach for a few more years.

 

[William Payne]

With the iMac Pro giving power-users an option, and plenty of mid-range options in the current crop of iMacs and their likely follow-ons, I think there's room for a fanless iMac.

It could use a powerful laptop-level CPU with a next-gen high-end laptop GPU (maybe one of those new processor+graphics hybrid units), flash only, low-power ram, etc. A slimmed-down (e.g. laptop-thin) aluminum enclosure - perhaps finned - could itself act as a giant heat sink.

There are plenty of people who would like something like this for office applications, etc. Even if a fan remains absolutely needed when playing a game or something, Apple needs to drop the minimum (idle) fan speed to 0 RPM. The present minimum of 1200 RPM is far higher than necessary at idle (don't ask me how I know!).

Oh, and slim down the bezels and chin and/or offer a larger screen - preferably OLED, though that likely remains out of reach for a few more years.

From what I can gather from user responses OLED isn't really there yet, it looks good and all but has burn in issues and issues with colour shift when viewed on an angles.

I have never used it myself but those are common complaints.

 

[gooimac]

With the iMac Pro giving power-users an option, and plenty of mid-range options in the current crop of iMacs and their likely follow-ons, I think there's room for a fanless iMac.

It could use a powerful laptop-level CPU with a next-gen high-end laptop GPU (maybe one of those new processor+graphics hybrid units), flash only, low-power ram, etc. A slimmed-down (e.g. laptop-thin) aluminum enclosure - perhaps finned - could itself act as a giant heat sink.

There are plenty of people who would like something like this for office applications, etc. Even if a fan remains absolutely needed when playing a game or something, Apple needs to drop the minimum (idle) fan speed to 0 RPM. The present minimum of 1200 RPM is far higher than necessary at idle (don't ask me how I know!).

Oh, and slim down the bezels and chin and/or offer a larger screen - preferably OLED, though that likely remains out of reach for a few more years.

Gosh I would love a fanless/completely silent iMac..

 

[fokmik]

Gosh I would love a fanless/completely silent iMac..

yes but you will have a 15W cpu at most...i think a 12" Macbook with a monitor is the same deal

 

[MistrSynistr]

iMac is beyond due for a chassis redesign.

But they won't do it, because then it would look more modern and sleek than the iMac Pro they just released. This is called "booking yourself into a corner".

 

[Samuelsan2001]

To answer simply 6 core intel chips and whatever the latest amd consumer graphics are that fall within the correct tdp.

 

[Mac32]

I couldn't care less about a design change. Just upgrade the fan system (similar to iMac Pro), and put in a 6 core CPU and powerful GPU without throttling and unnecessarily high temperatures.

 

[PowerGala]

I’m hoping for a 6 Core i5, still user upgradable RAM and a pre-configured model with an SSD before August.

A post-purchase VESA kit would be really nice too.

 

[enc0re]

I'm hoping they copy over the internals of the iMac Pro. That'll allow for a lot more GPU TDP. The trade off would be no more user upgradable ram and no more HDD. I can live with that.

 

[Fishrrman]

gooimac wrote:
"Gosh I would love a fanless/completely silent iMac.."

Almost certainly never going to happen.
The iMacs tend to run on the hot side now, and that's WITH fans inside...

 

[PowerGala]

gooimac wrote:
"Gosh I would love a fanless/completely silent iMac.."

Almost certainly never going to happen.
The iMacs tend to run on the hot side now, and that's WITH fans inside...

I mean, they could do it, but it would be a very different beast. You’re looking at either performance similar to the MacBook with no 5K option or an ARM based iMac with a beefed up A11.

 

[danielwsmithee]

I’m hoping for a 6 Core i5, still user upgradable RAM and a pre-configured model with an SSD before August.

A post-purchase VESA kit would be really nice too.

Why are people interested so much in the 6 core i5 when the i7-8700 (non-K) is both higher performing and lower TDP, and only marginally more expensive. The i7-8700 is an ideal processor for the iMac.

 

[PowerGala]

Why are people interested so much in the 6 core i5 when the i7-8700 (non-K) is both higher performing and lower TDP, and only marginally more expensive. The i7-8700 is an ideal processor for the iMac.

Apple typically goes with the K i7, so you’re looking at a hotter and louder machine. They could go with the non-K model, but chances are they won’t and it wasn’t something I even considered.

So for me I think I’d rather have the quieter iMac since I don’t need that kind of power on my home computer.

The models they sell now would work fine for me too, but I’d really like one with a Pre-Configured SSD.

 

[danielwsmithee]

Apple typically goes with the K i7, so you’re looking at a hotter and louder machine. They could go with the non-K model, but chances are they won’t and it wasn’t something I even considered.

So for me I think I’d rather have the quieter iMac since I don’t need that kind of power on my home computer.

On previous iMac's they offered multiple i7 configurations.

I'm expecting:

• Base i3-8100 BTO for i3-8350K (4-core/4 thread)
• Mid i5-8400 BTO for i5-8600K (6-core/6 thread)
• Top i7-8700 BTO for i7-8700K (6-core/12 thread)

Either way I think the i7-8700 is the sweet spot for the new iMac. The i3-8350K should be essentially the same overall performance as the i5-7600K used previously. The difference being the i3-8350K doesn't have turbo-boost, but has a higher base clock frequency. The i5-7600k was clocked at 3.8 with boost to 4.2, the i3-8350K is just clocked at 4.0. So the base model would have the same performance of the 2017 Top model, and go up from there.

 

[fathergll]

iMac is beyond due for a chassis redesign.

But they won't do it, because then it would look more modern and sleek than the iMac Pro they just released. This is called "booking yourself into a corner".

Thats not true at all. Different audiences. The most Apple thing Apple could do would be to redesign the regular iMac and make or more modern and sleek like a giant Macbook Pro(no upgraded RAM..etc) and help further distinguish it from the iMac Pro. iMacs Pro's biggest competitor biggest issue is the fact that the current iMac is so much cheaper and is plenty for many users.

 

[Mac32]

Thats not true at all. Different audiences. The most Apple thing Apple could do would be to redesign the regular iMac and make or more modern and sleek like a giant Macbook Pro(no upgraded RAM..etc) and help further distinguish it from the iMac Pro. iMacs Pro's biggest competitor biggest issue is the fact that the current iMac is so much cheaper and is plenty for many users.

With all respect, this is a nonsensical argument. The iMac Pro is not for regular folks, which is made clear by the astronomical price tag and workstation hardware. There is no need to differentiate the regular iMac any further from the pro line.