I am aware of the possibility of a new M4 based Mini being announced on September 9. So, yes, I will wait to see what is said before deciding.
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Replacing 2020 i9 iMac with Mac Studio. Buy now or wait?
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The MacPro has always had long delays between releases, the average being over 2.5 years. 6 years once.
I think people confuse the term "Obsolete." If you buy the M2 now and they release the M4 in spring of 2025, that doesn't make your M2 obsolete, it just makes it "not the latest model." The M2 only becomes obsolete in 5-8 years when Apple stops supporting the model with OS updates, or the software you need to run no longer runs on the hardware.
Don't be obsessed with having the latest & greatest – because even if you get it, you'll only have it for a few months before Apple releases another model with even later and greater specs.
Buy the most you can possibly afford now ("now" being whenever you're ready to hit the Buy button), and then stop paying attention to the latest hardware releases – because whatever you buy is going to be an obscenely awesome upgrade from what you have now, and that's not going to change because there's something new out there.
Don't be obsessed with having the latest & greatest – because even if you get it, you'll only have it for a few months before Apple releases another model with even later and greater specs.
Buy the most you can possibly afford now ("now" being whenever you're ready to hit the Buy button), and then stop paying attention to the latest hardware releases – because whatever you buy is going to be an obscenely awesome upgrade from what you have now, and that's not going to change because there's something new out there.
I will refer you to my comment in #24. You are using one definition of the word obsolete. I am using another. Your interpretation is perfectly valid and the comments you make are also valid with that use of obsolete. But, and I repeat myself here, obsolete to me means it is no longer current. I don't care whether I can get service or not, all I know is that normally when I go to Apple's web site I cannot purchase a new copy of the older now obsolete version.
I completely understand that whenever I choose to purchase a computer or phone etc. from Apple there is a new one in the works and the one I have will be obsolete during the life of the product. That does not bother me in the slightest. All I want to do is purchase a new machine that will not be obsolete within say 3 months or so. I am happy to buy something today that will become obsolete in say, 9 months to a year or so. My concern throughout this thread has been will there be a Studio upgrade in the near future, as intimated by MacRumor's 'Do Not Buy' rating. The overwhelming evidence seems to be that the Studio will not be updated until mid 2025 which belies MacRumors rating and I can live with that.
All I am now waiting for is to see whether Apple launches an M4 based Mini that will easily surpass my 2020 iMac and with the requisite memory and inputs and outputs I need. If they do not I will probably move into my Windows based desktop (which is more than powerful enough, and I would return the Studio Display I purchased) or order an M2 Max Studio once Apple's refurbished store starts to stock them (they are all M1 based Studios at the moment).
I appreciate the views and comments and understand completely what you are trying to say here. I have been using desktop computers which have I built and bought since the early 1980's when I used CP/M before moving to MS DOS etc. So I have some mileage here. It has always been a fight to decide what to buy be it processors for my next upgrade or GPUs etc. You need what you need when you need it.
As expected there were no Mac announcements at the September 9 event, but I am also not seeing any new rumors as to the specifications for a new Mini. At this point I am not expecting any Studio announcement this year. I am holding out for a decent Mini spec. or some M2 Max Studio Macs in the refurbished section. I think every one is guessing October for the Mac updates and I will wait until then before I make a final decision. Meanwhile my 2020 i9 iMac slaves on, crashing more often these days (BT has become increasingly erratic). I may avoid putting Sequoia on this machine. BTW I have reinstalled the OS twice and swapped RAM out but I am not going to do a complete strip down and rebuild, I will save that effort for a new machine. What is odd is that I have a 2017 27" iMac that is perfectly fine!! But is very slow for some of the work I do (compared to my M1 Max M1 Pro, that is!!). I have the budget for a new machine but nothing to spend it on at the moment that makes me feel comfortable with the investment.
I recently upgraded from a 2014 iMac to a studio and if I could do it again I wish I just bought a laptop and a studio display. I have a laptop for work and find my style has shifted from being able to work or use it round the house more.
If you considered that combo you could get into an m3 pro and above now
If you considered that combo you could get into an m3 pro and above now
Your iMac won’t expire and won’t need to be replaced in the next 3-6 months. My wife used an iMac for 10 years professionally, and it was fine. Yours is only 4 years old and the top spec.
What might help with performance is a full formatting of the SSD and a clean install of Sequoia when it comes out. This should give you a feeling of a new machine. The Mac OS, when it’s more than 3 years old, starts slowing down. I don’t think it’s just due to hardware becoming old, but I believe something gets cluttered and disorganised in the software as well.
Buying the already obsolete M2 because of an irrational fear is definitely not the right choice. Yes, the worst case scenario is waiting for 18 months for the M4. It’s worth the wait.
Additionally, take a look at the Buyer’s guide on this website:
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Although I am not sure your assurance that my 2020 iMac will not expire in the next 3 to 6 months is correct, I have decided, despite my comments to the contrary, that I will do a complete rebuild when Sequoia is released. This may cure the ills I am observing as you you commented.
I would also take issue with your classifying my fear as ‘irrational’. It is anything but irrational and is based on pragmatism. I do not want to have to deal with a crash and burn in the middle of a project or just as I start using the machine and was trying to anticipate and prevent the frustration of having to deal with an unreliable machine when I least need the interruption. That has happened to me in the past when a motherboard died on me and I was without a desktop for 5 or 6 days ( I used the machine as part of my job at the time).
i have always had excellent reliability out of iMacs and this one is just being particularly troublesome. The fact that a replacement that makes sense is not to hand is somewhat irritating.
Again, appreciate the input and comments.
I considered simply using my M1 Max 16”MBPro with a Studio display, but , even with a dock, I find it not conducive, to my work patterns. I like to keep my laptops separate from my desktops. I am lucky I can afford to do that, but while I can, I like a separate desktop and laptop environment. For example, I have a very large LRc library which sits on an external RAID array, so when I add photos for review and processing they get added to this drive array and I have backup arranged that work on that. I do brief reviews of new photos on my laptop using a separate smaller LRc library which I usually have with me. Yes it may sound odd, but it works for me.
Additionally, I am pretty sure, but cannot prove, that this recommendation was ‘Don’t Buy’ when I started this thread. It appears to have changed to ‘Caution’ or I am completely mistaken. Age is hell…. 😂
thats interesting… I just noticed all your computers in your signature are these all yours or used by other family? Curious how you you manage the 2 lightroom libraries and the the 2 diff laptops?
All the computers shown are used by me and exclude the laptop, iMac, iPhone and iPad my wife has. The 24" iMac is used as a music server, photo viewer and occasional email and browser machine in the kitchen. I have not included the Android Phone (Samsung S24 Ultra), Windows machine and laptop I have. Not relevant to an Apple site, I think
Adobe LRc library management is a nightmare since I do not want to pay for Adobe cloud storage. I already have DropBox, iCloud and OneDrive. So what I do is maintain a smaller library on my MBPro (I only use Photos on my MBA) which I use to review and decide which photos I will keep (sometimes I import and review on the desktop, just depends on where I am). I then import the ones I want to keep into my iMac's LRc library in RAW or JPG format which maintains the master LRc library and where I do any edits and processing. I then export the processed images into Photos so they can be seen on all Apple machines.
For Windows machines I export the processed LRc to One Drive so they can be viewed on Android phones and Windows machines (I tried iCloud on Windows and it was a disaster). It sounds like a lot of work, but I have a well defined workflow that automates certain parts so the overhead is not that bad. I do not like Photos for the proprietary format of the database in which the images are stored. LRc allows me to manage them in any way I like and stores all the editing changes etc. in the catalog, so I usually process them and then export a processed image for use in Photos or as a file for One Drive. Usually JPG files.
Apologies, yes I read to your further replies where your said it was crashing. So it’s not an irrational fear. Didn’t realise this originally.
Please make sure it’s a clean rebuild to Sequoia rather than an upgrade, i.e. with SSD formatting.
I’m keeping my fingers crossed for you for the autum’s Mac announcement, hopefully you’ll get the M4 studio.
Yes, when I do a complete rebuild I ensure that the main boot SSD/drive is wiped by doing a complete reformat. An upgrade will preserve a number of settings including pLists etc. I want an install that is clean and as if the machine was new. It is a pain to install all the apps etc. I use, but it may be worth the investment in time and if my iMac returns to normal and stops being somewhat unreliable, a wait for an M4 based Studio, or whatever awaits us, is definitely on the cards. A faster newer machine is always attractive and an M2 Max or Ultra Studio will be considerably faster than my current i9 iMac, but if an M4 based solution awaits within a reasonable time frame, I will await its release.
I am fairly sure now that a Mac Studio update is not going to be announced this autumn/fall, but the rumors for the new Mini are beginning to look interesting. 5 USB C ports (1 or 2 with TB maybe) and M4 Pro are beginning to look really interesting. So long as it has >= 64GB and there is a 4TB SSD option (I prefer built in drives as they are a lot faster) this could be a candidate. We will wait and see. I have learnt not to count my chickens etc......
Again appreciate your feedback and interest.
I thought I would update this thread with an update on my thoughts. I have decided that a Mini M4 Pro with 64K and 4 TB will fulfill my needs admirably. I will confirm when I see the benchmarks. I am particularly interested in seeing the single core results when compared across the M1, M2, M3 and M4 series. I have noted that there appears to be a significant increase in single core speed for the M4 Max which might affect my decision. Increases in this will affect the standard single tasking use which does constitute a lot of real world use outside my LRc, PS and Logic use and will certainly affect the normal average daily use.
My only concerns is that the size of the Mini will cause thermal throttling and the simple fact that a lot of cables attached to such a small and light weight device may cause it to be dragged across my desk.
I have noted that my current iMac does not support Apple Intelligence well and the Clean Up option in Photos is not available (I would only use for certain family shots and not for general use, but it is quite effective, certainly better than Adobe's current effort). I can feel my Intel i9 iMac being left behind even if some of the functions are not particularly useful but are supported on my laptops and iPhone. That functional discontinuity could become an unnecessary stumbling block. We will see.
Thanks to all that took an interest.
My only concerns is that the size of the Mini will cause thermal throttling and the simple fact that a lot of cables attached to such a small and light weight device may cause it to be dragged across my desk.
I have noted that my current iMac does not support Apple Intelligence well and the Clean Up option in Photos is not available (I would only use for certain family shots and not for general use, but it is quite effective, certainly better than Adobe's current effort). I can feel my Intel i9 iMac being left behind even if some of the functions are not particularly useful but are supported on my laptops and iPhone. That functional discontinuity could become an unnecessary stumbling block. We will see.
Thanks to all that took an interest.
I’m curious: Why are you getting 4 TB of internal storage when you already have so much fast storage? I suppose it is a bit faster than the fastest external SSD’s, but it seems so costly to me.
External SSDs are a lot slower than internal storage (by a factor of 2 or 3 even with TB 4, TB 5 is restricted to display use). It is costly but so is fast external storage. When you are doing processing on pictures from a 60MP camera, you need all the speed you can get unless you like waiting around. I have also noticed that with Apple Intelligence enabled that typing text, with spell check enabled, has slowed down as it processes your sentences etc. So I am looking for a large amount of RAM and fast local storage. I think we will need it, and Apple knows it, hence the extortionate pricing for even moderate amounts of RAM and storage.