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mdgm

macrumors 68000
Nov 2, 2010
1,665
406
Apple will have to support Intel Macs well past 2022.
The question is how long they will get major software updates. They will likely get stranded on an old Mac OS at some point but with more than 2 years of security updates to try to encourage those who want to run the latest Mac OS to upgrade but still provide security updates, support for syncing with iOS devices etc. for those who don't need that.
 

alien3dx

macrumors 68020
Feb 12, 2017
2,193
524
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 :)

Bought m1 today(long time no stock), i still used the old imac 2017. The diff imac and mac mini important is hdmi and lots of port.Macbook m1 only have 2 port :( and headphone jack ?

The best rule buying computer on each year depreciation asset which 3 years and not because of spec. If any problem occour then you safe.

Wait next 2 years .
 

Arctic Moose

macrumors 68000
Jun 22, 2017
1,599
2,133
Gothenburg, Sweden
I am very tempted to do the same, but in my case it would be from a 2017 5K. I keep telling myself that it is a very capable machine, and that had there not been an M1 I would definitely not have considered replacing it.

There are more shoes to drop, specifically a new 27-30" iMac and a replacement for the space gray (currently Intel) "pro" mini, which will most certainly have support for more RAM, more ports, more cores and so on.

The best motivation for me is the lack of monitor options. I really only see two, the LG 5K and the Pro XDR. I don't want the former and the latter is too expensive. I'll wait and see what the next wave of M-based Macs brings.
 
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alien3dx

macrumors 68020
Feb 12, 2017
2,193
524
I am very tempted to do the same, but in my case it would be from a 2017 5K. I keep telling myself that it is a very capable machine, and that had there not been an M1 I would definitely not have considered replacing it.

There are more shoes to drop, specifically a new 27-30" iMac and a replacement for the space gray (currently Intel) "pro" mini, which will most certainly have support for more RAM, more ports, more cores and so on.

The best motivation for me is the lack of monitor options. I really only see two, the LG 5K and the Pro XDR. I don't want the former and the latter is too expensive. I'll wait and see what the next wave of M-based Macs brings.
go new m1. reason don't be like me 2 times power supply change iMac 2017 baseline.
 

alien3dx

macrumors 68020
Feb 12, 2017
2,193
524
If the power supply does give up I will replace it with a M1 MBA and convert the iMac to a monitor.


However, there is no way I'm replacing it with a low-end M1 as long as it is working fine.
i ask shop to do it for me , first time one week (out) return wait 2 week then since now working but i prefer to be as backup . burn around 300 dollar to repair it. I'm not sure target display will work and want to know imac become monitor ?
 

coocooforcocoap

macrumors 6502
Sep 22, 2007
259
4
kathmandu, nepal
Lovin my M1 mini, the old iMac is in the junk bin. Never getting one of those again... and it was a nice 27 inch w/32gb memory, SSD, the whole shebang. Still can't compete. I/O is accomplished with good quality hubs across two thunderbolt channels, so that's not an issue. Imo, the screen is not worth it, and can never be repaired / and is hard to replace.
 

alien3dx

macrumors 68020
Feb 12, 2017
2,193
524
Lovin my M1 mini, the old iMac is in the junk bin. Never getting one of those again... and it was a nice 27 inch w/32gb memory, SSD, the whole shebang. Still can't compete. I/O is accomplished with good quality hubs across two thunderbolt channels, so that's not an issue. Imo, the screen is not worth it, and can never be repaired / and is hard to replace.
erk what junk imac ? year?
 
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Arctic Moose

macrumors 68000
Jun 22, 2017
1,599
2,133
Gothenburg, Sweden
I'm not sure target display will work and want to know imac become monitor ?

No target display possible for the 5K iMac. What I meant is that I would gut it and put a 5K driver board in it instead.

However, as long as it is working as expected, I will keep using it. (As a perfectly fine computer, with four times the RAM and better graphics than I can currently get in a M1 Mac.)
 

Santiago

macrumors 6502
Jun 14, 2002
314
312
Mountain View, California
I just got a new M1 Mini to replace my six-year-old first-gen 5k iMac, which was fine performance-wise, but has been getting increasingly bad about crashing and rebooting any time it does something intensive. (If it’s failing RAM, then it’d be an easy fix, but anything else, no, and given the age of the machine, I’m not inclined to put a lot of work into trying to see if it’s fixable.) I’m pairing it with an LG 5k display I picked up for work when they came out a few years ago (and were at an introductory price of $1000 which still hasn’t been beat), and hot swapping the monitor cable between my work MacBook Pro and my personal Mini. The new Mini is super smooth and runs Intel-only apps quite seamlessly and much better than my old iMac (from benchmarks, the Mini compares to my old one at about 200% single-thread performance, 250% multi-thread performance, 130% graphics performance; the difference is very clear with Magic: the Gathering Arena). The fact that my iMac has now crashed three times trying to copy files to an external SSD is all the validation I need of my purchase.
 
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