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Apple Updates iMac

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Re: Apple Updates iMac

#141

Post by bowlofpetunias »

Miyamoto wrote: post #112
bowlofpetunias wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who still upgrades their own machine? I like to tinker with hardware a little, which is why every 3 years or so I put my own home server together even though I could probably buy a cheaper ready-made solution. In the days of my old Apple Powerbook I've pretty much replaced everything from memory, harddisk to optical drive, even though the latter definitely wasn't made to be upgraded by end-uses. But in the last 10 ye…

> Who still upgrades their own machine? Hardware enthusiasts? PC gamers? Really, what a silly question on a tech oriented website. That's like asking who works on their car over at Jalopnik.

Personal computers aren't interesting "tech" anymore, they are commodity consumer products which most of us discard after a few years.

Tinkering with your own PC is rapidly becoming a niche similar to model trains. (Or working on your own car, also completely unnecessary and doesn't yield any new insights or advances.)

It's not about tech and curiosity anymore, just another hobby. And as such, you'll never see discussions about it on HN, there are other forums for such hobbyists.

Re: Apple Updates iMac

#142

Post by chiph »

bpaluzzi wrote: post #106
dennis_vartan wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're not tied to Apple, with my Air I use a Dell U2713HM -- an excellent display of the same size and without the annoying glass screen. Also plugs into the Thunderbolt port.

Just one anecdote -- I went through 5 of these before giving up and going down to the 24" model. Horrible image burn-in -- literally 5 minutes of screen appearance would leave a residual image sharp enough to read text off of for 30+ minutes. (These were bought through 3 different Amazon sellers [well, Amazon and 2 different marketplace sellers], so the likelihood of a bad batch was reduced.)

I just bought the U2413 (replaced a 2006 24" UltraSharp - not a bad lifetime!). At first I thought it had a stuck pixel because of a red dot in the center of the screen ("Why oh why did it have to be in the middle??"), but it turned out to be some joker mods on Reddit that had put in some CSS to turn those dots red.

On the whole, I like the monitor. Non-glare screen, menu controls are pretty responsive. USB hub. But I wish it still had a legacy VGA port. If I ever have to reload some of my older machines, I'm going to be stuck since I won't be able to SSH/RDP in.

Re: Apple Updates iMac

#143

Post by ctb_mg »

nknighthb wrote: post #131
ctb_mg wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The ThinkPad series has had, for as long as I can remember (including the ThinkPad I got last Christmas), a magnesium rollcage/inner frame [1]. Build quality is more than what you see with your eyes. Sure, it's not pretty and isn't unibody, but that doesn't mean the build quality is uncomparable if you're looking at it from a "ruggedness" perspective. Disclaimer: I owned and used a 13" unibody macbook pro for 3 years…

When the plastic case breaks, can I just take it all off and safely/comfortably use the laptop with only its inner frame? No? Then it's not comparable. When the plastic latches break off, will my laptop stay closed? No? Then it's not comparable. When the slider for the latches breaks off, can I still easily and comfortably open my laptop? No? Then it's not comparable.

I don't know why you're using removal of the outer case in the event of damage as a comparison of durability. Can you expand on the reasoning here? You can't take off the unibody of a MBP if the case is dented or damaged and still use it safely/comfortably.

My thinkpad doesn't have mechanical latches for anything -- not even a wifi enable/disable switch. I don't know about the entire series of thinkpads. The lid closes and opens smoothly, no latching mechanism -- and stays in the position you leave it in. It's just as smooth if not smoother than my old 2009 MBP.

On the subject of the stigma with 'plastic' cases -- we are not talking about cheap plastic here. The bottom of the laptop is metal of some kind. Same with the edges. The top of the lid is some sort of rubberized metal. The palm rests/speaker area is the only plastic I can find, and it has a similar texture and "solid feel" to the stuff I find on my prosumer DSLR -- something also designed to be rugged.

Re: Apple Updates iMac

#144

Post by nknighthb »

ctb_mg wrote: post #143
nknighthb wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When the plastic case breaks, can I just take it all off and safely/comfortably use the laptop with only its inner frame? No? Then it's not comparable. When the plastic latches break off, will my laptop stay closed? No? Then it's not comparable. When the slider for the latches breaks off, can I still easily and comfortably open my laptop? No? Then it's not comparable.

I don't know why you're using removal of the outer case in the event of damage as a comparison of durability. Can you expand on the reasoning here? You can't take off the unibody of a MBP if the case is dented or damaged and still use it safely/comfortably. My thinkpad doesn't have mechanical latches for anything -- not even a wifi enable/disable switch. I don't know about the entire series of thinkpads. The lid clos…

> I don't know why you're using removal of the outer case in the event of damage as a comparison of durability.

Because plastic breaks easily. Aluminum is far more durable. I've had no trouble at all with my PowerBook and MacBook Pro cases breaking or even substantially degrading, but every plastic laptop I've ever used has looked like it was hit by a bomb inside a year.

> My thinkpad doesn't have mechanical latches for anything

Lenovo's website clearly shows mechanical latches on Thinkpads, e.g.:

http://www.lenovo.com/images/OneWebImages/SubSeries/gallery/...

> we are not talking about cheap plastic here

"Cheap plastic" is redundant.

> the stuff I find on my prosumer DSLR

I've been unimpressed with the "ruggedness" of my Pentax SLR and DSLR (the latter a K-5 II). I've been similarly unimpressed with the ruggedness of my father's Canon DSLRs.

Re: Apple Updates iMac

#145

Post by rz2k »

Samuel_Michon wrote: post #139
rz2k wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It did sound very promising for the couple years that it was in development, but the reviews don't make it sound like it is really worth it. - The USB 3.0 connection operates at half speed - The Thunderbolt Display also includes most of the same connectors: ethernet, firewire 800, 3xUSB-2.0 You get the audio interface and faster USB with the Belkin dock, but it sounds like it is much further from the plug and play wi…

Oh, I definitely agree Apple should update its external display to include USB 3. The Belkin dock is not ideal. My point was merely that it’s possible to connect USB 3 devices. I do think Apple will release a new display this year. I’m hoping for the introduction of a model with 4K resolution, geared towards creative professionals and (medical) science. When the new Mac Pro was announced, Apple made a big deal about…

And, perhaps, versions of the 4K display with and without a GPU would fit into their m.o. of making pretty high end stuff requiring low effort on the part of users.

and then if the monitors could also run iOS on their own when the computer is elsewhere ...

With as much cash as Apple has on hand it must be difficult not to just put out a single continuum Nano-Touch-iPhone-Mini-iPad-monitor-TV with OS X computers only occasionally filling a role for content creators.

Re: Apple Updates iMac

#146

Post by hnriot »

bowlofpetunias wrote: post #80
rickdale wrote: post #14

I own and love my 27inch iMac. It exemplifies the quote from Apple's senior vice president: “iMac continues to be the example that proves how beautiful, fast and fun a desktop computer can be,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. " But as someone that doesn't like to mess with hardware too often, I am very disappointed at how difficult it is to change a simple hard drive on thi…

Who still upgrades their own machine? I like to tinker with hardware a little, which is why every 3 years or so I put my own home server together even though I could probably buy a cheaper ready-made solution. In the days of my old Apple Powerbook I've pretty much replaced everything from memory, harddisk to optical drive, even though the latter definitely wasn't made to be upgraded by end-uses. But in the last 10 ye…

I replace my MBP hard drive every year, it's super simple and each year I get to double my storage.

Re: Apple Updates iMac

#147

Post by dunham »

wiredfool wrote: post #124
bowlofpetunias wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who still upgrades their own machine? I like to tinker with hardware a little, which is why every 3 years or so I put my own home server together even though I could probably buy a cheaper ready-made solution. In the days of my old Apple Powerbook I've pretty much replaced everything from memory, harddisk to optical drive, even though the latter definitely wasn't made to be upgraded by end-uses. But in the last 10 ye…

I had an iMac hard drive die somewhat out of warranty. So upgraded hard drive it is. FWIW, I didn't find the iMac all that hard to get into, certainly no harder than unibody MBP. There are a lot of screws, and you have to pull the display out, but that's the cost of a sleek all in one. I did appreciate that there were no sharp sheet metal edges to cut my fingers, like my cheaper towers. I'm not sure I'd buy another o…

I believe the newer ones (2012) are much harder to get into. While the older models used magnets to hold the screen in place, the newer ones use adhesive. You now need guitar picks and a heat gun to get into it. See ifixit for details:

http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/iMac+Intel+21.5-Inch+EMC+2544...

Re: Apple Updates iMac

#148

Post by jakobe »

bowlofpetunias wrote: post #80
rickdale wrote: post #14

I own and love my 27inch iMac. It exemplifies the quote from Apple's senior vice president: “iMac continues to be the example that proves how beautiful, fast and fun a desktop computer can be,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. " But as someone that doesn't like to mess with hardware too often, I am very disappointed at how difficult it is to change a simple hard drive on thi…

Who still upgrades their own machine? I like to tinker with hardware a little, which is why every 3 years or so I put my own home server together even though I could probably buy a cheaper ready-made solution. In the days of my old Apple Powerbook I've pretty much replaced everything from memory, harddisk to optical drive, even though the latter definitely wasn't made to be upgraded by end-uses. But in the last 10 ye…

I do. When I bought my Macbook, 8GB of RAM were extremely expensive. So I waited, and when the RAM got cheaper, I upgraded.

At the moment SSD prices are still high enough that it makes sense to buy an iMac with small SSD now and upgrade to larger SSD in a few years; but unfortunately that's no longer easily possible.

Re: Apple Updates iMac

#149

Post by thezilch »

bowlofpetunias wrote: post #141
Miyamoto wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Who still upgrades their own machine? Hardware enthusiasts? PC gamers? Really, what a silly question on a tech oriented website. That's like asking who works on their car over at Jalopnik.

Personal computers aren't interesting "tech" anymore, they are commodity consumer products which most of us discard after a few years. Tinkering with your own PC is rapidly becoming a niche similar to model trains. (Or working on your own car, also completely unnecessary and doesn't yield any new insights or advances.) It's not about tech and curiosity anymore, just another hobby. And as such, you'll never see discus…

Maybe if you've been doing it for 10, 20, or 30 years, but even still... how disingenuous to claim that few should or do have the hobby of tinkering with hardware. Not to mention, it's the very epicenter of what provides a market for Arduino, Raspberry Pi, and every breadboard and sensor therein.

You'd have just as many model train enthusiasts, if that were the largest form of personal transportation and everyone had one at home (Re: cars, car enthusiasts, etc).

Re: Apple Updates iMac

#150

Post by Touche »

bowlofpetunias wrote: post #141
Miyamoto wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Who still upgrades their own machine? Hardware enthusiasts? PC gamers? Really, what a silly question on a tech oriented website. That's like asking who works on their car over at Jalopnik.

Personal computers aren't interesting "tech" anymore, they are commodity consumer products which most of us discard after a few years. Tinkering with your own PC is rapidly becoming a niche similar to model trains. (Or working on your own car, also completely unnecessary and doesn't yield any new insights or advances.) It's not about tech and curiosity anymore, just another hobby. And as such, you'll never see discus…

I don't know what you think HN is for, but -- and maybe I'm completely wrong on this -- hacking computers is surely part of it. We also discuss every day computing as well, of course, but not exclusively. That would be silly and uninteresting.
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