Sure I’m just saying I don’t think this iMac was designed for someone like MKBHD. And lets see what the larger iMac looks like. My guess is it will look more like the XDR display. I’ll bet these iMacs sell well.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Wow disappointing!
- Thread starter MBX
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Exactly what I'll be buying one of these for! My wife and I both have MacBooks that go to and from work with us, and then our iMac is in a little office space off the kitchen. My daughter has an iPad for school (given to her by the school), but if she needs something "more" than an iPad for schoolwork, she'll use the iMac.
All that being said...this is an instant buy for me. I like the blue or green, but I think I'll be shelling out the extra money for the purple because my wife...and daughter ESPECIALLY...are alllll about purple 😂
Okay I think I’ve collected some thoughts on this:
1. Design
Gets a thumbs up from me overall, but imo, it’s not perfect.
Thinness - I think we’re at the point where we’re getting diminishing returns from making devices thinner. Just adding a little thickness to it to keep the rj45 and headphone jacks mounted on the back would have (maybe?) been preferable. Likewise not needing an external power brick.
White bezels - doesn’t bother me at all on the color variants, since the white meshes better with the pastel colors. On the silver one I think a black bezel would’ve been better though.
Having bezels - for petes sake just shut up people.
Chin - I like the iMac chin in general, although I think an Apple Logo matched to the back color would be nicer looking.
Magnetic cable and power brick - did anyone really have trouble plugging in the old cables? I think they changed it to keep the Mac thin. And for ethernet, depending on how it works if there’s potential for a dock-style brick that’d actually be pretty cool.
Headphone jack location - I think if they had to keep it edgewise, then it should have been on the bottom on the right side. Better aesthetics that way and the majority of people are right handed.
Ports - doesn’t bother me in the least that it’s usb-c only. An SD card reader would be nice though, c’mon Apple throw us a bone here. And Hdmi too, most monitors have it still and it’s not going away. As much as you thumped media consumption the least you could do is let us connect it to a nice television.
Cpu - although I expected an m1x or more powerful variant to be introduced, the PC parts situation is so ****ed up the iMac makes a compelling case by virtue of having the best integrated graphics. For a clearly entry level machine, it’s good.
Gaming - Apple, you’re better off not mentioning gaming, ever. You’ll never gain clout with the pcmr crowd, console gamers are gonna buy a console, mobile gamers have the iPhone and iPad. You can’t win.
RAM situation - lower your prices already. Though the complaining is overblown due to how quick the machines are even with less memory than their x86 counterparts.
My favorite thing about these new iMacs is the return to “fun” design. Yeah they don’t look as stodgy and uptight as before, but that’s a good thing. The iMac originally had a sense of whimsy and fun, it was supposed to be a friendly, approachable computer for people otherwise averse to computers. Hell since the original Mac the logo has been a friggin smiley face.
1. Design
Gets a thumbs up from me overall, but imo, it’s not perfect.
Thinness - I think we’re at the point where we’re getting diminishing returns from making devices thinner. Just adding a little thickness to it to keep the rj45 and headphone jacks mounted on the back would have (maybe?) been preferable. Likewise not needing an external power brick.
White bezels - doesn’t bother me at all on the color variants, since the white meshes better with the pastel colors. On the silver one I think a black bezel would’ve been better though.
Having bezels - for petes sake just shut up people.
Chin - I like the iMac chin in general, although I think an Apple Logo matched to the back color would be nicer looking.
Magnetic cable and power brick - did anyone really have trouble plugging in the old cables? I think they changed it to keep the Mac thin. And for ethernet, depending on how it works if there’s potential for a dock-style brick that’d actually be pretty cool.
Headphone jack location - I think if they had to keep it edgewise, then it should have been on the bottom on the right side. Better aesthetics that way and the majority of people are right handed.
Ports - doesn’t bother me in the least that it’s usb-c only. An SD card reader would be nice though, c’mon Apple throw us a bone here. And Hdmi too, most monitors have it still and it’s not going away. As much as you thumped media consumption the least you could do is let us connect it to a nice television.
Cpu - although I expected an m1x or more powerful variant to be introduced, the PC parts situation is so ****ed up the iMac makes a compelling case by virtue of having the best integrated graphics. For a clearly entry level machine, it’s good.
Gaming - Apple, you’re better off not mentioning gaming, ever. You’ll never gain clout with the pcmr crowd, console gamers are gonna buy a console, mobile gamers have the iPhone and iPad. You can’t win.
RAM situation - lower your prices already. Though the complaining is overblown due to how quick the machines are even with less memory than their x86 counterparts.
My favorite thing about these new iMacs is the return to “fun” design. Yeah they don’t look as stodgy and uptight as before, but that’s a good thing. The iMac originally had a sense of whimsy and fun, it was supposed to be a friendly, approachable computer for people otherwise averse to computers. Hell since the original Mac the logo has been a friggin smiley face.
The 256gb storage on the 1299 and 1499 models is outrageous. NVME ssds are not expensive anymore. Even the 300 dollar xbox series S comes with a high performance 512gb ssd. No excuse for a 256gb drive on a machine that costs this much.
I'm not gonna buy a hideous iMac, but the presenter was the best looking in the iMac presentation.
Last edited:
Everyone saying the ‘chin’ still exists because of Apple’s obsession with thinness…in this case I think the computer is as thin as it is BECAUSE Apple wanted to keep the ’chin’. I think Apple sees the ‘chin’ as an iconic part of the iMac. It makes this computer look like an iMac and not a generic display. Once they decided to keep the ‘chin’ they determined they could fit all the internals in it and have a back with no bulge. I think they should have kept the logo though.
Sure 15-20 years ago I thought white bezels were cool. I thought a lot of other stuff 20 years ago was cool that isn't anymore. Again there are many reasons pretty much everyone moved away from that design language in large devices (and even most smaller ones).
Jony Ive designed colorful, bezeled, jelly bean iMacs in the first place!
So on a forum about Apple products, people shouldn't post their opinions about Apple products? They should just start their own companies and do their own industrial design instead?
It’s interesting to me how many people I guess have their computer in wide open space?
I guess on a desk in the middle of a room maybe?
Every large monitor or all in one computer I’ve ever had is either in the corner or against the wall on the desk… Where I would absolutely never see this beautiful new black color, nor care one bit how thick or thin it is.
I guess on a desk in the middle of a room maybe?
Every large monitor or all in one computer I’ve ever had is either in the corner or against the wall on the desk… Where I would absolutely never see this beautiful new black color, nor care one bit how thick or thin it is.
Am I completely, 100% in love with this new iMac design? No.
Still, I’m glad all of the amateur industrial designers and engineers on this forum don’t work for Apple. Zero imagination.
I’d rather there’s a company out here offering alternatives/pushing the design envelope one way or another instead of just going straight ahead with a “let’s just make another space grey chinless rectangle.”
Still, I’m glad all of the amateur industrial designers and engineers on this forum don’t work for Apple. Zero imagination.
I’d rather there’s a company out here offering alternatives/pushing the design envelope one way or another instead of just going straight ahead with a “let’s just make another space grey chinless rectangle.”
The looks are OK, but I'm not tempted to trade in my M1 8/8/16/512 Mac Mini + LG 23.5-inch 4K UltraFine Display.
It would mostly be a pretty repackaging of what I already have. Thin sides and flat back, mwah, I don't spend
much time watching those. But to each their own, of course...
It would mostly be a pretty repackaging of what I already have. Thin sides and flat back, mwah, I don't spend
much time watching those. But to each their own, of course...
The chin also house the front firing speakers. I think without it the sound would have not been as good.
While I don't think it's "ugly" from the front they still look incredibly outdated. I get that the chin is where the cooling fans and speakers are, but I think all of us would rather have had a thicker back instead. It's not like we move these things or ever look behind it so I don't understand Apple's obsession with making the iMacs so thin.
I‘m afraid Jony signed this off while he was still at Apple or through his company LoveFrom as Apple still hires him for design & consultation.
I always find it funny that people equate their preferences and/or use cases with everyone else's.
"I don't like the design" = "everyone hates the design"
"16GB of RAM isn't enough for my workload" = "16GB of RAM isn't enough for anyone's workload"
These things will fly off the shelves, because most people aren't measuring bezel size when they buy a computer or freaking out because there's not an Apple logo on the front.
How could they be front firing if they point down at the desk?