buying advice help 2d,3d oriented ..

[Vladimir Rikowski]

Hi to all ... in short .. Im stuck ( maybe because I burn out my brain watching reviews and talks about imacs, arm M1,etc.. )
I don't know if I should go with an 2020 27 5k imac 1300-1400 $
or an M1 mac mini 16gb ram 512ssd similar $$ imac
my biggest concern is the ''RAM'' in the M1 chip IF those 16 GB would be enough or its just an illusion , I know apple makes good usage of ram but still ..
some context: I work as a 2d artist .. illustrator .. so mostly photoshop,corelpainter etc.. and I do some stuff with Z-Brush nothing commercial yet .. and I want to start learning Blender (maybe Modo.. ) focusing on modeling texturing ,etc.. no animation ..
my main workpony (today ) is an old cintiq companion i7 2 with 16 gb ram .
I had a pc but its not in working conditions anymore
and I was suing an 2017 ipad pro for professional work but I feel the need of a mac OS computer... and honestly I so fed up of windows issues .. heat .bugs .. etc.. (in the recent past I had not only a pc but a gaming laptop (that was used99% for work , I don't game )..but always had problems with overheating ,and after a 2 years something happened to its motherboard.. x( )

1 - my first idea was to buy a 2020 5k imac *base model) self upgrade ram and later maybe change the cpu . using this as a ''brindge'' strategy'' .. waiting for the next gen M chips ( M2 ) waiting that the whole thing would be more polished and mature ..
or..
2- just jump to the m1 mac mini 16gb . adding and external ssd and a 4k 27 monitor . this could save me the struggles of self open the imac lcd .. and buying the cpu etc..etc..
but I ont know and here's come the struggling .. if those 16 gb ram would be enough ..
for photoshop maybe .. I never had more than 60-70 layers ..
but for Zbrush ? when I start to use z brush .. 16 gb ram starts to feel very constricted .. but Im not an pro maybe im doing something wrong ..
in short .. imac is very tempting to have it as a bridge learning tool with its glorious 5k monitor..
but mac mini 16 gb seems like the way to go new chip very fast low wattage .. but those 16gb ram mm
are there any 3d users here who use or used their M1 to do some light stuff ? modeling texturing rendering .. vehicles .. sci fi stuff ..
Im not talking about anything high-zillions of polygons ..

thanks in advance .

ps: just for in case .. why Im not build a new pc .. well I don't want to spend one, two or 3 times the price of a gpu . and I honestly tired of windows ..

 

[MarkC426]

Firstly I would wait a couple of weeks and see what is mentioned at WWDC.

M1 mini, gpu maybe a bit weak for Zbrush type work and no eGPU options.
iMac is not user upgraedable for cpu, so you will void your warranty.

 

[pmiles]

For higher end work, you need a higher end computer. The current M1s do not fit that bill. You'll want to wait for the announcement of their higher end models. Those are the ones you want to look at. They will not be cheap.

To be quite honest, you are probably going to be looking at the top of the line... anything less is likely going to be a bottleneck... unless you are seriously only doing simple stuff. Apple's top tier Mac Pro desktop is what you should be looking for... only with ARM.

Yes, a custom built PC with all the works is going to be cheaper, more upgradable than any Mac you will buy. Macs are not cheap, their niche. You pay extra for the logo... the badge of, I'm so cool, I can afford to spend more than I should on a computer club.

P.S. I've done 3D work in Alias, Wavefront, Softimage, Maya, Lightwave, and Max over the years... some of those you may not even know... all of them required spending some serious coin on a machine to do the work well. You skimp, you just have to eat the pain that comes with it.

 

[Vladimir Rikowski]

Firstly I would wait a couple of weeks and see what is mentioned at WWDC.

M1 mini, gpu maybe a bit weak for Zbrush type work and no eGPU options.
iMac is not user upgraedable for cpu, so you will void your warranty.

thaxs Mark .. yeah I was thinking to open imac and swap the spu myself but risk is there. and its not minimal. and the warranty .. so maybe waiting a few more weeks like u said .. but that waiting is getting hard
.. sometimes I feel like my cntiq companion 2 is going to explode .. or something

 

[Vladimir Rikowski]

For higher end work, you need a higher end computer. The current M1s do not fit that bill. You'll want to wait for the announcement of their higher end models. Those are the ones you want to look at. They will not be cheap.

To be quite honest, you are probably going to be looking at the top of the line... anything less is likely going to be a bottleneck... unless you are seriously only doing simple stuff. Apple's top tier Mac Pro desktop is what you should be looking for... only with ARM.

Yes, a custom built PC with all the works is going to be cheaper, more upgradable than any Mac you will buy. Macs are not cheap, their niche. You pay extra for the logo... the badge of, I'm so cool, I can afford to spend more than I should on a computer club.

P.S. I've done 3D work in Alias, Wavefront, Softimage, Maya, Lightwave, and Max over the years... some of those you may not even know... all of them required spending some serious coin on a machine to do the work well. You skimp, you just have to eat the pain that comes with it.

thank you pmiles! yes I thought about Mac Pro .. but its bit of an overkill .. its not that I can't buy it but .. I prefer to wait because I would not make money with it I will just learn so .. spending that much right now .. is bit of like too much to me .. but I got your point about '' not being skimp ''(or a cheap rat D)
I thought using 2020 imac as a bridge ..
( softimage yay! yes I remember it .. I try it for a brief moment of time loong time ago .. 3d great program I think maya (autodesk) took lot of things from it and put inside maya .. (?)
Im not a pro in regards of 3d software .. I just know zbrush ( mid level .. still learning ) my main income is from 2d art ..illustrations ..etc..
just a question ..: regarding those 16gb ram on the m1 chips .. they still are 16 gigs of ram I mean if Start to create and add layers ,polygons, etc.. ram will fill up quickly as in x86 machines right ?
theres no difference in that aspect from windows machines . ?
thanx s

 

[MarkC426]

Might be worth giving this a read.
AS with unified ram works COMPLETELY different to intel/amd CPU's.
There are numerous threads about it in the Silicon macs section.

Mac Pro to M1?

Hey Gang, I currently have a older Mac Pro (early 2008 - 2 x2.8 Quad Core Xeon, 32 GB Ramm 3,1) that I use daily for Photoshop/retouching. It has served me well and is still going strong save for a few upgrades I can no longer do. I have been thinking about an 'upgrade' to a Mac Mini 16GB...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[richinaus]

For higher end work, you need a higher end computer. The current M1s do not fit that bill. You'll want to wait for the announcement of their higher end models. Those are the ones you want to look at. They will not be cheap.

To be quite honest, you are probably going to be looking at the top of the line... anything less is likely going to be a bottleneck... unless you are seriously only doing simple stuff. Apple's top tier Mac Pro desktop is what you should be looking for... only with ARM.

Yes, a custom built PC with all the works is going to be cheaper, more upgradable than any Mac you will buy. Macs are not cheap, their niche. You pay extra for the logo... the badge of, I'm so cool, I can afford to spend more than I should on a computer club.

P.S. I've done 3D work in Alias, Wavefront, Softimage, Maya, Lightwave, and Max over the years... some of those you may not even know... all of them required spending some serious coin on a machine to do the work well. You skimp, you just have to eat the pain that comes with it.

Couldn’t agree more with the above.

Not many people on this forum realise the extent you can push your system with 3D. I often run my GPU [like daily these days] at 100% capacity for hours.… nothing is fast enough