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Apple Announces New iMacs With Better Screens And Modern Processors; Refreshes MacBook Lineup (arstechnica.com)

Posted by msmash on from the new-shiny-computers dept.

Apple today announced updates to its iMac line and MacBook lineups at WWDC, giving its all-in-one desktop, and laptop series more powerful specifications and the latest Intel chips. From a report: Apple is bringing Intel's 7th generation Kaby Lake processors to the new iMac, along with what Apple calls "the best Mac display ever," offering 500 nits of brightness, or 43 percent brighter than the previous generation. The 21.5-inch model now can be configured up to 32GB of RAM, while the 27-inch goes up to 64GB, twice what had previously been offered. The new iMacs also are getting two Thunderbolt 3 USB-C ports, making it Apple's first desktop computer to embrace the port standard. Graphics cards are getting a spec boost in the updated iMacs, too. The entry level 21.5-inch model will have an Intel Iris Plus 640 GPU, while the 4K 21.5-inch models will get Radeon Pro 555 and 560 graphics cards. Meanwhile, the 27-inch 5K model will have a choice of Radeon Pro 570, 575, and 580 graphics cards, topping out at 8GB of VRAM. The 21.5-inch iMac will start at $1099 and the 4K 21.5-inch model at $1299. As expected, Apple also refreshed the MacBook lineup. From a report: Today Apple provided a minor but wide-ranging refresh to its modern MacBooks and MacBook Pros, adding new processors from Intel and making a handful of other tweaks. The new processors are from Intel's "Kaby Lake" family, and some of them have been available for the better part of a year. Compared to the outgoing Skylake architecture, Kaby Lake introduces a gently tweaked version of Intel's 14nm manufacturing process, provides small boosts to CPU clock speeds, and supports native acceleration for decoding and encoding some kinds of 4K video streams.

9 of 134 comments (clear)

  1. Great upgrade to Mac Pro, but... by Nabeel_co · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Pros still need a real computer that lets us add and remove PCIe cards.

    1. Re:Great upgrade to Mac Pro, but... by enjar · · Score: 3, Insightful
      GPU capability has been outstripping CPU capability for some time, and are easily upgraded as PCI devices. In terms of compute, the nVidia 1060 GPU was introduced in 2009 and could do 77.6 GFLOPS of doubles computation. There have been five generations since (Fermi, Kepler, Maxwell, Pascal, Volta). Pascal is the most widely available and can do something like 5000 (yes, 5000) GFLOPs of doubles. On the consumer grade gaming cards in the GeForce line there have been pretty much the same generational leaps, plus the development of high DPI screens, 4K monitors, etc. Given that companies will buy PCs for a three or four year lifetime, depending on how things fall you could update the GPU 2-3 times and extend the life of the machine, especially if you also do something like move from a spinning HDD to a SSD as well.

      In comparison, processor speed, core counts and RAM amounts have increased only modestly, and for many users the currently available amounts of RAM are still OK.

  2. Give me some fucking ports... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I don't give a crap if the new macbook is a hair slimmer.. give me back some usable ports. Really don't want to buy (then have to search for) an adapter every time I want to use a peripheral

  3. Another media consumption device by pablo_max · · Score: 3, Insightful

    So... for over $3k (27inch) Apple has seen fit to grace this thing with a 580 card? Something in the range of a NVIDIA GTX 1060, which can be had for about 260 bucks?
    I guess they really have given up on the desktop market.

    1. Re:Another media consumption device by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      I love how any post defending Apple has to be prefaced by "not an Apple fanboy". It just proves Apple puts out so much crap that you would have to assume only someone blindly in love with the company would defend them.

    2. Re:Another media consumption device by Teckla · · Score: 3, Insightful

      We are in the early days of VR and MR.

      I'm going to go out on a limb and predict VR is going to be the new 3D TV.

  4. Snooze Fest by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    As above, this is just the Apple Snooze Fest.

    Minor boosts in some specs, no compelling or interesting new features, but a new, higher price. No ports, no expandability, and lord have mercy on your soul if you ever need to get it repaired.

    --
    Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
  5. Field-upgradable RAM and storage or "no sale" by davidwr · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I typically upgrade the RAM and storage at least once during the life of my computers.

    Apple is nice and worth paying for but without a way to upgrade it 2-3 years from now, I'll get a non-Apple notebook the next time I need one.

    --
    Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
  6. Apple hardware stil sucks by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 4, Insightful

    * MacBook Pro -- STILL limited to 16 GB ? Really?
    * It supports a wide color gamut -- what about 9-bit / channel or 10-bit / channel ???
    * Radeon GPU? UGH, I where is the nVidia GPU option to run CUDA code?

    * Sooo, what happened to the Mac Pro ? Thanks for giving us the finger Apple.

    * No new Mac Minis ?

    * iMac Pro -- at $4,999 isn't this just another Mac Pro ?

    * If Apple was serious about games -- the could EASILY blow Microsoft and Sony out of the water. WHERE is the gamepad??? Or the ability to use Android / PS4 gamepads?

    * HomePod -- You guys don't understand bass at all. I have a 12" driver on my sub. Why would I downgrade to a wimpy 4" driver ???

    I love my MacBook Pro -- but Apple really is becoming more clueless.