Well yeah, but even in 2006 Apple computers were still pretty niche, not the ubiquitous machines of today, the secondhand market today is massive compared to back then not to mention the early 90s… I can’t be the only person to have upgraded a perfectly good Intel mac just because of AS… Apple haven’t made the Intel macs redundant… people will do that all by themselves…
So why are you upgrading so soon? You bought a really expensive Intel Mac pretty recently. 2020 was when the shift to Silicon began, I think. That’s when I figured it was not a good time to buy a machine and let the transition complete before investing. Of course, not everyone could do that.
the Intel iMac to M2 Ultra is my work machine… The M2 Ultras MS will mean I don‘t have to cache video for playback and will mean that my exports will be light years faster… this is all time I can save and use for creative work with the client… and less perceived downtime… more bang for the clients buck and thus repeat business… simple as that, the 2020 iMac was struggling to get through some of the higher resolution media I get given to work with (6K and 8K) so I just can’t have a machine like that.. .got to keep up and the M2 Ultra is a game changer… it’ll be main money maker for the ext 3-4 years… I wish I had got longer out of the 2020 iMac, I should have bought it earlier and I would have had it longer, that was my bad and then I had to buy it during lockdown… so it wasn’t a great business decision, but I couldn’t have waited for the M1 MS (not that I knew it was even coming) I briefly considered buying a 16” mac book pro M1 Max, but it made very little sense as I needed a desktop… I was also going that the Mac Pro would have been something bolder than it turned out to be… so the iMac was always a stop gap purchase for me… I just have to wear teh depreciation and move on…
I think that anyone whose Mac makes it to the point where the max MacOS version is no longer supported is doing well. I love my older macs, but typically the motherboards start going, and I start seeing kernel panic reboots at increasing frequency. Note that while I personally have only had my Macs (all laptops) last ~7 years* (and my wife less), my daughter has had exceptional luck - her 2010 MBP is still working fine, although she rarely uses it now due to app compatibility. And her 2016 Macbook is still physically working, although there again, we're having issues, mainly due to it having such a weak processor, even compared to her 2010 MBP.The title is poorly worded, but essentially I'm wondering how much longer until Intel Mac users will need to upgrade to silicon Macs. Of course there isn't a hard deadline because depending on one's circumstances, the time to migrate is a broad range. But any thoughts on this generally?
I currently run a 13" touchbar MacBook Pro (3.1 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i5) at home. I know it won't be upgradable to macOS Sonoma. I primarily use it for office functions which I imagine won't be affected for a long time. I also use Obsidian, DEVONthink, Scrivener, all of which could be seen in the productivity/office realm, suppose
But the jump to M cannot be overstated - I have a silent laptop that's truly as powerful as a high end desktops (an order of magnitude faster than my Intel machines) and honestly lasts all day on just 25% battery charge. I'm a power user - it's the first MBP I've ever owned where I could go more than 2 hours off plug, with 90 minutes being typical. And it's now been long enough that most important software has been ported to Apple Silicon. (Most of my cherished older Apps I lost when I was forced to upgrade past Mojave, since they were all 32-bit apps.). But there's no way to know yet how long the hardware lasts, other than I hope running cool is a big life extender. I replaced it with a Mac Mini, which shows no signs of deteriorating, so there only software support is an issue.Many pointed out that you can stop using Safari and switch to Chrome or Firefox.
I think that anyone whose Mac makes it to the point where the max MacOS version is no longer supported is doing well. I love my older macs, but typically the motherboards start going, and I start seeing kernel panic reboots at increasing frequency. Note that while I personally have only had my Macs (all laptops) last ~7 years* (and my wife less), my daughter has had exceptional luck - her 2010 MBP is still working fine, although she rarely uses it now due to app compatibility. And her 2016 Macbook is still physically working, although there again, we're having issues, mainly due to it having such a weak processor, even compared to her 2010 MBP.
For me, the biggest reason to get off Intel laptops was the loud fan noise.
* The big exception was my beloved 2010 17" MBP. It was serving me fine after 11 years, working almost as fast as my new MBPs, without fan noise - but then I spilled a drink on it and fried the motherboard.
Yep I turned my Intel Mac Mini into effectively the iMac Pro by going from the puny integrated graphics to an eGPU. Handles triple 5K displays no sweat!
Why does that prove next year’s macOS will be silicon only? Because the lineup for hardware has all transitioned?
I have done something similar: wonder and look at what the trade-in value for my laptop would be. With that, I also then kinda balance it with thinking whether it's better to just wait out a bit longer (a few years) and wait for the whole transition to Apple Silicon to really solidify. I'm so far taking the latter route even though trade-in value for my Intel MBP some years later would be very little.
2 months from now would be the 25th year release anniversary of the 1st iMac.
Nice anything?
Quarter century from now it may become as light and compact at Google Glasses at a better user experience than 2024 Vision Pro.
I get that (I have a 2017 iMac gathering dust & bought new, non-Apple displays for my Studio) but on the other hand that's why, going forward, I much prefer the Mac Mini/Studio concept - we can upgrade our displays and computers independently. I wouldn't have bought an all-in-one in 2017 if Apple had offered something like the Studio at the time (the trashcan was already abandonware at that stage). I'm not a huge fan of the Studio Display for various reasons (q.v. ad nauseum elsewhere) but its certainly not rubbish and - unlike the iMac screen - should serve several generations of connected Mac. If you need a new desktop Mac now, I'd suggest looking for cheaper, alternate displays which you wouldn't mind replacing - or delegating to second screen if something more compelling comes out during the lifetime of your current machine.
It doesn't prove anything - Apple will drop Intel support from future OS versions just as soon as they can get away with it publicity wise. Apple never promised anybody support for future, unannounced versions of MacOS! They're obliged, in some jurisdictions, to provide spares and support for sometime between 5-7 years, and now that they have stopped selling the last Intel Mac has that 5-7 year old countdown started - but at most that requires them to have a minimally-supported version of MacOS that will run on those systems.
I think the iMac G4's design was updated because the actuating arm/stem wasn't reliable and caused too much RMAs than the "up and down" has done since 2004.It might be as light as the Google Glass etc. But I still don't see yet how it would be integrated into everyday scenarios at the office. I'm not saying it couldn't. I'm saying I don't see it right now. The pandemic has made a lot of office work more remote and while there is great advantage to that, namely the flexibility, we are also seeing certain social struggles working in the remote environment as we are recognizing more and more that work is not just about producing the everyday churn that is the official mission, but it is also about the informal unexpected interactions that can in ways organic create or enhance. In another frame, we might need less individualism (which to me Google Glass and the like seems to be about) and more communitarianism.
The funny thing is things like AR/VR to me are about remotely connecting -- and that's a play on words. It's connecting together but only remotely as in just barely doing it.
On another note, I love the articulated arm of the 2001 iMac and have always admired it. It was a downgrade to go to the type that only tilted up or down. With the newer Apple Displays, Apple has re-introduced an arm that is somewhat like the articulated arm of the 2001 iMac but to me that new arm is: 1) ugly, 2) bulky and therefore not sleeky, and 3) too expensive. Could they re-design the iMac with a better articulated arm?
Really? Didn't know that about the reliability of that articulated arm. Perhaps it could be better designed, but the concept and the way it looked was pretty perfect to me.
Many people dont update voluntarily. They appear fine.
