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A 24" 4k monitor is better than any laptop screen (Real estate and bigger UI elements). And I like to work in a single place, taking breaks instead of moving th

A 24" 4k monitor is better than any laptop screen (Real estate and bigger UI elements). And I like to work in a single place, taking breaks instead of moving the workplace. I like the iMac, but I went with the mini + monitor for more flexibility.

brundolf 3y ago
I guess the price starts to make sense if you think of it as MacBook + bigger monitor (- portability option) instead of just MacBook - portability
undersuit 3y ago
4.5k monitor, 4480x2250. The extra area around a 4K viewport and the M3 could make these into decent editing machines.
- keyle 3y ago
  It's funny because technically even M1 is good enough for most editing jobs,... But according to Apple, you need a sound proof dedicated room with 2 couches, and 4 external 4K monitors with a M3 Max and 128GB of memory! :D Honestly it's getting ridiculous. I'm a dev and I can work on a macbook air no problem. My time wasted reading bad documentation or groking bad code is far more loss than the compile time difference! :) I'm wondering, who will be their target market with the M3 Ultra? A professional who trains LLMs while producing Hollywood movies, that likes to work from the local Starbucks? Maybe with M3 max they could finally claim "this thing can start Microsoft Teams in 3 seconds!"
  - jwells89 3y ago
    For dev work I’d think where more muscle starts to make a big difference is with gargantuan codebases, think Chrome or Firefox or something where a full compile takes an hour.
    - skydhash 3y ago
      Yeah, but I'd prefer to have a dedicated build server if I ever need to do this (or renting something from the cloud).
    - keyle 3y ago
      Typically people have build servers for large compile jobs, and I hope for their sake that they have some incremental compile (ninja!) facilities! I remember though, compiling UE4 in 2016, from scratch, was a half-day job on my non-potato PC.
      - deleted 3y ago
        [deleted]
  - thirdsun 3y ago
    > Honestly it's getting ridiculous. I'm a dev and I can work on a macbook air no problem. That's not surprising. It may certainly depend on the kind of development work you do but in my experience web development has always been quite easy and lightweight on the hardware compared to audio or video production. Those tasks will absolutely make use of better hardware. Back when I was recording music big projects could easily struggle even on capable hardware.
astrange 3y ago
The iMac screen is actually not as good as the MacBook Pro screen; it's only 60hz and I think it's less HDR.
- TerrifiedMouse 3y ago
  But the iMac screen is bigger and higher resolution - not sure about the latter but too lazy to check.
  - astrange 3y ago
    Those aren't the most important specs even if they sound like they are.
    - TerrifiedMouse 3y ago
      It’s important to those of us with aging eyes.
      - astrange 3y ago
        Higher resolution would make that worse. You want the opposite if anything. Or just go for AR glasses and make the view as big as you want.
        TerrifiedMouse 3y ago
        Why would high resolution make it worse? Just increase the screen DPI. Anyway, the iMacs I have seen at the Apple Store has decently sized text.
        filoleg 3y ago
        > Why would high resolution make it worse? Because the person you are replying to hasn’t learned about the existence of the resolution scaling setting yet.
adolph 3y ago
Probably better thermals than a laptop.
fwmcbumcrumble 3y ago
My biggest issue with the 4k iMac is that it's highest scaling option (smallest elements) is less than what you get on a regular 4k display. The iMac I belive is capped at "looks like 2560x1600" while my 4k display "looks like 3008x1692".
- skydhash 3y ago
  I believe you can "option+click" to reveal all the resolution, which would expose the higher native one.
  - tristanb 3y ago
    Thanks, I didn't know I could do that. I've been using a 3rd party utility...
  - filoleg 3y ago
    There is now also a button for “advanced resolution settings” in display settings menu, and behind it there is a toggle to permanently display all possible resolutions among the existing ones already there.
Reason077 3y ago
> "A 24" 4k monitor is better than any laptop screen" Of course it is. But just get a Thunderbolt or USB 4 external monitor, where a single cable charges your laptop and instantly connects however many wired accessories you want. Then you have portability when you need it and a big screen when you need it. Best of both worlds!

brundolf 3y ago

I guess the price starts to make sense if you think of it as MacBook + bigger monitor (- portability option) instead of just MacBook - portability

undersuit 3y ago

4.5k monitor, 4480x2250. The extra area around a 4K viewport and the M3 could make these into decent editing machines.

keyle 3y ago
It's funny because technically even M1 is good enough for most editing jobs,... But according to Apple, you need a sound proof dedicated room with 2 couches, and 4 external 4K monitors with a M3 Max and 128GB of memory! :D Honestly it's getting ridiculous. I'm a dev and I can work on a macbook air no problem. My time wasted reading bad documentation or groking bad code is far more loss than the compile time difference! :) I'm wondering, who will be their target market with the M3 Ultra? A professional who trains LLMs while producing Hollywood movies, that likes to work from the local Starbucks? Maybe with M3 max they could finally claim "this thing can start Microsoft Teams in 3 seconds!"
- jwells89 3y ago
  For dev work I’d think where more muscle starts to make a big difference is with gargantuan codebases, think Chrome or Firefox or something where a full compile takes an hour.
  - skydhash 3y ago
    Yeah, but I'd prefer to have a dedicated build server if I ever need to do this (or renting something from the cloud).
  - keyle 3y ago
    Typically people have build servers for large compile jobs, and I hope for their sake that they have some incremental compile (ninja!) facilities! I remember though, compiling UE4 in 2016, from scratch, was a half-day job on my non-potato PC.
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
- thirdsun 3y ago
  > Honestly it's getting ridiculous. I'm a dev and I can work on a macbook air no problem. That's not surprising. It may certainly depend on the kind of development work you do but in my experience web development has always been quite easy and lightweight on the hardware compared to audio or video production. Those tasks will absolutely make use of better hardware. Back when I was recording music big projects could easily struggle even on capable hardware.

astrange 3y ago

The iMac screen is actually not as good as the MacBook Pro screen; it's only 60hz and I think it's less HDR.

TerrifiedMouse 3y ago
But the iMac screen is bigger and higher resolution - not sure about the latter but too lazy to check.
- astrange 3y ago
  Those aren't the most important specs even if they sound like they are.
  - TerrifiedMouse 3y ago
    It’s important to those of us with aging eyes.
    - astrange 3y ago
      Higher resolution would make that worse. You want the opposite if anything. Or just go for AR glasses and make the view as big as you want.
      - TerrifiedMouse 3y ago
        Why would high resolution make it worse? Just increase the screen DPI. Anyway, the iMacs I have seen at the Apple Store has decently sized text.
        filoleg 3y ago
        > Why would high resolution make it worse? Because the person you are replying to hasn’t learned about the existence of the resolution scaling setting yet.

adolph 3y ago

Probably better thermals than a laptop.

fwmcbumcrumble 3y ago

My biggest issue with the 4k iMac is that it's highest scaling option (smallest elements) is less than what you get on a regular 4k display. The iMac I belive is capped at "looks like 2560x1600" while my 4k display "looks like 3008x1692".

skydhash 3y ago
I believe you can "option+click" to reveal all the resolution, which would expose the higher native one.
- tristanb 3y ago
  Thanks, I didn't know I could do that. I've been using a 3rd party utility...
- filoleg 3y ago
  There is now also a button for “advanced resolution settings” in display settings menu, and behind it there is a toggle to permanently display all possible resolutions among the existing ones already there.

Reason077 3y ago

> "A 24" 4k monitor is better than any laptop screen" Of course it is. But just get a Thunderbolt or USB 4 external monitor, where a single cable charges your laptop and instantly connects however many wired accessories you want. Then you have portability when you need it and a big screen when you need it. Best of both worlds!