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New iMac with M4

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Re: New iMac with M4

#771

Post by matrix2003 »

zh3 wrote: post #607
matrix2003 wrote: post #580

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I send all my old stuff for recycling now and get a gift card in return. They just did this for my ancient iPad that won’t even run the latest iPadOS. I go on a site, pop in the serial number, and they ship me a box for free with a return label. I basically got $45 for an incredibly slow brick, so I’d say that’s pretty good incentive for their recycling program. Sure, you could install Linux and upcycle it, but how m…

Not in the UK; my iPad was unreliable from the off, eventually it was crashing 4 minutes after starting it. Trying to trade it in just got a message along the lines of "It can still have a good second life, go find a responsible recycler and give it to them. Have a Nice Day!". Unlikely to ever buy an Apple product again.

Are other companies much better in this regard?

Re: New iMac with M4

#772

Post by JKCalhoun »

ray__ wrote: post #734
SurgeArrest wrote: post #530

Reading this on 2017 iMac 27" - is the first 5k iMac that couldn't be used as a monitor after the computer inside is irrelevant. I hope EU will push for some law that requires all AIO computers to work in monitor-only mode if internal hardware is no longer good enough or no longer supported by software updates. I love the 5k screen on this iMac but the CPU is too old for photo or video editing as software got so much…

I solved this with a ~$200 driver board from AliExpress. I love the result because it's thinner than any other monitor that I own and I can swap between my MacBook Pro and my desktop machine (running either Windows or Linux). Obviously this requires a little bit of tinkering and the end result isn't nicely packaged like a factory Apple product would be, but it only took about half an hour to put together and I haven'…

I solved it by not updating the OS or apps. I stopped updating at Mountain Lion. My older iMac is my scanning and photo editing Mac. A flatbed scanner is permanently attached and Photos from Mountain Lion is still useable. In fact the retouch tool is actually faster (Photos experienced a serious performance regression for the retouch tool soon after Mountain Lion).

Re: New iMac with M4

#773

Post by macNchz »

mysteria wrote: post #598
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...

Do regular users use more than 250GB or so of local storage? Large media collections are likely stored on a NAS or external HDDs and the local disk is more for the OS, apps, and scratch space. Nowadays many files are on the cloud as well. Developers, video editors, and other people who actually handle large amounts of data locally will likely purchase an upgrade. While they're Linux systems pretty much all my desktop…

Arguably Apple would love to push people who handle large amounts of data into absolutely unreasonably priced upgrades, and people with large media collections into lifelong iCloud subscriptions.

It's not especially hard to fill up 250GB over time. Apps these days seem to have little concern about conserving disk space, and many are super bloated themselves. A hobbyist wanting to enjoy their iPhone camera's capabilities on that pretty 4.5K display might find themselves filling the drive awfully quickly with 75MB RAW files and 400MB/minute video, plus Photoshop itself taking up 10GB.

Macs clearly aren't a first choice for serious gaming, but a casual Mac user who were to want to, say, try the top selling Mac game on Steam—Baldur's Gate 3—would find that at 150GB it'd use up nearly their whole drive. I've certainly had to help a bunch of family and friends sort out why their Mac kept telling them their startup disk was full.

I'm a lifelong Mac user who switched to a DIY Linux machine (6TB storage & 64GB of RAM) primarily over this issue. Sometimes looking at the base specs of new Apple products and the cost for upgrades feels a little like if the base model Porsche 911 came with a go-kart engine, and for another $100k you could get an actual flat six.

Re: New iMac with M4

#774

Post by brailsafe »

doublepg23 wrote: post #556
WillPostForFood wrote: post #366

Right now, the Apple computer lineup is totally out of alignment for me. The iMac is too small and the laptops are too big. I'd like a minimum 27" display for the iMac, maybe 31". For a laptop, give me something more portable, like the old 2 pound, 12" MacBook.

Why not get a Mac Mini and external 32” display? It should be refreshed this week with rumors of a redesign.

You'd be surprised (maybe) how few monitors there are in particular categories. In terms of successors to the older 30" screens at 16:10, or 6k screens of any kind, or simply 5k screen with even some of an assortment of niche quality attributes, there's usually like 1 single offering. I'm still rocking my Dell U3011 from 10 years ago alongaside my 2019 13" MBP with an i5, and occasionally I look at upgrading, but never find something sufficiently compelling that ticks whichever boxes I'm looking for.

For example, I don't want an ultrawide, and I'd prefer IPS quality at around 30-32", and for it to be better than my current screen it'd need to be at least 120hz with <3ms response time and/or retina density, for a relatively modest budget, and for what's available I just end up deciding I'm fine with what I got until it's dead.

Re: New iMac with M4

#775

Post by yreg »

space_oddity wrote: post #491
WillPostForFood wrote: post #366

Right now, the Apple computer lineup is totally out of alignment for me. The iMac is too small and the laptops are too big. I'd like a minimum 27" display for the iMac, maybe 31". For a laptop, give me something more portable, like the old 2 pound, 12" MacBook.

It would be fantastic if Apple brought back that 27-inch or larger iMac for desktop users who don’t need a separate display

The 5k iMac used to be an incredible deal considering usual Apple pricing and the quality of the screen. I miss it.

Re: New iMac with M4

#776

Post by wnissen »

magarnicle wrote: post #743
wodenokoto wrote: post #560

Earlier quoted context omitted.

iMac Pro with HDMI in would be a purchase for me. The screen will outlive the computer hardware, yet an imac is cheaper than a studio display.

How much of an advantage is this over a mini or studio with an external display?

There's no advantage whatsoever unless you like the look of a display with a huge "chin" and hate cables with a firey passion. Using list prices, the iMac costs $300 less than a studio display with the same screen. You get a whole computer for negative money. Shows you how much money Apple makes on storage and RAM upgrades! But of course it won't remain useful for as long. I know people who are still using the Cinema Displays from over 10 years ago.

Re: New iMac with M4

#777

Post by jasonventresca »

Integrating an LLM capabilities directly into the OS is pretty slick. I know it's just one less step than copy/pasting something into a ChatGPT tab in your browser, but that seamless experience makes it that much more accessible and lower friction.

I'm excited to see where Apple Intelligence goes; though I do wonder if Apple choosing to partner with OpenAI will eventually put them in the backseat when other models like those from Anthropic surpass OpenAI's capabilities.

Re: New iMac with M4

#778

Post by sroussey »

mrweasel wrote: post #452
ttul wrote: post #134

Note: The 24” iMac is never going to be the platform of choice for HackerNews readers.

I could do my work on one, but yeah, the screen size would be annoying long term. The sad part is that it's the exact form factor my dad wants. It's absolutely perfect for his needs, except it's wildly overpowered and overpriced. The 4K monitor is going to push up the price, and I'm all for giving everyone a high quality monitor, but I'd argue that the iMac is 30-40% over budget for those who'd like that type of comp…

It’s a 4.5K monitor and it starts at $1300.

Re: New iMac with M4

#779

Post by 7speter »

rowanG077 wrote: post #706
conradev wrote: post #600

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not that they actively do bad things, it's that they only dedicate real resources in the direction of self-interest. Tim Cook likes to point to their solar investments and accessibility as examples of "doing good" when in reality the former is a good long term financial bet and the latter is generally under-resourced (or "cheap" to them). They'd use M.2 SSDs in their Macs instead of soldering flash chips to the…

I think it's extremely overestimated by the technical crowd how many people would ever upgrade their RAM or SSD in their Macbook. I honestly doubt it's even in the single digit percentage points. The energy, engineering and material wasted on having connectors probably vastly outweighs the environmental savings by having that one tech person upgrade their RAM or SSD,

Yet, Macbooks had upgradeable ram and storage upto about 12 or 13 years ago.

Re: New iMac with M4

#780

Post by dzhiurgis »

baron816 wrote: post #48
minimaxir wrote: post #3

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.

Or making mouse for adult sized hands
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