Other than ensuring that Apple has a 24" M1-based iMac at every 21.5" Retina 4K Intel iMac's price point, the 2-port/7 GPU Core model of the 2021 M1 24" 4.5K iMac perplexes me. For $200 more, you get a Gigabit Ethernet port, two non-Thunderbolt USB-C ports built-in, an additional GPU core, and Touch ID, all of which seem like things you'd want on an iMac. I can see justification for not needing the extra GPU core. Certainly it's a harder sell to go for the 8 GPU Core version of the M1 on a MacBook Air, but it's also a much cheaper upgrade that doesn't bring with it everything that the 8-core GPU options on the iMac does over the 7-core GPU iMac. In this case, the $200 difference definitely delivers things that the vast majority of users will either want or find useful.
That being said, did anyone go for the 2-port/7-core GPU model of 24" M1 iMac? If so, what steered you toward that iMac over a 4-port/8-core GPU model instead? Curious.
I think what Apple is especially good at, and which continues to perplex and frustrate the more tech-savvy crowd, is that they know their target market very well, and so design their products with a conscious goal of not over-serving this target market. They include what they believe this select group of users will require, nothing more or less, and if they need more features, there is always the option of paying extra for it.
For example, we see this with the stock podcasts app. Yes, you may eschew it in favour of third party apps like Overcast because you want to wring every last bit of functionality out of your devices (I finished my podcast 5 minutes faster than you did! I am a "power user!!!", but for many regular people, Apple's default apps are simply good enough. There is a certain liberating sensation when you realise that in accepting that some of these stock apps provide the core functionality one needs, the less you find your mind wandering towards exploring an endless array of options and falling into a rabbit hole of tweaking workflows and deluding oneself into thinking that it’s helping in some way.
Faux productivity, they call it. The best way to ensure that you’re focusing on the right things is to stop focusing on everything else. Understanding what works, and getting comfortable with certain trade-offs that would have been deal breakers in the past can be a positive step forward that one wouldn’t have expected.
I guess the closest analogy I can come up with is upsizing your meal at McDonald's. Sure, that extra fries and larger coke might seem like a steal for the extra few cents you pay, but only if you have the appetite for all that additional food. Maybe you just want to control your diet, or maybe you are a small eater, and the normal sized meal is just right for you, then there's no point upsizing if it just means that all that extra food is just going to go to waste at the end of the day.
Rather than criticise the base iMac for supposedly being a bad deal, let's take a look at what we do get out of it. It's still a pretty display, and the allure of the iMac has always been its all-in-one integrated nature that makes it extremely easy to set up and store.
You may not need ethernet (I have never plugged anything into the ethernet port of my iMac), while touch-ID is nice but not necessarily a deal breaker (how does it work with multiple family members and different login accounts, does anyone know?). 4 ports may be better than 2, but only when you know you will need more than 2 of them. Maybe you already plan to use a hub. Maybe you don't plan to be plugging in that much stuff into your iMac.
If I don't think I am getting more of what I want for that extra money, may as well save the money, even if spending that extra $200 isn't going to break the bank for me. Or as mentioned, that money could have gone towards buying more ram or storage, all other things equal.
Why not just get a cheaper Mac mini + monitor? A good 4k display isn't really all that cheap, and perhaps the family just prefers the ease of setting up plus the lesser cable clutter. I agree that with both the Mac mini and the iMac now sharing the same processor, it's one less reason to opt for the iMac (it previously used to be the only viable Mac desktop with a discrete graphics card), but that doesn't mean there aren't compelling reasons to choose an iMac.
I wouldn't go with the base model iMac either, but I can totally see a market for it.
