Peek Performance

Anyone see anything to drool over?

The only thing of direct interest to me is that it seems they've discontinued the 27" iMacs (link)... if I want to move up from this Intel machine to Apple silicon it'll have to be a Studio setup, starting at around $3,600

Link

Not sure I want it that much!

Well the top-end Mac Mini would be nice. But I don't think I can justify 4 grand just at the moment. I might just get the base model one of these days to play with the new processor.

I'm good thanks

What do we think of the ‘stretched’ (or is that heightened 😃) mini firm factor?

I don’t think power will be an issue - 114 billion transistors in all those execution units, in the “welded” M1 Ultra architecture - didn’t see that one coming - wonder how many other hidden features they’ve built into the architecture?

Anyway the pattern or should that be the die is set for the next generation M2 range now. Will be interesting to see when and how they move the Mac Pro from a Xeon behemoth to an Apple Silicon behemoth

In reply to a post by Pheasant:

What do we think of the ‘stretched’ (or is that heightened 😃) mini firm factor?

TBH I've never seen the point of seeing how small you can make something just because you can...

Granted I don't want a full PC tower on the desk, but in the specific case of the mini box I'd rather have a bit more room for my fingers when I'm trying to plug something in. Or trying to get it out again!!

The taller case doesn't seem any better in that regard, the connectors are all "within" the old form factor as far as I can tell.

(eta- although I'll concede that having a few connections on the front is something of an improvement.)

So I'm neutral, with a slight feeling of an ease-of-access opportunity lost.

Re the M1 Ultra... the eyebrows went up a bit when I saw the pictures, that's a serious piece of silicon

Edited by billford (Wed 09-Mar-22 13:16:06)

I find it easier to plug externals into my Mini than my tower PC. I can just upend it so that all the connectors are at the top, plug stuff in, then put it back in position.

One USB-A on the front would have been sensible alongside the SD slot, but otherwise its decent connectivity with 6 lots of Thunderbolt ports and 10GbE. They won't be shared channel either.

In reply to a post by Pheasant:

Will be interesting to see when and how they move the Mac Pro from a Xeon behemoth to an Apple Silicon behemoth

This Studio is the new Mac Pro. It's reportedly up to 80% faster than the Pro.

True, it's not expanable in the way the Pto is, but no new silicon Mac is going to be expandable. I can't see why Apple would need to produce a replacement for the Pro, or what extra it could offer - at least not for a few years.

They’re still rolling out a replacement for the Pro. Jump to around 55:30 in their Peek Performance presentation. They basically say exactly that.

https://www.apple.com/apple-events/march-2022/

This Studio is the new Mac Pro.

It was explicitly stared at the end that the Mac Pro is the last part of the story, but for another day.