The Mac Studio is pretty reasonable as an iMac Pro replacement but it’s far too expensive to be an replacement for the (non-Pro) 27" iMac.
A Mac mini with an M1 Pro and a cheap non-Apple 27" 5K display would be a great replacement. But neither exists. (The lack of a Mac mini model with an M1 Pro is perplexing. I don’t understand why it doesn’t exist.) The lack of non-Apple 5K displays is odd. Sure, there’s that one old LG display but it’s pretty much impossible to find and it was almost as expensive as an Apple Studio Display anyway! (If I remember correctly a low-end 27" 5K iMac was actually cheaper than the LG display at one point.)
Actually a Mac mini with M1 Pro wouldn’t be too bad paired with the Studio Display. But again that model doesn’t exist. (One could always pair the M1 Mac mini with the Studio Display, but I think the M1 is underpowered compared to what most people would expect for a 27" iMac.)
There’s no ARM-based Mac Pro model yet. (I don’t expect it before fall at the earliest, but more likely next year, possibly as late as June 2023.) The new desktop with M1 Max and M1 Ultra variants is the Mac Studio. It’s very much not a Mac Pro (no slots for any kind of expandability, whether for RAM, storage, GPUs, I/O, or anything).
I’m not sure, but my wife said they try to design delivery routes with us impeded right turns as much as possible. Not making lefts cuts back on accidents. Besides, when your waiting for something, the only route that makes sense is the one where your the first delivery . I have the iPad Pro M1 and I love it. Use it 90% of the time.
Although the performance specs for the Studio are really nice, the price is too high right now to replace my Mini. I’ve got the Intel i7 version with a 6-core chip, 64Gb RAM, 2TB SSD for the drone construction progression stuff I do. I checked out the Studio that’s comparable and it’s 2K so not bad but my Mini is only worth $600 as a trade-in I’m assuming that the M1 Max with the GPU and Inference Engine would be better than the i7. But I lose half the RAM and disk - and my mapping app eats both. The Studio with 64GB RAM and 1TB SSD is 4K. I’m certain the performance would be smoking, but getting a half-hour render down to anything less, really doesn’t justify that much. So I’ll keep the rest of my workflow on Windows instead of moving altogether over to the dark side.
Yeah, a Mac mini with M1 Pro would be a much better fit for you. (And for me, but because it doesn’t exist I got my boss to approve a Mac Studio with M1 Max to replace my old (2014!) 27" iMac.)
Time to point out my usage of the original i7 27” late 09 model. ….with slight modifications of a 4 ht 3.1ghz cpu, 32gb 1600 ram, the top 2gb 2010 Radeon graphics card, and a 2 tb hybrid drive. Tbf, I did stop doing vid production in 2011, maybe early 2012 and it’s been a low level use machine since. I am 3-4 years out on OS updates now. But three browsers with multiple windows with dozens of tabs pose no problem while running ultimates or lychee or illustrator 5, or psp 5, or a variety of programs is just fine…mostly fine. The adobe products crash on exit but work fine otherwise and who cares cause by then the work is done. It’s just a bit slow on bootup(okay-a lot slow here but it’s also an encrypted drive so that doesn’t help) and some code rendering for the 3d printers could be faster but I don’t have nearly as much time to play with them as I’d like so it’s not that much of a time sink.
It might be getting near time to thinking about a new machine?
Yeah, we’ve had that happen. Our regular UPS driver (Mike) says that his “route” always has him come our way last, but it takes him much longer to run his route the way it is set up, so he told his boss he knows which way is better and will run it in a better way. His boss doesn’t fight him on it, as he’s proved himself. So when Mike does our deliveries, we get our stuff hours earlier. If it’s someone else, it’s later, sometimes 8pm. And when the app says “close” - it shows them WAY away. But at least we know it’s on the way.
That’s interesting… And disappointing…
I was wanting to believe that their software had some magical ability to figure things out the truly best way and that I just didn’t have insight into it’s reasoning.
I’ll tell you what’s magical about that… magical thinking on my part. Lol
Well, it might also depend on your area. I live in a rural area, lots of hills and back roads. So GPS planning doesn’t necessarily work as well. Hope you get your package soon!
That windows machine wouldn’t have cost as much in the first place. Depreciating from a lower cost point will almost always have a lesser value down the line.
I have to say I’m thrilled we finally have alignment feature in the software. It has made my (OCD) life so much better and wish it was around sooner. Thank you for this!
that was kind of my point, though. windows machines depreciate the same way. they just cost less to start with. so sure, the windows machine is worth less, but it cost less. the implication was that if you buy a mac, they don’t depreciate the same way.
i’ve used both as a design professional. i don’t really have a strong belief that either is better. they’re both perfectly fine. but i also don’t think macs are superior. they’re just different. there are strengths/weaknesses for both. i ended up in the PC world more because of the gaming options in the 90s than because “i’m a windows guy…” and when i eventually settled on in-house design as a preference, it made even more sense.
. I have the iPad Pro M1 and I love it. Use it 90% of the time.
I’m assuming that the M1 Max with the GPU and Inference Engine would be better than the i7. But I lose half the RAM and disk - and my mapping app eats both. The Studio with 64GB RAM and 1TB SSD is 4K. I’m certain the performance would be smoking, but getting a half-hour render down to anything less, really doesn’t justify that much. So I’ll keep the rest of my workflow on Windows instead of moving altogether over to the dark side.