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New iMac with M4

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Re: New iMac with M4

#371

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hrm. My OG vote goes to: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35079 > pg: That has to be the comeback of all time.

Why can't I see this comment when viewing the original article?

Do you have showdead enabled? The chain is flagged so I think it would be hidden by default.

Re: New iMac with M4

#372
post #235

I love the innovation Apple has brought with their investment in ARM. That said, I can't imagine buying a computer in the 21st century that can't be opened and upgraded, especially with a price premium attached. I just don't get it. I am in no way trying to be combative, but I'd love to hear a counterpoint that makes sense for these machines.

My guess is the only reason to open and upgrade a computer is if one needs (or wants) to be on the bleeding edge of what local compute is capable of on a day to day basis. With the advent of cloud compute the number of use cases that meet that criteria shrinks every day. With the iMac there is a price premium but what the users is paying for is a computer that just gets out of their way. For them the computer is simp…

Most of my buddies w/ PCs for gaming generally only open up their machine to upgrade their video card, once their motherboard no longer supports the latest and greatest they just dumpster the whole damn thing (maybe sell the card on ebay), or turn it into a plex server or something and start over.

Re: New iMac with M4

#373

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And frankly, the “upgradeability” of most desktops is a myth in my experience. By the time I’ve ever wanted to upgrade a Windows or Linux PC, a new CPU probably isn’t going to fit into the same socket as the one I had so now I need a new motherboard too. I probably want a new GPU if it was a gaming PC and if it wasn’t I would be using an integrated GPU anyway. I think the only thing I’ve ever kept from an “upgrade” w…

Depends where you are in your life, I suspect. A person in college on a tight budget might choose a budget-conscious PC, with an average amount of RAM and a modest hard drive. A few years later, component prices will have fallen and the PC will be showing its age thanks to its modest components. Adding a larger hard drive and more RAM will get a few more years out of it. On the other hand, a mid-career professional p…

If they bought a “budget conscious” PC, what are the odds that they’ll have hit the limits of their RAM but not any other component? If they bought a cheap laptop, for example, what are the odds that the hardware isn’t starting to fail? If it’s a desktop, what are the odds that by the time they need a new CPU a worthwhile upgrade will still be socket-compatible? Usually the budget options are already well into the service lifecycle for things like that and at least anecdotally the budget buyers I know buy a new one 1-2 times per decade rather than upgrading anything.

Re: New iMac with M4

#374
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.

Similar case here. I'm on a 32GB Mac Studio and constantly wishing I had 128. I didn't expect that when I chose 32... I'd been getting by fine with 16 for a decade. I was "future proofing", haha.

Re: New iMac with M4

#375
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…

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

Or screen, sound, battery life, cooling, weight...

Are MBPs the best possible configuration out there? Of course not. But they're just much better _mobile devices_ than anything else available.

Re: New iMac with M4

#376
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…

> No, M series chips are not actually competitive with Nvidia hardware

Integrated memory is important, since CPU GPU bandwidth is often a limiting factor

Re: New iMac with M4

#377
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.

Came here to post this. Although I'm looking for an M4 Macbook Pro with 128GB RAM for the same reason. This going to be announced?

#OneOfUs #OneOfUs

Re: New iMac with M4

#378

16GB base RAM, they finally did it. They also did move the Magic Keyboard and Magic Mouse to USB-C.

Now if only they could figure out how to allow charging the Magic Mouse while it’s being used. I guess that technology is still years away.

Given that the lightning version picks up a nine hour charge in the time it takes to take a bathroom break or go get a cup of coffee, this is more of an excuse to make fun of the design than it is a real world show stopper.

> The Apple Mouse 2 also comes with a Quick Charge feature that provides nine hours of use with a two-minute charge.

https://www.jackery.com/blogs/knowledge/how-to-charge-apple-...

Re: New iMac with M4

#379

I'm surprised they are still shipping these with 256GB of storage base. I had a Macbook with a ~500GB SSD in 2012 (I installed it), and a 500GB spinning disk in like 2008 (also user installed). A 500GB SSD can be had for <$50 these days, and a 1TB for <$100. Still plenty of profit for Apple, even if they bump up the base storage to 512GB and make 1TB a $200 upgrade...

These are not ordinary SSDs, which (via SATA) are dirt slow in comparison.

Re: New iMac with M4

#380
post #214
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.

We should do a "Most HackerNews HackerNews Comment Of The Year" award each year; in homage to the O.G. [1]. I'd like to nominate this comment. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9224

> in homage to the O.G.

That is a poor example of the thing you’re trying to mock. That exchange is an example of what one should do, it does not deserve derision. dang explained it well:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27067281

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