Apple's OS X Mavericks hints at future Retina Thunderbolt Displays and iMacs

Posted:
in Future Apple Hardware edited January 2014
Amid Monday's excitement, it was discovered that the blue-and-green ocean wave wallpaper image Apple released to promote its upcoming OS X Mavericks for Mac is fitted precisely for a 27-inch Retina Thunderbolt Display, or even a 27-inch Retina iMac.

Wallpaper


The 5,120-by-2,880-pixel image hosted on Apple's website is sized at exactly twice the width and height of the 2,560 by 1,440 pixels found in today's 27-inch iMac and 27-inch Apple Thunderbolt display. The Retina-caliber wallpaper was first noted on Twitter by Web designer Marvin Scharle.

Apple first hinted at Retina display support for its MacBook Pro lineup in 2011, when a developer preview of OS X Lion included a high-resolution wallpaper at 3,200 by 2,000 pixels. But Apple didn't release its first Retina display MacBook Pro until mid-2012, over a year later.

It's possible that Apple could bring a Retina-caliber resolution to its standalone Thunderbolt Display later this year, alongside the debut of a new Mac Pro. When the company offered a sneak peek at its new cylindrical Mac Pro on Monday, it boasted that the high-end machine will be powerful enough to drive three 4K-resolution displays ??but Apple does not currently offer any screens with a 4K resolution.

Mac Pro
The new Mac Pro will drive three 4K-resolution displays. Apple does not currently offer a screen of that caliber resolution.


The 4K Ultra high definition television standard has a resolution of 3,840 by 2,160 pixels, giving it an aspect ratio of 16 to 9. The Digital Cinema Initiatives 4K resolution is slightly wider, at 4,096 by 2,160 pixels.

Anticipation of a next-generation Thunderbolt Display has swirled since Apple redesigned its iMac lineup with a thinner profile in late 2012. The company's standalone big-screen displays have traditionally employed the same technology as its big-screen iMac, but such an update has not yet come to its Thunderbolt Display.

Speculation about a 27-inch Retina display from Apple also comes as new rumors published this week by hit-or-miss publication DigiTimes claim that Apple is planning to release a new iMac in the second half of calendar 2013. Citing Taiwan-based industry supply chain sources, the report said that Apple is looking for alternatives to LG Display, as that company had low yields for iMac panels when the all-in-one desktop was redesigned in late 2012.

That report made no mention of a possible Retina display for new iMacs, but those machines could also be a potential candidate for a high-resolution upgrade, based on the double-pixel wallpaper found in Apple's first OS X Mavericks beta.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 66
    appexappex Posts: 687member
    Hopefully this will bring a 24-inch Thunderbolt display as well.
  • Reply 2 of 66
    rob55rob55 Posts: 1,291member
    This is just speculation on my part, but I think it's a given that new Cinema Displays are on their way to take advantage of the new Mac Pro's capabilities. The obvious question being when.
  • Reply 3 of 66
    macxpressmacxpress Posts: 5,801member


    I wonder if Apple will release some kind of 4K Thunderbolt Display? Or, will the new Thunderbolt Display be 4K?


     


    I would think retina iMacs are still too expensive...maybe I'm wrong and a 27" retina display is doable at the same price point. Maybe it will just be a BTO option. 

  • Reply 4 of 66
    I'm sorry... Every time I see the name Mavericks, I think of Sarah Palin... Worst name ever! Why this name? Why now? OS X 10.9 is the end of the line, not the beginning of a new one... After 10.9, comes 11 (OS XI)... This makes no sense... What is Apple thinking??
  • Reply 5 of 66

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by davidinsf View Post



    I'm sorry... Every time I see the name Mavericks, I think of Sarah Palin... Worst name ever! Why this name? Why now? OS X 10.9 is the end of the line, not the beginning of a new one... After 10.9, comes 11 (OS XI)... This makes no sense... What is Apple thinking??


    Rent the movie Mavericks....and you will stop thinking of Sarah Palin. :)


     


    I remember when the iPad was first announced, some, could only think of feminine products. Now that's the furthest thing from my mind.


     


    Same when they started using MacBook and MacBookPro. It seemed so awkward, now? Not so much! :)


     


    P.S. I haven't thought about Palin for over two years, thanks for bringing her up. I understand she is writing her second book, or as she calls it, "her trilogy!" :)

  • Reply 6 of 66
    Firstly I don't get the Mavericks and Sarah Palin thing. Mavericks is awesome and leaves open an infinite possibility of cool surf spot names. How about "bone yards" or "sunset" or back yards" or "hookipa" or "kirra" or cloud break" or "g land" or "teahupoo" ... endless...

    In regards to the display, when they first mentioned the 4k thunderbolt display I right away checked the specs for the 27inch screen. Had missed something? I hadn't. The current 27 inch screen isn't a 4K model. That said, I expect they will launch a 4K panel sooner rather than later.
  • Reply 7 of 66
    iaeeniaeen Posts: 588member
    davidinsf wrote: »
    I'm sorry... Every time I see the name Mavericks, I think of Sarah Palin... Worst name ever! Why this name? Why now? OS X 10.9 is the end of the line, not the beginning of a new one... After 10.9, comes 11 (OS XI)... This makes no sense... What is Apple thinking??

    I don't think OSX is going away for a while. Next year we will probably get OS 10.10. I don't like the name either so I will probably just refer to it as OS 10.9 when I need to specify which OS I am running. I've actually been referring to mountain lion as 10.8 for a while now (although I am already missing the big cat names).
  • Reply 8 of 66
    pedromartinspedromartins Posts: 1,333member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by davidinsf View Post



    I'm sorry... Every time I see the name Mavericks, I think of Sarah Palin... Worst name ever! Why this name? Why now? OS X 10.9 is the end of the line, not the beginning of a new one... After 10.9, comes 11 (OS XI)... This makes no sense... What is Apple thinking??


    Your ignorance is the thing that doesn't make sense, at all.


     


    Who the hell told you that after 10.9 we will have 11? What's wrong with 10.10 or 10.11? Heck, why OS XI? Who told you that?


     


    So much ignorance... Everywhere. This reminds me those going berserk because the iPhone 4s looked like the 4 and wasn't called 5. The press would've been totally different if it was called iPhone 5, even if it was the exact same device.

  • Reply 9 of 66

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by stehsegler View Post



    ....In regards to the display, when they first mentioned the 4k thunderbolt display I right away checked the specs for the 27inch screen. Had missed something? I hadn't. The current 27 inch screen isn't a 4K model. That said, I expect they will launch a 4K panel sooner rather than later.


    Dude. I agree. It sort of reminds when the 30" Apple display was in it's heyday...I coveted it so much, along with a tower, but could never afford it.


     


    I think Apple will have a great combo with the new MacBookPro and a larger 4k display. The pro's will buy that set up for sure...me I'll stick with my, iPhone, iPad mini, ATV and maybe an MBA 11"


     


    And, maybe a 27" iMac....


     


    Best

  • Reply 10 of 66
    theothergeofftheothergeoff Posts: 2,081member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Rob55 View Post



    This is just speculation on my part, but I think it's a given that new Cinema Displays are on their way to take advantage of the new Mac Pro's capabilities. The obvious question being when.


    dots...  connect... the... dots...   Apple doesn't release a 3 4K screen capable MacPro without a display to exploit that capability


     


    And once that capability is in the OS, Every Mac can take advantage of it.  Every Mac. 


     


    And once you build a 4K 'monitor', a $99 AppleTV could enable it for Airplay mounted on your wall.  And if there was a 'iTV' app (like an iRadio app), that munged all the MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL (I wish), Hulu+, Netflix, iTunes, and made it 'easy' for content producers to  'stream realtime' content to become part of a subscription services....


     


    Why do I think the next AppleTV will have a thunderbolt connector on it?


     


    Quote:

    Originally Posted by macxpress View Post


    I wonder if Apple will release some kind of 4K Thunderbolt Display? Or, will the new Thunderbolt Display be 4K?


     


    I would think retina iMacs are still too expensive...maybe I'm wrong and a 27" retina display is doable at the same price point. Maybe it will just be a BTO option. 



     


    My guess is that the $999 monitor price point will need to be hit with 4K components, and should be by fall.   Building it into a 27" 1800/2000 price point shouldn't be hard.  

  • Reply 11 of 66
    andysolandysol Posts: 2,506member


    I'm holding onto my 2010 BTO i7 iMac until it doesn't run the current operating system, or a retina iMac is released- whichever comes first.  :)  I would be thrilled if it happened this year, but I highly doubt it.  2014 seems more believable.  It will be very interesting to see how this year's iMac is refreshed without Retina.  Curious if fusion becomes standard (that would be awesome).

  • Reply 12 of 66
    iaeeniaeen Posts: 588member
    I wonder how many displays my new 27" iMac will be able to push. With the vastly improved multi screen capabilities of 10.9 buying an extra display suddenly became more tempting.
  • Reply 13 of 66
    echosonicechosonic Posts: 462member
    Davidinsf:

    "I'm sorry... "

    The need to open such a crass political statement by pre-apologizing because you are too immature to keep it to yourself, and so governed intellectually by your stunted emotional politcal ideology that you blurt out such nonsense in the midst of a tech article that you apparently cant read bcause you are so mired in the past and bogged down by your own irrational hatred says everything about you that anybody needs t know.

    Most importantly, it says that you aren't sorry at all, and that your personal wayback machine is still sputtering in 2008 mode.


    PS-on her dumbest day Sarah Palin still makes Barack Hussein "Bush Jr." Obama look like the drooling communist pig that he is.
  • Reply 14 of 66
    chabigchabig Posts: 641member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by AppeX View Post



    Hopefully this will bring a 24-inch Thunderbolt display as well.


    Android fans would never be satisfied with a 24" display. They'd say it has to be at least 24.6" to be useful.

  • Reply 15 of 66
    chabigchabig Posts: 641member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by iaeen View Post



    I wonder how many displays my new 27" iMac will be able to push. With the vastly improved multi screen capabilities of 10.9 buying an extra display suddenly became more tempting.


    Why do you have to wonder? Look it up..."Simultaneously supports full native resolution on the built-in display and up to a 30-inch display (2560 by 1600 pixels) on an external display." Reference, http://www.apple.com/imac/specs/

  • Reply 16 of 66
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,310moderator
    The 5,120-by-2,880-pixel image hosted on <a href="http://images.apple.com/home/images/osx_hero_2x.jpg">Apple's website</a> is sized at exactly twice the width and height of the 2,560 by 1,440 pixels found in today's 27-inch iMac and 27-inch Apple Thunderbolt display.

    I figured they'd stop at 4K rather than double it but it does allow them to have direct pixel mapping with the current resolution. I don't suppose it would matter if lower machines couldn't drive the full resolution because they can just run the display at 2560 x 1440 like they do now.

    If they can make a Cinema display at that resolution for $999, the competition is going to struggle to match it because they are selling 4K 30" displays for way higher than that.
  • Reply 17 of 66
    pedromartinspedromartins Posts: 1,333member


    I'm still waiting for some sort of dock that connects to thunderbolt, like sony did for the vaio Z.

  • Reply 18 of 66
    pedromartinspedromartins Posts: 1,333member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Marvin View Post




    Quote:

    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post



    The 5,120-by-2,880-pixel image hosted on Apple's website is sized at exactly twice the width and height of the 2,560 by 1,440 pixels found in today's 27-inch iMac and 27-inch Apple Thunderbolt display.




    I figured they'd stop at 4K rather than double it but it does allow them to have direct pixel mapping with the current resolution. I don't suppose it would matter if lower machines couldn't drive the full resolution because they can just run the display at 2560 x 1440 like they do now.



    If they can make a Cinema display at that resolution for $999, the competition is going to struggle to match it because they are selling 4K 30" displays for way higher than that.


    The thing is that Apple doesn't need 30% margins on Displays. Actually, a good display will only make people want more macs... So they can sell it without nice profits and profit (pun) later.

  • Reply 19 of 66
    aaronjaaronj Posts: 1,595member


    The new iMacs are already pretty expensive* -- worth it, totally, as I just got one a couple of months ago -- but still expensive.  I can't believe that they would be at a manageable price point with a Retina display.  Not to mention, the screen is already just gorgeous as it is.


     


    Now, Apple selling their own 4k displays?  That seems like a no-brainer with the introduction of the Pro.


     


     


    * -- I should point out that the iMac I bought wasn't exactly standard.  I went with the more expensive GPU, got a 3TB Fusion Drive, etc.  So, my iMac was a bit more expensive than stock, obviously.

  • Reply 20 of 66
    chabigchabig Posts: 641member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Marvin View Post



    If they can make a Cinema display at that resolution for $999, the competition is going to struggle to match it because they are selling 4K 30" displays for way higher than that.


    Of course you are correct, but you are just pulling that price out of your a**. Since we're playing that game, the competition will also struggle if Apple can release a 4K display for $899, $799, or even $199.

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