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Which 24" M1 iMac Will I Buy?

10:31 video

The new M1 iMacs go on sale later this week with a new design inside and out, seven colors, three models and a few things to consider. Here’s which one I’m buying and why.

Why consider one

  1. The design. I had a reaction video expressing disappointment, but I don’t hate it. I’m using a 2020 27-inch iMac as my main desktop (bought less than a month ago because I wanted the all-in-one experience again). From the front, the designs are similar: the new one has a slightly smaller chin and bezels, a new white bezel color and no Apple logo on the chin. It’s not the design so many were hoping for, but it’s new and refreshed: 11.5 mm deep without the stand, in six colors plus silver, under 10 pounds, an engineering feat with M1 performance and a 24-inch Retina display in a package barely thicker than an Apple Watch.
  2. The built-in display. An all-in-one is a better experience than a laptop or Mac mini with an external display. I’ve tested many Macs and displays with different adapters, and third-party displays have problems: odd wake-from-sleep resolution changes, random pink squares. iMacs haven’t shown those in my usage. I’ve spent tens of hours researching displays, and nothing competes with the overall package of brightness, resolution, color accuracy, quality control and features like True Tone, accurate out of the box for photo and video editing.
  3. It’s the total package. The screen, the M1 (the same 8-core M1 as in the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro and Mac mini, incredibly fast for everything from Word docs to remote server management and video editing), decent-looking speakers with spatial audio, a 1080p camera, studio-quality mics.

The three starting points

  • $1,299: the 4.5K Retina display, 8-core CPU, 7-core GPU, 256 GB of storage and 8 GB of RAM, with the color-matched Magic Keyboard and Magic Mouse. Only two Thunderbolt ports. You can configure Touch ID on the keyboard, a Magic Trackpad, and a power adapter with Ethernet, plus more storage and memory (prices unknown, but I assume $200 each for 512 GB and 16 GB, like other M1 Macs).
  • $1,499: the Ethernet power adapter, the extra GPU core, the keyboard with Touch ID, and two additional 10 Gbps USB-C ports alongside the two Thunderbolt ports. Same 256 GB and 8 GB.
  • $1,699: everything in the mid-tier, with 512 GB of storage.

What I’ll buy

The base is off the table for me: two Thunderbolt ports are too restrictive; the 7-core GPU doesn’t bother me (my Final Cut tests show little difference); I prefer Ethernet and want Touch ID. Between the mid and high tier, the only difference is storage, and I think that $200 is better spent on 8 GB more RAM, since I can buy faster external storage cheaper: the Samsung T7 (10 Gbps, tiny, about $160 for 1 TB) or the Samsung X5, a Thunderbolt 3 SSD with over 2,500 MB/s (about $350 for 1 TB). So: the mid-tier iMac with 16 GB of RAM.

Color

I said I wasn’t a fan of the pastel fronts, and if I were buying this to keep for years, I’d go with silver: it avoids fad colors going out of style or clashing with a future room. Since I won’t use this as my main computer, I’m going with one of the new colors, but I’m not ready to say which.

Questions I have

  • How does the Ethernet work? Are there pins on the power adapter that connect to an Ethernet controller when the magnetic cable attaches, or a USB or Thunderbolt Ethernet adapter behind the display? A teardown or System Report will tell.
  • How good are the speakers? Bigger speakers usually move more air, and even a six-speaker system is smaller than the 27-inch iMac’s.
  • The hinge: with such a light computer, it might be loose, letting the screen move without the computer tipping, or stiffer like the iPad Magic Keyboard’s hinge (which it takes cues from); Apple hinges are usually among the best.
  • Instant wake: can a 24-inch iMac wake as fast as an iPad or iPhone?

If you’re in the market for a desktop, this fits many people. It isn’t all the design changes I hoped for, but it will impress with new colors and thinness, and the unassuming power of the M1. I’ll test whether my first impressions match.

In this video

  • 0:00 intro
  • 0:50 why you should consider a new iMac
  • 3:52 iMac options and which one I will buy
  • 7:49 my iMac questions
  • 9:14 conclusion

Some links in this post are affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I may receive a small commission. See my ethics statement.

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