cgWerks

elijahg said:

Seems a shame, the high-end 27" iMac was a beast. I suppose though keeping that around would have shown what a ripoff the new display is, since the base 27" iMac was only $200 more than the new display but for an entire computer. No more cable-free experience if you want 27" anymore either. Really haven't been happy with Apple's Mac direction as of late. We've gone from stagnation to incompatibility and expense. Same direction as the mid-90's Macs. Excellent machines in their own right, but pricey and proprietary. 

There's just no need for the 'beast' aspect now, I guess. I don't doubt we'll eventually see an iMac 27"+, but the need for a high-end, but not quite pro all-in-one may be over as far as Apple is concerned. Yes, the new display pricing seems kind of crazy.

As for pricing, kinda sorta. They are pricing more like the old Mac days rather than the late-90s to mid-2000s, but we're also getting a heck of a lot more computer for the money these days (whether the average buyer realizes or needs that). Aside from GPU abilities, Macs across the whole line are now as good or better than the top end PCs.

Yeah, this pretty much ticks all the boxes for me, with the exception of expandability (which in my case is just entry-level cost-savings). I don't have any cards to put in it, and I wonder how many people really do anymore.

The big point of having enough computing power in a machine that can actually cool itself adequately, looks to be addressed (I assume it cools itself well enough to run full-out for long periods w/o degrading the hardware).

I do wish eGPUs would return, so I could add even more future GPU power (whereas an xMac could have done that). But, aside from that, this is perfect (or better, given the form-factor).

Bravo, Apple!

(And, apologies to everyone who had to put up with so many of us complaining for years or decades, but I'd like to think maybe we played some role in this finally coming to fruition. The reason I say that, is because they absolutely could have built this thing to be just a bit taller than the current mini, w/o adequate cooling... which is what they've been doing for decades!)

Can someone explain the pricing of this display to me? Is it that much better than the screen that came in the $1800 iMac? I was hoping it would be closer to $1k. While I realize the options for that exact kind of display (resolution, size, specs) limits you to one 3rd party (ie. LG UltraFine), do most of us really need those specs? I think I'd be just fine with something like a BenQ 4k, etc. (or almost a half-dozen of them!) What am I missing?

keithw said:
The speculation was the "Duo" (now formally called the Ultra) would be two M1 Max Chips in tandem. It stands to reason that the "Quad" that has been speculated will be in the Mac Pro.  The only question is which superlative are they are they going to use: "Ultra Ultra"?  "Super-duper"?  "Hyper"?

Can they connect 4 together with that interface? Or, do they run into that software development problem he spoke of, with 2 separate 'CPUs'?

dewme said:

DAalseth said:

An amazing system. I can’t justify spending money on that much power, but I’m glad we finally have the really powerful headless Mac we’ve wanted for decades. 

I’m really curious though as to what’s inside the box. I’m very interested when iFixit does a teardown.

I’d imagine the primary contributor to the additional height versus a Mac mini is the cooling tower needed for the M1 Ultra. 

You can pretty much see in the presentation or on the web site. It's like power-supply on the bottom, with the board/CPU/GPU above that, then the cooling system taking up the top like 3/5ths.

briceio said:

Still not aimed at game developers... they keep speaking about creators and developers in their videos, but clearly not game devs: UE5 is partially working and missing a lot of its core features on Mac, the last M1 Unity versions just keep crashing, DAZ3D doesn't work anymore since the switch from Intel, no Reallusion softs on Mac ... I guess Windows is still the future for us, even if I hate this So much power wasted  

Yep, and CAD and 3D people, unless using the right tools. Notice how prominently they featured Vectorworks. I also understand the alpha/beta Blender stuff is looking promising. I think it will just take time before stuff works out on the software side. The problem is that the particular tools you use may or may not do so. There will be tools, they just might not be the ones you want/need.

For example, in CAD, some of the core modeling kernels aren't update for Apple Silicon, which means emulation/Rosetta2 performance at best. I'm hoping some Windows solutions eventually get good enough and mainstream, as well.

I'm actually going to start trying to learn Vectorworks. I know Revit, but after seeing Vectorworks, i'd *much* rather end up working at a Vectorworks based place than a Revit one. That's also going to be a *slow* impact on the industry. The software makers who don't embrace this, might end up suffering some industry-loss in that way, was well.

hentaiboy said:

So what happened to the revised Mini and cheaper display, Ming?
Paging Ming…

Next year? I'm sure we'll eventually get an updated mini. But, I think from Apple's perspective, its transition is already complete. Next opportunity is when it gets M2.

crowley said:
Or Apple are just pulling their usual tricks with upgrade prices.  "actually reasonable"  

Oh yeah, we're paying more than just a component price increase. Would we expect any less from Apple?

chadbag said:
I am not likely to buy the Apple Studio monitor.  Not large enough for my needs and too expensive for my needs.  But I am sure it hits the spot for a lot of people 

Yeah, unless I'm missing something, it is just aimed at the premium market who want matching Apple stuff. I'm disappointed there. I don't get why it costs more than the equivalent with a whole computer included.

jabohn said:
I guess I'll be looking for one of the last Intel 27" iMacs or a refurb. I'm not interested in moving away from the all-in-one design and spending $5000 to get it in 2 parts (Studio + display). The 24-inch model is not an option. Sheesh - I just convinced my bosses to upgrade our Macs to 27-inch models and we're not done yet.

I kind of get it, but I also don't. The aesthetics are THAT important? What about a mini or base Studio with a 3rd party display? If you don't absolutely need Retina rez or exactly 5k, or exact screen-size, then there are a bunch of much cheaper options, right? Put the savings into a much faster Mac.

auxio said:
Thanks for the info.  I guess Apple had to forgo some features to get the ASi transition going, and TDM didn't make the chopping block.  Not many people really knew about it outside of us power users.

What I don't get is why they can't simply add a bit of hardware and an input select button. It couldn't cost much (as even $100 displays have it), and would make an iMac way more attractive to anyone but the most minimal setups. Heck, even an average consumer might get use out of plugging their Xbox into their iMac, etc. Apple's reluctance here baffles me.