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Will there ever be a new large iMac (Pro)?

When do you expect an iMac redesign?

  • 4rd quarter 2019

    Votes: 34 4.1%

  • 1st quarter 2020

    Votes: 23 2.8%

  • 2nd quarter 2020

    Votes: 119 14.5%

  • 3rd quarter 2020

    Votes: 131 15.9%

  • 4rd quarter 2020

    Votes: 172 20.9%

  • 2021 or later

    Votes: 343 41.7%
  • Total voters
    822
  • Poll closed .
Every time I see someone say, “oh, sure, ARM is fast enough for a phone, but not for a desktop”, I’m always a bit astonished. Apple has built the absolute fastest, highest performance phone chips on the planet, designed specifically to run in the extremely limited mobile environment - hiding behind the screen in a 1/4” thick machine with no airflow, no active cooling, and quite limited battery capacity. And they’ve invested huge amounts of time and money in developing a world class processor design team. Do you really think they’ll just take whatever their current phone chip is and drop it in a laptop or desktop system?

I fully expect that, several years ago, they told the chip design team, “these new A-series chips are fantastic - now, we’ve got a side project for you - we want you to design us two new chips: one for a system with more room, active cooling, and 5x the battery capacity available, and the other for a system with much more cooling capacity and unlimited 3.3V/5V DC available and no batteries (both with tons more RAM). Now, just how much CPU can you build for us in those two scenarios?” And I expect we’ll see the first answers to those challenges in the fall.

You’re making the mistake of comparing specific chips optimized to run in phones with chips optimized to run in desktop systems, and assuming that’s a fair comparison and representative of what Apple will ship. You haven’t yet seen what an ARM chip designed for laptop/desktop use is capable of. The Intel/AMD x86_64 instruction set doesn’t have any inherent advantages over the ARM instruction set. But ARM chips tend to have much higher performance per watt (this is why you don’t see phones running x86 chips, no matter how much Intel would like that). The latest iPhone/iPad chips beat a lot of laptop systems on performance already, and the chips they’ve designed for laptop/desktop use are going to be even faster.
Click to expand...

forums.macrumors.com

Leaker Suggests New Apple Products Are 'Ready to Ship' Amid Rumors of Intel-Based iMac Refresh

BeatsX are $100 now but they’ve been out for coming up on 4 years unchanged. I believe $180 was the original release price for the first couple years. I don’t know if $200 is going to be the price of the Airpods X, but whether that prediction is off by a bit seems like a strange reason to write...
forums.macrumors.com forums.macrumors.com

A good post by CarlJ from another thread.

Azrael.
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Intel confirms Alder Lake is using Hybrid Core/Atom architecture - VideoCardz.com

Intel has issued a Linux patch adding Alder Lake Intel processor family support. Intel confirms Alder Lake is a Hybrid Atom/Core architecture This is a confirmation that Intel Alder Lake series will feature Big and Small core architecture, where the latter is derivative of Atom, a comment from...
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Azrael.
 
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jetjaguar said:
AS Macs are gonna the fastest greatest computers to ever exist. No one should buy anything until they get released. Even if it means waiting two years for your model to release. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

No one has to wait two years for anything. Freedom of choice to buy a 2019 iMac, the 2020 July/Aug/Sep/Oct Intel iMac release or wait for the early '21 release of the iMac ARM 24.

People should buy now if their computer is dead or if their earning potential is impaired by the hardware that serves them.

AS is so near and so far and full of promise. Leaked stories / Bloomberg reports 50-100% faster machines than now. Maybe not the fastest computers ever to have existed...but this suggests eclipsing Intel's performance won't be a difficult task for Apple. Apple are a quick study. They've watched and learned from Intel. Intel certainly haven't been able to match Apple in phone or pad mobile. The A12z WW2020 demos suggest remarkable potential (but Apple have been doing this for about ten years now... Their AS announcement suggests confidence in what they are about to do. The proof will be in the pudding.)

'Two years.' I remember Apple's last transition. It took a lot less than what they said.

Apple have stated an AS Mac by the year's end. We'll see how the 'AS14' performs. What models of AS Mac get released. Educated guesses suggest it will the Macs that sell most units. Laptops. £££.

Unless 'your' model is the Mac Pro (the only outlier?) it's reasonable to assume most of the consumer transition will be done within 7 months of the 1st shipping AS Mac this year's end. The AS iMac 24 (about January?) will probably humble the entry Mac Pro or iMac 27. (8 Xeon cores. Low end gpu. Very meh. Nothing special.)

I doubt the large screen iMac will take two years to release. About a year from the Intel iMac's release. Maybe Sep' '21.

Or it might follow on aggressively, half a year from the Intel iMac 2020's release.

It's Apple. They won't care that we've sunk £££ into a fully loaded 'now' when they launch the 'next great thing' for £££.

Azrael.
 
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Hey Guys,

I will be entering medical school in the new future and was about to get the 27 inch Imac. Obviously I have been following this for a while and wanted to wait for at least the spec bump coming this year but clearly apple is playing all types of games. I just wanted your guys feed back on if a 27 inch imac would be sufficient for me. I am getting it with the numeric keypad. 256 GB SSD and I was going to manually upgrade the ram. I was going to get the I5 3.0 GHZ. All I really do is basic studying with word and powerpoint. Every once and I while I do edit a picture but I just bought an IPAD pro for that. I need this machine to last me the next 7 years. I wanted to wait but classes start First week of August and I cant wait until september for a "maybe" release. Also my family member does work at apple so I do get a good discount on the 2019 which helps my mental on me getting a one year old machine.
 
Jmoneystackzz said:
Hey Guys,

I will be entering medical school in the new future and was about to get the 27 inch Imac. Obviously I have been following this for a while and wanted to wait for at least the spec bump coming this year but clearly apple is playing all types of games. I just wanted your guys feed back on if a 27 inch imac would be sufficient for me. I am getting it with the numeric keypad. 256 GB SSD and I was going to manually upgrade the ram. I was going to get the I5 3.0 GHZ. All I really do is basic studying with word and powerpoint. Every once and I while I do edit a picture but I just bought an IPAD pro for that. I need this machine to last me the next 7 years. I wanted to wait but classes start First week of August and I cant wait until september for a "maybe" release. Also my family member does work at apple so I do get a good discount on the 2019 which helps my mental on me getting a one year old machine.
Click to expand...
If you need it now buy it now. You want an imac over a mbp ? I would think getting a mbp and then an external monitor to connect to would be a better choice.
 
subink said:
Today they released their CO2 report and commitment (see apple frontpage). All other dreams continue for a while it seems....
Click to expand...

Nah, that actually screams for a release of something that shows this commitment (before the iPhone in smaller packaging and with no charger in September). - If anything this screams for a redesigned iMac that comes with a better energy footprint, smaller box...

This makes a new iMac tomorrow even more likely.
Keep in mind Back 2 School also came with two different releases. It was more or less "education week".

Tomorrow.
New iMac.
More energy efficient due to better cooling.
Smaller size (less bezels, odels of free space inside used to shrink down the machine better) = smaller box = more shipped at once. Less aluminum and glass used.
Build from xx% of trade in machines.
All fitting this announcement.

Look at this and imagine them putting all the news front and center with a new iMac release beating these numbers of the 2019 one by leaps and bounds.
 
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DrRadon said:
Nah, that actually screams for a release of something that shows this commitment (before the iPhone in smaller packaging and with no charger in September). - If anything this screams for a redesigned iMac that comes with a better energy footprint, smaller box...

This makes a new iMac tomorrow even more likely.
Keep in mind Back 2 School also came with two different releases. It was more or less "education week".

Tomorrow.
New iMac.
More energy efficient due to better cooling.
Smaller size (less bezels, odels of free space inside used to shrink down the machine better) = smaller box = more shipped at once. Less aluminum and glass used.
All fitting this announcement.
Click to expand...

Wasn't today supposed to be the big day? Do they have previous for releasing on a Wednesday? With my 15" MBP 2011 being as good as dead right now, I'm stuck on a work laptop whilst I await a new iMac - this is torture!
 
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jetjaguar said:
If you need it now buy it now. You want an imac over a mbp ? I would think getting a mbp and then an external monitor to connect to would be a better choice.
Click to expand...
Funny enough I actually have a 2017 Macbook air that works perfectly and I have never had a problem with it. I use that for when I travel to and from class and then the IMAC for hopefully when I study at home which I always do. Since everything is online because of COVID I spend 8-10 hours at my home office. I actually thought ahead and got a second screen already. A 24 inch curved monitor as the second screen.
 
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DrRadon said:
Nah, that actually screams for a release of something that shows this commitment (before the iPhone in smaller packaging and with no charger in September). - If anything this screams for a redesigned iMac that comes with a better energy footprint, smaller box...

This makes a new iMac tomorrow even more likely.
Keep in mind Back 2 School also came with two different releases. It was more or less "education week".

Tomorrow.
New iMac.
More energy efficient due to better cooling.
Smaller size (less bezels, odels of free space inside used to shrink down the machine better) = smaller box = more shipped at once. Less aluminum and glass used.
All fitting this announcement.
Click to expand...
I want to believe but I’ve kinda lost hope. I feel like every week is another rationalization of previous precedent.
 
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Jmoneystackzz said:
Hey Guys,

I will be entering medical school in the new future and was about to get the 27 inch Imac. Obviously I have been following this for a while and wanted to wait for at least the spec bump coming this year but clearly apple is playing all types of games. I just wanted your guys feed back on if a 27 inch imac would be sufficient for me. I am getting it with the numeric keypad. 256 GB SSD and I was going to manually upgrade the ram. I was going to get the I5 3.0 GHZ. All I really do is basic studying with word and powerpoint. Every once and I while I do edit a picture but I just bought an IPAD pro for that. I need this machine to last me the next 7 years. I wanted to wait but classes start First week of August and I cant wait until september for a "maybe" release. Also my family member does work at apple so I do get a good discount on the 2019 which helps my mental on me getting a one year old machine.
Click to expand...

jetjaguar said:
If you need it now buy it now. You want an imac over a mbp ? I would think getting a mbp and then an external monitor to connect to would be a better choice.
Click to expand...

Honestly, for your use case, your iPad Pro should suffice. It can also be connect to an external monitor.
 
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anthony13 said:
I feel like every week is another rationalization of previous precedent.
Click to expand...

It's not.

I always said two weeks before WWDC because of it's two weeks delay, BLM riots happened and made that week unusable.
Then it "was" at WWDC according to everyone and their mother until 24 hours before. And with ARM announced it made sense.
Then i said 30 days after WWDC wich is tomorrow.

Could we do 5th of august (or something like that and (possibly) make it roughly 30 days ahead of the iPhone event? (last two years were September 10th (Tuesday 2019) and September 12th (Wednesday 2018) wich would make it 8th or 9th in 2020.). Possibly. But not as likely as tomorrow.
 
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There's a few more days left in the week.
The iMac Retina 5K was launched on a Thursday! :cool:

Apple Introduces 27-inch iMac with Retina 5K Display
MARKHAM, Ontario—October 16, 2014—Apple today unveiled the 27-inch iMac with Retina 5K display, featuring the world’s highest resolution display with a breathtaking 14.7 million pixels. At this amazing resolution, text appears sharper than ever, videos are unbelievably lifelike, and you can see new levels of detail in your photos. With the latest quad-core processors, high-performance graphics, Fusion Drive and Thunderbolt 2, iMac with Retina 5K display is the most powerful iMac ever made—it’s the ultimate display combined with the ultimate all-in-one.
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Jmoneystackzz said:
You think an Ipad Pro can truly replace a true desktop?!?!
Click to expand...

"All I really do is basic studying with word and powerpoint. Every once and I while I do edit a picture but I just bought an IPAD pro for that."

I'm not suggesting it can for everything, but for this, yes.
The iPad Pro can certainly tie you over until the new iMac arrives.
 
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