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This brings one interesting thing about these new iMacs - their prices. I know it’s been said many times, but the fact that Apple is offering a 256/8 configuration for $1250 is just absurd. I’ve seen phones with more memory. Or let me put it this way - the money they ask for upgrading these is sick, especially now when nothing in these devices is user-upgradable. It’s just ridiculous.
And before someone says “if you don’t like it don’t buy it” - I’d love to buy one, but I’m not gonna pay 2x more just because I want a 16/1024 configuration.
Unified Memory and DDR4 RAM aren't equal. These new Macs aren't using the standard RAM modules that the rest of the industry is using. The unified memory allows the GPU and CPU to quickly exchange data and eliminates the bottle neck we used to have when CPU's and GPU's needed to pass information back and forth.
 
Of course it’s not a fair comparison. If it was fair, the M1 would soundly outclass the competition. By making it unfair, the M1 only marginally outclasses the competition.

This is like putting some NBA phenom against a middle schooler and losing or at least not winning. That doesn’t mean the NBA player is bad, it just makes the middle schooler look better even though that wasn’t the intent.
Won’t anyone think of the M1?
 
it would be interesting to see the load of the cores during the more “computing centric” tests. the m1 has 8 cores, but only 4 are “high performance“, while as far as i know the core i9 has 8 physical cores (with multi threading) that are not differentiated by performance. this leads me to think that possibly the m1 is effectively acting like a 4 core machine in processor intensive tasks, and this would explain the advantage of the intel processor in purely computing tests. i’ve noticed that my m1 macbook pro only uses four cores during rendering with after effects. this might be because of ram limitations (ae needs a certain amount of ram per core), but it can also be that the system doesnt even use the low energy cores for cpu heavy tasks.

edit:... and down the drain my theory goes. just ran cinebench on the m1 and all 8 cores ran at 100%
 
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Just goes to show you how much $pple is ripping customers off with their prices. Youtuber even said the new iMac is just an iPad on a bigger screen. Makes sense M1 chip .
 
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A lot of people are missing key takeaways here. Rather than crying like the person above--why not see this as a testament to how good the new entry level M1 iMac is? :rolleyes:
People just get tired of these "PC" comparisons to Apple that are custom pieces together and no manufacture ever sold at the price they quote.

Yes the "Wintel" rules the market of building computers out of leftover hand me down pieces (or bespoke limited runs too) that were never sold by the same company at once.... but you CAN do it. When you compare Apple's machines to the similar CLASS machines from Dell, Lenovo, or HP they're only slightly higher in cost.. the main drawback being combinations that Apple just doesn't offer that might be better fir
 
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I know. Why done people get it? M1 is the only processor out. The i9 competitor is NOT OUT YET. The M1 is Apple’s equivalent to an i3 and low end i5. Yes, a latest i9 or the best threadripper would obviously be better. Why is this such a shock?
But the i9-9900 isn't the latest. It's two generations old, and according to the Youtuber it's power-constrained in the iMac. A fairer comparison would be Tiger Lake H, or, later this year, Alder Lake (which is the first Intel CPU using a big/little configuration like the M1, and the first desktop class CPU using Intel's 10nm "superfin" process).
 
But the i9-9900 isn't the latest. It's two generations old, and according to the Youtuber it's power-constrained in the iMac. A fairer comparison would be Tiger Lake H, or, later this year, Alder Lake (which is the first Intel CPU using a big/little configuration like the M1, and the first desktop class CPU using Intel's 10nm "superfin" process).

And it wasn’t a slaughter of the M1. My M1 Mac mini is better than my 2019 i9 iMac.
 
And it wasn’t a slaughter of the M1. My M1 Mac mini is better than my 2019 i9 iMac.
I have only skimmed the video, but in the CPU benchmarks the i9 was nearly twice as fast. Graphics performance wasn't good, but that's not because of the CPU but because the iMac uses an outdated Radeon GPU.
 
Hardly absurd. A huge number of Apple customers, who need an entry level computer for just email, browsing the internet with Safari, and lightweight spreadsheeting with Numbers will do just fine with entry level storage and memory on a new iMac. $1,250 is a great price for that configuration and performance level - Apple will sell loads of them at that price

Have requirements that need more storage/memory? Simply pay for it. Easy.
I can do all those same things with my nine year old 2012 Mac Mini without a sweat.
 
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This brings one interesting thing about these new iMacs - their prices. I know it’s been said many times, but the fact that Apple is offering a 256/8 configuration for $1250 is just absurd. I’ve seen phones with more memory. Or let me put it this way - the money they ask for upgrading these is sick, especially now when nothing in these devices is user-upgradable. It’s just ridiculous.
And before someone says “if you don’t like it don’t buy it” - I’d love to buy one, but I’m not gonna pay 2x more just because I want a 16/1024 configuration.
You can double your storage by adding a $30 256Gb thumb drive. :)
 
Did this person get paid by intel to conduct something like this? Give it up Apple is not going to change its mind to return to intel after investing money into its own Silicon where it has more whole system control over the entire package and can predict delays unlike depending on another company to deliver and then get slapped in the face due to delays.
 
While academic, it is fun, but to me this mainly shows:
  • The value of upgradeability and repairability
  • That Apple really has sold some rubbish configurations for what could have been (old graphics, mechanical discs in the base configurations, just to show a reasonable entry price )
There is no doubt that the M1 is an excellent engineering achievement, providing the same Computational power as the i9 and GPU at a fractional power consumption And Apple does what makes sense: tighten up and use the fastest components for the M1 machines.

But if they really would have maxed out configurations at fair prices, or design the equipment for easy upgrade, the perceived difference would not have been as large as it was. I always felt the underpowered Macs were the long play and part of the M1 release narrative.
 
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I do not miss my i9 MBP. I have an M1 MBA while I'm waiting for the new MBPs to drop. I love that it doesn't have a fan, but I do notice that it throttles quick when I'm rendering video etc.
If you are rendering video and not clips on a laptop then you are doing it wrong, push it off to an affordable headless machine would be a better use of resources. If mobile maybe use a second laptop or even a MacMini.
 
This brings one interesting thing about these new iMacs - their prices. I know it’s been said many times, but the fact that Apple is offering a 256/8 configuration for $1250 is just absurd. I’ve seen phones with more memory. Or let me put it this way - the money they ask for upgrading these is sick, especially now when nothing in these devices is user-upgradable. It’s just ridiculous.
And before someone says “if you don’t like it don’t buy it” - I’d love to buy one, but I’m not gonna pay 2x more just because I want a 16/1024 configuration.
I hear ya.. but you are getting some pretty nice hardware , with a 23.5 inch 4.5k monitor. If these new m1 macs hold up as long as any of the IBM or Intel chips did then $1250 really ain’t that bad. In my experience Apple computers last for a while. You get what you pay for.
 
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