When will we see an iMac refresh and what to expect?

[Sjasam]

I’m looking to swap my current iMac (late 2014) with a brand new one. There’s been a lot of updates and improvements since I got mine, and I can’t wait to get my hands on a new one. But since the last refresh was in March 2019, it doesn’t seem like the right time to invest (yet), so I was hoping to wait for the next update refresh.

i work in the recording industry and run my own music studio, so I want a really high-end machine.

So in order to both calm my worries that it could be a while until we see one, and to hear get excited about it all, I wanted to ask all of you:

1. When do you think we’ll see a new update to the iMacs?
2. What do you think the next update will include?


KBSout

 

[Wolf1701]

Will a >30" redesigned iMac arrive in 2021?

It is kind of time for me to update my 2011 iMac, but I don't need a new one right now. I use my iMac mainly for webdevelopment, but I occasionally like to play games (but mostly AAA-titles on Windows, not the casual stuff). I thought hard about upgrading my iMac to the 2019 one, but it feels...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[Juicy Box]

This question gets asked often over the last few years. Actually, in Jan of 2018 there were threads asking the same thing you are, but about the 2018 iMac (which never actually happened).

Back then, I said based off of the iMac Pro release (which I think was originally supposed to be the redesigned iMac), and some other factors, we wouldn't see a new iMac until late 2018 til 1st quarter 2019.

Of course there were plenty of people that disagreed and said that Apple wouldn't wait that long between releases. There was even some people saying that the new iMac was going to be out Spring 2018, then WWDC, then the end of the Summer, then Oct.....

The point is, no one knows, and your guess would probably be just as good as everyone else's.


1. No one knows for sure, but we all can make guesses. Mine would be 2021. I wouldn't hold out for a refreshed/redesigned iMac if you need one now.

2. The iMac is way overdue for a redesign. I have a feeling that the next iMac will be a redesign, very similar to the iMac Pro.

 

[Sjasam]

This question gets asked often over the last few years. Actually, in Jan of 2018 there were threads asking the same thing you are, but about the 2018 iMac (which never actually happened).

Back then, I said based off of the iMac Pro release (which I think was originally supposed to be the redesigned iMac), and some other factors, we wouldn't see a new iMac until late 2018 til 1st quarter 2019.

Of course there were plenty of people that disagreed and said that Apple wouldn't wait that long between releases. There was even some people saying that the new iMac was going to be out Spring 2018, then WWDC, then the end of the Summer, then Oct.....

The point is, no one knows, and your guess would probably be just as good as everyone else's.


1. No one knows for sure, but we all can make guesses. Mine would be 2021. I wouldn't hold out for a refreshed/redesigned iMac if you need one now.

2. The iMac is way overdue for a redesign. I have a feeling that the next iMac will be a redesign, very similar to the iMac Pro.

I guess you're right. And this is the closest I could get to any calulated speculation It just always feels so much better forking out the cash when the update is rather fresh. I'm not going to wait until 2021, that's for sure. But then again, I'd rather not jump the gun and buy one tomorrow, only to find there'll be a refresh in March 2020....

I mostly need it because my current iMac can't keep up with the workload as well as it used to, and because my older iMac doesn't have Thunderbolt 3/USB-C ports to keep the data flow inhibited with my planned upgrade to Universal Audio Apollo X8P..

 

[Sam Marks]

I also run a music production studio and bought some months ago an iMac 2019 i9 Vega 48 40gb RAM 512 SSD. I had the bad luck of a faulty unit that died after an audio recording session. I do not know if it was due to low thermal performance or a manufacturing defects affecting only my unit. I returned it as soon as it died in the first two weeks after buying it, as I posted here on another post.

The question is that during the time with the i9 iMac Vega 48 I could appreciate both positive and negative things of it for music production.

The weakest point for me was the low performance thermals when using virtual instruments, that led to excessive heat, noise and thermal throttling (and eventually in my case to the dead of the iMac). I do not want to imagine if this overheating and fatal failure of the iMac happened after the initial 14 days.

After this experience, my initial impulse was to wait for another iMac redesign, opt for the iMac Pro or the new MBP 16. I finally opted for a Windows/osx/Linux compatible laptop (custom made). I am very happy so far with it for music production as the software that I use is available for both OSX and Windows 10 Pro (Live, Cubase, Reaper, virtual instruments, virtual audio plugins, etc.). I could also install OSX if required but W10 is good.

The laptop has 8 cores, 4.7GHz all core turbo boost, a last Intel generation CPU, 17.3 inch IPS screen mate screen, more powerful GPU than the Vega 48 (equivalent to Radeon 5700 or Vega 64), 64GB RAM, cool and silent operation under load, and it can be overclocked and it is ideal for my music production needs.

All for a quarter of the price of a comparable new MBP 16. The best thing is that the music production software that I use runs very well under Windows 10, the same as OSX.

And I installed 3TB of very fast SSD internal storage for my sample libraries (and another 2TB USB 3.1 gen 2). I can connect up to 4 screens, so the lack of TB3 ports does not bother me.

 

[nrvna76]

I also run a music production studio and bought some months ago an iMac 2019 i9 Vega 48 40gb RAM 512 SSD. I had the bad luck of a faulty unit that died after an audio recording session. I do not know if it was due to low thermal performance or a manufacturing defects affecting only my unit. I returned it as soon as it died in the first two weeks after buying it, as I posted here on another post.

The question is that during the time with the i9 iMac Vega 48 I could appreciate both positive and negative things of it for music production.

The weakest point for me was the low performance thermals when using virtual instruments, that led to excessive heat, noise and thermal throttling (and eventually in my case to the dead of the iMac). I do not want to imagine if this overheating and fatal failure of the iMac happened after the initial 14 days.

After this experience, my initial impulse was to wait for another iMac redesign, opt for the iMac Pro or the new MBP 16. I finally opted for a Windows/osx/Linux compatible laptop (custom made). I am very happy so far with it for music production as the software that I use is available for both OSX and Windows 10 Pro (Live, Cubase, Reaper, virtual instruments, virtual audio plugins, etc.). I could also install OSX if required but W10 is good.

The laptop has 8 cores, 4.7GHz all core turbo boost, a last Intel generation CPU, 17.3 inch IPS screen mate screen, more powerful GPU than the Vega 48 (equivalent to Radeon 5700 or Vega 64), 64GB RAM, cool and silent operation under load, and it can be overclocked and it is ideal for my music production needs.

All for a quarter of the price of a comparable new MBP 16. The best thing is that the music production software that I use runs very well under Windows 10, the same as OSX.

And I installed 3TB of very fast SSD internal storage for my sample libraries (and another 2TB USB 3.1 gen 2). I can connect up to 4 screens, so the lack of TB3 ports does not bother me.

Seems like a great deal, what laptop did you buy?

 

[Sam Marks]

Seems like a great deal, what laptop did you buy?

It is a Clevo laptop. Model N970TC. Intel i7 9700 desktop CPU (with similar Geekbench multicore score than base 8 core Mac Pro 2019, and higher than any Mac single core score). NVIDIA 1660ti GPU (Open CL score similar than Radeon 5700XT or 1080ti, 62,000). As I do not make video editing it is more than enough for me, and very cool.
Original configuration came with 500GB SSD WD, 1TB HDD Toshiba and 64GB Samsung 2666 RAM. €1400 the price I paid via Amazon. I added later 3TB SSD fast nmve storage, Samsung 970 Plus and Crucial P1.

Very satisfied with its performance working with big sessions of virtual analog synths, effects and sample libraries. In other threads I put more info on this laptop.

My previous laptop was a 15" MBP. I do not notice important differences producing music under Windows 10 compared to OSX. ASIO audio drivers are now much more efficient, the same as CoreAudio. And the thermals and performance is very solid under Pro Tools, Live, Reaper or Cubase 10.5. Temperatures are much lower than the i9 iMac when I stress the machine. It's thermals are ready for a i9 9900 (that I could install later very easily) and a RTX 2070. So, fan noise is generally not noticeable in my studio use.

 

[Sjasam]

I also run a music production studio and bought some months ago an iMac 2019 i9 Vega 48 40gb RAM 512 SSD. I had the bad luck of a faulty unit that died after an audio recording session. I do not know if it was due to low thermal performance or a manufacturing defects affecting only my unit. I returned it as soon as it died in the first two weeks after buying it, as I posted here on another post.

The question is that during the time with the i9 iMac Vega 48 I could appreciate both positive and negative things of it for music production.

The weakest point for me was the low performance thermals when using virtual instruments, that led to excessive heat, noise and thermal throttling (and eventually in my case to the dead of the iMac). I do not want to imagine if this overheating and fatal failure of the iMac happened after the initial 14 days.

After this experience, my initial impulse was to wait for another iMac redesign, opt for the iMac Pro or the new MBP 16. I finally opted for a Windows/osx/Linux compatible laptop (custom made). I am very happy so far with it for music production as the software that I use is available for both OSX and Windows 10 Pro (Live, Cubase, Reaper, virtual instruments, virtual audio plugins, etc.). I could also install OSX if required but W10 is good.

The laptop has 8 cores, 4.7GHz all core turbo boost, a last Intel generation CPU, 17.3 inch IPS screen mate screen, more powerful GPU than the Vega 48 (equivalent to Radeon 5700 or Vega 64), 64GB RAM, cool and silent operation under load, and it can be overclocked and it is ideal for my music production needs.

All for a quarter of the price of a comparable new MBP 16. The best thing is that the music production software that I use runs very well under Windows 10, the same as OSX.

And I installed 3TB of very fast SSD internal storage for my sample libraries (and another 2TB USB 3.1 gen 2). I can connect up to 4 screens, so the lack of TB3 ports does not bother me.

Sounds good. I already have a maxed out MBP 15” 2018 as well tho. I guess that should tie me over until a new iMac is out.

 

[spiderpumpkin]

Probably sometime after these new processors are released. https://www.neowin.net/news/alleged...-s-lineup-leaked-up-to-10-cores-at-over-5ghz/

 

[Fishrrman]

iMacs seem to be getting released every 2 years.
2015, 2017, 2019.
So... my guess would be mid 2021.
But... that's just a -guess-.

For a studio, running a heavy workload... you're going to want the best "cooling".
Perhaps an iMac Pro?

 

[Sjasam]

iMacs seem to be getting released every 2 years.
2015, 2017, 2019.
So... my guess would be mid 2021.
But... that's just a -guess-.

For a studio, running a heavy workload... you're going to want the best "cooling".
Perhaps an iMac Pro?

Yeah, I guess According to "The Buyers Guide" here on MacRumors, it says the average between updates are 386 days, and we are now around 100 days away form that. In which case we could be talking soon. But then I also see that the intervals between updates are longer for the past 2-3 releases, than before that...

...so for now I guess I would need to run the UAD Thunderbolt 3-based audio interface through my July 2018 MacBook Pro...

....and another thing....Thunderbolt 3 cables seem to be VERY expensive -- and they're hard come by in lengths over 2 meters...? Any tips on this?

 

[zedsdead]

Yeah, I guess According to "The Buyers Guide" here on MacRumors, it says the average between updates are 386 days, and we are now around 100 days away form that. In which case we could be talking soon. But then I also see that the intervals between updates are longer for the past 2-3 releases, than before that...

...so for now I guess I would need to run the UAD Thunderbolt 3-based audio interface through my July 2018 MacBook Pro...

....and another thing....Thunderbolt 3 cables seem to be VERY expensive -- and they're hard come by in lengths over 2 meters...? Any tips on this?

The iMac has been on a 2 year cycle (and iMac Pro is past that now), so it could be 2021. However, those two year gaps were also the only avail ever intel chips for the time, so Apple could not update the chipset anyway. Apple has been steadily updating the laptop line as new chips became available lately, so let’s hope that happens with the iMac this year.

 

[sublunar]

At the moment, there's no suitable desktop CPUs for an iMac refresh on the horizon until at least October 2020 so early 2021 isn't far fetched. The CPUs are expected to have hyper threading on every SKU (even i5) so a significant increase in benchmarks for multi-core workloads.

You could also expect an upgrade in GPU grunt with AMD 5300/5500 graphics - those GPUs are due later this year.

For what it's worth you could get a refurb 2019 or even try and find an iMac Pro deal.

Of course, this precludes the possibility of an all new iMac (as per the recent thread about a 'gaming orientated' iMac) which could herald a redesign perhaps around a 24" 4k panel with a higher (pro-motion?) refresh rate.

 

[canopic]

iMac bezels are starting to look comically large.

 

[_Skyfire_]

Earlier iMac updates that were "every 2 years" have been significant, 2019 was just a CPU bump. Thus a more complete update for iMac is likely in 2020. We might actually even get a true redesign with iMP features. iMac Pro was probably the original iMac redesign before it was reassigned to the pro users to cover up Apple's Mac Pro trashcan fiasco.

 

[dapa0s]

iMac Pro was probably the original iMac redesign before it was reassigned to the pro users to cover up Apple's Mac Pro trashcan fiasco.

One can only hope. Come on, Apple, it's time to get rid of the iMac Pro, and just keep the design and name it iMac, with a more affordable price for regular consumers..

 

[Icaras]

iMac bezels are starting to look comically large.

This comically large in fact:

 

[nihil0]

Why are you all going on and on and on and on about bezels? I have 27-inch iMac and I never notice them. Do you look at yours from 5 metre distance or what? While working they are invisible.

 

[Wolf1701]

Why are you all going on and on and on and on about bezels? I have 27-inch iMac and I never notice them. Do you look at yours from 5 metre distance or what? While working they are invisible.

like someone already said in one thread, besides an ahestetic fact, those bezels are a 'problem' (more an inconvenience) when you want use a dual monitor configuration (large gap). Btw I have a 27" side by side with a 24" and I can survive

 

[Juicy Box]

iMac bezels are starting to look comically large.

I wouldn't mind them being a little smaller, but in reality, that are hardly noticed by me when using my iMac.

Bezels have more of an impact on a mobile device than a stationary one.

This comically large in fact:

View attachment 885782

Yeah, those bezels really stand out, but I would suspect that most people do not use their iMacs with a very brightly lit backdrop.

Look at the photo below for comparison:

Why are you all going on and on and on and on about bezels? I have 27-inch iMac and I never notice them. Do you look at yours from 5 metre distance or what? While working they are invisible.

This is pretty much my experience with the bezels.

I definitely wouldn't hate it if Apple reduced the bezel size, but I would much rather want many other things over tiny bezels.
[automerge]1577803178[/automerge]

besides an ahestetic fact, those bezels are a 'problem' (more an inconvenience) when you want use a dual monitor configuration (large gap).

This would probably be the best argument for thinner bezels, but I doubt Apple cares too much about this.

Anyone remember what a thunderbolt display looked like next to an iMac?

As long as you have the right size book, they looked pretty good:

 

[xgman]

One can only hope. Come on, Apple, it's time to get rid of the iMac Pro, and just keep the design and name it iMac, with a more affordable price for regular consumers..

disagree. more than ever, with the new car priced mac pro, we still need something in between like the imp. But the rumored "eports gaming rig" sounds interesting, beyond gaming. Likely wishful thinking though.

 

[dapa0s]

I don't think we would need the iMac Pro now since the new intel chips are looking very promising (we'll find out in a couple of days at CES), but I don't have anything against it, as long as the regular iMac doesn't suffer as a consequence. I really, really want an improved cooling system in the regular iMac.


controversial personal opinion time:

I would HATE an Apple gaming rig, and them doing it would be a very bad sign. Just hearing of it is a bad sign, honestly.

And attracting gamers, who are by far the most toxic and vile internet demography, would be bad for the company, and Apple already has a bad rep on the internet.

 

[Spungoflex]

One can only hope. Come on, Apple, it's time to get rid of the iMac Pro, and just keep the design and name it iMac, with a more affordable price for regular consumers..

But space grey is ugly and you can’t replace the RAM without tearing off the screen. Why would you want that?

 

[_Skyfire_]

But space grey is ugly and you can’t replace the RAM without tearing off the screen. Why would you want that?

Mainly folks want the iMP internal design in the new iMac for the better thermals and I/O. The iMP thermals might even enable a Navi 21/23 implementation possibility even if it's unlikely Apple would offer us such abundance. I would like a RAM-access door also to be included but still...would be a great upgrade even without it.