Apple updates its iMac line • Hacker News Board

Re: Apple updates its iMac line

#51

Post by neuronic » Tue, Mar 19, 2019, 1:14 PM UTC

ceejayoz wrote: post #23

fiblye wrote: post #13

Bought my iMac 7 years ago with 8GB as the default memory option and a 1TB fusion drive. And here we are, nearly a decade later. Still 8 GB in the newest models. Still 1 TB fusion drives. GPUs haven't even seemed to take a jump over last year's models.

Plenty of folks use an iMac as the primary family machine - email, homework, some Netflix, kids' basic games. 8 GB is entirely sufficient for that. Hell, four probably is. If you're doing Photoshop plus a half dozen VMs, you buy it with more RAM.

For the 5k model, an additional 8GB in DDR4 RAM for a total of 16GB model costs +$200 [1]. This is beyond unreasonable compared to market [2].

[1] https://www.apple.com/shop/buy-mac/imac?product=MRR12LL/A&st...

[2] https://pcpartpicker.com/trends/price/memory/

Re: Apple updates its iMac line

#52

Post by jeffhuys » Tue, Mar 19, 2019, 1:14 PM UTC

fiblye wrote: post #13

Bought my iMac 7 years ago with 8GB as the default memory option and a 1TB fusion drive. And here we are, nearly a decade later. Still 8 GB in the newest models. Still 1 TB fusion drives. GPUs haven't even seemed to take a jump over last year's models.

It's the lowest option, you can upgrade to 32GB or 64GB on the 27-inch version. You can upgrade the drive to an 2TB SSD, or a 3TB fusion drive.

If you only buy an iMac for the basic things like browsing, emailing and watching youtube, 8GB is more than enough, especially on macOS. I don't get the hate for having a lower-budget option.

Re: Apple updates its iMac line

#53

Post by drewg123 » Tue, Mar 19, 2019, 1:14 PM UTC

fiblye wrote: post #13

Bought my iMac 7 years ago with 8GB as the default memory option and a 1TB fusion drive. And here we are, nearly a decade later. Still 8 GB in the newest models. Still 1 TB fusion drives. GPUs haven't even seemed to take a jump over last year's models.

What seems worse to me is that the default drive for the 21.5" is a 1TB 5400 spinning rust drive, not even a fusion drive.

This is just shameful.

People who don't know any better will get the cheapest drive, and have horrible performance. This is exactly what happened to an older friend of my wife. And since it is an iMac, it is next to impossible to replace the drive later (on some models, you need to unseal the LCD screen to open it).

Re: Apple updates its iMac line

#54

Post by lexicality » Tue, Mar 19, 2019, 1:15 PM UTC

eckza wrote: post #35

tsmarsh wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No touch bar is a win IMHO. I'm not against it per se, but a soft `esc` was a mistake.

vim lifer here, I'm dreading the day my 2015 rMBP dies.

You should probably stop using the tiny escape key long before that happens. Either swap out caps for esc (my pref), start using ^[ or do one of these tricks: https://vim.fandom.com/wiki/Avoid_the_escape_key

Re: Apple updates its iMac line

#55

Post by lallysingh » Tue, Mar 19, 2019, 1:15 PM UTC

bluedino wrote: post #36

tambourine_man wrote: post #24

Still selling brand new machines with 5400 rpm HDs. In 2019. It undermines the brand. Any Mac a customer buys should have good enough performance. 5400 spinning disk hasn’t been fast enough for a decade.

With current SSD prices being at rock bottom, can a 128GB SSD cost more than a 5400RPM 2.5" drive?

128GB fills up quickly. A 1TB 5400RPM 2.5" drive is $45-50 on pricewatch.

Re: Apple updates its iMac line

#56

Post by zachruss92 » Tue, Mar 19, 2019, 1:15 PM UTC

BossingAround wrote: post #11

Huh... The title of their press release seems to me somewhat clickbait-y... Why not 'iMac got a hardware refresh; now with 2x performance'? When I read this, I thought, 'oh wow, Apple really outdid itself with their SW optimisations'. Overall, I'm kinda disappointed that the 21' and 27' macs get different CPU gens. Why? Why not just have the latest gen in both of them? Is it price, or is it more about artificial perf…

I'm pretty sure it's a cooling issue. An 8-core CPU running at 5GHz generates a lot of heat - it's likely they can't dissipate it fast enough and encounter thermal throttling issues with higher end chips. I would _assume_ the 9th gen chips are more power efficient than the 8th gen, however, so who knows...

Re: Apple updates its iMac line

#57

Post by eckza » Tue, Mar 19, 2019, 1:15 PM UTC

plufz wrote: post #32

tsmarsh wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No touch bar is a win IMHO. I'm not against it per se, but a soft `esc` was a mistake.

Have you tried remapping esc to capslock? (Or ctrl to capslock and esc to ctrl). I would never go back to normal esc.

For my part: I've thought about it, but I have huge hands. Sometimes, when I'm reaching for Shift or Tab, I hit Caps Lock on accident. I would be frustrated if I hit Caps Lock on accident and it broke me out of insert mode.

I can understand how it can be more ergonomic and usable for some people, though.

Re: Apple updates its iMac line

#58

Post by dessant » Tue, Mar 19, 2019, 1:16 PM UTC

SteveNuts wrote: post #44

bluedino wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With current SSD prices being at rock bottom, can a 128GB SSD cost more than a 5400RPM 2.5" drive?

It'll cost the same but your 5400RPM drive will have about 30x more storage.

I think you meant 3x, 30x may have been true when SSDs were first brought to market.

https://www.wd.com/products/internal-ssd/wd-blue-3d-nand-sat...

https://www.wd.com/products/internal-storage/wd-blue-pc-desk...

Re: Apple updates its iMac line

#59

Post by ceejayoz » Tue, Mar 19, 2019, 1:17 PM UTC

neuronic wrote: post #51

ceejayoz wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plenty of folks use an iMac as the primary family machine - email, homework, some Netflix, kids' basic games. 8 GB is entirely sufficient for that. Hell, four probably is. If you're doing Photoshop plus a half dozen VMs, you buy it with more RAM.

For the 5k model, an additional 8GB in DDR4 RAM for a total of 16GB model costs +$200 [1]. This is beyond unreasonable compared to market [2]. [1] https://www.apple.com/shop/buy-mac/imac?product=MRR12LL/A&st... [2] https://pcpartpicker.com/trends/price/memory/

Sure, but with a user-accessible RAM bay built into the back of the machine, I can't work up the energy to be too mad about that one.

Re: Apple updates its iMac line

#60

Post by jeffhuys » Tue, Mar 19, 2019, 1:18 PM UTC

tsmarsh wrote: post #15

bluedino wrote: post #3

The CPU increases are welcome, but I was hoping for the rumored 6K displays. No space grey, no T2 chip, no Touchbar. Somehow they still sell the 1080 21" model for $1099.

No touch bar is a win IMHO. I'm not against it per se, but a soft `esc` was a mistake.

I get that people don't like that. I do, however, have no problems with it, coming from a developer perspective. It's in the same position, but without the tactile feedback. You'll get only visual feedback in the app you're running.

I love the touchbar, mainly because you can customise it any way you want. I have a lot of macros and shortcuts put on there for while I'm programming. Of course, I did that with the F1-F12 keys before, but now it's just more intuitive for me and aesthetically pleasing.