Reasons not to buy an Intel iMac

[ADGrant]

It’s basically down to longevity. I reckon MacOS updates will keep coming for about 3 years after Apple sells their last Intel Mac, so maybe 5 years from today. I think you’ll start seeing Apple Silicon only features and software a lot sooner than that. So if you tend to keep your Macs for a long time it’s not such a great purchase.

I’m not sure if you would be able to run Windows 11 on an Intel Mac, since that needs an up-to-date processor and TPM chip on the motherboard. Windows 10 support is slated to end in 2024, which limits the utility of bootcamp.

And also getting good performance for the money. Apple machines even refurbished are quite expensive compared to PCs, and many Intel macs were lagging behind the curve and were handsomely beaten by M1 when it came out.

So basically I’d only recommend it if you were planning to buy a new machine within five years, and even then you’d get very poor resale value.

I think the Intel Macs will receive MacOS updates for about 5 years after the last Intel Mac is sold, Tim Cook is not Steve Jobs. Apple Silicon features are already in Monterey, but nothing important. You can already run Windows 11 on an Intel Mac in a VM, The M1 is faster than all the Intel Macs in single core benchmarks but not always in multicore. GPU benchmarks are much better on some Intel Macs.

 

[MysticCow]

GPU benchmarks are much better on some Intel Macs

Integrated vs discrete graphics cards. Discrete (recent) should outperform the ASIntegrated. ASIntegrated should outperform Intel Integrated Crapware.

 

[ADGrant]

Integrated vs discrete graphics cards. Discrete (recent) should outperform the ASIntegrated. ASIntegrated should outperform Intel Integrated Crapware.

That isn’t a high bar. I am referring to the higher end AMD GPUs on the 27” iMac, iMac Pro and Mac Pro. The Intel 16” MBP was also available with a very good GPU.

 

[nastysailboat]

I would not describe the 28 core Mac Pro as slow.

Sure. I mean in general for the everyday user

 

[turbineseaplane]

I've seen some absolutely screaming deals on these.
I'm really not even in the market for one and it's made even me "think about it"

 

[ucfgrad93]

It’s not about age or performance.

But reduced support as apple moves further into the AS transition. There will come a time when Apple software updates no longer support Intel Macs. There will come a time when 3rd party software no longer supports Intel Macs.

With more and more software becoming subscription based, they may or may not continue to support Intel macs.

The time frame for this is pure speculation, but it would be reasonable to buying an Intel mac now will get support for a shorter time than in the past.

As I say. The Intel platform for apple is on its way out. It’s not a deal breaker. But it is a consideration.

Well said, and I agree completely. The only way I'd get an Intel iMac at this point is if there was an exceptional deal on it.

 

[Diablo360]

heat and noise were issues I had on every intel iMac in the past

 

[SoYoung]

The only real reason to still stick to intel mac is if you want/need to install Windows natively because Windows on an intel machine will always be better than running it on a M1 Mac, especially if you want to game on it. Sure you can buy a separated PC, but being able to still buy a great all in one machine that still could do that is a major advantage IMO.

Personally, I'll grab a refurb intel 27' iMac when the configuration I want will be available. Sure you won't get the latest M1 exclusive macOS features, but you'll get the most recent macOS versions at least for 5 years + 2 extra years of security only updates and thats matter the most.

If you don't plan to use Windows at all, I think its better to put a little more money and go for M1, but at the same time, there's no models that really replaced the great iMac 27 deal. The studio is way too expensive and the mac mini is not powerful enough, and its odd to buy an iMac with a smaller screen when you have a larger one for years.

I think its still a good time to buy a refurb intel mac, you can have a very good deal right now for an all in one computer.