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New iMac with M4

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Re: New iMac with M4

#891

Post by lloeki »

dml2135 wrote: post #821
Reason077 wrote: post #728

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "Apple should hire a couple hackers to create “end-of-life” firmware for their obsolete devices; give them new life as super-specialized devices." They've actually done this in a few cases! There's a whole generation of obsolete Airport Express Wifi base stations that got a final firmware update which gave them AirPlay 2 functionality. Now they're still quite sought after as a device to make old stereos/speakers wi…

Oh nice. I didn’t know about the Airplay 2 update, but I’ve been using an old Airport Express to airplay for this old audio receiver I have for ages. And I’ve got a spare I hold onto in case this one ever shits the bed. And while we’re on the topic — its amazing how many hifi audio receivers I see being thrown away, stuff that is still top-of-the-line for sound quality, but is now considered “obsolete” purely based o…

Exactly what I do!

I build quite a bunch of Pi e.g for multiroom setups:

- some output directly via the jack (which is okay quality wise as long as you don't push the gain/stay at line level, the device downstream being the one doing amp)

- others have an iqaudio hat (either DAC for when the internal jack doesn't cut it or people want 24/192 or Amp+ to drive passive speakers)

And I didn't notice til recently but the Amp+ has onboard headers for balanced output, so with a bit of soldering one can add, say, XLR to the thing.

Then throw in some room eq via an impulse response and you get a device that rivals off the shelf stuff that cost one to two orders of magnitude more, plus you get to not throw away perfectly good hardware.

Similarly I've smartified a crapton of dumb+ devices with a bunch of Shelly stuff (notably Plug S are dead easy): washing machine, water heater, mechanical ventilation, light switches, thermostatic valves...

+ And in a few cases smart ones too, except I compared what I can do with the first party offering and my hackjob, and it's nuts that not only the first party shit is never local when technically it could totally be, but that my hacked-together BS is more useful than the first party option, on top of being 100% local.

Re: New iMac with M4

#892

Post by ChildOfChaos »

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 am in the same boat as I have an iMac 2015, although I specced it up from Apple at the time and it's just about holding on.

You can buy something like the camlink 4k from elgato which will give it a HDMI via video capture. I'm actually typing this now on a windows laptop that is connected to this.

It just means you need to boot the Mac and run the app, put it full screen and then you are done. The fans go like crazy though and obviously you need a working Mac.

I love this machine, but when it's time to upgrade, i'm going back to a seperate monitor setup for this reason. Maybe a studio display + mini.

Re: New iMac with M4

#893

Post by fragmede »

zombiwoof wrote: post #882

What are some reasons these can’t be used as monitors? I’d imagine only upside if they could as I’d buy one in an instant if I could use it as a monitor for my MacBook

There's no displayport/HDMI/dvi/vga port on the monitor. Apple did n't implement target monitor mode. OTOH, if you have a mac of some sort, you can use it as an airplay target and mirror/extend your desktop, so it can be used as an external monitor, just not generically.

Re: New iMac with M4

#895

Post by wildrhythms »

aledalgrande wrote: post #784
dllu wrote: post #474

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Using a large 8K display for productivity is underrated. I wrote a blog post about my experience: https://daniel.lawrence.lu/blog/y2023m12d15/

I'm the opposite: for me extra or bigger screens are overrated. I'm definitely the minority because almost all my colleagues have a second screen. I think DHH is the only one I have seen using a 13" because of the focus. And I agree with him: one maximized window at a time, all my focus in it. No neck craning etc. And I can work from anywhere, don't have to be at my (home) desk. I organize projects by desktop (Mac OS…

I find the 3 finger swipe to be sub-optimal due to the animation time, and if you disable animations it switches to a fade animation that seemingly takes longer. The only way I can effectively use a low resolution screen is with a tiling wm like i3 or sway.

Re: New iMac with M4

#896

Post by ciroduran »

jerich wrote: post #707
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…

Apple should hire a couple hackers to create “end-of-life” firmware for their obsolete devices; give them new life as super-specialized devices. Part green program, part customer delight, even some wacky art projects. Maybe if an iMac doesn’t have a video input—have it boot as an AirPlay-only monitor. I’ve got 2 old EOL appleTV boxes sitting in a drawer—again, one last firmware update to make them dedicated AirPlay r…

Fun thing: I bought a board + enclosure for an iPad screen from AliExpress. I had a 2011 iPad to which I had no practical use. I did have to break the iPad (RIP) so I could detach the screen, but in return I got a really nice crisp display with mini-HDMI ports, cool!

Re: New iMac with M4

#897

Post by Gigachad »

shiroiushi wrote: post #838
Schiendelman wrote: post #764

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Waterproofing. It really is that simple. The math would never work out trading that for easy replaceability. And every average user can get a shop to replace their battery.

The old Samsung Galaxy S5 was waterproof and had a user-replaceable battery, so your argument doesn't hold water.

Waterproofing isn't a yes/no feature. Modern phones are way more waterproof and dust resistant than the S5. The plastic back on the S5 would quickly develop cracks that would let water in.

Re: New iMac with M4

#898

Post by sigh_again »

schmorptron wrote: post #864
hnburnsy wrote: post #817

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They'll also never let the iPad run macOS, because if people could own one device instead of two, that would be bad for their profits. They'll keep them cleanly differentiated for as long as they can. They also don't have profiles on the iPad because then families could share devices which would be bad for their profits. Instead it is one iPad per person.

That functionality used to exist on Android, but I haven't seen it show up on the past two phones I owned. Does it still exist in stock and xiaomi just got rid of it for whatever reason?

It definitely still exists on AOSP, and most vendors still have it. Xiaomi did get rid of it. It used to be available, then only available if you "disable MIUI optimizations", then it's been entirely removed. Whether this is to force you to buy two phones, or simply as a result of how amateurish the software stack on Xiaomi phones is up to debate.

Re: New iMac with M4

#899

Post by zephyrfalcon »

slashdave wrote: post #370
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.

But... new colors!

So they say, but I'm really not sure what has changed... see https://support.apple.com/en-us/111895 ...?

Re: New iMac with M4

#900

Post by Etheryte »

tylerrobinson wrote: post #432
VyseofArcadia wrote: post #327

I love in Apple product announcements when they show people doing tasks that not only don't require recent hardware, but in fact could have been done without much trouble 20 or 30 years ago. Specifically talking about the ice cream spreadsheet that I suppose was there to show off how small businesses can use the new iMac. I'm sure it's a fine machine, but it does to me highlight the upgrade treadmill.

> iMac with M4 features the world’s fastest CPU core, making multitasking across apps like Safari and Excel lightning fast. This stuck out for me too, plus the examples of using Siri on the desktop. I reckon that invoking Siri to say, "Send Gema a text" and then having to proofread and approve the message is more effort than just sending Gema a text. Same for typing out "turn on do not disturb". You could imagine the…

You can also talk to Siri, you don't need to type any of it. I know their demo shows typing, but that's an easier visualization since you don't really want the webpage to be playing video with sound out of the blue. In this case I think it is simply a trade off of making the presentation more clear for the audience.
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