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Apple updates its iMac line

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Re: Apple updates its iMac line

#311
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.

I bought an iMac Pro (base model) last year. I see it as investing up front in an already upgraded machine, that I can now use for the next 10 years.

Re: Apple updates its iMac line

#312
post #201

It's just frustrating, I switched the household over to Apple devices when OSX came out, and now there really aren't any systems from Apple that look interesting to me. I've been programming since before the (Unix) dawn of time, and Apple devices have been good development machines for me since OSX was released 18 years ago. I'm comfortable on Linux, but the Apple iOS devices and computers are all over my home and in…

> I'd love to see Apple make a system that supported upgradeable memory, SSDs, High capacity hard drives, graphics, and separate larger monitors Apple does a pretty good job supporting the needs of most people, in a slim clean form factor, with the iMac. It supports memory upgrades, and external monitors. There is a small group that needs nearly every component to be upgradeable or swappable, and they offer the Mac P…

If it were doing a good job of supporting the needs of most people one would question why 90% of people are using something else.

Upgradable/fixable everything is a feature of the $299 desktop machine you find at walmart or the $40 machine from goodwill. It doesn't start at $5000 that only 0.05% of planet earth can afford.

Edit: Holy shit it is much worse than I thought. The actual desktop option is basically a $700-$900 pc that starts out at 3-4K. It looks like they have ignored the mac pro for years but kept the humongous price.

If you actually want a capable machine you have to buy the imac pro option and if you actually select a fast processor its more like 8k for a machine wherein you could probably build an equivalent pc for 2.

Re: Apple updates its iMac line

#313

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since you're using a desktop, what's wrong with the 2018 Mac Mini? Upgradable RAM, storage and GPU can be added externally. Dual 4k support out of the box or a single 5k should be enough for your single monitor?

Because the cost of all that external junk adds up and you create what is essentially a dongle town on your desktop. It defeats the whole purpose of a Mini. I know because I tried to do this with a 2018 Mac Mini. Aside from the very lackluster GPU performance, it's a pretty speedy machine. I had a fairly generous budget for a new computer. 32GB of RAM was about $200 from Crucial. The external SSD storage options were…

The general public is a larger potential market than computer fetishists. Remember their two or three steps to getting on the Internet with an iMac?

Anyone who believed Apple was for tech hardcores hasn’t been paying attention.

Never quite got the dongle complaints myself.

Why not find ways to reduce the amount of extra crap you have to plug in and (assuming a laptop scenario), haul around in the first place?

Is adding one USB-C to many USB-A ports such a burden when talking about all the other bits n bobs?

IMO anyway, it is not. I get the sentiment though. I too often wish the world was exactly how my feels wish it to be.

This site loves the free market though. Sell your dream to the masses.

Re: Apple updates its iMac line

#314
post #201

It's just frustrating, I switched the household over to Apple devices when OSX came out, and now there really aren't any systems from Apple that look interesting to me. I've been programming since before the (Unix) dawn of time, and Apple devices have been good development machines for me since OSX was released 18 years ago. I'm comfortable on Linux, but the Apple iOS devices and computers are all over my home and in…

> It's just frustrating, I switched the household over to Apple devices when OSX came out, and now there really aren't any systems from Apple that look interesting to me.

It feels like these products are just an afterthought for the company.

Re: Apple updates its iMac line

#315

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since you're using a desktop, what's wrong with the 2018 Mac Mini? Upgradable RAM, storage and GPU can be added externally. Dual 4k support out of the box or a single 5k should be enough for your single monitor?

Because the cost of all that external junk adds up and you create what is essentially a dongle town on your desktop. It defeats the whole purpose of a Mini. I know because I tried to do this with a 2018 Mac Mini. Aside from the very lackluster GPU performance, it's a pretty speedy machine. I had a fairly generous budget for a new computer. 32GB of RAM was about $200 from Crucial. The external SSD storage options were…

This sounds interesting - do you have a description of the hardware you used to hand?

Re: Apple updates its iMac line

#316

re: RAM, I bought a 2015 iMac with a 1TB drive on Craiglist last month, thinking it might be the perfect machine to edit and store/serve family photos (mac --> Google Photos and mac --> BackBlaze). It never in a million years would have occurred to me that 1) 8GB on a 2015 machine would be utterly, pathetically underpowered for even browsing the web, or 2) that an iMac would be sold in 2015 that would not let you upg…

My $999 Asus from Costco 18 months ago came with a 480GB SSD, 16GB of RAM, and a discrete GPU.

The screen is 1080p, I would've had to pay a couple hundred extra for a 4k screen instead, not worth it when I'm mostly connected to external, and battery life is better with 1080p when I'm mobile.

My desktop is 7 years old now. I've spent ~$1400 in parts over the years. 32GB of RAM, CPU that does its job (Intel i7-whatever), and a GPU that consumes more power but is just as good as a GTX 1050 (A lot less VRAM though!).

I fully expect that machine to last me until the physical components start to give out.

Probably the capacitors. It is always the capacitors.

Re: Apple updates its iMac line

#318

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'd love to see Apple make a system that supported upgradeable memory, SSDs, High capacity hard drives, graphics, and separate larger monitors Apple does a pretty good job supporting the needs of most people, in a slim clean form factor, with the iMac. It supports memory upgrades, and external monitors. There is a small group that needs nearly every component to be upgradeable or swappable, and they offer the Mac P…

If it were doing a good job of supporting the needs of most people one would question why 90% of people are using something else. Upgradable/fixable everything is a feature of the $299 desktop machine you find at walmart or the $40 machine from goodwill. It doesn't start at $5000 that only 0.05% of planet earth can afford. Edit: Holy shit it is much worse than I thought. The actual desktop option is basically a $700-…

The primary feature of a $299 desktop is the $299 price. That it is fixable and upgradeable is largely incidental. You are right though, I should have said Apple is supporting the needs of most people who value what Apple offers in a computer (OSX, physical form, etc). They aren’t going to boost their market share by adding swappanle graphics cards to the iMac or a j-mouse nub to the MacBook.

Re: Apple updates its iMac line

#319
post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In 2019 how many apple products have user (or technician for that matter) upgrade-able anything? honest question. I'm not a Mac person and all I see is anecdotal reports of "soldered in RAM here" "fully bonded case there" etc.

Both new Mac mini and 27" iMac have upgradeable RAM.

The 27" iMac used to have upgradable RAM, but the text for the new version says "configurable to 64 GB", not "upgradable" like it used to. I'd love to be proven wrong, though, I'm considering getting an iMac.

Re: Apple updates its iMac line

#320
post #265
post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If someone could figure out a legal way to offer recommended-hardware Hackintosh builds as a service†, that'd be pretty ideal for what you're talking about, in the sense of "you could buy one for your mom", and it would "just work" (and hopefully continue to "just work" through updates, if they do it right.) † I guess, if you were to operate a "Hackintosh OEM", you could sell the hardware build itself without actuall…

I feel like anyone becoming too successful in this space would find the ol' Eye of Sauron pointed at them pretty quickly.. Whether through technical or legal means, I doubt Apple would sit around and let this openly thrive or grow into a viable option for the average consumer.

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