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iMac Intel Apple Hardware

Apple Plans First iMac Desktop Redesign In Nearly a Decade (bloomberg.com) 46

Posted by BeauHD from the long-overdue dept.
In addition to upgraded MacBook Pros, Bloomberg reports that Apple is also "planning the first redesign of its iMac all-in-one desktop computer since 2012," as it shifts away from Intel to its own silicon. From the report: The new models will slim down the thick black borders around the screen and do away with the sizable metal chin area in favor of a design similar to Apple's Pro Display XDR monitor. These iMacs will have a flat back, moving away from the curved rear of the current iMac. Apple is planning to launch two versions -- codenamed J456 and J457 -- to replace the existing 21.5-inch and 27-inch models later this year, the people said, asking not to be identified because the products are not yet announced. The new models will use next-generation versions of Apple's Mac processors like the upcoming 2021 MacBook Pros. The iMac redesign will be one of the biggest visual updates to any Apple product this year, according to people familiar with the company's roadmap.

Apple is also working on a pair of new Mac Pro desktop computers, its priciest Mac machines that don't come with a screen included, the people said. One version is a direct update to the current Mac Pro and will continue to use the same design as the version launched in 2019. Apple has discussed continuing to use Intel processors for that model rather than moving to its own chips. The second version, however, will use Apple's own processors and be less than half the size of the current Mac Pro. The design will feature a mostly aluminum exterior and could invoke nostalgia for the Power Mac G4 Cube, a short-lived smaller version of the Power Mac, an earlier iteration of the Mac Pro. Apple has also reportedly started development of a cheaper external monitor to sell alongside the Pro Display XDR. "The cheaper monitor would feature a screen geared more for consumer than professional use and wouldn't have the brightness and contrast ratio of the top-tier offering," reports Bloomberg.
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Apple Plans First iMac Desktop Redesign In Nearly a Decade More

Apple Plans First iMac Desktop Redesign In Nearly a Decade

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  • An unenviable position (Score:4, Interesting)

    by rmdingler ( 1955220 ) on Friday January 15, 2021 @07:52PM (#60950266) Journal

    It is getting more and more difficult to market the next generation of tech to the have-to-have the new shiny crowd.

    "The latest release has a 6.20-inch touchscreen display with a resolution of 1080 pixels by 2340 pixels at a PPI of 413 pixels per inch;"

    likely, tens of pixels more definition than your puny human eye can resolve.

    • You might not be able to count individual pixels at 413 ppi (heh heh) but you can see the difference between a 300 and 600 dpi print job for many types of content, so I suspect there is still some distance to go before you can't tell there's any improvement for the hardest-to-gracefully-dither content.

      • Re:An unenviable position (Score:5, Informative)

        by willy_me ( 212994 ) on Friday January 15, 2021 @09:10PM (#60950502)

        Printed pixels are different from display pixels. When printing you are limited* to the colors supported by whatever printer you are using - usually YMCK but some fancy inkjets support additional colors. Tones are then generated by dithering.

        Pixels for a display differ because you do not have to apply dithering to support the various different tones. So when printing you require far more pixels then you would for a display.

        *Note, some printers can overlap and mix colors but they are rare. The Xerox wax based printers were only 200 dpi but they generated better photographs then a 600 dpi laser. At the time anyway...

        • Wait, so you're saying my expensive printer can only print in yellow, maroon, cyan, and black?

        • > The Xerox wax based printers were only 200 dpi but they generated better photographs then a 600 dpi laser. At the time anyway...

          I actually have a Xerox Phaser 8550 (wax based ink) printer which is 600 dpi. Yes it was slightly better then a color laser printer -- but both sucked compared to inkjets.

          Modern inkjets have 12 inks [canon.com]. Note that I said inks and not colors -- because not all of the inks are colors.

          i.e. Inks for the Canon Pixma PRO-1 are:
          PGI-29 Matte Black
          PGI-29 Photo Black
          PGI-29 Cyan
          PGI-29 Mage

      • ppi and dpi are two different things. For a printer the ppi obeys the same rules as the display where the rule of thumb is perception limit at arms length is 300ppi and linearly adjust depending on the distance the viewer is likely to view from.

        dpi on the other hand depends on what you're trying to print. If you're printing two colour black and white with no half tones then dropping 300dpi down on the paper with a 300ppi source material would be perfect. If however you want to start dabbling in shades of gr

    • likely, tens of pixels more definition than your puny human eye can resolve.

      What if you put some VR optics on it?

      • likely, tens of pixels more definition than your puny human eye can resolve.

        What if you put some VR optics on it?

        Hey! Let's parse one incredible tech advancement at a time, if you please sir.

    • likely, tens of pixels more definition than your puny human eye can resolve.

      I mean from a cool meter away sure. But have you ever read something small and decided to move your head closer? I know. Crazy right!

      Could you be an android that recently became human: https://youtu.be/pg-5SOydz6Q?t... [youtu.be]

  • $1000 stand ... (Score:3, Funny)

    by AlexHilbertRyan ( 7255798 ) on Friday January 15, 2021 @08:03PM (#60950308)
    yup.... and $500 mouse.

  • mac pro m1 64 GB ram $500 more 128GB $1000 (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Joe_Dragon ( 2206452 ) on Friday January 15, 2021 @08:09PM (#60950342)

    mac pro m1 64 GB ram $500 more 128GB $1000.
    Storage 512G update $250 1TB $350 2TB $600 4TB raid 0 $1200

  • iMac G4? (Score:3)

    by R3d M3rcury ( 871886 ) on Friday January 15, 2021 @08:12PM (#60950348) Journal

    Personally, if they have these fast yet energy efficient CPUs, I'd love to see them bring back the iMac G4 design. Granted, they'd have to consider the scale--the 27" display would absolutely dwarf the base. Still, I think that was one of Apple's best looking designs...

    • Re:iMac G4? (Score:4, Funny)

      by methano ( 519830 ) on Friday January 15, 2021 @09:02PM (#60950480)
      The half basketball? Please, No!!
    • I'm kind of partial to the Mac Cube. Sure, it gets lots of hate, but I thought the design was pretty slick.
      • Comment removed based on user account deletion

        • I don't think it got much hate, it just had design flaws and was overpriced. TFS describes it has a variant of the PowerMac G4, a predecessor to the Mac pro, but it wasn't really, the Mac mini is basically the successor. And that's a VERY popular Mac.
          The Cube had heating issues and was underpowered with a ridiculously low amount of memory, 64Mb in stores, 128Mb if ordered online, which meant it couldn't even run Mac OS X in its standard form.
          But it was beautiful, and almost everyone I knew wanted one, we just didn't want to spend $1,500+ on a barely expandable machine that had reliability issues.

          But think about it: With an Mx ASi Design, you could either have a Fanless(!) MacBook Air-class design; or a silent-fan iMac-class (beyond M1 mini)-class design. A headless iMac. Boy, would that sell!

      • The Mac Cube was released just at the beginning of a financial crisis. It was a bit on the expensive side, but it was a nice computer, and two years earlier or three years later it would have done just fine. You could find them on eBay ten years later for decent priced. Just bad timing.

    • Personally, if they have these fast yet energy efficient CPUs, I'd love to see them bring back the iMac G4 design.

      I think the Cube would make more sense than the iMac G4. I never had one, but the G4 arm that held up the monitor always looked like a scary failure point to me.

      I'd like to see a return of Xserve. With the vertical integration, they could actually make them cheap, and with Apple silicone they could make them very power efficient. The main hurdle would be software because MacOS comes with too much bloat. If they brought back MacOS Server, preferably a headless version, it would allow them to compete in the s

      • It wouldn't work well for them. Apple's business is overwhelmingly based on interconnected consumer products and services. Getting back into the server market would end the way it always has.

        Apple's long had an on-off relationship with servers. AppleShare did well because there wasn't much around at the time that made setting up small office/school networks that easy. AppleShare IP continued to be useful for those markets and was pretty easy to run. No monkeying around with conf files - just a bit of clicki

        • Apple's business is overwhelmingly based on interconnected consumer products and services.

          As it should be, because that's where they shine. I bought an Apple TV device yesterday. Plug it in, give it a monitor. Configuration? Just unlock your iPhone or iPad and set it next to the TV device. It gets the configuration from that.

          Apple stuff is expensive; we all know that. But if you set everything up in their ecosystem, it really does just work. I don't use them to run my network, but for consumer stuff? It's easy for me, it's plausible that I might even be able to talk my non-technical wife throu

  • My wish (Score:5, Insightful)

    by crow ( 16139 ) on Friday January 15, 2021 @08:42PM (#60950412) Homepage Journal

    I know this isn't where Apple is ever going to go, but what I would love to see is the iMac become a monitor (with microphone/webcam) that has a docking port for a Mac Mini. You would buy them as a unit, but if you wanted an upgrade in a few years, you could just buy a new Mac Mini and swap the brains.

    Yeah, Apple will never do that.

    What would also be useful is an HDMI port and an option to use the iMac as simply just a display (which would power off the computer portion). I've seen lots of old iMacs where the computer has failed or is just too old to be productive anymore, but the monitor is beautiful. It's a shame to see it go to waste.

    • What you're talking about is a feature called 'Target Display Mode' that iMacs did indeed used to have. Apple disabled it in 2015 or thereabouts? https://www.lifewire.com/use-i... [lifewire.com]

    • Aren't you just asking for a monitor with integrated speakers, camera and mic that connects via some variant of USB-C? It could be Thunderbolt, it could be Displayport Alt Mode (preferably 2.0). No docking needed, just one cable, and the other end could plug into either a laptop or something like the Mac Mini.

    • You just gave me an idea for a product I'd like to see: Computers become inputs as universal docking stations for other computers. I have my home PC that I use for leisure, I'd like nothing more than to simply drop my work laptop on it and with one cable take over the keyboard video and mouse, without the need for a KVM switch.

      The closest I've gotten to is the MS Surface Precision mouse and keyboard, which combined with the Surface software can at a quick flick of a button cause the devices to jump to anoth

    • Couldnâ(TM)t you just use a display as the display?

    • Why make it simple when you can make it overly complicated? [mobilescout.com]

  • Why design them for children and munchkins? Typing on my phone would be easier.

  • I literally cried when I heard this news. Sometimes there's so much beauty in the world, I think my heart will burst. I felt this way when when I bought an iMac, iPhone, iPad, magic mouse, magic keyboard, and when I rode magic mountain. Last night, I bought a USB cable from Apple and when I got it home and opened it, I immediately broke down crying. On one end, there was a USB A connector and on the other end a USB B connector. KABLOOOMM! Mind blown! Why has no one else thought of this? Because, and

  • the people said, asking not to be identified because the products are not yet announced

    And the people soon will no longer work at Apple.

  • Is this the same Apple (Score:3)

    by thegarbz ( 1787294 ) on Saturday January 16, 2021 @06:19AM (#60951202)

    Which ran an add telling us people no longer need computers featuring a kid "working" on an iPad Pro?

  • Are they still soldering components to the mobo? (Score:3)

    by PeeAitchPee ( 712652 ) on Saturday January 16, 2021 @08:09AM (#60951344)
    Can I replace / upgrade the SSD or RAM on my own? How about CPUs? Do I have to pay Apple many hundreds of dollars (over a thousand?!?) for a total commodity item like a 2 TB SSD? Fuck off with your gouge-the-consumer business model and forced obsolescence. Even the lowliest of crappy PCs lets me do that.

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