Anyone got or had an M1 iMac?

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Looking at Apple's M1 iMac and I probably don't need more than the base model with the two Thunderbolt ports however the onboard SSD is small.
What would I need specifically to run one or possibly a couple of USB external SSD's or HDD's from it? Lead? Hub?

Couple of other questions:

Is the webcam a good jump up from the pathetic offering of previous versions, i.e. does it at least compare with older iPad/iPhone for use with Zoom?
Have you experienced any downsides?
 
TBH why iMac? The RAM offering on them is quite mlimited. I would go for a M1 Mac Mini with 16Gb, spend the difference on a really good screen, and add a hub for USB connections that includes a slot for an external SSD. I'm really happy with that solution myself.
 
lindsay said:
TBH why iMac? The RAM offering on them is quite mlimited. I would go for a M1 Mac Mini with 16Gb, spend the difference on a really good screen, and add a hub for USB connections that includes a slot for an external SSD. I'm really happy with that solution myself.
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I use iMacs at the moment and it's convenient to have an all-in-one with a small SSD velcro'd onto the back..
I've looked at a mini and I do have a suitable monitor but I'm unsure about all the bits and pieces.
nandbytes said:
An opinion piece here
www.dpreview.com

Gear Of The Year 2021: Jordan's Choice - Apple M1 iMac

In this article, DPRTV's hard-working videographer, Jordan Drake, explains why the shiny golden Apple M1 iMac was his favorite piece of gear of 2021.
www.dpreview.com www.dpreview.com
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Thanks. :)
 
nandbytes said:
Have you considered they are trying to sell them to kindergartens?
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I would be fine with that if they at least had a secondary school or teacher option available.
 
LongLensPhotography said:
I'm not sure if could live with any of their kindergarten colour options. All Silver or all black was clearly no longer acceptable for whatever obscure reason!
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It’s called ‘innovation’ ;).
 
LongLensPhotography said:
I'm not sure if could live with any of their kindergarten colour options. All Silver or all black was clearly no longer acceptable for whatever obscure reason!
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You can buy the new iMac in silver if that is what you want

I think it’s about 20 years since iMacs were only available in colours
 
Musicman said:
You can buy the new iMac in silver if that is what you want

I think it’s about 20 years since iMacs were only available in colours
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Well it is not entirely silver. They all have these dreadful white bezels. You would expect there should be at least all white option, but no... That would be too clean
 
Can’t comment specifically on the m1 iMac roger, but I too use an m1 Mac mini and it runs photoshop, lightroom, capture 1 etc just fine whilst at the same time driving a 32 inch 4K screen.

I store everything on external ssd drives so I can switch them with my MacBook Air and it all runs great for me.

not sure how much help that is!

mike
 
I have the base model M1 MacBook Pro and have had no regrets about buying it. I just plug a little hub into the side when I want to transfer images or video clips from SD cards. Not a perfect solution, but as the unit only has the two thunderbolt ports, it’s a workable solution that I’m ok with. Performance on the MacBook Pro has been fantastic. I’ve done 4K video editing on it and it is very smooth, and I’ve run Lightroom, Photoshop, Affinity Photo and Luminar AI with zero issues.

Edited to add, I have used the webcam for a couple of zoom calls and FaceTime calls with Family, and I have no complaints there either.

I use a couple of Samsung T5s and a T7 for my SSDs. Flawless, IMO.
 
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Nikon_Nick said:
I use a couple of Samsung T5s and a T7 for my SSDs. Flawless, IMO.
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Agree - these work great with my M1 MBA for upgradable adaptable storage.
MacBook Air working great - just waiting for a nice monitor to go with it. Or the 27" iMac, which is due this spring.
 
I’ve got an M1 MacBook Pro 13 with 16GB ram and 1TB. Zero complaints apart form wishing it had ports on the right hand side rather than just two USB C ports… but hey. Battery is amazing, never freezes.. it’s much better than my i9 MacBook Pro with 32GB Ram for sure!
 
pooley said:
Can’t comment specifically on the m1 iMac roger, but I too use an m1 Mac mini and it runs photoshop, lightroom, capture 1 etc just fine whilst at the same time driving a 32 inch 4K screen.

I store everything on external ssd drives so I can switch them with my MacBook Air and it all runs great for me.

not sure how much help that is!

mike
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Nikon_Nick said:
I have the base model M1 MacBook Pro and have had no regrets about buying it. I just plug a little hub into the side when I want to transfer images or video clips from SD cards. Not a perfect solution, but as the unit only has the two thunderbolt ports, it’s a workable solution that I’m ok with. Performance on the MacBook Pro has been fantastic. I’ve done 4K video editing on it and it is very smooth, and I’ve run Lightroom, Photoshop, Affinity Photo and Luminar AI with zero issues.

Edited to add, I have used the webcam for a couple of zoom calls and FaceTime calls with Family, and I have no complaints there either.

I use a couple of Samsung T5s and a T7 for my SSDs. Flawless, IMO.
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CavGez said:
Agree - these work great with my M1 MBA for upgradable adaptable storage.
MacBook Air working great - just waiting for a nice monitor to go with it. Or the 27" iMac, which is due this spring.
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stickytape said:
I’ve got an M1 MacBook Pro 13 with 16GB ram and 1TB. Zero complaints apart form wishing it had ports on the right hand side rather than just two USB C ports… but hey. Battery is amazing, never freezes.. it’s much better than my i9 MacBook Pro with 32GB Ram for sure!
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Very helpful, thanks guys ... as a major use will be Zoom I need a good camera and experience so far with webcams is awful!
I currently use a couple of old iPhone 5's with my two other iMacs purely for the camera quality ... I guess they would work with the mini but I was hoping to get away from all the trailing add-ons.
 
gramps said:
Very helpful, thanks guys ... as a major use will be Zoom I need a good camera and experience so far with webcams is awful!
I currently use a couple of old iPhone 5's with my two other iMacs purely for the camera quality ... I guess they would work with the mini but I was hoping to get away from all the trailing add-ons.
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I presume the Apple website will tell you the specs of the facing camera on the iMac?
 
gramps said:
Anyone else able to comment on my specifics?
Please feel free to start your own iMac colours thread!
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On velcro-ing ssd to the back of the iMac — some do that with a Mac mini on the back of a monitor (actually I think they use a mount (VESA?).
 
sphexx said:
On velcro-ing ssd to the back of the iMac — some do that with a Mac mini on the back of a monitor (actually I think they use a mount (VESA?).
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I do that with my MacBook Pro! Just velcroed onto the top case.
 
A friend of mine has the M1 24 inch iMac. He upgraded to 16GB RAM and uses a 2TB Samsung Portable SSD for storage rather than pay the apple price to upgrade the internal SSD. He seems happy with its performance.

I’ve just replaced my 2012 iMac with the new M1 pro MacBook Pro. I got the 10 core CPU/16 core GPU version with 16GB RAM and 1TB SSD from Costco online for £2079 around a month ago. For storage I already have thunderbolt G Tech external drive for photo storage so I connect that the MacBook Pro.

That could be another option for you if you want something more portable and better spec/performance. I decided the portability of the MacBook Pro was the best option for me once I was told of the hood Costco offer available at the time. I was thinking of the mini but the portability along with screen/camera and also more ports sold me on the MacBook Pro.

I’ve been using my 2012 iMac for family zoom calls since the first lockdown. It’s not the best webcam but Ive found it to be passable. I should try the new MacBook Pro to see how well that does. I’d expect it to be better.

edit: looks like my 2012 iMac had a 720p webcam and the new MacBook Pro 14 inch has a 1080p webcam. The 24 inch iMac has a 1080p webcam too.
 
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rob-nikon said:
A friend of mine has the M1 24 inch iMac. He upgraded to 16GB RAM and uses a 2TB Samsung Portable SSD for storage rather than pay the apple price to upgrade the internal SSD. He seems happy with its performance.

I’ve just replaced my 2012 iMac with the new M1 pro MacBook Pro. I got the 10 core CPU/16 core GPU version with 16GB RAM and 1TB SSD from Costco online for £2079 around a month ago. For storage I already have thunderbolt G Tech external drive for photo storage so I connect that the MacBook Pro.

That could be another option for you if you want something more portable and better spec/performance. I decided the portability of the MacBook Pro was the best option for me once I was told of the hood Costco offer available at the time. I was thinking of the mini but the portability along with screen/camera and also more ports sold me on the MacBook Pro.

I’ve been using my 2012 iMac for family zoom calls since the first lockdown. It’s not the best webcam but Ive found it to be passable. I should try the new MacBook Pro to see how well that does. I’d expect it to be better.

edit: looks like my 2012 iMac had a 720p webcam and the new MacBook Pro 14 inch has a 1080p webcam. The 24 inch iMac has a 1080p webcam too.
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The webcam on the M1 seems to be fine from some reviews.
The MBP is a good option but I don't really take a computer out anywhere and the 24" iMac gives a better screen size for Zoom plus it's much lighter therefore easily portable in house. :)
 
I keep it plugged in all the time tbh. I use the other port for charging and remove that when I need to plug my SD card dongle in.
 
gramps said:
The webcam on the M1 seems to be fine from some reviews.
The MBP is a good option but I don't really take a computer out anywhere and the 24" iMac gives a better screen size for Zoom plus it's much lighter therefore easily portable in house. :)
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I wouldn’t be surprised if the internal components are similar.

I get your point about screen size. As I’m now working from home for office work my Mac has had to give up my desk space. I’ve now got a single 27 inch dell screen as I have to also use the works window laptop at home but still wanted something good for photography. The 14 inch screen would be too small for photography editing most of the time. You can connect the MacBook to a tv via the hdmi port to get a bigger screen.
 
lindsay said:
TBH why iMac? The RAM offering on them is quite mlimited. I would go for a M1 Mac Mini with 16Gb, spend the difference on a really good screen, and add a hub for USB connections that includes a slot for an external SSD. I'm really happy with that solution myself.
Click to expand...
That's exactly what I done .....I'm editing around 4000 images a week on it and it's flawless
 
lindsay said:
TBH why iMac? The RAM offering on them is quite mlimited. I would go for a M1 Mac Mini with 16Gb, spend the difference on a really good screen, and add a hub for USB connections that includes a slot for an external SSD. I'm really happy with that solution myself.
Click to expand...
I’m thinking along the same lines as I currently have a late 2012 i7 Mac Mini with 16gb and 1 tb Fusion Drive which is getting a little slow. Was looking for an iMac but as I’m happy with my display I think a new Mac mini may be the way to go. What hub and external SSd do you use?
 
Decided on the 512GB unit in silver ... could have got yellow or orange but not really keen on those colours.
I suspect that I will be 'dumping' my others and just using this for its portability around the house. :)
 
Silver iMac M1 duly arrived 7:45 this morning ... the boxes it came in are heavier than the unit itself!
iMac looks good but I've got mixed feelings about the 'brick' power/ethernet box, will see later this afternoon how it fits in and performs. :)
 
gramps said:
Looking at Apple's M1 iMac and I probably don't need more than the base model with the two Thunderbolt ports however the onboard SSD is small.
What would I need specifically to run one or possibly a couple of USB external SSD's or HDD's from it? Lead? Hub?

Couple of other questions:

Is the webcam a good jump up from the pathetic offering of previous versions, i.e. does it at least compare with older iPad/iPhone for use with Zoom?
Have you experienced any downsides?
Click to expand...
It supports USB 3 and 4 so I'm guessing you only need a cable adaptor for external drives.
The webcam is 4k but I don't think it zooms (not sure on that)

If there was a downside for me it would be the 24" screen. The difference between that and 27" is noticeable regarding desktop space.

I'm personally holding out for an M1 27" although I have no idea if one will be produced.
 
soupdragon said:
I'm personally holding out for an M1 27" although I have no idea if one will be produced.
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It most certainly will. Probably will be the m2 generation though. Although they might stick the M1 pro and max in as a lesser budget option.
 
I am waiting for the 27" M1 iMac. The Mac Rumour sites are saying it will be announced around April this year and will use the M1 Pro and Max chipsets.
The M2 chip isn't expected until Autumn and the M2 Pro and Max will be released in 2023. The Mac Rumour folk never stop guessing so no one really knows.
 
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That's more like apple actually. Stick the M1 pro in then 6 months later release the M2 version.
 
TCR4x4 said:
That's more like apple actually. Stick the M1 pro in then 6 months later release the M2 version.
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Apple has always updated their iPhones and iPads every year to use the latest silicon. they have gone from A1 to now A15 processors. Now mac laptops have started using Apple Silicon they will probably join the annual update club. People tend to keep their expensive desktop machines a lot longer so not sure they will get annual updates. That said the move to arm based chips is a major change and it seems to be accelerating, Google, Samsung and even Microsoft have said they have them in the works. There will always be the next release but if you keep waiting you will never get one. If what's available meets your needs then I say buy it.
 
24" is big enough for my needs and it's so light that it's easily portable, which is the great thing as it frees up space taken up by other large iMacs.
I can't really find any faults with it as yet, Migration Assistant transferred everything across without issues, other than needing to re-activate PL5 and Affinity.
Got a couple of USB-C to USB adapters on order and then all looking good to go. :)

I saw a few reviews saying that the fingerprint key was pointless as they needed to enter their password every time as well but I am not getting that problem.
I'm not really seeing a problem with the white bezel surround either, which seems to have upset a few.
 
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