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New iMac with M4

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Re: New iMac with M4

#331

Post by graeme »

saylisteins wrote: post #282
notatoad wrote: post #230

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i know a few people who have an iMac in their living room like that, with the same logic as the people who still have landlines - the laptops and cell phones get put away when you get home (or stay in the home office), so you can be present with your family. but sometimes you still need a computer for stuff , like controlling the music or quickly looking something up on google. but if it's not your computer, and it's…

It's surreal for me how something so expensive can be thought as "perfect" for this usecase. I'd say in cases like this having a cheap laptop or even a cheap all in one desktop computer is good enough. Why spend $2000 to browse the internet?

The long support length lowers the effective cost. We only upgraded my parents' computer after ten years due to software support. It was so old it was soon going to lose even Google Chrome updates. But it ran like new.

The total carrying cost over ten years is quite low. And my parents have needed much less tech help with a mac. The day to day ease matters and is worth money.

Re: New iMac with M4

#332

Post by hmottestad »

whatever1 wrote: post #292
bhouston wrote: post #261

I guess it is just me, but I cannot stand working on small screens on the desktop. I will accept a small screen on a laptop because it is inconvenient carrying around something larger, but on a desktop, there is no reason to compromise. I use a 48" OLED with my MacBook Air M3 and for me that is a near ultimate web development experience both on desktop and when travelling: https://bsky.app/profile/benhouston3d.bsky.s…

The pixel density would kill me. Now if it was an 8k monitor…

DELL has a 32" 8K monitor if you’re interested. Personally I’ve gotten bitten by both the pixel density and the high refresh rate bugs. So now I want a 27" 5K 120hz monitor, or none at all :P

Re: New iMac with M4

#333

Post by t-3 »

Der_Einzige wrote: post #219
simonw wrote: post #144

As someone who mucks around with running LLMs and other large models on my computer the 32GB maximum RAM is a show-stopper for me. I'm on a M2 with 64GB at the moment and I'm already regretting not going for 96 or even 128. I want to be able to run a large model AND other apps at the same time.

I really wish that "elite" LLM folks like yourself or many others in the field would just abandon apple/mac. Yes, they make better laptops from a hardware perspective. No, M series chips are not actually competitive with Nvidia hardware on anything except cheap (and relatively slow) inference of big models. The fact that windows laptops are considered DOA despite the insane amount of inertia behind Nvidia GPUs is jus…

XPS are horrible though. Native linux support is almost literally the only redeeming quality.

> all because other companies can't make a good keyboard or touchpad.

The whole point of a laptop is to have integrated input and display. Why wouldn't you expect the laptops with the best displays and input devices to be the most popular?

Re: New iMac with M4

#334

Post by jwells89 »

graeme wrote: post #138
jfoster wrote: post #76

I could never justify getting an iMac. All the downsides of a laptop & desktop in one; not upgradeable and not portable. Leaves me wondering how many of these Apple actually sell. A Mac Mini with a separate screen feels like it makes far more sense.

The iMacs very much aren't their main seller. A couple of key demographics use it though: * Families with a shared computer in a common room. Super simple to setup, no fiddling, low price. In the video Apple showcased this use case. My parents have an M3 imac and it works great. They had their last iMac for ten years. * Businesses buy these for reception areas and customers see the Apple logo on the back. Easy soluti…

Low number of cables has also been one of the points of appeal for the iMac, to the point that it was a focal point of marketing for the original model. For the average person's setup the current model only needs a power cable.

Re: New iMac with M4

#335

Post by artimaeis »

andrewmcwatters wrote: post #238
bsimpson wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Studio Display is priced as if it's an iMac. It's insane that we've had retina displays for over a decade, and Apple still seems to be more-or-less the only game in town for a 5k 27" display.

I will never purchase the Studio Display on principle. It's an idiot product.

What delineates it as an idiot product? There aren't exactly a ton of alternative 5k displays on the market. Dell and LG have some 5120x1440 options, but only Apple has a 5120x2880 option as far as I can find.

Re: New iMac with M4

#336

Post by hmottestad »

bhouston wrote: post #299
whatever1 wrote: post #292

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The pixel density would kill me. Now if it was an 8k monitor…

And if MacBook's supported 8K monitors (they max out at 6K 60Hz, where as 4K does 144Hz.) That would be my next upgrade once they are affordable. But I think they won't be affordable until 8K TVs are common as that will drive the volume.

Many of them can do 8K 60Hz over HDMI: https://support.apple.com/en-us/102236

Edit: You need an M2/M3 Pro or above.

Re: New iMac with M4

#337

Post by robotresearcher »

andrewmcwatters wrote: post #238
bsimpson wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Studio Display is priced as if it's an iMac. It's insane that we've had retina displays for over a decade, and Apple still seems to be more-or-less the only game in town for a 5k 27" display.

I will never purchase the Studio Display on principle. It's an idiot product.

It’s really nice! Expensive, but it looks great and the 5K panel is beautiful. Speakers are good for a display, webcam is meh.

It’s much better looking than the LG ultrafine 5K, slightly more functional, and costs more.

What’s the idiot part? Price?

Re: New iMac with M4

#338

Post by nickthegreek »

talldayo wrote: post #313
whiplash451 wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or separate concerns and shell out on a Studio display with the-mac-you-like on usb-c

Or buy a real computer, plug in an Nvidia GPU, and save your DRAM for compute while using your VRAM for inference.

So now you just limited to 24gb unless you are running dual 3090s or leave the consumer market for a gpu.

Re: New iMac with M4

#340

Post by rsynnott »

bsimpson wrote: post #197
fourfour3 wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've got one of the LG Ultrafine 5K monitors paired with a modern M1 Max macbook and it's a nice combination. Expensive, but I adore the pixel density considering I spend all day staring at text :) I'd be seriously tempted by an iMac if it had M4 Pro + a 27" 5K display. I just don't feel it's likely as they'll probably see it as cannibalising Mac Studio + Studio Display sales.

The Studio Display is priced as if it's an iMac. It's insane that we've had retina displays for over a decade, and Apple still seems to be more-or-less the only game in town for a 5k 27" display.

At one point there were about six manufacturers (though I think it was all various grades of the same panel). They just didn’t sell.
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