Suspect 27" iMac model with Intel Kaby Lake pops up at Best Buy
An aberration has appeared on the BestBuy website, showing a possible 27-inch 5K iMac with a seventh generation Kaby Lake Intel Core processor -- but some discrepancies cast some doubt on the listing.
At some point on Sunday night, the line item for a new iMac appeared. Carrying a model number of K0SC0LL/A, the Best Buy web page claims it has a seventh generation Intel Core i7 processor, a 27-inch display, 32GB memory, a 2TB fusion drive, and the AMD Radeon R9 M380 graphics chipset with 2GB of video RAM.
The Best Buy line item retails for $3200. However, an existing model customized with a 4.0 GHz sixth generation i7 processor with 32GB of RAM, and a 2TB Fusion drive can be built to order at Apple.com for $3150, only $50 less than the Best Buy price.
The R9 M380 is an odd inclusion on the Best Buy page, given that the R9 M395 is available in the existing 5k iMac.
Additionally, it is not clear if Kaby Lake quad-core processors suitable for a 27-inch Retina 5K iMac are currently shipping.
Another discrepancy is the Apple model number as listed by Best Buy. The K0SC0LL/A does not conform to existing nomenclature of MK462, MK472, or MK482 prefacing a remaining two digits, and completed with a /A.
The rumor mill has had little to say about an iMac refresh, but it has been a year since the last iMac refresh, so adding Kaby Lake to the iMac at the same time that a MacBook Pro may be introduced with it is possible.
Comments
From the page about the latest Retina 5K iMac model, currently on sale, on the MacTracker iOS app:
It does appear, however, that this model *would* break the almost ininterrupted pattern of naming the Mac order numbers “M[…]”, the second character being an increasing character (the Bondi Blue started out as “M6”, “M9” covered both G4 and G5 iMacs and the first “M[alpha]” was the Rev. C G5 w/ iSight, so their atrribution doesn't always correlate with generational skips *nor* with Mac models, and I believe “MJ” was either skipped altogether or reserved for some education model or whatever). It stands to reason that the next order number would start with “ML” instead of “K0” but, then again, Apple could be revising its naming conventions (maybe because they finally ran out of numbers? I have no idea and it has been already 26 years since they started using that numbering scheme, so I'd have to scour them to find out, but I believe that should be your job
Considering past history, that may very well be a legit iMac order number (and a legit leak), while also representing a significant shift in the order numbering scheme on the Mac line altogether.
I do think iMacs will be out soon. I would be very surprised if it didn't have USB-C on them (possibly replacing all USB 3 ports), or replace the 2 thunderbolt ports with 2 USB-C ports. Should have DDR4 RAM. The Best Buy listings aren't always accurate so take this with a grain of salt.
2) plug it into Lightning port on Magic Keyboard (which is basically BT)
3) A USB-C adapter that doesn't yet exist. In fact no adapters exist to use Lightning headphones on anything else besides the iPhone 7 and newer iOS devices.
4) built-in Lightning port.
Here's a question: on the MacBook, USB-C will provide power and charging. Lightning 2 will also provide power and charging ability. Will either port supply power to the iMac? Or will the iMac continue to use its own dedicated power source?
What no Serial Port! Where am I supposed to plug in my modem?
More importantly, so far the Lightning connector has been exclusively for connecting peripheral devices to the Mac, and it's primarily for charging. The Pencil uses Lightning to pair to iPads because it's the one port the iPad has. I don't think putting it in the Mac just for headphones is something they want to do. The consistency is a point, but I'm not sure it's one that's particularly bothering them.
Still, we'll see what they do when it comes out.