jaymatt Loc: Alexandria, Indiana

I heard that Apple is working on a new 27” desktop version of the current 24”. Does anyone know if this is real? I am looking for an updated desktop and am willing to wait on the 27” if it is in the works.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

https://www.macrumors.com/2022/11/15/whats-next-for-the-imac/
https://appleinsider.com/inside/new-imac
--Bob

davidrb Loc: Half way there on the 45th Parallel

27' isn't new for iMacs. The just replaced one with a smaller screen. They have recently introduced a 32" monitor that is high on the pay scale, $4999.00. There is a more pricy version but the cost goes higher.

hpucker99 Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

No one really knows if there will be an updated 27" iMac with a M1/M2/M3 Pro/Max/Ultra chip. Hopes were dashed last March when the 27" Intel Mac was discontinued and not updated with an Apple Silicon version. It seems reasonable that a 27" iMac (Pro?) could be introduced that would cost about $2500 (?) and fit between the Mac Studio and Mini.

mh2bttb Loc: NC

Apple is working on a new 27" iMac, but more than a year has passed while Apple seems to keep changing what they want to do with this sku. IF you're going desktop, you have some great options. I'll give you one, then you can take it from there. 1. You could buy a black IPS 27" Dell monitor 4k. great unit and around $600-650. 2. buy a Mac mini with a M1 or (new? M2), with a 512 drive and 16 gb ram. about $1000. NOW you have a killer setup for $1600!!!!
external additional SSD drives that plug in, that are a TB or more, are cheap.

cjc2 Loc: Hellertown PA

My current solution is a Mac STUDIO ULTRA with dual monitors. Awesome. Best of luck.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Despite the prevalence of Mac rumor sites, the 27" iMac is an uncertainty until Tim Cook and company throw back the curtain on a new product. The same can be said for the oft rumored new Mac mini, the Mac Pro, and various other new Macs. They will release each machine when it is ready, and not speak of it publicly until then.

Meanwhile, the Mac Studio is doing well. Many of us see it as a sort of an interim substitute for BOTH the 27" iMac Pro and the tower Mac Pro. The good news on that front is that Samsung has announced the forthcoming ViewFinity S9, a competitor to Apple's $1500 Studio Display that was announced along side the Mac Studio. It seems to address all the complaints about the Studio Display. Hopefully it will be less costly.

The M1 and M2 Macs are all very capable. I regularly use Lightroom Classic and Photoshop for photo editing, and Final Cut Pro for 4K video editing on an M1 MacBook Air and 27" external monitor. I have ZERO performance issues. I did get, and do recommend, 1TB of flash storage and 16GB memory. I use external conventional spinning platter hard drives for backup and file storage. I have a 2TB SSD for projects in progress.

If all you intend to do with your new iMac is light photo editing, a bit of audio and video editing, and common office tasks, there is absolutely nothing wrong with using ANY of the current Macs, including the 24" iMac. Just understand you CANNOT upgrade any of the new Macs' memory or storage after purchase. Get what you need up front. If you get either of the M2 machines (M2 Air or 13" M2 Pro), be sure to get AT LEAST 512GB of storage, because the 256GB base models do not use the storage as a high speed RAID array. All models with 512GB or more of storage have two (or more) memory modules in a RAID configuration, which at least doubles the speed of reads and writes to storage. It also drastically speeds up swap memory operations, which the Apple Silicon machines rely upon for efficiency.

I always remind folks that the Apple Silicon architecture is very different from Intel's x86 architecture:

> The critical components of the system are on a single chip. It is ARM-based RISC computing, not x86 CISC computing. See photos below.
> Apple has over a decade of experience making systems on chips for iPhones and iPads and other devices.
> The memory is on the same die as the main processors, graphics processors, neural engine processors, and many other specialty processors.
> All memory is shared among all processors! Data are accessed in place, not copied from one place to another, processed, and copied back, as in x86.
> The 5nm silicon is ultra-efficient, using about 1/3 the power for the same performance as Intel Macs.
> Your M1 or M2 laptop does not slow down on battery like most PC laptops do. But you can tell it to use a low power mode if you want even better battery life.
> I have never exhausted a full battery in one day.
> The base M1 and M2 machines support one external monitor.
> M1 Pro, M1 Max, and M1 Ultra support two, three, or four external monitors.
> All system expansion is external, via Thunderbolt 3 or 4 and USB4, which are backwards compatible with all earlier TB and USB devices.

There is a general tendency to "over-purchase" these new machines. If you are a professional power user, you know what you need. But if you are a student, hobbyist, or never do higher level photo and video editing in production environments, you might need less than you think.

One of the funnier videos I have watched was a young English lady who bought a MacBook Pro 16" with M1 Max and 64GB memory and 8TB storage... for audio recording! She is Mary Spender, a solo artist who occasionally hires a string quartet to accompany her on her albums. She has more computing power in her laptop than she could use in a full-blown recording studio. And yet she later got a Mac Studio. At that point, she's just showing off...

Apple M1 chip with memory modules on the same die

(Download)

M1 MacBook Air motherboard — The two silvery storage modules are to the upper left of the M1 SOC.

(Download)

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

And from what I've seen online, the stand for that monitor costs $1,000.

On the other hand, Samsung has a new 27" monitor that it half the price of the $1,600 Apple monitor, and it's better in most ways. I'll see if I can find the link.

EDIT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yM4O3UCv5GE&t=390s

M1911 Loc: DFW Metromess

If your budget can swing it, I would go with the Mac Studio with as much memory as you can afford. If that's too expensive the Mini with 16 gigs and 1 terabyte SSD would be my second choice. Marry them up with a good monitor like the BenQ SW271 and enjoy life.

Tote1940 Loc: Dallas

Anyone has Mac Studio? Thinking about getting one putting all external drives and processor in a closet, just monitor and keyboard on my desk. Right now 21” MAC 6 HD label printer in closet, on desk monitor, keyboard long powered USB cable, scanner

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

See post above from cjc2.

hpucker99 Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

I recently got the Mac Studio and the Studio Display. I got the M1 MAX 10/32 (CPU/GPU) with 32GB RAM and 2TB SSD. Got both through the Apple refurbished store and saved 10%. It replaced a 2013 27" iMac; wanted to get an updated 27" with Apple Silicon but not in the cards for now.

Tote1940 Loc: Dallas

Quite a set up ! Must be amazing
Does it run hot? Understand it has no fan

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Only the MacBook Air has no fan. The Studio has a heatsink and fans to cool it.

https://youtu.be/uI3iJFPQca0