Questions for those looking to replace a low to mid tier 27 inch iMac with M1 . .

[the8thark]

I am in this boat as well.
Apple has killed the low end 27 inch option for the iMacs. Now it's either 24 inch or high end 27 inch.

For those people who were really hanging out for a iMac M1 Pro level for that little more grunt and 32GB (or 64GB) RAM, what would our purchasing options be? The Mac we wanted got discontinued. The high end option (Max plus separate screen) is good but out of the price range of a lot of people.

Do you think a 27 iMac will come? Noting well that in the keynote they said the Mac Pro is the last Mac yet to be transitioned to M1. So there is a good chance the 27 iMac is discontinued for good.

What are your thoughts on this?

 

[Gnattu]

Do you think a 27 iMac will come?

Very unlikely. The Mac Studio took the place of the 27" iMac as the new "high end desktop that is not a Mac Pro".

The best option seems like to get a good monitor and use it with the Mac Studio.

 

[dieselm]

MacMini + 27inch monitor combo starts around $2500 for the low end folks.
Mac Studio + monitor for the high end folks.

24inch iMac for the consumer all-in-one starts at $1500.

Price points sound about right. Not sure where the 27inch iMac fits now.

 

[clevins]

I don't use (and never have used) the iMacs, but could you use your current 27" as a screen and then buy the Studio in whatever config makes sense for your usage?

 

[EntropyQ3]

I am in this boat as well.
Apple has killed the low end 27 inch option for the iMacs. Now it's either 24 inch or high end 27 inch.

For those people who were really hanging out for a iMac M1 Pro level for that little more grunt and 32GB (or 64GB) RAM, what would our purchasing options be? The Mac we wanted got discontinued. The high end option (Max plus separate screen) is good but out of the price range of a lot of people.

Do you think a 27 iMac will come? Noting well that in the keynote they said the Mac Pro is the last Mac yet to be transitioned to M1. So there is a good chance the 27 iMac is discontinued for good.

What are your thoughts on this?

Actually they answered this one at the end - "there is only one Mac left, the Mac Pro". (That might be a slight paraphrase - go back to the very end and check for exact wording.) It was unambiguous.

 

[zorinlynx]

I'm honestly a bit distraught too. The 27" iMac was like that perfect round peg that fit into the perfect round hole for me. Now it feels like there's a ton of compromise.

At least the Studio Display should be a one time, or at least a very long term, purchase. Once we have it we'll be able to upgrade the Mac connected to it without having to spend that money again.

 

[Mr. Bear]

You can use a non-Apple display with a Studio, so that'll save you about $1000 on the monitor.

I have a 2015 27" iMac. I expect that Apple will release new 27" iMacs later this year with either M1 Pro/Max options, or M2 variants. And then later they'll release a 27" iMac Pro with a mini-LED display, and the guts of the Studio.

The reality is that the Ultra (and probably the Max) are overkill for almost anyone. Which doesn't mean that I don't WANT an Ultra...

 

[EntropyQ3]

The studio display has a single, thunderbolt, input.
PCs, PS5s, XBoxen, … you name it, none of it can be attached in parallell. It’s an external display that is more hamstrung than my 2009 27” iMac that happily accepts to do duty as a PC screen and speakers simultaneously.
Incredible.

 

[zorinlynx]

You can use a non-Apple display with a Studio, so that'll save you about $1000 on the monitor.

I have a 2015 27" iMac. I expect that Apple will release new 27" iMacs later this year with either M1 Pro/Max options, or M2 variants. And then later they'll release a 27" iMac Pro with a mini-LED display, and the guts of the Studio.

The reality is that the Ultra (and probably the Max) are overkill for almost anyone. Which doesn't mean that I don't WANT an Ultra...

Are there any external displays out there with similar DPI to Apple's displays? This has been a bit lacking from what I've seen.

 

[Gnattu]

Are there any external displays out there with similar DPI to Apple's displays? This has been a bit lacking from what I've seen.

Quite ancient LG Ultra-fine does, but not cheap either.

 

[Mr. Bear]

Are there any external displays out there with similar DPI to Apple's displays? This has been a bit lacking from what I've seen.

Yes. Apple doesn’t make their own panels. I think they’re all sourced from LG. Who makes some very nice (and expensive) displays. My buddy has a pair of them that he loves, which cost him about $1000 each. And they don’t have fancy speakers or a cpu, either

 

[UBS28]

Are there any external displays out there with similar DPI to Apple's displays? This has been a bit lacking from what I've seen.

The Apple Studio display is most likely a LG 5K display with some custom modifications to it.

 

[UBS28]

Yes. Apple doesn’t make their own panels. I think they’re all sourced from LG. Who makes some very nice (and expensive) displays. My buddy has a pair of them that he loves, which cost him about $1000 each. And they don’t have fancy speakers or a cpu, either

But those LG panels are extremely old and display technologies have moved on from plain LCD panels.

 

[zorinlynx]

One question I have is... How good are the new 14" and 16" Macbook Pros in clamshell mode?

I'm thinking what I might do is just buy a 14" MBP (My laptop is getting long in the tooth) and one of those studio displays. Spec and form factor wise that will take care of all my needs in one go, but the MBP NEEDS to work reliably long-term in clamshell mode for this to be an option for me.