It has been rumored for few days that over a year since the iMac was updated and there were no new announcements at all in 2018 from Mac, even new Coffee Lake processors were available. But now we are hoping for big things are in store for the iMac in 2019. In this article, we give you all the detail about the new iMac that when it will be released? What specs it will get? How much it will cost? Whether it will be available in Space Grey? like the iMac Pro.
Release date:
We predict that 25th March 2019 will be the released date for the new iMac.
Apple last updated its iMac on 5 June 2017 during WWDC event, which feels like a long time ago. The machine didn’t even get a mention at WWDC Event 2018, but maybe we’ll have better luck at WWDC 2019. Still, we want to see a new iMac at Apple’s newly announced 25 March spring event. Updating the iMac earlier in the year would leave Apple free to focus on the Mac Pro.
Price of iMac:
Current prices of iMac are
- 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 for new iMac, it is most likely that Apple would keep it on an entry-level iMac in the older design, with a hard drive option. This model would be priced at a lower level than it is currently if the company uses the same chips like the 2017 iMac. This will bring the starting price down around to £949 but it will be an older-generation iMac than the others in the range.
Specs:
Some of the specs of iMac are
- Processor
- Storage
- Ram
- Graphics
- Touch bar
- Connectivity
Let’s get the detail information about the specs
Processor
One of the exciting processor-related updates on the horizon is that the next generation of iMac processors will include 6-core options like the 2018 MacBook Pro or it may be an 8-core option. This would close the gap between the iMac and iMac Pro.
Intel’s Coffee Lake i5 and i7 offer to have 6-core options and these are most likely to find their way into the new iMac. These Coffee Lake processors can be used in the new iMac
- Entry-level 21.5in iMac could use the i3-8100 or i3-8350K (4-core/4 thread
- Mid-Range 21.5in iMac could use the 2.8GHz i5-8400 (6-core/6 thread).
- We may also see a 3GHz i5-8500 (6-core/6-threads)
- The top-of-the-range (or build-to-order) 21.5in iMac is likely to use the i7-8700, 3.2GHz, (6-core/12 threads)
- The entry-level 27in iMac will probably also use the 3GHz i5-8500 (6-core/6-threads)
- The mid-range 27in model is likely to use the 3.1GHz i5-8600 (6-core/6-threads)
- The top-of-the-range 27in is likely to use the 3.6GHz i5-8600K (6-core/6-threads)
- While the build-to-order 27in option could use the i7-8700K (6-core/12-threads)
The three new chips are as follows:
- Intel Core i9-9900K (8 core/16 thread), 3.5GHz (5GHz Turbo Boost)
- Intel Core i7-9700K (8 core/8 thread), 3.6GHz (4.9GHz Turbo Boost)
- Intel Core i5-9600K (6 core/6 thread), 3.7GHz (4.6GHz Turbo Boost)
Storage
It is unlikely that Apple will stop offering the hard drive option as it is the best way to get more storage at the entry level. Although we could see the entry-level iMac keep the older design, with a new shape debuting on the higher-end, SSD-only models.
RAM
It is a possibility 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 this could rise to 64GB. Only the mid-range and top-of-the-range 27in have a 64GB option currently.
Graphics
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. It 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.
Touch Bar
There is also a rumor that Apple will integrate a Touch Bar to the keyboard when it launched the 2017 iMac. Neither the iMac or the iMac Pro keyboard gained the Touch Bar, though.
This may indicate that Apple’s found a lack of interest in the Touch Bar. It may also indicate that it plans to move away from Touch ID and add another feature that is found on the Touch Bar.
Also Read: Mac overview
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 the iMac Pro) and better compatibility with iPads so that the iMac could use an iPad as an input device.