iMac 2020, Changing Settings + Other Tips To Share?

[Brandy-Boi]

Earlier this week my new iMac came in, bought the higher end 2020 27inch model. My last one was a base 2015 model bought when it was new and that was showing signs of hard drive failure and was significantly slowing down over the last several months so it was time to upgrade. Never bought a machine like this before and it's been working wonderfully! Everything is so much faster, I've been getting into voice work and trying to get into video editing and other stuff like that so I'm trying to use this to the fullest potential.

I have a few questions about my mac, so I was wondering to get some things answered! Here's a few things I've been wondering about:

1. How do I stop Apple from blasting the Apple Music sub offer that never goes away every time I open iTunes?

2. Is there a way to make text bigger in general? Since web browsers and certain apps and websites don’t take up all the screen and leaves a lot of extra space. I know the computer is a lot bigger than my old one, I think I'm still just getting used to the extra space.

3. When using an app on my phone, it pops up as an icon on the desktop, is that necessary and is it possible to stop getting notifications like that? I plan to stream casually with friends and I don't want calls or texts to be popping up on screen.

Lastly is it normal for the computer to make a very subtle noise as it runs? It’s not loud or anything but only noticeable when everything else around me is completely silent. Sometimes it'll even be silent when running, so thankfully it doesn't get picked up when I record audio but just wondered if it was normal.

For reference, this is my iMac build:

10 Core i9 Processors
72 GB Memory (Mixed OWC with default Apple ram)
Radeon Pro 5700 XT with 16GB of GDDR6 memory
4TB SSD


Aside from my minor questions, are there any other tips you can offer to me? I've never had a machine like this before and I want to take full advantage of it and keep it in tip-top shape, so any bits of advice are very much appreciated!

 

[wilberforce]

72 GB Memory (Mixed OWC with default Apple ram)

Aside from my minor questions, are there any other tips you can offer to me? I've never had a machine like this before and I want to take full advantage of it and keep it in tip-top shape, so any bits of advice are very much appreciated!

Suggest don't mix sizes of RAM sticks, it degrades RAM performance on the 2020 iMac (and only on the 2020 iMac). Remove the Apple RAM. Many threads on this topic.
Check Memory under System Report. I bet your RAM is running at 2133 Mhz instead of 2667 Mhz (Or, if it is running at 2667 MHz, you have unequal RAM in Channels A and B, which is even worse).

Mixing RAM in 2020 iMac

I had read somewhere on here that some people are adding 3rd party RAM to their new systems but taking out the stock 8GB of Apple RAM as it is faster than mixing it. Is that actually true and, if so, is it true with respect to all 3rd party RAM? I have a new system coming and was planning to...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[adamlbiscuit]

Earlier this week my new iMac came in, bought the higher end 2020 27inch model. My last one was a base 2015 model bought when it was new and that was showing signs of hard drive failure and was significantly slowing down over the last several months so it was time to upgrade. Never bought a machine like this before and it's been working wonderfully! Everything is so much faster, I've been getting into voice work and trying to get into video editing and other stuff like that so I'm trying to use this to the fullest potential.

I have a few questions about my mac, so I was wondering to get some things answered! Here's a few things I've been wondering about:

1. How do I stop Apple from blasting the Apple Music sub offer that never goes away every time I open iTunes?

2. Is there a way to make text bigger in general? Since web browsers and certain apps and websites don’t take up all the screen and leaves a lot of extra space. I know the computer is a lot bigger than my old one, I think I'm still just getting used to the extra space.

3. When using an app on my phone, it pops up as an icon on the desktop, is that necessary and is it possible to stop getting notifications like that? I plan to stream casually with friends and I don't want calls or texts to be popping up on screen.

Lastly is it normal for the computer to make a very subtle noise as it runs? It’s not loud or anything but only noticeable when everything else around me is completely silent. Sometimes it'll even be silent when running, so thankfully it doesn't get picked up when I record audio but just wondered if it was normal.

For reference, this is my iMac build:

10 Core i9 Processors
72 GB Memory (Mixed OWC with default Apple ram)
Radeon Pro 5700 XT with 16GB of GDDR6 memory
4TB SSD


Aside from my minor questions, are there any other tips you can offer to me? I've never had a machine like this before and I want to take full advantage of it and keep it in tip-top shape, so any bits of advice are very much appreciated!

1. I'm not certain on this as I've always been an Apple Music subscriber, so hopefully someone else can add some input to this. I would imagine that you can stop the pestering, but if not, you might want to try a 3rd party music app.

2. To make text bigger in general there's a few ways. To do it on a by-app basis you usually press cmd + or cmd - to increase or decrease text size accordingly. If you want everything on screen to appear much bigger, you can go to System Preferences, Displays, and then click 'Scaled'. This will allow you to choose larger text. Windows and all other UI elements will also get bigger too, but just be aware that the screen clarity may look a bit 'softer' when using scaled resolutions.

As you've a bigger screen, you could instead choose to fill the extra space in other ways, for example, by putting two apps or more together side-by-side. For example, I have Safari take up one half of the screen, and then mail / music take up a quarter of the screen each on the other side.

3. This feature is called 'handoff' and you can turn it off. To do this, go to System Preferences, General, and then right at the very bottom untick 'Allow Handoff between this Mac and your iCloud devices'.

In terms of noise, although the iMacs are typically whisper quiet it's still normal for there to be a very subtle noise in my experience. I wouldn't worry too much about that, it's most likely just the fans idling. You've got the i9 processor so I imagine it can sometimes run a bit hot by nature.

Only other tip I would advise is definitely install an app like Magnet or Better Snap Tool - being able to 'snap' windows to certain sections of the screen (like in Windows) is such a major feature to me I almost forget it's not a default.

 

[Brandy-Boi]

Suggest don't mix sizes of RAM sticks, it degrades RAM performance on the 2020 iMac (and only on the 2020 iMac). Remove the Apple RAM. Many threads on this topic.
Check Memory under System Report. I bet your RAM is running at 2133 Mhz instead of 2667 Mhz (Or, if it is running at 2667 MHz, you have unequal RAM in Channels A and B, which is even worse).

Mixing RAM in 2020 iMac

I had read somewhere on here that some people are adding 3rd party RAM to their new systems but taking out the stock 8GB of Apple RAM as it is faster than mixing it. Is that actually true and, if so, is it true with respect to all 3rd party RAM? I have a new system coming and was planning to...

forums.macrumors.com

I initially read a lot of mixed things on ram mixing but since plenty of people said it was fine based on certain arrangements I thought to give it a go. It was running at 2667 Mhz with all slots mixed in (Apple in 1 & 3 OWC in 2 & 4) so I just removed the default ram and left the new ones in their current positions. Thank you for the heads up

 

[Brandy-Boi]

1. I'm not certain on this as I've always been an Apple Music subscriber, so hopefully someone else can add some input to this. I would imagine that you can stop the pestering, but if not, you might want to try a 3rd party music app.

2. To make text bigger in general there's a few ways. To do it on a by-app basis you usually press cmd + or cmd - to increase or decrease text size accordingly. If you want everything on screen to appear much bigger, you can go to System Preferences, Displays, and then click 'Scaled'. This will allow you to choose larger text. Windows and all other UI elements will also get bigger too, but just be aware that the screen clarity may look a bit 'softer' when using scaled resolutions.

As you've a bigger screen, you could instead choose to fill the extra space in other ways, for example, by putting two apps or more together side-by-side. For example, I have Safari take up one half of the screen, and then mail / music take up a quarter of the screen each on the other side.

3. This feature is called 'handoff' and you can turn it off. To do this, go to System Preferences, General, and then right at the very bottom untick 'Allow Handoff between this Mac and your iCloud devices'.

In terms of noise, although the iMacs are typically whisper quiet it's still normal for there to be a very subtle noise in my experience. I wouldn't worry too much about that, it's most likely just the fans idling. You've got the i9 processor so I imagine it can sometimes run a bit hot by nature.

Only other tip I would advise is definitely install an app like Magnet or Better Snap Tool - being able to 'snap' windows to certain sections of the screen (like in Windows) is such a major feature to me I almost forget it's not a default.

I greatly appreciate the help!