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iMac Pro coming in October/November?

lewdvig said:
It would be better to allow the ipad pro to pair with the imac pro for use as a drawing pad, versus the touchscreen.

TB3 ports out the ying yang, xeon, ecc ram and a pro gpu - all doable on iMac and rMBP.

Pretty safe bet the Mac Pro is dead soon. Yearly iMac update and mobile workstations make more sense. Kills two products; MP and Display.
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I agree, my guess is the iMac is updated this year. An i7-7700K with an AMD RX 480 is good enough performance that it will kill off the Mac Pro as currently designed.

To keep the Mac Pro relevant Apple would need to go to a dual socket + dual high end GPU design for differentiation. I don't see Apple actually doing that and most likely the Mac Pro will be killed and they will be touting how amazingly powerful the iMac is. They may use the "Pro" moniker, but my guess is from the sounds of things they will be marketing VR capability instead. The Mac Pro would actually sell pretty well if you could get it with dual NVIDIA Pascals.
 
I doubt there is going to be a particular iMac offered as an "iMac Pro".

However -- there may be "build-to-order" options that pretty much assemble an iMac spec'd out to be worthy (or near-worthy) of such a label...
 
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varian55zx said:
A touch screen iMac would actually dissuade me from buying, I really hope something as dumb as that isn't introduced.
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My wife and I both like touch screen. She has an AIO from HP that is touchscreen and we both find it useful. I don't use the touchscreen 100% of the time, but sometimes its useful to scroll and/or zoom.
 
I have seen touch screen iMacs back in the days of CRT's and fruit flavoured iMacs. They were useless then and they would be equally useless today.
 
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Krevnik said:
It's possible to do hover. But you still need to detect a tap being different from hover, so at that point it is still touch driven. The real issue I think is: is it worth building the iMac into a Cintiq for the subset of customers who will use the feature? My own thoughts tend to be in the vein of probably not. Of course, if there was enough data otherwise, I could be convinced otherwise. But it boils down to the iMac tends to come with one flavor and multiple performance levels. Would there be enough benefit to roll this out and make every customer buying this flavor pay for the technology?
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Thanks for the reply.

Call me a romantic, but the Macs were originally designed with creative types in mind. It's been that philosphy that has pushed the brand forward ever since:

"We were trying to make a machine that a person with an artist’s or a musician’s sensibilities would want to use," says Bill Atkinson, a computer engineer who worked on the Mac and an accomplished nature photographer. "It’s not a matter of could they use it; we wanted to create something they would enjoy using."

I just think a mac that caters for creatives first, caters better for everyone in the end.

Modern displays are getting ridiculously thin now, so designing a stand that could elegantly move the screen from vertical to horizontal and back again should not be an issue.

iPad Pro is a great tool for artists, but it's just not big enough, or powerful enough. One day it might be powerful enough, but iPads can never be big enough. And so desktop has to bridge that gap at some point.
 
Macmamamac said:
iPad Pro is a great tool for artists, but it's just not big enough, or powerful enough. One day it might be powerful enough, but iPads can never be big enough. And so desktop has to bridge that gap at some point.
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I have an IPP 12.9 and it's plenty big enough for my artistic needs. I'm looking forward to using it as a drawing tablet with iMac through the app astropad. Basically turns it into a Wacom cintique. That's why I bought the iPad. But your right it's nothing like the 27" Wacom. It's also not $3000 lol. iPad 12 replaced my laptop for school, I love it. iPad with an iMac, I need nothing else.

I love apple, but Mac Pro what the heck, that's such a horrible machine.
 
cptn.nemo said:
I have an IPP 12.9 and it's plenty big enough for my artistic needs. I'm looking forward to using it as a drawing tablet with iMac through the app astropad. Basically turns it into a Wacom cintique. That's why I bought the iPad. But your right it's nothing like the 27" Wacom. It's also not $3000 lol. iPad 12 replaced my laptop for school, I love it. iPad with an iMac, I need nothing else.

I love apple, but Mac Pro what the heck, that's such a horrible machine.
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It's great, I love my IPP, but it's still only a 12.9 inch screen running on a mobile device, which is very limiting.

I never even thought about touch on the desktop until I got the IPP and started using pencil. It's so much better than the Wacom set up I just think having the ability for the desktop to recognise pencil would be a massive innovation. It would essentially kill off Wacom, and especially if you had the ability to use the iPad/pencil as a Tablet/stylus to navigate the desktop

As a side note, I've been disappointed within Astropad. Not sure if you have it yet but I wouldn't bother. Much better to use native apps like Procreate or even adobe sketch, which is much better after its update a while back.
 
Macmamamac said:
My guesses are Apple will bring the iMac in line with the iPads and MacBooks and introduce a Pro model to the lineup.

The current lineup is a mess, with no clear distinction made between the top models and the budget models.

The 'Pro' tag will also allow Apple to play around a bit more with the iMac, and possibly even do the unthinkable and allow upgradeability to the CPU or GPU in a limited way. Of course this will only happen if they manage to find an extremely elegant way of doing it, akin to sim card changes in the iPhone.

More realistically however, is for the iMac Pro to have touch screen, be VR ready, have much better speakers, SSD's and probably much better Siri integration like the Amazon Echo where it is always listening even when in sleep mode.

Anyone else think iPad Pro is a probability, and if so, what will it need to earn the tag 'Pro?
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I do not care whatever model, as long as it is a darn update with modern tech. We need pro machines and the mac pro is underperforming at this point. 4k for a machine where a hackingtosh at 1k beats them in benchmarks, triple time. It's time for an update for their more serious customers, and even an update that takes the graphics side of things more serious and is ready for 4k content processing on the fly .. is the least they can do.. we got auto 16gb on macbook updates, and that's last years release. But the iMac you pay 700 bucks more for, and those specs dont come close. Can we get real here. It's a load of money, and i dont mind paying for it, but i do mind that i rather get a 13" macbook maxed out and have money left over, vs a imac base model with 1 upgrade adding 300 to 700 euro to the pile and you go 'sigh, this hardware is so outdated by now for what we will be using it for' .. it's not that black/white, i know, but a pro model, or just a mainteance update, i am fine with it all.. just darn update it already.
 
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Macmamamac said:
As a side note, I've been disappointed within Astropad. Not sure if you have it yet but I wouldn't bother. Much better to use native apps like Procreate or even adobe sketch, which is much better after its update a while back.
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Oh great, well that's extremely disappointing. I don't have a mac yet I'm waiting for the update but I was hoping astropad would be awesome. I'm sure there will be more apps like it in the future though, ipp could definitely work much better with iMac than it does now. Course apple is always 4 years behind what people want, jailbreak had all the software tweaks and more 5 years before apple came out with their own half ass version.


I agree hardware must be updated!! The ram upgrade is pathetic, and a $800 windows machine can beat a 2.5k iMac easily. That's not right, I don't want to pay for that. I'm not paying $1500 extra just for an OS when they hardware is crap
 
cptn.nemo said:
Oh great, well that's extremely disappointing. I don't have a mac yet I'm waiting for the update but I was hoping astropad would be awesome. I'm sure there will be more apps like it in the future though, ipp could definitely work much better with iMac than it does now. Course apple is always 4 years behind what people want, jailbreak had all the software tweaks and more 5 years before apple came out with their own half ass version.


I agree hardware must be updated!! The ram upgrade is pathetic, and a $800 windows machine can beat a 2.5k iMac easily. That's not right, I don't want to pay for that. I'm not paying $1500 extra just for an OS when they hardware is crap
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From a personal perspective I definitely wouldn't recommend Astropad. I'm pairing the IPP with a 27 5k using a Wacom 4, and it's just to laggy and finicky to make it worthwhile.

For one, it doesn't track 1:1 ratio. So when full screen in photoshop there are massive blank areas at top and bottom, rendering it unusable.

But everyone has different needs and set ups, so you might find it useful, but for me it just doesn't work.

If I'm close enough to pair it with the mac, might as well just use the mac. And if not, or if I just want to lounge on the sofa and work, Procreate and Adobe sketch are far better options. Far better to export your IPP work directly into photoshop on the mac then mess around with Astropad. As you would imagine, Adobe makes it particularly easy to import from Sketch. It even launches Photoshop on the mac if it isn't already open.
 
Macmamamac said:
From a personal perspective I definitely wouldn't recommend Astropad. I'm pairing the IPP with a 27 5k using a Wacom 4, and it's just to laggy and finicky to make it worthwhile.

For one, it doesn't track 1:1 ratio. So when full screen in photoshop there are massive blank areas at top and bottom, rendering it unusable.

But everyone has different needs and set ups, so you might find it useful, but for me it just doesn't work.

If I'm close enough to pair it with the mac, might as well just use the mac. And if not, or if I just want to lounge on the sofa and work, Procreate and Adobe sketch are far better options. Far better to export your IPP work directly into photoshop on the mac then mess around with Astropad. As you would imagine, Adobe makes it particularly easy to import from Sketch. It even launches Photoshop on the mac if it isn't already open.
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Oh wow ok, that's very helpful. Saved me the money on that app. I cant deal with lag that's too frustrating. I have procreate but I would like to see an illustrator type app for ipad, a decent vector app. Adobe draw is worthless. Ill look into sketch though
 
What are the chances of a Redesign? if there is no redesign im just gonna buy the current model for a cheaper price
 
dsfsfsdsdfsdf said:
What are the chances of a Redesign? if there is no redesign im just gonna buy the current model for a cheaper price
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Its anyone's guess at this point. I will say the MBP is more dire need of a redesign but people here are aching for a refreshed design
 
dsfsfsdsdfsdf said:
What are the chances of a Redesign? if there is no redesign im just gonna buy the current model for a cheaper price
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My guess is we would have heard more rumors by now like the MBP if a redesign was happening. I expect improved graphics and likely TB3 with a less probable update to KabyLake processors.
 
Points Apple could capitalize on:
New CPU for professional work
New GPU for gamers
Touchscreen
Facial recognition for login
New triangle shape! (yes, I'm joking)
USB 3.1
Ready for 3D
 
I'm expecting:

TB3
USB 3.1
Improved AMD graphics

Not expecting:

Kaby lake. Tgtbt scenario imo.

I think it will be a minor update, but if just those things are added, I will be glad I waited.
 
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Macmamamac said:
It's great, I love my IPP, but it's still only a 12.9 inch screen running on a mobile device, which is very limiting.

I never even thought about touch on the desktop until I got the IPP and started using pencil. It's so much better than the Wacom set up I just think having the ability for the desktop to recognise pencil would be a massive innovation. It would essentially kill off Wacom, and especially if you had the ability to use the iPad/pencil as a Tablet/stylus to navigate the desktop

As a side note, I've been disappointed within Astropad. Not sure if you have it yet but I wouldn't bother. Much better to use native apps like Procreate or even adobe sketch, which is much better after its update a while back.
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yep, astropad not that impressive. adobe sketch is my all time favourite app and makes the IPP worth buying alone. Its just perfect for my use [product / interior design]
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danielwsmithee said:
My guess is we would have heard more rumors by now like the MBP if a redesign was happening. I expect improved graphics and likely TB3 with a less probable update to KabyLake processors.
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I wouldnt bet on it either way as not that much has leaked on the MacBook pros either.
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varian55zx said:
I'm expecting:

TB3
USB 3.1
Improved AMD graphics

Not expecting:

Kaby lake. Tgtbt scenario imo.

I think it will be a minor update, but if just those things are added, I will be glad I waited.
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exactly what I expect and anything else will be a bonus in my eyes.
 
maflynn said:
Its anyone's guess at this point. I will say the MBP is more dire need of a redesign but people here are aching for a refreshed design
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Both designs were released in 2012. They're both in dire need. But what is more in dire need of a redesign than these two machines however is the Mac mini. That thing is primitive at 6 years long.
 
Icaras said:
Both designs were released in 2012. They're both in dire need. But what is more in dire need of a redesign than these two machines however is the Mac mini. That thing is primitive at 6 years long.
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I think the Mac Mini sold a grand total of -6 units last quarter, so need for that.

People are saying the iMac needs it, but I don't see it. Looks better than any of its competition.
 
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Macmamamac said:
The mouse is an archaic way of navigating a desktop. It's click and point with no dexterity at all, the human hand, either on its own, or holding a pen, is the most natural and intuitive way of navigating because it's so much more precise.
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A mouse beats a human finger for precision hands down, and has the huge advantage that you can see where the pointer is before you click. A pen is better - you can see where you're touching - and can be more precise than a mouse, plus if its a proper, inductive pen (Wacom etc.) it adds the ability to hover (not sure if the Apple Pencil, which is just a super-high-res capacitative device, can do that).

Also, a proper keyboard with physical keys is still most people's preferred way of entering text. Combining a separate keyboard with pen/touch is an ergonomic mess ("gorilla arms") while on-screen keyboards (a) eat valuable screen real estate and (b) are nasty to use. Meanwhile, using any pen & keyboard together is a pain, because you have to keep putting the pen down (whereas you just take your hand off a mouse and it stays where it is) - extra stupid points to the Apple Pencil here for being perfectly round and rolling away.

Pen/touch is great for tablet, but on something like a 27" iMac you'd want to re-configure it into "easel" mode to make good use of a pen. That would be great for some uses, but may be a bit of a niche market.

That said, features that never get used still sell computers, so Apple may need to introduce touch/pencil support on the iMac & MacBooks as a "tick list" feature to compete with the PCs already offering this. You don't have to use it.
 
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