The clock is ticking on software upgrades for the 2020 Intel iMacs. I’m thinking 2026 for last release of fully supported MacOS plus 2 years of additional security upgrades (assuming the understanding of 5 years of software support until the model becomes vintage).
It’s infamous in my words because if you’re a non US user who wants more than M1 power and connectivity then it’s a super deal as the international exchange rates haven’t yet caught up with it. If you don’t need portability then the Mac Studio is next best but stocks are limited thanks to supply chain issues.
Right on.macr
I'm in the same boat. I've got a 2019 i9 iMac with a 2 TB SSD and 128 GB RAM. The least expensive AS combo that would replace it would run $6800: $5200 for a 2 TB/128 GB Ultra plus $1600 for a 27" ASD (more if you include AC+, which my iMac has). Plus my own benchmark testing on my workflow (which is mostly SC-CPU performance-dependent) says the speed improvement I'd get would be small.
It doesn't make sense to spend that kind of money unless the performance improvement is striking, and the general rule of thumb is that requires at least a 2x increase in speed (which for me means SC speed). I'm going to wait a few more generations, until AS improves to that point, at which time I should be able to get that much RAM (or close to it) in a (much less expensive) M# Pro or M# Max. [Unless my job decides to pay for it...]
Somebody with a better understanding of this can comment, but AFAIK it's not "bandwidth" per se, but the number of lanes used in USB-C DisplayPort Alt Mode.
The 2019's are a great value at this point, esp if you need large RAM and SSD. Here's an i9 with a 2 TB SSD and 64 GB RAM that just went for $800 on EBay. If you could find one locally at that price on Craig's List, you'd save the shipping and tax:
This.
Let’s be fair, it’s almost parity price wise when you realise that in the U.K. at least there appears to be refurbished apple studio displays too.
If my computing needs (including RAM and SSD size) were modest, I'd wait until spring and get an M2 Mini (or M2 Pro Mini, if they make one) plus an ASD. At the other extreme, if I needed a lot of RAM and SSD, and my budget was constrained, I'd buy a 2019 i9 iMac (e.g., for 64 GB RAM and a 2 TB SSD, you're talking ~$800 for the iMac vs. $4,600 for the Max Studio + SSD) and upgrade to AS when it could no longer run the current OS.
I'd point out that here in the UK it's currently available for £450 and has been as low as £400 (including 20% tax) so as long as you don't go hunting for defects that you wouldn't otherwise notice its end-of-argument value for money, esp if you want a multi display setup. I've got two on my Mac Studio & I'm delighted (but note that to get two on a Mac Mini you'd have to run one at 50Hz via HDMI, but the difference between 50Hz and 60Hz is barely noticeable).
20/20, the original justification of "Retina" and, probably, the original LaserWriter resolution are all connected to the same figure of 1 arc minute (0.00029 radians) as the typical acuity of the human eye based on tests like being able to see the gap in a nearly-circular letter C. That's an angular resolution so (working in radians & assuming the gap is small c.f. the distance) it's the size of the gap divided by the distance. You can work back from that to calculate the smallest visible "gap" for a given viewing distance and then wave your hands and assume that gives you the minimum PPI for "no visible pixels". Double the viewing distance, halve the needed PPI.
Not having a significant portion of the national communications infrastructure depend on Huawei (or any other foreign manufacturer) kit is probably sensible, but putting spy devices in mass market electronics is a lot of risk for very little gain, and it's not like Huawei are the only made-in-China electronic goods we're using - not to mention respectable assembled-by-patriots-in-the-motherland kit with gaping security holes. If Beijing want personal data on Mx Average not-working-with-nuclear-secrets Person they can always just buy it from Google, Amazon, credit reference agencies etc. If you are working on sensitive stuff it's probably a good idea to let your employers choose your kit...
Haven't tested it, but AFAIK they are USB 3: If you use the separate MiniDP or HDMI inputs for video, you can connect the monitor's USB-C input to a USB 3 port on your computer and have it work as a USB 3 hub.
No! The Liquid Retina XDR Display of the 16" MacBook Pro is the optimum in display quality. The Studio Display is also hugely expensive, given that it is BYOMKM (Bring Your Own Mac, Keyboard and Mouse).
Dependent upon what sort of gaming you’re talking about, for a machine that will mostly be “basic home computing” I’d say you shouldn’t even be considering the Mac Studio. It would be a massive overspend and waste.
His 2011 iMac is also still usable, but he wants to replace it with a better experience. The same will happen again. In way less than 8 years all Apple displays will have XDR, mini-LED and ProMotion. The Studio Display will not look shiny and new, because it isn't the very best display quality right now. And the Mac Studio will also age quickly. It's only real benefit over the M1 is multi-core performance and that will grow fast with more cores build on ever smaller process nodes (N5 ➞ N3 ➞ N2). A high performance computer (HPC) is only good for a couple of years. And for basic computing needs a 24" iMac can last 8-10 years as well. If 24-inch is too small for you, just wait another year. Apple will release more and bigger iMacs.
😣 for everyone else who is also waiting.
It will "last 8-10 years" in that it will still be functional, but I bet it will be superseded by something better sooner than people may be expecting. It is not exactly cutting edge monitor technology.
Of course. Most all tech things gets better over time, but not everyone needs "cutting edge". I have a 27" 5k iMac that is 8 years old and totally gorgeous for my needs.
Yes, I also have a 27" 5K iMac which I like very much, but the point is that the Studio Display is pricey for something that will likely be superseded soon.
This is key, and it's a bit painful.
The issue I have with the Apple Cinema Display 27 is the price - as already noted a refurbished base model Intel iMac comes very close to that price and you get a whole computer thrown in with the screen.
Would an M2 iMac 24" change the value proposition? Putting an M2 in with the 24" iMac and possibly into a 27" display options might make it interesting.
Right, and it's because of this complexity that you need to do experiments involving direct testing on displays rather than merely attempt to make theoretical predictions. The limit of human vision (i.e., the ppi beyond which there really is no perceptible improvement) may be quite a bit beyond "Retina".
That's a bit of a straw man; I don't recall anyone saying 160 ppi (4k @27") is unusably blurry. I find 160 ppi perfectly usable as an auxiliary (side) monitor, for instance. What I and others are saying is that it's somewhat unconfortable and fatiguing. Like your eye is trying to focus on something that it can't quite make sharp. And you don't want your eyes to be unconfortable for something you're looking at 8+ hours/day. It's kind of like scratchy sheets. You can sleep in them, but it's a bit unpleasant.
You're right that the chance China would be interested in me personally is miniscule. But China was the prime suspect in a recent mass data breach of personal info. and employement records for US govt. employees (https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2015/06/05/china-suspected-in-theft-of-federal-employee-records). So it's not black-and-white where either it's nuclear secrets and they're interested, or it's our credit cards and they're not. If you get that kind of mass data, even though none of it is individually classified, it can assist you in assembling meaningful strategic information.