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2018 IMAC RELEASED, DATE, UK PRICE, FEATURES, SPECIFICATIONS
IMAC 2018 RELEASE DATE, UK PRICE, FEATURES,
SPECIFICATIONS
In 2017
Apple updated the iMac on 5 June during WWDC, we were hoping we might see an
iMac announcement at WWDC 2018 but the machine didn't even get a mention.
We could
still see an update in the summer of 2018, perhaps Apple will choose to quietly
update the iMac, shutting the online store for a few hours while it updates the
pages, as it has been known to do in the past.
It is also
possible that Apple could wait until September or October 2018 to issue an
updated iMac. If the company is considering a more substantial redesign (as we
discuss below), this may well be the case.
iMac Price
While it’s
unlikely that the price of the iMac range will change, there could be some
price changes if Apple does significantly redesign the model in 2018.
Here are the
current iMac prices:
Entry-level
21.5in iMac, £1,049
Mid-level
21.5in iMac, £1,249
Top-level
21.5in iMac, £1,449
Entry-level
27in iMac, £1,749
Mid-level
27in iMac, £1,949
Top-level
27in iMac, £2,249
As we will
explain below, part of a redesign could involve removing the hard drive option
from the iMac in order to free up space inside the machine - and allowing for a
slimmer chassis. If Apple was to do this though it is likely that it would keep
on an entry-level iMac in the older design, with a hard drive option. This
model could be priced at a lower level than it is currently, especially if it
uses the same chips as the 2017 iMac. This could bring the starting price down
to around £949 but it will probably be an older generation iMac than the others
in the range.
It’s
unlikely that the high-end iMacs will see any decline in price. The iMac Pro
starts at £4,899 while currently a standard iMac spec’d up to match the Pro’s
32GB RAM (and with the beefiest processor offered as a build-to-order option in
that range) costs £3,509.
That leap of
£1,390 to get from a quad-core to an 8-core processor and the advanced graphics
offered by the Pro might seem reasonable, but if the iMac gains a 6-core
processor (read on to find out more about that) then the gulf between the two
models will close a tad. In which case, Apple might see fit to raise prices.
iMac Redesign
The iMac has
had the same design since 2012 when the sides of the iMac were slimmed down.
However, the aluminium look is now over 10 years old - the first aluminium iMac
launched in 2007. Some people are calling for a facelift, or at least some
internal changes that could allow Apple to slim the unit down even further, and
perhaps shave off some of the chin.
There was a
rumour in the summer of 2017 that Apple is planning an iMac redesign in 2018.
This was based on claims made by a ‘Foxconn Insider” posting on Reddit.
Whether the
iMac needs such a redesign is a matter of taste. The iMac design is popular and
reducing the size of the ‘chin’ would mean that the screen might have to be
thicker in order to house the components, and it might also make the screen
less ergonomic if the screen sat lower than it does currently.
However, if
Apple made some changes to the inside of the iMac, as it did with the iMac Pro,
it could save a lot of space and avoid the need to make the unit any thicker
For example,
Apple could remove the HD bay. If Apple moved the entire range of iMacs to SSD
as standard, removing the hard drive or Fusion Drive options this would free up
space. However, as we mentioned below, it is unlikely that Apple would remove
the option of the Fusion Drive as it allows consumers the option of having more
storage space. Such a change would likely see the current 1TB hard drive or
Fusion Drive option replaced by a 256GB SSD which many would not consider
adequate.
Assuming
that Apple doesn’t remove anything from the inside, could the company still
reduce the bezels of the iMac? If it did we think it is likely that the
dimensions of the unit itself would change, rather than the size of the screen
(although we’d love Apple to introduce a 30in display). This could result in
the 27in standard iMac being slightly smaller than the iMac Pro (an unlikely
scenario).
We think
it’s unlikely that Apple would significantly change the design and dimensions
of the standard iMac when the iMac Pro has only recently launched. The fact
that the company chose to find a way to fit the iMac Pro components inside the
iMac chassis, and ensure adequate cooling, rather than completely change the
design, should indicate that Apple doesn’t intend to stray too far from a
design it likes.
Speaking of
the iMac Pro, there have been calls for Apple to offer a Space Grey version of
the standard iMac. While the Space Grey colouring of the iMac Pro sets it aside
from the standard iMac - and that is a distinction that Apple wanted to
highlight with the alternative colour - there is some hope that a Space Grey
standard iMac could arrive now that Apple is selling the Space Grey keyboard
and mouse separately.
iMac Screen
While we
don’t expect the dimensions of the screen to change, there is a question of
whether Apple could adopt OLED for the iMac display. The likelihood of that is
slim right now - despite OLED appearing on the iPhone, as a technology it isn’t
really mature yet, and there are burn in issues and issues with colour shift
that it is likely Apple would want to be addressed before it moved to OLED for
its screen.
Processor
One exciting
processor-related update on the horizon is the likelihood that the next generation
of processors will include 6-core options (also known as hexa-core). This could
close the gap between the iMac and iMac Pro somewhat.
Intel's
Coffee Lake i5 and i7 offerings have 6-core options and these are very likely
to find their way into the new iMac.
The following Coffee
Lake processors could be used in the new iMac:
Entry-level
iMac could use the i3-8100 or i3-8350K (4-core/4 thread).
Mid-Range
iMac could use i5-8400 or i5-8600K (6-core/6 thread).
The i5-8600K runs at 3.6 GHz with TurboBoost
from 4.1 GHz (6-core) to 4.3 GHz (1-core).
The i5-8400 runs at 2.8 GHz with TurboBoost
from 3.8 GHz (6-core) to 4.0 GHz (1-core).
Top-of-the-range
iMac could use i7-8700 or i7-8700K (6-core/12 thread hyper-threading).
The i7-8700K runs at 3.7 GHz with TurboBoost
from 4.3 GHz (6-core) to 4.7 GHz (1-core).
The i7-8700
(non-K) is both higher performing and lower TDP (thermal) and could be the
sweet spot for the top-of-the-range iMac.
If Apple
switches to these processors it will narrow the performance gap between the
iMac and iMac Pro (which can be configured with 8-, 10-, 14- or 18-core Xeon W
processors).
The big
question is whether the company would want to make the top-of-the-range iMac
too good - as such a move could take market away from the iMac Pro.
There's
another possibility, although somewhat unlikely. Apple could simply revamp the
iMac range with the newer 8th generation Kaby Lake R chips - the current models
use 7th generation Kaby Lake. They might have the same name, but there is a
significant performance leap.
Storage
RAM
Faster
memory is also made possible by Coffee Lake which supports DDR4 at 2666MHz in
dual-channel mode. Currently, the iMac maxes out at 2400MHz while the iMac Pro
offers 2666MHz RAM.
Another
possibility is that the RAM limitations of some of the lower-end models will be
lifted. The 21-inch iMac is limited to 8GB and 16GB currently but could be
upgradeable to up 32GB in a future model. The top-of-the-range 21in and the
entry-level 27in models currently have a 32GB build-to-order option, but tis
could rise to 64GB. Only the mid-range and top-of-the-range 27in has a 64GB
option currently.
Incidentally,
the iMac Pro can be configured to 128GB RAM, could this be an option on the
2018 flag-ship 27in iMac?
Graphics
It seems
likely that the new iMac range will adopt graphics cards based around the AMD
Vega.
Don’t expect
to see the Vega GPU options found in the iMac Pro as it is unlikely that they
can be used without the thermal upgrades Apple made for the iMac Pro. A more
likely option is the rumoured Vega 28 and 32.
One
interesting idea is that there could be one iMac model geared towards gaming,
using a new Vega RX GPU that has been designed for that purpose.
However,
there is also the possibility that the new iMac could adopt an nVidia graphics
card, although it seems that would require a lot more work to accomplish.
Connectivity
One final
thing to mention is connectivity. We expect that the 802.11ax will start to
make an appearance over the next year or so, so the new Macs could start to
offer compatibility with this new standard.
We could
also potentially see UHS-II SD card support (like iMac Pro) and better
compatibility with iPads so that the iMac could use any iPad as an input
device.
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