Should i switch from my 2019 27" imac to the M1 mac mini?

[patearrings]

Hey guys.

I bought my 27"imac i5 with upgraded radeon pro vega 48 card back in April. Today i have borrowed the new M1 mac mini from a friend just to test it out and compare the two. I have to say, i am totally blown away by the performance from a machine that costs only £700. On top of this, the fact it uses so little resources and runs so cool is also a huge factor, as my imacs fans run hard when im doing anything gpu intensive.

It has got me wondering whether i should dump my new imac for around an £800 loss (going off ebay prices), and instead invest in the new m1 mac mini and a very nice monitor. I would of course need a new keyboard and mouse (as mine would be sold with my imac), but would then mean in future all i need to spend money on is a new mac mini every few years at around £700.

One concern is the m1 mini is kind of a prototype model, being placed in the old mac mini case with only 2 usb ports (i need more than that), and also it being the 1st gen of a new architecture.

I'd be really interested in getting your thoughts here guys. If I had a 2013 imac or something, it would be a no brainer, but would you dump an 8 month old machine to buy the m1 mac mini?

Thanks

 

[4sallypat]

I have a 2013 iMac and still going strong with external SSD booting Catalina which is fine. Will wait for an Mx iMac when it comes out....

I also have the M1 Mini and love it as it replaced a 2012 i7 quad core Mini server that ran very hot.

This M1 Mini is just the best - ice cold all day, dual displays, and super snappy webpages.

 

[avkills]

I would say wait. The only reason I am considering one is to just own a piece of computing history.

 

[jetjaguar]

I’d wait

 

[patearrings]

The performance of the m1 seems pretty close to my 2019 imac though, which is pretty depressing since it cost me 2.5k.

Do you guys think the second hand value of intel imacs will plummet on ebay in the next year or so as the arm macs take hold?

 

[kevinleecutler]

Hey guys.

I bought my 27"imac i5 with upgraded radeon pro vega 48 card back in April. Today i have borrowed the new M1 mac mini from a friend just to test it out and compare the two. I have to say, i am totally blown away by the performance from a machine that costs only £700. On top of this, the fact it uses so little resources and runs so cool is also a huge factor, as my imacs fans run hard when im doing anything gpu intensive.

It has got me wondering whether i should dump my new imac for around an £800 loss (going off ebay prices), and instead invest in the new m1 mac mini and a very nice monitor. I would of course need a new keyboard and mouse (as mine would be sold with my imac), but would then mean in future all i need to spend money on is a new mac mini every few years at around £700.

One concern is the m1 mini is kind of a prototype model, being placed in the old mac mini case with only 2 usb ports (i need more than that), and also it being the 1st gen of a new architecture.

I'd be really interested in getting your thoughts here guys. If I had a 2013 imac or something, it would be a no brainer, but would you dump an 8 month old machine to buy the m1 mac mini?

Thanks

I would say wait, the Mac you are using is still a very good machine. Given you need more IO and performance will only keep getting better with these new chips. If I was in your shoes id wait to see at least the specs and cost of the new iMac when it comes.

I have myself bought the M1 Mac mini, but my situation is a little different.

 

[Phil77354]

. . . If I was in your shoes id wait to see at least the specs and cost of the new iMac when it comes. . .

I agree.

 

[TrueBlou]

Definitely wait, you wouldn’t really be gaining anything by switching from what is a capable Intel system.

If you wait until the system your using starts to strain under your workload, the Apple Silicon which will be available at that time will vastly outperform the current M1.

I did make the switch, but only because I was going from a late 2015 retina 5K 32GB 1TB SSD. The M1 has proved to be a huge step-up from that. Obviously, that’s an older system now. But it’s still amazing me that this low-end 8GB MacBook Air (MacBook Air for gods sake) runs rings around my iMac, making it feel like a 20 year old machine by comparison.

 

[OSB]

I upgraded from a 27" late-2015 iMac (4.0Ghz/395x) to the M1, because the machine was starting to show signs of age and I was interested in being on the leading edge of the arch change. It also allowed me to decouple the monitor and screen, and an UltraWide on a nice arm works better for me ergonomically than the iMac plus a 2nd monitor. But, if I was in your shoes, with a much more current machine (my iMac was almost certainly moving to "vintage" next year), I'd be waiting a few more years at least.

 

[patearrings]

I upgraded from a 27" late-2015 iMac (4.0Ghz/395x) to the M1, because the machine was starting to show signs of age and I was interested in being on the leading edge of the arch change. It also allowed me to decouple the monitor and screen, and an UltraWide on a nice arm works better for me ergonomically than the iMac plus a 2nd monitor. But, if I was in your shoes, with a much more current machine (my iMac was almost certainly moving to "vintage" next year), I'd be waiting a few more years at least.

Does the m1 mini support ultrawide then? i thought i had read somewhere that it didn't?

 

[Phil77354]

I would also hesitate in going from the iMac 5K display to whatever displays might be available and reasonably priced to go with Mac mini. Not certain I would notice the difference but I wouldn’t want to be taking a step backwards considering how many hours I spend in front of my computer these days.

 

[OSB]

Does the m1 mini support ultrawide then? i thought i had read somewhere that it didn't?

Because of my very poor vision, I went with the Samsung C49J89, which is a 3840x1080 monitor. No issues, either in UltraWide mode over USB-C or HDMI, or driving it as two 1920x1080s in Picture-By-Picture mode over both links.

 

[ADGrant]

The performance of the m1 seems pretty close to my 2019 imac though, which is pretty depressing since it cost me 2.5k.

Do you guys think the second hand value of intel imacs will plummet on ebay in the next year or so as the arm macs take hold?

A few things to consider.

1) The monitor in your 27" iMac costs about $1300 as a standalone device.
2) The GPU in your iMac is considerably more powerful than the GPU in the M1 Macs.
3) The memory is upgradeable in you iMac.
4) The recent 27" iMacs (2019/2020) out perform the M1 Macs for many use cases. The M1 has great Geekbench single core performance that is better than your i5 but that doesn't mean its going to be faster in real world use.

 

[Prince134]

A few things to consider.

1) The monitor in your 27" iMac costs about $1300 as a standalone device.
2) The GPU in your iMac is considerably more powerful than the GPU in the M1 Macs.
3) The memory is upgradeable in you iMac.
4) The recent 27" iMacs (2019/2020) out perform the M1 Macs for many use cases. The M1 has great Geekbench single core performance that is better than your i5 but that doesn't mean its going to be faster in real world use.

Although I totally agree but I returned my 2020 imac that I purchased not long ago before M1 debuted in Nov. I built that imac at $3700 including tax and 32GB ram upgrade from AMAZON. In fact the date I called apple to pickup for return already exceeded 1 month. Apple granted me a special chance for that for which they understand my frustration. I bought a 16gb 512GB MBA instead at roughly 1/3 of the cost of imac (with edu). I know my case is different from op's but I couldn't be more happier when APPLE send me that return label. . MBA is in fact faster than that $3700 imac I built for my usage as casual photo/video editing.

As for the $1300 display inherent value of imac, I think that's not critical to me. I purchased LG ultra fine 4K 31.5 inch Ergo display at $700. Not the same display but I gain more estate now with MBA plus the LG 4K monitor. And I hate that fixed height imac display a little bit.

If op wants to switch, he doesn't loose much since MBA is a lot cheaper if he can find some one to sell to other than trade in with apple.

 

[OSB]

4) The recent 27" iMacs (2019/2020) out perform the M1 Macs for many use cases. The M1 has great Geekbench single core performance that is better than your i5 but that doesn't mean its going to be faster in real world use.

I suspect that for many users, the M1 will actually be the faster machine in real world use. Apple's dispatch to multiple cores is really good, but there just aren't that many workloads that benefit linearly from a very large number of cores, and if you have such a workload you probably aren't considering anything M1 in the first place. I think, for a large segment of users, 4 very fast cores are going to be a better option than 8 or 10 or 14 slower cores.

(I know the M1 has 4 p-Cores and 4 e-Cores, but I suspect you take my point.)

I still don't think patearrings should trade-in, though.

 

[trevpimp]

iMacs rock so I would do the very best to keep it

maybe try saving up for a mini or selling other tech that you have to make up the $700

wouldn't want to miss your iMac when it's gone

 

[patearrings]

Well, all the advice at the start of the thread had me dead set on keeping my mac, but now the last few posts have got me thinking about switching again.

What do you guys think will happen to the second hand price of INTEL imacs over the next couple of years as they are completely replaced by ARM macs?

 

[kevinleecutler]

Well, all the advice at the start of the thread had me dead set on keeping my mac, but now the last few posts have got me thinking about switching again.

What do you guys think will happen to the second hand price of INTEL imacs over the next couple of years as they are completely replaced by ARM macs?

I am not being funny but even with all the advice the decision has to be with you, everyones use is subjective. with your Mac the only issue I see long term and a big reason why I switched is that after this transition is done Apple will only put out macOS updates for Apples own Chips.

I believe if you love the computer you have regardless of the new then you should keep it but if you want the new then go for it....but the truth of it all is, if you get the new as soon as you get it its then not new anymore and you will be back to wondering should I get new again? don't get caught in that.

Whatever you decide just enjoy what these machines give us.

 

[4sallypat]

Well, all the advice at the start of the thread had me dead set on keeping my mac, but now the last few posts have got me thinking about switching again.

What do you guys think will happen to the second hand price of INTEL imacs over the next couple of years as they are completely replaced by ARM macs?

The Intel Macs has seen an immediate hit already on resale pricing, but the next couple of years it will be more.

Intel Macs for the immediate future will still see people wanting them for a lot more use in the Windows OS as well as other platforms.

I plan on keeping my Intel Macs as they still work - the only exception was the 2012 i7 Quad server Mini I sold for $500 because that one needed to be replaced with the M1.

 

[TrueBlou]

The Intel Macs has seen an immediate hit already on resale pricing, but the next couple of years it will be more.

Intel Macs for the immediate future will still see people wanting them for a lot more use in the Windows OS as well as other platforms.

I plan on keeping my Intel Macs as they still work - the only exception was the 2012 i7 Quad server Mini I sold for $500 because that one needed to be replaced with the M1.

Ditto that, I’ve noticed a bit of a price drop - I’ll be selling my iMac. But I fully expect the prices to continually depreciate on Intel Macs, as Apple Silicon becomes the norm.

As above, I think BootCamp will be the only saving grace, for a short time anyway. Though overall, I expect that market to be comparatively small.

With the Parallels beta, running the developer preview of Win 10 ARM, emulating x86, proving to be reasonably potent (in my testing) already, that will fill a gap for a lot of people.

 

[patearrings]

I think i'm going to stick with my imac. The I/O options on the new mac mini are not enough for me, and even though i may lose money faster in the long run by holding onto an intel imac, when i finally make the leap to ARM macs, they will be far superior to the ones on offer now, not just because of the passage of time, but also as this is currently a 1st gen product.

The other deciding factor was the display. I was looking at ultra wide monitors, and although they are very nice, you cant get them in a true 5k. They are still 1440, which looks blurry to me now after using my 5k retina mac. I could buy just a 27" 5k monitor (the LG one), but then id have 2 monitors again and thats even more I/O.

I think there is every likelihood that in a few years time i will be able to buy an amazing ARM mac mini coupled WITH a true 5k Ultra widesreen display for a much more reasonable price than currently.

My only big concern now is that my mac in 3 years time will be almost worthless on the second hand market, but we will see.

Thanks for all the help and opinions guys, it was really very helpful, and i hope i have made the right decision!

EDIT: Should have mentioned, i benchmarked the 2 machines on geekbench:

imac - 1200 SC, 1700 MC
mac mini - 1500 SC, 2200 MC

Quite depressing for a 3 grand machine

 

[the8thark]

Hey guys.

I bought my 27"imac i5 with upgraded radeon pro vega 48 card back in April. Today i have borrowed the new M1 mac mini from a friend just to test it out and compare the two. I have to say, i am totally blown away by the performance from a machine that costs only £700. On top of this, the fact it uses so little resources and runs so cool is also a huge factor, as my imacs fans run hard when im doing anything gpu intensive.

It has got me wondering whether i should dump my new imac for around an £800 loss (going off ebay prices), and instead invest in the new m1 mac mini and a very nice monitor. I would of course need a new keyboard and mouse (as mine would be sold with my imac), but would then mean in future all i need to spend money on is a new mac mini every few years at around £700.

One concern is the m1 mini is kind of a prototype model, being placed in the old mac mini case with only 2 usb ports (i need more than that), and also it being the 1st gen of a new architecture.

I'd be really interested in getting your thoughts here guys. If I had a 2013 imac or something, it would be a no brainer, but would you dump an 8 month old machine to buy the m1 mac mini?

Thanks

No.

Wait for the ASi iMacs to release, the high end ones, not entry level, then ask this question again. You obviously need a powerful machine, that's why you bought an iMac with a higher level GPU.

 

[avkills]

That was a good point brought up about the Intel Macs being kept as Windows machines. I could see that happening down the road with my Mac Pro.

But then again, Apple will have to support Intel Macs well past 2022.

 

[OSB]

Apple will have to support Intel Macs well past 2022.

I think this is a great point that seems recently to be getting lost in the (deserved) enthusiasm for the M1 and AS in general. Mac are more popular than they've ever been. Apple sold more Macs in the most recent fiscal quarter - the one before the M1 dropped - than they ever have.

Those were all Intel Macs. And the majority of these buyers likely neither care nor know what chip is in their machine, but they do expect it to Just Work for 3-5 years, until Apple sells them the next shiny.

 

[turbineseaplane]

The other deciding factor was the display.

The dearth of great displays, at at least "kind of" reasonable prices, that can do true 2x retina at the right sizes -- is really depressing.