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Will we see one more iMac update before 32-bit support ends?

robeddie

robeddie

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Jul 21, 2003
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Yep, I know, it's a question no one can answer, but I'm curious what some think.

Let me elaborate: High Sierra is the last os that supports 32-bit. I've got a handful of great 32-bit apps I still use fairly often. One of the them is iDVD (yea, believe it or not there are some people who still want DVD's).

So ... we'll probably see 64-bit 10.14 released around August of next year. Do any of you think Apple will squeeze in another iMac update before Aug. 2018?
 
I’m wondering also.
I’m needing a new iMac... but I’m taking my time studying wich one to get. During this time, I’ve come to realize that living on iOS is not so bad... With my iPad Pro, iPad mini and iPhone, I can get my work done (mostly). So... I’m watching how APFS, High Sierra, Thunderbolt3... and other “new technologies” settle down.
I don’t think Apple is flexible enough to upgrade iMac line before next year fall. New Intel Coffee Lake processors need a slightly different motherboard... and Apple doesn’t need to compete against itself (and there are a lot of prior gen units being sold as “refurbished” by now!).
BUT, perhaps these new processors could tempt Apple to offer a “low end” iMac Pro. I find this more possible, as announced iMac Pro & iPhoneX seem being used as startling elements in their showcase... Expensive and out of reach (yet).
It could be something like... Could Apple put an 8s phone with OLED screen before next summer? Well... a “9” being a “low X” could be more feasible.
Anyhow, I bet these kind of possibilities is what Apple marketing division is studying right now...
New iMac launching will give us more data, I hope.
 
High Sierra will be the last os to support 32bit apps "without compromise".
I suppose you will always be able to run those apps in a VM or in a specific partition with High Sierra.
I see a minor problem here, as alternative booting from external ssd is faster and cheaper every day...
Rosetta end wasn't traumatic either.
 
nambuccaheadsau said:
Rather than the model, it will be tied to the operating system. High Sierra is it for 32bit applications.


https://www.cultofmac.com/490244/high-sierra-will-last-macos-release-support-32-bit-apps/
Click to expand...

I should clarify my point - which is that any computer released once 10.14 comes out will almost assuredly NOT be able to run High Sierra, therefore that computer wont be able to run 32-bit apps.
So I'm wondering if they'll slip in an iMac update prior to the release of 10.14. Then it would ship with high sierra and be able to run 32-bit apps
 
-Apple has not said 10.14 will not run 32bit apps. They say they could run "with compromises". (And a third part solution could be offered, also).
- Why couldn't a system with 10.14 run a prior os? People on High Sierra now could migrate to Snow Leopard, for example.
Will people with "antique" 2017 macs be unable to upgrade to 10.14?
I'm not an expert... but I believe you can run now even 16bit software with the appropriate emulator ...
Sorry: I'm not a native English speaker, and perhaps misunderstood you. But I don't see the critical change to 10.14 I deduct from your writing. If it is so, OK: 2017 iMacs could be the last ones to run 32bit apps without help. People migrating to a newer system should keep a bootable disk with an older OS if they want to keep working 32bit reliably.
Basic processors architecture is not changing as G5 to Intel did...
Are you suggesting 10.14 could be a totally different os? Running on an Apple's ARM processor? No backwards compatibility in any way...?
But centering on your last question: os is not a variable to consider wondering about hardware renewal from Apple (IMHO).
 
J.Gallardo said:
-Apple has not said 10.14 will not run 32bit apps. They say they could run "with compromises". (And a third part solution could be offered, also).
- Why couldn't a system with 10.14 run a prior os? People on High Sierra now could migrate to Snow Leopard, for example.
Will people with "antique" 2017 macs be unable to upgrade to 10.14?
I'm not an expert... but I believe you can run now even 16bit software with the appropriate emulator ...
Sorry: I'm not a native English speaker, and perhaps misunderstood you. But I don't see the critical change to 10.14 I deduct from your writing. If it is so, OK: 2017 iMacs could be the last ones to run 32bit apps without help. People migrating to a newer system should keep a bootable disk with an older OS if they want to keep working 32bit reliably.
Basic processors architecture is not changing as G5 to Intel did...
Are you suggesting 10.14 could be a totally different os? Running on an Apple's ARM processor? No backwards compatibility in any way...?
But centering on your last question: os is not a variable to consider wondering about hardware renewal from Apple (IMHO).
Click to expand...

My goodness, this isn'at that hard.

I'm talking about a potential new imac release in 2018. If the next imac comes after mac os 10.14 is released, it will not be able to run 10.13. No mac ever released has been able to been downgraded to an os earlier than the current os at the time of the initial release date of the computer.

So .. we can guess 10.14 will be released around sept. of 2018. If the next iteration of imacs are released in oct. of 2018, and 10.14 is already out, then the 2018 imac will not be able to run 10.13, and therefore will have 'issues' running 32-bit apps.

So my concern is whether apple will give us one more imac update before 10.14 comes out. I doublt it, since Apple of late hasnt' updated their desktop computers on a yearly basis for a long time.

That said, the 2017 iMac updates were pretty awesome, imo... so I won't be that crushed if this is the last generation that can run 10.13, and therefore 'reliably' run 32-bit apps.
 
Last edited:
My guess is the 2018 6-core iMac with launch with High Sierra 10.13, just like the 2017 iMac launched with Sierra 10.12.
 
EugW said:
My guess is the 2018 6-core iMac with launch with High Sierra 10.13, just like the 2017 iMac launched with Sierra 10.12.
Click to expand...

Maybe, but when was the last time Apple released iMacs within a year of each other, 2014?
 
robeddie said:
Maybe, but when was the last time Apple released iMacs within a year of each other, 2014?
Click to expand...
Pretty frequently actually.

In fact, the October 2015 release was only 5 months after the previous release in May 2015, which in turn was only 7 months after the October 2014 release.

It’s also important to note that 6-Core 8th gen CPUs suitable for the 2018 iMac are already available, so if Apple wanted to they could even release the next non-Pro iMac in 2017.

But I suspect they won’t release another non-Pro iMac in 2017. I predict they will release the 6-Core non-Pro iMac in spring or summer 2018. My only question is Apple will solder the RAM or not.

Then later in 2018, they will release macOS 10.14 with 4K HDR DRM support for 4K iTunes and 4K Netflix streaming, only available for the 2017 Intel 7th generation or later iMacs. Any Mac released prior to 2017 will be left out in the cold for 4K streaming, whether or not it has a 4K or 5K screen. Even the Intel 6th generation Macs will be excluded.
 
Correct me if I'm wrong, but seems I read the timetable to be thus:

10.13 -- will run 32 bit apps (released 2017)

10.14 -- will run 32 bit apps, mostly (released 2018)

10.15 -- will NOT run 32 bit apps (released 2019).

So... seems to me that 32-bit apps will be supported in hardware/software until the late summer of 2019.

Isn't there anyone around here that remembers "Mode32" ?
Could we see some kind of "software fix", this time for 32-bit apps running on a 64-bit platform...?
 
To the OP, really no one here knows anymore than you do. I'd put it at 50/50 chance of Spring 2018 vs Apple waiting for Cannonlake for Fall 2018 (assuming Intel doesn't fall even further behind). I'd put it more likely for Spring 2018 except they'll be releasing the iMac Pro in December (probably with wide availability not until early 2018, but that's just a guess), and they may want to keep those two products distinct for a bit (where a 6 core iMac could muddy the waters with the 8 core iMac pro... but then again, I think the iMac Pro is going to bomb big time, and I think Apple knows this, so they may not care).

Fishrrman said:
10.15 -- will NOT run 32 bit apps (released 2019).
Click to expand...
Is that something Apple indicated? I recall they made clear that 10.14 would be 32 bit compromised, but don't recall seeing any statements beyond 10.14... so unless they specifically said something about 10.15, it could remain like 10.14 indefinitely, or they could just incrementally keep removing support for 32 bits over several versions... or they could just end it with 10.15 as you suggest.

Frankly, we just don't know yet how well or poorly 32 bit apps will work... the way I read it, they're basically removing OS support for 32-bit apps, so it will probably depend a lot on what type of software (if there's a lot of hardware interaction or requirement of drivers, or uses a lot of outdated system calls, less likely to work).
 
Well count me as one rare soul who’s surprised and delighted that iDVD still works on my 2017 iMac with High Sierra. If this is the end of the line for that nifty program, and it doesn’t work in 10.14, I can’t really complain, it’s been a good run.
 
I'm not really aware of any goodies involved with the 10.14 release but in other threads it's clearly stated that the desktop CPUs suitable for the next iMac should all be out by the end of this year. This means a refresh by the end of the 2nd quarter of 2018 (prior to WWDC but after the iMac Pro comes out) would be logical.

These CPUs are the Coffee Lake ones (aka Kaby Lake refresh) which brings even more efficiency but also more notably up to 6 cores/12 threads on the i7 and 6 cores with no hyper threading on the i5 which is arriving because of the Ryzen CPU from AMD.
 
I don't think anyone here can provide a definitive answer on whether the 2018 iMac will ship in the summer (MacOS 10.13 minimum) or in the fall (MacOS 10.14 minimum). Given Intel's timeline, a summer release should be possible.

nambuccaheadsau said:
Rather than the model, it will be tied to the operating system. High Sierra is it for 32bit applications.


https://www.cultofmac.com/490244/high-sierra-will-last-macos-release-support-32-bit-apps/
Click to expand...
The model is also tied to an operating system (can't be downgraded below a certain version), and that is the point the OP is trying to make here.
 
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