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No larger or more powerfu iMac today
- Thread starter Kardinal1911
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The last 27" iMac update was August 2020, and the last 21/24" iMac update was May 2021. I'm guessing, due to the new store icons (see below), that they'll update the iMacs as a product line next year, probably Spring. Shame, too, I was ready to punish my wallet today for a new 27" model.
I was hoping for a 30" iMac with the new chip. Oh well
I don't think they can supply enough M1 Pro or M1 Max devices to be able to launch those products. MBP demand will be hard to keep up with. Then you have this winters shipping problems ruining everyones Christmas.
I'm presuming it is component delays - likely for the display panel. I'd love MiniLED, but considering 4K models are pushing $4000 or more, I am guessing instead we'll stick with 5K to 5.5K and "normal" LED (though Full Array Backlighting would be nice).
M1 Pro and Max would have been decent updates for the 2020 iMac in every aspect except RAM. A downgrade from 128 GB to 64 GB would have looked bad, especially in this price range, so Apple will probably wait until they have something better for the highest-end iMac.
I wonder how many iMac 5K users need 128GB of RAM - and of those who do, how many use it to run Windows VMs and that's out the window (pun) unless your Windows apps work under Windows ARM (and then there is the licensing issue).
As I see it, there are two likely scenarios:
1) Mar/Apr 2022 launch with M1 Pro/Max chips (same pattern as M1 MacBook in Oct 2020, M1 iMac in Apr 2021)
2) mid-late 2022 launch with M2 Pro/Max chips (releasing another new M1-based Mac around the 2-year mark seems too long for one generation)
My theory is that Apple wanted to launch the new MacBook Pros at WWDC but were delayed by the chip shortage (hence why a WWDC launch was heavily rumoured). Therefore these M1 Pro/Max chips are coming later than they were meant to in the cycle (being A14-based but launching just after the A15).
This would mean that Apple would try to get the A15-based M2 out some time around Mar/Apr, and the M2 Pro/Max chips mid-late year to tighten up the cycle again. This would also mean that the larger iMac and Mac Pro skip the M1 generation and go straight to M2. I think this was always intended for the Mac Pro (“two year transition” + they’d just done a new Intel Mac Pro in 2019), but a larger iMac with M1 Pro/Max may have been a casualty of the chip shortage (a couple sources have said Apple delayed the larger iMac to prioritise other Mac models).
If my theory is correct then Scenario 2 makes more sense.
1) Mar/Apr 2022 launch with M1 Pro/Max chips (same pattern as M1 MacBook in Oct 2020, M1 iMac in Apr 2021)
2) mid-late 2022 launch with M2 Pro/Max chips (releasing another new M1-based Mac around the 2-year mark seems too long for one generation)
My theory is that Apple wanted to launch the new MacBook Pros at WWDC but were delayed by the chip shortage (hence why a WWDC launch was heavily rumoured). Therefore these M1 Pro/Max chips are coming later than they were meant to in the cycle (being A14-based but launching just after the A15).
This would mean that Apple would try to get the A15-based M2 out some time around Mar/Apr, and the M2 Pro/Max chips mid-late year to tighten up the cycle again. This would also mean that the larger iMac and Mac Pro skip the M1 generation and go straight to M2. I think this was always intended for the Mac Pro (“two year transition” + they’d just done a new Intel Mac Pro in 2019), but a larger iMac with M1 Pro/Max may have been a casualty of the chip shortage (a couple sources have said Apple delayed the larger iMac to prioritise other Mac models).
If my theory is correct then Scenario 2 makes more sense.
While I fully believe there will be an M2 in 2022 for (at least) the MacBook Air, I wonder if we will see M2 Pro / M2 MAX in 2022 since from the Bloomberg article, the Mac Pro will be getting multiple M1 Pro MAX SoCs (2 or 4) in some type of package. Sounds more like a Pro and MAX M2 will be a 2023 or 2024 thing (assuming Apple goes for a 12-18 month update cycle and not sure about that for the "Pro" models).
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I so desperately want a big new imac with those new chips - I recently moved into an office and have no computer at home anymore besides my iPad pro 12,9". I guess I could just get a M1 imac but who wants to invest in a one year old chip at this point... 
The prices associated with the new chips suggest to me that any larger iMac will be well beyond my budget. I would have liked a display larger than 24" (27" would be ideal for me), but I do not need more power, so I will be getting the 24" iMac.
The prices do seem to be wild. I know that you're getting (reportedly) a hell of a bang for your buck, but I got my iMac when the fully maxed out config was £2800. That felt huge at the time. A fully maxed out 2021 MPB16 is nearly £6000. Tech has come a long way, even in just those 6 years, but ffs these prices can't be down to costs. They're surely over inflated at this point.
I'm hopeful we'll see something "iMac Pro" soon... my current iMac motherboard already died once and had to be re-traced. I don't know how long that will hold up for!
I'm hopeful we'll see something "iMac Pro" soon... my current iMac motherboard already died once and had to be re-traced. I don't know how long that will hold up for!
There was a claim that Apple is trying to keep this larger iMac around a $1799-1999 starting price (with 8GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD) so we shall see.
The 14" MBP was a big jump ($200), but it also trounces the Intel i7 13.3" 4-port MBP and that was $1999. And the 16" "only" went up $100 (and it has the SoC that is a $200 upgrade for the 14").
It wasn't scheduled until next year. Apple silicons for Big iMac aren't "ready" which is not a bad thing.
I'm guessing that indicates Big iMac will be more aligned with half-sized Mac Pro and share the same die designs.
I think it is going to be very interesting and appearance will be distinctively different from new 24-inch iMac and closer to traditional unibody.
Anyway, personally I won't consider Big iMac if it can't be used as a monitor (for Apple devices at least)
It's a given you will not be able to use the iMac as an external display.
(Maybe some day Apple makes it an AirPlay-capable device.)
When I saw the release I was thinking hmmm would I be tempted to lose my 2020 iMac with 27" screen .... err no .... but 14 inch fully spec'd and 64Gb Ram appealed ... then saw that would be £3500 !
I spec'd a 16 inch and it was only I think £200 more thus a no brainer to go for the bigger one IMO.
Geekbench scores of 1750 single core and 11,500 multi core are great ... but (today) I get 1272 and 8881 almost from my iMac + have an M1 MBP with 16Gb Ram which gives (just tested it) 1742 single core and 7679 multi core anyway.
I'm not sure I would see any benefit for what I do other than having the newest bestest thing on the block ?
iMac certainly stays as a 2020 with 64Gb Ram and 3.8 Ghz 8 core i7.
The new maxed out MBP appeals in an odd way as it doesn't have the touch bar which I hate !!
I spec'd a 16 inch and it was only I think £200 more thus a no brainer to go for the bigger one IMO.
Geekbench scores of 1750 single core and 11,500 multi core are great ... but (today) I get 1272 and 8881 almost from my iMac + have an M1 MBP with 16Gb Ram which gives (just tested it) 1742 single core and 7679 multi core anyway.
I'm not sure I would see any benefit for what I do other than having the newest bestest thing on the block ?
iMac certainly stays as a 2020 with 64Gb Ram and 3.8 Ghz 8 core i7.
The new maxed out MBP appeals in an odd way as it doesn't have the touch bar which I hate !!
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What Bloomberg article are you referring to?
Multiple SoC in one computer? Wouldn't that remove the advantage of having unified memory for both GPU and CPU? It would be even more complicated than it was before Apple silicon: There would be multiple places of RAM. The system always had to move around the data between the RAMs of the chips. But I mean they already do something like that with GPU RAM in the current Mac Pro. So maybe that would really be an option.
But I'm also wondering if Apple simply puts those M1 Pro and M1 Max SoC in the new big iMac next year like they did with the M1 and the 24" iMac? I have a feeling that the M1 Max would not be enough with its 64 GB of RAM at the maximum. Also the big iMac has so much more space (despite being thin) than a 14" MacBook Pro that they shurely could afford a chip that needs more Watt when under heavy load.
Also they still have to design a more capable chip for the Mac Pro. That one is currently capable of 1.5 TB of RAM. A single M1 Max with 64 GB RAM is far from sufficient here. So I hope the top of the line iMac might geht what the entry level Mac Pro gets.
PS: To create a system that's capable of 1.5 TB of RAM with multiple M1 Max SoC Apple would have to put 24 M1 Max in a Mac Pro. That seems a little bit insane even just because of space in the current Mac Pro enclosure. 😄 Also that would mean that Mac Pro had 240 CPU cores, 192 performance and 48 efficiency cores. I think they have to come up with a SoC that comes with at least 128 GB, better 256 GB. Or they will find a way to combine the M1 Max with external RAM. That would be an even more pro solution because it would make the Mac Pro way more update friendly.
Conclusion: 🤷♂️ But I would love to see an iMac with a more capable chip than M1 Max. At the latest at WWDC.
Mark Gurman had a large article talking about the more powerful M1 family SoCs and referred to them by their internal codenames:
- JadeC-Chop (which launched as M1 Pro)
- JadeC-Die (which launched as M1 MAX)
- Jade2C-Die (which has twice the CPU and GPU cores of M1 MAX)
- Jade4C-Die (which has four times the CPU and GPU cores of M1 MAX)
From the codename and the configuration, it sounds like 2C-Die and 4C-Die would be multiple MAX SoCs. Apple does have patents for "chiplets" which could support such configurations or it could just be significantly larger die to hold all those transistors in a single package.
This is what many, if not most, of us presume(d?) would happen.
However, are those using the full 128GB of RAM available to the Intel iMac 5K using that to run plenty of x86 Windows VMs? If so, then that is not going to really be a use-case anymore since only the ARM version of Windows works and that is (currently) not licensed for individual sale at the moment (so no company would risk allowing pirated copies of Windows ARM to be used).
Well I am sure Apple could just add more DRAM modules to the package to up the memory capacity, though I honestly don't think we will see anywhere close to 1.5TB - cost alone would likely preclude it.
64 GB should be enough for that kind of work. 128 GB and above is mostly used for data intensive applications. For example, I develop bioinformatics software, and the 128 GB in my iMac enables me to run most full-scale tests locally. The productivity gains from not having to start a cloud instance for those tests are easily worth the price. 256 GB would be even better, but the gains from 512 GB would already be marginal, because the work I do is not particularly memory intensive.
We know M1 Pro and M1 Max already. If this is going to hold up, Jade2C will support up to 128GB RAM, Jade4C up to 256GB RAM. Half-sized Mac Pro will top out with 256GB RAM, 40 CPU cores, 128 GPU cores in a 4-node NUMA configuration..or in a new logical way that people haven't thought of.
Big iMac will come in configurations with one 16GB M1 Pro at the lower end, 32GB M1 Pro and 64GB M1 Max in the middle, and 128GB Jade2c at the top end
These will be very interesting machines in compact form factors albeit very closed systems.
I'm not sure about the M1 Pro configuration after the latest ProMotion rumor. The M1 Pro MBP only supports two external monitors, or three displays in total. A 5k display at 120 Hz requires twice as much bandwidth, leaving only one slot for external monitors. Even the M1 Max would only support two external monitors (or one external 5k ProMotion monitor).