Apple Silicon M1 24-inch iMac review: Computing power for the masses

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Comments

  • Reply 21 of 52
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,834member
    jeromec said:
    In the text of the review:
    "Putting the Ethernet port on suitably configured machines on the AC/DC transformer makes perfect sense, given that you're getting wired networking and power from a socket of some sort on a wall."

    In the Process/Cons section, listed as a con:
    "Optional Ethernet moved to power brick"

    So, do you think it is a pro or a con???
    (It's definitely a Pro in my opinion)
    Both. It’s nice that it’s on the power brick. It’s bad that at $1299, it costs extra.
    Eh. I’ve got a fully loaded 2019, and a loaded 2011 before that, and I’m a FT enterprise software dev. I’ve never used my ethernet port in all those years, only wifi. Maybe photographers transferring massive files to Adobe cloud would need it, but not people using the entry-level machine. Entry-level users have entry-level needs. Wifi is very appropriate for them. A demanding user won’t be using the entry-level configuration. 
    williamlondonwatto_cobra
  • Reply 22 of 52
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,834member
    thedba said:
    darkvader said:
    tedz98 said:
    I have a new strategy for Mac purchases: I’m buying a Mac mini M1 and a nice monitor. I’ll buy a low end Mini which makes it affordable and easy to upgrade by replacing it. This way I can have the benefits of new compute technology every 2-3 years without having to pay for the cost of the monitor.

    My strategy is to pick up Intel Macs for as cheap as I can as quickly as I can.  I'm not going to M1, I've been through too many architecture changes already, and I'm not doing this one.  I've used the M1s, and contrary to the reports, they're slower than Intel in real world use.

    I figure the last Mac I'll ever get will be an Intel Mac Pro in a few years.  Maybe a 16" Intel MBP.  And that'll be it for the Mac, I'm already making friends with Xubuntu.
    If you want some street cred, you may want to share with us exactly what is slower. What’s your real world usage, what software?

    MacPro said:
    darkvader said:
    tedz98 said:
    I have a new strategy for Mac purchases: I’m buying a Mac mini M1 and a nice monitor. I’ll buy a low end Mini which makes it affordable and easy to upgrade by replacing it. This way I can have the benefits of new compute technology every 2-3 years without having to pay for the cost of the monitor.

    My strategy is to pick up Intel Macs for as cheap as I can as quickly as I can.  I'm not going to M1, I've been through too many architecture changes already, and I'm not doing this one.  I've used the M1s, and contrary to the reports, they're slower than Intel in real world use.

    I figure the last Mac I'll ever get will be an Intel Mac Pro in a few years.  Maybe a 16" Intel MBP.  And that'll be it for the Mac, I'm already making friends with Xubuntu.
    Slower than Intel Macs?  I have an M1 Mac mini running a Dell 4K 27" screen, side by side with my top-of-the-line i9  iMac 27" with 64 GB RAM and upgraded GPU. I don't see the same results you do. The M1 is faster when running x86 apps under emulation let alone native apps. Not to mention the M1 runs silently and stays cold/luke warm.  The Intel iMac spends half its time running the fan and blowing hot air on me.
    Darkvadar is lying. He made that up. 
    Fidonet127williamlondonchiaseanjfastasleeproundaboutnowwatto_cobra
  • Reply 23 of 52
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,834member
    "Computing power for the masses" is a lie.
    The "masses" won't spend over $400 for a computer.
    Citation needed. 

    Also, good thing Apple sells an iPad for $329, which is a great option for casual web/email/Facebook users of that nature. 
    williamlondonasdasdredgeminipawatto_cobra
  • Reply 24 of 52
    asdasdasdasd Posts: 5,686member
    darkvader said:
    tedz98 said:
    I have a new strategy for Mac purchases: I’m buying a Mac mini M1 and a nice monitor. I’ll buy a low end Mini which makes it affordable and easy to upgrade by replacing it. This way I can have the benefits of new compute technology every 2-3 years without having to pay for the cost of the monitor.

    My strategy is to pick up Intel Macs for as cheap as I can as quickly as I can.  I'm not going to M1, I've been through too many architecture changes already, and I'm not doing this one.  I've used the M1s, and contrary to the reports, they're slower than Intel in real world use.

    I figure the last Mac I'll ever get will be an Intel Mac Pro in a few years.  Maybe a 16" Intel MBP.  And that'll be it for the Mac, I'm already making friends with Xubuntu.
    They are clearly faster. And with astonishing battery life.  
    williamlondonseanjchiaredgeminipawatto_cobra
  • Reply 25 of 52
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    Want to upgrade my iMacs, but not downgrade my screen size. Waiting for the next round. 
    My wife is waiting with bated breath to replace her 27-inch iMac. We have have $4K sitting in the bank.
    Hopefully, you'll have some change out of 4K although not much if fully loaded!   I want one of those too.
    williamlondonwatto_cobra
  • Reply 26 of 52
    DovalDoval Posts: 40member
    Got mine today! Blazing fast! Looks so nice in person 
    williamlondonwatto_cobrameisnoone
  • Reply 27 of 52
    welshdogwelshdog Posts: 1,897member
    How does the ethernet signal get transmitted to the Mac from the power block? Is it fiber optic inside the cable? Still copper wires?
    edited May 2021 Alex_Vwatto_cobra
  • Reply 28 of 52
    Mike WuertheleMike Wuerthele Posts: 6,858administrator
    welshdog said:
    How does the ethernet signal get transmitted to the Mac from the power block? Is it fiber optic inside the cable? Still copper wires?
    Copper.
    Alex_Vchiawelshdogwatto_cobra
  • Reply 29 of 52
    -Kiku--Kiku- Posts: 1member
    welshdog said:
    How does the ethernet signal get transmitted to the Mac from the power block? Is it fiber optic inside the cable? Still copper wires?
    I would like to know, too.

    There is an easy way to find out, but it's not practical - disassemble the power adapter and cut the power cord to see what's inside.  Obviously, no sane person would do this to their brand new M1 iMac.

    The alternative is to ask those 'geniuses' working at the Apple Store.  But we already know the answer - they don't know.  And they're no geniuses.

    And so the mystery remains... Perhaps someone in this forum can navigate the Apple customer service menu and connect to an Apple engineer?
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 30 of 52
    crowleycrowley Posts: 10,453member
    I wonder if the power brick solution will scale to 10 gig ethernet for the 24" iMacs biggest brother.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 31 of 52
    darkvader said:
    tedz98 said:
    I have a new strategy for Mac purchases: I’m buying a Mac mini M1 and a nice monitor. I’ll buy a low end Mini which makes it affordable and easy to upgrade by replacing it. This way I can have the benefits of new compute technology every 2-3 years without having to pay for the cost of the monitor.

    My strategy is to pick up Intel Macs for as cheap as I can as quickly as I can.  I'm not going to M1, I've been through too many architecture changes already, and I'm not doing this one.  I've used the M1s, and contrary to the reports, they're slower than Intel in real world use.

    I figure the last Mac I'll ever get will be an Intel Mac Pro in a few years.  Maybe a 16" Intel MBP.  And that'll be it for the Mac, I'm already making friends with Xubuntu.
    As others have said, you're hilarious! 

    Even under emulation, my M1 MBP is extremely fast, cool and efficient. Apps that would make my Intel (2019) MBP's fan scream (VirtualDJ), can't even make the M1 run warm enough to turn on the fan, let alone make it scream, and bog the whole system down... using Rosetta 2. 

    I've owned a variety of Macs since 2009, and the M1 is the most impressive to date. Even RAM management is a huge improvement, with 8GB feeling more like 16GB in many cases. I can't get this thing to use more than 50%, though I know it's possible to tax it. It just takes a lot more. 
    williamlondonwatto_cobra
  • Reply 32 of 52
    Eric_in_CTEric_in_CT Posts: 105member
    Any guesses on release-date of a larger one?  27" or 30" or more?

    This Spring/Summer?

    Fall?

    My 27" from 2009 finally died.  I took the 2TB-SSD that I had swapped in a few months ago (did I disturb something in there?  Thermally-weaken something?), and booted from it through USB using an 11" MacBook air (2013), driving the laptop-screen and an external monitor.  So the 27" lives-on, but could use a replacement pronto...

    The 24" is easily good-enough for us, but don't want buyers-remorse when there's a 32" curved-screen with telepathic-input.

    E.

    PS:  The old 27" now has pink/green artifacts on screen (vertical stripes sometimes, dots sometimes) even with the old 7200 RPM HD back in, and won't boot. 
    It *WILL* boot to recovery area and can run diagnostics on the drive and thinks it's OK (with the screen-artifacts).   
    So it's strange that it can "work" in recovery mode (even time-machine-restore fully), but when asked to "real" boot, it can't. 
    And of course the SSD works USB'd to the Air.

    Strange.  GPU-artifacts that interfere with NORMAL booting, but not booting to the recovery area, and the drive is OK since it's works externally.
    edited May 2021 watto_cobra
  • Reply 33 of 52
    sflocalsflocal Posts: 6,092member
    darkvader said:
    tedz98 said:
    I have a new strategy for Mac purchases: I’m buying a Mac mini M1 and a nice monitor. I’ll buy a low end Mini which makes it affordable and easy to upgrade by replacing it. This way I can have the benefits of new compute technology every 2-3 years without having to pay for the cost of the monitor.

    I've used the M1s, and contrary to the reports, they're slower than Intel in real world use.

    I figure the last Mac I'll ever get will be an Intel Mac Pro in a few years.  Maybe a 16" Intel MBP.  And that'll be it for the Mac, I'm already making friends with Xubuntu.
    What's your "real-world" use to have you believe Intel is faster than the M1?  We're bringing in a lot of M1 machines into our corporate shop and I've been the one configuring and testing them.  It was my own "real-world" testing of all the apps we use in-house to ensure compatibility that showed the M1-architecture was superior in every way.  The M1 even made my 2020 10-core i9 seem sluggish for everyday tasks.

    So I'm curious what you're using or tested to make that claim.  I think the M1 needs help in the graphics department, but as a first-gen product, it's great.  

    If I didn't need to run Windows on my iMac, I'd have gone the M1 route.  When my 2020 iMac is ready to retire years down the road, ASi will have been baked for a while.  In the meantime, I'm waiting to purchase the new ASi MacBooks that are supposed to be introduced later this year.

    Intel on the Mac is about to rot on the vine.
    williamlondonfastasleeproundaboutnowwatto_cobrameisnoone
  • Reply 34 of 52
    macdarrenmacdarren Posts: 13member
    What I want to see in Apple Silicon for the Pro or upper level machines to differentiate them is a Super Core.

    Adding more cores and all is good, though in practice I see 8 or so as the real useable limit...Without intentionally launching multiple high use apps,
    which I grant is a thing some people need and do.  But I would like to see a Super Core or Two.  Given machine that potentially has 12-16 cores I would rather see
    2 efficiency Cores 6 Standard Performance Cores and one or more Super Cores that run at double or more the performance core speed.

    For some Applications more cores makes little difference aside from not distracting the computation.
    But the compute core would benefit much more from 2 or 4 times the performance in a single core.

    So sure give us more cores but how about planning for a Super Core or two.
    This would set apart the Pro line and for a time also give Apple a bargain point for those software situations where single core performance is king.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 35 of 52
    Mike WuertheleMike Wuerthele Posts: 6,858administrator
    sflocal said:
    darkvader said:
    tedz98 said:
    I have a new strategy for Mac purchases: I’m buying a Mac mini M1 and a nice monitor. I’ll buy a low end Mini which makes it affordable and easy to upgrade by replacing it. This way I can have the benefits of new compute technology every 2-3 years without having to pay for the cost of the monitor.

    I've used the M1s, and contrary to the reports, they're slower than Intel in real world use.

    I figure the last Mac I'll ever get will be an Intel Mac Pro in a few years.  Maybe a 16" Intel MBP.  And that'll be it for the Mac, I'm already making friends with Xubuntu.
    What's your "real-world" use to have you believe Intel is faster than the M1?  We're bringing in a lot of M1 machines into our corporate shop and I've been the one configuring and testing them.  It was my own "real-world" testing of all the apps we use in-house to ensure compatibility that showed the M1-architecture was superior in every way.  The M1 even made my 2020 10-core i9 seem sluggish for everyday tasks.

    So I'm curious what you're using or tested to make that claim.  I think the M1 needs help in the graphics department, but as a first-gen product, it's great.  

    If I didn't need to run Windows on my iMac, I'd have gone the M1 route.  When my 2020 iMac is ready to retire years down the road, ASi will have been baked for a while.  In the meantime, I'm waiting to purchase the new ASi MacBooks that are supposed to be introduced later this year.

    Intel on the Mac is about to rot on the vine.
    He's been asked five times to prove his claim that I can find on the forums, and never responded to any of the requests.
    williamlondonwelshdogwatto_cobra
  • Reply 36 of 52
    sflocalsflocal Posts: 6,092member
    sflocal said:
    darkvader said:
    tedz98 said:
    I have a new strategy for Mac purchases: I’m buying a Mac mini M1 and a nice monitor. I’ll buy a low end Mini which makes it affordable and easy to upgrade by replacing it. This way I can have the benefits of new compute technology every 2-3 years without having to pay for the cost of the monitor.

    I've used the M1s, and contrary to the reports, they're slower than Intel in real world use.

    I figure the last Mac I'll ever get will be an Intel Mac Pro in a few years.  Maybe a 16" Intel MBP.  And that'll be it for the Mac, I'm already making friends with Xubuntu.
    What's your "real-world" use to have you believe Intel is faster than the M1?  We're bringing in a lot of M1 machines into our corporate shop and I've been the one configuring and testing them.  It was my own "real-world" testing of all the apps we use in-house to ensure compatibility that showed the M1-architecture was superior in every way.  The M1 even made my 2020 10-core i9 seem sluggish for everyday tasks.

    So I'm curious what you're using or tested to make that claim.  I think the M1 needs help in the graphics department, but as a first-gen product, it's great.  

    If I didn't need to run Windows on my iMac, I'd have gone the M1 route.  When my 2020 iMac is ready to retire years down the road, ASi will have been baked for a while.  In the meantime, I'm waiting to purchase the new ASi MacBooks that are supposed to be introduced later this year.

    Intel on the Mac is about to rot on the vine.
    He's been asked five times to prove his claim that I can find on the forums, and never responded to any of the requests.
    What a jerk.  He's probably some wannabe script-kiddie living in his parent's basement pretending to be someone important.  Posters like him ruin it for others trying to get actual facts.  Frustrating.
    williamlondonwatto_cobrameisnoone
  • Reply 37 of 52
    verne araseverne arase Posts: 460member
    tedz98 said:
    I have a new strategy for Mac purchases: I’m buying a Mac mini M1 and a nice monitor. I’ll buy a low end Mini which makes it affordable and easy to upgrade by replacing it. This way I can have the benefits of new compute technology every 2-3 years without having to pay for the cost of the monitor.
    OTOH, from all reports this is a very nice monitor.

    Your strategy makes sense if you already have all the components - less so if you have to go out and buy competing components.
    williamlondonwatto_cobra
  • Reply 38 of 52
    darkvader said:

    My strategy is to pick up Intel Macs for as cheap as I can as quickly as I can.  I'm not going to M1, I've been through too many architecture changes already, and I'm not doing this one.  I've used the M1s, and contrary to the reports, they're slower than Intel in real world use.

    I figure the last Mac I'll ever get will be an Intel Mac Pro in a few years.  Maybe a 16" Intel MBP.  And that'll be it for the Mac, I'm already making friends with Xubuntu.
    You make the same mistake that a lot of Apple Silicon reviewers make - everything released thus far as of the date of this post is the low level consumer stuff.

    The Intel iMac line is actually divided into two segments - the 21.5" consumer level stuff and the 27" 5K prosumer stuff.

    You can compare the 24" against the 27", but you're comparing machines targeted at much different demographics. The only reason that the prosumer level Intel products beat the consumer level AS stuff is because they can overwhelm them with CPU core counts or discrete GPUs.

    Single core speed-wise, the AS offerings blow away the Intel machines, and are much snappier due to the single core AS advantage. The only place where prosumer Intel machines win is in a major slogfest like rendering or transcoding, and that advantage will only last until Apple releases the M1x Apple Silicon prosumer machines.

    Oh ... and good luck with that Linux route.

    I've used Linux for servers - the main part of my job before I retired was installation and maintenance of Linux infrastructure systems - but they're not really very good consumer level machines, unless all you do is web browsing and second tier office application work. You have to know a lot about the unpinning of a Linux system to properly administer it, and documentation and support are pretty much nonexistent. You may hear different from linux zealots in the forums, but those same folks will not be terribly tolerant if you later ask 'em for help and your own technical acumen is not up to snuff.

    I already sold my 2019 16" MacBook Pro, core-i9, 32 GB RAM, AMD Radeon Pro 5500M, 2 TB SDD in preparation for a transition to Apple Silicon - wanted to get rid of it before its value plummeted due to the release of its replacement. I'm keeping my 2020 iMac 5K, core-i9, 128 GB RAM, AMD Radeon Pro 5700 XT 16 GB, 4 TB SSD, 10 gb ethernet since it accomplishes my workflows just fine and is still boot camp capable - meaning I can play Mass Effect Legendary Edition at 5120x2880 with 4K assets just fine 😁.
    dewmemuthuk_vanalingamwilliamlondonwatto_cobra
  • Reply 39 of 52
    fastasleepfastasleep Posts: 6,408member
    -Kiku- said:
    welshdog said:
    How does the ethernet signal get transmitted to the Mac from the power block? Is it fiber optic inside the cable? Still copper wires?
    I would like to know, too.

    There is an easy way to find out, but it's not practical - disassemble the power adapter and cut the power cord to see what's inside.  Obviously, no sane person would do this to their brand new M1 iMac.

    The alternative is to ask those 'geniuses' working at the Apple Store.  But we already know the answer - they don't know.  And they're no geniuses.

    And so the mystery remains... Perhaps someone in this forum can navigate the Apple customer service menu and connect to an Apple engineer?
    Or just wait for iFixit to finish their teardown (in progress) — add a comment asking for a power brick teardown: https://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/iMac+M1+24-Inch+Teardown/142850
    edited May 2021 watto_cobra
  • Reply 40 of 52
    dewmedewme Posts: 5,328member
    The only real benchmarks that my wife cares about for moving from a 2011 MacBook Air to a 2021 iMac:

    - It’s yellow
    - It only has one cable going across the desk
    - It can run all of the latest MS Office and Intuit software

    The 2011 MacBook Air score is 0 on all three of these benchmarks while the new iMac scores a perfect 3.

    2021 iMac for the shutout and win!
    Fidonet127watto_cobra
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