Discontinuation of iMac Pro: I was days away from upgrading to an iMac Pro 27" when I heard it was being discontinued. So now I am wondering if buying a discontinued unit is worth the...

jmunny Loc: Buena Park, CA

I was days away from upgrading to an iMac Pro 27" when I heard it was being discontinued. So now I am wondering if buying a discontinued unit is worth the hefty investment. my current machine is a late 2012 model with i7/3.4 GHZ intel processor, 32GB. I am starting to run low on RAM and this model can not be upgraded to Big Sur OS.....................Any thoughts on what my next move should be??

johngault007 Loc: Florida Panhandle

jmunny wrote:

I was days away from upgrading to an iMac Pro 27" when I heard it was being discontinued. So now I am wondering if buying a discontinued unit is worth the hefty investment. my current machine is a late 2012 model with i7/3.4 GHZ intel processor, 32GB. I am starting to run low on RAM and this model can not be upgraded to Big Sur OS.....................Any thoughts on what my next move should be??

I'm no Apple guy, but I would guess buying anything discontinued for that price range is not a smart move.

PhotogHobbyist Loc: Bradford, PA

I am not a user of Apple computers so I do not know what is available out there. However, if you are an avid Macintosh fan, what other options are available from Apple that might be similar or close to your current computer. I am sure Apple is not going to shutter its computer line. Look for something along comparable lines and configurations.

paulevy Loc: Lawrenceville, NJ USA

I use an iMac at the office and a new MacBook Air 13” (M1 chip) with a good sized monitor, and Bluetooth mouse and keyboard and it’s perfect for photo editing.

David Martin Loc: Cary, NC

jmunny wrote:

I was days away from upgrading to an iMac Pro 27" when I heard it was being discontinued. ...Any thoughts on what my next move should be??

Consider either of these:
"Apple says the latest 27-inch iMac introduced in August is the preferred choice for the vast majority of pro iMac users, and said customers who need even more performance and expandability can choose the Mac Pro."
https://www.macrumors.com/2021/03/06/apple-confirms-imac-pro-will-be-discontinued/

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Well, if you bought it four months ago, you would now own a discontinued device.
If the two prices are comparable, I'd go with the newer.
If the discontinued is MUCH less, I'd consider the discontinued.

f8lee Loc: New Mexico

I AM a Mac user (unlike others who have opined already)- here's my two cents:

Apple is allegedly coming out with a new iMac that uses the M1 chip - for those who don't know what that is, it's the CPU designed by Apple themselves...for the past number of years Apple has used the Intel chips (same as are in Windows machines).

The M1 based Mini and MacBooks they released not long ago are, by all accounts, faster than their counterparts from the older versions. Adobe has also recently announced that they have ported their software to run natively on the M1 chip.

Bottom line - my suggestion is not to get an Intel based iMac - wait a little and get the M1 based system. This is what I plan to do.

Just Fred Loc: Darwin's Waiting Room

I'm an Apple guy (and a Big Sur beta tester...). In a way, you've already answered your own question: You've been using a Mac that's now eight - almost nine - years old!

Right now, I am typing this on a four - almost five - year old MacBook Pro. I bought it new in 2017, and had it loaded (16GB RAM, 1 TB SSD, touch bar, etc.). Because some of the work I do, more RAM would be nice, but I get along well; it's a laptop, after all!

More recently, I bought two MacBook Air laptops for pocket change. They aren't the fastest or most capacious (I can always add external drives), and they are RAM limited (Apple's decision to not provide RAM upgrades still chafes me). But I am running Big Sur on them both. And they are six years old!

All of that is a roundabout way of saying you can get a lot of life out of buy an older Mac model, providing it meets your requirements. In fact, I've gotten to the point where I think it's pointle$$ buying new computers and new cars!

David Martin Loc: Cary, NC

f8lee wrote:

I AM a Mac user (unlike others who have opined already)- here's my two cents:

Actually I am a Mac user.
I provided advice on what could be purchased now (the iMac which was upgraded last August), as jmunny's current Mac may be failing.
If jmunny can wait until fall or even later (a new 2021 iMac is rumored but not officially announced yet), then wait for the M1 powered unit.
https://www.macrumors.com/roundup/imac/

via the lens Loc: Northern California, near Yosemite NP

jmunny wrote:

I was days away from upgrading to an iMac Pro 27" when I heard it was being discontinued. So now I am wondering if buying a discontinued unit is worth the hefty investment. my current machine is a late 2012 model with i7/3.4 GHZ intel processor, 32GB. I am starting to run low on RAM and this model can not be upgraded to Big Sur OS.....................Any thoughts on what my next move should be??

Buy the iMac and have it configured the way you want it.

whfowle Loc: Tampa first, now Albuquerque

My "go to" for iMacs is Other World Computing. They take older iMacs and bring them up to speed with their own SSDs. If you are needing the interconnectivity of the older models, this is the way to go. It seems Apple is heading away from after purchase upgrades. Things that used to be installed in the chassis are now outboard or in the case of RAM upgrades, impossible. The new Apple Silicon computers will not allow any changes internally.

Ron 717 Loc: Pennsylvania

jmunny wrote:

I was days away from upgrading to an iMac Pro 27" when I heard it was being discontinued. So now I am wondering if buying a discontinued unit is worth the hefty investment. my current machine is a late 2012 model with i7/3.4 GHZ intel processor, 32GB. I am starting to run low on RAM and this model can not be upgraded to Big Sur OS.....................Any thoughts on what my next move should be??

Personally, if I could afford the IMac Pro I would buy one now. Apple will still provide the warranty and the Pro is a fantastic machine. I’m sure they will come out with a replacement in the future, probably with the M-1 chip, but I also wonder if they are going to only offer the Apple Pro unit.
It seems they may be moving away from buyer up-gradable units.

suntouched Loc: Sierra Vista AZ

jmunny wrote:

I was days away from upgrading to an iMac Pro 27" when I heard it was being discontinued. So now I am wondering if buying a discontinued unit is worth the hefty investment. my current machine is a late 2012 model with i7/3.4 GHZ intel processor, 32GB. I einam starting to run low on RAM and this model can not be upgraded to Big Sur OS.....................Any thoughts on what my next move should be??

Is the iMac 27 " being replaced by another desktop?

David Martin Loc: Cary, NC

suntouched wrote:

Is the iMac 27 " being replaced by another desktop?

They are only discontinuing the iMac Pro.
They are rumored to be coming out with updated 21.5" and 27" iMacs in 2021 using their silicon chips which are currently M1, but for higher-end models they may have the M1X or M2 chip by then.

BobHartung Loc: Bettendorf, IA

jmunny wrote:

I was days away from upgrading to an iMac Pro 27" when I heard it was being discontinued. So now I am wondering if buying a discontinued unit is worth the hefty investment. my current machine is a late 2012 model with i7/3.4 GHZ intel processor, 32GB. I am starting to run low on RAM and this model can not be upgraded to Big Sur OS.....................Any thoughts on what my next move should be??

I had a similar dilemma then my old Mac Pro could not be upgraded. With the speed of evolution I decided to purchase a used Mac Pro (black cylinder model) from Other World Computing aka Mac Sales. It is serving me well and now I can wait until the M series chips are moved into the new trimmed down Mac Pro Lite or in your case a new iMac.