roundaboutnow

sflocal said:

I truly think the next iMac will signal an end to internal expansion.  The M1 has the RAM built into the chip.  That was the only think left that was upgradeable on the current iMac.  I don't see Apple moving away from that with future ASi chips.  Current iMac also has the SSD soldered in as well, and even the 4TB-8TB models (I have the 8TB model) the SSD is non-standard, and it shared with a soldered SSD on the motherboard.  

The ASi iMac will essentially be a gigantic iPad with extra ports and zero ability to upgrade anything internally.  

I'll say one thing about that... based on the horrible experience I had with my 2020 iMac during its first three months due to faulty RAM (by OWC), I can understand why Apple is going the way of UMA.  Not only will performance be so much better, but gone will be the days of system instabilities due to crappy RAM that was not Apple's fault, yet has to deal with countless service calls and repairs.  I'm sure Apple got fed up with that.

I wonder how Apple will handle the RAM situation.  It will certainly hurt it Apple charges the crazy-high RAM prices for their ASi systems as they were doing with the Intel versions.  I'm good for at least five years beforeI upgrade my iMac, so it will be interesting to see what Apple does.

Yep, the trend is definitely away from internal expansion. I get it. There are actually some good reasons for this. Manufacturing processes are simplified and reliability increases (so less warranty claims).

I wonder if "regular" people outside of these tech forums notice the higher cost of RAM (and SSD) beyond base level in Macs. If it is relatively common knowledge, it may be a marketing liability -- I mean sales are obviously quite good the way things are, but seems like more people would splurge on the next level up on RAM or SSD if pricing were more aligned with standalone retail pricing of those components. I personally would care a lot less about expansion/upgrade if initial higher RAM/SSD configurations were more affordable. I still think there is a case to be made for "upgradability" if it makes repairs less expensive too. Also, environmental impact is less if people are able to hang on to their devices longer or if repair does not need to require entire main systems board replacement.

maximara said:

roundaboutnow said:

MplsP said:

9secondkox2 said:

Great. Now let’s get back to making the iMac all it can be. 

Would love to see:

1) hefty cpuGPU core counts with architecture improvements. 

2) massive amounts of RAM. 

3) ultrawide screen of 34 inches or greater. It’s time. Everyone loves ultrawide. 

If Apple really wants to make an enduring splash with the new Mac of Macs, it’s time to show the world how ultrawide is done. 

And while you’re at it... make it touch capable. I’d rather not have to use a Microsoft surface to control concert lighting...

4) colors: silver, space, gray, blue, gold, green, and brilliant white. 

5) a minimal and industrial design aesthetic. 

How about just upgradable ram and an upgradable hard drive (or a place to add a 2nd HD/SSD

personally, I’d rather not have a touch screen - a touch screen on an iMac isn’t really convenient and just leaves fingerprints all over the beautiful screen. 

The 27" iMac has upgradable RAM, and I hope the new iMacs keep this feature.

HD/SSD upgrade without having to remove the screen would be nice too...

If, for whatever reason, the SSD ends up being soldered in, I like your idea of having a place to add a 2nd SSD. Perhaps a removable panel to provide access to an area that would allow attaching a Thunderbolt drive inside. Or, given that SDUC-I Express cards can have SSD speed and capacity, maybe two SD slots--one external and one internal (you wouldn't want to inadvertently eject an SD card being used as an SSD). Frankly, I doubt either of these would happen, but we can dream, can't we?

Why do this when you can just have and external SSD that you can boot from?  The is an iMac not a portable.

Yes, I know external is always an option...OWC and others have some pretty neat Thunderbolt solutions for this. I've seen one TB3 case that takes an NVMe drive and that lets you stick it to the back of a monitor or laptop. However, if it is designed to be a long term solution, and especially if it is the boot drive, I would prefer an internal mounting location just to keep it out of harms way.

MplsP said:

9secondkox2 said:

Great. Now let’s get back to making the iMac all it can be. 

Would love to see:

1) hefty cpuGPU core counts with architecture improvements. 

2) massive amounts of RAM. 

3) ultrawide screen of 34 inches or greater. It’s time. Everyone loves ultrawide. 

If Apple really wants to make an enduring splash with the new Mac of Macs, it’s time to show the world how ultrawide is done. 

And while you’re at it... make it touch capable. I’d rather not have to use a Microsoft surface to control concert lighting...

4) colors: silver, space, gray, blue, gold, green, and brilliant white. 

5) a minimal and industrial design aesthetic. 

How about just upgradable ram and an upgradable hard drive (or a place to add a 2nd HD/SSD

personally, I’d rather not have a touch screen - a touch screen on an iMac isn’t really convenient and just leaves fingerprints all over the beautiful screen. 

The 27" iMac has upgradable RAM, and I hope the new iMacs keep this feature.

HD/SSD upgrade without having to remove the screen would be nice too...

If, for whatever reason, the SSD ends up being soldered in, I like your idea of having a place to add a 2nd SSD. Perhaps a removable panel to provide access to an area that would allow attaching a Thunderbolt drive inside. Or, given that SDUC-I Express cards can have SSD speed and capacity, maybe two SD slots--one external and one internal (you wouldn't want to inadvertently eject an SD card being used as an SSD). Frankly, I doubt either of these would happen, but we can dream, can't we?

9secondkox2 said:

Great. Now let’s get back to making the iMac all it can be. 

Would love to see:

1) hefty cpuGPU core counts with architecture improvements. 

2) massive amounts of RAM. 

3) ultrawide screen of 34 inches or greater. It’s time. Everyone loves ultrawide. 

If Apple really wants to make an enduring splash with the new Mac of Macs, it’s time to show the world how ultrawide is done. 

And while you’re at it... make it touch capable. I’d rather not have to use a Microsoft surface to control concert lighting...

4) colors: silver, space, gray, blue, gold, green, and brilliant white. 

5) a minimal and industrial design aesthetic. 

I would just as soon avoid touching the screen on my iMac, especially since the OS isn't really geared to touch. However, if you happen to have a macOS app that is designed to work with touch, consider a Mac mini or MacBook with a separate touchscreen monitor. Elo, 3M, Viewsonic and many others have pro-cap screens. Also, PQ Labs has an IR frame that can overlay an iMac (or any other display) for touch. Most touch screens use drivers made by Touch Base, which support multi-touch on macOS (not sure about M1 though).

(Fisker EV experience + Foxconn manufacturing capability) * (Apple design + Apple QC) = Apple Car?