I wonder if Apple will update the iMac in April, June or at another October event? Next year. I would love an update to my 2012 so I’m holding out until the next big update.
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No 2018 iMac?!
- Thread starter Internet Enzyme
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Well, the only products Apple has that were not updated this year are the iMac, iMac Pro, MacBook, and the AirPods. I think everything else has been updated. So if it were a spring update, then I would not suspect an event due to lack of things to talk about, which would also mean it was mostly a spec bump. If it is a spring update then I would guess you are looking at 8th-gen chips, all SSD, and the same GPUs with an updated naming scheme, maybe a bit faster clock or something. I would hope that would mean user replaceable RAM and no or minimal price increase.
The later in the year it gets, the more likely we are to see design changes, significant spec bumps (9th-gen Intel, new GPUs), and also a price increase. I would also guess that if it gets into WWDC or later, you are more likely to see a design change and the loss of user replaceable RAM.
To me this is why no incremental update for the iMac at WWDC hurts consumers. We are now playing the guessing game with Apple, as always, but we don't really have a great alternative if we decide not to wait. If you are worried about certain aspects changing, or you simply can no longer wait, the refurb iMacs are not a terrible deal if you get one with an SSD.
I’m personally hoping it’s a big update, I want to upgrade from my 2012 at some point, it’s still working along so I can wait. It would be good to see some design changes tho, they don’t have to go too drastic maybe just thinn down the bezels and add a space grey option, include latest spec updates, improve the speakers, also improve the display with pro motion.
The 5K display would be a big upgrade from my 2012 anyway but I don’t mind waiting into next year, I’ve waited this long.
No offence every “expectation” of yours has been wrong so why keep steering people?
People here like to see themselves in print. He's not the only one. There are plenty other.
Well said. Had there been a spec bump with the current design -and- upgradeable ram/storage (as there is now), I would have bought one. But at this point I suspect the next iMac will contain a couple different 'gotchas' including the T2 chip and perhaps non upgradable ANYTHING.
That's why I bit the bullet and got a top end i5 27 inch model from the refurb store. I already upgraded the ram to 32 gigs and the 4tb Samsung SSD is soon to follow. I should be fine with that tank for several years.
With all due respect, thats his impression from posts of yours hes come across over the past years.
So ... since you’r the one who allegedly made ‘predictions’, and you know more than anyone what you did, or did not, predict, why dont you list off what you have predicted and what turned out to be right ... and assuming you’re humble enough, also list what, if any, of your predictions didnt pan out.
If it were me, I’d nail him with all of my accurate predictions, rather than challenging to dig through thousands of posts to ascertain when I was wrong.
I know thats a little work, but a lot easier for you to do than asking someone else to fish through your thousands of posts to find the handful where you predicted something.
Make sense?
I hope they don't hold it back until October... The past year or so of core count bumps were the best speed increase we've seen out of Intel in years, admittedly at a substantial thermal cost. They almost have to update the standard iMac and the iMac Pro together (or do a "less than the best" update on the standard iMac), because the 9900K will bump right into the bottom of the iMac Pro line.
Assuming that a Core i9 9900K iMac might cost in the neighborhood of $3499 in a decent configuration (32 GB/1 TB SSD/ Radeon RX 3080 (or an Apple badge-engineer of the 3080)), a $4999 iMac Pro with the same core count at a significantly lower clock speed, with inferior graphics,the same RAM and the same SSD makes little sense. Yes, the iMac Pro has ECC RAM and a (service center) RAM upgrade capability, probably along with an extra Thunderbolt 3 bus, but that's not worth $1500 and a speed cut. If you might need 64 GB of RAM in the future and the standard iMac's RAM is soldered, order 64 GB to start and you'll still pocket $800-$1000. 10GB Ethernet on the standard iMac will probably cost $100 like it does on the Mac Mini.
The solution is to upgrade the iMac Pro at the same time, which means Apple needs both the standard Core i class CPUs and the Xeon W CPUs available. I wouldn't be surprised to see the iMac Pro get additional, differentiating upgrades. The most exciting would be a new screen reserved for the iMac Pro only.
Assuming that a Core i9 9900K iMac might cost in the neighborhood of $3499 in a decent configuration (32 GB/1 TB SSD/ Radeon RX 3080 (or an Apple badge-engineer of the 3080)), a $4999 iMac Pro with the same core count at a significantly lower clock speed, with inferior graphics,the same RAM and the same SSD makes little sense. Yes, the iMac Pro has ECC RAM and a (service center) RAM upgrade capability, probably along with an extra Thunderbolt 3 bus, but that's not worth $1500 and a speed cut. If you might need 64 GB of RAM in the future and the standard iMac's RAM is soldered, order 64 GB to start and you'll still pocket $800-$1000. 10GB Ethernet on the standard iMac will probably cost $100 like it does on the Mac Mini.
The solution is to upgrade the iMac Pro at the same time, which means Apple needs both the standard Core i class CPUs and the Xeon W CPUs available. I wouldn't be surprised to see the iMac Pro get additional, differentiating upgrades. The most exciting would be a new screen reserved for the iMac Pro only.
To people expecting it to be more expensive:
why nobody thought yet it could be as well priced as iMac Pro,
Apple presented it as better than $7000+,
actually apples to apples DIY solution would be over $5000 without counting assembly
so the Apple TAX on base model is like negative $200
so expensive but not overpriced (*
)
So why not price base iMac (of course in 2019 base 27" no less than 16 GB RAM and NO HDD, AMD NAVI all 8 GB and INTEL Sunny Cove, True Tone, HDR and variable refresh rate) as aggressively, so around 1500,
place somewhere over 2300 for 32 or 31,5" 8K,
2014 5K iMac from what I remember was the same price as one only other 5K monitor that just display no computer and starting price drop $1000 one year later, right now all iMac are extremely overpriced. (they still, unfortunately, will keep insane margins on upgrades of the top model)
why nobody thought yet it could be as well priced as iMac Pro,
Apple presented it as better than $7000+,
actually apples to apples DIY solution would be over $5000 without counting assembly
so the Apple TAX on base model is like negative $200
so expensive but not overpriced (*
So why not price base iMac (of course in 2019 base 27" no less than 16 GB RAM and NO HDD, AMD NAVI all 8 GB and INTEL Sunny Cove, True Tone, HDR and variable refresh rate) as aggressively, so around 1500,
place somewhere over 2300 for 32 or 31,5" 8K,
2014 5K iMac from what I remember was the same price as one only other 5K monitor that just display no computer and starting price drop $1000 one year later, right now all iMac are extremely overpriced. (they still, unfortunately, will keep insane margins on upgrades of the top model)
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Are there words, or punctuations missing in these sentences? Either way, reading this over 3 times I still have no friggin' idea what you're trying to say.
"one only other 5K monitor that just display" ... what?
"and starting price drop $1000 one year later" ... wha what what?
Sorry, it was hard to write, couldn't figure out how to word it properly, you could write how you think it supposed to go. It seems like I understand hearing and reading English, then when it comes to speaking or writing it so many times seems impossible to translate the thoughts and I never know if I wrote wrong if nobody points it out, so thanks.
I found that 2014 5K started at $2749, I guess I found wrong it was BTO i7, it was 2549, can't find for sure, 2015 5K started at 1799.
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Bigboy wrote:
"I know thats a little work, but a lot easier for you to do than asking someone else to fish through your thousands of posts to find the handful where you predicted something.
Make sense?"
I'll predict what I predict. I'm sure you'll do the same.
My guesses are about as good as anyone else's here (unless they work for Apple, in which case they probably don't reveal all that they know).
But if someone wants to make a claim that "I was wrong", I expect some substantiation (I would expect to be held to that same standard if I said the same about another poster).
I "predicted" there would be no 2018 iMac several times.
Was I wrong about that?
So... I'll say it once more:
I don't expect to see new iMacs until sometime between April/May/June.
We might see the 2019 Mac Pro released first.
My guess (again, it's a guess) is that the 2019 iMacs (at least the 27" models) will incorporate the improved cooling design of the iMac Pro -- but as a result, the RAM slots may no longer be user-accessible. I would expect the CPU power of the 2019 iMacs to rival that of the iMac Pro. With the intro of the 2019 iMacs -and- the 2019 Mac Pro, I'm wondering if the current iMac Pro will be upgraded, or if it may be left to languish, as it seems to have been intended to be "a stopgap" between the old Mac Pro and the "new, improved" design.
If I'm wrong, I'm wrong.
It's a "prediction", a guess, and nothing more.
What are YOUR predictions re the 2019 iMacs?
"I know thats a little work, but a lot easier for you to do than asking someone else to fish through your thousands of posts to find the handful where you predicted something.
Make sense?"
I'll predict what I predict. I'm sure you'll do the same.
My guesses are about as good as anyone else's here (unless they work for Apple, in which case they probably don't reveal all that they know).
But if someone wants to make a claim that "I was wrong", I expect some substantiation (I would expect to be held to that same standard if I said the same about another poster).
I "predicted" there would be no 2018 iMac several times.
Was I wrong about that?
So... I'll say it once more:
I don't expect to see new iMacs until sometime between April/May/June.
We might see the 2019 Mac Pro released first.
My guess (again, it's a guess) is that the 2019 iMacs (at least the 27" models) will incorporate the improved cooling design of the iMac Pro -- but as a result, the RAM slots may no longer be user-accessible. I would expect the CPU power of the 2019 iMacs to rival that of the iMac Pro. With the intro of the 2019 iMacs -and- the 2019 Mac Pro, I'm wondering if the current iMac Pro will be upgraded, or if it may be left to languish, as it seems to have been intended to be "a stopgap" between the old Mac Pro and the "new, improved" design.
If I'm wrong, I'm wrong.
It's a "prediction", a guess, and nothing more.
What are YOUR predictions re the 2019 iMacs?
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The scuttlebutt seems to be that the iMac Pro was going to replace the Mac Pro but Apple realized that wasn’t going to fly with the Pro market. If so, then maybe the iMac Pro will start with the 10-core if the 2019 iMac tops out with an 8-core. Apple could also just continue to sell the iMac Pro along with the 2019 Mac Pro, depending on what the 2019 Mac Pro is going to be, as long as it continues to make them money. But will it be upgraded?
Congrats. You'll be loving how amazingly quick it is, and how it it just chews through edits and renders so effortlessly. The ram really helps, I have 40Gb now.
Can you elaborate on this Samsung 4TB SSD? Is this something you will be replacing the Mac HDD with, or will you use this as an external SSD? Can you provide a link to the model you are buying?
$697 at B&H Photo (for the moment):
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1382501-REG/samsung_mz_76e4t0b_am_860_evo_4tb_internal.html
This replaced the 3.5 inch spinning drive inside the iMac. The result is two drives that appear on the desktop, the 4tb Samsung and the 128gb Apple blade SSD that was part of the original 'fusion' drive.
I got the replacement tape and a few other tools from iFixit, and the 3.5 inch to 2.5 inch drive caddie from OWC.
It's running perfectly. I tend to use the 128gb drive as a 'scrap' drive to test different os'es, ect.
This is the second time I've done this kind of upgrade (I did it on a 2017 21.5 iMac previously) and since I take it slowly and carefully it takes about and hour. Now I've got a beast with tons of fast storage (that doesn't need an external drive hanging off of it) that will last me years.
$697 at B&H Photo (for the moment):
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1382501-REG/samsung_mz_76e4t0b_am_860_evo_4tb_internal.html
This replaced the 3.5 inch spinning drive inside the iMac. The result is two drives that appear on the desktop, the 4tb Samsung and the 128gb Apple blade SSD that was part of the original 'fusion' drive.
I got the replacement tape and a few other tools from iFixit, and the 3.5 inch to 2.5 inch drive caddie from OWC.
It's running perfectly. I tend to use the 128gb drive as a 'scrap' drive to test different os'es, ect.
This is the second time I've done this kind of upgrade (I did it on a 2017 21.5 iMac previously) and since I take it slowly and carefully it takes about and hour. Now I've got a beast with tons of fast storage (that doesn't need an external drive hanging off of it) that will last me years.
Sounds great and I may go the same route. So if I order a custom machine I should order i5 3.8Ghz with 8GB Ram and 2TB Fusion Drive correct? And then I can just upgrade the RAM and perform the same SSD upgrade. This machine is currently $1999 at B&H. So after adding RAM and your SSD upgrade it's approximately a 3K machine. That's not too bad.
Same model that I have. I avoid the i7 due to fan noise issues (and thermal throttling during long video renders).
As far as where to purchase, B&H is a good deal for sure. In my case, I bought it from the Apple online refurb store for $1949. Comes like perfectly new, and some would argue even better than new, because Apple's quality team gives it a very careful examination before it even qualifies for the refurb store. Comes with full new warranty as well.
So if you don't buy now, don't feel bad if the B&H sale ends, because there's always going to be refurb available at Apple.com
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I really dont know what people are talking about with i7 fan noise issues: I never run into issues day to day, and if I'm doing something intensive like playing Battlefield 1 1440p Ultra or exporting in final cut then well of course the fans are gonna go straight to 2700 rpm and be kinda loud thats how computers work
That's just it. They don't actually always work that way. It takes a long time for the i5 iMac fans to ramp up, and when they do ramp up, it's a more gradual process before it hits max. In contrast, the i7 iMac's fans ramp right up to maximum in less than 30 seconds.
What bugged me about my i7 7700K was that even if I were exporting a short birthday video with a 2 minute encode, I'd hear the i7 fan ramp up to max for over a minute. This never happens with my i5 7600.
BTW, we did some testing with a file in Handbrake, and the i7-7700K ramped up in 30 seconds and stayed at maximum until the 10 minute encode was finished. The i7-7600 took over 9 minutes to ramp up to significantly audible and finished the encode in 12.5 minutes. IOW, the 7700K was 20% faster, but was much, much louder during most of the encode.
Even my 2010 Core i7 870 didn't ramp the fan up anywhere near as fast as the 2017 i7-7700K. I bought the 2017 i7-7700K hoping it'd behave like the 2010 Core i7 870, but nope the 7700K was much worse for fan noise, so I returned the 7700K and got the i5-7600 instead. I'm much happier with the 7600.
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Most people do not need the extra power of i7 processors anyway. i5 have gotten good enough in the meantime
An interesting side story on all this:
I currently have an i5 3.8ghz 27 inch iMac. I used to have a 2017 3.4ghz 21 inch iMac.
I regularly encode videos of plays that I videotape. The plays typically run around 2 hours.
When I exported these long videos with my 3.4ghz i5, it would very gradually get up to 90c but the fans stayed quiet, and it never got hotter than that.
With the 3.8ghz i5 27 inch the fans start ramping up about 5 percent of the way into the export, and the temps run up to as high as 98c, and about 10 percent of the way in, the ‘estimated time remaining’ starts to creep up, indicating its starting to thermal throttle.
HOWEVER, when I disable turbo boost for these super long exports, the 3.8ghz never get hotter than 90c and the fans stay quiet. So it behaves pretty much exactly like the 3.4ghz did, tho the 3.4 still had turbo boost enabled.
The kicker is that with turbo boost dosabled the encodes actually take LESS time - about 7 minutes less.
I’m guessing the 3.8 i5 throttles because its 91 watts, vs the 65 watts of the 3.4 i5.
At any rate, I’m better off for my narrow use case to turn off turbo boost on the i5 for super long exports/encodes.
And ... since the i5 thermal throttles in that use case, I have no doubt the i7 would be as bad, if not worse, since its using not only using turbo boost but also hyperthreading to try to eek more performance out of the poor chip.
This did make me conclude that benchmarks like geekbench dont tell the full story. My geekbench numbers on the 3.8 with turbo boost enabled are perfectly fine (15,400 multi, 5320 single)
But geekbench doesnt test the 91 watt processors long enough to get them to where they thermal throttle.
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Just put my 2013 iMac 27" up for sale. Can't wait to see what Apple does with the new model, I'm expecting a redesign with thinner bezels, all SSD.