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Hands-On With the 24-Inch M3 iMac
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I really like the looks of the new iMac, and if I really needed a new Mac right now, it would probably top the list as I generally like AiO's.
The bad about it is why I wont be purchasing one, probably ever. First off, RAM, 24G max?? I have VM's that are bigger than that. It's rare, but there have been occasions I needed a lot of RAM for what I was doing. I currently have an Intel 27" iMac, and while the processor isn't as fast, it has 128G of RAM and I never worry about how much I need and a lot of RAM keeps it from slowing down from paging. I'll take the 27" every time over what's available on the new iMac. More cores would be nice as well, but I can probably make do with the M3. I'd buy an M3 Pro iMac if they made one though. There is nothing Apple makes that is better than my intel iMac at a reasonable cost. A Studio Display costs almost as much as I paid for my iMac, and I wont pay that much for just a monitor.
Ports (2x2) seem fine to me, and I like the colors. Gray and black are so dreary on most computers these days, I'm pretty sick of it all. (even my new windows machine I bought last week, Ugly, not much bigger than a Mac Studio and black, yuck.) I'll buy a black laptop for work, because it's either black or silver, that's it, but I will never get a current Macbook Pro.
edit: forgot to mention, I actually like 24" monitors over something bigger, I really don't need anything bigger and find I have to move my head too much on my 27" iMac. (Very small complaint though) I'm actually using a 24" LG with my M2 Pro Mac Mini and Windows PC's on a KVM.
edit2: I wish the iMac had a height adjustable stand by default.
The bad about it is why I wont be purchasing one, probably ever. First off, RAM, 24G max?? I have VM's that are bigger than that. It's rare, but there have been occasions I needed a lot of RAM for what I was doing. I currently have an Intel 27" iMac, and while the processor isn't as fast, it has 128G of RAM and I never worry about how much I need and a lot of RAM keeps it from slowing down from paging. I'll take the 27" every time over what's available on the new iMac. More cores would be nice as well, but I can probably make do with the M3. I'd buy an M3 Pro iMac if they made one though. There is nothing Apple makes that is better than my intel iMac at a reasonable cost. A Studio Display costs almost as much as I paid for my iMac, and I wont pay that much for just a monitor.
Ports (2x2) seem fine to me, and I like the colors. Gray and black are so dreary on most computers these days, I'm pretty sick of it all. (even my new windows machine I bought last week, Ugly, not much bigger than a Mac Studio and black, yuck.) I'll buy a black laptop for work, because it's either black or silver, that's it, but I will never get a current Macbook Pro.
edit: forgot to mention, I actually like 24" monitors over something bigger, I really don't need anything bigger and find I have to move my head too much on my 27" iMac. (Very small complaint though) I'm actually using a 24" LG with my M2 Pro Mac Mini and Windows PC's on a KVM.
edit2: I wish the iMac had a height adjustable stand by default.
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What year it is has nothing to do with the size 🙄 Why should things get bigger just because of the year? Weird comment.
I don't think anyone expected though that stand alone display would be only $200 less than a base 27" iMac was. I have little sympathy for those complaining about a lack of 27" iMac Pro as the ASD paired with a Mac Studio is a much better value than the Pro or the top 27" iMac ever was. It is former base 27" iMac consumers that no longer have an affordable option. Sure if they invest in a ASD then subsequent upgrades of the desktop itself could be more affordable, but that initial $600+ jump is pretty steep (assuming ASD ($1599) + base mac mini ($599) + keyboard ($100) + mouse ($80) vs $1799 27" iMac).
It's perfect for me. I don't want a larger display (tried them), cos I then have to sit further away to see the whole screen. And that impacts on space elsewhere; I live in London, not the wilds of Montana or somewhere where there's loads of space for massive homes. And if you think 24" is 'tiny'; I started with a 15" CRT iMac G3.
What is this obession with branding? One of the (many) things I love about my iMac is the lack of obvious branding. I've had guests ask 'what is that??' when they've seen the iMac. I prefer that. It's a computer. The brand is important, but I didn't spend all that money to show my guests what brand of computer I use. Similarly, I hate any clothing with distinctive branding (except adidas I have to say). I'm paying for something to use or wear, not to advertise it!
No I am thinking about one of these. The only thing is that I have the iMac with the VESA mount adapter, on a custom stand, so the docking station doesn't quite work as well for me. 😭
Friend, if you don't need the Studio, the Mini + Studio Display combo is right there waiting for you at more-or-less 27" iMac prices. You don't even need the Studio Display in particular for 5K anymore unless you have fairly strict image quality needs.
If you need The Juice in a Mac desktop, there's now multiple great ways to get it that doesn't involve trapping a fabulous screen with a set of aging internals - or that requires you to suction-cup the computer's face off if anything needs fixing.
Yep. The outgoing base 27" iMac was $1799, the base Mac mini + display is $2198, but if you upgrade your computer just once over the lifetime of the display, you're looking at a total outlay of $2797, compared to $3598 for two equivalent iMacs.
Did anyone experience over heating issue? The CPU temperature of my M3 iMac reached 110ºC when launching some games (e.g. Baldur's Gate 3) by only entering the title screen (not even started playing the game).
I feel that way too hot than I expected. Check the screenshot attached. Is this normal?
I feel that way too hot than I expected. Check the screenshot attached. Is this normal?
I think the base 27" was always a bit under-priced, which probably helped its popularity. Considering how much the LG 5K Ultrafine's cost, people really shouldn't have been that surprised at the ASD $1599 price. There's no reason the ASD can't be useful for 10+ years.
My M1 iMac gets 'warm' when playing No Mans Sky for a while, and the fans kick in, but it's nothing major. Other computers I've had have got much hotter in normal low level use; my MacPro used to act as a heater by my feet. 🥵
Dan you didn't really answer the point (I know its a Mini review) about why someone like myself who has a 2020 iMac with lots of memory (128Gb) and that lovely 5K 27 inch screen should downsize to a 24 inch iMac? Im sure its a great machine but that chin and you yourself Dan, said the all in one design was the best there is and I would guess that most agree, so why should I spend thousands of UK pounds more for a split, and quite frankly ugly Mac Studio & Studio display? I want one box that is ergonomically and aesthetically perfect - is that really too much to ask for Mr Cook - you did it before? On a cost basis in the UK, the studio display is £1500 and the equivalent Mac Studio to my iMac in terms of memory is (I know you can't quite compare the 2) is £5000 - so total is £6500 - yes for a markedly faster machine I get that or I could reduce my memory requirements to 64Gb at a cost of £4200 - reducing the overall cost to £5700 as opposed to £2000 for my 2020 iMac? not really a choice, is it? By the way Ive been using Mac's since the Classic, I've had several MacBook Pro's, iMacs, TV, Every iPhone and iPad, Watch and Services since launch, but this approach by Apple seems to suggest that the Customer is to be largely ignored certainly when it comes to bigger iMacs - I'll just carry on using my old iMac till it dies and hope Apple comes to its senses - it won't of course until it finds another Jobs or Ive that care about design.
For those who don't like the 24" size but still want the clean desk look.. Just grab yourself a third party 27"+ monitor and grab a mac mini... Then mount it using one of these:
Mac mini Mount
if you pair that with Bluetooth keyboard/Mouse... and attach the HDMI cable to the back of the monitor and out of the way... Then wrap the monitor power cable and Mini power cable together... You should have a relatively clean looking set up.
Mac mini Mount
if you pair that with Bluetooth keyboard/Mouse... and attach the HDMI cable to the back of the monitor and out of the way... Then wrap the monitor power cable and Mini power cable together... You should have a relatively clean looking set up.
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I bet the review goes something like:
It's the same as the M1 iMac (2021) but now has a faster M3 chip. You can see faster benchmarks and productivity apps. /review
It's the same as the M1 iMac (2021) but now has a faster M3 chip. You can see faster benchmarks and productivity apps. /review
Coming from the M1, this new M3 iMac in the base configuration feels quicker than the previous iMac M1 even for the 'lite' usage (Pages, Safari, Numbers, Mail, News, Music) ... I have no issues with 8 GB (the various software optimizations likely have some effect over two years, too.) Overall, I am impressed that Apple can provide hardware and software with this very smooth experience and the low energy usage (no fan noise at all). The 24 inch screen is perfect for the simple everyday work I need to do.
Technically if going by GPU then the orange, yellow and purple 😝
What's the resolution of the 27"+ displays you've owned? Because unless they're 5K, that "little" 24" display on the iMac is still more useable. 27" 4K displays don't look great on macOS.
Agree completely which is part of my dilemma. I would buy the iMac with 8GB memory and then add 128K using (in this case OWC) an aftermarket upgrade. That option no longer exists and I completely understand why, since Apple Silicon is a SOC solution with fully integrated memory and processor. It really does not matter how we get there but it does matter how much it costs and what future upgradability options are available. The Mini is an obvious path but it has its own issues and is still very much a closed solution. Other people that observe that when the iMac is done you have to scrap the display are correct, but I have found that iMacs generally have lasted 5 to 7 years which is sufficient for me, mainly because I could add memory when I needed and there was sufficient IO to meet my needs. And, BTW I had no problem in the old days of removing the screen and updating the hard drives and/or replacing them with an SSD. You could at least do that and have done it to several of my machines. Nothing in the current Mini and Mac Studio is upgradable.
IMacs were definitely a compromise in the past but their memory upgradability, reasonable IO capability and durability made them great workhorses. The Mini/Mac Studio is a closed box solution which cannot grow with me and must be scrapped when the need to update or upgrade is required. We get great performance because it is a highly integrated sealed box solution but what you buy is what you must live with it until it is obsolete and that was not the case with the old iMac, even it was somewhat limited.
Yea. For the same game, my Intel MacBook could also hit 100ºC ~105ºC (T-Junc). However, my M1 ultra got only 40ºC while the new M3 reached 110ºC. I knew the M1 ultra is stronger in both multi-core CPU and GPU, and the thermal design between MacStudio and iMac is different. But the temperature gap in this test was quite huge.
I thought 110 was the temperature limit, the cpu throttles to keep the temperature from getting any higher.
Not here in the UK unfortunately - my base 27" iMac cost me £1800 so similar to the US - to replace it with a Mac Studio depending on RAM and chip configurations minus the monitor is £2,499 for 64Gb Ram approx a 1/3 more than the cost of my original iMAc but minus the screen? I cant match my original Ram config of my base iMac which is 128Gb, unless I move to the Studio Ultra at a cost of £4,200 - I could add a studio display at £1500 to this which gives me a total of £5700 for the Ultra & studio display or the previous model base Mac Studio and display at £4000 so approx 2 or 3 times the cost of my original iMac - these are absolutely insane prices - I know the aruments are more subtle than cost alone, but at the moment I cant see me replacing my iMac anytime soon. As a long standing customer of over 30 years + I've never been so disappointed in Apple, but then again what do you expect when design and quality are severely compromised in order to focus on profit alone which is fine, but how do you balance the two?
Apple doesn’t really seem to be following the prices of the regular PC market anymore. In the early 2010’s pricing was more in line and competitive, whereas now they have seemed to say a high end computer is high end pricing.