New iMac Is Beautiful

[UltimateSyn]

I love this design. A lot. I'm going to buy a Green one!

I don't really understand why there's so much negativity towards it. I know design is subjective, but it seems like there is overwhelmingly negative feedback. I think they absolutely nailed the consumer iMac concept and design, and the 'Pros' will have their Space Grey Day in a few months.

 

[pasamio]

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.

Most people already have an iPhone or Android phone that does a reasonable job of taking photos.
The Music app still enables you to manage your own music in addition to Apple's streaming solution.
It's got both USB slots and Thunderbolt support, if you're after more ports there are any number of USB-C and Thunderbolt docks that add what ever ports you need.

To be honest with my MBP2019, most of the time a single Thunderbolt cable is what I need to get most of my work done, connects into external storage or HDMI, I have a few docks scattered around where I work so I can just sit down, plugin and get everything in place for that work location. People keep saying the entry level device is lacking I/O options but I can't help but feel for the lower end of the market that this iMac is targeted at that it's a suitable fit.

 

[iDave]

I love this design. A lot. I'm going to buy a Green one!

I don't really understand why there's so much negativity towards it. I know design is subjective, but it seems like there is overwhelmingly negative feedback. I think they absolutely nailed the consumer iMac concept and design, and the 'Pros' will have their Space Grey Day in a few months.

I've been a user of this forum for a long time but haven't participated much in recent years. I sometimes check in when there's a major redesign of an Apple product just to see the reactions. It's my sense that a large majority of members inclined to post here are doing so to complain, while those who love the new designs don't bother to comment. They just pull out their credit cards. I like the green too! Planning to order on Friday.

 

[mj_]

I like the new design from various angles to be honest. Not just from a design perspective but from a holistic view of Apple's philosophy behind it.

First of all I love the fact that Apple is finally bringing colors back. For the longest time I've suffered from a lingering sense of dissatisfaction with Apple's computer line-up. Too dark, too boring, too much black, too dreadful, too unimaginative, too... for lack of a better word "computerish". For me personally the Intel iMacs were nothing but an anonymous slab of gray computing unit with no personality and at best a semi-professional message of anonymity and lack of creativity and imagination. Unlike many (or most?) users on these and other computer-centric forums I dislike dark colors and blacks in particular. I used to have a golden 12" MacBook and now a silver MacBook Air M1 because I don't like the darkness of the space gray case. The walls in my office are two shades of light pastel blue instead of white or gray. Colors bring joy to my brain, and I love the fact that the iMac is finally available in various discreet pastel colors again.

This obviously also extends to the keyboard - I absolutely love the fact that I can now have a hint if discreet matching color on my keyboard and mouse as well instead of an ugly all-white or all-black ugly of input device or a blindlingy colorful gamer-centric keyboard that looks like it's been designed by and for 12-year olds and attempts to carry a message of violence and aggressivness through its design and choice of colors (which are, let's face it, most often varying shades black and red).

The biggest draw for me however is the sense of minimalism it so elegantly embodies. The fact that it's so super slim and so unobtrusive. A whiff of discreet and subtle elegance if you like. The minimalist in me loves the ethernet cable on the power brick eliminating the need to run two cables up to the device itself should one need ethernet instead of Wi-Fi. I also prefer the sleek and modern look of the much thinner power cable over the previous much thicker and bulkier one. Admittedly I haven't seen it in person yet but since it only carries low-voltage DC instead of high-voltage AC chances are it's much smaller and less visible than before.

It's a shame really that I need various x86 VMs for work and am thus unable to replace the 27" Intel iMac on my desk with a brand-new green 24" M1 iMac. One day, though...

 

[iDave]

Well said. I hope they don’t run out of green.

 

[Ma2k5]

I like the design too.

 

[Bodhitree]

I like the design as well. The colours are beautiful, and the fact that they chose to just make it thin while keeping the chin feels to me like a real statement. I’d like to have all of them, just to show off the rainbow effect, but I can’t justify the outlay. Still, I might have just one, orange, or yellow, or purple...

There is a certain minimalism in the ports and the technical design, but everything you need is just there, wifi, thunderbolt, usb-c, ethernet, camera, microphones, speakers. It’s a very complete multimedia computer.

 

[JMacHack]

I like the design, though personally I’d have done a few things differently. I love the return to colors even if the pastels don’t appeal to me personally.

I feel that this is the “friendliest” iMac in a long time.

 

[Bodhitree]

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). 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.

Yes, the M1 is a very capable processor, and plenty fast enough for most things. As a desktop processor it is not quite top of the line compared to Intel’s latest 11th gen CPU’s, it’s between a Core i5 and a Core i7 once you factor in the secret sauce. Certainly a lot faster than the old and underspecc’ed CPUs it is replacing in the 21.5” iMacs.

But to be honest we passed the point of computers being “fast enough” for 95% of tasks some time ago, it’s only specialist uses like professional 3D rendering and producing a full movie which require a so-called powerful machine. For browsing, email and office tasks the M1 is overkill, and it is well-suited to tasks like graphic design, photo editing, basic video production and development, once the software is optimised.

I like to think Apple did the white bezels with an eye to those kind of tasks, because certainly for print production it helps to have a white extension of the desktop.

 

[rumorguy]

👍👍👍 I do not use dark mode so my screen is predominately white; white bezels seem to me visually less constraining.

 

[Maconplasma]

Yes, the M1 is a very capable processor, and plenty fast enough for most things. As a desktop processor it is not quite top of the line compared to Intel’s latest 11th gen CPU’s, it’s between a Core i5 and a Core i7 once you factor in the secret sauce. Certainly a lot faster than the old and underspecc’ed CPUs it is replacing in the 21.5” iMacs.

This is totally incorrect.

 

[Bodhitree]

This is totally incorrect.

Check Geekbench, it’s not far off. Factor in the hardware accelerators for things like video encoding, the real world code accelerators and the unified memory architecture, and in actual use it’s about right.

 

[pasamio]

This is totally incorrect.

Check Geekbench, it’s not far off. Factor in the hardware accelerators for things like video encoding, the real world code accelerators and the unified memory architecture, and in actual use it’s about right.

I was on CPU benchmark for another thread where I was hunting for some comparisons between an equivalent priced Dell AIO against the new iMac: https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare/Apple-M1-8-Core-3200-MHz-vs-Intel-i7-1165G7/4104vs3814

The CPU is from last year around the same time as the M1 launch. That's comparing against an i7 with similar TDP, a lower base clock but higher boost clock and an equivalent amount of performance cores. It comes from a comparable priced equivalent product (a Dell Inspiron 27" AIO) currently listed for sale. The M1 appears to be beating it on their overall score and their single threaded execution score.

My read is that this means it's doing better than the Core i7 released around the same time.

 

[rambo47]

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.

I hear ya. I bought my Late-2010 iMac new and I'm still using it. I too like to "future-proof" my Macs by buying more power than I need as I always end up pushing it to do more than I originally planned.

These are still the first generation M1 processors so there is no telling how far Apple can/will advance the capabilities. I just hope that as it evolves Apple doesn't make tiny upgrades like they did with the old G3 PPC processors. Of course that was Motorola making the G3, not Apple. I'm quite excited to see where Apple goes with their own silicone. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm actually optimistic about the whole thing.

 

[PowerGala]

I like that it looks like a modern version of the original iMac. I just wish that they released it along side the faster 32 inch iMac in Product Red.

...Although, I wouldn't be surprised if the 32 inch iMac only has black and silver as color options. All I want is a Cherry Red 32 inch iMac.

 

[Loyola]

I hear ya. I bought my Late-2010 iMac new and I'm still using it. I too like to "future-proof" my Macs by buying more power than I need as I always end up pushing it to do more than I originally planned.

These are still the first generation M1 processors so there is no telling how far Apple can/will advance the capabilities. I just hope that as it evolves Apple doesn't make tiny upgrades like they did with the old G3 PPC processors. Of course that was Motorola making the G3, not Apple. I'm quite excited to see where Apple goes with their own silicone. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm actually optimistic about the whole thing.

My 2010 iMac has served me well and it has gotten we through work from home for the last year. I am not sure how long I can hold out before replacing. After all of the issues with the initial G5 iMac, I am hesitant to get a first generation.

I like deciding on the different upgrades and I just don't feel like I get that with this model. Part of the fun of getting a new one is deciding on the upgrades that I want.

 

[ErikGrim]

I like that it looks like a modern version of the original iMac. I just wish that they released it along side the faster 32 inch iMac in Product Red.

...Although, I wouldn't be surprised if the 32 inch iMac only has black and silver as color options. All I want is a Cherry Red 32 inch iMac.

You and me both

 

[Silmakhor]

My current machine is a 2011 27" Imac, which I love dearly. It still works fine, *mostly.* The wifi interface seems to be getting worse and worse. The original keyboard died years ago. Every so often I get strange restarts while in sleep mode. And start up times are creeping up and up. If it starts getting more erratic in the near future, I'll probably get the 24." But I am hoping that the larger model is announced in June.

I think it's great for what it is. My considerations

+Colors are fine and fun. Silver is always an option. I like the purple, for no good reason.
+The chin is fine. It's completely inconsequential. If your computing experience is wrecked by an inch or two of inoffensive aluminum, consider switching to decaf.
+The M1 chip sounds great for my uses. (Home office as a teacher, + heavy hobbyist in digital art, graphic design, music recording. I also game with recent titles, but Geforce Now actually works fine to fill that need on my current machine.)

- That screen is too small for most of my needs, even the home office stuff. Holding out for at least 27"
- Would like to future proof. I'd love to have my next machine last as long as my 9+ year current mac. That means holding out for the best processor + RAM I can afford.
- The port selection blows chunks, especially the base model. I'm looking at lots of adapters to get my trackball, gaming mouse, graphics tablet, keyboard (ergodox), back up HD, and a bunch of other stuff to connect to it.

 

[Pierre535]

So many complaints about the missing Apple logo. Just get over it and install one of those decals that always come with Apple products. The end!

 

[fishkorp]

Yes, the M1 is a very capable processor, and plenty fast enough for most things. As a desktop processor it is not quite top of the line compared to Intel’s latest 11th gen CPU’s, it’s between a Core i5 and a Core i7 once you factor in the secret sauce. Certainly a lot faster than the old and underspecc’ed CPUs it is replacing in the 21.5” iMacs.

you are aware it outperforms the i9 in the current 16” MBP, right?

 

[Kierkegaarden]

My 2010 iMac has served me well and it has gotten we through work from home for the last year. I am not sure how long I can hold out before replacing. After all of the issues with the initial G5 iMac, I am hesitant to get a first generation.

I like deciding on the different upgrades and I just don't feel like I get that with this model. Part of the fun of getting a new one is deciding on the upgrades that I want.

Apple has matured since the G5 iMac, the M1 has already been in use, and the display is similar to what they’ve been using previously.

I don’t foresee major bugs with this, despite being a redesign — although, some may have you believe that the lack of the logo on the front will reduce the lifespan of the machine. 🙀

As far as upgrades, it seems like the new normal may be high performance as standard with limited options.

 

[Kierkegaarden]

+The chin is fine. It's completely inconsequential. If your computing experience is wrecked by an inch or two of inoffensive aluminum, consider switching to decaf.

Nice — that about says it!

 

[Kierkegaarden]

I like that it looks like a modern version of the original iMac. I just wish that they released it along side the faster 32 inch iMac in Product Red.

...Although, I wouldn't be surprised if the 32 inch iMac only has black and silver as color options. All I want is a Cherry Red 32 inch iMac.

I can see the ad — “Cherry Bomb” playing in the background, and cherries exploding all over a white screen...out comes the new Cherry Red iMac!

 

[rambo47]

My 2010 iMac has served me well and it has gotten we through work from home for the last year. I am not sure how long I can hold out before replacing. After all of the issues with the initial G5 iMac, I am hesitant to get a first generation.

I like deciding on the different upgrades and I just don't feel like I get that with this model. Part of the fun of getting a new one is deciding on the upgrades that I want.

Yeah, my trusty old iMac is making noises that sound like water boiling. I think the hard drive is near death. I have an SSD to install as a replacement but I may hold off and get a new M1 iMac with the 16GB RAM BTO option. But just in case I change my mind I've already cloned my old hard drive onto the new SSD. Should be plug-and-play if/when I make the upgrade.

There are definitely less upgrade options as compared to the older models, but for me and how I use my iMac I'm ok with less configurability.

 

[rambo47]

You and me both

I see the 32" model coming out (either at the September event or even early next year) as the new "Pro" model. Silver or Space Gray, if there are color choices at all.