Additional hardware rumors emerge about Apple’s upcoming iMac refresh

By Mark Coppock April 6, 2017

new rumors emerge about apple imac refresh with retina 5k display 970x640

Apple created quite a stir this week with a set of announcements regarding its line of MacOS hardware, which has remained mired in the past with a dearth of updates and innovation and a core group of users that has become increasingly jaded. The company announced that a new modular Mac Pro would arrive at some point and that new “Pro” iMac machines will arrive sometime later in 2017.

That was clearly welcome news for Mac fans, in spite of the lack of details. Now, some additional and unconfirmed information leaked out that might go a fair distance toward making anyone who has been waiting for better Mac hardware a little happier, MacRumors reports.

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First up is the iMac, Apple’s all-in-one (AIO) desktop line that has been popular among creative professionals. Pike’s Universum offers up some rumors that, if they turn out to be true, would indicate that Apple is serious about making the iMac a more powerful and professionally oriented machine.

According to blog, the new iMacs will arrive in October and will sport some significantly improved components. Intel Xeon E3 processors will be on tap, along with 16GB to 64GB of ECC RAM that would represent a significant boost of the current models’ 8GB to 32GB of non-ECC memory. Thunderbolt 3 ports will also be on tap, which would make sense given Apple’s commitment to the new spec in its MacBook Pro.

Other changes include faster MVMe SSD storage and improved AMD graphics. iMacs use both of those today, but apparently, Apple will crank up the performance with the new machines. A new keyboard will be on hand, and it’s possible that Apple will offer up a keyboard option utilizing its Touch Bar and Touch ID technologies.

Pike’s Universum didn’t stop there, however. According to the website, MacOS 10.13 will move away from the current mountain- and park-themed naming convention and the company will also beef up the Mac mini both in terms of performance and sheer size. Finally, Apple might be planning a new 8K monitor to go along with the Mac Pro redesign that Apple also announced.

As always, this information should be taken as a rumor. However, none of this information would be particularly surprising given Apple’s stated recommitment to Mac hardware. If it’s accurate, then Mac users will definitely have some enhanced performance to salivate over.

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