New Mac for Rhino, iMac or MacBook Pro?

My work mid-2011 27" iMac is having video issues, LED cable maybe. I have to give a quote for a new one, I am not sure if new includes Apple refurbished, but I was told defiantly not used from like eBay and the like.

What would you buy? 2000$ - 3000$ before any type of tax. Mac Pro is out because that would also have a monitor cost.

AMD video vs. Intel iris … Thoughts.

Cheers ! «Randy

I believe @dan just put in an order for a new MBP so he should be able to tell you ow Rhino is running on that machine pretty soon.

Thanks @stevebaer , my friend has a newish one and he does mostly Final Cut & video and he likes his as well. I am not in a rush, unless the screen in front of me turns black. :astonished:

Indeed. I’m curious how the AMD GPU will work.

Pretty soon = “probably about 3 weeks.” (Initially Apple said that they would ship in 2-3 weeks, but they’ve revised that to 3-4 weeks).

I can wait. My instinct tells me to do the iMac. i have to check what is upgradable on it & MacBook Pro for that matter. If I have to get it “Pimped by Apple” then the cost goes up exponentially.

Thanks Dan!

I was hoping for a Nvidia option again… :confused:

I believe the 21.5" iMac cannot have a memory upgrade, buy the max.

27" can go to 64 according to OWC, Apple says 32 …

MacBook Pro is up to 16 GB RAM max out by Apple …

Cheers all … maybe take out another mortgage and max out a Mac Pro, well a 3 year old one ???

The iMacs consistently score high on the GeekBench results. The new 15" MacBook Pro isn’t up there yet, but the 13" one is.

“Pimped by Apple” Damn. I forgot to get that etched into the back of the lid :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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I run a mid 2014 MacBook Pro, I’m not a particularly heavy weight user of Rhino, it runs great on my machine for my needs, I also use KeyShot for some basic renders, runs that fine too :slight_smile:

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thanks @milezee . I might look at refurbished and spend to upgrade outside of Apple.

I own a 27" Late 2014 iMac with a 5K display, and 32G of RAM. It runs great with every program I use, including Mac Rhino and ArchiCAD. The display is awesome for modeling and rendering. Beautiful to look at and very easy on the eyes. The 15" (mid 2015) MacBook Pro with 16G of RAM and Retina display is also incredibly fast. The only difference in performance I can notice from one to the other is rendering time due to the difference in RAM. You can’t go wrong with either one.

I almost forgot: if you go with the iMac you can save quite a bit of money if you buy your RAM upgrade from an outside source like OWC.

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Does that machine have AMD video card? I don’t have MacTracker on this work computer.

I usually do, Thanks ! I will have to take the provided 8.

Here are some refurbished from Apple … different video cards. I may look at the 2013 and then spend more on RAM.

So your late 2014 had AMD video card …

Good to know, thanks!

get the newly released MacBook pro with the touch bar… then you can test the touch bar functions that dan will be experimenting with on his new mbp…

that way, when next summer comes around (which, if i stick to my schedule, is when i’ll be upgrading my current laptop)… the touch strip functionality in Rhino will already be up and running & user tested when i purchase.
:slight_smile:

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Video card on my iMac: AMD Radeon R9 M295X 4096 MB and the processor: 4 GHz Intel Core i7.

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Thanks Jeff, when I mentioned this to my manager this morning, she said what about the screen size. Sometime I wonder if the 27" is too large. I never work full screen and like little bits of other windows sticking out for me to click on if I need them. Old school macOS.

I am still tossing the idea around. [quote=“jeff_hammond, post:16, topic:38343”]
the touch strip functionality in Rhino will already be up and running & user tested when i purchase.
[/quote]

I was hoping for touch screen and the bar would be where the dock is, “The iBook Pro”.

@rwilkanowski, thanks, now @jeff_hammond is making me think twice. :slight_smile:

27" is the best for me at typical desk viewing distances. (in the past, i’ve also used rhino on 24" & 30")

i much prefer a modeling session on the imac compared to the laptop… but the laptop is indispensable since i also need portable capabilities.

Thanks, I do as well. I haven’t got the track pad thing figured yet. I do prefer my keyboard with number pad for Rhino.

How about new macbook pro using thunderbolt and external dGPU?

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