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Comment by codezero | Hacker News Reader

Look how big the escape key is on that keyboard, finally, revenge for the touch bar!

I like the direction Apple is going here, I assume they will have higher end iMacs later this year or early next year, and that's what I'll be waiting for.

I'd like 27 inches of screen, at least 16GB of ram, but preferably 32, and that's about all I'd ask for. My current workstation is a 2013 27" iMac fully upgraded (fusion drive, 16gb, good dGPU for its time - still plays Kerbal Space Program fine), so looking forward to more upgrades on the internals.

I've already run into the old WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0 as being bottlenecks and those are difficult to replace in an iMac by a normal person.

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>Look how big the escape key is on that keyboard, finally, revenge for the touch bar!

Jony Ive's departure is the best thing to happen for Apple products in a decade. They're actually *gasp* listening to their users again. There's news that the new 16 inch M1 MBP's will even have physical function keys and more ports. I cannot wait.

I also heard that rumour about the ports, but I'm not sure I'm entirely convinced with them releasing this new iMac with only USB-C ports. If their desktop Mac doesn't have ports, why would their laptop?

Two Thunderbolt, 2 USB-C on the better version, 2 Thunderbolt on the cheaper.

There’s Ethernet as well.

And a jack headphones port :)

It’s basically a laptop without the transportability. Only 255GB disk. No numeric keypad. Have to use a bulky charger. Have to carry dongles for the Blue Yeti microphone in USB2 (and the printer). Need a SD adapter to download the films from my reflex camera. Can’t plug headphones.

It's funny/weird that they only put the ethernet port on the power supply. They could've put some more USB ports on it for connecting accessories in a clean manner. If you're using a docking station already, why the hell not do it properly? For this iMac the connection could've been USB-C, btw (but it probably can't be for the larger ones).

Furthering the idea of putting things into an external unit to save space on the desk, what if they also put the computing hardware into something like a power brick? Sounds crazy, I know, but the display could be very thin that way and there would be no need for thick chins or tons of dongles on the table.

Not a bad idea, but Apple already do it. It’s called the Mac Mini.

As I said in another comment, M1 seems to be severely I/O-limited. The M1 Mac Mini even has an internal USB hub iirc to solve this. It's safe to say that the next generation of SoCs will be better in this regard.

iPhone 11 feels way better in the hands than iPhone 12 with its new rectangular design. It's night and day. Presumably, Jony didn't take the lead with iPhone redesign.

I agree. I have the 12 and I miss the comfortable round edges of the previous generations.

I disagree. Finally I can hold my phone again without it threatening to slip out of my hands to the point that a case was essential.

This one's pretty contentious. I strongly prefer the flat edges. It's one of the main reasons I've held on to my SE for so long. The 12 is the first phone I've considered upgrading to in years.

Same. I bought iPad Pro 2018 for the same reason.

While Ive was there, Macs had an extreme focus on being thin. Ive started at Apple on the candy iMac. Seems like the combination of both of these qualities

I can't see what the arrow key layout is on the narrower (non-numeric-keypad) version because a hand is over it. It looks like there's a big key where there would be space above the left / right keys on the most recent one. I've got one of the interim ones where the left / right keys are full size so it's difficult to know where they are by touch, and I'm still irritated by that. I hope they haven't gone back again.

Unfortunately the shot I saw showed the same big left right arrow keys. Small improvements to the over all design but that is still a huge tactile wart for me as well.

If I end up using one of those keyboards I'll probably replace the larger arrow keys with something that has the top half recessed, or just add a dimple/bar over them for a similar sensation.

Yeah it's really strange, because all their other new keyboards have inverted T…

I think it's because of the more rounded corners - hard to see how they could have a shallow right arrow key with that corner radius. Sigh. Two steps forward, one step back.

Even trimming a little off the top of the side arrows would have been a major improvement.

Probably the designer just didn't want any empty space for aesthetics.

Ugh, yeah - first image down on https://www.apple.com/uk/imac-24/ That's a real shame after they temporarily rowed back on both the touch bar and the full-height left / right arrow keys.

If you search for the heading "All-New Design Enabled by M1" (near the beginning), then there is an image that shows the layout of the small keyboard. Further down, under "Touch ID Comes to iMac, Along with Color-Matched Accessories", there is a gallery, and the third image is of a full-size keyboard.

Wow, the function keys go up to F19.

The arrow keys on the smaller model are unfortunately full-sized (like the older Magic Keyboard 2).

I created an image gallery where you can see all 3 keyboard layouts shown in the keynote video today:

  - Magic Keyboard 3 (lock button)
  - Magic Keyboard 3 (Touch ID)
  - Magic Keyboard 3 (Touch ID and numeric keys, inverted T layout)

https://gist.github.com/spiritphyz/bac975617d513b5b4010a6828...

I guess I'm getting a MK 3 (TouchID + number keys). Too bad they aren't in the store yet. Hopefully they will be available separately!

What I want is pretty much the exact same keyboard that is in my MacBook Air, but as an external one. TKL, small inverted T layout, TouchID.

With USB-C charging

> Look how big the escape key is on that keyboard, finally, revenge for the touch bar!

Worth noting, there’s also an option for a keyboard with a numpad and proper inverted-T arrow keys. I don’t see it pictured, but it’s an option.

> I assume they will have higher end iMacs later this year or early next year

I wouldn’t be so sure. Unless their M1 strategy changes, I think they’ve temporarily gotten rid of iMac Pro entirely and are probably going to rely on the Mac Pro to fill that void instead.

The M1 was a stunning upgrade for the MB Air, but it is already bottom line for the 24" iMac, especially in the GPU department. Apple is lacking any desktop-grade hardware based on ARM, so a larger iMac with more cores and much more GPU power is desperately needed. Unless they plan to reintroduce the Mac Pro as a desktop Mac :).

Not just the iMac Pro. They can't replace the Intel 27" iMac with the M1 because it would have worse multicore performance.

They can't replace the Intel 27" iMac with the M1 because it would have worse multicore performance.

Based on all the benchmarks we've seen with existing M1 Macs, that's clearly not the case.

The issue of being limited to only 16 MB is likely more the issue with replacing the 27-inch Intel iMac.

I am not getting one of these because of the ram limitation but only because I currently have 16GB and it "feels off"

At this point I'm convinced that 16GB M1 isn't comparable to 16GB DDR3/4 simply because of the architecture and that the RAM is so close to the CPU. We've already seen that they are doing some crazy efficient stuff with memory, but all that said, it still feels anemic for a desktop, and I suspect the response will be the same as it was for MacBooks: normal people don't care, tech people who love Apples will wait for the inevitable upgrade.

From what I’ve read, with the M1’s unified memory and the ability to swap extremely quickly, it’s like the SSD is more of a cache, making the limited RAM much less of an issue— https://singhkays.com/blog/apple-silicon-m1-black-magic/

Based on all the benchmarks we've seen with existing M1 Macs, that's clearly not the case.

It's closer than I thought, but on Geekbench the 8-core i7 iMac is 10% faster than the M1 MacBook Pro, and the 10-core i9 is 25% faster (https://browser.geekbench.com/macs/imac-27-inch-retina-mid-2... and https://browser.geekbench.com/macs/macbook-pro-13-inch-late-...).

The issue of being limited to only 16 MB is likely more the issue with replacing the 27-inch Intel iMac.

That's also important, yes.

> I'd like 27 inches of screen, at least 16GB of ram, but preferably 32

All this will come with the M2 chip either in the fall lineup or next year. Same time as the 16" MBP will transfer from Intel to M-series.

Curious to see how this plays out. I would have expected apple to just extend the M1 a little longer rather than jumping to M2 since the M1 is still pretty limited in its robustness.

I don't care what they call it, but I'll buy one :)

I don't think we will see an M2 chip before next year. It's rumoured to be on 4nm and yeilds will be highly problematic to push a 4nm product out that soon.

I think Apple will try to stick to a proper one year cadence for the M1, M2, M3 line, just like they have successfully done for years with their A series.

But we might still see an "M1X" this year. An M1 with 6 or 8 big firestorm cores.

Hard to tell. Apple might be planning to skip over the larger M1 in favor of putting the remaining products directly onto the M2 generation.

Interesting choice of colours. I suspect they look better together than individually.

They're certainly not for pro video or photography, where a coloured frame is the last thing you want. Which suggests they're aimed deliberately at the school, home, and hipster office markets.

Add me to this list of those waiting for an M1X iMac Pro with at least 64GB and no-compromise screen. And a black bezel.

So does this mean the M1X is delayed? Or this is Apple's tick/tock?

There was a great interview with the iMac product manager Colleen Novielli on the Upgrade Podcast in 2019, where she talked about the tremendous number of iMacs used in a business setting because of their look compared to a black plastic Dell monitors. Think reception desks, salons, hotels, etc.

These colors will stand out in a way that really nothing has since the original iMac G3.

https://www.relay.fm/upgrade/237

They're certainly not for pro video or photography, where a coloured frame is the last thing you want. Which suggests they're aimed deliberately at the school, home, and hipster office markets.

1. A silver colored M1 iMac is part of the lineup, which is a neutral color.

2. A Mac with a 4.5K Retina display, Wide color P3, True Tone and support for their 6K pro display clearly isn't exclusively targeted at school, home and hipster office markets.

3. Apple will announce build-to-order configurations where you can get 16 GB of RAM as we get closer to April 30.

So does this mean the M1X is delayed?

How can something that's unannounced be delayed? Apple hasn't announced a timeline for future M-series processors. WWDC in June is the next logical time such an announcement could be made.

Having said that, an M1X processor would make sense for the Apple Silicon versions of the iMac Pro and 16-inch MacBook Pro.

> How can something that's unannounced be delayed?

This is the benefit of Apple's policy of only announcing products when they're ready. It prevents bad publicity if there's a delay and also prevents people waiting to buy the upcoming product and waiting and not buying available ones.

Could not find the keyboard to buy anywhere. Somebody more luck? Want to have it for my macbook.

It will likely be available to order on the 30th like the other things announced.

I assume it'll be released when the iMac is which is the 30th, I think.

I wonder if it is paired with the iMac because of whatever secure enclave thing it has inside it…

Still trying to look for the spec of those Keyboard.

I hope those New Magic Keyboard are not using the so called "new" Scissors Keys on current MacBook.

But the emoji key! What kind of world is this!

TIL HackerNews blissfully strips emoji from comments (whilst I was trying to make a low effort joke response to this)

Possibly utf8mb3? 𠘨

Edit: seems not.

F19!

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