sevenfeet

Please edit this article to include a grid (Excel) chart of the choices with options for length, wattage, active/passive, speed and compatibility.  That would make a good article a great resource.

The HDMI port on the current Apple TV is supposidly HDMI 1.4.  HDR needs HDMI 2.0 since its required for the metadata in any HDR implementation.  As for 4K, you could do 4K on HDMI 1.4 but it would be limited to 24 fps.  That's not horrible since most movies are 24 fps anyway.  But I still think it's unlikely that the current Apple TV would get updated to support 4K, even limited.

Lost in the story is Apple supporting the nascent hybrid log gamma (HLG) form of HDR which is likely going to be the broadcast standard in the next year or two.  Apple is covering all the major bases for HDR, which is great.

macxpress said:

iMac Pro anyone?

I think so.  Current Xeons have way too high cooling requirements to fit in a conventional iMac form factor.  a "Core i9" might be that bridge between the workstation/server class and consumer grade silicon...a true "prosumer" product.

Good news on the Mac Pro front and a rare admission from Apple that they screwed the pooch on this one.  Sometimes function does have to trump form when you are making design decisions.  The 2013 Mac Pro looked way cool but was hobbled by a design that you couldn't do much with.  2012 Mac Pros still have high resale because of it (I still use by 2008 Mac Pro as a primary machine).

So why "not this year"?  Surely Apple can design and build a expandable Mac Pro in a reasonable time frame.  The reason is either that they just started this project (maybe) or the fact that one of the central core technologies for a new Mac Pro would be PCI-e 4.0, and that technology is late.  According to news reports, we might see it in high end PCs and servers late this year so it wouldn't be surprising if Apple was waiting to get chipsets for the new standard.  It would be like them to wait for such a core technology that will be the bedrock of a new Mac Pro for years to come.  The alternative would be to introduce a PCI 3.0 machine now only to have 4.0 come out soon after, pissing off power users again.

I do think the new machine will have to support full size Nvidia/AMD graphics cards like their PC cousins.  I do not think Apple will make the design friendly to spinning hard disks with flash memory as cheap as it is now.  So the new machine will obviously be smaller then the popular cheese-grater monolith of old.  Everything else should be included...Thunderbolt 3/USB 3.1 and the ability to drive multiple 4K/5K and yes, 8K screens.  Like the 2013 Mac Pro, it needs to be quiet for editing suites (I recently visited the Youtube studios in Playa Vista, CA....2013 Mac Pros are everywhere there).  That's easier without spinning hard drives.  And I'd add dual 10 gigabit copper Ethernet while they are at it in the chassis.  Chipsets for this are coming down in price and maybe by the time the machine is released, the form factor will be smaller too for them.

The other interesting news is doing an "iMac Pro" so to speak.  Frankly, I've always wondered why Apple didn't do this anyway years earlier.  The iMac can handle a lot of Pro applications and it just needs a few upgrades to make it really interesting.  Better, non-mobile graphics chipsets is the obvious upgrade along with TB3/USB 3.1 for I/O.  The 5K screen is getting mature and I'm sure that better versions are in supplier LG's pipeline.....how about HDR for video editing/playback?  And support for the next DisplayPort (post v1.4) standard would be nice for single cable 4K/5K/8K plus monitor support.