Here's a weird one. Apple very rarely comments on its plans for future products, preferring to keep even the most uncontroversial questions unanswered until it's ready to show off something new. But this week Apple has spoken on the record about a future product – or rather, about a future not-product. If you were hoping to get your hands on a 27-inch iMac or iMac Pro, you're out of luck. Apple says it has no plans to make a 27-inch M-powered iMac.
The confirmation came from Apple PR representative Starlayne Meza, who confirmed to The Verge that the 27-inch iMac wasn't happening. Assuming that Meza wasn't speaking out of turn, in which case Apple's terminators are no doubt already after them, it's an interesting bit of expectation management by the firm. And it's also interesting because of what it doesn't say.
What Apple didn't say in its iMac statement
Apple has very specifically ruled out an iMac of a specific size, 27 inches. And that's not the huge iMac Pro we've been hearing about for some time. That one is reportedly 32 inches, which is a much better size – I know for things like Logic even 24 inches of iMac feels cramped; I'm currently on 34 where there's much more room for pro apps to breathe.
It's worth taking a step back here to recognise that a 32-inch iMac is going to be ludicrously expensive and isn't expected to arrive until late 2024 at the earliest, or possibly well into 2025. And it's also worth noting that you can build an exceptionally powerful Mac setup in a more modular way, which means you can upgrade parts of your setup without having to replace your entire system.
That's the road I've gone down: as much as I loved my 27-inch iMac I much prefer my M2 Pro Mac mini with a pair of external displays. And I know from Reddit that many of my fellow Logic Pro users get great results with a MacBook Pro that means they can record on location or on the road as well as in their studios. A high-spec M2 mini, MacBook or the cheaper of the Apple Studio models will last you forever, and while the 5K, 27-inch Apple Studio Display is the display to aspire to many of the best 4k monitors are considerably cheaper.
