Apple Announces Redesigned iMac With M1 Chip and Seven Color Options

[UK-MacAddict]

Not everyone on the planet plays games on their computers. I DO NOT play games on my work laptop. So its fine being at 256GB. I DO have a dedicated Windows gaming PC with 8 TB of SSD storage for my games.

Introducing a game-changing FREE-TO-PLAY experience - Call of Duty®: Warzone

blog.activision.com

Warzone is a 83-101GB download for new, free-to-play users.

Cyberpunk is around 100GB too.

GTA 5 is 80GB on my PC. Doom 2016 and Doom Eternal are around 70+GB. Games are increasing in size, not decreasing.

Not to mention having such a small drive will shorten its life span. It will be written on and deleted way more than a 1TB drive.

 

[Ethosik]

Don't know why you're including a link for MW, I did not state games cannot reach over 100GB. Halo, Gears etc all have high storage demands. But they are a rarity.

Well good for you having a separate gaming machine. But the average user wouldn't do that. They will just game on the computer they have and if thats a Mac with 256GB then thats not enough.

1TB should be the standard. Also if they are going to charge extra it should be £100 tops as thats what 1TB SSD drives generally retail for, not £200.

And if you build a gaming console, you want to provide a good middle ground for storage. You DON'T sell a PS5, which does not offer expandability yet, the NVMe slot is still disabled last I checked, that can POTENTIALLY only install two games. GTA 5 and MW. You need to have enough storage for some high end games, a lot of low end games and a good middle ground for medium sized games. I still don't know why you are comparing a low end computer geared towards students, teachers, family members to a gaming console. Games require WAY more space than Microsoft Word does for writing papers. Or Safari for browsing Facebook all day.

1TB would be a MASSIVE waste for A LOT of people. I am only using 160 GB out of 256GB on my work laptop where I am a senior software developer. Why would I benefit from 1TB?

 

[Michael Scrip]

I still can't believe they're using 16:9 displays.

Macs having 16:10 were nice back in the day... and a differentiator from Windows machines.

Now Window machines are 16:10 or 3:2... and Apple is 16:9

😕

 

[imikem]

I'd love an iMac disguised as a monitor, with a VESA mount so I could attach it to my swing arm and move it wherever I wish on my desk. Nope. The chin also looks quaint now, but the mounting/stand is the biggest negative for me.

 

[Ethosik]

I bought about $50 worth of new device cables and display cables back in 2018 and that’s been that. It’s insufferable listening to these people bitch about a port of the better part of 6 years. Of course this completely explains all the whining and complaining about this new iMac. Good grief - BEZELS!?!? I actually think Apple made them white to tweak these people. And it worked!

Mac haters cannot complain about performance now. Since the M1 can trade blows with a i9 9900k, what else is there to complain about now that Apple isn't stuck with Intel's horrible low end products? Bezels, colors and ports that's what they can complain about! Oh and wanting 1TB MINIMUM storage.

 

[Ethosik]

you Also have more ugly desktops (iMacs), non user upgrable computers with entry specs like it was 2016

My god people complain about anything. If you want MASSIVE upgradeability, look at the Mac Pro. It has PCIe slots!!!!

 

[NT1440]

Don't know why you're including a link for MW, I did not state games cannot reach over 100GB. Halo, Gears etc all have high storage demands. But they are a rarity.

Well good for you having a separate gaming machine. But the average user wouldn't do that. They will just game on the computer they have and if thats a Mac with 256GB then thats not enough.

1TB should be the standard. Also if they are going to charge extra it should be £100 tops as thats what 1TB SSD drives generally retail for, not £200.

...have you ever configured a device online? Good luck getting a 1TB NVME SSD upgrade in the likes of a Thinkpad for $100.

 

[rafark]

I don’t like the new stand. The current gen looks super slick to me

 

[Ethosik]

For the record I am a Prosumer, this is just my opinion on this consumer product.

I really like the design. I don't know why everyone cares about the chin, its not that big of a deal. Sure they could have made it a bit thicker and taken it away but that's just a design decision and everyone will always have some reason to complain.
Overall I like the direction and am excited for it to come to the pro market with a beast of a processor. I think the colors are great because they fit and people will buy them. If you don't like color, get silver. Pro products from apple are always silver, space grey, and gold, so I am going to hold out for space grey. Additionally I will hold out for the 27 (maybe 30") version. I am a single monitor user and 24" is too small for me.
Now that they have finished removing Intel from their consumer line of products, I can only imagine the pro market is next. So I am really looking forward to that (although I have to admit I was really looking forward to updating my 2015 27" soon, oh well)
The one thing I wish that they had done is to add more ports to the power brick. Adding the ethernet port to the brick was a great way to reduce clutter but I feel like they could have easily added a USB C/Thunderbolt port to it. Then I could attach some external devices that I never unplug to the brick and save myself some clutter on the desk.

At the end of the day, all you people who are complaining about this iMac will have this one or the pro one eventually so might as well get used to it! 😂

I do not know how some people deal with just one monitor. I would rather have my three 2560x1440 monitors than one 32" 6K display or whatever. But its great you are able to work with just one!

 

[_penguinman_]

Contrary to a lot of people here, I dont really mind that chin lol I actually kinda like it (?) Its obviously a design decision and not a technical one.

What I dont like is the all-soldered down approach of these newer Macs. At least give us M.2 ssd ports Apple! Give us 2 while you're at it. The only thing that is 'consumable' and at risk of being obsolete on today's computers are its SSDs! Data will only get bigger with time, it wont get any smaller!

Touting thinness in a desktop computer is kinda meaningless. Not to mention, a too thin body actually looks ugly. This new imac looks way too thin. Its like seeing paper suspended using steel skewers.

 

[Ethosik]

Everybody complaining about the chin. Do you really think that that is the bigest problem with these machines? Just look at the prices. I know that the M1 is good, but this is hybris. How can they charge so much money for 8GB RAM and 256 GB disk? In 2021 for f***s sake! Those machines will totaly ruin their SSDs after a year of heavy usage because of all the swapping. If you choose 16GB and 1TB disk the prices will be insane. Has Apple totaly lost touch with reality? If they have these prices on entry model iMacs with these specs, I can't imagine what they will charge for the future pro models... They will probably max out at 32 GB RAM and cost over 4k. Much better going with a 16GB macmini, now that they also added option with 10GB ethernet.

My work issued laptop was $1,600 and it is 256GB of storage and 8GB of RAM. It has a core i7 though which is why it costed as much as it did. And 256GB is PLENTY for my needs.

 

[bodonnell202]

So get the Silver one then.

Still hate the white bezels. So tacky looking.

 

[UK-MacAddict]

And if you build a gaming console, you want to provide a good middle ground for storage. You DON'T sell a PS5, which does not offer expandability yet, the NVMe slot is still disabled last I checked, that can POTENTIALLY only install two games. GTA 5 and MW. You need to have enough storage for some high end games, a lot of low end games and a good middle ground for medium sized games. I still don't know why you are comparing a low end computer geared towards students, teachers, family members to a gaming console. Games require WAY more space than Microsoft Word does for writing papers. Or Safari for browsing Facebook all day.

1TB would be a MASSIVE waste for A LOT of people. I am only using 160 GB out of 256GB on my work laptop where I am a senior software developer. Why would I benefit from 1TB?

Sony has already announced the expansion slot will be enabled in the next couple of months.

As you say it’s geared towards families and student etc. This group won’t be trying to build their own gaming PC. They will have this one computer and use it for everything hence 256GB will not be enough to store a collection of games, movies, apps and system files. They won’t just be creating word files. You’re telling me a student won’t run games or store movies on their laptops?

Unless you delete all your old files 1TB would benefit you too. Eventually it will come to a point where that 256 will fill up because it’s tiny and you will either delete old files or transfer them to an external drive. The external drive will cost you extra money so having a 1TB would mean you can store more without deleting or having to purchase an external drive to transfer them too. Not difficult to understand.

You’re talking out your ass if you say 256GB will last you say 3-5 years without ever having to delete files or transfer them to an external drive.

 

[fathergll]

Wow I am dumbfounded on how bad this is. This might be the worst design I've seen in god knows how long.

 

[Ethosik]

Sony has already announced the expansion slot will be enabled in the next couple of months.

Read what I said....its not enabled now. So you think a PS5 at 256GB would have been fine? I still don't know why you are arguing computer storage and comparing it to consoles. Even ALL the software I have installed, I am only using 170GB of space. Why should I need 1TB?

Uh I have had this work laptop for 3 years now. 256GB of storage has always been fine. Never been at risk of not enough storage.

And BTW, my parents have had a 256 GB iMac since 2013. Still no risk of running out of space 8 years later.

 

[_penguinman_]

This is NOT possible on the M1.....Period. The CPU, GPU, RAM, Cache and Fabric are ALL on the same chip. What would you upgrade?

Technically they can offer M.2 ports for ssd upgradability right here right now. Its using the same pcie bus as everybody else, and is not on the same substrate as the M1 chip.

Sony has already announced the expansion slot will be enabled in the next couple of months.

As you say it’s geared towards families and student etc. This group won’t be trying to build their own gaming PC. They will have this one computer and use it for everything hence 256GB will not be enough to store a collection of games, movies, apps and system files. They won’t just be creating word files. You’re telling me a student won’t run games or store movies on their laptops?

Unless you delete all your old files 1TB would benefit you too. Eventually it will come to a point where that 256 will fill up because it’s tiny and you will either delete old files or transfer them to an external drive. The external drive will cost you extra money so having a 1TB would mean you can store more without deleting or having to purchase an external drive to transfer them too. Not difficult to understand.

You’re talking out your ass if you say 256GB will last you say 3-5 years without ever having to delete files or transfer them to an external drive.

yeah this is a really strange argument. Its 2021 FFS! Data will only get bigger over time! it wont get smaller.
Like I said before, technically there is nothing stopping Apple from providing 2x M.2 slots to this machine.

 

[oldmacs]

My god people complain about anything. If you want MASSIVE upgradeability, look at the Mac Pro. It has PCIe slots!!!!

The Mac Pro is way out of most people's budgets. Upgradability and repairability shouldn't have to require a pro level machine purchase.

And 256GB is PLENTY for my needs.

Maybe its good for you your needs, but its 2021 and storage prices have come down. A machine at this price point should provide more storage.

 

[Ethosik]

It's an all-in-one machine. Why can't they just include the USB ports?

Person A needs 10 USB ports.
Person B only needs 2.

Why include 10 for the select few? In fact, my parents don't use ANY USB ports. They use the wireless keyboard and mouse that comes with the iMac. 0 USB ports used AT ALL.

 

[Ethosik]

The Mac Pro is way out of most people's budgets. Upgradability and repairability shouldn't have to require a pro level machine purchase.

Maybe its good for you your needs, but its 2021 and storage prices have come down. A machine at this price point should provide more storage.

Then build your own computer. 100% upgradeability.

 

[oldmacs]

Like I said before, technically there is nothing stopping Apple from providing 2x M.2 slots to this machine.

I think a great way of providing adequate storage at a low price point would have been Fusion 2.0 - a fast SSD 256 paired with a 1TB SATA SSD.

 

[oldmacs]

Then build your own computer. 100% upgradeability.

It's not about requiring 100 percent upgradability, its about ensuring long term repairability and thus usability which is the best environmental outcome.

There is no way I would get 9 years out of a base current MacBook Pro, upgradability and repairability on the other hand has enabled me to get nearly 9 years out of my 2012 MacBook Pro 13 inch (and counting).

If Apple let me install MacOS on my own computer then things would be peachy but they don't.

 

[Ethosik]

M1 is limited in RAM and ability to drive more than a single monitor.

Also if it is as powerful as they say and it benchmarks why haven't they replaced the Mac Pro with it? Why didn't they release a 30 inch iMac today?

Also not all apps run natively on it currently which means Intel still has the advantage overall in real world use.

Another worry is that Apple will cease using third party GPUs when it comes to replace the more powerful Macs.

Because why stop here? Rumors are the Mac Pro will get a 32 CPU core M processor. The higher end MBP and iMacs will get a 12 core M processor.

"Stopping here" is what is going to destroy Intel, or at least make them suffer greatly and have AMD take the lead for many years.

While the M1 competes with an i9 9900k, it does not compete with the top of the line Xeon in the Mac Pro. So that is why they did not update it.

 

[Variant]

I don’t like the new stand. The current gen looks super slick to me

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View attachment 1761056

Agreed. Feels like its different for the sake of being different. Apple perfected the stand a while ago.

 

[T Coma]

adjust your chair?

you’re sitting in front of it wrong

 

[Ethosik]

It's not about requiring 100 percent upgradability, its about ensuring long term repairability and thus usability which is the best environmental outcome.

There is no way I would get 9 years out of a base current MacBook Pro, upgradability and repairability on the other hand has enabled me to get nearly 9 years out of my 2012 MacBook Pro 13 inch (and counting).

If Apple let me install MacOS on my own computer then things would be peachy but they don't.

My work computer has 0 upgradeability. And even if it did, businesses do not typically upgrade their components. They upgrade their computers every 3-4 years. And if a component breaks, they just replace the system and send the other one in for repair.

My parents do not upgrade RAM and storage. Personally, I do not either. I would rather spend my time working instead of messing around with the computer. If I am really suffering, I buy a new computer and sell the old one.