2020 iMac Still Worth It?

[Hazmat401]

Option 1: Brand new sealed 2020 iMac 27 with 3.3 i5, 512gb ssd and 8gb ram for $11ish, I would upgrade the ram to either 32/64 gb

Option 2: speced out iMac 27 with i7, 1TB SDD, 32/64 of ram for $17ish (per OWC these are sealed Apple refurbished

Option 3 mid to high end ultra wide and a used Mac mini capable of pushing display

So my wife is having some productivity woes with her 4th Gen iPad Pro and with multiple website databases and PDFs she needs to use simultaneously… she needs a much bigger screen

The iPad Pro with Apple Pencil works really well for her when she’s working in between home and the office or when she’s stuck in the court house or even in bed

But when she’s fully working from home she’s struggling meeting deadlines due to the excessive multitasking, emails, team video meetings. She needs a dedicated home computer with a large screen to be productive

I’m bias towards option two cause I wanna try out StarCraft. I had other plans for my bonus but I thought I do something nice for my wife to help her out. Any opinions

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Option 3. 2020 is now in the 4-years-behind window. Rumors suggest Apple could drop macOS support for Intel as soon as this year or next (my own wild guess is next year).

It's basically over for Intel Mac. If you want Mac, go Silicon. If you don't really need Mac, the used budgets you are thinking about for "endangered species" Macs could buy a LOT in a new/newer Windows PC... even more so if you flip into considering Silicon Macs vs. PC and want/need upgrades to RAM & SSD.

I recommend Option 3 because that's the lone "separates" option among your considerations, facilitating buying that Ultra-Wide now and easily shifting it to the next Mac (and/or PC) when the chosen Mini ages out. Options 1 & 2 are both "throw baby out with the bathwater" options... meaning both monitors are basically married to Mac guts that will soon be even more left behind... then vintaged.

And Starcraft runs great on PC... along with multitudes of other titles... including most of them AAA games so coveted by the Apple crowd (that seem unlikely to ever actually show up in Mac-land).

 

[apostolosdt]

Move to Apple Silicon. I used to rave about my Intel-based, fully fledged MPs, until a humble base Mini M1 made me see future clearly.

 

[Steve121178]

I wouldn't be spending money on Intel Macs unless you are getting a phenomenal deal, but even then bare in mind Intel gear is on the chopping block.

Have you looked at M1 iMac/mini refurbs?

 

[JustAnExpat]

Option 3.

Do not get an Intel Mac. Get an Apple Silicone Mac.

 

[FreakinEurekan]

Agree with the majority opinion- don’t buy Intel in 2024.

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

Option 1: Brand new sealed 2020 iMac 27 with 3.3 i5, 512gb ssd and 8gb ram for $11ish, I would upgrade the ram to either 32/64 gb

Option 2: speced out iMac 27 with i7, 1TB SDD, 32/64 of ram for $17ish (per OWC these are sealed Apple refurbished

Option 3 mid to high end ultra wide and a used Mac mini capable of pushing display

So my wife is having some productivity woes with her 4th Gen iPad Pro and with multiple website databases and PDFs she needs to use simultaneously… she needs a much bigger screen

The iPad Pro with Apple Pencil works really well for her when she’s working in between home and the office or when she’s stuck in the court house or even in bed

But when she’s fully working from home she’s struggling meeting deadlines due to the excessive multitasking, emails, team video meetings. She needs a dedicated home computer with a large screen to be productive

I’m bias towards option two cause I wanna try out StarCraft. I had other plans for my bonus but I thought I do something nice for my wife to help her out. Any opinions

Option 4: Buy her a 28" 4.5K monitor like the Huawei Mateview 28, a standing dock (for the iPad) and a set of Keyboard and Mouse.

 

[mreg376]

Option 1: Brand new sealed 2020 iMac 27 with 3.3 i5, 512gb ssd and 8gb ram for $11ish, I would upgrade the ram to either 32/64 gb

Option 2: speced out iMac 27 with i7, 1TB SDD, 32/64 of ram for $17ish (per OWC these are sealed Apple refurbished

Option 3 mid to high end ultra wide and a used Mac mini capable of pushing display

So my wife is having some productivity woes with her 4th Gen iPad Pro and with multiple website databases and PDFs she needs to use simultaneously… she needs a much bigger screen

The iPad Pro with Apple Pencil works really well for her when she’s working in between home and the office or when she’s stuck in the court house or even in bed

But when she’s fully working from home she’s struggling meeting deadlines due to the excessive multitasking, emails, team video meetings. She needs a dedicated home computer with a large screen to be productive

I’m bias towards option two cause I wanna try out StarCraft. I had other plans for my bonus but I thought I do something nice for my wife to help her out. Any opinions

Forget the advice above to go Apple silicon or bust. If you want a 27" iMac, there is no alternative right now in Apple silicon, except getting a Mini or Studio and a separate display. The problem is that unless you are going to spend a fortune on a display you're not going to get the same display quality as you will in a 27" iMac, and the overall package will be expensive and much less neat.

Your use case seems to be consistent with the performance that you'll be able to get out of either 27" option, especially if you (easily) upgrade the RAM. You don't say what the year is for Option 2.

I am currently using a now 7-year old 2017 27" iMac i7 with 64GB, running Ventura, for very similar uses, and it is doing everything I need. My son just got an M3 24" iMac, and it is fast and beautiful machine. But it ain't 27", and I find that the extra screen real estate is more helpful to my productivity.

 

[Harry Haller]

I went with option 2 a year and a half ago.
It was a new 27" i7 8GB/512GB for $600 off on Black Friday.
So for for $1,700 or $200 more than the Apple Studio Display I got a 3.8GHz 8 core computer with upgradable ram. Prolly because the Apple silicon iMacs were arriving. I wasn't going to pay Apple's absurd ram price or go from 27" 5K to 24" whatever. Added 64GB of ram and a 2TB external ssd for $300.
The 27" iMac display absolutely kicks the 24" iMac display to the curb.

 

[filmgirl]

As much as I still love my specced-out 2020 iMac (128GB, i9, 5700XT 16GB, 10GbE), I have a hard time recommending spending $1700 or similar on it today. It’s still a great machine, but I have a hard time recommending spending that over getting a Mac mini and an ultrawide, even for your use case. These machines will continue to run for a long time but macOS support question is real. I’d like to think Apple will do 6 or 7 years of support (especially since they sold the 2019 Mac Pro at those prices for as long as they did), but you never really know. So for me, that wipes out option 2 at this moment in time.

I can see the argument for option 1, just because realistically, you’d be getting a better all-around configuration than a used Mac mini and ultrawide, based on Apple's current refurb prices. You run into the same software support issues, but you’re coming in $500 less, which to my mind changes things. Like, that iMac could be turned into a Windows or Linux machine after it fully loses support (assuming things like OpenCore stop working when Apple stops doing any Intel support), or you could potentially pay $200 to turn it into a 5K monitor (I assume that conversion boards that work with the 2020 iMac will be available in a few years) down the line and probably continue to get use out of it for another half decade at least. But you need to know you’re buying in at the very end of a support life cycle (I too think we will get one more year, but who can say), which may or may not matter for your wife's use cases. Still, I think this offers the best overall experience, in terms of processing power, display quality and storage. Sorry about StarCraft.

As for option 3, that is going to give you the most support longevity and future-proofing, but it's also going to require either spending more or making compromises.

The M2 Mac mini with 8GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD is $680 and you’re looking at $700 - $800 for an ultrawide. Obviously, you could choose to just get an inexpensive 27” 4K monitor. It won’t look as nice as an iMac, but it’ll be a big upgrade from her iPad Pro, just in terms of productivity. Keep in mind you’ll need to get accessories for it, if you don't have extras, so assume $250 - $300 for a mid 27” 4K monitor, $50 for a web cam, and maybe $100 to $150 on a mouse and keyboard.

What you might consider would be the $700 M1 MacBook Air from Walmart and a $250 - $300 4K 27” monitor. That machines works fine with one external display, and this way you don’t have to drop money on accessories like you would with the Mac mini, and your wife has more flexibility with how and where she uses it, if there is a situation where she doesn’t want to use her iPad in bed and needs a laptop instead.

 

[filmgirl]

I went with option 2 a year and a half ago.
It was a new 27" i7 8GB/512GB for $600 off on Black Friday.
So for for $1,700 or $200 more than the Apple Studio Display I got a 3.8GHz 8 core computer with upgradable ram. Prolly because the Apple silicon iMacs were arriving. I wasn't going to pay Apple's absurd ram price or go from 27" 5K to 24" whatever. Added 64GB of ram and a 2TB external ssd for $300.
The 27" iMac display absolutely kicks the 24" iMac display to the curb.

I think in November 2022, that made a ton of sense. Heck, I spent $4000 on my 2020 iMac, even knowing the M1 had been announced, and I definitely feel like I got my monies worth. (Even if my M3 Max machine is my primary and the Intel sits in the corner to do Docker and look pretty.)

The challenge is that 18 months later, I don’t know if the value prop is the same, especially at $1700. For $1200 (or even better, under $1000), I think it gets closer. If OWC was selling the i5 returb for $1000 instead of $1200, I’d have no hesitation recommending it. It just comes down to what you do and whether you’re OK losing the latest OS updates, potentially very soon.

 

[Harry Haller]

For my use the value proposition, in addition to saving $600 on the iMac and another $600 on the ram and storage upgrade, was the ability to run boot camp and have Windows and Mac versions of Unreal Engine and the ability to plug in an Nvidia 4000 series eGPU. With the Windows version I know I get the latest and greatest updates to UE that usually come later for the Mac. With the Mac version I can prototype an app for the Vision Pro.

Regarding the latest OS updates, when I get an M3 Ultra Studio that will do the heavy lifting in UE, it will have the latest OS updates for 7 years, the iMac will be used as a Universal Control monitor and not be the network facing machine. That's the plan anyway. Hopefully the M3 Studio Ultra drops at WWDC in a couple of months.

 

[Makisupa Policeman]

Agree with others that you absolutely shouldn’t buy an Intel based Mac in 2024, especially desktops which are already somewhat niche.

I sold my 2020 27” iMac last year for a great price considering it probably won’t be supported very much longer. I was glad to finally get away from Intel for good and if I ever decide I need a desktop setup again I’ll probably pick up an ASD, keyboard and mouse and dock my MBP instead; best of both worlds.

As attractive as AIOs are they’re just not the direction Apple seems to be going unless you’re OK with the smaller 24” iMacs.

 

[Makisupa Policeman]

Forget the advice above to go Apple silicon or bust. If you want a 27" iMac, there is no alternative right now in Apple silicon, except getting a Mini or Studio and a separate display. The problem is that unless you are going to spend a fortune on a display you're not going to get the same display quality as you will in a 27" iMac, and the overall package will be expensive and much less neat.

Your use case seems to be consistent with the performance that you'll be able to get out of either 27" option, especially if you (easily) upgrade the RAM. You don't say what the year is for Option 2.

I am currently using a now 7-year old 2017 27" iMac i7 with 64GB, running Ventura, for very similar uses, and it is doing everything I need. My son just got an M3 24" iMac, and it is fast and beautiful machine. But it ain't 27", and I find that the extra screen real estate is more helpful to my productivity.

If OP truly desires a 27” AIO setup for his use case, then ultimately that’s what he should get, but with the major caveat that Intel is on its death bed as far as support from Apple.

For the 2020 you’ll probably get MacOS 15, but after that it will likely be cut off, and then you’ve only got 2-3 more years of security updates. But to each their own.

 

[JamesMay82]

Unless your getting an intel machine for under $500 then I wouldn't bother as the M series chips are fantastic.

I'd seriously consider the 24 inch M3 iMac. I Use a studio display and its great but having recently used my parents 24 inch iMac its not too small at all and you get use to it very quickly and while your coming from iPad use the 24 will instantly be a great step up. much cheaper than a mini and monitor option with equivalent spec.

 

[Makisupa Policeman]

Option 1: Brand new sealed 2020 iMac 27 with 3.3 i5, 512gb ssd and 8gb ram for $11ish, I would upgrade the ram to either 32/64 gb

Option 2: speced out iMac 27 with i7, 1TB SDD, 32/64 of ram for $17ish (per OWC these are sealed Apple refurbished

Option 3 mid to high end ultra wide and a used Mac mini capable of pushing display

So my wife is having some productivity woes with her 4th Gen iPad Pro and with multiple website databases and PDFs she needs to use simultaneously… she needs a much bigger screen

The iPad Pro with Apple Pencil works really well for her when she’s working in between home and the office or when she’s stuck in the court house or even in bed

But when she’s fully working from home she’s struggling meeting deadlines due to the excessive multitasking, emails, team video meetings. She needs a dedicated home computer with a large screen to be productive

I’m bias towards option two cause I wanna try out StarCraft. I had other plans for my bonus but I thought I do something nice for my wife to help her out. Any opinions

Would the 24” M1 iMac be big enough? She’s certainly going to be far more productive than on an iPad.

If you go this route you’ll get a lot more bang for your buck in terms of power and longevity. Plus I’d wager she could get away with the base M1 8/256, which will be plenty fast, much more so than any Intel machine, and any larger files can be stored on an attached external SSD.

 

[Hazmat401]

Would the 24” M1 iMac be big enough? She’s certainly going to be far more productive than on an iPad.

If you go this route you’ll get a lot more bang for your buck in terms of power and longevity. Plus I’d wager she could get away with the base M1 8/256, which will be plenty fast, much more so than any Intel machine, and any larger files can be stored on an attached external SSD.

I got a base M1 Mini and a refurb Studio display

The main reason I was consider the 2020 iMac was because of the screen real estate… she needs to be able to work on 3 PDFs side by side at the same time… I went Studio display for the scalability of things and if she needs to sign a bunch of documents in real time… she can just connect her iPad

 

[Heliotropen]

I have some of the same thoughts right now - but there is really no alternative to an expensive Mac Studio or 16 gb ssd Mac mini and the Studio display (I can't live with a monitor worse than the 5k iMac display at this point in time).

So for all having the same thoughts right now (notice, the time is ticking), here is my own thoughts:

I would probably buy a cheaper 27" intel iMac and just ride it for as long as you can.
Unless you have some far out needs (we talk way beyond Adobe programs, Final Cut and so on), and then you would not consider an intel iMAC to begin with (given you are fine with the open legacy patcher and such).

Apple will give us at least another intel version of MacOS, if we are lucky two.
Then two years of official updates after that version is replaced.
And if you are community oriented, it can last a very long time (still more secure than any windows 11 machine) as long as you are willing to use the software limitations ... but even now etc. all the latest adobe software still run on Ventura.

If I guess you needs right, you have a machine that can still run the latest software for 4-5 years (or more) ... and after that you can run the software you end up with for a long time ... services will work for a least a few years more in the older software.

About now should be a good time, because people are getting rid of them like they where the plauge.
Perhaps just look for a 2017 model etc. (I would go back that for OR choose a cheap 2020 model, with ssd) - even the lowest specs 2020 with NVme kicks ass, and I have also seen it kick the m1 iMacs ass in benchmarks).

Now if we talked MacBooks, it's another topic, the last good intel MacBook is the 2015, I have a 13" that still runs fine: but for a new Macbook the M machines are obvious.

Btw, there is also several projects underway, allowing you to fit a Mac mini inside your iMAC to replace the hardware; should be more of those kind of solutions out in the next years to come.

That is for 1/4th to 1/8th the price of a powerful enough Mac mini with Studio display, you can still get 4,5,7 years of prime use... and who knows what will come out in the mean time. Perhaps they change their mind and finally make that 32" iMac, to render the Mac Studio obsolete.

 

[throAU]

Unless you have very specific reasons (compatibility with software known to NOT RUN on Apple Silicon machines or the earliest OS that Apple Silicon machines are forced to run) - buying an Intel Mac in 2024 is probably a mistake.


I've run Macs since 2008. Apple silicon is the biggest performance jump I've seen. And more importantly, the biggest improvement in heat and noise, too.

 

[Heliotropen]

Unless you have very specific reasons (compatibility with software known to NOT RUN on Apple Silicon machines or the earliest OS that Apple Silicon machines are forced to run) - buying an Intel Mac in 2024 is probably a mistake.


I've run Macs since 2008. Apple silicon is the biggest performance jump I've seen. And more importantly, the biggest improvement in heat and noise, too.

Now I’m looking away from OP’s prices, but I wrote my post to disagree.

But I’m hoping for a real debate that will make me smarter.

Everyone tend to follow the floks openion that follow the marketed openion, but here is the thing:

There is no such thing as a near identical solution, there is the insanely overprised Mac mini (if you actually need to work on it, aka needs more than 8 gb rams, god forbid you need 32,64 or 128) and the insanely overpriced Studio display.

If you are used to even a 2014+ iMac with 5k display, a normal cheap monitor won’t do, it will be an insane step backworths; any monitor as good ad the 5K iMac will alone cost twice ad much as the older iMac, and then the mini with 16+ gb rams … you are looking at 4 x the price.

Andwhy would you pay that?

The 10 gen i7 and i9 in the 2020 iMac beats the iMac mini with the Silicon on anything but power effeciency… but PE is not that important in a desktop, it is in a laptop.

You at least need to go for a Mac Studio to beat the 2020 iMac (there is many real life benchMarks showing this), even the 2020 i5 iMac goes rather well head to head with the Silicon Mac Mini …

Now comparing the M with the Mobile Intel processors are again something entorely diffrent … the M1 Air beats all former Intel MacBooks … but the M1 24” iMac can’t beat even the slowest 2020 iMac in real life tests, the macmini can’t beat the i7 not to mention the i9.

So you get a better monitor, you get a better form factor, you easily gets allot more rams, to 1/3-1/4th the price.

What is the downside: the discontinuation of Intel in MacOS.

Well I would argue you have at least 4 years premium work time left on the iMac, might not be with the latest macOS in the end, but perhaps the second latest (which is usually fine for everyone)… and you still have 2-3/4 of your alternative budget left to buy something else in that time span.

Why would that be a mistake?

I think this asumption still comes from the line up of laptops, the m1 MacBook Air was the best formfactor Mac since the 2015 13” rMBP. So going for that and above over any Intel MacBook was and obviously still is a no brainer.

In my view the desktop solutions Apple is currently offering is really horrible; it mostly take me back to old Windows computer days, before my first 2009 unibody iMac. Unless I undervalued the M iMac but at only 24” I dont think so … going from a 27” to 24” would be a horrible downgraded experience.

 

[ucfgrad93]

I got a base M1 Mini and a refurb Studio display

The main reason I was consider the 2020 iMac was because of the screen real estate… she needs to be able to work on 3 PDFs side by side at the same time… I went Studio display for the scalability of things and if she needs to sign a bunch of documents in real time… she can just connect her iPad

You made a good decision. I hope she enjoys it.

 

[Heliotropen]

You made a good decision. I hope she enjoys it.

Depends on the task ... but lure me if Apple won't find a way to discontinue either all machines with 8gb ram or all M1 machines, almost as fast as they will discontinue Intel in general.

 

[sifpilsen]

I got a base M1 Mini and a refurb Studio display

The main reason I was consider the 2020 iMac was because of the screen real estate… she needs to be able to work on 3 PDFs side by side at the same time… I went Studio display for the scalability of things and if she needs to sign a bunch of documents in real time… she can just connect her iPad

That display will last her another Mac or two before she lets it go. It's nice and does the job well. And imo the M1 Mac mini will only get toppled by SSD failures due to the 8GB ram using SSD more. 16Gb ram version might have a very long life.

 

[Heliotropen]

That display will last her another Mac or two before she lets it go. It's nice and does the job well. And imo the M1 Mac mini will only get toppled by SSD failures due to the 8GB ram using SSD more. 16Gb ram version might have a very long life.

That is the first interesting argument I have heard yet, but really the studio display are not better than the one in a 2015 iMac.

It’s also 1.5 times more expensive than a 2020 iMac in itself.
And a Mac mini with 16, not to mention 32+ gb ram, well then a Mac Studio is obvious, that one will also cost around 1.5 times the 2020 iMac in itself. (For people working with heavy Illustrator files or large documents like me, 16 gb is hardly enough).

And sitting in front of a box and a monitor feels 20 years out dated to me, this is like just a hackingtosh experience (I used to have this killer hackingtosh, but it never felt like a real mac). Sitting in front of a 27” iMac feels more clean less distractive… I think it’s a massive better form factor experience.

I get there is no alternative to that feeling if you do special effects for Hollywood movies or such … but as a brand, AD and web designer, the 2020 iMac is the perfect machine if they would just keep updating it.

This is personally killing me at the moment myself, I’m considering buying a Mac Studio, but I already know I will hate it with a vengeance.

 

[pshufd]

OWC seems to be getting in a steady supply of Apple Certified Refurbished 2020 iMacs so I assume that Apple gets these as trade-ins, refurbs them and then sends them out to any vendor still willing to sell them. Best Buy sells them as well but they don't indicate the quantity that they have left.