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Late 2016 iMac - what's probable

maflynn said:
What does the MBA have that the retina MacBook have? There's so much similarity and the MacBook as a better screen, its a hard sell
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Well you're right about that, the first MacBook Air was released all the way back in 2008 and since then, Apple has continually improved the MacBook Pro lineup so that it does in many ways render the Air obsolete.

So that is a point that I would not deny. I'd rather see the current 'MacBook' lineup removed entirely, possibly being replaced with a machine of great integrity. The current MacBook lineup may be better off as the dog's chew toy.

I consider my old 'Blackbook' to be a machine bearing a higher level of pride. Those old MacBooks were formidable and adequate in their day. Not to mention lookers

I do understand and respect the fact that it is possible the Air will simply be pushed out of the lineup, but I don't like that fact. I'd rather see a greater regular MacBook, possibly some sort of 'lite' version of the Pros.

Maybe keep the Air as some sort of 'ultra-thin' alternative. But if the Air is just tired by now then, I might just say screw it.

Out with the old tech, in with the new.
 
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varian55zx said:
the first MacBook Air was released all the way back in 2008 and since then, Apple has continually improved the MacBook Pro lineup so that it does in many ways render the Air obsolete.
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I'm not knocking the MBA, its iconic, but it seems Apple has moved on from it.
 
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maflynn said:
I'm not knocking the MBA, its iconic, but it seems Apple has moved on from it.
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Well if it's just a piece of junk now, then it is past its time.

We don't need it any more.

It is fine to like it as a piece of Apple's history, but if it is obsolete, then I want it out.

I don't know that it is obsolete but if it is, it needs to be scrapped.

I would love to see the Pros become better and better.
 
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About cpu's, why "won't" they put some of the new Broadwell-E series lets say i7 6800k (6c, 3,4-3,6Ghz) in the newer ones and just go Skylake?
To keep the i5 + i7 thing and not go over quad core?
 
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The MacBook Air continues to exist because Apple needs a notebook under $1000. As soon as they can drive the MacBook to that price point (while keeping their margins), the MBA will be removed from the line-up, IMO.
 
CWallace said:
The MacBook Air continues to exist because Apple needs a notebook under $1000. As soon as they can drive the MacBook to that price point (while keeping their margins), the MBA will be removed from the line-up, IMO.
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They can kind of do it already but they are in a position where they have to make sure it doesn't work out cheaper than the current MacBook Airs as they have to position it as the premium next generation of MacBook (despite the obvious disadvantages over the Air).
 
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komiez said:
About cpu's, why "won't" they put some of the new Broadwell-E series lets say i7 6800k (6c, 3,4-3,6Ghz) in the newer ones and just go Skylake?
To keep the i5 + i7 thing and not go over quad core?
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I would be very happy with an updated iMac with an i7 6900K, updated AMD graphics, and TB3/USB-C. I don't think they need to wait for Kaby Lake at all for decent update.

Currently Apple offers the i7 6700K as an option which is very popular, just make that the default for the highest configuration and allow BTO to one of the 6800K (6-core), 6850K(6-core), or 6900K (8-core). The 6850K is probably the sweet spot for price/performance.

That would kill off the current Mac Pro completely, hopefully that forces them to go back to dual socket for the Mac Pro. I don't mind the current design of the Mac Pro, just make it a little larger to support two sockets, and multiple M.2 slots.
 
danielwsmithee said:
I would be very happy with an updated iMac with an i7 6900K, updated AMD graphics, and TB3/USB-C. I don't think they need to wait for Kaby Lake at all for decent update.

Currently Apple offers the i7 6700K as an option which is very popular, just make that the default for the highest configuration and allow BTO to one of the 6800K (6-core), 6850K(6-core), or 6900K (8-core). The 6850K is probably the sweet spot for price/performance.

That would kill off the current Mac Pro completely, hopefully that forces them to go back to dual socket for the Mac Pro. I don't mind the current design of the Mac Pro, just make it a little larger to support two sockets, and multiple M.2 slots.
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You are talking common sense. I'm not sure if that is against the forum rules for Macrumors. :eek:
 
I hear there is an Apple event tomorrow, do we expect the new iMac to be unveiled then?

I plan on buying the new one even though I got the late '15 one in January.
 
varian55zx said:
I hear there is an Apple event tomorrow, do we expect the new iMac to be unveiled then?

I plan on buying the new one even though I got the late '15 one in January.
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I expect a mention of macOS Sierra, so they could also mention the new hardware at the same time. One benefit is it would showcase the product right as the first week of back to school is in effect for many.

If they do not, I see a few options (with appropriate kudos to Jason Snell at Six Colors):

1) Do a second event next month in Town Hall.
2) Give the product to select journalists / media outlets under NDA and then lift said NDA within the next few weeks.
 
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Thank you for the responses, all.

I want to get the new one and I will probably get one that is higher spec'd this time, I hope they stop disgracing themselves and eliminate the spinner from the lineup.

1tb fusion w/ 128ssd standard across the board and work your way up from there.

Put a GPU in the 4K machine, ah they'll never do it.

I hope they make some good improvements in the 27 inch models, my only concern is that we are adopting a 1st gen machine which means it may bring a host of issues with it, I hope that is not the case.
 
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varian55zx said:
1tb fusion w/ 128ssd standard across the board and work your way up from there.
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I'm ready for them to just go flash across the board. Start at 256GB and go up from there. The extra space savings from the spinner could be put to good use for something else. That is what I want, but my guess is that spinners will still be used as they are now.
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CWallace said:
I expect a mention of macOS Sierra, so they could also mention the new hardware at the same time. One benefit is it would showcase the product right as the first week of back to school is in effect for many.
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With the back to school special ending September 5th that is a possibility for some hardware receiving a minor update.
 
danielwsmithee said:
I'm ready for them to just go flash across the board. Start at 256GB and go up from there. The extra space savings from the spinner could be put to good use for something else. That is what I want, but my guess is that spinners will still be used as they are now.
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I'm ready for that too, but what I had in mind is the way that they always advertise the iMac as having 1tb of "storage" , their customer base sees the 1tb and thinks it's some massive amount. But they can't differentiate between storage options so they don't know it's 1tb of worthless and slow hard disk storage.

With my way they'll still be able to put out that silly advertisement of 1 tb "storage", but it will be 1tb of fusion storage which is much better.

If they advertised a full 256 gb of storage, their customer base would think that they'd regressed, since they don't know the difference between flash and HDD, while all they while they had actually progressed with a far superior storage option.

Unless they want their customer base to think they'd regressed, they'd have to go with the 1 tb (minimum) as standard.
 
varian55zx said:
I'm ready for that too, but what I had in mind is the way that they always advertise the iMac as having 1tb of "storage" , their customer base sees the 1tb and thinks it's some massive amount. But they can't differentiate between storage options so they don't know it's 1tb of worthless and slow hard disk storage.

With my way they'll still be able to put out that silly advertisement of 1 tb "storage", but it will be 1tb of fusion storage which is much better.

If they advertised a full 256 gb of storage, their customer base would think that they'd regressed, since they don't know the difference between flash and HDD, while all they while they had actually progressed with a far superior storage option.

Unless they want their customer base to think they'd regressed, they'd have to go with the 1 tb (minimum) as standard.
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Well then lets start with 1TB SSD and go up keeping the base price of a 1TB HDD of course. ;)
 
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varian55zx said:
I'm ready for that too, but what I had in mind is the way that they always advertise the iMac as having 1tb of "storage" , their customer base sees the 1tb and thinks it's some massive amount. But they can't differentiate between storage options so they don't know it's 1tb of worthless and slow hard disk storage.

With my way they'll still be able to put out that silly advertisement of 1 tb "storage", but it will be 1tb of fusion storage which is much better.

If they advertised a full 256 gb of storage, their customer base would think that they'd regressed, since they don't know the difference between flash and HDD, while all they while they had actually progressed with a far superior storage option.

Unless they want their customer base to think they'd regressed, they'd have to go with the 1 tb (minimum) as standard.
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They already made this transition with their laptops and it was very well received. I think you don't give their user base enough credit.

If Apple can sell removing the headphone jack, this would be simple.
 
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I'd much rather have a 256GB SSD than a 1TB 5400 Drive, The fact they even went backwards from 7200rpm drives is insulting to long term consumers. I know there are ways around it by using a UASP USB 3.0 Enclosures (cheapish) or over thunderbolt (expensive) But the average joe is not going to know how to do that.
 
AlexGraphicD said:
So no mention about new iMacs on the iPhone event? Is the event still going on?
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Event is over but we didn't expect them this time. Hardly anything regarding Mac was mentioned at all and Sierra wasn't once.

I think we're in for a big treat in October or whenever the next event is. I think the MacPro may even make a comeback.
 
danielwsmithee said:
I would be very happy with an updated iMac with an i7 6900K, updated AMD graphics, and TB3/USB-C. I don't think they need to wait for Kaby Lake at all for decent update.

Currently Apple offers the i7 6700K as an option which is very popular, just make that the default for the highest configuration and allow BTO to one of the 6800K (6-core), 6850K(6-core), or 6900K (8-core). The 6850K is probably the sweet spot for price/performance.

That would kill off the current Mac Pro completely, hopefully that forces them to go back to dual socket for the Mac Pro. I don't mind the current design of the Mac Pro, just make it a little larger to support two sockets, and multiple M.2 slots.
Click to expand...
Apple's desire to make a thin desktop makes that impossible. Not because of design, but because of thermal limitations. I mean, even the current 6700K thermal throttles at high use, imagine a Broadwell-E 6-core.

As for the Mac Pro: 22-core Xeons exist there. No need for a dual-socket Mac Pro. NVMe on a PCIe bus would be nice though.
 
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