I want to upgrade our 2014 iMac to an M1 Mac Mini, but not having a stand-alone computer aside from the all-in-one iMac, I need accessories. This is largely a computerized by my wife and kids for homeschool projects (It connects to a printer, the kids print coloring pages, they play music and podcasts, find projects on pinterest, etc... zero high-resource uses). The current 27" 2014 iMac works fairly well, though it does get a weeeeee bit slow when we have multiple users logged in. It's not entirely needed to upgrade, but I am curious what my total expense would be to do it.
It seems to me I need 3 things: Monitor, speakers, and a webcam. I can continue to use my old magic mouse and keyboard.
Monitors: There's a huge variation on monitors, it seems, with a similar variance in price. Flat out, I simply do not need a $1000 monitor. The monitor will be used on a computer where kids do some homework, listen to music, and sometimes print coloring pages. But we're currently at a 27" screen and I'd rather not go (much) smaller, though a few inches wouldn't be the end of the world. Larger is fine. I suppose the largest concern is for connection type. Do I need/want a USB C monitor, or will HDMI be fine? I think monitors can be used as hubs for accessories? I have very few accessories: I plug in an old Time Capsule that I used as a drive for time machine (but that will eventually be replaced with a disk, when this fails - though there's simply not a lot on this computer of major import.
Speakers; Since the kids often listen to music, I'd like decent ones. Again, we don't need cutting edge audio quality, but the built-in mac mini speakers aren't enough to flood our school/dining room.
Webcam: We use the webcam about once a month or so for some zoom meetings. We'd honestly likely be content with one of the cheapest options, but open to thoughts.
It seems to me I need 3 things: Monitor, speakers, and a webcam. I can continue to use my old magic mouse and keyboard.
Monitors: There's a huge variation on monitors, it seems, with a similar variance in price. Flat out, I simply do not need a $1000 monitor. The monitor will be used on a computer where kids do some homework, listen to music, and sometimes print coloring pages. But we're currently at a 27" screen and I'd rather not go (much) smaller, though a few inches wouldn't be the end of the world. Larger is fine. I suppose the largest concern is for connection type. Do I need/want a USB C monitor, or will HDMI be fine? I think monitors can be used as hubs for accessories? I have very few accessories: I plug in an old Time Capsule that I used as a drive for time machine (but that will eventually be replaced with a disk, when this fails - though there's simply not a lot on this computer of major import.
Speakers; Since the kids often listen to music, I'd like decent ones. Again, we don't need cutting edge audio quality, but the built-in mac mini speakers aren't enough to flood our school/dining room.
Webcam: We use the webcam about once a month or so for some zoom meetings. We'd honestly likely be content with one of the cheapest options, but open to thoughts.
