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Sensible replacement for 2017 21.5" iMac?

N

noisedude

macrumors member
Original poster
Apr 10, 2009
63
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My 2017 21.5' 3GHz 8GB i5 iMac is starting to show its age. It's used for work and although my requirements are modest, it's taking a long time to load Creative Cloud software and Adobe files. And if I have any two of Photoshop/Illustrator/InDesign open at the same time, everything goes slow.

At home I have a 14" M1 Pro MBP which is beautiful so I know things could be better at the office.

What's the natural successor though?

Is it the M1 iMac? I like 24" but don't know if I love the white bezels (do you get used to them?).

Or should I go down the route of a Mini + screen, and lose the simplicity and no-cables-on-the-desk neatness of the iMac?

(I don't really want to bring a laptop into work every day and just leave a monitor here)

I'm open to suggestions! :)
 
I am similarly situated.

I have a 2017 21" Retina iMac that is having enough kernel panics that it has become mostly unusable. I've done extensive troubleshooting which has failed to reveal the cause. Hardware? Software? Still, no idea. If it's hardware, I think it's not worth repairing. If it's software I have no idea how to figure out what it is. (I've spent lots of time isolating software and eliminating non-Apple kexts.)

So, I'm in the market by a new machine. My wife has a M1 iMac, which is a lovely machine. I'm tempted.

But, I'm also tempted to wait to see what Apple comes up with this fall.

Buy now, or wait?
 
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Honestly if your needs are modest I would go with the Studio Display + m1 Mini. The display is absolutely gorgeous and has some fantastic speakers and picture. That way you can keep the nice display around when you upgrade your computer next time too! (and if you ever do need your laptop at work for some reason you can just plug it right in)
 
Quite a difference in money between the iMac and the Mini + Studio display. A suitably configured M1 Mini plus a Studio display would be about US$2600 while the M1 iMac, similarly configured, would be about US$1900.

I used to have a Mac mini and really liked it, but when I went to replace, the cost of displays had me choose an iMac instead.

Perhaps my needs are extremely modest.
 
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Buadhai said:
Quite a difference in money between the iMac and the Mini + Studio display. A suitably configured M1 Mini plus a Studio display would be about US$2600 while the M1 iMac, similarly configured, would be about US$1900.

I used to have a Mac mini and really liked it, but when I went to replace, the cost of displays had me choose an iMac instead.

Perhaps my needs are extremely modest.
Click to expand...
Yeah in the short run you do spend a bit more, but long term if you keep the monitor for two or three generations of mini's you are saving money.

I personally am not a fan of the M1 iMacs. I had to set up a lot of them for labs and to be honest I never got used to those white bezels... 24" is kinda an awkward size, just USB-C (reminds me of just a laptop)... Plenty not to like about them imo.
 
Mactech20 said:
I personally am not a fan of the M1 iMacs. I had to set up a lot of them for labs and to be honest I never got used to those white bezels... 24" is kinda an awkward size, just USB-C (reminds me of just a laptop)... Plenty not to like about them imo.
Click to expand...

My wife is an attorney and for what she does the iMac is fine. She has one backup drive hanging off it and that's it. Never does any photo editing or graphics work. Just endless text.

Prior to the iMac she was using a 2017 13" MBA with an external 23" (?) 1080p display. She thought that was fine, too.

For me, I'm not sure if the M1 iMac would be adequate. But I am sure that an M1 Mini with a studio display would be overkill. (And, more than I'm willing to shell out.)

That's the quandary.
 
OP: The "natural successor" is the 24" iMac. Get 16GB RAM for Adobe apps. The slowness of your current machine for multiple Adobe apps is likely due to only 8GB RAM, and especially if it has a Fusion or hard drive.

The M1 24" iMac won't have quite the performance of the 14" MBP (which I have also), so it rather depends on how much of an Abobe "power user" you are, whether it will satisfy you.

Suggest check the Apple refurb store - these are as good as new

www.apple.com

Refurbished Mac Deals - Apple

Save up to 15% on a refurbished Mac. Tested and certified by Apple including a 1-year warranty. Free delivery and returns.
www.apple.com
 
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Mactech20 said:
Yeah in the short run you do spend a bit more, but long term if you keep the monitor for two or three generations of mini's you are saving money.

I personally am not a fan of the M1 iMacs. I had to set up a lot of them for labs and to be honest I never got used to those white bezels... 24" is kinda an awkward size, just USB-C (reminds me of just a laptop)... Plenty not to like about them imo.
Click to expand...
Interesting to hear a different viewpoint, thank you.

FWIW, the USB-C doesn't bother me as I have no attached devices except a phone for charging, and the screen on my mini at home is 24" by choice, so it's probably whether the basic M1 will give me 4-5 years of good usage and whether I'd ever come to not mind the white bezels.
 
wilberforce said:
OP: The "natural successor" is the 24" iMac. Get 16GB RAM for Adobe apps. The slowness of your current machine for multiple Adobe apps is likely due to only 8GB RAM, and especially if it has a Fusion or hard drive.

The M1 24" iMac won't have quite the performance of the 14" MBP (which I have also), so it rather depends on how much of an Abobe "power user" you are, whether it will satisfy you.

Suggest check the Apple refurb store - these are as good as new

www.apple.com

Refurbished Mac Deals - Apple

Save up to 15% on a refurbished Mac. Tested and certified by Apple including a 1-year warranty. Free delivery and returns.
www.apple.com
Click to expand...
Thanks! Sadly no refurb M1 iMacs in my country yet/right now, but I had forgotten that was an option so thank you.

Current iMac is SSD so I guess you're right about memory. I'm not an Adobe power user; most days I'll make minor edits in Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign files that should take a couple of moments don't with loading/saving/exporting/application switching taking so much longer.

I don't think anything I do will tax the M1 Pro in my laptop - that was just me being willing to pay extra for proper function keys!!
 
Bodhitree said:
I think it is. The 24” M1 iMac is very capable, although if you do use multiple Adobe apps with non-trivial files then the 16 GB memory option is a good idea.
Click to expand...
Thanks. The edits I make are trivial but the files are often 500MB-2GB in size so you're right, and I hadn't thought of it.
 
Buadhai said:
There must be a happy medium here that pairs a Mac mini with a 3rd party display that costs a lot less than the Studio Display.
Click to expand...
There should be... wonder if you lose the sleekness of Apple hardware on your desk in the process? Maybe I shouldn't care though!
 
I've decided to buy a M1 iMac to replace my 2017 27" iMac. The m1 iMac that my wife has had since February is a joy to work with. The 24" screen is more than adequate and the white bezels don't bother me. I made a mistake and bought the 256GB SSD. But, I did get 16GB RAM. While there are many opinions out there, I was impressed by this guy:

24” iMac or M1 Mac mini?

Is the 24" M1 iMac big enough?
 
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Buadhai said:
I've decided to buy a M1 iMac to replace my 2017 27" iMac. The m1 iMac that my wife has had since February is a joy to work with. The 24" screen is more than adequate and the white bezels don't bother me. I made a mistake and bought the 256GB SSD. But, I did get 16GB RAM.
Click to expand...

Wise choice. The M1 has more than enough compute power for most tasks, and the iMac screen is very fine. You can always expand the storage with an external SSD at a lower price than the internal storage.

Enjoy your new iMac!
 
It will be my fourth iMac:
  • iMac G3
  • iMac G4
  • Retina iMac
  • M1 iMac
The Retina iMac is the only Mac, among many, to have to be replaced due to hardware failure.

My original 1984 Mac trying to boot up in October of 2010.
2010-10-18 02.33.49.jpg


I left this with my brother-in-law in Southern California. He managed to find some boot diskettes that worked with the old Sony drive. He got it running and used it for many years as a conversation piece in the reception area of his animation company.
 
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Very cool! My history with iMacs began with my stepfather, who is an illustrator, who bought one back around 2009, but he had one of a bad batch, he ended up having three screen replacements because of yellowing panels. And eventually the gpu failed in 2017.
 
Bodhitree said:
Very cool! My history with iMacs began with my stepfather, who is an illustrator, who bought one back around 2009, but he had one of a bad batch, he ended up having three screen replacements because of yellowing panels. And eventually the gpu failed in 2017.
Click to expand...
Wow. That's too bad.

I've had really good luck with Apple. I'm still using a 2010 MacBook (White) and a 2010 MBA. The only Mac I've ever had to repair was an early MacBook that had a spinning drive failure within the warranty period. I've still got an original scroll wheel iPad that works.

 
Buadhai said:
Wow. That's too bad.

I've had really good luck with Apple. I'm still using a 2010 MacBook (White) and a 2010 MBA.
Click to expand...

Yeah. A lot of the failures that you hear about seem to be heat related though, which makes me quite optimistic about the M1 macs and their tendency to run cool. So far I’ve really enjoyed my M1 iMac, it has been hands down the smoothest experience of my computer-owning life.
 
Bodhitree said:
Yeah. A lot of the failures that you hear about seem to be heat related though, which makes me quite optimistic about the M1 macs and their tendency to run cool. So far I’ve really enjoyed my M1 iMac, it has been hands down the smoothest experience of my computer-owning life.
Click to expand...
I would say that of my 14” MBP, which bodes well. It seems like rumours about new iMacs are thin on the ground and they’ll probably just push up the price anyway so maybe I’ll crack on and buy one.
 
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Another vote for the 24" iMac. I have been using mine for just under a year and it has been great. The white bezels are no issue. I do mainly web browsing, email, Quicken, tax prep, and Excel/Word and have never heard the fans come on or noticed any slowing with multiple apps open. Screen resolution is great. I have the 16GB 1TB configuration. Very, very pleased with this computer.
 
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Same here. I love my M1 iMac. I actually like the white bezels as it makes the computer fit in my small flat better than my older 21.5K iMac. It’s something you don’t even notice after a few days use.
Performance has been great. I don’t use it for any heavy creative stuff. I would also opt for the 16GB memory option at least.

Screen size is also nice for me. the 27” display + mini is undoubtably amazing, but in my setup it would be too big a screen and needless clutter with the mini.
 
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