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Give me your best guess for the pricing of the 2021 iMacs
- Thread starter OneSon
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I think the best guess is that it would carry over the price point the current iMacs sit at.
I agree. If Apple follows suit with what they did with the MBA and MBP, which I think they will, I think the iMac will do the same.
My best guess is it will cost whatever Apple decide it will cost. Everything else is just pie in the sky speculation.
Judging by the pricing on the M1 Macbooks, I bet the new entry level will be the same price as the current entry level, but the new entry level will be a substantial upgrade from the current entry level, making it in effect a price decrease.
This will make the competitors panic.
This will make the competitors panic.
I think this is a good guess if the past is any indicator, maybe $100 less with M1 processor if they still were to offer Intel processors, which I doubt.
I think if the "big brother" model stays at 27" 5K and just adds MiniLED and maybe Pro Motion, then we could see it stay at $1799 with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of SSD. If Apple goes with a custom larger Retina display, then I expect $1999 for the base price at 8GB/256GB.
The "kid brother" model will likely depend on the screen. The 21.5" Retina 4K panel is custom to the iMac so it stands to reason the 24" 4K display will also be a custom Retina panel. As such, that extra expense could see a $1399 or $1499 base price with 8GB and a 256GB SSD.
The "kid brother" model will likely depend on the screen. The 21.5" Retina 4K panel is custom to the iMac so it stands to reason the 24" 4K display will also be a custom Retina panel. As such, that extra expense could see a $1399 or $1499 base price with 8GB and a 256GB SSD.
I believe it will be a 27" 5K panel with MiniLED mainly because MCK started taking about such a thing last year and MCK's strongest sources are in the display supply chain so his "hit rate" is highest when it comes to display rumors.
Also, if Apple releases a 32" 6K MiniLED standalone display that is 25% of the price of the XDR+stand, where does that leave the XDR? Yes the XDR will almost assuredly remain a better display, but will it be a four-times better display? And yes, Apple could scrap the current XDR and release a new one using MiniLED that would probably be even better, but the XDR display will be less than two years old.
I'm also skeptical Apple can de-content the XDR display enough to not significantly raise the price of the "big brother" iMac. I am extremely skeptical they could do it for $200 and even $1200 might be wishful thinking. Using the current 5K panel with a MiniLED backlight is something I believe they could do for closer to $200 and with the savings on dropping Intel's top-end CPUs they might very well be able to trade those CPU and system cost savings for the higher price of the display and keep the prices very close, if not the same, as the 2020 model.
Also, if Apple releases a 32" 6K MiniLED standalone display that is 25% of the price of the XDR+stand, where does that leave the XDR? Yes the XDR will almost assuredly remain a better display, but will it be a four-times better display? And yes, Apple could scrap the current XDR and release a new one using MiniLED that would probably be even better, but the XDR display will be less than two years old.
I'm also skeptical Apple can de-content the XDR display enough to not significantly raise the price of the "big brother" iMac. I am extremely skeptical they could do it for $200 and even $1200 might be wishful thinking. Using the current 5K panel with a MiniLED backlight is something I believe they could do for closer to $200 and with the savings on dropping Intel's top-end CPUs they might very well be able to trade those CPU and system cost savings for the higher price of the display and keep the prices very close, if not the same, as the 2020 model.
I agree with the others, the price will not increase and by comparison with current models it will be a greater value for the same money.
I use my own experience as an example:
- I purchased my mid-2014 iMac in mid-December, 2014, for $2999 plus tax (iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2014), Processor 3.5 GHz Intel 4-Core i5, 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3, AMD Radeon R9 M290X 2048 MB, 500 GB Flash Storage)
- today I could purchase a 27" iMac with 3.3 GHz 6-core i5, 16 GB 2666 MHz DDR4 memory (but I would go for 8 GB and upgrade myself), 1TB storage - for $2399 plus tax. I could upgrade to the 10-core i5 for an additional $500 and still be less expensive than my 2014 iMac.
My comparison shows that compared to my 2014 iMac, the equivalent spec 2021 iMac would be less expensive, have more storage, faster and newer processor, faster RAM, and probably other refinements that don't show up in these basic specifications.
I think they will try to hold the line on price compared to what’s currently out. Keep in mind those Intel chips in the current iMacs are very pricey. So there is a big cost savings in switching to Apple Silicon.