In my opinion, Apple should work with an existing PC manufacturer to bring a Macintosh Professional Workstation to market. The problem is that a) it's a low-volume product for Apple, b) it takes years and multiple product cycles to refine such a product and c) other PC OEM's have existing, mature workstation products that could be easily adapted to suit the need of Apple's user base.
I know others might find this heresy, but quite frankly Apple's view of this market differs significantly from the wider PC Workstation market. Dell, HP, and Lenovo have very well refined engineering workstation lines that Apple could adapt for the needs of their users. Most of Apple's hardware resources are focused on iOS devices anyway, so investing in another 'one-off' expensive product doesn't seem like a winning strategy. Flame away...
What I don’t understand is why Apple can’t keep the latest processor each year. It isn’t as though it drops the price on out of date imacs. Why not update whenever Intel releases a new CPU? The extra R&D would be minimal, and people wouldn’t feel like they are being ripped off if the only choice of iMac has previous gen hardware. It just annoys people.
This is a total fallacy based on a sample size of one: yourself.
Take it from someone who used to work in both Apple and non-Apple retail: the number of people who have any understanding whatsoever of what is inside their machine or what “gen” it is (or its name ... or what it does) is nearly exactly the same as the number of people who can identify, name, and replace all the parts in their car.
Power nerds who actually know specs are a *very* slim portion (well under five percent, closer to two percent IME) of even the PC world, and even less so among Apple buyers. What they actually want is a machine that they perceive (rightly or wrongly) will perform adequately well for their needs, full stop. Apple stuff does that, is well-supported for years, and doesn’t require you to buy a new machine every time Intel finally squeezes out an actual new chip. Consumers like that — the vast majority of PC users would happily go back to Windows 95 or XP if they could, limitations and security nightmares be damned.
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I totally agree. The longer I can use my computer productively the more value I derive from it and the more brand loyalty I feel for its maker. Nothing erodes the value I get from a purchase faster and more significantly than rapid product obsolescence. If Apple chased every little incremental improvement in hardware component technology it would only accelerate the obsolescence cycle of products that are already in consumer's hands. Like most everything in life you have to strike a balance. I think Apple has a reasonable upgrade cycle for their most popular products, although the iPhone is probably pushing the limits, i.e., too frequent, due to competitive factors. The smartphone market is a bit insane at the present time and Apple is front and center in the chaos.
Some of the points on the original post are whacky. If people feel "annoyed" or "ripped off" prior to purchasing a product but then buy it anyway - they should seek professional help. Now. Is voting with your wallet no longer "a thing?" There are plenty of choices out there other than Apple. Only Apple knows the impact of hardware changes on their R&D. Apple is always hiring, so if you have a magic and surefire formula for their future success, send in your resume. Today.
I’m hoping for a new form factor iMac myself. My 2013 iMac 27 is still ok, but in 2020, with a second rev of a new form factor, it would be good timing. Looking for 32 to 35 inch display and 6 TB storage. Indifferent on the CPU or GPU. If not, will have to explore options with a Mac mini.
Will by curious to see how Apple segments the iMac and iMac Pro with the existence of 8 core i7/i9 CPUs versus the Xeon W in the current iMac Pro. They’ll have to get rid of the 8 core model in the iMac Pro, or even theoretically, get rid of the iMac Pro brand once the Mac Pro comes out.
I'm not too keen on new form factors from Apple anymore. It's at best 50-50 as to whether a new form factor will be an improvement.
I'd like them to just achieve minimum competence as a vendor of personal computers and update their Mac lineup annually. It hurts the brand to have products that go for so long without updates while the rest of the industry manages to upgrade more-or-less annually.
They have to change the industrial design at least, if not form factors (I consider a display size change a different form factor), and not changing them has consequences in the same way that not updating the internals of machines do. People get bored with them, and worse yet, they are not changing with changing usage and workflows. Not changing the form factors is one of the reasons that Apple’s fans think the company is stagnating. Everything looks the same year on year, and with laptops, competitors have copied the MacBook design language such that about half the laptops out there look kind of like a MacBook or MBP. Their uniqueness is watered down.
It’s not yearly or two year cycles, but the current ID hasn’t changed much for a very long time now, for iMacs, and even the laptops to a point. The iMac (and iMac Pro) has the same ID or form factor since 2013, and it is now 10 years of using 21.5 and 27 inch displays. It’s long past time for them to move to something like 24 and 34 inch display sizes.
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I know others might find this heresy, but quite frankly Apple's view of this market differs significantly from the wider PC Workstation market. Dell, HP, and Lenovo have very well refined engineering workstation lines that Apple could adapt for the needs of their users. Most of Apple's hardware resources are focused on iOS devices anyway, so investing in another 'one-off' expensive product doesn't seem like a winning strategy. Flame away...
Some of the points on the original post are whacky. If people feel "annoyed" or "ripped off" prior to purchasing a product but then buy it anyway - they should seek professional help. Now. Is voting with your wallet no longer "a thing?" There are plenty of choices out there other than Apple. Only Apple knows the impact of hardware changes on their R&D. Apple is always hiring, so if you have a magic and surefire formula for their future success, send in your resume. Today.
Good luck with that.
Super excited for NNMP tho.
It’s not yearly or two year cycles, but the current ID hasn’t changed much for a very long time now, for iMacs, and even the laptops to a point. The iMac (and iMac Pro) has the same ID or form factor since 2013, and it is now 10 years of using 21.5 and 27 inch displays. It’s long past time for them to move to something like 24 and 34 inch display sizes.