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

[PinkyMacGodess]

Yes, innovative because it's thin.

No, they don't. You don't know what a home user is, do you? Take off your tech-savvy shoes for a second...

Last I looked, I AM a 'home user'. I have a computer that I can't upgrade the storage in, and have a drive for Time Machine, another drive for almost everything else, and a hub, and a cable for charging/syncing, and a cable for the keyboard/mouse, and I think all I have available is one USB-C port (and I have an IMP). Only one. I cherish that port. Nothing is going to use that port, just in case I need it for something else. I can't unplug a drive (well I could, but...)

But whatever. They have decreed, from on high, that we mortals only need 'x' number of ports, and if we need more, we have to throw our lot in with the many hub manufacturers out there and hope for the best. That Big Sur was getting testy with hubs after it was introduced was just user abuse... I would like to have more ports. I think the chips themselves support more than one or two per chip, but Apple is using a lot of those 'ports' for their own goodies. Their myoptic 'We give them more ports, we just use most of them ourselves, and what more could they want' attitude isn't likely to change in the future, although rumors of more ports on any new MBPs is encouraging, but how much extra will purchasers pay for those 'extra' ports. Will there be a 'MacBook Pro Pro' with those extra ports carrying a higher price? All for a chip that costs Apple pennies, each, with more pennies for the sockets, and fraction of a second for the CNC machines to route out another hole or two. If it was up to me, I'd like to see an iMac with 6 USB-C ports, and 4 USB ports. But I might as well ask for the Sun in a bottle...

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

What if Apple went retro-themed for the 30" models?
A space grey with black bezels and a silver model with white bezel to appease everyone....and six colour logo of course. ?



View attachment 1761591

30" model? Did they announce a larger model?

 

[EugW]

Sounds like someone tested you, and you failed. Well, or passed, but either way, that knowledge wasn't trusted with you again.

If I was Apple, I'd feed titbits, and see who reports them, and where, and then consider the person they 'leaked' the info to 'burned'. But it's not like it's hard to 'leak' Apple's upcoming tech. They leak like a faucet at times...

Nah. The info in my case was from Apple’s dev tools, freely available to anyone looking for it, without NDA. The key was to actually look for it. There was a hint to look for something for something like that but it was anonymous.

 

[Homy]

This iMac has replaced the old 21.5" so with that in mind it's a good replacement. Hopefully the larger iMacs for pros will have some of the lacking features people talk about later this year. I miss the logo on the chin but it's not a big deal. Don't mind the chin at all since you get best sound from the speakers there. Where else could they put them for best sound? Don't mind the bezels. They're thin enough. Black would be better but I've had all white iMac 17" 2006 and it didn't bother me as I can remember (still have it without using).

Few people seem to talk about the advantage of a power brick outside the iMac. It will be easy to replace if needed instead of having to send the iMac away for service. Also less heat inside the computer and longer life for other components.

I was hoping though for a better GPU option like Vega 20 in the older iMac. 23.5" is enough for me since I currently use iMac 21.5" 2011, but I understand that they just wanted to replace the old 21.5" and better options will come in fall with M2. I just hope that my iMac 2011 will last until then. I was ready to buy but this one is not for me. Looking forward to the big Macs.

 

[Moonjumper]

This iMac has replaced the old 21.5" so with that in mind it's a good replacement. Hopefully the larger iMacs for pros will have some of the lacking features people talk about later this year. I miss the logo on the chin but it's not a big deal. Don't mind the chin at all since you get best sound from the speakers there. Where else could they put them for best sound? Don't mind the bezels. They're thin enough. Black would be better but I've had all white iMac 17" 2006 and it didn't bother me as I can remember (still have it without using).

Few people seem to talk about the advantage of a power brick outside the iMac. It will be easy to replace if needed instead of having to send the iMac away for service. Also less heat inside the computer and longer life for other components.

I was hoping though for a better GPU option like Vega 20 in the older iMac. 23.5" is enough for me since I currently use iMac 21.5" 2011, but I understand that they just wanted to replace the old 21.5" and better options will come in fall with M2. I just hope that my iMac 2011 will last until then. I was ready to buy but this one is not for me. Looking forward to the big Macs.

I'm sure Apple said the speakers are downward firing, so they could have been behind the screen without a chin. It would be very different if they were forward firing and they actually had a surface designed to not block the sound.

 

[Freida]

People still use wired printers? I had my first WiFi printer about 10 years ago. Surely, everyone is now wireless, no?
Average user is fine with 4 ports.

I think the 4 USB ports in the higher-end model are just enough most home users. Printers and scanners are common, and one port is needed for charging the keyboard and mouse. That leaves one port for connecting random storage devices and cameras.

Having only 2 ports in the 7-core model is probably a marketing choice. Because the differences between 7 and 8 GPU cores are negligible, people need more incentives to buy the more expensive model. Leaving the ports out may even be more expensive for Apple than including them, because they now need two separate case models.

 

[JouniS]

People still use wired printers? I had my first WiFi printer about 10 years ago. Surely, everyone is now wireless, no?
Average user is fine with 4 ports.

I don't think I've ever seen someone use a WiFi printer. Big office printers are on Ethernet, and cheap home printers are on USB. If a device is not indended to be moved, a wireless connection is simply one additional point of failure that could be easily avoided with a wired connection.

 

[Homy]

I'm sure Apple said the speakers are downward firing, so they could have been behind the screen without a chin. It would be very different if they were forward firing and they actually had a surface designed to not block the sound.

Yes, but having powerful speakers behind the screen would maybe have some negative impact on the screen itself. You don't want your screen to vibrate. Maybe it could cause similar micro fractures and injuries F1 drivers suffer from. Even my Panasonic TV has its sound system below the screen.

 

[Freida]

Really? That is weird. Air Print was the first amazing thing we had in our house. Printer located in one room and everyone had access to it with Wifi printing. In fact, connecting it via USB would be totally stupid as it would depend on that one computer.

You have kids homework, husband/wife documents etc. - wifi

USB printers are so 90s :-D

I don't think I've ever seen someone use a WiFi printer. Big office printers are on Ethernet, and cheap home printers are on USB. If a device is not indended to be moved, a wireless connection is simply one additional point of failure that could be easily avoided with a wired connection.

 

[EugW]

I don't think I've ever seen someone use a WiFi printer. Big office printers are on Ethernet, and cheap home printers are on USB. If a device is not indended to be moved, a wireless connection is simply one additional point of failure that could be easily avoided with a wired connection.

No, most of the mid-range and many of the lower end printers now come with WiFi. And most of them come with Ethernet. However, even if they have WiFi, they may not necessarily have AirPrint. They are two different technologies.

But I use wired because I can. As you say, it's potentially more reliable.

Really? That is weird. Air Print was the first amazing thing we had in our house. Printer located in one room and everyone had access to it with Wifi printing. In fact, connecting it via USB would be totally stupid as it would depend on that one computer.

You have kids homework, husband/wife documents etc. - wifi

USB printers are so 90s :-D

Just for clarification, AirPrint doesn't need WiFi to work, despite the name. The benefit of using Ethernet to connect the AirPrint printer is you don't have that additional point of failure as @JouniS mentions. You're not dependent upon a working WiFi connection at the printer's location.

In my house, all our iDevices and Macs have full AirPrint support, but the printer itself is actually connected by Ethernet.

Yes, but having powerful speakers behind the screen would maybe have some negative impact on the screen itself. You don't want your screen to vibrate. Maybe it could cause similar micro fractures and injuries F1 drivers suffer from. Even my Panasonic TV has its sound system below the screen.

This is a non-issue. High end Sony TVs use the screen as a sound radiator.

 

[ssong]

I'm sure Apple said the speakers are downward firing, so they could have been behind the screen without a chin. It would be very different if they were forward firing and they actually had a surface designed to not block the sound.

Honestly I don't think the idea of putting all of the chin components behind the screen is viable unless you get double / triple thickness.

Keeping in mind that the smaller iMac is typically used in places where space is limited (width and depth) they did well in terms of not increasing width, and if anything shrinking the depth which would help compensate for ergonomic changes needed by the larger display size.

The hinge takes up a bit of space towards the bottom third of the display, and then a relatively large part is taken up by the antenna that goes through the Apple logo in the back.

You probably don't want to speaker too close to the display so there would have to be a decent amount of depth, so that's at least double if you want it practically back to back, or triple the depth if you want some breathing space. that would be thicker than the Pro Display XDR. The added depth may have allowed the speakers to have deeper bass but where would you put the logic board?

You don't want fans too close to the speaker, nor do you want it too close to the webcam / mic array, you can't really put it in the middle cos of the antenna, and although there's depth, you don't really wanna put the component that will generate most heat anywhere near the displays.

So ok the only real place then is to put it in the space between the antenna and the webcam along the back side of the casing but then chances are people will start complaining about fan noise being heard on their calls during heavy prolonged work loads.

Therefore, while people may think that the chin was just purely a bad design choice, I think it was a necessity to keep the product viable for the target market.

A compact computer that can fit in places where width and depth are limited.

 

[JouniS]

Really? That is weird. Air Print was the first amazing thing we had in our house. Printer located in one room and everyone had access to it with Wifi printing. In fact, connecting it via USB would be totally stupid as it would depend on that one computer.

You have kids homework, husband/wife documents etc. - wifi

USB printers are so 90s :-D

A shared printer doesn't sound like something many home users would have.

In my experience, all printers are so 90s anyway. They are usually used by old-fashioned people doing old-fashioned stuff on a desktop computer.

 

[ssong]

This is a non-issue. High end Sony TVs use the screen as a sound radiator.

Just gonna point out... 'high-end' whilst we're discussing the entry level iMac

while I can imagine that the display panel used by Apple are well calibrated and they source decent ones, I don't think they'd be using the best of the best, and I know under display speakers are a very divisive matter in tech

 

[AutomaticApple]

And ill tell you about all your WWDC wet dreams when it comes to a new iMac.

It´s not going to happen.

You know what's going to happen?

The same exact thing as last year.

Apple announces a new Chip so developers have time to work with it to have their software more ready by the end of the year when a new big iMac with more power actually hits.

They're going to transition away from ARM? ?

Also, use AirPrint printers you monsters! Save those ports for more important stuff!

 

[Homy]

This is a non-issue. High end Sony TVs use the screen as a sound radiator.

Just gonna point out... 'high-end' whilst we're discussing the entry level iMac

Comparing a technology (Acoustic Surface Audio) patented by Sony used only in their $2000-$8000 giant 55-83 inch TVs to a $1500 23.5" low end iMac feels a bit strange.

 

[CWallace]

I still have not understood why the 13 inch M1 iPad Pro is not every casual MacOS and iOS device you will ever need.

I'm going the opposite - I was planning to replace my 2018 12.9" iPad Pro with this new model, but now I have decided I am going to wait for the MiniLED 13" MBA or 14" MBP and buy a Mac.

Apple announces a new Chip so developers have time to work with it to have their software more ready by the end of the year when a new big iMac with more power actually hits.

Devs won't need any lead-time to support an M-series SoC with more cores, which is what M1X will most-likely be. And they will not need any lead-time to support M2, just as iPhone devs will not need lead-time to support the A15 that the M2 will share the architecture with.

And now that the iPad Pro has been migrated to the M-series SoC, any new hardware functionality that requires dev support ramp-up time would need to be not just for Mac, but also for iPad Pro.

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

Nah. The info in my case was from Apple’s dev tools, freely available to anyone looking for it, without NDA. The key was to actually look for it. There was a hint to look for something for something like that but it was anonymous.

I used to get their dev tools. I used to get Microsoft's too. I never took the time to try to comb through the files. I've heard a lot of things found aren't ever revealed in new products. It could be awesome to find a 'secret' and see it come out for sale. Wow...

 

[theSeb]

To answer the original question, yes, there will be a 32" 6K iMac Pro featuring the superior space grey/black bezels.

 

[EugW]

A shared printer doesn't sound like something many home users would have.

In my experience, all printers are so 90s anyway. They are usually used by old-fashioned people doing old-fashioned stuff on a desktop computer.

Shared printers are very, very, very common in 2021 in consumers' homes. In fact, it started being relatively common almost a decade ago.

Comparing a technology (Acoustic Surface Audio) patented by Sony used only in their $2000-$8000 giant 55-83 inch TVs to a $1500 23.5" low end iMac feels a bit strange.

Meanwhile Apple has mini-LED with 2500 dimming zones in their iPad Pro whereas Sony has no mini-LED TVs at all, even in their $4000 TVs.

Anyways that argument represents a changed goal post. I was responding to your original assertion that it can't be done because it would damage the screen. The point is it's already been done, and it's in consumers' homes, with no such damage noted.

 

[Homy]

Meanwhile Apple has mini-LED with 2500 dimming zones in their iPad Pro whereas Sony has no mini-LED TVs at all, even in their $4000 TVs.

As I said Sony's technology is patented. Apple either must pay them or develope something similar without getting sued. That would make an entry level iMac more expensive. Regarding Sony not having Mini LED it doesn't mean Apple's 2500 dimming zones are superior when it comes to control the lighting. Sony uses OLED meaning per-pixel lighting. Precision lighting for very detailed objects still won’t be possible with Mini LED.

"Upcoming Mini LED TVs are expected to have as many as 3,000 lighting zones. That’s a big improvement on existing LCD TVs, but it still implies comparatively low resolution control over lighting and contrast. By comparison, the per-pixel lighting of OLED means that a 4K set effectively has over eight million zones."

Mini LED vs OLED: which TV technology is better?

Can the Mini LED backlight give LCD TVs what it takes to beat OLED?

www.techradar.com

 

[ssong]

Meanwhile Apple has mini-LED with 2500 dimming zones in their iPad Pro whereas Sony has no mini-LED TVs at all, even in their $4000 TVs.

Part of the no mini-LED TV is potentially that it wouldn't work too well with their ASA sound tech which can't be used with backlit displays hence the Sony TVs use OLED. Also, I'm not sure how well that would work on displays smaller than 45" as the quality largely then becomes dependant on the surface area available for the vibrations, which is significantly smaller in the iMac 24. Not to mention, on a device that small (relatively speaking) the audio would lost a lot of its bass.

Either way, I think Sony's audio and display tech choices go hand in hand and that's the path that they've chosen whereas Samsung and LG have chosen different approaches for their TVs.

As for Apple, when they're partially reliant on panels created by other manufacturers (Samsung, LG) and they've already invested in computational audio tech, it wouldn't make much sense to pay a premium price for OLED panels to use a patented audio tech.

 

[Lava Lamp Freak]

Apple holds their own patent for display-based speakers. We may yet see an iMac with this tech.

US20120243719A1 - Display-Based Speaker Structures for Electronic Devices - Google Patents

Electronic devices that contain flexible displays and one or more display-based speaker structures may be provided. The speaker structures may be positioned under the flexible display. Portions of the flexible display may be used as speaker membranes for the speaker structures. The speaker...

patents.google.com

 

[CWallace]

Ten years on, but like a Paul Masson wine, Apple will release no tech before it's time.

 

[fuchsdh]

I think the 4 USB ports in the higher-end model are just enough most home users. Printers and scanners are common, and one port is needed for charging the keyboard and mouse. That leaves one port for connecting random storage devices and cameras.

Having only 2 ports in the 7-core model is probably a marketing choice. Because the differences between 7 and 8 GPU cores are negligible, people need more incentives to buy the more expensive model. Leaving the ports out may even be more expensive for Apple than including them, because they now need two separate case models.

The way I look at it is the base model iMac is not a product a lot of people should buy, but it's far, far, far, far better than the base model iMac they used to sell (and technically still do, although it's tucked away and hidden.) The 256GB storage limit, the 8GB of RAM, the two ports, the lack of wired networking... compared to the 1080p, three-gens-behind chip iMac with a 5400RPM hard drive until recently, it's like night and day.

It is kind of funny that modern Apple has such a tough time making a $999 iMac.

 

[CWallace]

It is kind of funny that modern Apple has such a tough time making a $999 iMac.

Making a $999 Mac is easy for Apple.

Making a $999 Mac with the margin they desire, on the otherhand...

But hey, the new MacBook Air Retina M1 is $999, so there is hope! And I expect we will see $100-200 off soon enough from third-party retailers so it will be that much closer to $999.

(Also agree with your general comments on the baseline 24" vs. the 21.5".)