With the entry-level 21.5-inch iMac discontinued a few days ago, this leaves only the higher-end Mac mini, 27-inch iMac, and the Mac Pro as the remaining computers to transition from Intel to Apple Silicon, and well-known leaker Dylankt has already revealed ever more details about the upcoming replacement for the larger 27-inch iMac.
Earlier this year, Apple debuted the 24-inch M1 iMac that comes in seven colors with all light gray bezels, and Apple put the development on the larger iMac on hold to focus on releasing the smaller product. Now that the machine has been released to the public, Apple can resume focusing on the higher-end model. Most interestingly, Dylankt speculated that the next 27-inch iMac could revive the “iMac Pro” brand, similar to how Apple brought back the “MacBook” name for its smallest notebook, which has been discontinued in favor of the MacBook Air. The iMac Pro debuted with a 27-inch Retina 5K display in a space-gray finish before it got discontinued earlier this year.
Come to think of it, here’s why it would make sense to bring back the “iMac Pro” name. First, Dylankt reported that the upcoming 27-inch will feature black bezels instead of the “white” bezels found in the smaller 24-inch counterpart. After all, it’s part of Apple’s design choice since light gray bezels are well suited for consumer products, and black bezels are designed for pro products such as the MacBook Pro and Pro Display XDR. Second, just like the 24-inch iMac is comparable to the MacBook Air in terms of the M1 chip & configurations, this potential “iMac Pro” will be based on the 14-inch/16-inch MacBook Pro, which features the most advanced hardware.
Similar to what’s found in the MacBook Pro, Apple is adding more ports than on the 24-inch iMac. This includes HDMI, SD Card, and more Thunderbolt 4 ports. Apple is always ahead when it comes to bringing the advanced display technologies found in latest iPhones, iPad Pros, and most recently, the MacBook Pro with the Liquid Retina XDR. Now, Apple is planning to bring that same display technology to the 27-inch iMac, including the 120Hz ProMotion technology. It is possible that Apple will bring Face ID to the Mac for the first time with this iMac, but it hasn’t been confirmed.
Of course, the biggest feature for the iMac would be the breakthrough performance advancements found in the M1 Pro/M1 Max. While the chip configurations are expected to be similar, Apple could add at least one new configuration that’s exclusive to the iMac, possibly a 128GB unified memory configuration since the current 27-inch is capped at 128GB RAM, but the latest MacBook Pros are capped at 64GB. The base model is expected to start with 16GB unified memory and 512GB SSD at around $2,000. Note, this would be around the starting price for the 14-inch MacBook Pro with similar configurations.
Will all of these features, do you think this iMac deserves the “iMac Pro” name? Let us know in the comments below. Follow us on Twitter or Instagram.Â
