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.
