TEAMSWITCHER

SMH... More Fusion drives on the entry SKUs? Why on Earth can't Apple transition these EXPENSIVE machines to solid state like the rest of their line up? This isn't even amusing anymore... Apple is hocking an old design that could be dramatically improved with a few simple changes to improve cooling. And still hopelessly stuck on AMD Vega graphics, with no ability to choose. I've said this before, I'll say it again... Tim Cook is the absolute worst thing that ever happened to the Mac. The Mac is dying.

Mike Wuerthele said:

TEAMSWITCHER said:

Mike Wuerthele said:

TEAMSWITCHER said:

We already have a solution for this problem.  Apple's bean counter mentality, with regard to the Mac, has simply become un-acceptable.  This year, in lieu of upgrading desktop iMacs, we will be swapping them out for PC workstations with nvidia graphics.  Tim Cook is no Steve Jobs .. He appears to be willing to force Mac users into accepting lower quality hardware to make a miserable few more dollars.  Every single Mac that has failed in our shop over the last few years had an AMD graphics solution.  In addition, the state of AMD drivers on the Mac is pathetic at best - we have code that works great on even Intel graphics but fails on machines with AMD graphics.  We are simply done with this.

As opposed to what? This is the same, logically, as saying that every Mac that's failed in your shop over the last few years had an Intel processor.

But that is not the case.  We have not had ANY Macs fail that used nvidia graphics or had only Intel Iris Pro graphics - as on the 13" MacBook Pro.  The ONLY commonality of  the failed machines was that they had AMD graphics - and in every case it was the GPU that had failed.   In addition, we are experiencing bizarre WebGL rendering artifacts on macOS machines with AMD graphics - even using the Google Chrome Web Browser.  You can install Windows (using BootCamp) on these same machines and the WebGL rendering artifacts do NOT occur.  Clearly the issue is with BUGGY AMD Graphics drivers for macOS - that Apple has completely failed to address.  The inability to adhere to web standards is a complete DEAL-BREAKER.

Driver issues are a different matter, and I don’t disagree with you there. However, the service data we have doesn’t bear out your presumption that the AMD GPU is failing at a high rate.

I’m not saying that it isn’t happening to you, though. It just isn’t a sign of anything beyond your own use case.

The most expensive Macs (iMac, iMac Pro, and 15" Mac Book Pro) were "designed for professionals" (I have to put that in quotes) .. but all use AMD graphics.  It's sad because Apple had a chance to retain professional users and they are BLOWING IT!!

Ask yourself this question ... How long must WebGL 2 stay an "Experimental Feature" in Safari?  We have been testing with it .. and haven't seen them move the needle on quality .. one ... tiny ... bit, in the last year.  How long are we supposed to wait?  When crappy two-year old Android Tablets can provide WebGL 2 support, but a $2800 15" MacBook Pro ... cannot.   THAT IS BLOWING IT!!  

Mike Wuerthele said:

TEAMSWITCHER said:

We already have a solution for this problem.  Apple's bean counter mentality, with regard to the Mac, has simply become un-acceptable.  This year, in lieu of upgrading desktop iMacs, we will be swapping them out for PC workstations with nvidia graphics.  Tim Cook is no Steve Jobs .. He appears to be willing to force Mac users into accepting lower quality hardware to make a miserable few more dollars.  Every single Mac that has failed in our shop over the last few years had an AMD graphics solution.  In addition, the state of AMD drivers on the Mac is pathetic at best - we have code that works great on even Intel graphics but fails on machines with AMD graphics.  We are simply done with this.

As opposed to what? This is the same, logically, as saying that every Mac that's failed in your shop over the last few years had an Intel processor.

But that is not the case.  We have not had ANY Macs fail that used nvidia graphics or had only Intel Iris Pro graphics - as on the 13" MacBook Pro.  The ONLY commonality of  the failed machines was that they had AMD graphics - and in every case it was the GPU that had failed.   In addition, we are experiencing bizarre WebGL rendering artifacts on macOS machines with AMD graphics - even using the Google Chrome Web Browser.  You can install Windows (using BootCamp) on these same machines and the WebGL rendering artifacts do NOT occur.  Clearly the issue is with BUGGY AMD Graphics drivers for macOS - that Apple has completely failed to address.  The inability to adhere to web standards is a complete DEAL-BREAKER.

We already have a solution for this problem.  Apple's bean counter mentality, with regard to the Mac, has simply become un-acceptable.  This year, in lieu of upgrading desktop iMacs, we will be swapping them out for PC workstations with nvidia graphics.  Tim Cook is no Steve Jobs .. He appears to be willing to force Mac users into accepting lower quality hardware to make a miserable few more dollars.  Every single Mac that has failed in our shop over the last few years had an AMD graphics solution.  In addition, the state of AMD drivers on the Mac is pathetic at best - we have code that works great on even Intel graphics but fails on machines with AMD graphics.  We are simply done with this.

I really want to see the return of Nvidia Macs.  Tim Cook ... make this happen.