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Jumpinbeans

macrumors member
Nov 29, 2012
78
150
I'm pondering the merits of a 2020 iMac vs mac mini + screen vs studio + screen. iMac would be about £1800 with memory, mini about £3000, studio about £4500.

I've used a 27" 2011 iMac for ages and whilst still working (ok'ish) its showing its age. If i knew the 27" 2020 iMac would be supported for like 5yrs i might go that route but am unsure....How long do you all reckon Apple will be supporting the 2020 iMacs both in OS updates and security?
 

pshufd

macrumors G4
Oct 24, 2013
10,145
14,572
New Hampshire
I'm pondering the merits of a 2020 iMac vs mac mini + screen vs studio + screen. iMac would be about £1800 with memory, mini about £3000, studio about £4500.

I've used a 27" 2011 iMac for ages and whilst still working (ok'ish) its showing its age. If i knew the 27" 2020 iMac would be supported for like 5yrs i might go that route but am unsure....How long do you all reckon Apple will be supporting the 2020 iMacs both in OS updates and security?

 
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ADGrant

macrumors 68000
Mar 26, 2018
1,689
1,059
I'm pondering the merits of a 2020 iMac vs mac mini + screen vs studio + screen. iMac would be about £1800 with memory, mini about £3000, studio about £4500.

I've used a 27" 2011 iMac for ages and whilst still working (ok'ish) its showing its age. If i knew the 27" 2020 iMac would be supported for like 5yrs i might go that route but am unsure....How long do you all reckon Apple will be supporting the 2020 iMacs both in OS updates and security?
Apple is still selling Intel Macs and the Intel Mini and Mac Pro might stick around for a while. As mentioned in the linked information, Apple provides service and parts for at least 5 years after the last sale of a model so you can expect hardware support for a 2020 iMac for another 5 years. I expect OS support to last longer since Intel Macs may not be completely discontinued by the end of this year.
 

MultiFinder17

macrumors 68030
Jan 8, 2008
2,740
2,087
Tampa, Florida
I'm pondering the merits of a 2020 iMac vs mac mini + screen vs studio + screen. iMac would be about £1800 with memory, mini about £3000, studio about £4500.

I've used a 27" 2011 iMac for ages and whilst still working (ok'ish) its showing its age. If i knew the 27" 2020 iMac would be supported for like 5yrs i might go that route but am unsure....How long do you all reckon Apple will be supporting the 2020 iMacs both in OS updates and security?
I wouldn't be surprised to see macOS support for at least another 5-6 years for the T2 Macs. At least, given that I just got a 2020 27" myself, that's what I hope for :p
 

ondert

macrumors 6502a
Aug 11, 2017
692
997
Canada
hey guys, I too just placed an order yesterday for an 2020 5k iMac w/ i7, 5700xt before they are all gone. I know this machine very well and sure this will serve me for the next a few years at least while the Apple Silicon models got more support.

I'm open to ram upgrade options, looking to get 2x16gb for now.
 

costica1234

macrumors regular
May 21, 2013
203
150
hey guys, I too just placed an order yesterday for an 2020 5k iMac w/ i7, 5700xt before they are all gone. I know this machine very well and sure this will serve me for the next a few years at least while the Apple Silicon models got more support.

I'm open to ram upgrade options, looking to get 2x16gb for now.
Congrats on your purchase!

As for RAM, I highly recommend Crucial. I am running 4x16GB for almost an year now and everything is smooth (I had 2x16GB for the first 6 months but then added 2 more 16GB sticks).
 
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ondert

macrumors 6502a
Aug 11, 2017
692
997
Canada
Congrats on your purchase!

As for RAM, I highly recommend Crucial. I am running 4x16GB for almost an year now and everything is smooth (I had 2x16GB for the first 6 months but then added 2 more 16GB sticks).

Thanks! I have used Hynix or Micron RAMs on my iMacs before. How about TimeTec? They are being sold on Amazon right now and advertised as Mac compatible.


ps: still piss off how this iMac sells for 2500 CAD while the studio display itself is 2000 CAD...
 

pshufd

macrumors G4
Oct 24, 2013
10,145
14,572
New Hampshire
Thanks! I have used Hynix or Micron RAMs on my iMacs before. How about TimeTec? They are being sold on Amazon right now and advertised as Mac compatible.


ps: still piss off how this iMac sells for 2500 CAD while the studio display itself is 2000 CAD...

I use A-Tech. Used to use Crucial but I have been very happy with A-Tech on my 2010 and 2014 iMacs. It's half the price of Crucial. At least for DDR3.
 

wilberforce

macrumors 68030
Aug 15, 2020
2,930
3,207
SF Bay Area
Thanks! I have used Hynix or Micron RAMs on my iMacs before. How about TimeTec? They are being sold on Amazon right now and advertised as Mac compatible.


ps: still piss off how this iMac sells for 2500 CAD while the studio display itself is 2000 CAD...
I used that exact same Timetec 2x16GB kit, and it seemed to work just the same as a Crucial 2x16GB kit. I returned it, only because I decided I needed only 32GB, not 64GB
 

ondert

macrumors 6502a
Aug 11, 2017
692
997
Canada
I used that exact same Timetec 2x16GB kit, and it seemed to work just the same as a Crucial 2x16GB kit. I returned it, only because I decided I needed only 32GB, not 64GB
These are quite cheap compared to others, but saw a few one-star reviews too.

What was the difference between dual rank RAM and the single?
 
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SoYoung

macrumors 68000
Jul 3, 2015
1,545
955
Is someone know when they refresh the refurb store with new entries? There's not much left in the Canadian Apple Stores with no model I want left...
 

ondioline

macrumors 6502
May 5, 2020
297
299
I'd really love to know -why- Apple wanted this one off i9, and why they believed it was 'better'.
AFAICT it's because the 2020 iMac doesn't implement the features introduced in the 10th gen chipset (z490)

Going off the boost speeds, it only supports TBT 2.0 like the 9th gen processors. This also accounts for the lower XMP memory profile for the DDR4-2666

The 10910 functionally has the exact same boost profile as the 9900k. I assume this was done because they didn't see a point in upgrading the SMBIOS to support the 10th gen features.
 

zeratul75

macrumors member
Jul 26, 2020
87
22
What does the T2 security chip exactly do?
I mean, does it involve hardware only checks (I read something about allowing boot from usb devices...) or software as well?
For example, my concern exactly is: Is it still possible to allow app being installed from outside the app store (I mean disabling gatekeeper)?
 

PBG4 Dude

macrumors 601
Jul 6, 2007
4,361
4,644
You can install apps from outside of the Apple software store. You can also bot from an external drive, but you’ll need to boot into recovery mode to change a setting first.

The T2 handles this stuff as well as being the internal SSD controller and handling FileVault encryption. The T2 chip also provides hardware encode/decode for different video types like h.264/265 techniques. Not sure what else it controls in the 2020 iMac, but these functions were touched on during the 2020 iMac reveal.
 
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ADGrant

macrumors 68000
Mar 26, 2018
1,689
1,059
You can install apps from outside of the Apple software store. You can also bot from an external drive, but you’ll need to boot into recovery mode to change a setting first.

The T2 handles this stuff as well as being the internal SSD controller and handling FileVault encryption. The T2 chip also provides hardware encode/decode for different video types like h.264/265 techniques. Not sure what else it controls in the 2020 iMac, but these functions were touched on during the 2020 iMac reveal.
It is possible to boot Windows from the internal SSD using Bootcamp because Bootcamp injects an T2 compatible SSD driver into the Windows Boot software. Given the port of Linux to M1 Macs, I suspect it might be possible to create a bootable linux for T2 Macs leveraging some of the knowledge gained from the port (and the PS4 linux port). In M1 Macs, the T2 functionality has been incorporated into the main M1 SoC but I suspect the SSD controllers aren't that different though the actual boot process will be different. The PS4, like the T2 Macs, has a x64/ARM64 hybrid architecture.
 

ondert

macrumors 6502a
Aug 11, 2017
692
997
Canada
Guys my brand new i7\5700XT 5K iMac runs hot, I just started using it yesterday. I assume it's because of indexing some stuff at the background but can't see anything pushing the cpu on activity monitor. It's constantly between 80-90 Celsius degree, even saw 94.
 

ADGrant

macrumors 68000
Mar 26, 2018
1,689
1,059
Guys my brand new i7\5700XT 5K iMac runs hot, I just started using it yesterday. I assume it's because of indexing some stuff at the background but can't see anything pushing the cpu on activity monitor. It's constantly between 80-90 Celsius degree, even saw 94.
My 18 month old i9/5700XT is currently showing a temp between 36 and 38 degrees Celsius. If I max out the cores it will go to 95 Celsius but I can clearly see what is causing that on the activity monitors. What speed are your fans running at?
 

ondert

macrumors 6502a
Aug 11, 2017
692
997
Canada
My 18 month old i9/5700XT is currently showing a temp between 36 and 38 degrees Celsius. If I max out the cores it will go to 95 Celsius but I can clearly see what is causing that on the activity monitors. What speed are your fans running at?
Fan is at idle. Okay I can see them on the activity monitor. There are two things called mds and mds_stores. CPU PECI just touched 100 celcius while writing this.
 

ADGrant

macrumors 68000
Mar 26, 2018
1,689
1,059
Fan is at idle. Okay I can see them on the activity monitor. There are two things called mds and mds_stores. CPU PECI just touched 100 celcius while writing this.
The fans should not be at idle if the temps are close to 100. You should probably talk to Apple.
 

ondert

macrumors 6502a
Aug 11, 2017
692
997
Canada
Dude it's still the same. Can't see anything major on activity monitor and it jumps to 95 degree and at idle it's always between 80 and 90 degree. This is when it jumped to 95 celcius;



edit: I have installed windows through bootcamp to an external ssd, to do that I had to unlock Startup Security utility. It sounds so weird but could this be the reason? Because when I set it to default settings and restart, the temps dropped to 55-60 degree but still seems high right? In any case, I'm planning to return this and re-order a new one with higher ssd capacity so I can install windows directly to Mac's ssd.

edit2: forget what I wrote above, the security is ON now and the temps are the same.
 

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