How would you configure an iMac? Would you go for the higher end model or go for a base one? Would you add Touch ID and Ethernet to the base for $80? Also, as some have pointed out it seems like the base model iMac has one cooling fan compared to 2 in the higher tier models. Would that effect your decision?
Base model after long consideration, but I respect that it comes down to individual work needs. I think most consumers of all tier models will need a hub for other ports like the sd card slot, therefore making the Ethernet port on the power block nonessential to me. I just purchased a 9 in 1 white matching dongle that I think will actually look pretty sleek! It also still blows my mind that the Magic keyboard isn’t back-lit. Knowing I’ll have to eventually buy an external backlit keyboard for night hour working turned me off to shelling out money for the touch ID version. I’d say paying the $50 for the trackpad over the Magic Mouse would be a smart value since the silver trackpad two still goes for about $120 on Amazon. And well.. the less we speak about the Magic Mouse the better.. Overall if you’re not needing to run high level programs for your daily use don’t buy into all the hype and buy the base model. Think ahead me put that extra $200 towards a Mac, m1x/m2 chip lineup product like the MacBook Air in the future. Once the majority of us make a full return to work- post pandemic that need for a portable device will ramp up again!
Hi Luke love watching your videos. Quick suggestion - maybe have different colors for each machine in the graphs. For example MacBook Air red, mid tier iMac blue, base tier iMac yellow and MacBook Pro green, it would be faster to visualize.
As to your actual question I would probably do the mid tier just for resale value. I think it would be easier to sell a mid tier product vs a “cheap base model” that you can’t upgrade. As for me personally I would never ever use it hard enough to ever notice the difference in performance.
I wouldn't. I'd either go with a near fully-specced Mac Mini and get an adapter thingie that gives me extra ports at the front and a SD card slot + use the monitor I already have, or wait for an iMac Pro.
Apple technician here: the base model has only one fan inside, while the mid and higher tier models come with two cooling fans. Maybe that explains the slight differences in performance. Would be interesting to monitor the temperatures while comparing them.
I’ve been following you for a while now and noticed a serious improvement in the quality of your script and energy in this video. Best video from you so far. Keep up the good work!!
Hi Luke, you also forget to mention that you get more color options with the extra $200, (if the color you want happens to be in the $200 mark up) :-) But other than that, man you're killing it with the video's pumping out so frequently! Love it!
I have been using MacBook Pro with 2 ports for years, use it for browsing, research, creating documents, presentations, entertainment etc, only very rarely i have to use the port, except charging. In base iMac, one gets same two ports, plus a separate charging port. So it is one extra port than MacBook Pro, i think for 90% of people, base model is absolutely fine. The video and photo editors, graphic designers, constitute less than 10 percent of market of 24 inch iMac model.
@luke miani would it be possible for you to please start enabling captions on your videos? I am hard of hearing and being able to read captions would make your already great videos even better!! Please consider!! Thank you.
Luke, I started watching your videos with my budget in mind. Thank you for sharing your findings and letting me know that the budget machine will do fine. (:
That makes a world of difference. Imo Touch ID is a must. So the comparison should really be the $1349 base vs the $1499 mid both with Touch ID. So then it's about spending $150 on ethernet + 2 thunderbolt ports and a little bump in performance. Buy one or two dongles for under $50 and then you end up with a $100 price difference for the performance increase. Much easier decision to make.
Interesting finding, I heard that the base model uses a more basic cooling solution with only one fan and a simplified heatsink... Don't know if it's true, but would make sense.
@@MAGAIVER Mine's a 2017 21.5, it's absolutely full of issues frankly. But it still just about does what I need it to so I don't feel like shelling out for anything new. If it eventually gives up I'll probably just buy a nice monitor and connect it to my laptop. (Huawei Matebook D, it's been amazing for the ~1.5 years I've had it)
@@MAGAIVER same with both my iMac 2011 21.5" and 2013 21.5". Upgradeable to 32Gb and 16Gb and 2TB SSD easily. These new iMac M1 are the same as the 4GB Mac Mini 2014, many people back them thought that base model was a good option ... I'm sad as I know that sooner or later I will need to switch, I am not buying a non upgradeable Mac ...
We did our Apple refresh last year with 4 MacBook Airs (M1) and an iMac M1 mid range. I do notice a huge difference in coding on the iMac vs the Air with the compiling being much faster on the iMac. I do love the iMac screen as well.
I think the increased heat could also be caused by the vents and fans trying to fight thermal dynamics--heat rises. The vents are on the bottom and the fans blow down to extract heat. Another factor could be the presence of a display. I know displays normally give off heat, though it may be from their power supply which Apple has outside the iMac.
heat rises and fans on the bottom . Think different , think Apple . Where did old t.v,s have the vents ??, oh yes , at the top . We have come a long way ))))))))
I bought my mid 2012 model new when it came out. I have been using it daily and its been great. Only now it is struggling with multiple layers of 4k footage when editing. I have ordered a new mid teir with 16gb of RAM. I am hoping to get 10 years out of it. Great videos Luke, thanks.
LUKE when you get massive remember me your the best like there isn't a better RUclipsr than you how you don't have 20 m subs I don't know but your the best and don't ever forget that
Hmm I’d say the mid tiers cpu performance improvement like seen in Cinebench is thanks to the fact that the 8 core equipped iMacs have 2 fans and the 7-core ones have 1 fan.
Why would I need to subscribe ans hit the notification bell, when I won’t want to miss this one? I’m watching it already! 😁 Maybe time to rephrase that opener a little? 😁 Love the videos, cannot wait for the new 14 and 16 inch MBPs, and will make my order probably right after watching the first few reviews here.
Thanks for the review! I'm considering purchasing the mid tier for $200 more AND adding an additional 8GB of memory to max out at 16GB. Do you feel the additional unified memory will speed up the rendering in Final Cut Pro? You haven't mentioned the option of boosting the memory in this video. Currently, I'm using a Macbook Pro 17" early 2011 (2.2GHz Intel Core 17 with 16GB 1333MHz DDR3 RAM) for all my video editing. Rendering is painfully slow for 1080p video. I don't even consider 4K editing. Do you feel a better choice would be a beefed up MacBook Pro 16" M1 chip for editing with Final Cut Pro? I can always use my Cinema display for a second screen for more real estate. I wish they made a 27" iMac with the M1 chip! Maybe next year. Bill
The base iMac has one fan and a basic heatsink, whereas the mid and upper-tier models have two fans and heat pipe. This has been confirmed by Apple and early testers. Also, the images that Apple provided for the internals of the iMac show the *back* of the logic board, which is why you're unable to see the heat pipe connecting to the SoC in said chassis.
This right here. The baseline for these new gen macs should be at LEAST 16GB of RAM. This is unacceptable from Apple and sadly, these influencers aren’t being 100% honest with their viewers. Thank goodness for people like Luke.
This video helped me decide, especially because it has the 2 colors I was going to get in each represented tier. I’m getting the mid mainly for the purple lol, and the extras too.
I am debating getting a base model M1 Macbook Air in Rose Gold, or the 512 gigs version in rose gold, is it worth it in the upgrade? are you able to do a video comparing all the airs, vs all of the pros? and the base air vs the maxed out pro?
I'd say that if you use Thunderbolt for an external drive and for an external monitor then go for the 4 port model leaving 2 USB C ports available to connect iPhone & iPad.
The target use case for the iMac is as a family computer and mostly for everyday tasks. The base model’s performance is more than enough for what most people will use it for (productivity, web browsing, media consumption etc). Most people also don’t need to plug anything into a computer other than storage because the input devices are wireless anyway, the speakers and webcam are built in and most people don’t need a second monitor. The two ports are therefore more than enough. I would say that it’s better to configure the base model with whatever you need. I’d personally go for the VESA mount version, add in Ethernet, the keyboard with Touch ID and the Magic Trackpad instead of mouse. That would still be cheaper than the mid level version even after you buy an affordable arm for it. However, it would look dope on a CBS Ollin arm in white.
Yes, it does it make it worth the $200. Plus, the 2nd fan in the upgraded model will help sustained performance. I also opted for 16GB of RAM since I tend to run VMs.
Not weird ..the fans cool the alloy backing on iMac display.. they’ve optimised the thermal dynamics by utilising the alloy cover as a cooling baffle.. pushing warm air over full expanse of display.. 👍👍😎
Thanks for the video, very informative as usual. Please make the video to compare with the old 21.5" iMac and would love to know is the new touch ID keyboard can use with the old iMac? thanks!
I was leaning towards a 7-core GPU with 16GB of RAM, but since I'd be using blender mostly, the difference is big enough to go 8/8/16. Thanks for doing blender tests.
You think Blender (when using Eevee) runs better than on my iMac with R570? Since there is still no Metal support, I am currently using CPU-rendering only... I wonder how much the M1 would help me, or maybe better wait for the M1X?
One thing that wasn't clear for me: Can you buy a touch id keyboard and use it with the base model? Because if it's possible, then all you're really getting that you can't work around is the extra GPU core. You can get a dongle with extra ports, You can get an ethernet cable (or have it in the dongle already) And even the extra core I think is a bit weird because if you really need the graphical performance, why are you getting this mac in the first place? Shouldn't you wait for one with discrete graphics? I think it's a very specific niche of people that need a bit more performance but not enough performance that they'd get a better iMac model, they're fine with this more basic one.
In the testing did you notice heat difference, throttling perhaps, and the noise of the single fans trying to keep up with the heat? They left the fan out of the processor side on the base model.
For us in Canada it is $1699 and $1949 for a difference of $350.00 between the two. I am still rocking my 2012 Macbook Pro, My 2012 Mac Mini and My 27" 2011 iMac with an upgraded video card.
Hey Luke, so I the biggest question I have with all these M1 devices and the hold up for me to jump owning one (besides the upcoming m1x) is the lack of multimonitor external display support. Quality info on monitor compatibility to include thunderbolt display support is scarce on the m1 based macs. There is next to no info on external displays at all for the m1 iPad. How many displays in 4k? Will older thunderbolt displays work? How bout you break new ground on this one and let us all know?
How do the iMacs hold up today? What about buying a used one and using it as a quasi second monitor with Universal Control? The monitor is still excellent.
I would like to see some real life scenarios that bump into the accessories ( ethernet ports , usb-c's etc )and how they work with or without being added or including them in the costs
I work from home and mainly doing some administrative stuff like google, email, word docs, google drive upload, watch some videos, Lightroom and a little bit of photoshop. The base model is more than enough. I rather get new tech every 2-3 years than the best model of the current. Just some thought...
You also get an extra fan and a heat pipe. If you connect peripherals, you'll probably also want a Thunderbolt dock (possibly with pass through if you have a lot of Thunderbolt devices).
base model has two thunderbolt 3 ports. Higher end models have the thunderbolt 4 and non-thunderbolt ports. Apple mentioned the type of thunderbolt during their event, unveiling these iMacs.
I know you probably answered this question but what type of background material is the white backdrop behind the Imac. I love that backdrop and would like to get something similar. Thank you
How would you configure an iMac? Would you go for the higher end model or go for a base one? Would you add Touch ID and Ethernet to the base for $80? Also, as some have pointed out it seems like the base model iMac has one cooling fan compared to 2 in the higher tier models. Would that effect your decision?
Base model after long consideration, but I respect that it comes down to individual work needs. I think most consumers of all tier models will need a hub for other ports like the sd card slot, therefore making the Ethernet port on the power block nonessential to me. I just purchased a 9 in 1 white matching dongle that I think will actually look pretty sleek! It also still blows my mind that the Magic keyboard isn’t back-lit. Knowing I’ll have to eventually buy an external backlit keyboard for night hour working turned me off to shelling out money for the touch ID version. I’d say paying the $50 for the trackpad over the Magic Mouse would be a smart value since the silver trackpad two still goes for about $120 on Amazon. And well.. the less we speak about the Magic Mouse the better.. Overall if you’re not needing to run high level programs for your daily use don’t buy into all the hype and buy the base model. Think ahead me put that extra $200 towards a Mac, m1x/m2 chip lineup product like the MacBook Air in the future. Once the majority of us make a full return to work- post pandemic that need for a portable device will ramp up again!
Hi Luke love watching your videos. Quick suggestion - maybe have different colors for each machine in the graphs. For example MacBook Air red, mid tier iMac blue, base tier iMac yellow and MacBook Pro green, it would be faster to visualize.
As to your actual question I would probably do the mid tier just for resale value. I think it would be easier to sell a mid tier product vs a “cheap base model” that you can’t upgrade. As for me personally I would never ever use it hard enough to ever notice the difference in performance.
@Cheshire Cat you aren’t making any sense…
I wouldn't. I'd either go with a near fully-specced Mac Mini and get an adapter thingie that gives me extra ports at the front and a SD card slot + use the monitor I already have, or wait for an iMac Pro.
Apple technician here: the base model has only one fan inside, while the mid and higher tier models come with two cooling fans. Maybe that explains the slight differences in performance. Would be interesting to monitor the temperatures while comparing them.
So in a way Apple are setting the base model up to fail with only fitting one fan , there's a surprise
This is nuts. And couldn’t I add a second fan myself? Those cost $4 max.
oh wow the more you know
@@MrTarmonbarry the MacBook Air is fanless so stop spreading nonsense you don’t understand
@@SN-hn9zi He's talking about the imac...
Nice seeing Luke Miani uploading daily
Yessir
As long as he has apple releases he will upload daily
yessir
*nice-looking Luke Miani
Yessir
I was steered to the mid tier by other you tubers but now I’m getting the base. Thanks Duke.
Spend the $ on the higher end machine. Even after I drop the extra $200, I will still be able to make the mortgage payment this month.
Base plus $200 Thunderbolt dock will give you more for your money.
@@alliejr Well you do want to get a 16gb ram
What’s a mortgage?
@@whitemailprivilege2830 It’s the albatross of the American Dream.
That’s you. Everyone doesn’t have the extra money.
I’ve been following you for a while now and noticed a serious improvement in the quality of your script and energy in this video. Best video from you so far. Keep up the good work!!
Can you do reviews on hubs for the iMac? Especially ones that don’t hang awkwardly from the back.
Super interesting video 👍. I think the 200 extra is a no brainer. I am more interested in seeing some comparisons between 8 vs 16 GB ram.
A next day upload is a Miani blessing
Hi Luke, you also forget to mention that you get more color options with the extra $200, (if the color you want happens to be in the $200 mark up) :-) But other than that, man you're killing it with the video's pumping out so frequently! Love it!
How do you manage to foresee all my questions and doubts?
It is the third of your videos that I watch and EVERY TIME I find the answer.
Thank you!
I have been using MacBook Pro with 2 ports for years, use it for browsing, research, creating documents, presentations, entertainment etc, only very rarely i have to use the port, except charging. In base iMac, one gets same two ports, plus a separate charging port. So it is one extra port than MacBook Pro, i think for 90% of people, base model is absolutely fine. The video and photo editors, graphic designers, constitute less than 10 percent of market of 24 inch iMac model.
Daily Luke, I am loving this video. This is the type of videos that fellow tech RUclipsrs should be doing
@luke miani would it be possible for you to please start enabling captions on your videos? I am hard of hearing and being able to read captions would make your already great videos even better!! Please consider!! Thank you.
👀 I purchased the upgraded model. I really wanted the extra ports and Touch ID. Thanks for this video. Blessings on your day 🍎
Good move; you get what you pay for & don’t regret later ~~
Finally a good youtube who test what the average person would buy and not get the most expensive model.
I really liked this video, Luke. I didnt know your channel. Now I discovered that and it's very good. Keep like that :) Greetings from Italy.
Congrats on 300K, Luke!! I remember watching you since like 60K, and you've come such a long way!! Truly love your content :)
Also the base iMac can come with Touch ID, in the keyboard language section on the apple website.
How much extra does it cost?
@@natepfeiffer5224 $50
which is pretty awesome imo
Ya yay ya
@@midhunb2710 50$ and you say it's awesome lmao
I keep looking for a teardown video to finally get some insight on the thermal design
Blender will get native M1 support on the 26th! Make sure to test that when it comes out!
Blender 3.0 Beta already is M1 based
Will be interesting to see you compare the base model with 16 gig against the mid-tier one at the same price
Thanks for the reviews, Luke!
Luke, I started watching your videos with my budget in mind. Thank you for sharing your findings and letting me know that the budget machine will do fine. (:
Touch ID keyboard - $50 extra if you want just that extra.
Another extra is the ethernet power brick for $30.
Also available in the version with the numeric keypad
That makes a world of difference. Imo Touch ID is a must. So the comparison should really be the $1349 base vs the $1499 mid both with Touch ID. So then it's about spending $150 on ethernet + 2 thunderbolt ports and a little bump in performance. Buy one or two dongles for under $50 and then you end up with a $100 price difference for the performance increase. Much easier decision to make.
Apple care + only ….$
@@Alusky to me, TouchID is almost useless because of Apple Watch unlock
I went with pink mid tier (for red back), super excited ♦️ Thank You for all the information, definitely helped me make my decision!
Interesting finding, I heard that the base model uses a more basic cooling solution with only one fan and a simplified heatsink... Don't know if it's true, but would make sense.
I bought the upgraded version mainly for the Touch ID. Love this computer.
Would u like to give out the touchpad 😂 . Are u interested in selling it ?
300k soon Luke! Congrats!
Thanks man wanting a video in this topic for so long. 🔥
10/10 for the way I couldn't hear the M1's fans over my own iMac's fan
IKR, it’s so quiet
My late 2013 27" is dead silent, has always been. Never had any other mac so I thought they were all this quiet.
@@MAGAIVER Mine's a 2017 21.5, it's absolutely full of issues frankly. But it still just about does what I need it to so I don't feel like shelling out for anything new. If it eventually gives up I'll probably just buy a nice monitor and connect it to my laptop.
(Huawei Matebook D, it's been amazing for the ~1.5 years I've had it)
@@MAGAIVER same with both my iMac 2011 21.5" and 2013 21.5". Upgradeable to 32Gb and 16Gb and 2TB SSD easily. These new iMac M1 are the same as the 4GB Mac Mini 2014, many people back them thought that base model was a good option ... I'm sad as I know that sooner or later I will need to switch, I am not buying a non upgradeable Mac ...
My 2006 imac is silent too. I have an ssd in there though
Great info! I was going to buy the mid range but I think the base will be ok for me.
Best review i've ever seen comparing two identical machines
Nice explanation and evaluation of imac
We did our Apple refresh last year with 4 MacBook Airs (M1) and an iMac M1 mid range. I do notice a huge difference in coding on the iMac vs the Air with the compiling being much faster on the iMac. I do love the iMac screen as well.
Thanks Luke, your videos are always very informative
I ordered the mid level today. BTW great review of each.
I think the increased heat could also be caused by the vents and fans trying to fight thermal dynamics--heat rises. The vents are on the bottom and the fans blow down to extract heat. Another factor could be the presence of a display. I know displays normally give off heat, though it may be from their power supply which Apple has outside the iMac.
heat rises and fans on the bottom . Think different , think Apple . Where did old t.v,s have the vents ??, oh yes , at the top . We have come a long way ))))))))
The final cut render is being done by an add-on accelerator, which is the same for both. Hence the identical times.
it's very funny how in Sweden the base model is more expensive than the upgraded version in the US
it's called taxes in Sweden ;-) sales tax and EU import toll...
Also i think, pricing in the us is without Sales tax. You still have to pay taxes at the cashier
Just FYI Blender does now have a public Apple Silicon native beta out there now :)
You can add the Touch ID keyboard/numeric keyboard to the base mac when you’re selecting your stuff.
I bought my mid 2012 model new when it came out. I have been using it daily and its been great. Only now it is struggling with multiple layers of 4k footage when editing. I have ordered a new mid teir with 16gb of RAM. I am hoping to get 10 years out of it. Great videos Luke, thanks.
Have you recieved it? How does it work?
@@siennevanheerde not yet. It should arrive tomorrow.
Makes sense Add memory to the base model for me thanks luke
Great video ✨✨👍
I love how amazing your b-roll fullage looks lately, keep it up!
LUKE when you get massive remember me your the best like there isn't a better RUclipsr than you how you don't have 20 m subs I don't know but your the best and don't ever forget that
Hmm I’d say the mid tiers cpu performance improvement like seen in Cinebench is thanks to the fact that the 8 core equipped iMacs have 2 fans and the 7-core ones have 1 fan.
YESSSSSSS I WAS WAITING FOR THIS VIDEOOOOO
Why would I need to subscribe ans hit the notification bell, when I won’t want to miss this one? I’m watching it already! 😁 Maybe time to rephrase that opener a little? 😁
Love the videos, cannot wait for the new 14 and 16 inch MBPs, and will make my order probably right after watching the first few reviews here.
Almost to 300k Subs, Luke! Keep it up!
Hi Luke love the vids but can u break it down into chapters so it's easy to navigate just saying thanks for the daily uploads
You can also choose the Touch-ID Keyboard for the base model iMac (at least in Germany for 50€)
Love your setup!
Thanks for the review! I'm considering purchasing the mid tier for $200 more AND adding an additional 8GB of memory to max out at 16GB. Do you feel the additional unified memory will speed up the rendering in Final Cut Pro? You haven't mentioned the option of boosting the memory in this video. Currently, I'm using a Macbook Pro 17" early 2011 (2.2GHz Intel Core 17 with 16GB 1333MHz DDR3 RAM) for all my video editing. Rendering is painfully slow for 1080p video. I don't even consider 4K editing. Do you feel a better choice would be a beefed up MacBook Pro 16" M1 chip for editing with Final Cut Pro? I can always use my Cinema display for a second screen for more real estate. I wish they made a 27" iMac with the M1 chip! Maybe next year. Bill
I think I’m going to get the base model and just upgrade the RAM.
You can't do that lol XD
M1 iMacs don't have upgradable RAM
Of course you can upgrade the RAM to 16 GB on Base Model
@@this.is.shashwat you can choose between 8 and 16 GB when purchasing. That’s what I’m talking about.
@@this.is.shashwat they dont have USER upgradable ram...
The base iMac has one fan and a basic heatsink, whereas the mid and upper-tier models have two fans and heat pipe. This has been confirmed by Apple and early testers.
Also, the images that Apple provided for the internals of the iMac show the *back* of the logic board, which is why you're unable to see the heat pipe connecting to the SoC in said chassis.
Good video. I was hoping someone would do some side by side comparisons.
I hope that in the future they sell base models with good specs, because 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage is insufficient for most people
This right here. The baseline for these new gen macs should be at LEAST 16GB of RAM. This is unacceptable from Apple and sadly, these influencers aren’t being 100% honest with their viewers. Thank goodness for people like Luke.
This video helped me decide, especially because it has the 2 colors I was going to get in each represented tier. I’m getting the mid mainly for the purple lol, and the extras too.
I call BS on the “and the extras too” - but I hear you, I literally only want a higher end one to have purple! Are we silly??
@@charitygoldart naw i feel the same way, Id get green for the base tier and was considering the mid tier because it had purple.
I honestly think thats why purple isnt an option in the base tier, its an incentive the catch people like us three.
I am debating getting a base model M1 Macbook Air in Rose Gold, or the 512 gigs version in rose gold, is it worth it in the upgrade? are you able to do a video comparing all the airs, vs all of the pros? and the base air vs the maxed out pro?
THANK UPU FOR THIS VIDEO !! I’m deciding which one to get
I love your speaking . Keep going bro
I'd say that if you use Thunderbolt for an external drive and for an external monitor then go for the 4 port model leaving 2 USB C ports available to connect iPhone & iPad.
The target use case for the iMac is as a family computer and mostly for everyday tasks. The base model’s performance is more than enough for what most people will use it for (productivity, web browsing, media consumption etc). Most people also don’t need to plug anything into a computer other than storage because the input devices are wireless anyway, the speakers and webcam are built in and most people don’t need a second monitor. The two ports are therefore more than enough. I would say that it’s better to configure the base model with whatever you need. I’d personally go for the VESA mount version, add in Ethernet, the keyboard with Touch ID and the Magic Trackpad instead of mouse. That would still be cheaper than the mid level version even after you buy an affordable arm for it. However, it would look dope on a CBS Ollin arm in white.
The "Nobody wants a Dongle" made me LOL! Love this dude
Yes, it does it make it worth the $200. Plus, the 2nd fan in the upgraded model will help sustained performance. I also opted for 16GB of RAM since I tend to run VMs.
300k Subs! I was here a 300.... Yeah 300 subs. I think I was 301. Congrats on the continued journey and i’ll be along for the ride. 🥃
Not weird ..the fans cool the alloy backing on iMac display.. they’ve optimised the thermal dynamics by utilising the alloy cover as a cooling baffle.. pushing warm air over full expanse of display.. 👍👍😎
Awesome video! 🤩 👏
Thanks for the video, very informative as usual. Please make the video to compare with the old 21.5" iMac and would love to know is the new touch ID keyboard can use with the old iMac? thanks!
Yo your so close to 300k!!!
Hi Luke could you revisit this question? It’s now been almost a year since they release these iMacs. How has the base model held up over this time?
base one with a 16gb upgrade sounds more sensible + plug in an external SSD for the increased storage.
I was leaning towards a 7-core GPU with 16GB of RAM, but since I'd be using blender mostly, the difference is big enough to go 8/8/16. Thanks for doing blender tests.
You think Blender (when using Eevee) runs better than on my iMac with R570? Since there is still no Metal support, I am currently using CPU-rendering only... I wonder how much the M1 would help me, or maybe better wait for the M1X?
@@ImpactSpace I'm not sure. It'll probably take a bit for them to optimize for it. But I'm on a 2012 MBP so anything is an upgrade.
One thing that wasn't clear for me: Can you buy a touch id keyboard and use it with the base model?
Because if it's possible, then all you're really getting that you can't work around is the extra GPU core.
You can get a dongle with extra ports,
You can get an ethernet cable (or have it in the dongle already)
And even the extra core I think is a bit weird because if you really need the graphical performance, why are you getting this mac in the first place? Shouldn't you wait for one with discrete graphics?
I think it's a very specific niche of people that need a bit more performance but not enough performance that they'd get a better iMac model, they're fine with this more basic one.
That was interesting thank you Luke.
In the testing did you notice heat difference, throttling perhaps, and the noise of the single fans trying to keep up with the heat? They left the fan out of the processor side on the base model.
Does thermals have an affect? One fan in base iMac vs 2 fans in mid-tier iMac?
For us in Canada it is $1699 and $1949 for a difference of $350.00 between the two. I am still rocking my 2012 Macbook Pro, My 2012 Mac Mini and My 27" 2011 iMac with an upgraded video card.
You can upgrade the Ethernet and Touch ID on the order page, so paying £130 (in UK) for the processor and 2USB ports..... I’ll keep the cash.
Hey Luke, so I the biggest question I have with all these M1 devices and the hold up for me to jump owning one (besides the upcoming m1x) is the lack of multimonitor external display support. Quality info on monitor compatibility to include thunderbolt display support is scarce on the m1 based macs. There is next to no info on external displays at all for the m1 iPad. How many displays in 4k? Will older thunderbolt displays work? How bout you break new ground on this one and let us all know?
Production quality of a million+ sub channel.
Cant wait for the subs to get there.
How do the iMacs hold up today? What about buying a used one and using it as a quasi second monitor with Universal Control? The monitor is still excellent.
I would like to see some real life scenarios that bump into the accessories ( ethernet ports , usb-c's etc )and how they work with or without being added or including them in the costs
1:32 you can also add Touch Id to the base model
Great video
Main difference is one or two fans between models and proper heat pipe mate
The $30 ethernet is only an adapter that goes behind the computer. The power supply with the ethernet port cost more money.
Does the ethernet power brick work on the base model?
Yes.
The touch id on the keyboard, is like the ethernet on the power brick, available as a bonus on the low-tier imac for 50$.
So the "real" price difference is 120$ for the 2 non-thunderbolts usb type C.
I work from home and mainly doing some administrative stuff like google, email, word docs, google drive upload, watch some videos, Lightroom and a little bit of photoshop. The base model is more than enough. I rather get new tech every 2-3 years than the best model of the current. Just some thought...
That’s why I went for MacBook Air M1 second tier variant with 8GPU and 512gb ssd
Can only agree with that. Got the same!
You also get an extra fan and a heat pipe.
If you connect peripherals, you'll probably also want a Thunderbolt dock (possibly with pass through if you have a lot of Thunderbolt devices).
Quick tip for Graphs you’re making: saying “lower/higher is better” is helpful
I second this!!
Will you do a similar comparison for 8gb vs 16gb RAM?
base model has two thunderbolt 3 ports. Higher end models have the thunderbolt 4 and non-thunderbolt ports. Apple mentioned the type of thunderbolt during their event, unveiling these iMacs.
So if you’re looking to purchase one. Would you be better off purchasing a Mac mini m1 if you already have a 4K monitor?
I'd love to see you compare 2020 27" iMac to mid level 24" iMac.
The desktop wallpaper at the beginning look so nice.
I know you probably answered this question but what type of background material is the white backdrop behind the Imac. I love that backdrop and would like to get something similar. Thank you