Deals: Get Apple's 512GB 27-Inch iMac for Lowest Price of $1,699.99 ($299 Off)

[pshufd]

I wish that they would do this with the i7 model - that one is only discounted $100. I have 64 GB of DDR4 arriving next week and it would fit nicely in a 27 inch iMac with i7-10700. I played around with an i5 several weeks ago in The Apple Store and I was blown away by the performance. But I'm often using pretty old equipment. The Intel iMac would mean that I could run my 32-bit programs in a VMware Mojave virtual machine for another five years at which point I'm pretty sure that I won't need them anymore.

 

[Realityck]

while all of that is fine and well, it doesn’t really matter if the end user thinks their intel mac is good enough for them 6 years from now.

apple likes to drop old tech quickly. look at how fast they stopped supporting non-metal gpu, or cpu’s without certain instruction sets. it won’t be long before there’s something they want to do with the os that they can’t (be bothered) to code for intel and it’s done

also, there was no viable consumer platform running on ppc when they made that switch. now apple is once again competing with wintel (and amd.) they are going to want to play up that difference by introducing things that only apple silicon can do, even if only because they don’t write x86 code to do it

i would put money on intel support (defined as final security update to an intel macos) ending by the end of 2026, maybe sooner

This has more to do with multi company ARM vs Intel and AMD x86 battle. With PPC, Apple was the only major company using those processors. In this scenario you a industry hungry for performance touted by ARM, but looking for a developer eco-system for this to really take off. Interesting is Apple’s development community is a good stimulus with multiple platform support. How fast this moves from old tech to new tech with your prediction on Intel support will be a fascinating example to follow. Enjoy WWDC.

 

[Gudi]

I bought a 1TB 27" iMac for 1.500 € in 2009. The M1 24" iMac is the first worthy upgrade.

 

[pshufd]

I bought a 1TB 27" iMac for 1.500 € in 2009. The M1 24" iMac is the first worthy upgrade.

I'm coming to the conclusion that Apple Silicon Macs are actually more cost-effective than Intel Macs with the M1X Macs really sticking it to Intel and AMD PCs to come. I think that they will redefine what the typical PC looks like in terms of performance and performance per watt.

 

[Gudi]

I'm coming to the conclusion that Apple Silicon Macs are actually more cost-effective than Intel Macs with the M1X Macs really sticking it to Intel and AMD PCs to come. I think that they will redefine what the typical PC looks like in terms of performance and performance per watt.

You are predicting the present. ARM chips have always been superior in performance per watt and the M1 already surpassed Intel’s mobile CPUs in raw performance.

M1X will beat Intel’s desktop chips while even enhancing their lead in performance per watt. With less heat and no moving parts these machines will have improved longevity, sustained performance and battery life.

Ironically Intel the chip company, who created ultrabooks™ by copying the Mac BookAir, are having problems to copy the M-series chips.

 

[pshufd]

You are predicting the present. ARM chips have always been superior in performance per watt and the M1 already surpassed Intel’s mobile CPUs in raw performance.

M1X will beat Intel’s desktop chips while even enhancing their lead in performance per watt. With less heat and no moving parts these machines will have improved longevity, sustained performance and battery life.

Ironically Intel the chip company, who created ultrabooks™ by copying the Mac BookAir, are having problems to copy the M-series chips.

They can't. x86 is architecturally inferior.

 

[Gudi]

They can't. x86 is architecturally inferior.

I know, but they also can’t easily switch to ARM. For one Microsoft must put in the effort and execution to make this transition happen as well. And they’d compete with half a dozen other ARM manufacturers. Without monopoly prices they’ll soon run out of money.

 

[pshufd]

I know, but they also can’t easily switch to ARM. For one Microsoft must put in the effort and execution to make this transition happen as well. And they’d compete with half a dozen other ARM manufacturers. Without monopoly prices they’ll soon run out of money.

I don't see that they have a choice. Apple is going to accelerate away from Windows in performance per watt and I wouldn't be surprised if they do the same in performance per $. I was going to buy an M1 Mini last night and then I read the thread on external monitor problems. I would really like to wait for the M1X. But I could buy an M1, use it until the M1X and then give the M1 to my wife (she has a base Intel Mini and would likely enjoy an upgrade). I need to dig a bit further into the external monitor problems as I'd use it running a 4k and QHD monitors.