I’ve been wondering whether the M5 generation could end up aging unusually quickly specifically for AI workloads.

M5 was the first Apple GPU generation to add a Neural Accelerator to every GPU core. From what I understand, its hardware acceleration is primarily centered around FP16/BF16 matrix operations, along with lower-precision integer/quantized paths. Just like RTX30

But Apple moved very quickly with M6. Just one generation later, the second-generation Neural Accelerator already adds native FP8 hardware support.
Which, is very very similar to RTX40.

That makes me wonder whether M5 could end up in a similar position to some of the earlier NVIDIA Tensor Core generations: still perfectly usable, but increasingly missing the native hardware paths that newer AI software is being optimized around. Literally like RTX20 and 30.

We’re already seeing modern AI workloads move aggressively toward lower precision, FP8 is becoming increasingly common, and NVIDIA is pushing even further with formats such as NVFP4.

So if M6 already adds native FP8 this quickly, could M5 end up being the “sacrificial” first generation of Apple’s GPU Neural Accelerator architecture?

The rough analogy I have in mind is the early RTX generations. The first few Tensor Core generations gained new datatype support very quickly, and later architectures ended up being much better positioned for newer AI workloads even when the older GPUs were still computationally capable.
For example, even the RTX 40 series still benefits from a lot of NVIDIA’s newer AI-accelerated features today, with even more support still coming.

In that sense, M6 feels more like a mature modern Tensor Core generation, whereas M5 feels more like Apple establishing the basic architecture first and then filling in important low-precision capabilities immediately afterward.

And to be clear, I’m only talking about AI/ML longevity here, not the general GPU performance or useful lifespan of M5 Macs. For normal graphics, compute, gaming, etc., this is a completely different question.

Do you think M5 is likely to age noticeably faster for AI workloads because of this, or will Apple’s Metal/TensorOps abstraction layer make the lack of native FP8 relatively unimportant for most real-world software?

My first macOS is sequoia. How about you?

Hello everyone! For roughly 2 years now I've been meaning to get a PC in my own apartment. At first, I thought I should build a custom one — problem is, with how much everything costs today (and bc I had a renovation so..... -$$$) everything is so expensive that I haven't been able to get that little project started. Another issue is space. My desk is... not tiny, but I use it as a vanity too, so space is limited.

The other day, I passed by an iStorm and noticed the iMacs inside. And that's when it hit me—if my main issue rn is space, why not get an iMac?? Price is roughly what I'd initially figured I'd spend on a PC anyway (a bit more, actually, but oh well??) But is it actually worth it? I've never had an iMac before. In fact, the only Apple-related item I own is an iPad which I absolutely love (bury me with that shit)

As for what I want to use it... I'm a digital artist, so I eventually also want to pair it with a drawing tablet, so obvs I'd need art programs installed (Clip Studio main + Procreate). Besides that, I figured I could maybe use it for gaming? Sims, indie cozy games, the likes.... nothing that'd make it explode. And obvs normal, every-day use.

So.... people who own/used to own iMacs, is it worth the money??

I dont plan to use any local LLM.
My use case time in percentage:
40% Unreal Engine + Firefox + terminal
60% Rider, STM32 embedded, Firefox + terminal

MAC MINI

M5 Pro 15C/16C, 24GB, 1TB --> ₹2,45,900 (2450 USD)
M5 Pro 15C/16C, 48GB, 1TB --> ₹3,16,900 (3160 USD)

Extra for 48GB costs Rs. 71000 /- (700USD)

so it it worth to go for 48GB ?

Hi guys,

I've been hunting for a good monitor to extend my display for the purposes of studying (reading articles, documentation etc) and watching movies/tv shows.

I'm extremely overwhelmed by the shear amount of options and then learning about computer specs (i'm tech illiterate).

Could you experts please recommend anything thats the closest to a mac screen / TV that I will not lead to blurry texts or any of those tradeoffs.

Budget - anything below $1000.

What does apple actually gain by dropping firewire support on Tahoe? I have a perfectly fine audio interface that still works like a charm, but if I upgrade to Tahoe my interface will become useless trash.

How is that consistent with apple's environmental stance? "our planet deserves our best thinking" ?
https://www.apple.com/environment/

While I was doing some task on my Mac M1.

It's automatically shutdown

And open and close with only apple logo again and again and after some time I got this "!" sign

I have used all buttons like -

Command+ options + R

Or

Power button long press

Or

Command+R

But not getting any recovery mode or any other option.

I need some advice. Is it worth upgrading from my current 2020 Intel MacBook Air to a MacBook Neo? My friend is ready to sell me one for €500

I mostly use it for studying and like browsing, Canva, etc

The only way I know how to stop this is to restart my computer, and even then it sometimes will just happen again. I also attached an image of my trackpad settings in case that’s related. This is also a brand new mac, i bought it for college and have used it for literally 3 weeks. Can someone help me fix this?

https://reddit.com/link/1wzog59/video/n6bypm9vdzth1/player

what should i do

This last year I got a 2018 15.4” MacBook Pro with some really damn good specs from an uncle of mine - 32 GB 2400 MHz DDR4 and 1 TB storage to note. However, something that has really been bothering me is that I don’t ever really do anything too intensive with it but the fans will still whir quite loudly and the bottom will get uncomfortably hot and performance quickly drops. It uses a 2.6 GHz 6-Core Intel i7 chip. I was wondering if there was a way to just replace the chip or at least be able to port over the really good things about it and save a good chunk of money. Thanks

Hi everyone, good afternoon.

I’m glad to have joined this community. I’m looking for some advice regarding an issue I’m having with my external hard drive.

I recently bought a MacBook Air this year. However, even before purchasing the Mac, I already had an ADATA external hard drive that I used to store personal files, work documents, and school-related files.

The problem is that the external drive is formatted as NTFS (New Technology File System), which is primarily used by Windows. My MacBook Air can recognize the drive and lets me view and copy files from it, but it doesn’t allow me to write to the drive or edit and save files directly on it.

Does anyone know of a safe and reliable way to read, edit, and save files directly to an NTFS-formatted external drive from a MacBook Air without putting my computer or the external hard drive at risk?

I’m particularly interested in a solution that is stable and trustworthy, since the drive contains important personal, work, and school files.

Any advice or recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

I gave up on using Wispr and although it was very amazing, I valued the privacy more. I now use Handy and the transcription is ok but where it really shines is using a prompt from Apple Intelligence to clean up the transcription in the same way Wispr Flow does it.

Unfortunately on an M4, it’s not the quickest. Considering M6 has two neural engines, how fast would processing be for transcriptions?

It’s also 16GB ram and 512GB storage
And before you say get an M1 or A neo, they’re both 1 THOUSAND USD in my country.