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Apple updates desktop iMac line with “5k” Retina displays

52 points by ScotterC 12y ago

berberous 12y ago
And still no update to the Thunderbolt display... :(
- milen 12y ago
  There's just not enough bandwidth over a single bus / single cable with DisplayPort 1.2. The iMac allows them to bypass that bottleneck and be one of the first(?) companies to ship a 5K display to consumers. My predication is that once we see Apple deploy Thunderbolt 3 / DisplayPort 1.3, we'll see the Apple Cinema Display Retina.
  - isomorphic 12y ago
    ...which would mean L2013 Mac Pro users would be left out in the cold.
    - milen 12y ago
      Yes, L2013 even uses the old Ivy Bridge-E Xeons and it's due for an update to the Haswell v3 Xeons (note that v3 Xeons use different socket, too, LGA-2011-3 vs LGA-2011 for the v2). If I were in the market for the Mac Pro and could afford to postpone, I'd wait until the next update which should get the latest Xeon processors with the new socket and Thunderbolt 3 (which will be used for Broadwell Xeons).
- jjcm 12y ago
  They couldn't use the same panels for a thunderbolt display. Thunderbolt 2 has a max data rate of 20Gb/s, but the 5k monitor they announced has a data rate of 5120 x 2880 x (24 bits per pixel) x (60fps) = 21Gb/s Just over the limit for Thunderbolt 2 unless they want to do 4:2:2 or some other compression technique.
  - benologist 12y ago
    Couldn't they just use both thunderbolt ports?
    - wmf 12y ago
      Dell could do something like that, but Apple wouldn't. It goes against their philosophy.
      - coob 12y ago
        Sure they would. The old 30" Cinema Displays required Dual DVI.
  - kondro 12y ago
    Thunderbolt actually has up to 4x DisplayPort channels that are separate to the 20Gbps of Thunderbolt itself.
morganwilde 12y ago
67% more pixels than 4K. That's certainly more than expected!
- javipas 12y ago
  Bear in mind, though, that the working resolution will probably be 2560 x 1440. The quality and definition will be probably outstanding too.
LesZedCB 12y ago
Wow, I was excited to be upgrading to a 4k monitor soon, and before I even get one I'm obsolete. I can't wait to try out the new display. Hopefully DP1.3 will be out soon with good video card support as well.
jonathanyc 12y ago
Why are there three links for the same exact news item? It's not like the different sites are providing any extra commentary. Could the mods consolidate them?
KaoruAoiShiho 12y ago
The 980M is twice as fast as the graphics offered. Disappointing.

52 points by ScotterC 12y ago

berberous 12y ago

And still no update to the Thunderbolt display... :(

milen 12y ago
There's just not enough bandwidth over a single bus / single cable with DisplayPort 1.2. The iMac allows them to bypass that bottleneck and be one of the first(?) companies to ship a 5K display to consumers. My predication is that once we see Apple deploy Thunderbolt 3 / DisplayPort 1.3, we'll see the Apple Cinema Display Retina.
- isomorphic 12y ago
  ...which would mean L2013 Mac Pro users would be left out in the cold.
  - milen 12y ago
    Yes, L2013 even uses the old Ivy Bridge-E Xeons and it's due for an update to the Haswell v3 Xeons (note that v3 Xeons use different socket, too, LGA-2011-3 vs LGA-2011 for the v2). If I were in the market for the Mac Pro and could afford to postpone, I'd wait until the next update which should get the latest Xeon processors with the new socket and Thunderbolt 3 (which will be used for Broadwell Xeons).
jjcm 12y ago
They couldn't use the same panels for a thunderbolt display. Thunderbolt 2 has a max data rate of 20Gb/s, but the 5k monitor they announced has a data rate of 5120 x 2880 x (24 bits per pixel) x (60fps) = 21Gb/s Just over the limit for Thunderbolt 2 unless they want to do 4:2:2 or some other compression technique.
- benologist 12y ago
  Couldn't they just use both thunderbolt ports?
  - wmf 12y ago
    Dell could do something like that, but Apple wouldn't. It goes against their philosophy.
    - coob 12y ago
      Sure they would. The old 30" Cinema Displays required Dual DVI.
- kondro 12y ago
  Thunderbolt actually has up to 4x DisplayPort channels that are separate to the 20Gbps of Thunderbolt itself.

morganwilde 12y ago

67% more pixels than 4K. That's certainly more than expected!

javipas 12y ago
Bear in mind, though, that the working resolution will probably be 2560 x 1440. The quality and definition will be probably outstanding too.

LesZedCB 12y ago

Wow, I was excited to be upgrading to a 4k monitor soon, and before I even get one I'm obsolete. I can't wait to try out the new display. Hopefully DP1.3 will be out soon with good video card support as well.

jonathanyc 12y ago

Why are there three links for the same exact news item? It's not like the different sites are providing any extra commentary. Could the mods consolidate them?

KaoruAoiShiho 12y ago

The 980M is twice as fast as the graphics offered. Disappointing.