keithw

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keithw
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  • The new Apple Silicon Mac Pro badly misses the mark for most of the target market

    Perhaps it's too early to write off the Mac Pro entirely. It's clearly a placeholder product. Here's a job description for a job Apple is currently trying to hire for:
    "As a GPU Design Engineer, you will be responsible for delivering high-quality, low-power graphics IP that meets our performance, timing, and area goals. You will explore design trade-offs, while employing rigorous design principles. Additionally, you will be required to understand and contribute to cutting edge microarchitectural specifications, while designing best in class GPUs. To accomplish this, you will collaborate closely with cross-functional teams in architecture, validation, modeling, and physical design."

    roundaboutnowlolliverrobin huberAlex1Ndanoxwatto_cobracgWerks
  • If you want a custom Mac Studio or MacBook Pro, expect to wait up to three months

    It's not just Apple. Just try to get a Nikon Z9 mirrorless camera.  It may be 6 months or more before you get one.
    okypinokydoozydozenmichelb76ravnorodom
  • The new Apple Silicon Mac Pro badly misses the mark for most of the target market

    I'm getting 192,834 on Geekbench 6.0.3 metal with my 2017 iMac Pro with a TB3-based Sonnettech eGPU with a Radeon RX 6900 XT.  It's disappointing that the M2 Ultra apparently can't even reach that number!
    muthuk_vanalingamlam92103williamlondonAlex1N9secondkox2FileMakerFellercurtis hannah
  • Future Mac Pro may use Apple Silicon & PCI-E GPUs in parallel

    This would be very useful if it comes to pass! It would give 3D graphics users the "best of both worlds," SOC GPUs and discrete GPUs.  My eGPU on my 6 year-old iMac Pro breathed new life into it.  While its CPU performance isn't even up to the original M1 performance, the eGPU performance blows away anything currently available on the ASi architecture, including the M2 Max.  Perhaps that advantage is short-lived if the M2 Ultra or M3 can increase the graphics performance!  For the record, the GB6 metal performance of my AMD eGPU is 194703.
    d_2tenthousandthingsroundaboutnowcgWerkswatto_cobra
  • WWDC unlikely to see debuts of any new hardware at all

    The typical 'too bad. my credit card is waiting. Apple is taking too long' crowd has entered the chat.

    Meanwhile their current computer does everything they need everyday.




    No, I'm using a 2017 iMac Pro, and it's getting VERY long in the tooth. Yes, I DO need the power of a Mac Studio. I'm doing things now I never even dreamed of doing on the iMac Pro.  Yes, Apple IS taking too long. Buying an M2-based Mac Studio would be foolish at his point.  The M4 in the iPad Pro is 2.8x faster in single core and 1.74X faster in multicore than my old iMac Pro.  So please don't make generalizations!
    Chris_Pelhamwilliamlondond_2danox9secondkox2watto_cobraAlex1Nargonaut
  • Geekbench ML 0.6 lets you directly compare Mac against iPhone

    Just to give everybody an idea of how far we've come in only 6 years, the iPhone 15 Pro Max beats my old iMac 2017 (10 core) in 2 of the 3 Geekbench 0.6 ML benchmarks. The iPhone got CPU, GPU and Neural Engine of 2517,3560, and 6024 respectively.  The iMac, with its AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT eGPU, scored 475, 4618, and 4681.   It took a dedicated GPU to outperform an iPhone!  I'd love to see the results of the M3 Max on this test!
    ForumPostappleinsideruserwatto_cobra
  • Apple is readied for an entire week of M4 Mac announcements

    Really only interested in the Mac Studio. No other machines support enough RAM.

    At the very least they should release an M4 Studio Max immediately, especially since there was never an M3 Studio Max.  Waiting for the "Ultra" chip to be available seems unnecessary.  I neither need nor want an M4-based MacBook Pro.  I'm trying to replace my aging 2017 iMac Pro, which has served me well for the last 7 years.  But my M4 iPad Pro can outperform it!  The "current" MBP is $6000 with maximum core count, 128GB of RAM, and 4TB of disk.  I'm guessing the new one will be similarly priced.

    williamlondonsurgefilterAlex1Nmacike9secondkox2watto_cobra
  • M2 Pro & Max GPUs are fast -- but not faster than M1 Ultra

    If I did the math right, the M2 Max over the M1 Max was 47.5% higher on "Metal."  Hypothesizing equal improvements, we may get 139,500 out of the M2 Ultra in the Studio (whenever Apple decides to release it.) That's ALMOST as fast as I'm getting with my AMD 6900XT eGPU on my 2017 iMac Pro. With all of this said, I can't imagine Apple releasing a Mac Pro (with any chip!) that can't meet the "Metal" result already posted by the Intel Mac Pro:  166946. 
    atonaldenimwatto_cobramuthuk_vanalingam9secondkox2rezwits
  • The new Apple Silicon Mac Pro badly misses the mark for most of the target market

    I just saw the M2 UItra Metal result on GB:  281,948,  which IS better than I can get with my eGPU, which gives me 191,426 on GB 6.1.   So I guess Apple has accomplished what I was hoping they would. 
    roundaboutnowwatto_cobrawilliamlondonjas99
  • Late 2025 for M4 Mac Studio & Mac Pro seems more certain now

    Another bone-headed move by Apple if true! Who in their right mind would buy an M2 Studio at this point?   There will be no M3 Studio.  I don’t want or need a high-end laptop, M3, M4, whatever.  I want the I/O capability afforded by the Studio line.  Let’s get the M4 Studio line out sooner than later!
    jesusfreakwilliamlondonwatto_cobra