new beeeeeg iMac • seeking computational Nostradamus
- Thread starter Joe P
- Start date
Darth Vader
From the Dark Side
If you don’t know you shouldn’t use this command. However to answer your q if the Mac mounts your external mass storage then the mount will be displayed using diskutil so of=<mount of ext storage>
It’s really that simple if you understand what you are doing. The dependency is that Apple hasn’t locked out external boot from their latest boxes As I haven’t had one in front of me to test I don’t know.
Cheers,
DV
Joe P
Memory Alpha incarnate | mod; Shatner number = 2
Darth,
Given that I don’t know what I’m doing I shall refrain from using that dd command. But my question was about whether to get a 27-inch Intel-based iMac (because it’s plenty fast enough, has lots of RAM and HD space, and the ports I need) or wait for the new big M-based iMac, which might not support the devices I’d like to connect to it.
I’m not looking to clone anything.
Joe
Given that I don’t know what I’m doing I shall refrain from using that dd command. But my question was about whether to get a 27-inch Intel-based iMac (because it’s plenty fast enough, has lots of RAM and HD space, and the ports I need) or wait for the new big M-based iMac, which might not support the devices I’d like to connect to it.
I’m not looking to clone anything.
Joe
Craig B
Re:trophile
Joe,
If history is anything to go by, and it generally is, the Apple redundancy cycle approaches an event horizon where space and time condense, every time they decide to pursue a CPU sea change, let alone what with them venturing into the uncharted space known as the EFTOASC* Quadrant.
I well remember the day that I brought home my satin silver last generation PowerPC G5 and lovingly inserted 8 x 1GB DIMMS into its supple gubbins. It came with 10.4 Tiger factory installed and the very next release of OS X (Leopard) was the end of the road. Still, I loved that machine for many years, despite having to resort to the likes of Leopard Web Kit and Ten 4 Fox just to load simple web sites. It was getting kicked off the likes of Dropbox that became the last straw for me, and I started to have a rethink about ever decreasing recursive loops in the computer acquisition cycle.
Eventually, I decided to pick up a Mac mini, and now have four of the little buggers about the place, all purchased used with the total cost being half that of the lowest end iMac.
Anyway, all I can suggest is that you consider letting someone else take the depreciation hit on an über Intel-based iMac by getting in on the impending great Intel Mac core dump, when those who must have the latest jettison theirs. That way, when Tim Apple throws today's best on the redundant pile next year you'll likely as not feel a lot less inhibited about flinging it through his office window.
* Every Feckin' Thing On A Single Chip
If history is anything to go by, and it generally is, the Apple redundancy cycle approaches an event horizon where space and time condense, every time they decide to pursue a CPU sea change, let alone what with them venturing into the uncharted space known as the EFTOASC* Quadrant.
I well remember the day that I brought home my satin silver last generation PowerPC G5 and lovingly inserted 8 x 1GB DIMMS into its supple gubbins. It came with 10.4 Tiger factory installed and the very next release of OS X (Leopard) was the end of the road. Still, I loved that machine for many years, despite having to resort to the likes of Leopard Web Kit and Ten 4 Fox just to load simple web sites. It was getting kicked off the likes of Dropbox that became the last straw for me, and I started to have a rethink about ever decreasing recursive loops in the computer acquisition cycle.
Eventually, I decided to pick up a Mac mini, and now have four of the little buggers about the place, all purchased used with the total cost being half that of the lowest end iMac.
Anyway, all I can suggest is that you consider letting someone else take the depreciation hit on an über Intel-based iMac by getting in on the impending great Intel Mac core dump, when those who must have the latest jettison theirs. That way, when Tim Apple throws today's best on the redundant pile next year you'll likely as not feel a lot less inhibited about flinging it through his office window.
* Every Feckin' Thing On A Single Chip
Joe P
Memory Alpha incarnate | mod; Shatner number = 2
Craig,
That's the thing. Whenever Apple has switched chips (Motorola > PPC > Intel), the machines using the previous chips get dropped like steaming tubers. The articles I've read suggest Apple will continue to support their current Intel-based computers for about five more years, but I buy for the long term. I'm hoping for ten or more.
Mind you, I'm running an 11-year-old iMac that is two operating systems behind whatever the current OS is, so it's not essential to run the current OS, but that eventually bites you in the bum. Something you need or want to install or run eventually won't. I know, progress, but it contributes to the ever-growing e-waste problem.
Joe
That's the thing. Whenever Apple has switched chips (Motorola > PPC > Intel), the machines using the previous chips get dropped like steaming tubers. The articles I've read suggest Apple will continue to support their current Intel-based computers for about five more years, but I buy for the long term. I'm hoping for ten or more.
Mind you, I'm running an 11-year-old iMac that is two operating systems behind whatever the current OS is, so it's not essential to run the current OS, but that eventually bites you in the bum. Something you need or want to install or run eventually won't. I know, progress, but it contributes to the ever-growing e-waste problem.
Joe
Craig B
Re:trophile
I hear you, Joe (especially so, that last bit).
I'm not so sure about these continued support reports, though. Back in the PPC to Intel change, the OS change interval had managed to stretch to circa 2.5 years (according to Wikipedia, Tiger was released on April 29, 2005, with Leopard on October 26, 2007). Starting with El Capitan, it has been consistently every June (June bugs?), with the OS support dropping off when the latest macOS is past two major releases back. Going back to the Wiki, Leopard became unsupported as of June 23, 2011, just prior to the release of Lion (aka 'Mac OS X Bitey' (c)Joe P), with Leopard Safari support and iTunes support eventually terminated as of 2012. With hindsight, that probably wasn't so horrible for my late 2005 Power Mac G5, that is, until the browser eventually needed third-party fork injections, not to mention when the 'You can't have this' app update rejections started.
As I type this, I am sitting at my GF's late-2012 21.5" iMac, a lovely near silent thing with a quad-core CPU and the standard factory installed only 8GB of RAM. Apparently Catalina is the end of the road for this, however, I've been keeping her (it) on Mojave, as there are a few changes for the sake of change with Catalina that annoy (me, not her). Trouble is, Mojave security support will end before this year is out, and that for Catalina next year. Funny enough, next year will be 10 years of this machines existence, but here comes that CPU event horizon again, so we won't be buying Intel (at least not new Intel) anytime soon (knock on silicon).
Craig
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Joe P
Memory Alpha incarnate | mod; Shatner number = 2
Craig,
Things started to go a bit shit with Apple when their operating systems were named after mountains instead of cats. I know, Mountain Lion (aka OS X 10.8) had a foot in both the feline and big hill side of operating system names, but I want a proper all-cat OS. We need OSX Oliver da Cat.
Anyway ... the current situation blows. I've saved the dough and could buy a fancy Intel-based iMac today, but I'm continuing to use my creaky old iMac because I don't want to get crapped on. I know the M-based Macs are awesome, but it's telling that you can't get more than 16GB RAM and 2TB storage at the moment. I wonder if not being able to make a system-on-a-chip with more RAM and storage is the reason why the big iMac and other higher-end Macs have been delayed.
Joe
Things started to go a bit shit with Apple when their operating systems were named after mountains instead of cats. I know, Mountain Lion (aka OS X 10.8) had a foot in both the feline and big hill side of operating system names, but I want a proper all-cat OS. We need OSX Oliver da Cat.
Anyway ... the current situation blows. I've saved the dough and could buy a fancy Intel-based iMac today, but I'm continuing to use my creaky old iMac because I don't want to get crapped on. I know the M-based Macs are awesome, but it's telling that you can't get more than 16GB RAM and 2TB storage at the moment. I wonder if not being able to make a system-on-a-chip with more RAM and storage is the reason why the big iMac and other higher-end Macs have been delayed.
Joe
Craig B
Re:trophile
I suspect that this is part of the reason, Joe.
In other news, there's a 2017 A1419 27"/i7 4.2GHz/32GB/Retina 5K/Radeon Pro 575 4GB VRAM/500GB Fusion Drive(?)* on Kijiji here for $1500. No keyboard or mouse for some reason. Let me know if you want it inspected for tribbles.
* According to everymac.com this was the CTO model with the Fusion drive being 1TB or 2TB plus SSD to order. It could be that this one has 512GB SSD instead of Fusion drive.
Craig
P.S. Unusually, the ad includes the serial number which checks out with Apple as having a valid purchase date and "iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2017)" as model description. Also, Google reverse image search does not show any of the posted pictures as having originated from anywhere else.
In other news, there's a 2017 A1419 27"/i7 4.2GHz/32GB/Retina 5K/Radeon Pro 575 4GB VRAM/500GB Fusion Drive(?)* on Kijiji here for $1500. No keyboard or mouse for some reason. Let me know if you want it inspected for tribbles.
* According to everymac.com this was the CTO model with the Fusion drive being 1TB or 2TB plus SSD to order. It could be that this one has 512GB SSD instead of Fusion drive.
"At the time of purchase, Apple also offered a 3 TB "Fusion" Drive or a 512 GB, 1 TB, or 2 TB SSD all at extra cost."
Craig
P.S. Unusually, the ad includes the serial number which checks out with Apple as having a valid purchase date and "iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2017)" as model description. Also, Google reverse image search does not show any of the posted pictures as having originated from anywhere else.
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Joe P
Memory Alpha incarnate | mod; Shatner number = 2
Craig,
Cheers, bro. I Appreciate your letting me know about the iMac. I think I'll hold tight until a big M-based version is available. I use a computer daily, but I hate farting around with them. I know some find much joy in computational flatulence, but when I have time to spare I'd rather watch some Trek or take a picture of da cat.
When I get a new 'puter, I'm going beeeg — at least 32GB of RAM and a 4TB SSD, and a multitronic processor so powerful that it could run a starship.
Best,
Joe
Cheers, bro. I Appreciate your letting me know about the iMac. I think I'll hold tight until a big M-based version is available. I use a computer daily, but I hate farting around with them. I know some find much joy in computational flatulence, but when I have time to spare I'd rather watch some Trek or take a picture of da cat.
When I get a new 'puter, I'm going beeeg — at least 32GB of RAM and a 4TB SSD, and a multitronic processor so powerful that it could run a starship.
Best,
Joe
Hook
Blackbeard's former bo'sun.
Joe, my new iMac only has 8gb but the latest OS does a great job of managing swap space. My old MacBook Pro had 16gb, but would run very slow when memory usage was high.
Subjectively speaking, it no longer seems to matter how many Safari windows I open or apps I run. Have yet to experience a slowdown for lack of memory.
I know you manipulate large files, but I can’t help but wonder how a 16gb M1 iMac would work for you. Am guessing no easy way to demo/test?
Subjectively speaking, it no longer seems to matter how many Safari windows I open or apps I run. Have yet to experience a slowdown for lack of memory.
I know you manipulate large files, but I can’t help but wonder how a 16gb M1 iMac would work for you. Am guessing no easy way to demo/test?
Joe P
Memory Alpha incarnate | mod; Shatner number = 2
Hook,
Having a few full-resolution scans open in Photoshop eats up a fair bit of memory just there. 2.25 x 2.25 inch film scanned at 4000 ppi = 9000 x 9000 pixels or about 81 MP.
I dunno, maybe 8 GB would be enough, but an M-based iMac is like an iPad in a way. What you buy is what you get without an option to upgrade anything — RAM, HD, video card, etc.
The frustrating thing is that the current 27-inch Intel iMac would be just spiffy, but Apple being Apple likely means that after a couple of years they'll stop supporting it. I suppose it could be Darthed up the wazoo to run Windows, but it's nutty to spend that much and then have to fart around.
Joe
Having a few full-resolution scans open in Photoshop eats up a fair bit of memory just there. 2.25 x 2.25 inch film scanned at 4000 ppi = 9000 x 9000 pixels or about 81 MP.
I dunno, maybe 8 GB would be enough, but an M-based iMac is like an iPad in a way. What you buy is what you get without an option to upgrade anything — RAM, HD, video card, etc.
The frustrating thing is that the current 27-inch Intel iMac would be just spiffy, but Apple being Apple likely means that after a couple of years they'll stop supporting it. I suppose it could be Darthed up the wazoo to run Windows, but it's nutty to spend that much and then have to fart around.
Joe
miktec
retired
I would be tempted to freeze your current Mac from the net and simply use it as a photo editing machine for 'as and when' and buy a new but lower spec Mac for internet/daily jobs.
Effectively what I will be doing for a range of 32 bit stuff with one of my Mini 2012 when Mojave support ceases.
I still have an old 'lunchbox' M Mini running Lion that supports the original Nikon scanner software (much better than Vuescan) Unfortunately my Coolscan went belly-up some time back ....
Darth Vader
From the Dark Side
I think you have misunderstood me and perhaps I haven’t been clear enough.
In a nutshell if you have a Mac from 2012 on then you can run any OS you want from an external HDD or SSD. You just boot the one you want so long as that OS supports your hardware OS X/macOS, Windows or Linux. The one caveat is that it’s an Intel based machine. Remember that a Mac is just a very expensive PC. In the UK Apple charges four times the regular price for an SSD - £400 vs £100 for 1TB! I recently upgraded a MacBook Air to 1TB for £90.
As I’ve already said it’s your cabbage but I like mine to go further and don’t like being taken for a fool and being ripped off.
Just to clarify you don’t have to mod any thing inside a Macintosh in order to boot those three external OS above. Once built you boot them using Startup Manager.
Have fun,
DV
Joe P
Memory Alpha incarnate | mod; Shatner number = 2
Darth,
I have an iMac from 2010. It works — I'm typing on it now — but I'd like to get a new computer as it's getting a bit creaky and I can no longer update OS X. I'm not really interested in turning it into a Windows-based machine, though I know that's a possibility. When I get a new machine, I'll pass this one on to my daughter.
My question was about whether to get a new Intel-based Mac now (and possible be shat upon by Apple in a few years) or wait until the M-based big iMac is available and possibly not have the ports I need to connect my widgets. I think the only wildcard here is FireWire.
Joe
I have an iMac from 2010. It works — I'm typing on it now — but I'd like to get a new computer as it's getting a bit creaky and I can no longer update OS X. I'm not really interested in turning it into a Windows-based machine, though I know that's a possibility. When I get a new machine, I'll pass this one on to my daughter.
My question was about whether to get a new Intel-based Mac now (and possible be shat upon by Apple in a few years) or wait until the M-based big iMac is available and possibly not have the ports I need to connect my widgets. I think the only wildcard here is FireWire.
Joe
Joe P
Memory Alpha incarnate | mod; Shatner number = 2
miktec,
I have thought about using my old iMac as a dedicated CoolScan machine, but I also have a digital camera and if I want to fiddle with the raw files it outputs I'll need a new machine and a current version of Photoshop.
A large, high-res screen would be spiffy for everything I do. The 5K screen on the 27-inch iMac is really quite nice, but the internet rumours suggest that the new iMac might have a 32-inch 6K screen similar to Apple's ridiculously expensive pro display.
Joe
I have thought about using my old iMac as a dedicated CoolScan machine, but I also have a digital camera and if I want to fiddle with the raw files it outputs I'll need a new machine and a current version of Photoshop.
A large, high-res screen would be spiffy for everything I do. The 5K screen on the 27-inch iMac is really quite nice, but the internet rumours suggest that the new iMac might have a 32-inch 6K screen similar to Apple's ridiculously expensive pro display.
Joe
Marchbanks
Hat and Beard member
Joe
Far be it from me to give away all the secrets of life, but here’s a good one. You can skip to the second half, all the wisdom is contained there.
Far be it from me to give away all the secrets of life, but here’s a good one. You can skip to the second half, all the wisdom is contained there.
Marchbanks
Hat and Beard member
Hello Joe
Although a detachable penis might be useful (I say might because having given it thirty seconds thought I haven’t actually come up with a situation yet) I didn’t suggest that as I don’t think it would really help you in your quest to create a firewire port*, any more than sudo dev/diskysomething/porty would. But taking stuff from work is a different matter altogether.
*also I wouldn’t want to be held responsible for the results if you tried.
Although a detachable penis might be useful (I say might because having given it thirty seconds thought I haven’t actually come up with a situation yet) I didn’t suggest that as I don’t think it would really help you in your quest to create a firewire port*, any more than sudo dev/diskysomething/porty would. But taking stuff from work is a different matter altogether.
*also I wouldn’t want to be held responsible for the results if you tried.