Which M1 setup to get (for design and video)

[maxmaut]

So I do few things on my current 2015 27'' imac mainly:

Day to day design work in Figma (UI design)
Casual video work (davinci resolve)
Casual audio (Ableton live)

I use a 'clean feed' via thunderbolt 2 device from blackmagic design, to feed it to my Flanders 24'' monitor for color accuracy, and I have a USB-A mic that I use for audio too. Both will have to be used with the new setup (via dongles I assume). I also have 3 external drives totalling 10 GB.

I was going to get a M1 mac mini, top spec, but now I'm considering the new imac. For mac mini I will have to get a really good main monitor for daily work.

Which setup would you choose, and why? Topped up M1 iMac, or topped up M1 mac mini with a decent 27'' monitor?

 

[robco74]

The LG 5K display has essentially the same panel as the iMac. It also has built-in speakers and 1080P webcam. It’s expensive, but you’ll be able to keep using it when it’s time to upgrade again.

OTOH the iMac has a good panel as well. As light as it is, I’d consider going with the vesa mount version for ergonomics and to keep it out of the way when not in use.

 

[grahamwright1]

If you already have a decent 27" monitor then the Mini is a pretty appealing option. I'm using a 4K 32" monitor with my M1 Mini and it's a good combination, but the monitor takes about 7-9 seconds to wake from sleep and that's a little annoying. I bought the M1 Mini as soon as it was released, but knowing about the wake-up delay I would have waited for the M1 iMac's and ordered the 24" model. The high quality camera in the iMac is also appealing if you do lots of video calls...

Why? Well Apple do a really nice job with their monitors, and I'm sure there's no wake-up delay with the iMac......

Once the larger iMac is released I might pass the Mini down to one of the grandkids and treat myself to the 'big' iMac

 

[maxmaut]

@grahamwright1 what is causign the wake delay? Is it the monitor wake time that is slow, or is the communication between the monitor and mac mini cause it?

 

[Apple Knowledge Navigator]

Mac mini + LG 5K.

Seems like an obvious setup to me. You have to consider what the value is of spending more to get the new M1 iMac - that being the;

Screen - Looks incredible, but if your design tasks become more serious, then 24" may become a little cramped.

Speakers - Supposedly 'room filling', but if you're into any type of music production then you're going to always choose your own audio interfacer and external speakers.

Camera/mic - If you don't video conference often then this is dead money - and you can always purchase a Logitech Stream Cam for around $/£120.

Magic Keyboard + Mouse/Trackpad - Surprisingly, these are the best value 'upgrades' if you go for an iMac over a Mini. But there are great value alternatives; Logitech's MX series of mice and keyboards are incredible, arguably ahead of Apple's offerings.

In short, your requirements are all about expandability. If you were to add up the sum of the parts then yes, iMac's are very competitive in pricing you will save money. But the new M1 iMac is a consumer machine and you can't change the parts out.

If you're still unsure then hold out for the next iMac and see if that tickles your tastebuds...

 

[maxmaut]

Mac mini + LG 5K.

Seems like an obvious setup to me. You have to consider what the value is of spending more to get the new M1 iMac - that being the;

Screen - Looks incredible, but if your design tasks become more serious, then 24" may become a little cramped.

Speakers - Supposedly 'room filling', but if you're into any type of music production then you're going to always choose your own audio interfacer and external speakers.

Camera/mic - If you don't video conference often then this is dead money - and you can always purchase a Logitech Stream Cam for around $/£120.

Magic Keyboard + Mouse/Trackpad - Surprisingly, these are the best value 'upgrades' if you go for an iMac over a Mini. But there are great value alternatives; Logitech's MX series of mice and keyboards are incredible, arguably ahead of Apple's offerings.

In short, your requirements are all about expandability. If you were to add up the sum of the parts then yes, iMac's are very competitive in pricing you will save money. But the new M1 iMac is a consumer machine and you can't change the parts out.

If you're still unsure then hold out for the next iMac and see if that tickles your tastebuds...

My current 5K imac has a terrible pixel burnout and I've read it's an LG panel. Do the newer ones fix this. Sorry if the question is irrelevant and thank you for your reply.

 

[richinaus]

Mac mini + LG 5K.

Seems like an obvious setup to me. You have to consider what the value is of spending more to get the new M1 iMac - that being the;

Screen - Looks incredible, but if your design tasks become more serious, then 24" may become a little cramped.

Speakers - Supposedly 'room filling', but if you're into any type of music production then you're going to always choose your own audio interfacer and external speakers.

Camera/mic - If you don't video conference often then this is dead money - and you can always purchase a Logitech Stream Cam for around $/£120.

Magic Keyboard + Mouse/Trackpad - Surprisingly, these are the best value 'upgrades' if you go for an iMac over a Mini. But there are great value alternatives; Logitech's MX series of mice and keyboards are incredible, arguably ahead of Apple's offerings.

In short, your requirements are all about expandability. If you were to add up the sum of the parts then yes, iMac's are very competitive in pricing you will save money. But the new M1 iMac is a consumer machine and you can't change the parts out.

If you're still unsure then hold out for the next iMac and see if that tickles your tastebuds..

This is one of the best posts I have read on MacRumors in a long time.
Great balanced advice.
I second the mx keyboards and mouse - really nice to use over long periods.
Also the LG displays are great and I have never had an issue.

one thing better about an iMac is no cables, and a clean desk (which I do like).

 

[grahamwright1]

@grahamwright1 what is causign the wake delay? Is it the monitor wake time that is slow, or is the communication between the monitor and mac mini cause it?

Hard to say - I also have the Logitech MX2 Master wireless keyboard and mouse, so somewhere in that combination there's a significant wakeup delay. I don't have any other monitors to swap out for testing currently, so I'm just living with it for a while....

 

[raccoontail]

If you already have a decent 27" monitor then the Mini is a pretty appealing option. I'm using a 4K 32" monitor with my M1 Mini and it's a good combination, but the monitor takes about 7-9 seconds to wake from sleep and that's a little annoying. I bought the M1 Mini as soon as it was released, but knowing about the wake-up delay I would have waited for the M1 iMac's and ordered the 24" model. The high quality camera in the iMac is also appealing if you do lots of video calls...

Why? Well Apple do a really nice job with their monitors, and I'm sure there's no wake-up delay with the iMac......

Once the larger iMac is released I might pass the Mini down to one of the grandkids and treat myself to the 'big' iMac

I have the same wake delay on my mini with a 27" Philips monitor. I managed to buy my mini open-box, so it's only depreciated $50 in 5 months. I'll probably sell it when iMacs with bigger screens arrive.

 

[majus]

Which setup would you choose, and why? Topped up M1 iMac, or topped up M1 mac mini with a decent 27'' monitor?

Nothing right now. If you can wait until June 7-11 for Apple's WWDC announcements, there may be something better. That is my hope anyway. If I absolutely had to buy right now I would go with the M1 Mini then switch when they finally come out with a new Mac Pro.

 

[Apple Knowledge Navigator]

This is one of the best posts I have read on MacRumors in a long time.

Very kind, thank you

 

[raccoontail]

I second the mx keyboards and mouse - really nice to use over long periods.

Apple's Magic Trackpad 2 is wonderful. For keyboards nothing beats the Unicomp Model-M in typing feel or decibels. Great if you are the one typing on it. Bad if anyone within 100 feet of you is….

 

[BlueTide]

So I do few things on my current 2015 27'' imac mainly:

Day to day design work in Figma (UI design)
Casual video work (davinci resolve)
Casual audio (Ableton live)

I use a 'clean feed' via thunderbolt 2 device from blackmagic design, to feed it to my Flanders 24'' monitor for color accuracy, and I have a USB-A mic that I use for audio too. Both will have to be used with the new setup (via dongles I assume). I also have 3 external drives totalling 10 GB.

I was going to get a M1 mac mini, top spec, but now I'm considering the new imac. For mac mini I will have to get a really good main monitor for daily work.

Which setup would you choose, and why? Topped up M1 iMac, or topped up M1 mac mini with a decent 27'' monitor?

I'm running very similar apps on M1 Air atm, hooking it up to that 5K external monitor mentioned already. For most parts, this works ok. Don't get fooled, though, the setup does have limitations but for the apps you mentioned... it's ok. Definitely have 16GB RAM, though. Even that runs out, thanks to many small apps consuming a chunk these days. Using a Flanders implies you might not be doing all that 'casual' work, though.

Issues I ran into; Apogee does not have full support for M1 Macs yet, so audio... sucks. Make sure your interfaces are supported. This might sounds patronising, my apologies, but really consider a NAS instead of separate hard drives. Helps a lot with making things smoother to use.

I guess the answer to your question is mostly about screen estate. For a desktop, I'd rather have more of it. Personally, I rather have a laptop hooked up to an external display than Mac Mini, since mobility is nice and the perf difference is not that relevant to me.

 

[Jorbanead]

Which setup would you choose, and why? Topped up M1 iMac, or topped up M1 mac mini with a decent 27'' monitor?

I do the same type of work (UI, Audio, Video) and I personally am waiting for an M1X mini (or whatever it’s called).

The M1 has a fantastic processor that is totally fine, but the GPU may be lacking a bit for some video editing workflows, and the limited IO and ram are also an issue for me.

That being said coming from a 2015 iMac the M1 mini may be totally worth it. The 24” iMac would only be worth it if you don’t mind downgrading in screen size.

 

[raccoontail]

Which setup would you choose, and why? Topped up M1 iMac, or topped up M1 mac mini with a decent 27'' monitor?

I would wait for the 27” iMac which should be incredible for video work and the included display will likely be fine. Higher RAM options may make it more future-proof if you plan to keep it for a long time. If you need a system now, the mini will be great. You won’t see a huge speed increase for web browsing or UI work, and expect a little delay in display-wake speed compared to your current iMac.

 

[Fishrrman]

Question:
"Which M1 setup to get (for design and video)?"

Answer:
NONE of them.

Instead:
WAIT for the upcoming mX (next-generation) CPU in the "larger-screen" iMac that should arrive by September. It may be "announced" earlier (I'm thinking WWDC next month).

I predict that one will be much more to your liking.

 

[maxmaut]

Thank you all for your answers. I kinda wish I got the M1 based machine when it just came out, because indeed it's mid-cycle right now and waiting for the next imac or next CPU in general does sort of make sense, I am just a little worried I might be stuck waiting for the next best thing.

I guess I'll wait til WWDC and see what happens then, while monitoring ebay for decent deals for something m1 based.

 

[DennisdeWit]

It depends on what you want. The “bigger iMac” that still is to be announced will have a bigger screen, probably a 6K resolution and will be more powerful than the current M1 chips.

However, your budget weights in too. I don’t expect the bigger iMac to be cheap. It’s purely speculating, but I am expecting a price of at least 3000 USD. It will be for pro’s and thus have a pro price.

I myself have the Mac Mini M1 since yesterday. Everything runs very smoothly. I have an AOC U32U1 32” 4K screen attached to it. I think the colors are very vibrant and close to an iMac.

You could always consider something like EIZO if you really need a good color calibrated screen. I don’t regret going for an M1 Mac Mini. I spent 1764 EUR on the whole combi. Now I have a near bezelless screen and a rocket fast Mac Mini. I think the new iMac is ugly. And unless the bigger iMac would have the Pro XDR design (I highly doubt it), it will still look like an outdated design with just slightly smaller bezels.

You could also go for the LG UltraFine 5K. I considered it, but it is nowhere available within Europe. It has the same glossy screen as the iMac has with the same resolution. I’m not a fan of big bezels and I don’t miss not having a webcam. I will use my iPhone for that.

 

[jdb8167]

I myself have the Mac Mini M1 since yesterday. Everything runs very smoothly. I have an AOC U32U1 32” 4K screen attached to it. I think the colors are very vibrant and close to an iMac.

Colors might be close but resolution isn’t. Yours is about 138 DPI vs. 218 DPI on the iMac.

 

[DennisdeWit]

Colors might be close but resolution isn’t. Yours is about 138 DPI vs. 218 DPI on the iMac.

Well duh. There are no 218 DPI monitors on the market, apart from the LG Ultrafine 5K and Pro Display XDR.

 

[jdb8167]

Well duh. There are no 218 DPI monitors on the market, apart from the LG Ultrafine 5K and Pro Display XDR.

I got pretty close at 185 DPI on a 24” 4K.

 

[DennisdeWit]

I got pretty close at 185 DPI on a 24” 4K.

Yeah, but you have a small 24” and I am enjoying my 32” big screen. PPI isn’t everything for normal use. I mostly work in Terminal and write articles in Google Drive.

 

[jdb8167]

Yeah, but you have a small 24” and I am enjoying my 32” big screen. PPI isn’t everything for normal use. I mostly work in Terminal and write articles in Google Drive.

And your AOC is probably more color accurate than my cheap $299, 250 nit, LG 4K. It all depends on what you need. I’m not finding the 24” screen to be a problem even though I’m more used to 27”. I usually have 3 or 4 terminals open at one time but they all fit on the screen fine.

 

[DennisdeWit]

And your AOC is probably more color accurate than my cheap $299, 250 nit, LG 4K. It all depends on what you need. I’m not finding the 24” screen to be a problem even though I’m more used to 27”.

That’s true, as mine goes to 600 nits. But I paid 799 EUR for it.

Indeed, it depends on what you need. I am nowhere near a photographer or any other creative soul that needs such precision. I work with text, not with pictures (thank God, because photographs give a lot of juridical headaches).

 

[maxmaut]

Question:
"Which M1 setup to get (for design and video)?"

Answer:
NONE of them.

Instead:
WAIT for the upcoming mX (next-generation) CPU in the "larger-screen" iMac that should arrive by September. It may be "announced" earlier (I'm thinking WWDC next month).

I predict that one will be much more to your liking.

I am a little afraid to be stuck in the waiting loop. There's always going to be the next best thing around the corner.