Apple upgrades some 27" non-Retina iMac orders to 5K model following price cut

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Comments

  • Reply 21 of 56
    victorpvictorp Posts: 4member
    I am hoping Apple will do a re-release of 17-inch MacBook Pro but I guess it is doubtful.
  • Reply 22 of 56
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by zroger73 View Post

     

    Unlike the non-Retina iMacs, the current Retina models can't be used as monitors since they don't have TDM (Target Display Mode).

     

    Those who intentionally ordered a non-Retina iMac for this capability or those who prefer the ability to gain access to the internals without having to remove and replace adhesive tape might be upset that they got "upgraded".


     

    The older 27" iMac has the same lack of easy access as the Retina model, so that's pointless. And I really doubt someone ordered a $2000 computer to use for TDM.

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by herbapou View Post

     

    I normally upgrade my imac after 2 and half years with 6 months to go on the warranty but I think I will pass this year.  The new 5k imacs have performance issues, the GPU is not fast enough to drive that resolution. My late 2012 imac with the 680mx is faster than the radeon m290 and m290x.  The only GPU faster is the optional m295x on the high end model but it as to drive 4k resolution so this result in a slower machine than my 2012 imac.

     

     I dont like reselling my mac without a leftover warranty but this machine is not worth 3.5k for me with the current configurations. I went to see them at the Apple store and with the fusion drive, i7 option, m295x option is just to expensive.  Put that in canadien with tax and that thing is $4000 and the only upgrade I would get is the screen compare to my 2012 machine.


    That's funny, most people don't report performance issues with the 5K iMac.

  • Reply 23 of 56
    jungmarkjungmark Posts: 6,926member
    How dare Apple upgrade iMac orders without user permission. Dear Apple, no one likes free upgrades! /s
  • Reply 24 of 56
    jmgregory1jmgregory1 Posts: 474member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by zroger73 View Post

     

    After decades of development, they've proven inexpensive, reliable, spacious, and fast enough for many applications. Mechanical drives still have quite a bit of life left in them before they are made completely obsolete in every aspect by SSDs.




    My point was that with Fusion Drives, you get the benefit of both the lower cost of mass storage and the speed of SSD for oft-used applications and processes.  With Apple pushing so many devices to solid state storage, it just seems silly to offer one of their higher end products with a spinning disk-only storage device, when Fusion adds so little cost ($200).  Even for people using an iMac for home use, sticking with a HDD at the point we're at now, makes very little sense. 

  • Reply 25 of 56
    slurpyslurpy Posts: 5,382member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by cali View Post



    I'm confused.



    And why couldn't Apple wait until WWDC to announce these and the new MacBook Pro?

    Is it by hat Apple has so many hit products that they can't announce them all at the event?*



    *I know Apple has done this for years but surprise refreshes always seemed weird to me. Especially so close to one of their events.

     

    Why does Apple need to wait till WWDC to make an announcement about spec updates? The MBP and 5K iMac updates are not that exciting and do not need to be announced on stage. I'm sure they have a hundred other factors to consider when it comes to release, so I trust Apple released them when it made most sense for them. As a consumer, I don't see what there is to complain about. 

  • Reply 26 of 56
    ds92jzds92jz Posts: 90member

    Spinners don't run the risk of losing data after 7 days though.

     

    http://www.extremetech.com/computing/205382-ssds-can-lose-data-in-as-little-as-7-days-without-power

  • Reply 27 of 56
    And I really doubt someone ordered a $2000 computer to use for TDM.

    But but but people buy Smart TVs and use them as dumb TVs when the built-in functionality is obsolete. /s
  • Reply 28 of 56
    zoetmbzoetmb Posts: 2,654member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by jmgregory1 View Post



    Why anyone would buy an iMac with a traditional spinning HDD is beyond me. Or maybe I should be asking why Apple is still producing a traditional HDD equipped model, when the least they should be offering is the Fusion Drive equipped versions. We've been using a FD equipped iMac in my work since early '13 and it's been a fantastic compromise of space and speed. Sure, having 1tb of SSD space would be the best, but the price per gb is so much higher.



    Well, that's how they got the price down on the new $1999 model.   If you want to upgrade it from the 1TB Serial ATA to the 1TB Fusion, it's an extra $200.    And I guess they think the 3.5Gig processor is worth an extra $100.   So that's how you get to the existing model that just dropped from $2399 to $2299.      If you want a 1TB Flash drive, they're charging an extra $1000 on the lower model and an extra $800 on the upper model.    

     

    One can buy a 2.5" or 3.5" hybrid 1TB internal drive at retail for as little as $74.   Apple is still ridiculously overcharging for traditional drives.  I don't expect them to give them away, but they should certainly be able to include them as upgrades for less than what the drives sell for at retail.  

  • Reply 29 of 56
    wizard69wizard69 Posts: 13,377member
    cali wrote: »
    I'm confused.

    And why couldn't Apple wait until WWDC to announce these and the new MacBook Pro?
    Is it by hat Apple has so many hit products that they can't announce them all at the event?*
    As has been mentioned they have done this for years, especially when the updates aren't as extravagant as some would like. Further these are mature product lines so time is saved at WWDC for newer products. There isn't infinite time available at the keynote so they have to choose carefully. This especially when the focus of the keynote at WWDC should be software and developers.
    *I know Apple has done this for years but surprise refreshes always seemed weird to me. Especially so close to one of their events.

    The only really surprise here is that SkyLake is real far off in the future apparently. Maybe more of a disappointment than a surprise.
  • Reply 30 of 56
    co4ndco4nd Posts: 11member
    I'd be pissed, I don't want the retina display because the one on my Macbook pro causes too many problems with Windows and Linux Virtual machines and remote logins, so much so that I hardly use the laptop screen for work anymore and use an external non retina monitor as my only display.
  • Reply 31 of 56
    chopschops Posts: 5member
    In April we ordered 50 of the 27" non-retina i7 iMacs. The retina display is very nice, but we don't care all that much about, however the i7 is very important to us. The order was delayed for almost a month. Then this morning I was notified that our order had been "upgraded" to the new i5 retina model. The only upgrade was the display, while the CPU is a downgrade, so I have asked our vendor to ask our Apple rep for iMacs with the i7 CPU. We'll see how that goes...
  • Reply 32 of 56
    chopschops Posts: 5member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by TheUnfetteredMind View Post

     

    They should probably have asked if the customer wanted the free upgrade. You just know someone, somewhere will be upset by this ...


     

    I might be one of those disgruntled.  See my post above. We wanted i7 CPUs. Didn't care about the retina. Suddenly they want to give us i5s. Not good...

     

  • Reply 33 of 56
    zoetmbzoetmb Posts: 2,654member

    It's very simple.   There's nothing new to announce.   The new lower-priced iMacRetina is just the existing machine with a slower processor and a non-Fusion drive.      

     

    And the new 15" MacBook Pros are the old machines + Force Touch, which already exist in the 13" models.  

     

    So I'm sure when Tim summarizes where Apple is at, he'll mention that the whole MacBook Pro line + the MacBook is now Force Touch, but it would have been laughable to highlight these machines as something new at WWDC.  They're just small incremental upgrades.    

     

    One of these days I'm going to upgrade my late-2008 MBP, but these machines don't "do it for me" yet.   Guess I'm waiting 6 months to another year.  Maybe the prices on SSDs will come down by then - I really don't want to spend $3300 on a new machine. 

  • Reply 34 of 56
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by chops View Post

     

     

    I might be one of those disgruntled.  See my post above. We wanted i7 CPUs. Didn't care about the retina. Suddenly they want to give us i5s. Not good...

     




    Yep, and I see people listing other reasons as well. Unless they really couldn't produce any more of the exact model ordered, they should have checked as not everyone will appreciate the change (not everyone will see it as an upgrade).

  • Reply 35 of 56
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    snookie wrote: »
    I have no idea why people think WWDC is to announce new products. It's a developer conference.

    I was thinking the same thing. A totally new product for developers to sink their teeth into with new SDKs, an OS update or hardware allowing new code development (such dual GPUs as the NMP) make sense but as you say, iterations of existing hardware don't really belong. I suspect many of the analysts and rumor mongers don't know what WWDC stands for!
  • Reply 36 of 56
    zoetmbzoetmb Posts: 2,654member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by chops View Post

     

     

    I might be one of those disgruntled.  See my post above. We wanted i7 CPUs. Didn't care about the retina. Suddenly they want to give us i5s. Not good...

     




    I don't get it.  The i7 wasn't part of the base configuration.   You had to pay $200 extra for it.  So I don't see how they could move you to the new machine without also giving you $200 back.   I also wonder why the new machine doesn't have the i7 option since the $2300 model does. 

  • Reply 37 of 56
    chopschops Posts: 5member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by zoetmb View Post

     



    I don't get it.  The i7 wasn't part of the base configuration.   You had to pay $200 extra for it.  So I don't see how they could move you to the new machine without also giving you $200 back.   I also wonder why the new machine doesn't have the i7 option since the $2300 model does. 


     

    You are correct. I left out that detail. They wanted to give us a credit. We're not interested in the i5 though, so the credit isn't really in the cards...

  • Reply 38 of 56
    brlawyerbrlawyer Posts: 828member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post



    Some consumers who ordered Apple's top-end, non-Retina 27-inch iMac in advance of Tuesday's iMac lineup shuffle have seen their orders automatically upgraded to the new, less costly Retina 5K base model.

     





    The new $1,999 Retina 5K iMac replaced the older, top-end 27-inch version that was sold for the same price without a Retina-quality display. One commenter on Reddit said that they were notified of the upgrade by Apple via email late Tuesday afternoon.



    "You may not have heard, but we just announced the new iMac with Retina 5K display," the message read. "Since your order has yet to ship, we automatically upgraded you to the new iMac with Retina 5K display."



    Apple's newest 5K iMac ships with Intel's 3.3-gigahertz quad-core Core i5 and a 1-terabyte hard drie as standard, compared to a 3.4-gigahertz chip and 1-terabyte hard drive for the older model.



    Apple revealed its new iMac lineup on Tuesday morning, introducing the new $1,999 model while chopping $200 off the price for the standard high-end Retina 5K configuration. At the same time, the 15-inch MacBook Pro line was refreshed with Force Touch trackpads, faster processors and flash memory, and longer battery life.



    That is definitely NOT an upgrade, particularly for those looking for a top non-retina iMac with the 780M - alas, such an option is no more...so now you get an el-cheapo 5K with the even more underpowered R290M, or the normal 5K already in the market.

  • Reply 39 of 56
    linkmanlinkman Posts: 1,035member
    We are certain to hear some complaints about this. "I didn't want the Retina display." Same bunch of whiners that didn't like the free U2 album.
  • Reply 40 of 56
    brlawyerbrlawyer Posts: 828member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by linkman View Post



    We are certain to hear some complaints about this. "I didn't want the Retina display." Same bunch of whiners that didn't like the free U2 album.



    Very few people wanted the free U2 album - and I was not one of them, thankfully.

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