iMac, then and now…

[Warped9]

Man resurrects his first iMac (2011 21.5) and shares his working with the new M3 iMac. Interesting.

There are some parallels between this man and myself only I’m still using my 2011 21.5, but I’ll be ordering a spec’d M3 iMac soon.

 

[TechRunner]

I really enjoyed this. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Warped9]

This touches on why I like the iMac as much as I do. It comes back to either you “get it“ or you don’t.

I suppose a similar logic applies to the Studio Display. Yes, you can buy a cheaper display and a few displays out there might even have a better panel, but you also have to buy other accessories for that display and you end up with a busy work space and a mess of cables to manage. The Studio Display, like the iMac, is a very good AIO work space solution. You get what you pay for.

That said I still have quibbles. The base RAM of the iMac 24, at its price point, should be 12GB and the base storage should be 512. The Studio Display is easily $300-$500 too expensive. The iMac itself proves you could offer a quality AIO 27in. display (without the computer hardware) for less.

 

[padams35]

21.5" 2011 iMac. Good memories even if the off-the-shelf configuration didn't age well. Upgrading the stock 4GB RAM to 12GB was a huge help running Yosemite.

Then I out grew it ~2016 and was extremely unimpressed with the L2015 21.5"/4K replacement options. Non-upgradable RAM. A slower 5400rpm HDD standard. The 1TB fusion drive buy-up option had been downsized from 128GB SSDs to just 28GB. iGPU graphics now used for the mid/top tiers. By then I had also fallen in love with using dual 21.5" monitors, didn't have space for dual 27", and felt a single 27" would be a downgrade.

In the end I stopped using iMacs. Today I have a mess of cables. Mac Mini. eGPU. External displays. Speakers because the displays don't. Webcam. External SSD to escape the AppleTax. The cable mess is hidden behind the desk so it isn't nearly as bad as it sounds, but somedays I wish that I had held for the 2017 iMacs.

 

[Warped9]

RAM for my 2011 21.5 went from 4 immediately to 8 upon purchase. A few years later it went to 16. Presently it’s 32GB. But as trouble free and reliable as it’s been all these years I’ve pushed it as far as it can go.