Hackintosh?

[olkipukki]

Lenovo China only offers topped up configuration with Xeon, which is stupidly expensive. I'm not gonna pay Lenovo tax on COTS parts like 64GB RAM or 2TB SSD.
Also, with no background apps running, rest of iTunes (yes, I use that software on Windows), AD runs satisfiably fast on an i7-10710u.

Come on, just cost of 2 years AD subscription   

These are niche machines, cost of certification and extensive testing (as well as corp customers!) taken in account.

That's bizarre that Lenov CN so strict in the homeland.

 

FYI, Altium specifically recommends against Quadro cards. Altium uses 100% gaming 3D API, so you gain nothing from a Quadro for the same TFLOPS, but you do pay more.
Rest of maybe a bit of stability and reliability, you got nothing more from a Quadro using the same chip as a GeForce.

I'm using Quadro P4000 almost 3 years, no issues; of course, I didn't not buy it for Altium only.

[olkipukki]

A laptop may be a bonus for travelling. Currently, I do not travel too much.

Are you planning to travel a lot?
Are you going to use a laptop on way or a customer site?

Well, these up to you to define what is "bonus" means...

I bought Macbook Pro 13" Retina 6.5 years ago and maxed to 16GB/512GB with base i7-4558U CPU.
For me: size/weight, longevity and productivity are very much matter, and since it not my only computer power, I're fine to sacrifice CPU cycles.
Just a travel and be flexible, still use today, not ideal and how I would like to be, hopefully Apple will release a replacement line 13">14" with a proper hardware in 2020/21.

I would say one of best macbook before Apple's keyboard fiasco and cl@sterf%ck with screens etc.

FYI, can get 20-30% (depends on a luck) from an initial purchased price on ebay today.

Considered for two reasons:
- I only here a poor 17" VGA LCD, while the iMac comes with a builtin 21" LCD
- it also comes with a great GPU.

These don't match 

Who is on earth buying 21" now? 

3K euro to spend on iMac? Probably, you can fish 2 (two) decent 27" iMac retina on ebay for same budget and have two attempts to do DIY upgrade later 

Thinking about it, but which one?

No personal experience, egpu.io is your friend and don't forget https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT208544
Only suggestion to look for an upgrade option, for example chear RX 580 initially and Radeon Pro WX / RX years later



Not sure how many people here familiar with Final Cut, perhaps you have better chance to find out more on macrumors or similar.

[0db]

Are you planning to travel a lot?

not planned, but it might happen

Are you going to use a laptop on way or a customer site?

Customer site, or at home, or in the hotel. For sure never on the road.

what is "bonus" means...

Less space is taken with a laptop, and you can move your work with you if you travel. I do not like Claud or this stuff. Hence a laptop is a bonus when its use is not restricted due to cost and compromises.

Apple will release a replacement line 13">14" with a proper hardware in 2020/21.

Maybe for the end of the year, and I am also waiting for the new Bookfair/Arm with MacOS-iOS hybrid.
Not yet announced by Apple, I just have the feeling about it.

Who is on earth buying 21" now? 

me

Well, do you like Curved 43" LCDs? Are curved Monitors Worth It? I mean things like the latest Dell U4919DW Ultrawide Monitor. Brand new is about 1400 USD, I got offered a second hand one for 500K USD but I refused because it's equivalent to two 27" LCD side by side and that monitor is almost as long as your entire desk.

It's marvelous for Finalcut (I tried it yesterday), but it's too big and too expensive. And just the LCD arm costs 400 Euros.

3K euro to spend on iMac? Probably, you can fish 2 (two) decent 27" iMac retina on ebay for same budget and have two attempts to do DIY upgrade later 

LOL, happy  hacking 

Not sure how many people here familiar with Final Cut, perhaps you have better chance to find out more on macrumors or similar.

Sure, I will. Thanks for the tips.

[brucehoult]

Unless you'd rather live with those wimpy 15W (cTDP up to 25W) i7-1065G7 or i7-10710u, there's no 10th gen CPUs for you, at least for now. And there's no way a 25W CPU can beat a 65W CPU that's only 2 years older.

My experience is a 15W i7-8650U in a NUC narrowly but consistently beats a 65W i7-6700 in a tower.

Yes, there are some outlier parts that really push the compute/watt metric and make it hard to predict real world performance. Unfortunately many of the benchmark workloads are so short they don't see the full cost of throttling.

My usage is build / compilation of various software taking typically from 20 minutes and up on this class of machine. Everything is *well* into maximum throttling long before that point.

There may well be some other differences between the two machines to have such a clear result in that direction, especially when compute benchmarks put the i7-6700 reliably ahead (even against the top score of the i7-8650U, being a configurable part and common on laptops they score all over the place). Its a confusing mess of specs out there and application specific testing is the only reliable way to compare.

6700 will be faster if you have a continuously heavily multi-threaded load. But my tests show the 8650U beats both the 6700 and 6700K on single-threaded. Both the 6700K and 8650U are 4.2 GHz single-threaded, but the newer microarchitecture has a slight advantage.

Program builds -- at least open source Linux ones -- tend to have a lot of essentially single-threaded tasks such as running autoconf or linking alternating with heavily-threaded compile steps. It's the single-threaded parts that in my experience put the 8650U ahead of the 6700. The 6700K creams both of them.

[olkipukki]

Well, do you like Curved 43" LCDs? Are curved Monitors Worth It? I mean things like the latest Dell U4919DW Ultrawide Monitor. Brand new is about 1400 USD, I got offered a second hand one for 500K USD but I refused because it's equivalent to two 27" LCD side by side and that monitor is almost as long as your entire desk.

My daily drive are EIZO 31.5" 4K EV3237 (new for 1/2 RRP price!) and two very cheap obtained EV2450s. I like this setup to focus on a main screen and have additional screen space without breaking my neck. Also these sides monitors allows me connect another sources very easy and without disruption. I love how Mac OS scale screen resolution on 4K+, wish Windows & Apps can do this!

I have experience with U3818DW, good enough as a single screen, but prefer my current setup.

If you are working with media, guess your dream monitor is Display XDR

It's marvelous for Finalcut (I tried it yesterday), but it's too big and too expensive. And just the LCD arm costs 400 Euros.

That cheap, you are after Apple stuff, so be ready to round numbers up to closest thousand 

https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MWUG2LL/A/pro-stand

[0db]

One week ago, a friend bought three 17" 4:3 LCDs. Paid 150€ each.
I thought 17" were cheaper nowadays.

Eizo FleXScan EV3237 LCDs are listed at 520€. Interesting, interesting ... 

[brucehoult]

One week ago, a friend bought three 17" 4:3 LCDs. Paid 150€ each.
I thought 17" were cheaper nowadays.

Eizo FleXScan EV3237 LCDs are listed at 520€. Interesting, interesting ... 

I like Samsung 32" 4K monitors. I have three of them and paid US$399 each, but I think they are a little cheaper now. Fantastic for programming.

[0db]

I like Samsung 32" 4K monitors. I have three of them and paid US$399 each, but I think they are a little cheaper now. Fantastic for programming.

which model?

[0db]

A desk is usually 120cm long. umm, I need a longer one.

[brucehoult]

I like Samsung 32" 4K monitors. I have three of them and paid US$399 each, but I think they are a little cheaper now. Fantastic for programming.

which model?

Models change, but one I bought in 2017 was LU32J590UQNXZA.

[0db]

I've built several Hackintoshes over the years, but the reason is that I've wanted a high performance programming machine but the Mac Pro goes in a different direction -- they have high end GPUs, massive I/O capability, can take massive amount of RAM and things like this. Which I don't need. I just want lots of fast CPU cores, high turbo speed on single-threaded code, and a moderate amount of RAM. And support for multiple high resolution monitors that will show crisp text in small point sizes, but I don't care at all about 3D.

Reconsidering Hackintosh, I need at least a reference point concerning "configurations". Consider that having video, sound and GPU 100% stable and working is mandatory for FinalCut.

Do you have any website or reference for get started?

[olkipukki]

Do you have any website or reference for get started?

... found this website.

 

[brucehoult]

I've built several Hackintoshes over the years, but the reason is that I've wanted a high performance programming machine but the Mac Pro goes in a different direction -- they have high end GPUs, massive I/O capability, can take massive amount of RAM and things like this. Which I don't need. I just want lots of fast CPU cores, high turbo speed on single-threaded code, and a moderate amount of RAM. And support for multiple high resolution monitors that will show crisp text in small point sizes, but I don't care at all about 3D.

Reconsidering Hackintosh, I need at least a reference point concerning "configurations". Consider that having video, sound and GPU 100% stable and working is mandatory for FinalCut.

Do you have any website or reference for get started?

https://www.tonymacx86.com/buyersguide/building-a-customac-hackintosh-the-ultimate-buyers-guide/

https://www.4kshooters.net/2019/05/07/the-ultimate-hackintosh-build-2019-14-core-imacpro-killer/

[Bassman59]

I've built several Hackintoshes over the years, but the reason is that I've wanted a high performance programming machine but the Mac Pro goes in a different direction -- they have high end GPUs, massive I/O capability, can take massive amount of RAM and things like this. Which I don't need. I just want lots of fast CPU cores, high turbo speed on single-threaded code, and a moderate amount of RAM. And support for multiple high resolution monitors that will show crisp text in small point sizes, but I don't care at all about 3D.

Reconsidering Hackintosh, I need at least a reference point concerning "configurations". Consider that having video, sound and GPU 100% stable and working is mandatory for FinalCut.

Reconsidering Hackintosh, is your goal to edit video or to fuck around with your computer? If the former, buy a Mac of whatever sort and get on with it.

[westfw]

I use a hackintosh; I don't pay much attention to it.  On a Dell 8930 (?) 6-core I7, 32G, Nvidia 1050.  A "Costco special" - about $1k before I upgraded memory and disks (bought before the new cheese graters, back toward the end of the trashcans...)

Eagle, XWindows, EMACS, assorted versions of gcc, MPLAB, Arduino, web browsers and email, and other sorts of "development-y" things all seem to work fine.   Assorted Apple stuff, not so much - Itunes is usually broken, and the Optical drive is flakey.  It's a couple versions behind on OS and other iXXXX tools, since upgrading is a pain, and I'm not sure whether it boots as fast as it ought to.'
But overall, I'm pretty happy with it.

[0db]

In the end, I opted for bank financing. I will buy a genuine maxed-out iMac + second big external LCD.
The bank will eat interests on their bank-loan for five months, but that's acceptable.