Heiko Hamann

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• #68352
  
  Heiko Hamann
  

  Participant

  Posts: 24

  M1-iMacs – what’s next for us?

  on: February 12, 2023 at 1:38 pm

  Hi!

  I would like to give you an update on how things have been going for me. As you remember, I have been waiting for a replacement for my iMac 27″, end of 2013, since April 2021. After I was able to update it to Monterey with a trick, it was still too slow in the end and the beach ball circled too often on the screen.

  So in September 2022, I decided to buy a Mac mini M1 with 16GB RAM and 1TB SSD as an interim solution, because Apple wasn’t expecting a big iMac or an alternative to the Mac Studio for the foreseeable future. I can use the Mac mini in other places in the office later. The SSD is big enough for my apps, some data and the Lightroom library. I copied the pictures to an external Sandisk Extreme SSD with 2TB.

  I bought a Studio Display with Vesa mount for a wall bracket, also. The display is nice, but not a revolution compared to a 27″ Retina iMac. The sound is great when you sit directly in front of it. Nice side effect, but that’s not why I bought it. But it’s also a good example of the regression in Apple’s design:

  

  This wouldn’t have happened to Steve or Jony: the apple was always above the Vesa mount on the iMac. OK, maybe that’s small stuff, but I come from the time when Apple also paid attention to such small things…

  Geekbench 5	CPU Single-sore	CPU Multi-core	Compute OpenCL	Compute Metal
  iMac (27-inch Late 2013)	971	3.703	4.253	5.260
  Mac mini (Late 2020)	1.759	7.681	19.313	22.119

  Felt (and that tells me more :-)) the M1-Mini is fast enough, but when working with Lightroom there are situations where accessing a large image database doesn’t feel as fast as expected. As I said – this is due to the external SSD. The advantage over my old iMac is perhaps not so great here, because the iMac had a fast internal SSD. Unfortunately, I no longer have any data from the iMac, but here are the speeds of the internal and external SSDs on the M1-Mini:

  Blackmagic Disk Speed Test	Write MB/s	Read MB/s
  Mac mini 1TB internal SSD	3.008	2.967
  Sandisk  Extreme Pro 2TB external	921	722

  These are the maximum values that I have read. However, there were big fluctuations with the internal SSD – even though I closed all other apps and background processes.

  I could have now upgraded to a faster external SSD (e.g. an OWC Envoy Pro FX), but they are expensive and get very hot. In addition, the M1 Mini only has two Thunderbolt ports, so you either have to connect the SSD to the display or buy a fast and therefore expensive hub. All in all, expensive piecemeal…

  Oh well – perhaps an insight into why I’m so mourning the iMac and can’t buy a Mac Studio, but can buy a Mac mini. I have a workstation in our living room, a counter where I can work and be with the family at the same time. We designed it for the iMac on the wall, with some space in the counter for cables and hard drives. A Mac Studio doesn’t fit in there and it gets very messy on the counter because I can’t put the cables there.

  

  

  But the Mini fits 🙂 I know the setting is not perfect for image editing, but that’s not what I do for a living. Instead, I often work with Excel or PowerPoint on the big display.

  

  Back to the topic: What happened with the interim solution? Apple finally gave us an update of the Mac Mini. After I was able to test the basic setup and also the temperature in the counter with the M1 mini, I have now ordered a Mac mini M2Pro with 32MB RAM and 4TB SSD. It’s expensive, but if I had done it with fast external hubs and SSDs, I wouldn’t have spent much less. And it wouldn’t be as fast:

  Geekbench 5	CPU Single-sore	CPU Multi-core	Compute OpenCL	Compute Metal
  iMac (27-inch Late 2013)	971	3.703	4.253	5.260
  Mac mini (Late 2020)	1.759	7.681	19.313	22.119
  Mac mini (2023)	1.964	15.172	44.226	51.972

  As I said, CPU is not everything, the solution lies in the SSD:

  Blackmagic Disk Speed Test	Write MB/s	Read MB/s
  Mac mini 1TB internal SSD	3.008	2.967
  Sandisk  Extreme Pro 2TB external	921	722
  Mac mini 2023 4TB internal SSD	6.960	5.521

  Now I have the (current) images on the internal SSD and everything feels as it should 🙂 One interesting note perhaps: the Mac mini M2Pro gets noticeably warmer than the M1. To take a closer look at the temperature, I have installed the free tool Stats (https://github.com/exelban/stats). It now measures approx. 45° C for the CPUs, the mainboard sensor is at 38-42° C. I then marked 30,000 pictures and generated previews. Then the Mini starts to blow quietly but audibly. The CPUs are then at 75-90° C, the mainboard at 45-48° C. The Mini can still be touched and it is so well insulated that the heat is not transferred to the wooden counter. So – it works!

  I hope the experience will help with similar considerations. The performance of the new Mini is certainly sufficient for Lightroom. I can get by with the configuration for a few years.

  • This reply was modified 9 months, 3 weeks ago by Heiko Hamann.
  • This reply was modified 9 months, 3 weeks ago by Heiko Hamann.
  • This reply was modified 9 months, 3 weeks ago by Heiko Hamann.
  #55799
  
  Heiko Hamann
  

  Participant

  Posts: 24

  Re: M1-iMacs – what’s next for us?

  Reply #1 on: June 9, 2022 at 6:44 am

  Hi,

  oh, man, Jeff, what a trip. I can totally relate to that.

  Kevin, I am so so so patient 🙂 Here are the next M2 MacMini rumours:

  Report: TSMC to start mass production of new 3nm ‘M2 Pro’ chip later this year

   

  Kind regards, Heiko

  #55710
  
  Heiko Hamann
  

  Participant

  Posts: 24

  Re: M1-iMacs – what’s next for us?

  Reply #2 on: June 8, 2022 at 2:15 am

  After the Apple WWDC 2022 keynote we have a new M2 in a nice MacBook Air and a single MacBook Pro. Still no sign of a renewed MacMini or large iMac 🙁

  • This reply was modified 1 year, 6 months ago by Heiko Hamann.
  • This reply was modified 1 year, 6 months ago by Heiko Hamann.
  #54417
  
  Heiko Hamann
  

  Participant

  Posts: 24

  Re: Photo still syncing

  Reply #3 on: May 10, 2022 at 2:40 am

  Hi,

  I had the same experience (sync in LRC gets stuck in some iPhone photos), maybe this will help you a bit. First of all: I don’t use the sync intensively and was previously only used to being able to show or edit my desktop photos on the iPad. But it also works the other way: LR on an iOS device can import images from this device (also automatically) and then sends them to LRC on the Mac/PC. In the LRC settings you can set the location where theese pictures are stored on the Mac/PC. Maybe you can check which location is set for you and what is going on there.

  I was able to fix my sync problem by starting LR on the iPhone and letting LR do its work. After some time (I wasn’t sitting there), the synchronisation was also completed in LRC.

  Since you no longer have your old iPhone: do you have a new iPhone with LR installed? Then starting LR there should actually solve the problem, because iOS/LR take all the settings with them from version to version, regardless of whether you switch to a new iPhone. Maybe you can find the pictures in LR on your iPhone and delete them.  I would also run LR once on all iOS devices that you still use.

  I hope this helps or at least puts you on the path to a solution.

  Best regards,

  Heiko

  #53381
  
  Heiko Hamann
  

  Participant

  Posts: 24

  Re: M1-iMacs – what’s next for us?

  Reply #4 on: April 24, 2022 at 5:49 am

  Hi,

  after almost a year, there is something new to report: After deciding to wait for a matching M1, I was sadly disappointed by the new products in March: No 27″ iMac, but a great Mac Studio. Unfortunately, it doesn’t physically fit in the space provided for it, here. That’s why I was hoping for a 27″ or even larger iMac.

  So I need a smaller Mac (only the MacMini will fit) and a separate display. The display has now been introduced with the Studio Display. I’m not thrilled about that either – why does it have to be so thick (compare the 24″ iMac)? Also the display itself is not a step up from a 5K iMac. The sound is better – but I have a hi-fi system for that. Well, in the end I’ll have to make friends with the Studio Display 😉

  So the MacMini is still missing. Since the current model was the very first Apple device with M1, I hope that this year it will get an update and hopefully 32GB RAM. So keep waiting… But let’s remember – I have a 2013 iMac here and am stuck with Mojave as macos. That means Ligthroom 10.4 and none of the new features….

  So yesterday I summoned up the courage of the desperate and updated my vintage iMac to Monterey. Doesn’t work – says Apple. It does – with this:

  https://dortania.github.io/OpenCore-Install-Guide/

  There is an article about it in the German Mac&I (https://www.heise.de/select/mac-and-i/2022/2/2134912522376148882), I assume you can find such a short instruction somewhere in English, too.

  What can I say? IT WORKS! I now have an almost 10-year-old iMac with Monterey. First impression was that the macos GUI feels faster, but that will just be a feeling. The iMac is well equipped, but it is now reaching its limits, which can be noticed by the fact that the fan comes on much more often, especially when several apps are running at the same time. Sometimes the iMac lags or takes a little longer, but that was also the case under Mojave, because it’s old. I can’t give a final verdict yet, but at the moment it all looks very good – especially with an up-to-date Lightroom!!!

  Kind regards, Heiko

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