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New iMac Is Beautiful

Kierkegaarden said:
The design — inside, outside — beautiful. Perfectly positioned in the Mac lineup.

I get it all — the M1, the colors, the white bezel, the logo-less chin, the power brick. Brilliant.

What exactly do some not get about this remarkable machine?
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Love the profile... thin and beautiful, and really appreciate the external power supply design, and the modified magsafe-like connector.

The colors, not so much. The Playskool/Fisher-Price kindergarten colors are way too trendy for my taste. The white chin bothers me immensely, and miss the iconic Apple logo. Apart from the physical profile, it's a ugly computer with a dearth of ports. Sadly, the base configuration maxes out at an underwhelming 8GB of shared RAM and 512GB SSD. Pastel keyboard with white keys? Really? It will be dirty and black/grey in a matter of days.

Hard pass.
 
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Kierkegaarden said:
Ah, that would have been bold, and maybe more polarizing! Would be interesting to see what that would look like though.

Very well put. They seem to have looked at it from all angles. The manufacturing efficiency probably played a bigger role in the overall design.
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This design is polarizing, as is. Some love it, some hate it... doubtful many are "meh".
 
dwfaust said:
Love the profile... thin and beautiful, and really appreciate the external power supply design, and the modified magsafe-like connector.

The colors, not so much. The Playskool/Fisher-Price kindergarten colors are way too trendy for my taste. The white chin bothers me immensely, and not a fan of the missing Apple logo. Apart from the physical profile, it's a ugly computer with a dearth of ports. Sadly, the configuration maxes out at an underwhelming 8GB of shared RAM and 512GB SSD. Pastel keyboard with white keys? Really? It will be dirty and black/grey in a matter of days.

Hard pass.
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You mean the base configurations? Because the new iMacs definitely go above those specs. They’ll be up to 16GB and 2TB - same as the other M1’s.
 
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Kierkegaarden said:
Good points. I’m trying to think of what they would fill the space up with, and I can’t think of anything logical. So maybe, as you said, the only practical way would be to have a bump, which would compromise the aesthetic quite a bit.

But even then, I don’t know if certain components need to be shielded from the display in such a way to avoid interference issues.

The “chin” seems to be the best compromise, and it doesn’t bother me at all or change my productivity.
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Im thinking that they might be able to fit the internals into the stand and hide the video connection. The most annoying thing about the iMac is having to replace/discard what is typically a totally usable screen.

I was contemplating gutting the old iMac and putting in a video driver setup, and getting the Mac mini. Lots of guides of how to do it.
 
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dwfaust said:
Yeah, I guess I missed that... still concerned about 16GM shared RAM ...
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Sure but I think the specs and the design is meant to harken back to the original iMac - ie a base level machine (though with a really nice screen). Whenever Apple releases the more powerful M1 processors with more cores supposedly there will also be more ports, ram, and GPU cores - the MacBook Pro “leaks” confirm this. Unclear when those changes might come to the iMac or whether it’ll have the same color aesthetics when they do.
 
I'm in the "it's beautiful" camp. I think Apple designers did a great job of lightening up the iMac so it's less Darth Vader-like. Can't wait to use the M1 and find out how nice it is to use a CPU and OS designed by the same company, to work together. No more beachballs like I see frequently on my old iMac, I hope. I'm also psyched to hear the new sound system. I'd been considering a HomePod mini, but after I get the new iMac, I doubt I'll need one.
 
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crazy dave said:
Sure but I think the specs and the design is meant to harken back to the original iMac - ie a base level machine (though with a really nice screen). Whenever Apple releases the more powerful M1 processors...
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Perhaps you haven't read reviews of the M1. In new MacBooks and the Mac mini it sounds like the M1 blows most Intel processors away, performance-wise. No need to wait, unless you're truly a pro user who works for a movie production studio or something like that.
 
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iDave said:
Perhaps you haven't read reviews of the M1. In new MacBooks and the Mac mini it sounds like the M1 blows most Intel processors away, performance-wise. No need to wait, unless you're truly a pro user who works for a movie production studio or something like that.
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I have read them, extensively. :) I know my use cases and what I’m looking for both for performance and for form factor has not yet been released. Also I need to make sure what I need has been ported over - much of it has been, some are still in the process of being so. I don’t mind waiting.

Personally, IO doesn’t bother me as much, but I can understand that being a limitation for others. Which seems to be the case for this poster.
 
crazy dave said:
I have read them, extensively. :) I know my use cases and what I’m looking for both for performance and for form factor has not yet been released.
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Sounds like you know what you're doing. It just seems so many in these forums are downplaying the new iMac as merely a starter/consumer machine barely capable of handling email (slight exaggeration). :oops: I'm pretty sure it's going to run circles around my older iMac which was top of the line when I bought it. At half what I paid then.
 
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iDave said:
Sounds like you know what you're doing. It just seems so many in these forums are downplaying the new iMac as merely a starter/consumer machine barely capable of handling email (slight exaggeration). :oops: I'm pretty sure it's going to run circles around my older iMac which was top of the line when I bought it. At half what I paid then.
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That’s the scary thing ... they *are* just starter machines, but, to borrow an Apple-Jobs oldie, they are “insanely great” starter machines that are actually useful beyond base users. That Apple can legitimately put the same chip in the iPad Pro as an iMac is amazing.
 
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dwfaust said:
Love the profile... thin and beautiful, and really appreciate the external power supply design, and the modified magsafe-like connector.

The colors, not so much. The Playskool/Fisher-Price kindergarten colors are way too trendy for my taste. The white chin bothers me immensely, and not a fan of the missing Apple logo. Apart from the physical profile, it's a ugly computer with a dearth of ports. Sadly, the configuration maxes out at an underwhelming 8GB of shared RAM and 512GB SSD. Pastel keyboard with white keys? Really? It will be dirty and black/grey in a matter of days.

Hard pass.
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I only wish it had a Fisher-Price design (to match the operating system). I think the pastel colors make it look like a mom computer. It seemed like a good 90% of the models they used during the iMac portion of the event were women in their 30s. Based on the design they chose, it looks like that’s their target market.
 
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dwfaust said:
Love the profile... thin and beautiful, and really appreciate the external power supply design, and the modified magsafe-like connector.

The colors, not so much. The Playskool/Fisher-Price kindergarten colors are way too trendy for my taste. The white chin bothers me immensely, and not a fan of the missing Apple logo. Apart from the physical profile, it's a ugly computer with a dearth of ports. Sadly, the configuration maxes out at an underwhelming 8GB of shared RAM and 512GB SSD. Pastel keyboard with white keys? Really? It will be dirty and black/grey in a matter of days.

Hard pass.
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Well, the new iMac IS offered in traditional silver as well as the fruit-flavored colors. But it is definitely retro, an homage to the original iMac. And lest we forget, the iMac is a big reason Apple survived long enough to create the iPhone.
 
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Removal of the SD slot is Apple telling you to trash your Digital camera and buy an iPhone.
Same as trashing iTunes told us to subscribe to Apple Music.
Not enough USB or other interface slots.
More "less is better" philosophy.
Bottom line wins every time.
Probably a winner.
 
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I would argue that the absence of a logo on the chin is possibly a technical limitation - in my 2011 21.5", both the front and back logos have a frame that is nearly as thick as the new machine itself. So they had to remove it to fit all the electronics.
 
I like the design for what it is: a fun family-friendly iMac.

I think most of the criticism I’ve seen are from people who are power users. This iMac is not for power users. It’s not for people who need more ports, or more ram. The baseline iMac never came in space grey so why do people expect it now?

My guess is that in a year or two, Apple will be able to recover the cost of R&D on this iMac, and they’ll be able to sell it for cheaper. This will be the new family-friendly iMac design for years. It’ll eventually be positioned like the iPhone SE being the cheap all-in-one for the average person.

The iMac Pro will be the iMac most of us wanted and expected. Space grey. More ram. More ports. More display out options. It’ll become clear once the transition is finished that all macs that come in vibrant fun colors are consumer macs. And the ones that come in darker professional colors are the “pro” macs.
 
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Honestly, i like the chin. Schools, especially specialized media labs that need to put special access login info for students and faculty at each computer, will benefit. Also, it's great for those of us that still use Post-It notes and need somewhere we can see to put them.

I'm not pissed at all about a lack of processor options..... because i think Apple has not revealed all it's cards yet. we wont see the full customization options until the 30th, and i think we will be pleasantly surprised with the offerings.

I really don't understand the hate on people about the white bezels. This is not a pro machine and will never be one. This is a computer for children, college students, and low tech parents and grandparents, and people with relatively simple needs. People who care more about form and ease of use over function. People who want black bezels will buy something else or get what I assume will be a multitude of skins and screen protectors that will be released soon.

Obviously the pro models, such as a hopeful forthcoming 27 or 32 inch model will have black bezels, or even a slightly different design.

Overall, this is still an amazing design. Insane engineering. Let's just hope the thermals check out.
 
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Kierkegaarden said:
Absolutely — nicely said. The whole package just seems so well thought out. The attention to detail, as you mentioned, is seen everywhere.

Now if someone could create a slim hard briefcase for it, with the same attention to detail, that would be great.
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Just give it a couple of months until the 1st commercial case on sales. Business response are quick enough.
 
Even though I'm not a fan of the white border, I could easily "deal" with it. What I don't like is the pink, baby blue, purple, pink, peach, (etc.) front colors. It doesn't fit into my space at all with natural materials like concrete, solid woods, lots of leathers, plants, etc. I guess silver it is... :/
 
AJACs3 said:
....
I also wonder just how many people who use an iMac as a home machine use all those ports. A decent port expansion bar conveniently placed based on your own individual needs is easier to use and saves the rest of the user base from paying for ports they don’t use. ....
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Both ports will be used when I get base iMac in Blue (matches better with my iPhone 12).

One port will connect to an Apple TB3-TB2 adapter for my 2nd Apple Display - either 24" Cinema or 27" Thunderbolt.

The other port will connect to a USB-C docking hub for additional ports that I will need:
Ethernet
3 USB-A ports
HDMI port for a third display?
Pass thru USB-C port
IMG_7232.jpg
 
rpmurray said:
I don't think Apple is going to be making any more low end iMacs with Intel processors from now on.
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I am not interested in an Intel iMac. I was hoping for a little better processor option for the new iMacs. Do I need a better processor? Most likely not but I like a litter more power since I keep my computers for a number of years.
 
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