New iMac with 4K display hinted at once again in latest El Capitan beta
A new set of configuration files discovered in the latest beta of Apple's OS X El Capitan desktop operating system point to an unreleased Apple product --?perhaps an iMac refresh waiting in the wings --?with a new-to-Apple 4K resolution.
The files, as noted by French website Consomac, point to a new built-in display sporting a standard 4K 4,096-pixel-by-2,304-pixel default resolution. Speculation over which unannounced product may get a 4K upgrade centers around Apple's smaller 21.5-inch iMac, which hasn't seen a significant change in two years.
That position is reportedly backed up by icons found in related files that identify the device as an iMac, but their association is unclear and AppleInsider is unable to confirm it independently.
Packing a 4K display into the 21.5-inch form factor would yield a desktop with around 218 pixels per inch, the same as Apple's 27-inch 5K version. According to the files, users of the hypothetical new iMac would be able to choose scaled resolutions up to 5K.
Samsung is thought to be one of the principle suppliers of the 4K display panels, an unsurprising choice given their history in Apple's desktop supply chain. This is the second time in the last three months that an El Capitan beta hinted at an upcoming 4K Apple desktop.
Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of KGI Securities said last week that he expects new iMacs will debut in the coming months. He did not, however, give any indication of a 4K-resolution 21.5-inch iMac.
The files, as noted by French website Consomac, point to a new built-in display sporting a standard 4K 4,096-pixel-by-2,304-pixel default resolution. Speculation over which unannounced product may get a 4K upgrade centers around Apple's smaller 21.5-inch iMac, which hasn't seen a significant change in two years.
That position is reportedly backed up by icons found in related files that identify the device as an iMac, but their association is unclear and AppleInsider is unable to confirm it independently.
Packing a 4K display into the 21.5-inch form factor would yield a desktop with around 218 pixels per inch, the same as Apple's 27-inch 5K version. According to the files, users of the hypothetical new iMac would be able to choose scaled resolutions up to 5K.
Samsung is thought to be one of the principle suppliers of the 4K display panels, an unsurprising choice given their history in Apple's desktop supply chain. This is the second time in the last three months that an El Capitan beta hinted at an upcoming 4K Apple desktop.
Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of KGI Securities said last week that he expects new iMacs will debut in the coming months. He did not, however, give any indication of a 4K-resolution 21.5-inch iMac.
Comments
I don't care about a display that's more than anyone really needs, I can about the internals. Give me a faster CPU, more cores, and faster flash storage. Then I'll be interested.
Thank goodness Kuo was not credited as a "well connected analyst" for once.
Kuo is calling to have the failure corrected right now.
????
I run a MBP connected to a 4K monitor and find it works really well. The desktop is nice and retina, and when you want to play a game, it is exact 4:1 scaling for 1080p, which is a resolution a mobile GPU can usually do high settings on.
A 4k 21in (or even 24in) iMac would make a great all round machine I think.
Why is a 4k display more than what people really need?
So this pretty much says a 21.5 inch 4K iMac is coming this fall (October), but will someone please tell me what spec it runs (I am quite interested in knowing its CPU, GPU and flash storage speed)? Most importantly, will the 5K iMac get a spec pump as well this fall (I am desperately waiting for an upgrade)?
Most importantly, will the 5K iMac get a spec pump as well this fall (I am desperately waiting for an upgrade)?
Probably.
I love the iMac 5K. Superb machine although I have pretty much maxed out the ports. Most people shouldn't have that problem though. I have a lot of stuff connected.
I have not looked around the support forums, but the first 5K we bought, the screen died in the first couple weeks. Fortunately I had Back to My Mac running so I was able to log in and wipe the data. Besides that slight annoyance the replacement machine has been flawless for months.
I just like hearing Mikey say "EL CAPTAIN" on the podcast. That's my new name for it.
Does he say it in English or Spanish? The way Craig says it really grates on my ears.
On smaller displays, HD is fine since its DPI is high enough.
English. The original name is Spanish, but foreign loan words often get anglicized. For example, Chevrolet becomes "Chevy", or Hasta la vista becomes "Hasta la vista, baby."
So El Capitan should become "EL CAPTAIN" or simply El Cap.
Or Hawai'i becomes "Hawaii"
So El Capitan should become "EL CAPTAIN" or simply El Cap.
I don't believe it should become el captain, though it could if enough people wilfully change its name.
Most loan words (or calques) retain their original pronunciation. Cf. almost every french word (deja vu, gourmet, cliché, et al.)
Well this is certainly true as we can hope for hardware based on DDR4 RAM and other performance tweaks. Done right we could see a major performance improve the across the board in the iMac lineup. You likely won't get more CPU cores unless Intel releases a suitable desktop processor.
Ok let me rephrase it: what do you think the 4K and 5K iMac spec could be (speculation)? Broadwell or Skylake? 16GB RAM standard? 2GBps throughput in SSD?
Very funny. Seriously, though, if Samsung is now producing larger IGZO-backed LCDs—competing with LG which makes the 5K iMac display—then maybe the long pink unicorn hunt is over, and the New Age for LCD big-screen Nirvana has arrived.
Who knows, maybe these big IGZOs, including Apple/Foxconn home theater panels, are the reasons that Apple is spending 26 billion on manufacturing and parts orders this year.
That 26 billion could be going to a lot of dramatically different machines so it is hard to guess the impact on the iMac. That being said it is about time the platform went through a major overhaul. For one I would not be surprised to see a fanless iMac 21" machine soon. It would take a new approach to the back shell where the aluminum functions as a heat sink with the processor attached directly to it. The vertical orientation of the iMac combined with the large surface area ought to do the trick. Of course this mean lower performance processors but on the iMac 21" you are already getting a lower performance machine.
The larger iMac is a different story of course but that doesn't imply that it won't get overhauled also. The goals though would be different.