2020 iMac or M1 Mini?

[lcseds]

Might be a ridiculous question, and I will post to both forums. But would you rather have a M1 Mac mini (16GB/2TB SSD/10GB Ethernet), or a 2020 27" iMac 3.8 Ghz i7, 32GB Ram, 1TB SSD, Radeon Pro 5700 XT with 16GB VRAM? As impressive as the iMac seems to be, I read that the M1 may be equivalent or better. I have two nice Dell 27" (2560x1440 ips) monitors I can use. The iMac display looks a little nicer, but only when side by side. On their own, the Dells are fine.

Only use the system for media consumption, light video editing, photo processing (not pro), web surfing and light office work. Nothing too taxing.

 

[coso]

Why don’t you wait for the new M1X mini in November?

 

[lcseds]

The M1 Mini 16/2TB/10GB Enet was $1376 with military discount in the refurb store. The new one will cost considerably more I'm sure. And I don't think I need any additional power.

 

[karatekidk]

I am sure many people on this forum can tell you what they think, but I think the M1 mini would be a great value for your purpose, especially if you have all the peripherals (mouse, keyboard and monitor). A few months ago, I switched from 2002 i7 mini to a refurb M1 mini (512GB, 16GB ram) and am completely satisfied with it.

 

[wilberforce]

The M1 Mini 16/2TB/10GB Enet was $1376 with military discount in the refurb store. The new one will cost considerably more I'm sure. And I don't think I need any additional power.

And the 2020 iMac you spec is over $3,000 (a bit less if you can find an equivalent refurb).
Seems like the answer is clear (get the mini) unless you have a lot of extra disposable income.
And this is coming from someone (me) that has a 2020 iMac, and really likes it.
The biggest feature of the 2020 iMac is the 5k screen, and you appear to not care about that, as you are fine with 2560x1440 displays (half the resolution). For me, the difference is huge.

I might comment that the 2020 iMac you indicated may be over-spec'd for your needs. The 5700XT GPU is way more powerful than what the M1 Mac mini provides.

 

[dimme]

If you like your displays go for the mini.

 

[glenthompson]

I love my M1 iMac but I didn’t have a suitable monitor for my needs. If you don’t need an Intel processor for other OSes then go with the M1 Mini.

 

[CWallace]

Only real reason to go with the iMac 5K is if you need to run x86 Windows and x86 Windows applications (via VM or Boot Camp).

If you are all macOS, then M1 Mac mini is the clear choice, IMO.

 

[BornAgainMac]

2020 iMac if you need that compatibility that M1 doesn't provide. Most people will fall into the M1 Mac though. I actually bought both. I needed to run Parallels and have 128 GB of ram, I replaced my Windows Tower that was dedicated to gaming with the iMac. But I wanted to have the excellent technology that M1 iMacs offered. The 2020 iMac actually still good for normal Mac applications that work on both systems.

 

[ADGrant]

Might be a ridiculous question, and I will post to both forums. But would you rather have a M1 Mac mini (16GB/2TB SSD/10GB Ethernet), or a 2020 27" iMac 3.8 Ghz i7, 32GB Ram, 1TB SSD, Radeon Pro 5700 XT with 16GB VRAM? As impressive as the iMac seems to be, I read that the M1 may be equivalent or better. I have two nice Dell 27" (2560x1440 ips) monitors I can use. The iMac display looks a little nicer, but only when side by side. On their own, the Dells are fine.

Only use the system for media consumption, light video editing, photo processing (not pro), web surfing and light office work. Nothing too taxing.

The M1 isn't equivalent or better. It does have better single core performance which will make it faster for certain tasks such as web browsing but that iMac has a much better GPU, strong multicore performance which is somewhat better than the M1's and a lot more RAM.