Has anyone here bought an M4 iMac base model and felt it was under powered for daily tasks, browsing, or Dalle/ ChatGPT?

[Turnpike]

Thinking to get an iMac M4 at a local retailer (base model is all they have on hand) for some work at a job site starting today, then I will be stuck with it for 3 months or so if I do- has anyone here been severely disappointed in the base model M4 iMac (8 core, 16GB RAM) once they actually started using it? Thanks!

 

[iLondoner]

Absolutely not. We have a 8-core, 16-GB base M4 iMac with 256 GB SSD.

Also a 10-core, 16-GB M4 iMac with 2 TB SSD.

And a 10-core, 24-GB M4 Mini with 2 TB SSD.

There's no discernible performance difference with the apps I use.

 

[Turnpike]

This makes me feel WAY better.... thank you! This will be my first M series but everything I have been using (Intel) has always been spec'd out and topped off with RAM. This is out of necessity since I can only buy locally at the moment, but now I feel like it's not a risky idea. Thanks again!

 

[okkibs]

No idea what you need to use it for. In any case the M4 will be fast enough for just about anything as long as you aren’t going to try and run Blender out of all the things. I’d be more worried about the storage running out or memory. But if you know you can live with that config then there’s no issue. And you might be disappointed with the display, it’s good enough in quality but the size and the reflections will no doubt strain your eyes. Businesses usually only deploy monitors with anti reflective coatings. So if you could get the nano texture upgrade that would be in my opinion the most important upgrade you can get.

 

[Turnpike]

Just leaving a note here for those who find this down the road... the 24" M4 iMac is fantastic for just about anything during daily use- no issues at all with heavy browsing, photos, video, etc. If you're on the fence, these little things are just great. The swap from 27" to 24" isn't the disappointment I was expecting either, FWIW. 👍

 

[justmadeupname]

And you might be disappointed with the display, it’s good enough in quality but the size and the reflections will no doubt strain your eyes.

Is this from personal experience with an iMac 24", the reflections?

 

[ignatius345]

Just leaving a note here for those who find this down the road... the 24" M4 iMac is fantastic for just about anything during daily use- no issues at all with heavy browsing, photos, video, etc. If you're on the fence, these little things are just great. The swap from 27" to 24" isn't the disappointment I was expecting either, FWIW. 👍

That's been my experience with the M4 (and even M1) iMac. I still find myself missing the extra real estate of the 5K 27" display at times of heavy multitasking with design work, but for most day to day use it's not an issue. Even the M1 felt very fast compared to my old Intel i5 iMac 5K, and the M4 is an absolute monster. I hear the fans ramp up from time to time, but mostly it's silent and blazing fast.

And you might be disappointed with the display, it’s good enough in quality but the size and the reflections will no doubt strain your eyes.

This is entirely dependent on where you place the machine. In my case, I don't have a window at my back so it's absolutely fine in my office. Where I really wanted to add the nanotexture display was on my M4 MacBook Air, which I use in a lot of situations where I cannot control the ambient light.