But with prior experience on Windows PCs, connected to countless peripherals via USB-A. I’m myself one of those people who never touched a Mac prior to 2007.
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M3 iMac Rant
- Thread starter TrenttonY
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Sure, if being really pedantic about my parents having the installers for the software that came with mom's embroidery machine and dad's CNC machine. So aside from installing those apps (which to be fair, those are USB-A drives that they can't even use anymore.
So, parents, who are tech savvy have zero things physically connected to their iMac, and my wife doesn't have anything either, aside from occasionally plugging in her PS4 controller to charge it while playing emulators.
For the average person who buys a computer, Windows or Mac, generally don't use physically connected peripherals any more, and more so iMac users, and Apple surely knows this, or the entry level iMac would have more than two ports.
Obviously I disagree. I am probably the “average grandpa” and like the swinging arm room a desktop gives me. I also have an M1 13” MBP that I use when out in the living room watching TV. When I really want to interact with “the community” I head for the Desktop in the Office room.
On the MacInTouch Home Page, its’ owner is lamenting his troubles with a crashed MacBook. His “Really Big Complaint” is that a problem with the OS drags along with it, all your files. Great if you judiciously backup your stuff, but if you don’t, everything is at risk with these large SSDs. As I mentioned earlier, there are iMac hubs that give you a couple of “A” ports as well as “C” and Card Slots that also house NVME SSDs. And a particular hub that I ordered is color matched and designed to have the iMac perch neatly on top of it…no clutter…. I believe it legitimately makes the case for the 256 SSD JUST HOUSING THE COMPONENTS OF THE OS… with your Docs, Apps, and all else residing on a separate SSD. This particular “hub” I like, $89 on Amazon, is limited to 10GPS transfer rate to the attached NVME SSD, but for us “average grandpa” users, I see no issue here.
I would personally order the Ethernet power cord, btw.
People always assume everything Apple does is because they know something special about user behavior.
− Only two USB-C ports ➞ nobody uses them anyway.
− No Ethernet on the power brick ➞ everybody uses WiFi.
− Only 8-core GPU ➞ you don’t need more for Email and Facebook.
− No heat pipe ➞ people don’t push their CPU anyway.
− 256 GB SSD ➞ everything is in the cloud now.
− Up to one external monitor ➞ you don’t need more.
etc. pp.
Guys, the entry-level iMac is how it is, because that’s the cheapest way to build it. The binned M3 chip can’t operate more than two Thunderbolt ports at full speed. These are faulty processors with damages at the data bus or GPU cores. These areas are switched off permanently and therefore the iMac has fewer ports and fewer cores.
Apple sells a $999 M1 MacBook Air with two ports, 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB of SSD storage. To this day - people call this exact configuration “excellent.”
Apple also sells a $1,299 M3 iMac with two ports, 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB of SSD. For an extra $299, you get a much faster M3 chip, a desktop class display, external keyboard and mouse, and a much better webcam.
How is the first computer rated so highly by many while the second is rated poorly by people on this forum - when both computers will be as effective for the targeted workload (the iMac more so due to the new chip and active cooling)?
Why is 24-inch too small, but 14-inch is better than great? 🤷
The iMac is poorly rated by people that don't buy it. Kind of like me, a vegetarian, complaining that Ruth's Chris puts too much pepper on their steak.
Apple positioned the Mac Studio as the replacement for the old 27”, there is no iMac replacement. Instead the iMac has deliberately gone back to its roots - an easy-to-use novelty computer for home users and a convenient appliance for office and computer lab settings.
I like Apple’s decision, as one of the original 2014/2015 5K owners now stuck with an aging unsupported computer inside a still gorgeous 5K display and desperately looking for a way of separating the two. I will never buy another all-in-one unless it’s a used iMac to either convert into a standalone display or replace my kitchen computer, which is currently a 21.5” model from 2013.
It's a little embarrassing that the accessories are still Lightning. I would've expected a change to USB-C like what happened with the AirPods. The 8 GB is problematic as it's the big non-changeable bottleneck of an otherwise decent computer, especially for someone like me looking at used ones years from now.
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Luke Miani did a video on how do use the 5k display as its own monitor, with a little work. It's really a shame Apple didn't integrate this capability into the 5k iMac all along, preventing so much e-waste of beautiful displays.
I'm having a hard time understanding why everybody's making such a big deal about the mouse and keyboard still being Lightning, other than it's just not the latest and greatest. It seems like a lot of people are just looking for something to complain about.
Anybody who's owned any Apple product in the last 11 years probably has 10 zillion Lightning cables laying around, and anybody who's using anything other than an iPhone 15 (which is probably a very large percentage of iPhone users) is still using them. A mouse and keyboard need charging about once a month or so, and there are no issues with data transfer rates because you're not transferring any data to/from your mouse or keyboard.
If I'm going to complain about anything, I'll complain that they haven't moved the charging port on the Magic Mouse from the bottom to a more sensible location that would allow it to be used while charging. And even that is a very minor quibble, since with just a little advance planning I'll know the battery is getting low and I'll plug it in to charge overnight after I'm done using the computer.
Yes, the mouse still charging on the bottom and the keyboard still not having back-lighting are much bigger deals than charging with a lightning cable.
I am actually missing the backlight on the iMac keyboard. Everything else I don’t need. But Apple doesn’t do backlight on white keys. 😕
There’s a big jump between the functionality of an iPad and a low spec Mac, due to the Mac’s desktop OS, large screen(s), and extra ports. Yes, iPads and especially iPhones have significantly decreased many people’s need for a low spec desktop, but to say there is no longer any demand at all is a wild assertion.
You are spot on! I have the M1 iMac and I think its the best computer Apple (or anyone) has ever made.
Isn't that what The Internet was invented for?
It's Apple. They have a long history of nickel and diming their customers for what many consider "reasonable" starting configurations. Limiting the base models to 8GB RAM (especially shared RAM between system and graphics) and a 256GB SSD is obscene, but it's Apple's model... and until we completely boycott them (which will never happen), they will not change. They solder everything in place, so we, as customers, have two choices - live with it, or buy something else... and we must call it what it is - GREED.
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I don’t agree with you. They offer numerous configurations so you can outfit a system as you see fit. As other journalists have written, with the advent if the Studio , the Mini, and the iMac there is a system for everybody. The base imac is all someone like me needs. A great screen, included keyboard and mouse, and more than enough performance for emails, messages, and surfing the internet. If you want a great deal more, the imac isn’t for you. Get a mini or Studio. If you want just a bit more, there are upgrades at each level.
It is disappointing that Apple didn’t at least give us an option for the M3 Pro chip.
I'm sure it would require a bit of a redesign to accommodate the larger Pro chip & the cooling it would need.
The single thread performance shows the M3 and M3 Pro are virtually identical, the Pro obviously has more performance and GPU cores which is why the Pro variants score higher overall.
However, the M3 is very powerful and more than good enough for the vast majority of users. Perhaps in the near future we will see a >30" iMac Pro/Studio that offers the Pro chip as standard, with the option of Max. I'd say it's inevitable, especially according to all the rumours of a larger iMac in development.
going back to the M1 iMac introduction a short time ago.........we were all glad to welcome the M1 and the increased performance over all the previous platforms. If the M1 was so quickly adopted and welcomed into our lives so recently then the M3 will be likewise. But the M1 is still a great performer and will be for some time to come.
Me to! It replaced my old late 2012 21.5" non-retina iMac. The difference is quite literally night and day.
I've waited quite some time for the M1 iMac to get a refresh before taking the plunge and I couldn't be happier with it. I bought the 24GB/1TB config so I hope it lasts as long as the previous one did.
I attached some Geekbench 6 scores of my devices for CPU and GPU