Following a roundtable discussion about the future of the iMac and Mac Pro, it appears that Apple is hard at work on new “server-grade” iMacs, according to reports from supply chain manufacturers in Taiwan.
The new iMac will feature server-grade materials, Digitimes reported today, including components like an Intel Xeon E3-1285 v6 processor and 16 to 64 GB of ECC RAM — a form of memory designed to protect against data corruption that can be caused by cosmic radiation. Seriously.
ECC RAM, or error-correcting code memory, protects your data from “single-bit errors,” which can actually be caused by cosmic rays. These single-bit errors don’t pose a huge threat to most users, but if you handle financial or scientific data on a regular basis, these random errors can be a big deal. By using ECC RAM users who handle very sensitive data can ensure their systems are extraordinarily stable.
The upgraded iMac components will include a new AMD GPU, and could include a desktop-grade discrete GPU, which would be a big improvement over the mobile GPUs in the current lineup. But that remains to be seen, as the Digitimes report mentions only that the new iMacs will feature discrete GPUs.
The new iMacs will hit the market amid competition from Microsoft’s high-end all-in-one, the Surface Studio. Digitimes Research claims HP and Asus could announce their own Surface Studio competitors this year, meaning the iMac could hit store shelves amid a crowded field of competitive high-end all-in-one PCs.
It’s a small segment of the market, but it could see some important growth in 2017 with major manufacturers like Apple and Microsoft going head-to-head with powerful, high-end all-in-ones.
According to supply chain reports, the new iMacs are going into production in May, and should be coming out just in time for the holiday season. There’s still no word on pricing, but you can bet those server-grade components come with a hefty price tag.
The absolutely absurd idea of putting a touchscreen display on a mouse isn't exactly new. Turtle Beach already did it with its Command Series MC7, which features a 2.25-inch control screen. But apparently, even that wasn't ridiculous enough for Arctic Fox Technologies. Its new Super Mouse looks like someone took the chunky old Atari ST mouse, slapped a touchscreen and scroll wheel on it, and called it an upgrade.
The result is a rather unusual-looking mouse that is now on Kickstarter, starting at $199. And as ridiculous as it looks, some of its features are genuinely intriguing.
Apple is less than a day away from launching its highly anticipated OLED MacBook Pro with a touch-sensitive screen. But it appears that the upgrade is going to cost a pretty penny. According to a report by Bloomberg, Apple is reportedly eyeing a starting price of $2,899 for the 14-inch MacBook Pro, while the 16-inch version could start at $3,399 in the US.
"At $2,899, the 14-inch model would mark the highest starting price for a new MacBook Pro model, surpassing the $2,799 Apple charged for a 17-inch version introduced in 2006," says the report. The report claims that Apple is targeting a minimum price hike of $400 for its upcoming redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models.
I've spent a good amount of time digging into the spec sheet of the new M6 MacBook Pro (14-inch), and for all intents and purposes, this is a classic Apple "chip and connectivity" refresh. It's not a full redesign. The chassis, Liquid Retina XDR panel, speakers, ports, and battery, all of them carry over unchanged.
However, the M6 brings more cores, stronger on-device AI, higher memory bandwidth on the larger configs, and modern wireless. Here’s the practical rundown of what actually improved, and whether those gains are worth your money.