New iMac Is Bizarre

[BC2009]

It really sucks when a company makes a product you are heavily invested in and anxious for the next version and that next version is a complete mismatch for your wants and expectations.

I’m not at all into the new iMacs. I don’t like the colors and I especially don’t like the light colored bezels (never owned an iPhone with a white face either). I kept waiting for them to show us a black one during the debut, but nope.

For me, it was a miss, but the 24 inch iMac is also not the machine I am looking for so I don’t care so much. The product I was super hyped about was the new Apple TV and especially looking forward to a new remote. I only needed one new feature in that remote: Find My. Sure, Apple made the remote better but for some reason their U1 strategy has the chip in the iPhone, in the Apple TV itself but not in the new iPads, not in the MacBooks and for some reason not in the Siri Remote (despite their AirTag video/commercial featuring a lost remote control front and center as the guy dives through the sofa and finds his long lost cat).

this was the one Apple product that my wife was anxious for us to upgrade because of how often we lose the remote because of careless kids. Usually her philosophy is not to upgrade something until you must replace it. But she hates not being able to find the remote as much as me.

so my point is that I am super disappointed and if you were as invested in the iMac upgrade as I was in the Apple TV upgrade then I totally get where you are coming from.

Apple does make some bizarre decisions from time to time and unfortunately it takes years before they undo some mistakes (re: butterfly keyboard). I think the problem is that we expect them to nail it every time because of the times they have totally nailed it on things we cares about in the past.

 

[Caliber26]

so a random guy on the internet replies to me with a counter pt yet has nothing to say while trying to tell me I'm on that guy. got it. I think.

btw the OP brought nothing new to the table. He just whined a long deep whine. And if you think people are trying to convince the OP, someone they don't know who says he doesn't like the new iMac, to buy the iMac you're crazy. EVeryone here couldn't care less. Over 7.7 billion people on the planet are not going to buy the new iMac.

I do have something to say. And once again: this forum is open to all kinds of opinions that pertain to Apple products and services. Sadly for you, not everyone on here is going to react with unquestioned adoration for the choices that Apple makes. Especially for a flagship product that has been greatly anticipated by so many people.

The OP has valid points (even if you don't agree with them) and this is precisely the place to address them. He wasn't telling others why this iMac is wrong for them. He's just listing the things he doesn't like and why he doesn't like them. Your response, on the other hand, comes across as condescending because all you're doing is trying to invalidate the concerns he's listed.

 

[blairh]

These machines aren’t designed for you— they’re designed for people who like colors and value the brightness and joy these colors will bring to their homes and home offices now that they’re spending more time there. Personally, these colors aren’t for me, but overall I find the design stunning and can imagine lots of people wanting to add a fun colorful splash to their desktop appliance.

Later on, Apple will release a more powerful iMac in the traditional color scheme just for you.

We all understand how passionate you feel but now it’s time to let this obsession go.

The point being we aren't getting an iMac in this size class in a more conventional color combination. (Silver and white bezels ain't it.) I think that's a big mistake.

There is no obsession here. I'm a forum member sharing my thoughts on a product.

 

[blairh]

btw the OP brought nothing new to the table. He just whined a long deep whine.

I provided an opinion with reasons behind it.

 

[NotTooLate]

It really sucks when a company makes a product you are heavily invested in and anxious for the next version and that next version is a complete mismatch for your wants and expectations.

I’m not at all into the new iMacs. I don’t like the colors and I especially don’t like the light colored bezels (never owned an iPhone with a white face either). I kept waiting for them to show us a black one during the debut, but nope.

For me, it was a miss, but the 24 inch iMac is also not the machine I am looking for so I don’t care so much. The product I was super hyped about was the new Apple TV and especially looking forward to a new remote. I only needed one new feature in that remote: Find My. Sure, Apple made the remote better but for some reason their U1 strategy has the chip in the iPhone, in the Apple TV itself but not in the new iPads, not in the MacBooks and for some reason not in the Siri Remote (despite their AirTag video/commercial featuring a lost remote control front and center as the guy dives through the sofa and finds his long lost cat).

this was the one Apple product that my wife was anxious for us to upgrade because of how often we lose the remote because of careless kids. Usually her philosophy is not to upgrade something until you must replace it. But she hates not being able to find the remote as much as me.

so my point is that I am super disappointed and if you were as invested in the iMac upgrade as I was in the Apple TV upgrade then I totally get where you are coming from.

Apple does make some bizarre decisions from time to time and unfortunately it takes years before they undo some mistakes (re: butterfly keyboard). I think the problem is that we expect them to nail it every time because of the times they have totally nailed it on things we cares about in the past.

You can clearly see that a lot of the toxic replies are ending with “ this why Apple suck, never buying apple !!” , I didn’t see a single “I was so ready to buy the new iMac but the colors are giving me pause” . The forum is filled with Apple haters and Apple fans , which makes this discussion and others very aggressive ...

 

[Rainshadow]

One can say they dislike it; sure. Stating that it is bizarre is a very strong statement, and too strong IMHO, especially when one can point to many prior iMacs with white bezels. It used to be the norm, and there was nothing bizarre about it then. When did it suddenly become bizarre? There’s a huge gap between “different” and “‘bizarre.”

I understand that. And maybe I could agree. However, At the risk of Taking this too far...

2006 looks like the last time a white(gray) bezel iMac was released... that’s 15 years ago! If I saw a horse and buggy on the highway - I would call that bizarre. It happens - and it used to happen a lot, but today I would personally call that bizarre. Just because there is precedent doesn’t mean something can’t be “very strange or completely unexpected”

But that’s just a personal opinion, I guess. I can live with that.

 

[matrix07]

This video is pretty good

One thing I disagree with him though, is his “next iMac Pro will have no chin”. Oh, I can see the chin stays even on next iMac Pro.

It‘s quite clear this iMac was designed to be light and feels light. And the upcoming iMac (Pro) will likely be designed to be dark, feels dark, serious and hi-tech-ey. But it will have the chin though (my prediction).

 

[Retrostarscream]

Silver is not a pastel color.

EDIT: And apparently that makes some people "angry" LOL!!!

It's not so much the correction itself, which is 100% accurate but rather I didn't for a sec believe the OP accepted silver as a pastel color based on their response in its contextual entirety.

They simply didn't exclude silver from their description of pastel, which you pointed out however I don't believe the OP nor any reader for that matter accepted or believed silver to be a pastel, we knew what the OP meant. I just think the correction was a bit extra in my humble opinion.

 

[Serban55]

This video is pretty good

One thing I disagree with him though, is his “next iMac Pro will have no chin”. Oh, I can see the chin stays even on next iMac Pro.

It‘s quite clear this iMac was designed to be light and feels light. And the upcoming iMac (Pro) will likely be designed to be dark, feels dark, serious and hi-tech-ey. But it will have the chin though (my prediction).

Of course it needs the chin....for all those components and fans to stay away from the 5k-6k display...Its a far better integration...not to mention, laptop style sealing at micron level with no dust particles coming into the display
Or apple could go without the chin and take the stand base as the components holder...think like surface studio

 

[James_C]

I am not surprised with the reaction to the new iMac on this forum. Lets face it if you are a regular here, then it is quite likely the iMac has not been designed for you. I believe that for the people that it is targeted at, they will love it. For those that want an easy to use computer that is fast and powerful for basic uses with a fantastic display and will look good in the home, I suspect this new entry level iMac will fly off the shelves. If it does not sell then the nay-sayers will be proved right, although I don't think they will.

Just wait for the next larger screen iteration and I believe that many of your (valid) concerns will be addressed.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. Just because it is not the right product for you, does not necessarily make it a bad product that will not sell well.

 

[Retrostarscream]

People need to chill....

I am counting the days to pre-order a "bizarre Blue iMac" to match my iPhone

Lol, now that you mention it, the green color!? Or I think it's meant to be green but looks very aquamarine from the pics, is my favorite from that lineup. 🌊

 

[ascender]

I'm not overly bothered about the power brick - there's good and bad in that design choice. Depending how long the brick & cable combo is, it might give you a bit more flexibility as regards power plug location. And if it fails, its an easy swap instead of a case-off job. Does having it external also help keep temps down inside?

I think you have to remember that the entry level machine is just that - its an entry level consumer machine aimed at everyone. People who definitely won't use Ethernet and who probably just need a port to charge their iPhone and AirPods from. Its clear there's going to be a "Pro" version of the machine later for us.

As for the bezel, my immediate reaction was that black would be better. But having seen some of the mock-ups with black, I'm not so sure. I'd like to see one in the flesh to see just how much of an issue it is. I do wonder with the two tone and white bezels if they thought having the darker colours on the whole machine was too dark?

The chin doesn't bother me as much as I thought it might, but here's the thing. I love the darker colour on the back of the machine, but I'll never see it on my desk. So I wouldn't mind if it was a bit thicker and had the logic board behind the screen again rather than under it surely?

I don't know... will the iMac Pro just be a bigger one of these? Or will it be different? I'm thinking the logic board will be behind the screen which will look more like the XDR and there will be more ports.

I think for the target market this is going to sell loads and 99% of people buying them won't care about the stuff we all care about. And its clearly way better than the machine it replaced.

 

[TomOSeven]

I adore the design. It's like a beautiful retro-futuristic piece of furniture. I was already thinking of how to re-arrange my office to make this front and center on my desk. But then I considered how impractical this machine is, and I think all of OP's points are valid (again, apart from the design, which is great in my view).

Especially not having a USB-ports on a desktop computer strikes me as ludicrous and indefensible.

People here try to have it both ways:
"Well this is not a pro machine so don't expect pro features" but also "well people who use this shouldn't still have USB-A cables".

********. Even as a tech enthusiast I have multiple USB-A devices. Two audio interfaces for my guitars and pianos, a mechanical keyboard, an HDD, even a printer. Eventually these will all be replaced by USB-C devices, but "eventually" isn't today. The MIDI interface won't be replaced for years to come.

The headphone jack on the side works better if you use headpones and worse when you use speakers. But I suppose that's fine as well, I'm sure the speakers in the iMac blow away the average external speakers people have.

 

[iDave]

Especially not having a USB-ports on a desktop computer strikes me as ludicrous and indefensible.

Someday soon USB-A will be just a memory. In the meantime there are these.

 

[usagora]

It's not so much the correction itself, which is 100% accurate but rather I didn't for a sec believe the OP accepted silver as a pastel color based on their response in its contextual entirety.

They simply didn't exclude silver from their description of pastel, which you pointed out however I don't believe the OP nor any reader for that matter accepted or believed silver to be a pastel, we knew what the OP meant. I just think the correction was a bit extra in my humble opinion.

I can't read his mind - only his words. I wasn't the only one to point it out. He's since edited his post (4) to correct the misstatement, so 👍

 

[gmartins28]

So many puzzling decisions by Apple with the iMac redesign.

1. White bezels are terrible for content consumption. If you use dark mode it's going to make the bezels stick out so much. There is a reason just about no monitor, TV, etc, is white these days. Yes I'm aware Apple used white bezels back in the day. No I don't think that's a good reason to use them again. They could have either matched the bezels with the colors of the machine, gone with silver, or used less pastel colors. At the very least offer the silver model with a black bezel.

2. Yes, the bigger future iMacs will look very different. But what if you want a cheaper/smaller iMac with no white bezel? You are SOL.

3. The chin looks bigger without the logo. It also looks like an unfinished product without it.

4. The ports on the base model are pathetic. No ethernet unless you pay for it on the power brick or get the next up model. Two USB 4/Thunderbolt ports and nothing more is a joke for a machine that starts at $1,300.

5. The power brick is embarrassing. The whole appeal of the iMac is that it is an all-in-one device. A power brick is such a junky addition.

6. Headphone jack on the side sucks if you use wired speakers.

7. This obsession with thinness on a desktop makes no sense to me. Other than taking an iMac to the Apple store for service, who cares how light your iMac is? I'd rather have a thicker iMac and not have a power brick, not have a headphone jack on the side, and potentially not have a chin either.

8. 8 GB of RAM is really cutting it close and not very future-proof. My iMac struggles at times and I'm a light user with the same amount of RAM. Luckily I can manually update mine if needed. You cannot manually update the RAM on this iMac so you have to pay for 16 GB at purchase if you are unsure if 8 GB will be sufficient.

9. The look of this iMac itself is very polarizing. Pastels combined with white bezels is a bold choice of course but with such choices you are going to turn off a lot of consumers looking for something less bold and/or more professional. Another reason why a silver/black bezel model would have made sense as an option.

Fully agree with you!
Well said!

 

[gnasher729]

Hearing all of these white bezel fiasco, I'm pretty sure there will be lots of accessory companies offering a black bezel frame or black bezel screen protector combo in the not too distant future.
😀

Black masking tape. One use is making white bezels black. There are other uses.

 

[SuperMatt]

Why do so many of you feel this compelled to reply with your counterpoints? It’s almost like you’re justifying Apple’s choices by assuming the self-appointed role of spokesperson. To what end?

If a random person on an online forum wants to vent about how a product falls short of their personal expectations, that’s fine. You’re not offering any new knowledge at this point and you’re not going to convince them to buy it. This forum is exactly for these type of discussions so it’s quite pointless for you to chime in with what makes this a great product for Apple or other users. Like I said, you’re not bringing any new information to the table so let the rest of us complain about why we dislike it.

Sometimes in other forums, people will create a thread that’s clearly marked for complaints, and they request no counterpoints in that thread. It’s often called a “salt” thread. I suggest if posters want that kind of a thread, simply title the thread accordingly: “New iMac Salt thread: complaints only” or something.

Otherwise, it’s crazy to think there won’t be counterpoints. It’s a discussion forum; people want to discuss.

 

[SuperMatt]

Especially not having a USB-ports on a desktop computer strikes me as ludicrous and indefensible.

People here try to have it both ways:
"Well this is not a pro machine so don't expect pro features" but also "well people who use this shouldn't still have USB-A cables".

********. Even as a tech enthusiast I have multiple USB-A devices. Two audio interfaces for my guitars and pianos, a mechanical keyboard, an HDD, even a printer. Eventually these will all be replaced by USB-C devices, but "eventually" isn't today. The MIDI interface won't be replaced for years to come.

Everybody said the same thing about various ports the 1998 iMac was missing. Apple always dumps legacy ports faster than anybody else in the industry. It’s been happening for over 2 decades, and yet people still seem surprised, shocked, and angry over it every time they make a new computer.

 

[Mike_Trivisonno]

I think these iMacs will look good on the receptionist's desk. If you're looking to hook employee's up with new work stations, I'd wait for the next version with, hopefully, a larger display. Mom might like them, too, for high-visibility areas where a bit of color can be nice. It's a fashion statement more than a serious computing system. Or, at least it seems that way to me.

 

[SuperMatt]

I understand that. And maybe I could agree. However, At the risk of Taking this too far...

2006 looks like the last time a white(gray) bezel iMac was released... that’s 15 years ago! If I saw a horse and buggy on the highway - I would call that bizarre. It happens - and it used to happen a lot, but today I would personally call that bizarre. Just because there is precedent doesn’t mean something can’t be “very strange or completely unexpected”

But that’s just a personal opinion, I guess. I can live with that.

15 years… horse and buggy? I must be getting old if people think 15 years is such a long time. There are lots of 15-yr old cars on the road, and nobody finds it bizarre.

 

[Serban55]

I'm not overly bothered about the power brick - there's good and bad in that design choice. Depending how long the brick & cable combo is

What is the bad thing with the power brick? the cable is 2m long
I love that the power supply is outside the imac now...if it fails at least you buy another one

 

[tkermit]

15 years… horse and buggy? I must be getting old if people think 15 years is such a long time. There are lots of 15-yr old cars on the road, and nobody finds it bizarre.

To be fair, when the iPod and iMac G4 were released (20 years ago... ?! ), the original Macintosh was only a little more than 15 years old and would have felt ancient to me at the time.

 

[NotTooLate]

I think these iMacs will look good on the receptionist's desk. If you're looking to hook employee's up with new work stations, I'd wait for the next version with, hopefully, a larger display. Mom might like them, too, for high-visibility areas where a bit of color can be nice. It's a fashion statement more than a serious computing system. Or, at least it seems that way to me.

I think it’s a serious computing system , top notch display , top notch build quality , top notch CPU ( not a workstation class of course ) , super fast SSD , good keyboard and mouse , WiFi 6 built in , the fact that if the colors were black ppl would think it’s a serious computer all of the sudden is crazy to me ( I know it wasn’t you implying but that’s the gist of the posts ) , for the target audience , it’s going to be a killer computer

 

[4sallypat]

.... many people are still having difficult processing this cognitive dissonance because they have been conditioned by Intel for so long that performance and battery life are somehow mutually exclusive. .......

Let's see Intel try to top that.

Agree 100% @Abazigal

Since 2006 when Apple changed over from G5 RISC to Intel processors, that was when we needed more and more RAM which equates to performance.

We all got brainwashed into the more and more RAM race.

That in turn resulted in more power consumption due to clock & instruction cycles that were not use and wasted energy shown by heat.

M1 changed Apple back to the old days when they had control over the processor and software instead of being tied to Intel's stranglehold...

That's why I now see the M1 even with a "paltry" 8GB of Unified Memory outpaces, outruns and blow socks off my Intel based Macs with double or triple the RAM!