Did I make a mistake buying an M1 mini?

[thebart]

About two months ago I bought an M1 mini 16/512 for $640 from ebay. That price still holds at this point

But inspired by a maxtech video Iwent looking at used iMac. And wow for $550 i can get 2019 27" iMac quad i5 32gb RAM 2tb fusion drive. That's kind of crazy. Of course I'm getting a 5k screen and kbd and mouse, too. How much of the 2tb fusion drive is SSD?

Obviously it's older and runs hotter and louder. Performance wise, how close does it come to the M1? Silicon is the future, but otoh there's real utility in having an Intel Mac. On the mini I still have to run parallels and windows 11 because the office version of Mac doesn't cut it, for example. Would gaming be better on this iMac?

Did i make a mistake?

 

[BeatCrazy]

The reason a 27” Intel iMac is so cheap is because it’s hotter/louder (like you point out), but will also probably lose macOS support in a couple of years. Whereas the M1 will likely get macOS update until 2030, literally.

 

[bobcomer]

I can't answer if you made a mistake or not, but the iMac is still a great machine, I just bought one myself, and I have a Mac Studio sitting right next to it -- the monitor is gorgeous, and you can add RAM to it easily. External drives work well, and you can run x86 Windows in a VM on it. (or even via bootcamp.). I added 128G of RAM to mine and have 2 external SSD's. I will most likely keep my iMac a LOT longer than my Mac Studio, as x86 compatibility is useful to me.

 

[LeeW]

but the iMac is still a great machine

I agree. Nothing wrong with it and if it does what you want then why not?

And wow for $550 i can get 2019 27" iMac quad i5 32gb RAM 2tb fusion drive. That's kind of crazy. Of course I'm getting a 5k screen and kbd and mouse, too. How much of the 2tb fusion drive is SSD?

It will easily last a good few years for the $550 price tag. The drive I believe is only 128GB SSD. But it's all about compromise. You could add a decent external drive for not a lot. The 5K screen is a joy you are not going to get with a Mac Mini.

Ultimately it will be nowhere near as good an experience as the M1 Mac Mini now you have used it and seen it for yourself. It really comes down to what you are going to use it for.

 

[thebart]

I'd be worried that tiny SSD is near EOL. You can boot off an external, right? Does the internal drive have to work at all in order for the machine to work? I know with the m1, dead SSD means a brick

I'll probably stay with the M1, though, because it's a nice machine and I'm used to it. I also have a "free" 4k 27" monitor from work, making it much less of a sting. But two months ago? I might've made a different choice

 

[chrfr]

I'd be worried that tiny SSD is near EOL. You can boot off an external, right? Does the internal drive have to work at all in order for the machine to work? I know with the m1, dead SSD means a brick

I'll probably stay with the M1, though, because it's a nice machine and I'm used to it. I also have a "free" 4k 27" monitor from work, making it much less of a sting. But two months ago? I might've made a different choice

I'd absolutely keep the Mini over an increasingly obsolete Intel iMac at this point.

 

[coffeemilktea]

If RAM + storage + being able to run Windows are major concerns for you, then yes, the iMac would have been a better choice. Otherwise, I'd say the M1 Mac Mini is a better device in every other way; the processor alone would run circles around an outdated i5.

 

[phrehdd]

M1 is likely to be a better fit for most. If you are doing something that requires more RAM, then you know you might see if the iMac is a better fit. As for the drive - rather have the SSD and add an external SSD than have the fusion option. I had the M1 512/16 and it's amazing for nearly all typical things people do.

 

[Nigel Goodman]

I'd be worried that tiny SSD is near EOL. You can boot off an external, right? Does the internal drive have to work at all in order for the machine to work? I know with the m1, dead SSD means a brick

I have a 2017 iMac which was beginning to run slow. Memory upgrade mode little difference. So I added a 2TB Thunderbolt 3 External SSD NVMe Drive on which I installed the system (Ventura) and moved my data. The difference is huge and the internal Fusion Drive can be ignored. Works just fine without it.

 

[Bodhitree]

That’s a good price for an M1 Mini 16/512, it’s a very capable computer.

 

[James_C]

The M1 Mini will run rings around the iMac for light use as the Mini has Apple silicon and an SSD, the Fusion drives are not much faster than spinning drives as usually the SSD element is pretty small. As others have said you will be limited on how far you can upgrade the OS with any Intel Machine compared to Apple Silicon. I would keep the Mini unless you need Windows capability.

 

[ericwn]

The M1 Macs are pretty capable in my experience and would be my preference over another intel machine, but it’s a fair price for that iMac too.

 

[cthompson94]

As others have stated...the M1 mini will run circles around that iMac. Sure OP the iMac has the 5k screen and stuff, but it is nearing the end of support and I really would not worry about the SSD life of the mini. Fusion drives are really overrated IMO and wouldn't even consider that especially with storage being so cheap now and you could easily get a 2TB external SSD that is equal if not faster for relatively cheap these days. Fusion drives were good for their time, but SSDs and mvme.2 drives (enclosure needed) are so cheap now.

Gaming would be a little better just because the options would be more open like being able to have bootcamp running and having windows running without the parallels emulation running, but any actual gaming would still require a eGPU to be connected which would be another expense since those are kind of pricey IMO since they are more of a niche product.

 

[chrfr]

iMac is iMac. Nuff said

I have no idea what you're trying to say here.

 

[Gudi]

Did i make a mistake?

Two mistakes.

1 − buying a mini without monitor, keyboard and mouse. The mini only makes sense, if you have all that already.

2 − looking at prices for used Intel iMacs

What you should do instead is search for an 24" M1 iMac in your favorite color.

 

[Gudi]

I have no idea what you're trying to say here.

He's saying something to the effect:

If you don't have an iPhone, you don't have an iPhone.

 

[AlixSPQR]

About two months ago I bought an M1 mini 16/512 for $640 from ebay. That price still holds at this point

But inspired by a maxtech video Iwent looking at used iMac. And wow for $550 i can get 2019 27" iMac quad i5 32gb RAM 2tb fusion drive. That's kind of crazy. Of course I'm getting a 5k screen and kbd and mouse, too. How much of the 2tb fusion drive is SSD?

Obviously it's older and runs hotter and louder. Performance wise, how close does it come to the M1? Silicon is the future, but otoh there's real utility in having an Intel Mac. On the mini I still have to run parallels and windows 11 because the office version of Mac doesn't cut it, for example. Would gaming be better on this iMac?

Did i make a mistake?

No, you didn't.

 

[orionquest]

Making this post, yes it was a mistake. Live with no regrets it's a computer just use it, and no one can answer this fully for you.

 

[TechnoMonk]

About two months ago I bought an M1 mini 16/512 for $640 from ebay. That price still holds at this point

But inspired by a maxtech video Iwent looking at used iMac. And wow for $550 i can get 2019 27" iMac quad i5 32gb RAM 2tb fusion drive. That's kind of crazy. Of course I'm getting a 5k screen and kbd and mouse, too. How much of the 2tb fusion drive is SSD?

Obviously it's older and runs hotter and louder. Performance wise, how close does it come to the M1? Silicon is the future, but otoh there's real utility in having an Intel Mac. On the mini I still have to run parallels and windows 11 because the office version of Mac doesn't cut it, for example. Would gaming be better on this iMac?

Did i make a mistake?

Stop watching max tech Videos.

 

[Analog Kid]

I have no idea what you're trying to say here.

They're just repeating what Nuff said.

 

[wilberforce]

Having both a 2020 Intel iMac and an M1 Mac, please don't get a Fusion drive. Getting a Fusion drive would be a mistake in of itself. Slow and prone to failure. To make a fair comparison, you should compare with a 2019 or 2020 iMac with an SSD and preferably an i7 CPU

 

[izzy0242mr]

About two months ago I bought an M1 mini 16/512 for $640 from ebay. That price still holds at this point

But inspired by a maxtech video Iwent looking at used iMac. And wow for $550 i can get 2019 27" iMac quad i5 32gb RAM 2tb fusion drive. That's kind of crazy. Of course I'm getting a 5k screen and kbd and mouse, too. How much of the 2tb fusion drive is SSD?

Obviously it's older and runs hotter and louder. Performance wise, how close does it come to the M1? Silicon is the future, but otoh there's real utility in having an Intel Mac. On the mini I still have to run parallels and windows 11 because the office version of Mac doesn't cut it, for example. Would gaming be better on this iMac?

Did i make a mistake?

No mistake. Your M1 Mac Mini has 16GB RAM and will be supported for the rest of the decade. And it'll reliably perform powerfully for that time period. We're also in a time where technology is slowing down in terms of innovation, which means your computer will stay powerful for the next 5 years whereas a computer in 2010 would be far less powerful than a 2015 computer. So this is the time where we get the most bang for our buck so to speak.

Enjoy it. Resist the urge to upgrade just because newer stuff looks cool. The iMac is a good computer but your M1 is more powerful and more efficient.