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

[Cassandle]

Apple do have 0% finance deals with terms over two years.

Top Tier eg. £2300 iMac would be about slightly less than £100 per month?

Azrael.

They did until last Saturday. It's not an option at the moment (from what I can see).

Which is painful because on Sunday morning I was about to use it to buy the iPP 12.9 with MKB and Pencil and was also going to be using it for either the AS iMac or this latest Intel one (am waiting to see when AS iMac drops and what it's like before deciding, unless my current MBP dies before then).

Hoping it will return soon, because the interest payments on something so expensive soon become huge.

 

[Patchwork]

They did until last Saturday. It's not an option at the moment (from what I can see).

Which is painful because on Sunday morning I was about to use it to buy the iPP 12.9 with MKB and Pencil and was also going to be using it for either the AS iMac or this latest Intel one (am waiting to see when AS iMac drops and what it's like before deciding, unless my current MBP dies before then).

Hoping it will return soon, because the interest payments on something so expensive soon become huge.

The interest free offers from Apple/Barclays usually run for a few months then disappear for a few months. Never understood the logic of when they appear or disappear as appears quite random. I'd expect it to come back in a few months in time for the next iphone. John Lewis are currently doing 18 months interest free credit on certain Apple products including the iPP, so could be worth checking out.

 

[Cassandle]

The interest free offers from Apple/Barclays usually run for a few months then disappear for a few months. Never understood the logic of when they appear or disappear as appears quite random. I'd expect it to come back in a few months in time for the next iphone. John Lewis are currently doing 18 months interest free credit on certain Apple products including the iPP, so could be worth checking out.

Thanks for the info on John Lewis. Last time I checked they weren't offering 0% on iPP, but just checked now and they are! If I can't buy direct from Apple I usually go for John Lewis because of their warranty.

 

[Azrael9]

They did until last Saturday. It's not an option at the moment (from what I can see).

Which is painful because on Sunday morning I was about to use it to buy the iPP 12.9 with MKB and Pencil and was also going to be using it for either the AS iMac or this latest Intel one (am waiting to see when AS iMac drops and what it's like before deciding, unless my current MBP dies before then).

Hoping it will return soon, because the interest payments on something so expensive soon become huge.

Klarna | Apple Pay Monthly | KRCS

Want a new Mac, iPad or iPhone but want to pay monthly? Klarna and KRCS are working together to make your dreams come true! Shop now. Pay later with Klarna. KRCS are a premium reseller of Apple products and accessories. We stock a wide range of Mac, Mac mini, iMac, iMac Pro, Macbook, MacBook...

www.krcs.co.uk

They do 12, 24 and 36 month plans. With 2 years warranty.

I've visited their store in Nottingham UK in the past. They seem a decent 3rd party Apple provider.

Azrael.

 

[Azrael9]

Filtered Search results for "imac" | John Lewis & Partners

Filtered Search results for "imac" on John Lewis & Partners. Free delivery on orders over £50

www.johnlewis.com

DISCOUNT CODE: Save £40 when bought with Beats Headphones
Purchase this iMac from £114.95* per month with 0% Interest Free Credit. Terms and conditions apply.

Azrael.

 

[Azrael9]

My i9/16GB/5700(8GB)/Nano-Screen unit has just landed and is in my hall. YAY toys. Weird spec as needed quickly unfortunately, don't think this has 10Gbe which is irritating.

Review shortly.

Contrats!

We await with intrigue your hot rod bench testing.

Azrael.

 

[Azrael9]

I don't like to finance things outside a mortgage and a car

Some might argue the cost of an iMac is the price of a car...

...(and points to the Mac Pro and Display the deposit on a mortgage...)

;P

Azrael.

 

[CWallace]

For those wondering about the NanoTexture coating, Jason Snell's review unit has it and he says it is truly amazing at reducing ambient glare without affecting color. He talks about it on Episode 310 of the Upgrade podcast.

MacRS4 noted they just received their unit with NanoTexture, so they will hopefully chime in.

You may get your iMac Pro. To me it makes sense. That's premium money being left on the shelf with the current iMac release which is putting the boot into the iMac Pro in terms of value and performance.

I found out yesterday that I will be working from home through at least the rest of the year and possibly might just shift to that mode permanently, so now I am thinking about a 2020 iMac since my job is based on Windows...

I did install Boot Camp this morning to see how this works (I have been working off my Lenovo laptop since I moved to work from home in May) since I can have two screens with the iMac. If it works well, I will probably buy a 2020 since I do have access to the 24-month SAC financing from Barclays at the moment.

 

[Azrael9]

Intel unveils 10nm SuperFin, Xe-HPG gaming, Tiger Lake and Alder Lake architectures - VideoCardz.com

Intel Unpacks Architectural Innovations and Reveals New Transistor Technology at Architecture Day 2020 Architecture Day 2020 Unveils Willow Cove, Tiger Lake and Xe Architectures, Introduces New Transistor Technology as Intel Advances its Six Pillars of Innovation August 13, 2020 – At the...

videocardz.com

Azrael.

 

[John90976]

I don't know if the new iMac has a laminated screen, I suppose it is the same as the last year model.
I have read many complaining about this issue on iMac Pro, iMac 2019 and previous models

Unfortunately the lamination does not seem to play a part in protecting the inside of the display from dust. My current 4K 2017 iMac has dust coming up from either side near the bottom corners of the display as if there are fans there, the flow alone does this. Not visible when viewing dark items on the display but when the background is white, it sucks. I could repair it by taking the display off, thumbing through the light diffusion layers, and use a record cleaner to safely sweep up the dust particles, but that's a lot of risk and very little reward for something Apple should have thought of and improved.

I was going to make them pay for it but Apple Care+ expired right as the pandemic hit, and now I get to say at least I dodged a bullet and didn't start my stay at home sentence without a computer! However, I wish I remembered this before buying, Apple hasn't fixed this generation after generation, and here I am supporting yet another one of their horrible decisions with my dollar. At least it will be here today!

 

[DrRadon]

 

[Azrael9]

For those wondering about the NanoTexture coating, Jason Snell's review unit has it and he says it is truly amazing at reducing ambient glare without affecting color. He talks about it on Episode 310 of the Upgrade podcast.

MacRS4 noted they just received their unit with NanoTexture, so they will hopefully chime in.




I found out yesterday that I will be working from home through at least the rest of the year and possibly might just shift to that mode permanently, so now I am thinking about a 2020 iMac since my job is based on Windows...

I did install Boot Camp this morning to see how this works (I have been working off my Lenovo laptop since I moved to work from home in May) since I can have two screens with the iMac. If it works well, I will probably buy a 2020 since I do have access to the 24-month SAC financing from Barclays at the moment.

Shift to that mode permanently would be my advice. More 'freedom.'

You have used Bootcamp on Macs before? Or have you just 'always had a PC for that..?'

To be honest, I don't know why anyone would want to go for the iMac Pro now. Even if it got the RDNA2. You can add that via eGPU later and still be quids in.

It seems pretty clear that between Apple, Intel and AMD they have conspired to give a more powerful iMac whilst maximising efficiency. And they've improved the mikes. The sound via the T2 chip. And HD cam for video conf'. Most of the 'refinements' bar the spacey grey and cooling.

The Tier 3 give you most of the perks of the iMac Pro for 60% less. RDNA1 even gives you some encoding punch via VCN 1.0 that gives the iMac Pro a few black eyes and humbles the Mac Pro starting price.

If you go for the 10 core and the 5700XT 16 gig card? You have a still massive £1600 price cut over the iMac Pro entry model.

Between your 'PC' and your iMac you'll have a dual screen work environment. If you add the 2020 iMac to your workflow you get a killer machine for a killer deal? You can put your 2019 to use as a back up Mac set up and/or have a massive dual 5k monitor set up which you can Mac or Bootcamp or dual Mac or dual Bootcamp.

And you can take advantage of 'SACK' financing over 24 months from Barclays?

'Whhhuuuuuuuurllllll, why haven't I ordered that...?' Bart Simpson voice.

Azrael.

 

[Kjs100]

Now spot the differences with my 9 year old iMac

View attachment 943717

I see you are using a monitor stand. Has anyone used a mesh stand? They are supposed to increase air flow. I read a couple of reviewers saying it reduced fan noise. Not the prettiest of stands of course.

 

[CWallace]

You have used Bootcamp on Macs before? Or have you just 'always had a PC for that..?'

Yes I used BootCamp for years to play Windows Games, but I grew tired of having to upgrade every two years for what marginal GPU improvements Apple and AMD had come up with. So for Christmas 2018 I bought an Alienware with an Nvidia 1070GTX and now I get a 165fps in Overwatch on my ASUS 165Hz gaming monitor (and no matter how good a GPU Apple and AMD put in an iMac, the screen is locked to 60Hz for the time being).

To be honest, I don't know why anyone would want to go for the iMac Pro now. Even if it got the RDNA2. You can add that via eGPU later and still be quids in.

I think it has a role for folks who need lots of cores (12-18), quiet operation (for audio work) and/or GPU performance. But I do agree with you that for probably 90% of the market, the current iMac is now more than powerful enough and that is why my hope for a new iMac Pro is slowly dimming.

An iMac Pro would be massive overkill for me, but I like the idea of having 4 TB3/USB-C ports and the better cooling appeals to me. If Apple Silicon was not on the horizon, I'd spend the extra money for a new iMac Pro just for future-proofing (a "Five Year Machine" to amortize the cost). But now that I know AS is coming and the model I want is likely going to be released in late 2021 or early 2022, I can't justify spending that money to just replace it in 18-24 months with an AS model.

If you go for the 10 core and the 5700XT 16 gig card? You have a still massive £1600 price cut over the iMac Pro entry model.

Indeed, and I am actually looking at the 8-core with a 1TB SSD because I do not need 10 cores (not sure I need 8, to be honest) and the 5500XT will be fine for me because I will not be playing games on the machine (that is what the Alienware is for). So about USD 2500.

 

[CWallace]

I see you are using a monitor stand. Has anyone used a mesh stand? They are supposed to increase air flow. I read a couple of reviewers saying it reduced fan noise. Not the prettiest of stands of course.

I'll be honest not sure how much help a mesh stand would be for an iMac. It does draw air from below so moving it higher up might help with dust ingestion a bit (I regularly dust the desk under my iMac), but I would not see how it would help draw in more air.

 

[Azrael9]

7 minutes in...talks about the iMac.

Yes. He's right. If you want to do the work now. Get it.

It's affordable. The most punchy iMac ever. A raft of improvements that don't extend to the iStale design.

Here's my 'get on with it' preview of my iMac which is stuck in Sheffield all day...(most likely arriving tomoz by now.)

+ 5k display. £1300 value. (Exceptional display. Try buying that on to go with a kick ass PC tower...)
+ Speakers. (The T2 chip was woven sparkly new sound magic along with better bases.)
+ 10 cores. (Anthony13 can now render quality Arch'Vis faster than ever and sleep whilst doing it...no fan noise!)
+ 5700XT GPU. (Doubters betware!!! 80 fps+ 2440p in Tomb Raider!!! Actual HD fps madness!)
+ An actual 16 gigs of Vram. :O (Some called Azrael crazy...they still do.)
+ Some sizzling Encoding improvements for Video work. (By factors of x2 and x3!)
+ Increased Ram limit. (128 gigs of RAM? Who needs that much? Apart from pldelisle.)
+ SD Card gets improved. (Nobody is talking about this but I'm excited by this. *Jeremy Clarkson voice.*)
+ It *CAN* game.
+ SSD! (FFSAKE DRIVE IS DEAD!!!! DEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAD!!!!!)
+ HD Web Cam.
+ Nano Display. (For reflection free waters...and those who work in an atrium.)

+ Kicks iMac Pro az at 60% less.
+ Kicks Mac Pro az at £3.7k less.

+ Boot Camp. Get a free £3,400 PC 'tossed in' for 'free!' (Has Tim Apple gone crazy?!)
+ Windows apps and gaming. Broad range of software compatability. (CWallace can now 'work' from home.)

- iStale Design. (Which has rightly infuriated gusping...resigned to Ampere keeping him warm at night.)
- Oil tanker bezels.
- Tiny Fan. (Some Female Macs might look at the size of your 'tiny' fan and have second thoughts...)
- 5700XT. (Last year's mid-range card. Is Azrael happy about that? Really?)
- No RDNA2. (Blame AMD. Freida won't be happy about that. I can tell you that for nothing.)
- Nano. (Glare enthusiasts will hate it as it destroys saturation of colour.)

Conclusion.

+ Right here. Right now. (You want to get actual work done right now, right?)
+ It's the mightiest iMac ever. (Did fruity iMac ever dream of getting a 5k display, 10 cores, a 16 gig Vram GPU that could actually game?!)
+ Top Tier iMac is excellent value right out of the box!!! 8 core and a decent gpu as standard. £2300!?! :O
+ SSDS!!!! (FFS drive is DEAD! *Wait, Azrael...you said that already...*)
+ An iMac you can GAME on!
+ An iMac you can do 3D on!!!
+ An iMac that you CAN see out the AS transition on. (It will take some time before AS trounces...*nervous voice.*)

- iStale Design. (Come on, Apple. 8-12 years of this?)
- 6 years on. No increase in monitor size? (*where is my and guspin's 32 inch rotate to vertical display?*)
- 6 years on. STILL on 5k. (Where's the 6k frontier pushing the iMac on to the next uber display level?)
- Legacy Intel iMac. (May suffer depreciation AND 'sooner' forced obsolescence by Apple's ruthless profit machine.)
- AS iMac. (New design expected with some kick Intel ass efficiency and performance.)
- The high end iMac still costs the price of a good used car.
- Ram BTO prices are without conscience.

Azrael.

 

[Moonjumper]

Klarna | Apple Pay Monthly | KRCS

Want a new Mac, iPad or iPhone but want to pay monthly? Klarna and KRCS are working together to make your dreams come true! Shop now. Pay later with Klarna. KRCS are a premium reseller of Apple products and accessories. We stock a wide range of Mac, Mac mini, iMac, iMac Pro, Macbook, MacBook...

www.krcs.co.uk

They do 12, 24 and 36 month plans. With 2 years warranty.

I've visited their store in Nottingham UK in the past. They seem a decent 3rd party Apple provider.

Azrael.

I've also been in the KRCS Nottingham store, and have bought from them in the past. It is worth signing up to their email newsletter. They occasionally have 10% off, and have great prices on ex-display stuff.

 

[DQ11]

Finally took payment today...ordered on august 5th.......I had to clear it with bank as it got flagged...I was like "Noooo!"....All set should be here hopefully 20th-27th it says.

 

[John90976]

7 minutes in...talks about the iMac.

Yes. He's right. If you want to do the work now. Get it.

It's affordable. The most punchy iMac ever. A raft of improvements that don't extend to the iStale design.

Here's my 'get on with it' preview of my iMac which is stuck in Sheffield all day...(most likely arriving tomoz by now.)

+ 5k display. £1300 value. (Exceptional display. Try buying that on to go with a kick ass PC tower...)
+ Speakers. (The T2 chip was woven sparkly new sound magic along with better bases.)
+ 10 cores. (Anthony13 can now render quality Arch'Vis faster than ever and sleep whilst doing it...no fan noise!)
+ 5700XT GPU. (Doubters betware!!! 80 fps+ 2440p in Tomb Raider!!! Actual HD fps madness!)
+ An actual 16 gigs of Vram. :O (Some called Azrael crazy...they still do.)
+ Some sizzling Encoding improvements for Video work. (By factors of x2 and x3!)
+ Increased Ram limit. (128 gigs of RAM? Who needs that much? Apart from pldelisle.)
+ SD Card gets improved. (Nobody is talking about this but I'm excited by this. *Jeremy Clarkson voice.*)
+ It *CAN* game.
+ SSD! (FFSAKE DRIVE IS DEAD!!!! DEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAD!!!!!)
+ HD Web Cam.
+ Nano Display. (For reflection free waters...and those who work in an atrium.)

+ Kicks iMac Pro az at 60% less.
+ Kicks Mac Pro az at £3.7k less.

+ Boot Camp. Get a free £3,400 PC 'tossed in' for 'free!' (Has Tim Apple gone crazy?!)
+ Windows apps and gaming. Broad range of software compatability. (CWallace can now 'work' from home.)

- iStale Design. (Which has rightly infuriated gusping...resigned to Ampere keeping him warm at night.)
- Oil tanker bezels.
- Tiny Fan. (Some Female Macs might look at the size of your 'tiny' fan and have second thoughts...)
- 5700XT. (Last year's mid-range card. Is Azrael happy about that? Really?)
- No RDNA2. (Blame AMD. Freida won't be happy about that. I can tell you that for nothing.)
- Nano. (Glare enthusiasts will hate it as it destroys saturation of colour.)

Conclusion.

+ Right here. Right now. (You want to get actual work done right now, right?)
+ It's the mightiest iMac ever. (Did fruity iMac ever dream of getting a 5k display, 10 cores, a 16 gig Vram GPU that could actually game?!)
+ Top Tier iMac is excellent value right out of the box!!! 8 core and a decent gpu as standard. £2300!?! :O
+ SSDS!!!! (FFS drive is DEAD! *Wait, Azrael...you said that already...*)
+ An iMac you can GAME on!
+ An iMac you can do 3D on!!!
+ An iMac that you CAN see out the AS transition on. (It will take some time before AS trounces...*nervous voice.*)

- iStale Design. (Come on, Apple. 8-12 years of this?)
- 6 years on. No increase in monitor size? (*where is my and guspin's 32 inch rotate to vertical display?*)
- 6 years on. STILL on 5k. (Where's the 6k frontier pushing the iMac on to the next uber display level?)
- Legacy Intel iMac. (May suffer depreciation AND 'sooner' forced obsolescence by Apple's ruthless profit machine.)
- AS iMac. (New design expected with some kick Intel ass efficiency and performance.)
- The high end iMac still costs the price of a good used car.
- Ram BTO prices are without conscience.

Azrael.

I still spent (slightly) more on my nice used car than this iMac, however, I paid that off monthly making this my biggest one time purchase yet in my young life. Despite iStale Design and tiny fan, I'm excited! Great write up on the many angles of this historic product Azrael!

 

[Whiteman007]

@Azrael9 sucks your got delayed. mines is currently in the truck like 3 mins drive away form my house waiting for it to get here!!!!!!!

 

[John90976]

Finally here and has got its RAM, I’m excited to put it to the test soon and haul this baby iMac outta here!

 

[sir grotius]

CWallace - you sound like me! I took the plunge on the new iMac for the reasons you stated, as the iMac Pro was overkill and a few core components were a bit off for what I needed. That said, I'm a moderate gamer, more strategy types, etc, nothing too intense. I looked at a lot of Alienware machines, but couldn't get over the aesthetics! We're probably all very integrated into the Apple ecosystem, so it's difficult to switch platforms.

 

[CWallace]

I looked at a lot of Alienware machines, but couldn't get over the aesthetics!

Yes, I wish they still made their really small one. I have the Aurora R7, I think. I hide it out of site under my desk.

 

[jetjaguar]

Ive been going back and forth whether to keep my iMac or return it for a the 10core 5700xt 2tb ssd instead of the t3 version I purchased. I think I am going to just keep this and ride out the transition. My only concern is the 512gb ssd being too small but I could always get an external tb3 ssd drive. Also just ordered 32gb kit from owc. I still have a few more days to decide.

 

[fireguy286]

I actually just realized in all my excitement, I am kind of bummed by the I/O. 4 USB-A and 2 TB3 should be the other way around in 2020 IMO. If I add another monitor and my external Drive, my TB are gone already and I haven't gotten to anything else yet. Eh, oh well.