“According to references found in the latest OS X El Capitan developer beta, we may have one coming soon, and it could be using the quad-core Intel Broadwell processors that were introduced earlier this month. A tipster pointed 9to5Mac toward the relevant text strings,” Andrew Cunningham reports for Ars Technica. “One shows an Apple-made display with a resolution of 4096×2304, and another shows a reference to Broadwell’s Iris Pro 6200 GPU.”
“Most outlets, 9to5Mac included, have assumed that this is some kind of 21.5-inch 4K iMac, which makes sense since current iMacs use Iris Pro 5200 GPUs,” Cunningham reports. “That said, if we are looking at a 4K iMac, that resolution would be an odd choice.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: iMac, new Apple display, or something else?
This could be the new MacTV, a wall-mounted 50″ flat-panel all-in-one, with an aspect ratio of 16×9, running Mac OS X instead of iOS.
That makes sense… I’ve been saying that the rumored “Apple TV that runs apps” should be a Mac with a new “Apple TV” app. The current Apple TV mini-box is just a specialized iOS device that runs one app, the “Apple TV” app. It’s the user interface like Finder on a Mac.
This 4K Apple TV runs (Mac) OS X and uses its “Apple TV” app by default as its user interface (that works with a simple remote control). But it’s an Intel-based Mac, so it can run any app (existing or new) that recent Macs can run, including games, and switch to “Mac mode” for the user interface. The user supplies additional input devices, such as Bluetooth keyboard/pointer and game controllers, which are existing Mac-compatible devices. And Apple provides new input devices; remember the recent “New OS X El Capitan beta reveals Multi-Touch Bluetooth remote control (for Apple TV?).” That’s the OS X beta… 🙂
Apple already has a well-established platform for a computing device that connects to a large display, with a HUGE loyal user base and existing app store. It’s the Mac platform. There’s no need to create and maintain a new ecosystem of apps that only work with an iOS-based Apple TV.
The existing iOS-based Apple TV mini-box continues at $69 (it does not run apps or support 4K). And the next major revision of Mac mini has the footprint of the current Apple TV mini-box, using the tiny logic board design of the recent MacBook. It’s an Intel Mac like the complete 4K (OS X) Apple TV, but for use with “generic” HDTV (not 4K) and standard (not “Retina”) computer display. And it’s an Apple TV when running its “Apple TV” app. In fact, every Mac can become an Apple TV by running the “Apple TV” app.
There hasn’t been a new full-power iMac since Sept. 2013 (the lower-priced 1.4GHz model released in 2014 doesn’t count). A new and better 21.5-inch iMac is seriously overdue.
Allow me to add to the wish list:
a new traditional workstation Mac Pro (like the G5 chassis)
a mid-range tower Mac with some internal expansion (to replace the current Mac Pro)
a new Mac mini with more customer options
a new 4K resolution MacBook Pro lineup with internal expansion/customization like the pre-retina MacBook Pro, in 12″ and 15″ and 17″ screen sizes
a new family of 4K desktop displays: 24″, 27″, and 32″ or so.
a new Apple TV
new iPods, all with more memory
a new Airport Express that actually offers 802.11ac (it’s been over 3 years Apple ?!?!?!)
a 5+ TB Time Capsule
finally, a return to writing industry-leading professional software.
I’m sorry, but Cook is letting all the above go undone while he attends his pride rallies. Apple needs to ship, not spend all its energy on political activism and poorly planned iOS app store & music debacles. It’s embarrassing considering how amazingly productive the company was from 2001-2011. Cook just ain’t impressing me as a guy who keeps his technology fresh.
I think this is just to support 4K monitors. Most of them have a 16:9 aspect ratio and USB-C now has the bandwidth to run them.
This is news? Of course El Capitan does! This is the future, right now. Apple’s going to pretend otherwise? Wow, that’s some wicked tip. 😛
Apple is slow to the 4K party. But that’s really not a surprise since Apple is no longer interested in giving people delightful experiences they never knew they wanted, or giving pros the most powerful machines to create amazing work. Apple is now exclusively a consumer products company, and therefore its hardware specs are intentionally two steps behind the bleeding edge. Sad but true.
I’m not going to disagree. I think one of Apple’s chains has slipped the gear and they are, at least a little, off in the weeds of mediocrity. I’ve felt this was a sad inevitability given the intense hammering The Best Company In The World has received from the mass of mediocre companies and their industry shills, aka ‘analysts’.
But, for all of Apple’s obvious blundering that’s going on [No, I won’t make you a list. Just go back and read what I’ve posted here at MDN over the last year] they’ve still been turning out top notch products worthy of The Best Company In The World. No one has driven the company off the road into the weeds. Apple has the John Sculley ad nauseam years as a sickly green glowing horror example of how to do things WRONG. They’re not going in the direction again. If some marketing executive starts running more than marketing at Apple, THEN I’ll be worried.