Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

New iMac with M4

apple.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

461–470 of 1001 posts

Re: New iMac with M4

#461

Post by wtallis »

neilalexander wrote: post #383
wongarsu wrote: post #315

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you want a new CPU after a decade it's absolutely as you describe: you need a new mainboard and probably new memory (DDR5 just came out), and end up keeping only the case, drive, case fans and PSU, if that. For other components it mostly works. You can smoothly upgrade from 8GB RAM all the way to 128GB, get a new GPU, whatever the current WiFi standard is, more silent cooling, more, bigger or faster drives, etc. I…

You can hit a RAM limit on some lower-end motherboards quite quickly depending on the memory controller and you might only get so far with GPUs as well depending on the type of PCIe slots.

I'm not sure what decade you have in mind, but for all the recent ones, the memory controller has both been on the CPU, and not been part of the differentiation between low-end and high-end CPUs for a given socket. So the only significant RAM limitation coming from the motherboard is if it's a small form factor board with only two slots instead of four.

Re: New iMac with M4

#462

Post by eastbound »

simonw wrote: post #191
klodolph wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, but to be honest, I don’t think you should be shipping a high-spec computer with a built-in screen. Anything high-spec should be broken into at least a separate screen and computer. The screen is such a major point of failure. I’ve seen so many iMacs and MacBooks with broken screens where the end solution is to replace the entire device, which is a waste. It’s that much more of a waste if you are getting a high…

Yeah, that's my biggest complaint with iMacs: I want to be 100% certain I can repurpose them as monitors later in their lives. I have a ten year old iMac at the moment that would make an amazing second monitor... but it doesn't quite have the features I need to use it like that. An HDMI input would be great.

If they could be used as monitors, then my iMac 2018 would still be worth 1700€ (the price of the Apple monitor)!

Instead, the 2018 iMac is incredibly slow, and can be thrown away.

Re: New iMac with M4

#463

Post by bonestamp2 »

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.

Same here, I wish I went for 128. That said, I don't think this use case applies to 99.9999% of iMac buyers.

Re: New iMac with M4

#464

Post by askafriend »

stevenAthompson wrote: post #426
askafriend wrote: post #268

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of people in this thread commenting without making an attempt to understand who this is for.

> A lot of people in this thread commenting without making an attempt to understand who this is for. Why do you seem defensive? I asked a reasonable question of a group of people I thought might have product knowledge I lacked. I am not a Very Pink Apple Product SME, and stated as much in my question.

This isn't directed at you. I just happened to read a bunch of comments before yours. Stu2b50's response seemed like a good enough place to point out the dynamic.

Re: New iMac with M4

#465

Post by jxdxbx »

I’ve been using an M1 iMac as my main home computer (with 16 GB RAM, 1 TB SSD) and have zero reason to upgrade. I’ve loved it. Exactly what I need, though I offload a lot of home server type tasks to a big tower PC, including messing with local AI stuff.

BUT a new hockey puck Mac mini that shared a screen with my gaming PC would be a nice space-saver. If only the studio display could switch inputs—using macOS on a curved gaming monitor seems weird.

Re: New iMac with M4

#466

Post by brailsafe »

wmf wrote: post #408
slashdave wrote: post #379

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Ordinary SSDs have been NVMe for years and have similar performance to Apple NVMe SSDs.

It depends what the person meant by ordinary, but if ordinary just generally refers to "off-the-shelf" or commodity SSDs, then we've been able to get equivalent or better performing NVMe SSDs for a long time, for a small fraction of the price. Within what you can get retail, I think you'd still want the higher end of it for comparable speeds and yields, but would still save A LOT doing so.

Re: New iMac with M4

#467

Post by [deleted] »

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.

[deleted]

Re: New iMac with M4

#468

Post by talldayo »

davedx wrote: post #394
graeme wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

My daughter's orthodontist has one of these behind every chair. Our dentist has them too. HN honestly is a terrible source of information for 1) What sells 2) What might sell

That's fine, but personal anecdotes are also a hugely misleading source of information too. In the time since the iMac redesign was released, I've seen 10x more of the old models than I have seen of the new ones. My local barber even uses an Intel iMac in Target Display mode to run their Windows small-form-factor PC.

HN is disillusioned, but so are a lot of the west coast product designers that expect businesses to buy these on day 1. The majority of businesses are going to buy whatever is cheap and effective - their realistic choice is between a Chromebox and a Mac Mini.

Re: New iMac with M4

#469

Post by Lammy »

dlevine wrote: post #348

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...

Hello from The Land Of Perverse Incentives :( https://support.apple.com/en-us/108047#nasalac

Re: New iMac with M4

#470

Post by OnlyMortal »

jjcm wrote: post #448

Since this thread seems to be about niche asks for pro users, despite the product being targeted towards casual users who want an easy out of the box experience, I'll add my own to the mix. I'd love a bigger/better screen on these, specifically an ultrawide variety. An iMac Pro with an 8k ultrawide would be a near-instant purchase for me. I find the ultrawide form factor so good for productivity. I love the apple "it…

People also don’t get the idea of an appliance.
Post reply on HN