HEengineering Posted January 19, 2022 Share Posted January 19, 2022 Im by no means one who understands all of the nuances of hardware but if you wanted a machine that was capable of good modeling and power for a 5-7 year time span on a very small scale what would you go with? I've seen many debates about core utilization as well as GPU vs CPU vs ram and when will Apple and VW unlock multi core use etc. Most of our current machines have moved up to the 32GB of ram and are Imacs with 4-6 cores and decent graphics cards and so on. What are VW 2021,22 and beyond demanding for a good Imac? We also do some Terrain models. Just wondering what factors in more, CPU,GPU or Ram? Quote Link to comment
Pat Stanford Posted January 19, 2022 Share Posted January 19, 2022 If you want something for more than 2023, and you want to stick to Mac, then I would definitely get something with Apple Silicon. I would expect that 2022 (or maybe even 2021) will be the last iteration of Intel Macs. Future OS's and support will all be focused on Apple Silicon. If you want iMacs and you possibly can, then wait and see what comes out this spring/summer. Or consider the new Mac mini and an external monitor. 2 Quote Link to comment
HEengineering Posted January 19, 2022 Author Share Posted January 19, 2022 I understand that 2021 and 2022 can work with the M1. So hence the thought of waiting and going with Apple Silicon. Im not sure the Imac Mini would cut it? Is it not still a shared GPU? Quote Link to comment
zoomer Posted January 19, 2022 Share Posted January 19, 2022 Apple Silicon are ARM based System on Chip (SoC). The whole memory is shared between GPU and CPU. And since VW 2022 being native Apple ARM App, VW runs great on Apple M machines. So for real projects you don't want the limitation of 16 GB of the low spec M1 machines. The new Macbook Pro machines with up to 64 GB shared memory and M1 Pro or M1 Max chips are much more suitable for CAD and 3D Work. But so far we have only "mobile" Pro machines from Apple. For Desktops we still expect the large 27" iMac being replaced by an M version, maybe also the current gray Intel Mac Mini and of course the Mac Pro and maybe even a Mac Midi like M machine in between. Should all being released during the coming 12 months. I can do most of my VW projects on my M1 Mini 16 GB. But I don't really want a mobile computer - so I wait for Apple's (semi) professional M desktops instead. 1 Quote Link to comment
HEengineering Posted January 19, 2022 Author Share Posted January 19, 2022 So I guess the new Mac minis have the M1? For a while it was frowned upon bc of the shared GPU I thought. Its hard to keep up with all the updates! Quote Link to comment
zoomer Posted January 19, 2022 Share Posted January 19, 2022 It is not really like a shared GPU like it was on Intel Macs. It is much faster for M1 Macbook Air, Macbook Pro and Mac Mini than it was with the previous Intel versions in general. But you never would have considered a low spec device like Macbook Air for a CAD workstation. So far only the Mobile Macs are completely replaced by M chips. For now there are still Intel Versions for all desktops beside the low spec M1 machines. Like the space gray Mac Mini Intel with all ports vs the M1 Mini, the 27" Intel iMac vs the 24" M1 iMac. These will all be replaced with M1 versions at least as powerful as the Intel predecessors, during 2022 (?) Maybe a bit delayed because of chip shortage. Quote Link to comment
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