I really don't think the M1 design is all that impressive.

Apple has integrated GPU and an ML processor. We've had integrated GPUs in APU style processors for a long time, typically in laptops. And we've had package integration going back to IBM System 360 with flip chips in the 1960s. Or PDP-11 and VAX-11 ALU/MMU chips integrated on a single mount package in the 70s. More recently, AMD with their Ryzen and Threadripper package mount and on chip 'infinity fabric' bus.

Integrating the RAM on the chip mount is both the reason for its performance and the reason why its limited expansion make it unsuitable for production work. Going in the package means Apple cuts the clock divisor. That's where all the performance comes from! Come on guys, ya'll a bunch of IT nerds. You get why cutting the divisor to system RAM increases performance, right? Also means less CPU logic allocated to branch prediction hardware. More transistor room for system cores, the GPU, whatever. But there's only so much space in a package mount. And only so much heat dissipation you can do.

Apple had a nifty idea. But we're closing in on 2nm traces and an atom is typically .1nm. We are rushing to the end of Moore's Law here and bolting the RAM on a CPU with no expansion potential to cut the clock divisor will one day be seen as a serious design mistake.

JMO...

lol! You ARE trolling. Those expensive "specialized monitors" are only used for displaying footage full screen. Standard 8bit monitors are used for UI and apps. There's nothing wrong with an iMac loaded up with RAM and even an eGPU. Lots of 'em out there.

This thread is like listening to an emotionless autist count out numbers of the Fibonacci sequence as an explanation to fine art.

You have to be trolling me. OMG. It's comic! BTW: a broadcast Sony or BenQ 4k color grading monitor costs +$25,000 and I still see those hanging off 5k iMacs. Well, to be honest, more often than not it's a pro 1080p oled, typically had for $5-7k. These are just for the color grading stations though. You absolutely have no idea what you're talking about.

iMac was common industry wide. It was a solid machine when no one wanted to buy the trashcan. The new Pro is way overpriced and its XDR 6k display isn't all that given it can't be used for registered color grading. For a long time the Mac had an advantage with Final Cut Pro 7. Then inertia and a history of production pipeline scripts kept sales of the Mac going. Final Cut X had a disastrous launch but is actually a pretty nice platform now. But no one uses it. Everyone migrated to Pr and Ae and stayed there. Which made a lot of old Mac shops rethink Windows. Especially after Threadripper hit. I don't think anyone in this field will ever reconsider Macs given the limitations of M2. But all that said, from five to ten years ago the 27" iMac was a good buy to cut with. And a lot of shops did good work with that machine.

Sure. All those shops which bought tens or hundreds of 27" iMacs as part of their production pipeline did so because their IT depts had no idea what they were buying or why. /. never changes.

Have you ever seen a shop? Because they used to be filled with 27" iMacs. Really common machine for cutting.

That's simply not true. Years ago it was common to see see Core i7 Imacs with 32GB RAM running Adobe Pr and Ae. Not enough horsepower for Davinci but more than enough to cut broadcast TV. Even 4k or 6k with proxies. Rendering would be slow though. unless the job was pushed off to a rendering farm or special case server. The problem with these new 16GB iMacs is that you can't even use them to viewport a large project.

I run 64GB of RAM with a 16GB video card and I already want to upgrade to double the cores, double the RAM, and get a 24GB RTX 3090. Apple pretends they're selling these machines for Logic and Final Cut Pro, but there's no way 16GB shared is enough to cut 4k raw with any real color grades or heavy compositing.

I don't know who they plan to sell these machines to, but I can say with certainty it won't be people making film, video, or doing 3d modeling and animation. That market is dead to Apple with these machines.

You should be clearer what you're comparing next time.

Such pleasant people at /. I wonder what you're like after you loosen up with a few beers. Do you eat children raw?

My comparison was of Linux apps running on the Windows subsystem vs running Linux apps on bare metal. Which strikes me as on topic. But hey, if you don't think so, fine by me.

I pity the poor foos who bought RTX3090s during the mining boom.

For a job to a client? Yup. No problem! I'll even use the spot market to save a few bucks.

Believe it or not, I've got a TR build running Ubuntu 20.04 with Blender, Davinci Resolve Studio, and Scrivener under Wine. I do keep a win10 partition around for the occasional foray into Office. Sometimes I run an old copy of Adobe CS6 that's long since paid for, mostly for Ps. Have I benchmarked Blender on Win10 vs Linux? Oh yeah. I have. On CPU renders, it's a good 15-20% faster on Linux for the same render. For GPU (VEGA FE), it's a wash. Though I think the Win10 OpenCL drivers have an edge over AMD's junk on Linux.

Do I care about my privacy? Absolutely. I only use Win10 when necessary. But I also have an AWS account and use the same distribution on an OS container there as I have on my desktop. So scripts and paths are all the same when I launch a remote job. Another huge advantage to Windows (and Adobe), with FOSS I don't have to worry about managing licenses on the farm.

Not bullshit.

All that telemetry and other private data will still get sent off to MS if you run the Linux subsystem. They get none of it if you just run Linux. My experience is that Linux Blender renders are about 15-20% faster when running on bare metal compared to Windows. Not that Linux is perfect. If I could buy Affinity Photo for Linux, I'd do so as soon as it was released. The FOSS alternatives are... lacking.

These horrible communist EU big government totalitarians restraining the freedom of corporations to earn a simple profit.

Next they'll put limits on the discharge of deadly pollutants. Perhaps even ban slavery!

This is why Europeans are so unfree.

I'll take my liberty with an expensive health insurance plan and a big gun. No MASKS! Also, no vax jabs. And I want a greasy burger with that.

I lived there. I had that Internet for two years and I miss it. It rivaled university speeds. I don't care what your stats are. I was freak'n fast.

European infrastructure is far ahead of the United States. And that's nothing compared to Shang Hai. And I've been there too.

I'm from Boston. I'm not some America hater. But based on my direct experience going around the world, American infrastructure is very far behind.