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Help... iMac to M1 Mac mini or wait?

bensaunders1973

bensaunders1973

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 24, 2020
2
0
Hi,

I have a 2015 27 inch iMac which has been great and is my media hub and main computer. I also had a 2019 MacBook Pro 13, but as soon as the M1 was announced I sold it and bought a new MacBook Air.... WOW, it's a game changer!!

So now my 2015 iMac feels so slow and I'm wondering what to do. So, here are my options...

1 - Stick with my iMac and await an M1 version and jump then.. But it's going to cost circa £1,700 even if there is a 27 inch version
2 - Buy an M1 Mac mini and a 27 inch monitor and sell my current iMac... cost around £1,000 (minus sale of iMac)

I'm so tempted to go with the Mac Mini!

Any thoughts would be great, as I really don't know what to do!

Cheers

Ben
 
Same question. I have a 2011 iMac with 12gb ram and 1TB Samsung SSD.
I have 2 choices and both costs are close . Mac mini M1/16gb/1TB and Apples 27 LG 5K or new 5k iMac i7/16gb/1TB
There is the option to wait for the M1/M2 iMac version. But who knows when that will be. Was waiting for a new version of iMac for 2 years and reason I put ssd in 2 years ago which made a huge difference. I use mostly for photos (raw files) but for sure not a professional. I will not change the Apple LG 27 5K as want the same screen as the 5K iMac
 
I’m running an older iMac. A Late 2009 27”. Still, it has 16GB RAM and a 1TB SSD. I’m selling it and going for the M1 Mac Mini.

I chose to go with a 32” monitor that’s 1440p and up to 165Hz refresh rate. Now I’m waiting for the Mac Mini to arrive. 8GB RAM & 512GB SSD.
 
I'm holding out for the M1 iMac. The M1 Mac mini is compelling for its cost and performance, but it "only" has 4 USB ports. (I know, I know, I'm a weirdo.) I currently use a USB hub to connect three hard drives (Time Machine, Media, scratch disk), a CD drive (not often in use), and a Lightning cable (to charge/sync iPhone, or charge keyboard/trackpad). With the M1 Mac mini, I'd have to either keep using the hub - which I don't want to, it's a bit slower than direct connection - or frequently unplug/plug in cables. I'd also need to buy a webcam.

So, holding out for the iMac. Hopefully it continues with 6 USB ports.
 
Apple Silicon iMac 27" will be released on a Tuesday between January-April 2021.
  • ~80% - March
  • ~19% - January/April
  • <1% - February
Redesigned body by 2022.
 
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Hexley said:
Apple Silicon iMac 27" will be released on a Tuesday between January-April 2021.
  • ~80% - March
  • ~19% - January/April
  • <1% - February
Redesigned body by 2022.
Click to expand...

I don't agree.. I think Apple will first introduce a redesigned 24" model in that time frame, and then a replacement for the 27" with possibly a larger display around WWDC time
 
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I'm currently on maxed out iMac 27" late 2012, still works good i guess,
Also considering Mini M1 + 27/32" 4K monitor.

Small odds on a redesigned Mac mini in 21'?

Rumors says iMac will come with new design and M1 next yeat, but only in 24".. would be too small
 
I’ve got a 2017 i7 4.2GHz iMac.

I‘ve just received an M1 MBP.

I’m going to wait for an M1 iMac or maybe a Mac “Midi”...
 
unknownx said:
I'm currently on maxed out iMac 27" late 2012, still works good i guess,
Also considering Mini M1 + 27/32" 4K monitor.

Small odds on a redesigned Mac mini in 21'?

Rumors says iMac will come with new design and M1 next yeat, but only in 24".. would be too small
Click to expand...
Earliest would be late 2021 or some time 2022
 
imdog said:
Why don't you just use your M1 Air with an external monitor?
Click to expand...
There are more ports with the mini (+ethernet and hdmi). It's easier to set up multiple monitors with the mini. If you don't want a 13" display and are going to get an monitor anyway, the Mac Mini is the cheaper option. It's also a slightly more powerful machine in real-world benchmarks. OP is looking for a desktop solution, and the MacMini is an obvious attractive option.

That said, since OP already has the Air, if they aren't specifically looking for an additional computer, I'd attach a monitor to the Air.
 
Here's a good review between a Intel Mac mini + eGPU vs M1 Mac mini - eGPU.


With how much was spent to get the Intel "beat" the M1 will really make people go with the M1.

Apple is experiencing Osborne effect by continuing to sell Intel Macs the majority of which would still be sold until WWDC 2021.

Would specific use case that insist that Intel Macs be bought exceed 20% of Macs shipped for the next 7 months for Mac mini, MBA and 13" when a faster & cheaper alternative is available now and a higher-end options to be completed by June 2021?

Time is money and you do not become a more than $2 trillion business by dilly dallying
 
imdog said:
Why don't you just use your M1 Air with an external monitor?
Click to expand...
Unfortunately I can’t because I use my iMac as a media server and have multiple external drives plugged in. The Air comes with me to work every day.

so I really need two machines.
 
CheesePuff said:
I don't agree.. I think Apple will first introduce a redesigned 24" model in that time frame, and then a replacement for the 27" with possibly a larger display around WWDC time
Click to expand...
So what's a guy to do? I am running an early 2009 27" iMac (El Capitan) that is getting more problematic each month. Part of me wants to go with a new 27" iMac with 3.8GHz 8-core 10th gen i7, 8GB memory (put more in later), 5500XT, 1TB storage and just enjoy it: all of the current programs and etc. will all work for (hopefully) another 10-11 years, and I'll be blissfully unworried about how Silicon fares for the first few iterations. The other part of me wants to hang on for another year, 2 years, 3 years(?) until Silicon is glitch-free and all of the programs work flawlessly on it. In addition to games via Steam, Final Cut Pro and Logic Pro would be the most intense things I'd be running. What would you all recommend? Thanks.
 
Hexley said:
Here's a good review between a Intel Mac mini + eGPU vs M1 Mac mini - eGPU.


With how much was spent to get the Intel "beat" the M1 will really make people go with the M1.

Apple is experiencing Osborne effect by continuing to sell Intel Macs the majority of which would still be sold until WWDC 2021.

Would specific use case that insist that Intel Macs be bought exceed 20% of Macs shipped for the next 7 months for Mac mini, MBA and 13" when a faster & cheaper alternative is available now and a higher-end options to be completed by June 2021?

Time is money and you do not become a more than $2 trillion business by dilly dallying
Click to expand...
There are plenty of use cases for an Intel Mac right now. Corporations are not going to switch immediately neither will most developers. Actually, anyone who uses their Mac to generate income and who needs to run specialized applications is going to be a bit cautious.

In another 6 to 12 months of course things will be different.
 
bensaunders1973 said:
Hi,

I have a 2015 27 inch iMac which has been great and is my media hub and main computer. I also had a 2019 MacBook Pro 13, but as soon as the M1 was announced I sold it and bought a new MacBook Air.... WOW, it's a game changer!!

So now my 2015 iMac feels so slow and I'm wondering what to do. So, here are my options...

1 - Stick with my iMac and await an M1 version and jump then.. But it's going to cost circa £1,700 even if there is a 27 inch version
2 - Buy an M1 Mac mini and a 27 inch monitor and sell my current iMac... cost around £1,000 (minus sale of iMac)

I'm so tempted to go with the Mac Mini!

Any thoughts would be great, as I really don't know what to do!

Cheers

Ben
Click to expand...
I’d wait. The iMac should get a significant upgrade with more RAM, CPU and GPU cores than the mini.
 
ADGrant said:
There are plenty of use cases for an Intel Mac right now. Corporations are not going to switch immediately neither will most developers. Actually, anyone who uses their Mac to generate income and who needs to run specialized applications is going to be a bit cautious.

In another 6 to 12 months of course things will be different.
Click to expand...
That's why Apple still offers Intel Macs during the transition that will end by WWDC 2021.

Lets put some figures forward so that everyone is on the same page and I do not get weird replies that has little relevance to this reality.

About 18.35 million Macs were shipped in 2019.

Will Intel-specific use case exceed ~20% (3.67 million) or even ~1% (183.5 thousand) of all shipped Macs after June 2021?

Beyond WWDC 2021 Apple authorized resellers would have stocks of Intel Macs to at most until before 2022.

After June 2021 will their be significant demand of Intel Macs beyond 18,350 units?

This is why the late 2020 iMac 27" are the last Intel Macs to be refreshed. And probably be refreshed with the Mac Pro by WWDC 2021.

And I agree by WWDC 2021 demand will drop to insignificant.
 
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I have a 2017 iMac with the top of the line i7 the 7700K 4.2ghz, the AMD 580x video and the Mac mini 16GB/1TB M1 model just blows out my 4K dollar iMac for FCP Video editing and the Mini just feels so fast and snappy. I use it with a Dell P2715Q 4K 27 inch Monitor. I prefer this to the 5K 27 inch monitor on the iMac.

Unfortunately my Apollo X racks and Genelec GLM Monitor management software not supported so I still use the older machine for Audio. But damn is this Mini a nice workstation, Finally we are not able to buy a proper Unix RISC workstation like back when SGI, Apollo,Sun,HP etc..
 
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