On my 2020 iMac I too am steering well clear of Monterey until such time as many of the reported bugs have been sorted. And if/when I do upgrade it will first be on an external drive.
Last edited:
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Reasons not to buy an Intel iMac
- Thread starter OneSon
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Many of the Intel 21.5" iMacs are pretty weak specs and not good value, especially the non-retina 1080p ones with Intel Iris graphics (which were mainly intended for schools or kids), even worse were those with Fusion or hard disk drives. So when you see a "good deal," be careful what spec.
Last edited:
I was forced to upgrade to Monterey because Big Sur 11.6.2 introduced a new bug in ColorSync which disabled many ICC printer profiles. Monterey does not have the same bug.
However, I can report Monterey 12.2.1 seems to be working great on my 2020 iMac.
The best thing about Intel macs they're eGPU compatible.
As someone who has owned (and still owns) a lot of older Apple hardware and used it long past its expected lifespan, here’s what it’s like:
At first, your older machine works just like a newer one would except slower: you can run the latest OS and most of the latest apps without even thinking about it (in the PPC-to-Intel days, Intel-only apps started popping up within a year or two though). Then, you stop getting updates to the latest macOS, which is still fine because most software keeps support for old versions for a couple release cycles.
Eventually, though, you start running into issues where new apps or updates to existing apps no longer support your OS, so you have to go out of your way to find old installers or alternatives that still support your system. For stuff like Office and most creative apps that’s fine: you can be as productive in Office 2008 or Photoshop CS2 today as you could when they were released, as long as you don’t mind missing out on new features (I often prefer old Office and iWork releases myself). The real kicker is when Safari stops getting updates, and then Firefox, and eventually Chrome. At that point, you’re at the mercy of fellow old hardware enthusiasts to compile modified legacy versions of those browsers just so you can use the modern web.
I used a PowerBook G4 as a secondary computer (my main portable) for a while between 2014 and 2016. It did almost everything I needed it to despite it being on a dead architecture (for macOS, anyway) and 10-12 years old, but there were a lot of tweaks and research and hoops to jump through to get it to play remotely nice with the rest of the modern world. I also regularly used a laptop stuck on 10.11 up until November of last year when I got my 14” MBP, and went through a lot of similar headaches near the end. The point of buying an M1 Mac over an Intel one now is that you won’t hit that tipping point of “still relatively usable, but increasingly unsupported” as soon.
They're all horribly outdated and overpriced relative to what you can get in the PC hardware space (even from an OEM) or with Apple Silicon.
At this point, even on sale you're basically paying top dollar for 2019 hardware that wasn't even that good when it was new.
The Intel 10th Gen CPUs in those iMacs are handily beaten by Apple Silicon, Intel 12th Gen, and Ryzen 5000 in both single and multicore workloads. The GPU performance is even worse; even the baseline M1 is faster than the Radeon Pro 555/560X and they are basically on the cusp of being superseded by integrated GPUs from AMD (and soon Intel.)
What else... the ram isn't "user upgradable," meaning in this case you're either stuck with a minimal amount of ram, you're willing to void your warranty or you pay an Apple Authorized Service Provider to do it.
On top of all that as Apple shifts more and more resources to Apple Silicon you'll be increasingly locked out of new macOS features, particularly since the 21 iMac isn't beefy enough to brute force things the way something like a Mac Pro/iMac Pro/27" iMac could.
I just honestly couldn't recommend anyone buy one of these in good conscience.
At this point, even on sale you're basically paying top dollar for 2019 hardware that wasn't even that good when it was new.
The Intel 10th Gen CPUs in those iMacs are handily beaten by Apple Silicon, Intel 12th Gen, and Ryzen 5000 in both single and multicore workloads. The GPU performance is even worse; even the baseline M1 is faster than the Radeon Pro 555/560X and they are basically on the cusp of being superseded by integrated GPUs from AMD (and soon Intel.)
What else... the ram isn't "user upgradable," meaning in this case you're either stuck with a minimal amount of ram, you're willing to void your warranty or you pay an Apple Authorized Service Provider to do it.
On top of all that as Apple shifts more and more resources to Apple Silicon you'll be increasingly locked out of new macOS features, particularly since the 21 iMac isn't beefy enough to brute force things the way something like a Mac Pro/iMac Pro/27" iMac could.
I just honestly couldn't recommend anyone buy one of these in good conscience.
Go for an iMac 27-inch i9 3.6 (5K, 2019).
Plenty of power, upgradable memory (easily accessible to user) up to 128 GB.
Upgradable storage.
No issues with peripheral devices and third-party apps.
You can fix easily it alone or entrust to third parties (they can replace storage, screen, power supply, speaker, fan, etc.).
This type of machine can last for a decade.
I can't say the same for M1 machines: soldered memory up to merely 16 GB (is it your concept of future-proof? I don't think) and soldered storage (if the storage burns out or performance slows down with normal use you can literally throw away the entire machine because now it's useless and you can't resell it because its value is basically zero).
At the present moment I can't see any reasonable reasons to buy a M1 machines, maybe in future if Apple will change its policy.
But since they are neither upgradable, or repairable this seems a moot argument. They are still selling Mac Pro intel so the OS updates will continue for many years.
Not too sure about "many years". Mention that to the last customers of PowerMac G5 Quads, they might tell you a different story.
More bang for the buck.
But if you seriously want to do an Intel Mac, prices should be crashing on them relatively soon. They can't run Win 11, and the writing is on the wall for their planned obsolescence in the macOS world.
Last edited:
Price drops will come, agreed.
But you can run Win11 on them, you just have to disable TPM requirements. All kinds of old WinTel hardware do it that way in the PC realm as well. ;-)
Funny, my buddy just sold his 2020 21” iMac because of how painfully slow it was. Bought a new 24” iMac is stunned with just about everything about it. Unless you want to dual boot in to Windows, why are you even entertaining the thought of an Intel 21” iMac??? And what reasons did you return the current 24” iMac??
Rather than us all p*ssing in the dark with wild guesses, how about you tell us what you didn't like about the M1 you returned, we can then tell you if an intel version will be a better option.
Personally I wouldn't touch an Intel Mac with a ten foot pole. Like others have said it's buying into a dying ecosystem (on the Mac at least)
Personally I wouldn't touch an Intel Mac with a ten foot pole. Like others have said it's buying into a dying ecosystem (on the Mac at least)
If you keep it for 5 years or less, nothing. Have at it!
Pros: It allows Bootcamp/VM of Windows (yes, you can VM it in M series Macs but you know who you are if you’ve achieved that and it is definitely NOT something for the general computing populace). All of your stuff works the way it always has: no emulation, etc. Almost definitely will receive macOS updates for that lifespan. Security updates are certain.
Cons: As noted above by others, the Intel Mac is slower, hotter, noisier. It does not allow for machine learning (ML), whereas all M-series chips do. My general use photo editor (Pixelmator) already benefits from that. Most software that relies on ML is still nascent but in the next 1-2 years I imagine its benefits will be hard to ignore.
Pros: It allows Bootcamp/VM of Windows (yes, you can VM it in M series Macs but you know who you are if you’ve achieved that and it is definitely NOT something for the general computing populace). All of your stuff works the way it always has: no emulation, etc. Almost definitely will receive macOS updates for that lifespan. Security updates are certain.
Cons: As noted above by others, the Intel Mac is slower, hotter, noisier. It does not allow for machine learning (ML), whereas all M-series chips do. My general use photo editor (Pixelmator) already benefits from that. Most software that relies on ML is still nascent but in the next 1-2 years I imagine its benefits will be hard to ignore.
I had to update my 2017 iMac 27” from a very stable, solid Mojave to something more current as Mojave is no longer supported by either Office 265 nor TurboTax Desktop. So I jumped to Monterey. Now on 12.2.1, with no issues.
What reported bugs? Been running Monterey on all our Macs in the office without a single issue.
Slower networking in general, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi issues not allowing the computer to stay asleep, initial Time Machine backups failing, kernel panics when connected to external hubs and/or monitors. There are plenty of issues in Monterey. Many issues have been resolved, but Monterey still needs some serious TLC.
Yup, not heard of any of those. I have over 1,000 macs in my environment. All running Monterey, without a single issue.
Consider yourself lucky then. I mean, just because you don’t have problems doesn’t mean no one else is.
You mean you've not heard of problems other new Monterey adopters have experienced?
Here's a summary from one one many reviews:
Summary: After updating to the macOS Monterey, many Mac users have reported facing various issues and errors. This blog addresses the most discussed and posted issues and also provides the solutions to fix these issues, etc......
I appreciate that all new OS versions experience teething problems, but being a Mac user since 2003 I can't recall seeing so many early disgruntled users. I hope your satisfaction continues.
2020 21-inch iMac? There is no 21-inch model for that year, maybe you mean 2019 21-inch iMac.
That model was sold with native macOS Mojave and default 1 TB 5400 rpm HDD or 1 TB Fusion Drive (default 256 GB SSD starting on August 4, 2020). So the slow speed you claim is basically due to storage.
What type of storage had the machine? HDD, Hybrid or SSD?
Current M1 24-inch iMac holds up to 16GB of memory, so absolutely not future-proof and restrictive for a lot of apps.
Hope for a M1 PRO and M1 MAX (and maybe M2) 27-inch iMac with a decent design (actual M1 24-inch iMac is ugly as ****), with, at least, upgradable storage.
I actually think it's a great time to buy a recent Intel iMac
They ended that run with quite powerful machines that are, for now at least, more versatile in the amount of software they can run (and they can run Windows, virtual or bootcamp).
Plus -- people are offloading them for crazy good deals if you look for a bit and be ready to pounce.
They ended that run with quite powerful machines that are, for now at least, more versatile in the amount of software they can run (and they can run Windows, virtual or bootcamp).
Plus -- people are offloading them for crazy good deals if you look for a bit and be ready to pounce.
Nope, no issues. As I stated above I have 1,000 Macs in my enterprise, I’m the IT Manager, and we’ve not had a single complaint.
Been using Macs for 20 years, these issues tend to be overblown. For example, when we had about 200 reps with the old style MacBook Pros only 1 of my users had issues with their keyboard.
Not saying people aren’t having any issues, just that Apple issues tend to be blown out of proportion. It’s obviously a minor issue considering I work in tech and didn’t hear about it until I came on Macrumors Forum.
I'm afraid to turn on my MacBook air or mac mini with intel processors!
what will happen?
will my wooden desk burn?
ahhhhh, too much pressure!
edit
OH whew! this thread applies to that there Imac...
what will happen?
will my wooden desk burn?
ahhhhh, too much pressure!
edit
OH whew! this thread applies to that there Imac...