I wouldn't say it's pretty, well I don't think the XPS line is pretty either, but it has a better form factor than the iMac IMO. Less bezels, less chin. The AIO market isn't as big as the laptop's, but it did change in 5+ years since the last iMac redesign.
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iMac Redesign for 2018?
- Thread starter Solo2392
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I wouldn't say it's pretty, well I don't think the XPS line is pretty either, but it has a better form factor than the iMac IMO. Less bezels, less chin. The AIO market isn't as big as the laptop's, but it did change in 5+ years since the last iMac redesign.
Well, if bezel width is your benchmark, the iMac is Bezel City (including c.f. all-in-one's from other manufacturers) which doesn't really support your argument that the current iMac design is OK but the MBP was dated.
Personally, having looked at the Dell XPSs in stores around that time, they still looked and felt like plastic junk alongside the 2015 rMBP - and who cares about the bezels when they're on a 16:9 display and the rMBP has a much nicer 16:10 ratio screen? Not to mention the rMBPs keyboard and trackpad (...which they've courageously made worse on the new models).
What might have been a problem for Apple was that the Dells were sporting stickers proclaiming the latest 6th Gen/Skylake chips in their XPSs while the rMBP was still using 4th gen "Haswell" chips. To be fair, that's partly because of Apple waiting patiently for the right next-gen chip with the optimum permutation of TDP and integrated graphics while Dell apparently slap in the first available next-gen chip that won't actually melt the case - so maybe Apple were only 6 months late to the Skylake party rather than 18 months - but its still a marketing problem.
Design wise, I'd say that the only thing that came close to challenging the classy design of the rMBP was the Microsoft Surface Book (shame about the 'sleep of death').
I hope so as it is available in pretty much all other iOS/Mac devices that have been updated recently. It seemed like it was one way to differentiate the iMac Pro originally, but I gotta think that exclusivity window will come to an end, and a starting price of $5k is enough of a differentiation in the product line. I can't think many people paid the premium to an iMac Pro just because of the Space Gray, so adding it to the normal iMac line shouldn't cannibalize any sales in that respect.
Sorry, you’re missing the point. I’m not saying that thick bezels results in a need to redesign. I’m saying that a design that looks dated next to other competing devices within the same device type can trigger a need to redesign. The MacBook Pro needed a redesign because it was falling behind relative to competing high-end laptops (and the Surface range is another good example of that sort of pressure); the iMac is not, yet - at least in my view.
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What is that? I’ve never seen it before. It looks very nice, better than the iMac I’d say. But I’d be surprised if a significant portion of the PC-buying public even know that that thing exists, whereas iMacs are on display in most electronics stores. I have seen a Dell XPS All-in-One with big speakers at the bottom and find it ugly.
Its not about competing for apple, its about pushing the design envelope. 5 1/2 years is a long time for a consumer device not to be updated.
They never used to wait for people to catch up they would want to improve their own products for the lust factor. Challenge themselves put the competition further down the line. They are the only company capable of this because of the amount they charge and the fans behind them.
The iMac pro feels like the last hurrah for this design.
They never used to wait for people to catch up they would want to improve their own products for the lust factor. Challenge themselves put the competition further down the line. They are the only company capable of this because of the amount they charge and the fans behind them.
The iMac pro feels like the last hurrah for this design.
This is the Dell Inspiron 7000 27". Works with Windows Hello. But plastic case, Windows and "only" 4k.
They were released on April 3rd, so less than a month ago. https://www.anandtech.com/show/12605/dells-8th-gen-alienware-laptops-and-monitors/7
...but how do you justify that view? The iMac design is just as old as the 2015 rMBP was, the difference is that it has reasonably up to date specs as of last year. There are plenty of slick-looking all-in-ones around, including in shops next to iMacs. I have an iMac, and the chin and bezels do make it a bit daunting - if they could be slimmed down without other sacrifices or, better, reduced to fit a 16:10 or even 4:3 screen.
The Surface Studio makes the iMac look like an elephant - fortunately for Apple, MS seem to regard it more like a concept car than a contender and even if you compare the cost with an iMac + Wacom Cintiq, its mediocre specs let it down even when it was new.
From that photo, the new Dell’s look the part, and they’re sporting the new 6 Core CPUs. Connectivity... iMac probably wins, depending on your needs.
In terms of competition there's also those: https://www.anandtech.com/show/11799/acer-announces-aspire-s24-aio
They look great but they are a lot less powerful than the iMac or the Dell. Laptop specs. I hope Apple doesn't go that way with the iMac.
They look great but they are a lot less powerful than the iMac or the Dell. Laptop specs. I hope Apple doesn't go that way with the iMac.
I don’t know, I would say that Apple has a very well established history that suggests otherwise, at least in the desktop Mac space, with models that go unchanged from a chassis design perspective for many years. That’s the case right now for every desktop Mac product in fact. When they do redesign something, to your point, they go to town on it and strive for the wow factor, but their track record around the frequency of doing that evidently suggests that they don’t seem too concerned about continually putting the competition further down the line.
And from a practical perspective, there is a limit to how many design projects Apple’s design team can reasonably accommodate at once, especially given their famous obsession with detail and Jonny Ive’s reputation for control. And they’ve also been busy designing and building Apple Park in recent years. So naturally I would expect that they take on product redesign projects based on business priorities - which product needs the attention most because revenue is suffering - rather than some sort of lofty academic ambition around making products more lust-worthy just because they can.
And if you look at Apple’s product set, I think there is a clear correlation between the frequency of redesigns and the competitiveness of that market and the duration of the upgrade cycle. So iPhone gets the most design attention, then iPad, then laptop Macs, then desktop Macs. Design effort following business priorities. It’s completely natural.
On the iMac Pro, I think it can be argued both ways. As you say, it could be the last hurrah for this chassis, or it could indicate that Apple is actually still pretty comfortable with this chassis design and is happy to launch a new high-end very expensive product using it. And I don’t recall many of the iMac Pro reviews talking about how this 5 1/2 year old chassis design is ugly or dated-looking - my recollection is that the reviews were extremely positive about the design.
And given that Apple now realises that its pro user-base are dissatisfied with its products, I find it unlikely that Apple would ship the iMac Pro and then slap them in the face yet again by launching a redesigned standard iMac shortly afterwards.
Given that Apple now makes the Space Grey peripherals available for anyone to buy, I suppose that might indicate that Apple may make Space Grey available for the standard iMac though.
How would a redesigned standard iMac be a slap in the face to someone who purchased an iMac Pro recently?
Exactly - that's why I don't think we'll see a drastic external redesign.....
I would like the new iMAC to have more TB3 ports though - maybe 4 like the iMAC Pro.....
I just want one to release already!!
I've been primarily focused on waiting for MBP the last couple years, but have been thinking about instead getting an iMac along with a cheaper laptop, as I don't like the current status/direction of the MBP and want to wait it out a bit more. For MBP, if I do get one, I am definitely waiting for Ice Lake at the earliest, for a few reasons. For iMac, i don't know as much about the desktop architecture so I have a couple questions:
- I know that the processors that would be used for an iMac refresh this year will be a significant increase from the 2017 models - but will we see a similar increase the following year, assuming intel can get 10nm chips out? Or will the performance increase be less of a leap given what little we may know for how 2019 is looking?
- Has it been confirmed that this years chips will have the silicon based fixes for Spectre/Meltdown? I don't like the idea of buying hardware with a known defect/vulnerability
The bigger leap is this year. Expect the leap next year to be less significant for the average user.
The main caveat is that some of the performance increase this year might be eaten up by Spectre/Meltdown software fixes, because they won't have hardware fixes. Next year's chips may have hardware fixes, but we don't know that yet.
Personally though I think the main reason to wait for Ice Lake is for the 12" MacBook. For the MBP and iMac, the time to buy is when Coffee Lake or Kaby Lake Refresh launches in them. (I'm not sure what the status is for Cannon Lake.)
iMac and iMac Pro serve different purposes. I purchased an iMac Pro recently, and I welcome any redesign of iMac. What attracted me to get the Pro is its horse power, not how thin or how thick or how dark it looks or feels. So, new iMac design? Bring it on!
What would really frustrate me is if the new iMac has at least two of the following: Xeon, 128GB+ ECC RAM, 10GbE, and 6K display. Then I will feel it's a slap in my face. But we know this is not very likely to happen.
#11
I really want an Imac as my 2010 is on it's last legs and i'm just ready.. the great experience ive had with my Dell XPS15 laptop purchased last year has me really looking at the new Dell all in one that's coming in less than a month.
Look at the specs on this thing and the price point should be less than 2000 fully loaded. They fixed that up the nostril webcam on last years Ryzen model. Now it has a popup webcam.
https://www.notebookcheck.net/Dell-...-focus-on-the-cinema-experience.295910.0.html
I really want an Imac as my 2010 is on it's last legs and i'm just ready.. the great experience ive had with my Dell XPS15 laptop purchased last year has me really looking at the new Dell all in one that's coming in less than a month.
Look at the specs on this thing and the price point should be less than 2000 fully loaded. They fixed that up the nostril webcam on last years Ryzen model. Now it has a popup webcam.
https://www.notebookcheck.net/Dell-...-focus-on-the-cinema-experience.295910.0.html
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Those specs are nothing to write home about. 32GB limit on the RAM? Only a 4GB video card? No full SSD option? A 4K LCD compared to the 5K iMac. The only really nice spec I see is the price tag (compared to the iMac). Don't get me wrong, it appears to be a nice computer, but at the end of the day, the Dell runs Windows and not macOS—so it doesn't matter what the specs are or what the cost, most Mac users aren't going to switch.
If we do get a redesign, I suspect that it'll only happen when the iMac moves to ARM.
After all, that's the main motif of the iMac isn't it?
It's just meant to be a big screen, suspended on your desk, with the computer seemingly disappeared.
EDIT: btw I don't think that the iMac Pro is moving to ARM anytime soon and that that will keep the current design for a while. Those XEON chips need space to breathe!
- To help market this to consumers
- And because the thermals will be completely different
- Presumably, an ARM iMac is going to run cooler and with smaller internals so Apple will (presumably) be able to make it much thinner and make the chin disappear.
After all, that's the main motif of the iMac isn't it?
It's just meant to be a big screen, suspended on your desk, with the computer seemingly disappeared.
EDIT: btw I don't think that the iMac Pro is moving to ARM anytime soon and that that will keep the current design for a while. Those XEON chips need space to breathe!
So on the PC side we're still having to deal with USB 2.0 ports in 2018, and if that isn't funny enough, 5K iMac owners will definitely laugh at a 27-inch UHD being called "crisp"...#11
I really want an Imac as my 2010 is on it's last legs and i'm just ready.. the great experience ive had with my Dell XPS15 laptop purchased last year has me really looking at the new Dell all in one that's coming in less than a month.
Look at the specs on this thing and the price point should be less than 2000 fully loaded. They fixed that up the nostril webcam on last years Ryzen model. Now it has a popup webcam.
https://www.notebookcheck.net/Dell-...-focus-on-the-cinema-experience.295910.0.html
The main advantage it has over the iMac is the price, which definitely proves you get what you pay for.
Because when people spend $5-14k on a high-end premium product and then a new one is launched with a cooler new design at a much lower cost they tend to get annoyed.
It's not the same product... Would you get annoyed if a redesigned MacBook was released a few months after you bought a MacBook Pro?
I guess it would depend on what MacBook Pro was purchased and what the new MacBook included.
I think a lot of people buying the 13” Pro might prefer a 13” MacBook.
If the MacBook and MacBook Pro looked the same (albeit with perhaps a colour difference), sharing a 5+ year old chassis design, and Apple launched a brand new modern design on the MacBook a few months after launching a new high-end MacBook Pro spec, then I think the MacBook forum here would be filled with posts from angry purchasers, yes. People care how things look - the very fact that we have a 17-page topic on iMac redesign (and its not the only one on this topic) tells us that.
Correct, the current MBP 13 is bought by a lot of users that would need just a little bit more than what the MB offers. They would probably prefer a 13" MB with more ports. Some of them might get mad but IMO it'd be ridiculous. They bought what they needed when they needed it and it would still have a few advantages over the MBP. Better things are released all the time.
I agree that people care about how things look and you're right, some would get mad. Those who would get mad bought the iMac Pro for the wrong reasons because if they need the specs it provides they shouldn't care about the look of the device which doesn't have the specs they need.
If they bought it just because they have too much money and like space grey, of course a better looking iMac would get them mad.
A new iMac will not have Xeon, it's GPU will be inferior, no ECC RAM, less ports etc. so it isn't in direct competition to the iMac Pro. A new Mac Pro would make more iMac Pro owners annoyed than a redesigned iMac, IMHO.