I have a m1 base model 24" M1 iMac in my game room and I love it. I am looking to upgrade my 27" iMac (Fusion Drive but I run everything off an external SSD). It feels kind of late to buy another 24" M1 iMac since likely they will launch a m3 one eventually. Should I go ahead and just buy another M1 24" iMac, or get a m2 Mac mini with a monitor? If so, what kind of monitor should I get that will look great and won't drive the price up. I have been pretty spoiled with the screens on both the 27" and 24" iMac. Thank you in advance. I already have an extra keyboard and trackpad so I am good to go there if I did get a Mac mini.
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Looking to upgrade my 2017 27" iMac. Should I get a Mac mini m2?
- Thread starter Jacoblee23
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I have a 2017 27" 5K iMac and an M1 Mac mini with Huawei 4K+ 28.2" monitor (see signature). While text quality on the 4K is fine, the 5K's text is a touch crisper, and the Huawei has some light falloff at the edges, which can be noticeable. Also, the Huawei's colour balance was slightly off out of the box, so I bought a Spyder X Pro colour calibrator to fix it. Now the colours are excellent. However, there are still some mildly annoying idiosyncrasies with third party monitors. For example, it takes several seconds for the monitor to wake up after the computer wakes up. It's not just this monitor. It seems to be an issue with many other third party monitors. I've tried several with the same results. Some monitors also have sleep issues with Apple Silicon Macs where the monitor doesn't wake up at all, although the ones I tried didn't.
In your shoes I'd just wait until later in the year to see what monitors Apple releases, and to see which monitors are good with M2 Mac minis.
In your shoes I'd just wait until later in the year to see what monitors Apple releases, and to see which monitors are good with M2 Mac minis.
I have an M1 mini with LG UltraFine 5K display that replaced my 2017 5K iMac. I actually used the same LG display with the iMac and it compared very favorably to the built-in display, and it works great as the primary with the mini. Personally, I’d avoid a 4k monitor at that size - 4k is fine on a 22” or 24” display but I don’t like the scaling at 27”. I don’t have personal experience with any particular 4K displays in the 22”-24” range but I’m sure there are lots of options.
I just ordered the Apple Studio Display + M2 Pro Mac Mini to replace my aging late 2014 iMac 27”. I really have been spoiled for 8+ years now with my iMac screen and the ASD + Mac Mini is as close as I can get to an M series 27” iMac (could also get the Mac Studio base model for $1699 right now at Costco and also they have the ASD for $1299).
I think the scaling of a 4K monitor at 27" is fine, even when not 2X scaled. Not perfect, but find for 90% of the population, including myself and I say that as an owner of a 5K iMac. And ironically, Apple offers the 2304xXXXX resolution I prefer at 27" on a 4K monitor, but not a 5K monitor. I find the default text sizing of 2560xXXXX a touch small on my 5K iMac but to get 2304x1296 on my 5K iMac I have to run third party software. On my Huawei MateView 28.2, macOS natively offers 2304x1536, which is the resolution I run.
(The Huawei MateView 28.2's viewable area has the exact same width as the 5K iMac's viewable area, but the Huawei is significantly taller.)
What is your use case for the 27 iMac?
I upgraded mine about a month ago and got a Mac Studio and Studio monitor…
I can't tell any difference between the S2722QC monitor and the 2017 iMac, text and graphics look identical to me.
This is exact combination that I’m after (only I will be upgradeing from 2011 21.5 iMac).
Did you connect mac mini and monitor with hdmi cable or usb-c?
The M2 Pro's extra ports are preferred, but for my M1 Mac mini I'm using a Plugable Thunderbolt 4 / USB4 5-in-1 Hub with good results. In fact, I'm running my USB-C monitor off the hub. These Thunderbolt 4 hubs were US$135 in the US (or CA$207 in Canada) for the Black Friday period when I bought, and come with a USB-C to HDMI 4K dongle in the box.
Club 3D and OWC and other companies make identical hubs to this one, since they all use a standard Intel Goshen Ridge board design.
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I think I"ll be doing something like this as an upgrade this year to my 2018 iMac 27", as I have no idea when/if Apple will ever release a new 27" iMac. Looks like the M2 Mini with 32GB/4TB with a similar monitor would run roughly the same price of a similarly spec'd 27" iMac (if it existed).
After years of waiting for an Apple Silicon 27” iMac I finally gave up and replaced my iMac 27” with a M2Pro Mini and an Apple Studio Display + LG 4k Ultrafine, and am quite happy. I do miss the all in one design of the iMac but I think this is a lot better in the long run to have a computer and display I can upgrade separately. If it’s in your budget get the Studio Display. The price is a total ripoff, but coming from the iMac any other display is going to be a major downgrade. If you don’t want to spend that much, try to pick up a used LG 5K, you can usually find them for 500-700 used, and that’s also an excellent monitor. Those are the only 2 monitors I’d consider. Not only for the quality but also not having buttons and having all the control from your Mac is great.
I somehow doubt that Apple will be releasing anything significantly cheaper than the Studio Display - more likely a replacement for the pro XDR which may or may not be cheaper than $5000... However, there is that Samsung 5k announced in January coming Real Soon Now - which I'm sure will undercut the Studio Display but maybe not by that much.
I guess that a M2 upgrade for the 24" iMac ought to be in the pipeline too, which would be perfect for @Jacoblee23 but Apple's release schedule seems particularly inscrutable these days.
I second your support for the MateView 28.1" (where available). It's not perfect and not quite in the same league as Apple's 5k panels, but at 1/3 the price (or less if you catch it on offer) then what is? Also, quite a good cosmetic match to a Mac Mini or Studio.
However, I would point out that to get 3840 x 2560 @60Hz you'll need a USB-C or DisplayPort connection - with HDMI the refresh rate drops to 50Hz, something to note if you're counting your Thunderbolt ports, and AFAIK the display is limited to HDMI 2.0 so the upgraded HDMI on the M2 Mini won't help. That said, I've got my second Mateview hung off HDMI on my Mac Studio and don't notice the difference.
I am in the same position with an imac 27 2017 and needing to upgrade this month. Budget up to £4500 business requirement.
I am torn between
MacBook 16 M2 Max with 12‑core CPU, 38‑core GPU, 64GB & 2TB
MacMini M2 Pro with 12‑core CPU, 19-core GPU, 32GB & 2TB + studio display
Mac Studio M1 Max with 10-core CPU, 32-core GPU, 64GB & 1TB + studio
I probably spend 70% of time at a desk but like the idea of portability when needed (but I don’t have the budget for another display and I don’t really want one so I suppose a question is how many people have downsized and exclusively just use the 16 inch screen?)
All the above at this time are overkill but that could always change.
Sorry to hijack the post but would be ever so grateful for some help and wisdom, thank you.
I am torn between
MacBook 16 M2 Max with 12‑core CPU, 38‑core GPU, 64GB & 2TB
MacMini M2 Pro with 12‑core CPU, 19-core GPU, 32GB & 2TB + studio display
Mac Studio M1 Max with 10-core CPU, 32-core GPU, 64GB & 1TB + studio
I probably spend 70% of time at a desk but like the idea of portability when needed (but I don’t have the budget for another display and I don’t really want one so I suppose a question is how many people have downsized and exclusively just use the 16 inch screen?)
All the above at this time are overkill but that could always change.
Sorry to hijack the post but would be ever so grateful for some help and wisdom, thank you.
I replaced my iMac 2019 27” with a 16/512 M2 Mini and a ASD. I considered the 24” iMac before but I really liked the iMac Display and couldn’t imagine going smaller.
if you’re not in a rush wait for the new Samsung Viewfinity S9 that was announced a few weeks ago on the CES. It’s a 5K display similar to the ASD and LG 5K Ultrafine and probabl/hopefully a bit cheaper.
if you’re not in a rush wait for the new Samsung Viewfinity S9 that was announced a few weeks ago on the CES. It’s a 5K display similar to the ASD and LG 5K Ultrafine and probabl/hopefully a bit cheaper.
For several years I used an older (pre-retina) 27" iMac at home, and a 5K 27" iMac at work.
Eventually I replaced the iMac at home with the 24" M1 iMac, at the office I replaced it with the Studio Display + Mac mini. Quite happy with both options.
I vastly prefer the larger display, though for home use, which is a bit more casual, I do like having a cleaner setup with an iMac.
OP: Since you've used both 27 and 24, I think you'd have a good sense of whether the 24" is sufficient for your needs. I'd say if you prefer the larger screen, go for the ASD + mini, but if you find the 24" iMac sufficient, then go that route. If you do the latter, I'd say wait out an updated M3 iMac unless the existing 27 you're replacing is really struggling.
Eventually I replaced the iMac at home with the 24" M1 iMac, at the office I replaced it with the Studio Display + Mac mini. Quite happy with both options.
I vastly prefer the larger display, though for home use, which is a bit more casual, I do like having a cleaner setup with an iMac.
OP: Since you've used both 27 and 24, I think you'd have a good sense of whether the 24" is sufficient for your needs. I'd say if you prefer the larger screen, go for the ASD + mini, but if you find the 24" iMac sufficient, then go that route. If you do the latter, I'd say wait out an updated M3 iMac unless the existing 27 you're replacing is really struggling.