USB-C has an alternate mode which now covers DisplayPort 1.3 and Thunderbolt 3. It is quite possible to see audio and Ethernet alternate modes in the future.I should have been clear I was referring to network connectivity. The USB-C ports are for connecting peripherals and storage.
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Will Apple release new iMac in March?
- Thread starter ndolebay
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With what? Kaby Lake brings almost nothing to the party and is simply a stop gap CPU until Intel can get it's act together with their next generation of CPUs. The reports I have read for Kaby Lake make disappointing reading where desktops are concerned.
Intel also appear to have abandoned their tick-tock upgrades. They have been showing off their 10nm Cannonlake CPUs and it's possible they could be in some Laptops by the end of the year. However, before that there is also Coffee Lake for desktops and a rumoured Coffee Lake-X super CPUs though that's looking like 2018.
I don't know whats considered a major or minor upgrade, but a potential wild card could be AMD's upcoming Ryzen CPUs. While in single threaded tasks they will probably be slightly slower than the skylake CPUs in the current iMac, they could offer 8 core CPUs in a thermal profile that could fit the mac pro. Couple this with an RX 480 derived GPU, thunderbolt 3 and a touch bar based keyboard and this could be a pretty big upgrade.
Assuming they are willing to dump BootCamp...
(would anger many who need to use both platforms and don't want/can't do VM for performance reasons perhaps)
So, there are rumors about the next iPhone, the next iPad, the next Watch. But completely silence about iMac. That does not look promising for a refresh of the iMac in the near future.
The volume and the interest in those lines makes it so that the supplier leaks are just always more prevalent vs Mac stuff.
Also, if there's no major form factor/casing changes, which is highly likely, there isn't much to leak given that internals aren't obviously different to the untrained or casual observers eye who may not know what to look for.
AMD CPUs would work with bootcamp just like Intel's. They are both based on x86 and already have windows support.
Well, even though nobody's talking about Apple's "car" project anymore, I suspect it( like similar excursions that haven't produced a market product yet ) costs a boatload of money to fund all those employees and labs.
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Tend to agree. However, it's possible any new external iMac design is so similar to the current, it will be almost a silent update.
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Ryzen is supposed to be available in early March, so Apple's response should be interesting. AMD already supplies Apple's dGPUs, so a strong CPU business case ( Stacc already mentioned the multi-core possibilities ) isn't surprising. Stacc's analysis got me excited; maybe the nMP isn't dead.
I wouldn't be surprised if any iMac rumours/announcements don't start appearing until after AMD officially launch.
Apple's ability to keep their trap shut would be in over-drive right right now especially if a switch to Ryzen in the imac was in the cards.
In my mind I can't see a better reason, other than a redesign, for delaying the 2017 iMac since next iterations of the core components parts in their existing families are readily available.
Apple's ability to keep their trap shut would be in over-drive right right now especially if a switch to Ryzen in the imac was in the cards.
In my mind I can't see a better reason, other than a redesign, for delaying the 2017 iMac since next iterations of the core components parts in their existing families are readily available.
What are they going to pair it with, a CPU in Kaby Lake that offers very little improvement over Skylake? Everyone is still awaiting Intel's future CPUs which the promise of up to 10 cores - not this year though.
After four years in development, AMD has finally taken the wraps off the Ryzen series of x86 CPU. The company also revealed details of the first batch of CPU that will be going on pre-order today.
The Ryzen series will come in three variations, Ryzen 7, Ryzen 5, and Ryzen 3, with Ryzen 7 being the enthusiast series and the Ryzen 3 being the budget offering. For now, AMD has only announced Ryzen 7 processors, with Ryzen 5 and Ryzen 3 to be announced later this year.
The Ryzen 7 series for now includes three models, the flagship 1800X, the 1700X, and the cheapest 1700.
The 1800X is an 8-core, 16 thread 95W TDP part with 3.6GHz base clock speed and 4.0GHz boost clock speed. Compared to the similarly specced Core i7-6900K, the 1800X posted identical scores in Cinebench single-thread test and 9% increase in the multi-threaded test. To put this context, the Core i7-6900K is a $1050 part whereas the 1800X is priced at $499.
Moving on, the 1700X is also an 8-core, 16 thread 95W part with 3.4GHz base clock speed and 3.8Ghz boost clock speed. In Cinebench multi-threaded test, the 1700X posted 4% higher score than the Core i7-6900K and 39% higher than the Core i7-6800K. The 6800K is a $450 part while the 1700X is priced at $399.
Lastly, there is the 1700, which also happens to be an 8-core, 16 thread part but with 65W TDP, making it the world's lowest power 8-core desktop processor. The base clock speed is 3.0GHz while the boost clock speed is 3.7GHz. The 1700 is 46% faster than the Core i7-7700K in multi-threaded Cinebench test. The 1700 is priced at $329.
The new Ryzen 7 CPU will go on sale starting March 2 with pre-orders starting today. AMD has also partnered with all the top motherboard manufacturers and we are expecting 82 new motherboards based on the X370 and B350 chipset, which will be available March 2 onwards.
As I shared in the other thread, I've never seen an AMD computer with Thunderbolt, which makes sense considering it's an Intel developed technology.
Given how heavily Apple is invested in TB, it's safe to say we can stop talking about AMD Macs.
True, just fun to look at what AMD is doing and the differences in the cost. What would AMD have to do to support TB anyway?
They'd probably have to pay a big licensing fee to Intel, which would result in AMD processors likely being more expensive and still not as fast as Intel. So a lose - lose scenario. No benefit from cost or performance. Plus, AMD would be lining Intel's pockets.
Apple had a pretty big stake in thunderbolts development. I wonder if they retain enough control to use it in their own systems regardless of the CPU. Although given the fact that intel sells the controllers it may still be up to them.
Technically all you need are enough PCIe lanes, DisplayPort input and a thunderbolt controller.
Technically all you need are enough PCIe lanes, DisplayPort input and a thunderbolt controller.
Apple helped to develop Thunderbolt 1 but Intel owns the technology so Intel could license Thunderbolt to AMD but that's highly unlikely.
I would hope after all these years to see a bridge iMac between it and the Pro, so an iMac Pro for want of a better description. Best of everything, no compromise design to get iMac back on track.
I suspect that until the Apple 'Donut' is complete that all funding is severely curtailed except on the Phones and Pads.
I suspect that until the Apple 'Donut' is complete that all funding is severely curtailed except on the Phones and Pads.
As far as March goes, I think that since the new Apple Campus is opening in April, we might not see an event at the old location right before it. So maybe it'll be April for the next event.
I think it would be a big mistake to discount AMD right now. Google some of the Ryzen CPU pricing and performance reviews and filter your search to the last 24 hours. If these results are proven to be true in the real world when they launch next week it will be a game changer.
TB3 isn't a technological impossibility on the AM4 platform and something I imagine Apple could easily licence and take care of at the mobo level.
If Apple wanted to update the iMac on intel they could have already done it - the parts for a refreshed iMac are already available.
My personal 'speculation' is that they haven't till now either because they are
- introducing a resdesign that may or may not include a 'Mac Pro replacement model' and/or;
- considering a move to AMD;
We'll find out soon enough. Exciting times!
TB3 isn't a technological impossibility on the AM4 platform and something I imagine Apple could easily licence and take care of at the mobo level.
If Apple wanted to update the iMac on intel they could have already done it - the parts for a refreshed iMac are already available.
My personal 'speculation' is that they haven't till now either because they are
- introducing a resdesign that may or may not include a 'Mac Pro replacement model' and/or;
- considering a move to AMD;
We'll find out soon enough. Exciting times!
They do not need to license it in any way. It is available as a standalone controller, and it is up to system integrators and/or main board partners to integrate it or not.