Thunderbolt 3? USB 3.1 type C (reversible) generation 2? Apple Keyboard with Numeric Keypad with built-in USB 3.1 hub? SDXC reader with UHS-II maximum speed (300 MB/s read/write)?
It's frustrating to see the steps back here. 1 TB Fusion drive now only has 24GB of flash?! 1 TB 7200 RPM (non-fusion) drive is standard on a 27" 5K iMac? WTF? And now the 256GB flash is an expensive upgrade? It used to be standard. And I absolutely cannot beleive the 21" is still using 5400 RPM drives!
Where did you see the Fusion 24GB info? I knew something was up when they lowered the cost. It was previously a $200 upgrade for Fusion. Guessing they just wanted a lower price point and found most people not needing 128 GB of fast access.
As for the 256 SSD, wasn't that always an upgrade? Same $200 as the Fusion (w/ 128) from what I remember.
The 5400 RPM is clearly just a price point issue. Much like the 1.4 & 1.6 GHz models. People will be will to upgrade if speed matters, but shaving off that $100 here and there probably makes a real difference in how many units they sell.
The fact is I need to upgrade to some form of mac based machine and I am very tempted by this as this what I have been waiting for!
Now to decide if this would be a good purchase. Id likely go for the top end 27" and add in an i7 processor, upgrade the ram (non apple, if still possible on these) and change to a pure SSD.
I was going to purchase this when I was a full student but decided to wait for new models, there used to be a way you could buy with student discount without being a student but sadly now this has been closed. My employer will give me a 20% discount on the base models, but I would really like an i7 and SSD, need to consider options.... but happy with he upgrade.
At the bottom of the Apple site look for Education / Shop for college. You would save about $150 on the model you are talking about.
Or wait a little longer and watch AI's price guide for discounts. Especially with the holidays coming up.
it is disappointing that Thunderbolt iMacs have so much trouble serving as external monitors via target display mode. i have a work Dell notebook i have to use occasionally on an external display, and because of this inability i had to buy a second monitor to stick on my desk right next to my 27" iMac. pretty lame.
The iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2014) and iMac (Retina 5k, 27-inch, Mid 2015) can't be used as Target Display Mode displays.
I haz a sad.
That page was last updated in August. It's October, not mid year, so until Apple says late 2015 and provides a new page update date, we can wait to see if this has changed. Of course, which computers can actually drive a 5K display other than a new iMac?
Thunderbolt 3? USB 3.1 type C (reversible) generation 2? Apple Keyboard with Numeric Keypad with built-in USB 3.1 hub? SDXC reader with UHS-II maximum speed (300 MB/s read/write)?
iMac is a mainstream device, selling to a wide variety of people, including families. A wide variety of peripherals have to exist for it now, at reasonable prices, not eight months from now. You start telling consumers that, well, "You're going to need an adapter for anything you want to use with this" and you can kiss that sale goodbye.
The Pro line will get most of these things first, let's hope early in the new year and not WWDC. We'll see.
No USB-C! That is asinine for a flagship desktop. Makes you wonder who's driving at Apple.
My initial impression from the spec sheet is that there is nothing to write home about here. It is almost as if Apple engineers on the iMac team don't know what is happening on the Mac Book, iPad and other hardware lines.
It's frustrating to see the steps back here. 1 TB Fusion drive now only has 24GB of flash?! 1 TB 7200 RPM (non-fusion) drive is standard on a 27" 5K iMac? WTF? And now the 256GB flash is an expensive upgrade? It used to be standard. And I absolutely cannot beleive the 21" is still using 5400 RPM drives!
I can't imagine many honest and glowing reviews over this "new" hardware. Read the specs and it is pretty obvious the bean counters have taken over at Apple. The "new " storage solutions are pathetic to say the least. This especially if the intent is to offer up hardware to support the video processing markets.
I'm rejecting your rejection! If you pay good money for the high end model you should get something for it. That would be two 8GB DIMM modules which are actually trivially priced these days. It isn't like the machines introduce modern memory systems either, over all a pathetic update.
Well if you want to bitch, no DDR4, only core i5, lame 8gb of standard RAM, weak ass 7200 rpm drive standard - this is all true.....but I'm buying one anyway. You just need to pimp it out. I will get the 27" w/ 4.0ghz core i7, 8gb - will upgrade to 32gb later, 512gb flash, R9 395x 4gb RAM graphics, Magic Trackpad2. Time to give my Late 2008 Macbook Pro to my 6 year old daughter, which by the way, still works pretty good with an ssd and El Capitan. So, a new iMac Retina will be light years ahead of where I'm at now -$3,478.66 w/ tax and Applecare....which sounds high until I remember buying a top of the line Compaq Presario laptop back in 2000 that cost me $3,300.
That's likely the same configuration that I'm thinking about getting; I'm going to wait for reviews first though just to see what difference the faster processor, graphics and flash has compared to last year's model.
Will mean that I can retire my current white plastic MacBook that's coming up to 8 years old in January 2016 (2.2GHz Core 2 Duo, 4GB RAM, 120GB 5400rpm). Whatever I get though is going to feel like a rocketship by comparison!
I'm also wondering if these new ones will be able to use Target Display Mode - I know that last year's models weren't able to do so, and am wondering that if the fact that the ports are still Thunderbolt 2 (with 20Gbps throughput) may be the limiting factor. There had been rumours that these would be featuring Thunderbolt 3 (with 40Gbps throughput) and USB Type-C ports on the back too.
Anyhows, am sure the reviews will help identify whether this is possible in the next couple of weeks.
Thunderbolt 3? USB 3.1 type C (reversible) generation 2? Apple Keyboard with Numeric Keypad with built-in USB 3.1 hub? SDXC reader with UHS-II maximum speed (300 MB/s read/write)?
These would have been passable machines if introduced in the Spring of 2015 but they are a bit of a joke now.
iMac is a mainstream device, selling to a wide variety of people, including families.
I'm not sure where you get that idea. The 27" iMac largely sells to professionals. As such this machine is a huge disappointment.
A wide variety of peripherals have to exist for it now, at reasonable prices, not eight months from now. You start telling consumers that, well, "You're going to need an adapter for anything you want to use with this" and you can kiss that sale goodbye.
Baloneey. Beyond that adapters to deliver and old style USB port would be dirt cheap. Even worst Apple just upgraded Keyboards and other devices and failed to transition to the new port standards.
The Pro line will get most of these things first, let's hope early in the new year and not WWDC. We'll see.
Unfortunately it is the Pro user that least needs these upgrades.
The memory is user-upgradeable on the 27" iMac. After-market Crucial 32GB RAM costs about $150. You can future-proof it whenever you want.
Exactly. I always buy iMac's with 8GB and upgrade the RAM myself. Way cheaper than doing it through Apple. I always buy the same RAM Apple is using in their iMac's.
Exactly. I always buy iMac's with 8GB and upgrade the RAM myself. Way cheaper than doing it through Apple. I always buy the same RAM Apple is using in their iMac's.
Comments
The memory is user-upgradeable on the 27" iMac. After-market Crucial 32GB RAM costs about $150. You can future-proof it whenever you want.
Thanks...good to know. Yet Apple charges $200 to go to 16gb.
Would be nice to have that 16gb to begin with, that's all.
Thunderbolt 3? USB 3.1 type C (reversible) generation 2? Apple Keyboard with Numeric Keypad with built-in USB 3.1 hub? SDXC reader with UHS-II maximum speed (300 MB/s read/write)?
It's frustrating to see the steps back here. 1 TB Fusion drive now only has 24GB of flash?! 1 TB 7200 RPM (non-fusion) drive is standard on a 27" 5K iMac? WTF? And now the 256GB flash is an expensive upgrade? It used to be standard. And I absolutely cannot beleive the 21" is still using 5400 RPM drives!
Where did you see the Fusion 24GB info? I knew something was up when they lowered the cost. It was previously a $200 upgrade for Fusion. Guessing they just wanted a lower price point and found most people not needing 128 GB of fast access.
As for the 256 SSD, wasn't that always an upgrade? Same $200 as the Fusion (w/ 128) from what I remember.
The 5400 RPM is clearly just a price point issue. Much like the 1.4 & 1.6 GHz models. People will be will to upgrade if speed matters, but shaving off that $100 here and there probably makes a real difference in how many units they sell.
The fact is I need to upgrade to some form of mac based machine and I am very tempted by this as this what I have been waiting for!
Now to decide if this would be a good purchase. Id likely go for the top end 27" and add in an i7 processor, upgrade the ram (non apple, if still possible on these) and change to a pure SSD.
I was going to purchase this when I was a full student but decided to wait for new models, there used to be a way you could buy with student discount without being a student but sadly now this has been closed. My employer will give me a 20% discount on the base models, but I would really like an i7 and SSD, need to consider options.... but happy with he upgrade.
At the bottom of the Apple site look for Education / Shop for college. You would save about $150 on the model you are talking about.
Or wait a little longer and watch AI's price guide for discounts. Especially with the holidays coming up.
it is disappointing that Thunderbolt iMacs have so much trouble serving as external monitors via target display mode. i have a work Dell notebook i have to use occasionally on an external display, and because of this inability i had to buy a second monitor to stick on my desk right next to my 27" iMac. pretty lame.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204592
I haz a sad.
That page was last updated in August. It's October, not mid year, so until Apple says late 2015 and provides a new page update date, we can wait to see if this has changed. Of course, which computers can actually drive a 5K display other than a new iMac?
Thunderbolt 3? USB 3.1 type C (reversible) generation 2? Apple Keyboard with Numeric Keypad with built-in USB 3.1 hub? SDXC reader with UHS-II maximum speed (300 MB/s read/write)?
iMac is a mainstream device, selling to a wide variety of people, including families. A wide variety of peripherals have to exist for it now, at reasonable prices, not eight months from now. You start telling consumers that, well, "You're going to need an adapter for anything you want to use with this" and you can kiss that sale goodbye.
The Pro line will get most of these things first, let's hope early in the new year and not WWDC. We'll see.
My initial impression from the spec sheet is that there is nothing to write home about here. It is almost as if Apple engineers on the iMac team don't know what is happening on the Mac Book, iPad and other hardware lines.
I can't imagine many honest and glowing reviews over this "new" hardware. Read the specs and it is pretty obvious the bean counters have taken over at Apple. The "new " storage solutions are pathetic to say the least. This especially if the intent is to offer up hardware to support the video processing markets.
I'm rejecting your rejection! If you pay good money for the high end model you should get something for it. That would be two 8GB DIMM modules which are actually trivially priced these days. It isn't like the machines introduce modern memory systems either, over all a pathetic update.
Well if you want to bitch, no DDR4, only core i5, lame 8gb of standard RAM, weak ass 7200 rpm drive standard - this is all true.....but I'm buying one anyway. You just need to pimp it out. I will get the 27" w/ 4.0ghz core i7, 8gb - will upgrade to 32gb later, 512gb flash, R9 395x 4gb RAM graphics, Magic Trackpad2. Time to give my Late 2008 Macbook Pro to my 6 year old daughter, which by the way, still works pretty good with an ssd and El Capitan. So, a new iMac Retina will be light years ahead of where I'm at now -$3,478.66 w/ tax and Applecare....which sounds high until I remember buying a top of the line Compaq Presario laptop back in 2000 that cost me $3,300.
That's likely the same configuration that I'm thinking about getting; I'm going to wait for reviews first though just to see what difference the faster processor, graphics and flash has compared to last year's model.
Will mean that I can retire my current white plastic MacBook that's coming up to 8 years old in January 2016 (2.2GHz Core 2 Duo, 4GB RAM, 120GB 5400rpm). Whatever I get though is going to feel like a rocketship by comparison!
I'm also wondering if these new ones will be able to use Target Display Mode - I know that last year's models weren't able to do so, and am wondering that if the fact that the ports are still Thunderbolt 2 (with 20Gbps throughput) may be the limiting factor. There had been rumours that these would be featuring Thunderbolt 3 (with 40Gbps throughput) and USB Type-C ports on the back too.
Anyhows, am sure the reviews will help identify whether this is possible in the next couple of weeks.
These would have been passable machines if introduced in the Spring of 2015 but they are a bit of a joke now.
Unfortunately it is the Pro user that least needs these upgrades.
The memory is user-upgradeable on the 27" iMac. After-market Crucial 32GB RAM costs about $150. You can future-proof it whenever you want.
Exactly. I always buy iMac's with 8GB and upgrade the RAM myself. Way cheaper than doing it through Apple. I always buy the same RAM Apple is using in their iMac's.
Wow! Thats an awesome iMac.
$150 AAPL share price by 12.31.15 or banishment <------- Are you going to leave as promised?
I'm sorry, but all these iMacs should come with 16gb of RAM.
Even the top line 27" iMac at $2300 is 8gb.
And a cup holder !!!!! /s
Zero love for the Mac Mini.
I'm hoping for that to refresh alongside a 4k 27" Thunderbolt 2 display.
Exactly. I always buy iMac's with 8GB and upgrade the RAM myself. Way cheaper than doing it through Apple. I always buy the same RAM Apple is using in their iMac's.
I don't believe you open it up and add more ram