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

[The_Lord_of_Apple]

Not the most reputable site on tech but 2021 Q1 could be the release of the iMac AS

Apple’s First iMac Featuring the Company’s ARM-Based Chip Rumored to Arrive in Q1, 2021

The 2021 iMac could be Apple’s first to feature the company’s ARM-based silicon and one individual claims it will arrive in Q1

wccftech.com

 

[iPadified]

This isn't surprising to me. It's been widely reported they are starting on the notebooks first this year, and that essentially feels like common sense. I guess I've always felt AS iMac (smaller possibly new size) was a spring thing perhaps, and a larger one would be next fall, a year after the last Intel iMac (coming.....soonish?) Hoping for sooner is likely going to lead to disappointment.

Smaller bezels is no major redesign, is it? The logic board probably needs to be redesigned anyway for comet lake so design it for the iMac Pro case instead and we have a winner.

 

[Azrael9]

Oh dear...hope this is wrong. Kuo said Q4.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1287986858559811586

Makes sense if they want people to buy the Intel iMac.

Burning those customers with an AS iMac months after...

Not good marketing.

I didn't expect any AS Macs to debut until next year's WWDC. From my point of view, they're arriving much earlier than I expected with a fall release for an AS laptop and (presumably a Jan'-Mar' release for the iMac24...)

AS is exciting. But it's another waiting game. (If you're after an iMac version.)

Azrael.
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Smaller bezels is no major redesign, is it? The logic board probably needs to be redesigned anyway for comet lake so design it for the iMac Pro case instead and we have a winner.

Agreed.

I could go for an iMac Pro case (for the cooling) with a mild bezel trim. It doesn't have to be a revolution in that regard.

Better cooling and smaller bezels would really smarten it up. The could do that for the MacbookPro 16. Which not do that for the iMac? They overhauled the Mac Pro (and for good reason...) Not sure the Intel iMac needs that kind of design overhaul. Yes. The design is iStale. However, a design 'pass' or 'warm over' would be enough to fix it's problems inside and out re: using Intel and AMD components. ie. If you put thinner bezels on the iMac Pro. And priced it realistically at £2500? I'd buy. To me, this is less extensive that the deceptive (look the imac is thin tapering but it isn't really bulge work they did...) marketing of previous re-skins.

But the iMac can be trimmed and cooled so it looks smarter on the outside and behaves smarter on the inside.

A 1.5 trillion company should be able to use existing inventory of parts and a mild bezel trim.

Azrael.

 

[pldelisle]

AS is exciting. But it's another waiting game. (If you're after an iMac version.)

I'm looking for my next Linux distribution to install on my WS ...

 

[xgman]

A 1.5 trillion company should be able to use existing inventory of parts and a mild bezel trim.
Azrael.

Well when you put it that way...

 

[Azrael9]

I used to have a dear friend who...was very keen on Linux. And his enthusiasm for it was infectious.

Very low latency OS. Technically impressive. (I was on a PPC with System 7 back then...) But you needed to be a tech' head to use it back then.

I remember 'Red Hat' and other distros competing for attention. Gimp the painting app'.

Azrael.

 

[Freida]

When you do, don't settle in Quebec unless you speak French. It also comes with the french attitude especially from older generations. (history)
Just to illustrate - my french teacher told me that if she met me on the street and I asked her something in english (english is not my first language btw) then she would blank me and walk away (even though she can speak english very well). So yeah, Quebec is hard with this.
Rest of the Canada is awesome though. Haven't seen much but what I've seen was wonderful

I'm enjoying the chat from the Canadians on this thread. I've never been but it's a place I've always wanted to visit (and most likely destination if I ever migrate from the UK). I've always had the impression that it's a beautiful country...

 

[pldelisle]

I used to have a dear friend who...was very keen on Linux. And his enthusiasm for it was infectious.

Very low latency OS. Technically impressive. (I was on a PPC with System 7 back then...) But you needed to be a tech' head to use it back then.

I remember 'Red Hat' and other distros competing for attention. Gimp the painting app'.

Azrael.

Not today.

There are plenty of distributions that work out of the box. Stay with Red Hat/CentOS/Fedora, Debian/Ubuntu, OpenSUSE, Manjaro... There are plenty of distributions that doesn't even need to exist. Mint maybe but boff....... I like the distributions close to the official branch.
[automerge]1596117864[/automerge]

When you do, don't settle in Quebec unless you speak French. It also comes with the french attitude especially from older generations. (history)
Just to illustrate - my french teacher told me that if she met me on the street and I asked her something in english (english is not my first language btw) then she would blank me and walk away (even though she can speak english very well). So yeah, Quebec is hard with this.
Rest of the Canada is awesome though. Haven't seen much but what I've seen was wonderful

True.

Most French-quebecers are a*s hole with English speaking people.
It's part of the "independentist" Parti Quebecois legacy ..........
We have a great history with France. Most of the quebecois are descendants from France settlers. But some people has never accepted the Conquest of Nouvelle-France by the British... something that happened like more than 300 years ago. Ridiculous.

Ontario's English accent is disastrous. Eastern Canada like New-Brunswick, Prince Edouard Island, Nova Scotia are very welcoming, but there's nothing to do there professionally.

 

[Azrael9]

Well when you put it that way...

I sure am...

Apple have a habit of making things appear (to us customers...) 'difficult.' And it's often has a 'How will this benefit shareholders and profits vibe to it...rather than product and customer 1st. It's so transparent it's contemptible.

eg. Like just releasing a g'damn Mac consumer tower. But they don't want us upgrading the parts or fixing things ourselves. It took them 6 years to over engineer a tower with expensive modules. Compared to the Grater? It was a backward step in many regards.

eg. Not including a semi-decent laptop gpu in the Mac Mini...which then forces you into the iMacs (and I know many don't like iMacs for their own reasons.)

I think someone said 'iBox.' I could go for an iBox. Let us spec a Mini, iMac logic board with a gpu of our choice. In an 'iBox.'

ie. The headless 'tweener Mini/Pro model. The elusive XMac. *grumbles.*

All the iMac needs is the iMac Pro shell with a bezel trim. No R&D much needed. Just boot the FFSake drive, up the ram to 16 gigs. With a BTO 6600M RDNA2 'shipping' later for those that can and want to wait.

Even a modest all round update would really deliver substantial gains and overall user benefits. And that looks like what we're going to get.

No moving parts. Cooler running. Looks smarter. More gpu grunt. (It doesn't have to(!) BE that iPad design now. But have a bit of pride, Apple...after 12 years...smarten the bleedin' thing up...)

The two culprits of the 2019 'update' was the lack of cooling and the gpu. And that bezel trim. (And yeah, the FFSake drive should have been drop kicked.)

Azrael.

 

[pldelisle]

It's incredible how much space Apple could save by abandoning the Fusion drive.

 

[Azrael9]

It's incredible how much space Apple could save by abandoning the Fusion drive.

Their supply chain prices for those SSDs must be laughably cheap.

To charge what they do for SSDs (and RAM...) and keep 8 year old kludge tech' is an out right disgrace.

Unworthy of the flagship iMac that once deprecated the floppy drive to move tech' on. The exterior design unworthy of the revolution in PC design the iMac kickstarted. (When Dell have you beaten on Bezels...your iStale product is mouldy.)

Truly shocking.

Azrael.
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It's incredible how much space Apple could save by abandoning the Fusion drive.

Yeah...they could actually put a gpu in there...or some cooling...or summat...

Azrael.
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AMD Radeon Instinct MI100 to feature 120 Compute Units, expected in December - VideoCardz.com

Alleged specifications of the upcoming Radeon Instinct accelerator have been posted by AdoredTV. AMD Radeon Instinct MI100 to feature 120 CUs? AMD’s upcoming compute accelerator based on ‘new’ CDNA architecture is now expected to launch by the end of this year for EPYC-based systems, AdoredTV...

videocardz.com

That's a lot of teraflops.

Azrael.

 

[Freida]

One thing I'm curious about is the cycles we are now going to get with AS.

Are we still going to do it that iPhone gets it first and then the rest or will it break and we get some stuff in the middle of the year (WWDC) ahead of iphone? The A chips will be the same except they will tweak them for the devices that they are destined to but the generation will be identical. (ie. A15 iPhone; A15X iPad Pro; A15M Mac) so who will be first?
I don't think Apple will separate those and make 2 different development teams that will go different directions. It wouldn't really make sense. As the A chips are apparently scalable that also means that the dev will be for one thing and then tweaked for different devices.
So, will iPhone now show us what is coming (as eventually that will make the chips fairly predictable) or will Mac at WWDC ( I doubt they could do it earlier) give us a hint OR will Mac be late so we get march event (6 months after iPhone) to get the latest tech for Mac?

iPhone needs the teach the least so why should that still be the first? iPhones are now fast enough and if someone tells me that they need faster iPhone I will probably slap them. Such nonsense.

Mac priority then iPad Pro and then iPhone.

I fear that it will be the other way around just like it has been for the past few years.

Damn

P.s.: This is disgusting. Tim - what a liar

Apple Offered to Halve App Store Fee to Get Amazon Prime Video on iOS and Apple TV

Apple offered Amazon lower App Store fees to convince it to launch its Prime Video app on the App Store and Apple TV, documents published by the U.S....

www.macrumors.com

Makes sense if they want people to buy the Intel iMac.

Burning those customers with an AS iMac months after...

Not good marketing.

I didn't expect any AS Macs to debut until next year's WWDC. From my point of view, they're arriving much earlier than I expected with a fall release for an AS laptop and (presumably a Jan'-Mar' release for the iMac24...)

AS is exciting. But it's another waiting game. (If you're after an iMac version.)

Azrael.
[automerge]1596116646[/automerge]


Agreed.

I could go for an iMac Pro case (for the cooling) with a mild bezel trim. It doesn't have to be a revolution in that regard.

Better cooling and smaller bezels would really smarten it up. The could do that for the MacbookPro 16. Which not do that for the iMac? They overhauled the Mac Pro (and for good reason...) Not sure the Intel iMac needs that kind of design overhaul. Yes. The design is iStale. However, a design 'pass' or 'warm over' would be enough to fix it's problems inside and out re: using Intel and AMD components. ie. If you put thinner bezels on the iMac Pro. And priced it realistically at £2500? I'd buy. To me, this is less extensive that the deceptive (look the imac is thin tapering but it isn't really bulge work they did...) marketing of previous re-skins.

But the iMac can be trimmed and cooled so it looks smarter on the outside and behaves smarter on the inside.

A 1.5 trillion company should be able to use existing inventory of parts and a mild bezel trim.

Azrael.

 

[pldelisle]

AMD Radeon Instinct MI100 to feature 120 Compute Units, expected in December - VideoCardz.com

Alleged specifications of the upcoming Radeon Instinct accelerator have been posted by AdoredTV. AMD Radeon Instinct MI100 to feature 120 CUs? AMD’s upcoming compute accelerator based on ‘new’ CDNA architecture is now expected to launch by the end of this year for EPYC-based systems, AdoredTV...

videocardz.com

That's a lot of teraflops.

Cute.

I always laugh when I read "AMD" and "deep learning" in the same sentence. Nobody in this world use AMD for DL.

 

[gusping]

True.

Most French-quebecers are a*s hole with English speaking people.
It's part of the "independentist" Parti Quebecois legacy ..........
We have a great history with France. Most of the quebecois are descendants from France settlers. But some people has never accepted the Conquest of Nouvelle-France by the British... something that happened like more than 300 years ago. Ridiculous.

Ontario's English accent is disastrous. Eastern Canada like New-Brunswick, Prince Edouard Island, Nova Scotia are very welcoming, but there's nothing to do there professionally.

And i’m sure most English folks are a*s holes back to them (or French people in general for that matter).
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AMD Radeon Instinct MI100 to feature 120 Compute Units, expected in December - VideoCardz.com

Alleged specifications of the upcoming Radeon Instinct accelerator have been posted by AdoredTV. AMD Radeon Instinct MI100 to feature 120 CUs? AMD’s upcoming compute accelerator based on ‘new’ CDNA architecture is now expected to launch by the end of this year for EPYC-based systems, AdoredTV...

videocardz.com

That's a lot of teraflops.

Azrael.

Can’t wait for 120 CU’s in RDNA 3 Or 80 in RDNA 2 (unlikely given the yiedls would be v v v low)

 

[Azrael9]

Cute.

I always laugh when I read "AMD" and "deep learning" in the same sentence. Nobody in this world use AMD for DL.

A bit like what PC gamers think of the Mac's gpu options, 'Cute.'

True. Nv are ways ahead. They've been forging ahead in this area and others.

But it's still important that AMD offer some competition.

X86 is on borrowed time in many ways in terms of conventional computer solutions.

Apple are about to dump it. M$ look like they're going to dump it.

Azrael.
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Can’t wait for 120 CU’s in RDNA 3 Or 80 in RDNA 2 (unlikely given the yiedls would be v v v low)

Just seeing the PS5 demo gives a great taste of what is to come.

It's been at least 5 years since we've had such a compelling leap in gpu tech'.

Cpus and gpus have been very stagnant and much of incremental muchness.

With AS, Ampere, RDNA2...an 'apple cart' or two are going to get upended.

Azrael.
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PS. I used to dream about real time ray tracing.

Azrael.
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ASRock Launches the Radeon RX 5700 XT Challenger Pro 8G OC Graphics Card - VideoCardz.com

ASRock Launches the Radeon RX 5700 XT Challenger Pro 8G OC Graphics Card TAIPEI, Taiwan, July 30th, 2020 –The leading global motherboard, graphics card and mini PC manufacturer, ASRock, has launched Radeon RX 5700 XT Challenger Pro 8G OC three-fan graphics card. The graphics card is powered by...

videocardz.com

Meanwhile.

'Mac' is still waiting on a 5700 gpu in a mainstream desktop Mac.

Over a year later.

Azrael.
[automerge]1596122161[/automerge]

One thing I'm curious about is the cycles we are now going to get with AS.

Are we still going to do it that iPhone gets it first and then the rest or will it break and we get some stuff in the middle of the year (WWDC) ahead of iphone? The A chips will be the same except they will tweak them for the devices that they are destined to but the generation will be identical. (ie. A15 iPhone; A15X iPad Pro; A15M Mac) so who will be first?
I don't think Apple will separate those and make 2 different development teams that will go different directions. It wouldn't really make sense. As the A chips are apparently scalable that also means that the dev will be for one thing and then tweaked for different devices.
So, will iPhone now show us what is coming (as eventually that will make the chips fairly predictable) or will Mac at WWDC ( I doubt they could do it earlier) give us a hint OR will Mac be late so we get march event (6 months after iPhone) to get the latest tech for Mac?

iPhone needs the teach the least so why should that still be the first? iPhones are now fast enough and if someone tells me that they need faster iPhone I will probably slap them. Such nonsense.

Mac priority then iPad Pro and then iPhone.

I fear that it will be the other way around just like it has been for the past few years.

Damn

P.s.: This is disgusting. Tim - what a liar

Apple Offered to Halve App Store Fee to Get Amazon Prime Video on iOS and Apple TV

Apple offered Amazon lower App Store fees to convince it to launch its Prime Video app on the App Store and Apple TV, documents published by the U.S....

www.macrumors.com

His comments re: the best product for the best price is circumspect when you look at the Mac desktop line.

Yes. The best 'price' for Apple, perhaps.

The good news re: AS.

The iPhone is night and day reliable in terms of annual launch. £££ is why.

It is the tugboat on the AS R&D. So 'X' for iPad. As well as Desktop and Laptop AS variations for Mac.

I would have thought 18 month (like the iPad?) schedules would be the most likely based upon the closest thing we have to the Mac in terms of iPad. But who knows. Maybe it will be annually. Or maybe every other generation of iPhone chip...to give compelling upgrade reasons as people tend to keep computers for longer?

It should be 'more' reliable than Intel as Apple are controlling their own destiny. What we do know is that the iPhone gets a brand new cpu every year. And the iPad isn't that far behind.

Azrael.

 

[tuc]

USA availability had been Aug 11 on Monday, Aug 12 on Tuesday, and Aug 13 earlier today (Wednesday). But checking now it’s Aug 6th, so they bumped it up a week. It’s hard to know if it means anything at all.

Today (Thursday) it's Aug 7th.

Tuesday they increased it by one day. Wednesday they increased it by one day (but also back one week). Thursday they increased it by one day.

This makes me think that these availability dates are not indicative of actual availability, because they wouldn't be moving every day if they were.

 

[Freida]

Yes, they are not. They have been doing this for the past 3 months. I thought we have settled this

It's only DrRadon that keeps believing (sorry )

Today (Thursday) it's Aug 7th.

Tuesday they increased it by one day. Wednesday they increased it by one day (but also back one week). Thursday they increased it by one day.

This makes me think that these availability dates are not indicative of actual availability, because they wouldn't be moving every day if they were.

 

[DrRadon]

It's actually quite the good point that the (suspected) ongoing delay of the 2020 Intel iMac actually pushes the ARM iMac back in Apples schedule. Then again Apple did refreshes in 150 or close to 200 days for iMac. I just don't know how substantial they were back than (this is 2014, 2015, check the buyers guid).

I could imagine ARM iMac being pushed back to Q2 of 2021 depending on when we actually finally get an updated machine for 2020. Like, even if you go for a short gap between iMac generations of 150 days... you are already looking at February if 2020 gets released August. Because there is money to be made with the old one, theres preorders of parts that need to be used and sold... and Apple won't just shell out a low end ARM iMac for web browsing, e-mails and TV to replace (the usualy very dated) most low end iMac.
Because thats either a bad look for ARM or a bad look for the current intel lineup. Could easily see Apple just pushing a full ARM iMac Lineup in late 2021 and make it as powerful as they can.

 

[anthony13]

Progress report: I’ve wanted an iMac since April when reality set in that my industry would be stopped for the foreseeable future. I should of purchased then probably, but the rumors kept me on the hook waiting for the ‘soon’ update. After the epic spectacular failure of that koiyma tweet that assured incoming updates last week, I started looking at getting a nice external display. Then someone wisely pointed out that since my graphics card in my laptop was already the bottle neck, attaching a larger screen to it wouldn’t get me many happy returns.

So here I wait... with a probable august spec bump and no redesign. It’s a rabbit hole, I say “oh I’ll just get a nice external... 500, 700, 900 dollars.... then its, well why not just get the cheapest level iMac, then a few upgrades... then the iMac Pro, but wait its 3 years old... but then the 2019 again, but bad cooling with the I9.

All of this is predicated by the fact that the software I use will probably be ready for ‘prime time’ with apple silicon by early 2022, and then Ill want that sexy non-existent bezel-less-rounded corner having iPad Max Pro 32” inch Nuclear Fission space shuttle. But I dont want to wait that long for a better solution at my desk.

And for those keeping track, I’m near Portland Oregon, where IPA is great, scotch is just as great when imported, and coffee flows like the antics of Planet Risa.

(Summary: I’ll wait and see About August)

 

[CWallace]

Oh dear...hope this is wrong. Kuo said Q4.

Kuo has contacts embedded in Apple's supply chain so I expect he is hearing about parts for an AS iMac being made.

That being said, there may be issue that could prevent a launch in Q4 2020 and instead need to push it back to Q1 2021.

Makes sense if they want people to buy the Intel iMac.

Burning those customers with an AS iMac months after...

Not good marketing.

If the models approach different markets, a close-in launch should not be an issue. Doesn't matter how fast an AS iMac is if I need to run a Windows VM on it, for example.

And overall performance of an AS iMac is unknown so I like to think Apple customers are smart enough to take that into account and if they are on the "I need me a new iMac right now!" boat, they would probably be inclined to "go with what you know" and order a new Intel iMac in August even if all signs point to an AS iMac in October. Even if the AS iMac proves more powerful or adds some nice new features, the "last" Intel model will still be a solidly usable investment for years.

And let us not forget Apple is still selling plenty of recently-refreshed Intel MacBook Airs and MacBook Pros - if it is bad marketing to release a refreshed Intel iMac followed closely thereafter by an AS iMac, is it not the same to keep selling Intel MacBooks with AS models on the horizon?



I - and those like me - who have the luxury of time to wait should be doing just that - waiting. I want to see how real consumer-model AS Macs perform with the existing Mac app catalog and what unique new features they bring to the table. If it is compelling enough, then I intend to jump to AS (once they make a model with at least a 5K 27" display) since I do have a Windows machine so I do not need to run Windows on my Mac - it is just a convenience.

 

[Homy]

Forget about all these leakers and rumours, even the famous ones. The greatest leaker is time itself. Only time will tell with 100% accuracy when and what will come next. So the best and easiest way is to just wait. There are only a few options we have.

1. You are happy with your iMac and don't need to update soon.

2. Your Mac is broken and you need one. Then buy one, old or a new!

3. Your Mac isn't broken but is driving you crazy being too slow or faulty. Then buy one, old or a new!

4. You are in 2 and 3 but can wait. Then wait!

5. You want to buy a new iMac but there aren't any available. Then wait!

6. You want an Intel iMac. Then wait!

7. You want an AS iMac. Then wait!

The only question you need to answer when you wake up everyday is "Do I need a new iMac today or can I wait?". If you can't wait another day just buy. Otherwise you can wait and are just fooling yourself believing you need a new iMac.

Or as Arya Stark would ask herself "What do we say to a new iMac? Not today!". 😄

 

[Freida]

Basically, the outcome is to wait. Because ordering now won't solve it as its few months away anyway so i guess waiting is the most sensible option

Forget about all these leakers and rumours, even the famous ones. The greatest leaker is time itself. Only time will tell with 100% accuracy when and what will come next. So the best and easiest way is to just wait. There are only a few options we have.

1. You are happy with your iMac and don't need to update soon.

2. Your Mac is broken and you need one. Then buy one, old or a new!

3. Your Mac isn't broken but is driving you crazy being too slow or faulty. Then buy one, old or a new!

4. You are in 2 and 3 but can wait. Then wait!

5. You want to buy a new iMac but there aren't any available. Then wait!

6. You want an Intel iMac. Then wait!

7. You want an AS iMac. Then wait!

The only question you need to answer when you wake up everyday is "Do I need a new iMac today or can I wait?". If you can't wait another day just buy. Otherwise you can wait and are just fooling yourself believing you need a new iMac.

 

[tuc]

Basically, the outcome is to wait. Because ordering now won't solve it as its few months away anyway so i guess waiting is the most sensible option

Well, you can always order what they're currently selling and hope they send you a new one instead. (If the price goes up for the new one, you might even save some cash.) And if it turns out you receive the old model (which is after all what you ordered) you can return it unopened for a full refund.

 

[Freida]

Only a fool orders 2019 today. There are much better options so if someone does then I guess we can't be friends.

Well, you can always order what they're currently selling and hope they send you a new one instead. (If the price goes up for the new one, you might even save some cash.) And if it turns out you receive the old model (which is after all what you ordered) you can return it unopened for a full refund.

 

[tuc]

Only a fool orders 2019 today. There are much better options so if someone does then I guess we can't be friends.

Even if they plan to return it if they actually get a 2019 model?