PULL the trigger and buy a 27" or wait MAX one more month ?

[petlic]

Heres the situation.... Moving into a new condo and want to have everything set up with my new Imac but i dont ABSOLUTELY need it asap.. as much i would like it lol... Do i wait one more month and continue to use my macbook pro 2013 or are the changes from previous models to new models usually not worth potentially waiting another 6-8 months?

 

[clarkgoble]

Many of us expected it to be released in February. Now it's looking like WWDC or potentially later. Part of the issue is that Kaby Lake chips aren't much better than Skylake - mainly just a slightly faster clock rate. What people are expecting is better GPUs. Whether that affects you or not depends upon your use case. Personally I'm waiting at least for WWDC despite being frustrated with all the delays on Mac hardware.

 

[shaunp]

Nobody knows what will be in the new iMac. Probably Kaby Lake CPU's, a faster GPU, Thunderbolt 3/USB C, support for 64GB RAM and perhaps SSD as standard. They probably won't change the screen or the form factor over the current retina iMac - unless they want to copy Microsoft. It will be a bit quicker than the current one with support for newer ports and that's it. It's not very likely they will be supporting VR, and even if they do, would you need it?

If you really must have TB3 and USB 3.1 then you'll have to wait, and I'm sure the MacBook Pro you were planning to use for a month, will actually be fine for as long as you need it to be. If you don't need TB3 or USB 3.1 then get the current one. There won't be much difference CPU performance. GPU performance may be better, but unless you are a gamer you won't care that much and if you are a gamer an iMac probably wouldn't be top of your list anyway.

 

[cynics]

Apple always releases incremental updates. So unless you are waiting for something very specific it really wont matter much if you buy one now.

For me I have a problem buying a 2015 anything at a 2017 price.

 

[czerney]

If you do a PC build using close to the same model parts as the imac from quality brands like asus, gigabyte, corsair etc then the cost comes to about $2000. A Dell 27" 5K screen as the iMac costs ~ $2239. Price is now 4200. I'm talking AUD here so whilst PC is coming in about $1k cheaper once you account for os / software / apple support / longevity / fit for purpose. There's not much in it.

I hate buying old tech but what made me just pull the trigger on one earlier this week is that for my needs the current version is going to smash through anything I will throw at it. Ports wise I don't need thunderbolt 2 let alone thunderbolt 3, but I will certainly use usb3 and the sd card slot and network port.

Also someone else mentioned in the imac form in the last few days (I forget where I read it) that as I've gotten older I kinda have started getting over myself having to have the absolute latest tech and just start pulling the trigger based on what I need.

 

[Brian Y]

If you do a PC build using close to the same model parts as the imac from quality brands like asus, gigabyte, corsair etc then the cost comes to about $2000. A Dell 27" 5K screen as the iMac costs ~ $2239. Price is now 4200. I'm talking AUD here so whilst PC is coming in about $1k cheaper once you account for os / software / apple support / longevity / fit for purpose. There's not much in it.

I hate buying old tech but what made me just pull the trigger on one earlier this week is that for my needs the current version is going to smash through anything I will throw at it. Ports wise I don't need thunderbolt 2 let alone thunderbolt 3, but I will certainly use usb3 and the sd card slot and network port.

Also someone else mentioned in the imac form in the last few days (I forget where I read it) that as I've gotten older I kinda have started getting over myself having to have the absolute latest tech and just start pulling the trigger based on what I need.

I'm in the same boat. My (greatly upgraded) 2011 iMac is slowly dying (overheating power supply that it's not worth throwing money at to fix - even just parts), and there's no point buying a 18-odd month old machine at new machine prices. I'm hoping my iMac lasts until the new ones are out - as you said, by the time you factor in the screen, it's hard to beat the iMacs price point.

 

[Fishrrman]

Prediction for OP:

One month from today, you'll still be where you are... today.

 

[3329783]

Heres the situation.... Moving into a new condo and want to have everything set up with my new Imac but i dont ABSOLUTELY need it asap.. as much i would like it lol... Do i wait one more month and continue to use my macbook pro 2013 or are the changes from previous models to new models usually not worth potentially waiting another 6-8 months?

your answer is in bold a 2013 MBP is still quite modern.

I'm in the same boat. will gladly wait.

 

[CWallace]

Keep an eye out for refurbished models. I always buy max-spec refurbished and save upwards of $600-800 on new and what I get is good for 3-4 years or more so I can afford to wait.

 

[mcpix]

Keep an eye out for refurbished models. I always buy max-spec refurbished and save upwards of $600-800 on new and what I get is good for 3-4 years or more so I can afford to wait.

This is what i did. There have been some amazing deals on refurbished models on eBay lately (I saved $800 over new price!).

One more consideration is whether the new iMacs will go through the same changes the 2016 Macbook Pros did. It would be crazy to only have USB-C ports on a desktop machine, but you just never know with Apple. I need all the legacy ports (including the SD Card reader) so that was one more reason for me to buy the current model.

 

[Fravin]

The current iMac is such a perfect machine, that I couldn't wonder what Apple could done, except for the obvious USB ports replacements.

USB C is a real thing, an Apple is investing in it. Would expect that a new iMac would have only TB3 ports. Maybe it will lost the Ethernet port too.

GPU update is another thing certainly to expect. But the new drivers in 10.12.4 has gave a new life to R9 chips. It's running blazing fast in all of the versions.

Maybe it will be a clever move to buy it now and keep away from the confusion with new ports and adapters...

 

[czerney]

One thing that helped was that I purchased through Apple business.

I did nothing except say I worked for a particular well known company and they gave me a 7.2% discount off the online BTO price.

 

[CWallace]

One more consideration is whether the new iMacs will go through the same changes the 2016 Macbook Pros did. It would be crazy to only have USB-C ports on a desktop machine, but you just never know with Apple.

I'm very confident it will have only combined USB-C/TB3 ports. Probably 6 (I hope).

There is no reason for them to remove the Ethernet port - it won't allow them to make it thinner (not that they can - the machine is already thermally-limited) and plenty of corporations still use wired networking (and iMacs sell into the Enterprise). So if they did, I would be very surprised.

I don't see a reason for them to remove the SD Card slot, either. Again, won't make it any thinner and it's not like they are hurting for internal space (like they could be on the MBP). But if they did, I would not be surprised.

 

[purpletalon55]

Again USB type C is worthless and its a failed standard it amazes me how much I have to tell people that In like 5 months it will be in the book of obsolete failed tech and we will still have good old USB 3 Type A the best USB format.

 

[Fravin]

Again USB type C is worthless and its a failed standard it amazes me how much I have to tell people that In like 5 months it will be in the book of obsolete failed tech and we will still have good old USB 3 Type A the best USB format.

Why do you think USB C is such a fail?

 

[sfwalter]

Again USB type C is worthless and its a failed standard it amazes me how much I have to tell people that In like 5 months it will be in the book of obsolete failed tech and we will still have good old USB 3 Type A the best USB format.

Why is it a failed standard? Looks like most pc manufacturers are moving to it. Heck even my Nintendo Switch has USB-C.

 

[purpletalon55]

Why do you think USB C is such a fail?

speed is pretty much same as Usb 3, and its no longer backwards compatible I for sure wouldn't want to spend hundreds on new devices because they couldn't make it compatible with older stuff, and I'm not buying adapters.
[doublepost=1491099418][/doublepost]I hope that manufacturers just end it right now and save time and money putting obsolete tech into computers

 

[maflynn]

The current iMac is such a perfect machine, that I couldn't wonder what Apple could done, except for the obvious USB ports replacements.

I have the 2015 model, and its great, so don't get me wrong, but people here in the forum have been clamoring for better GPUs. I'm not one of them, because I'm not pushing the GPU very hard.

At this point, I don't expect anything from Apple until the fall, which is a bummer for those waiting on newer models.

 

[Fravin]

speed is pretty much same as Usb 3, and its no longer backwards compatible I for sure wouldn't want to spend hundreds on new devices because they couldn't make it compatible with older stuff, and I'm not buying adapters.

Definitely you got a point. But you have forgot the USB-C charging cabilities and the larger bandwidth. Is like a dream for a designer to merge al the I/O ports for just one. You can output video signal in 4K, as an example, while the other port is running a video from an external HDD. Surely you could have only USB-C computers a couple of years from now.