While Apple events always bring us new products to get excited about, they’re often the cue for others to shift off this mortal coil.
The arrival of the new Studio Display and Mac Studio has coincided with the departure of the 27-inch iMac, which was last refreshed in 2020 and still had Intel chips on board.
The all-in-one macOS desktop was nowhere to be seen when the Apple Store came back online following the Peek Performance event on March 8. The only iMac now available is the stunning and colourful iMac 2021, which has a 24-inch display and M1 processors.
The replacement 27-inch display would seem to be Apple’s new 5K Studio Display, which was also announced today. It offers a display of far greater quality than the departing iMac, an improved 12-megapixel webcam with Centre Stage, and six powerful speakers.
However, the $1,599 Studio Display is by no-means an iMac replacement. It is, after all, just a display lacking the internals of a Mac, and anyone who buys one will have to pair it with the Mac Studio, Mac mini or a MacBook laptop for the full experience.
That means a much significantly larger investment than the $1,799 Apple sold the iMac 27-inch for. It also negates the all-in-one form factor preferred by those seeking a tidier home office set-up.
The removal of the iMac 27-inch marks the demise of one of the last remaining Mac models running the Intel Core processors, which have now almost exclusively been replaced by models running the Apple Silicon M1 range, boosted today by the M1 Ultra.
All that’s left now is the old ‘cheese grater’ Mac Pro, which Apple promised will also get an Apple Silicon revamp in the future. After today’s announcements, Apple’s John Terms said “that leaves just one more product to go: Mac Pro, but that’s for another day”.
You might like…
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
