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27-inch iMac gets a major update

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Re: 27-inch iMac gets a major update

#421

Post by cactus2093 »

ogre_codes wrote: post #11

Finally they ditch spinning media on the base models. Also notable, the rumored iPad-like style changes are conspicuously absent, these look pretty much identical to the older iMacs. Otherwise this looks like a decent bump all around. Notably, the iMac Pro also got some love (though not too much it seems?)

The iMac Pro is starting to seem pretty redundant even with this slight spec boost.

If you upgrade the new 27" iMac to the same specs, you can get a faster machine than the base model $4999 iMac pro for $900 less - it's a faster clock speed 10-core processor, better performing GPU with Radeon 5700 XT 16GB (as opposed to Vega 64 8GB), and same 32GB RAM and 10Gb ethernet and 1TB SSD for that price.

The iMac pro has even further upgrade options that the iMac doesn't, but still, I wouldn't expect a $5k non-upgradeable pro machine like that to be underspecced. It'll also be interesting to see some teardowns of the new iMac and compare actual benchmarks between these machines, the iMac Pro might still have better thermals that lets the cpu/gpu perform better in the real world.

Re: 27-inch iMac gets a major update

#422

Post by akoncius »

russh wrote: post #405
snapetom wrote: post #260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The iMac and Mac Pro has user upgradeable RAM. https://www.apple.com/imac/specs/

New MacMini is upgradable as well. I just put 32GB in mine.

but SSD is soldered on motherboard though. previous models allowed to change storage..

Re: 27-inch iMac gets a major update

#423

Post by itsthecourier »

I bought (and regret to) an iMac around 2 years ago, the "fusion" drive was absurd. I was paying thousands of dollars and getting no SSD. what the fuck is Apple thinking.

Let's wrap our minds around this: Marketing is proud of offer SSD in a desktop in 2020.

Re: 27-inch iMac gets a major update

#424

Post by m0xte »

Well they can quite frankly fuck off with that one.

The 32gb additional memory option costs 4x the price of the entire 32gb of ram in my desktop. It costs independently 60% of the cost of my desktop pc base unit just for the upgrade.

The bottom end unit features 256gb SSD (probably soldered) and the next tier up wants +£200 to go from 512 to 1TiB. My entire 1TB Samsung evo plus nvme cost £165.

The 5k display isn’t worth it for my use case so I’ve got a 27” iiyama 4K display I paid £379 for. I suspect for 90% of people the story is the same.

Add the shit show that has been Catalina so far and this is a comedy gouging.

Edit: equivalent spec of my desktop build is £3399 here. I paid £1520 for my desktop approx: ryzen 3700x, 32gb ram, 1TB ssd, gtx1660, 27” 4K display, decent mechanical keyboard, decent mouse, Windows 10 pro.

Where is the £1879 advantage?

Re: 27-inch iMac gets a major update

#425

Post by vondur »

protomyth wrote: post #96
burlesona wrote: post #3

Solid spec bump. Interesting how much emphasis they put on the camera, speakers, and mic; makes total sense in the age of Zoom. I’d also speculate this means iMac won’t be the first computer getting Apple Silicon. I wonder if it will be the last? What’s the consensus guess now? Perhaps a new MacBook Air with good performance but the real “breakthrough” is > 12 hours battery life?

Interesting how much emphasis they put on the camera, speakers, and mic People realized how crappy the camera (an well mic) was on Macs compared to other computers now that we are all video conferencing. Its sad that every PC user with a Logitech looked much better.

The camera on my iMac Pro is better then the Logitech C920 I was using with my older Trash can Mac Pro. I have a much better mic that I use so not sure about the built in Mic on the iMac Prov

Re: 27-inch iMac gets a major update

#426

Post by _ph_ »

askafriend wrote: post #380
_ph_ wrote: post #341

The one thing I keep missing on my 5k iMac is some form of video-in. Would be great if I could connect my MB Pro to it and use the iMac as a display. Perhaps even in a window and all mouse and keyboard events to the window get passed to the connected MacBook.

This is the reason I went Mac Mini + LG 5k display. It's much more expensive but I needed to be able to hook in my work laptop to a 5k display while working and switch easily to my home setup with a single cable when I want to. Ended up being perfect! It's paying off big time with COVID and WFH.

I had a Mini before the iMac, but the Mini had the problem of the lacking GPU. Also, at the time I got the iMac (2015), the Mini was really falling behind. The iMac gave me a quad-core i7 and a GPU. I wished the Mini was available with hardware comparable to the 16" MB Pro. (8 cores, GPU)

If Apple only offered a desktop class Mac, I would even start thinking about the pro display.

Re: 27-inch iMac gets a major update

#427

Post by dopamean »

kccqzy wrote: post #412
dopamean wrote: post #395

I'll never understand the pricing. $1000 extra to get 64gb of memory? Incredible. What circumstance leads a purchaser to look at that and say, "ok sounds great?"

People who want a Mac but don't need performance.

I meant who shells out the extra 1k and is ok with that.

Re: 27-inch iMac gets a major update

#428

Post by cactus2093 »

m0xte wrote: post #424

Well they can quite frankly fuck off with that one. The 32gb additional memory option costs 4x the price of the entire 32gb of ram in my desktop. It costs independently 60% of the cost of my desktop pc base unit just for the upgrade. The bottom end unit features 256gb SSD (probably soldered) and the next tier up wants +£200 to go from 512 to 1TiB. My entire 1TB Samsung evo plus nvme cost £165. The 5k display isn’t wo…

Yes, Apple charges a premium over custom building a PC with equivalent parts. Not anything new or shocking there.

Re: 27-inch iMac gets a major update

#429

Post by bredren »

jkestner wrote: post #208
dijit wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It will almost certainly be a low end macbook. In fact, there's a non-pro 'macbook'[0] that already exists which would be perfect, it was discontinued a year ago, but used ultra-low power CPUs. In fact when they were talking about them (prior to release) they thought they would have ARM CPU's back then. They are fanless and have a 5W thermal envelope, which fits in with the current A12X too. The major criticisms of t…

Optics dictate that Apple show the superiority of the new silicon, and it wouldn't want it immediately pigeonholed as something like Surface X, a compromised curiosity. Apple's been consistent about ~10 hours of battery life for a while. They've hit their spec and think that most people don't need more in typical usage. So they'll be able to shave battery volume down to continue their trend of thinner without sacrifi…

I see no need for a standalone Macbook to negatively portray Apple Silcon.

"Macbook" is the heart of the entire PC portable line for Apple. "Macbook"is the grounding of the brand itself.

I think Apple will release the Macbook as the first Apple Silicon machine because of the optics of confidently putting the hardware at the symbolic heart of the entire portable line.

I do not think the 12" that was discontinued should be thought of also as where the machine will be picked up in terms of form factor. This is not how Apple behaves, when tech shifts or they don't like where they left off, they change direction. (i.e. the Mac Pro trashcan -> modern Mac Pro)

Apple Silicon will allow Apple to reintroduce the Macbook as a compelling machine addressing many customer types. This base machine would pave to eliminate the Macbook Air and redesign the Macbook Pro.

With a few models of Macbook and Macbook Pro the portable product line will be simplified and clean up the confusing price / feature / performance comparison problems that exist today.

Re: 27-inch iMac gets a major update

#430

Post by read_if_gay_ »

varjag wrote: post #401
read_if_gay_ wrote: post #390

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Get a cloud VM and Blink.sh, an SSH/mosh client. You can totally have a Unix environment on the iPad. It's limited, but still pretty powerful.

I'm sure it's possible, but just as you say - limited, so I see little point.

It's no question that a "real" Unix system is more powerful, but a VPS has been surprisingly usable to me. Many commandline tasks are more enjoyable on the iPad than on my desktop. The rest, I just fall back to my desktop. Try it - you might be surprised how powerful it is.
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