tnste Loc: New Westminster, BC

Earlier I wrote a detailed response on this topic and was about to send it when it got deleted. Anyway, last month my mid 2011 27" i7 IMAC with High Sierra OS had a hardware failure; turns out the graphics card died. I used my MAC primarily for photography using Aperture and Affinity Photo for editing and organizing my photos. Computer was backed up on a 1TB external hard drive Time Machine and 4 TB G drive. MAC could not be repaired so I went to Apple store and ordered a new 27" IMAC 3.8GHZ 8 core i7 with 16 GB Ram and 1TB SSD. this happened before I knew about the new M1 IMAC Cost was a hefty $4200+ incl. tax. When my new IMAC was delivered I was considering changing my order in favour of the M1 24" IMAC. However once I found out the M1 IMAC was limited to 8 GB Ram (not 16GB) and 512GB SSD I decided to keep my 27" i7 IMAC as I felt it does not meet my needs and I could not wait for the new larger M1 IMACs with more Ram and larger capacity SSD. The new 24" IMAC replaces the 21.5" IMAC. I am comfortable with my decision to keep my 27" IMAC. I read that Apple may be coming out with a 32"M1 IMAC that would probably replace the 27" IMAC. However, for those considering upgrading their IMAC or purchasing a M1 IMAC I would not get the 24" M1 IMAC now but wait when the M1 IMACs has more Ram and larger capacity SSD. Also, with any new product and new technology there is likely to be bugs in the early new IMACs that need to be fixed so IMO I think it best to wait to buy a new M1 IMAC.
Now my main concern is the migration of my Aperture libraries from time machine to my new IMAC and retain my edited photos many that have done very well in competitions. I have a number of options that I found out about but I am not sure how to proceed so I have not even plugged in my computer and for the past few weeks it has just been sitting on my desk. Some choices include switch over to Photos, migrate photos to Lightroom/PS, downloading an app called Retroactive that will modify Aperture to run on OS Big Sur. This is another topic for discussion where I am open to suggestions on what to do

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

You bought a fine machine. It should be quite useful for a number of years.

The M1 Macs do a fine job with most anything thrown at them, despite having only 8 or 16 GB RAM. RISC is not CISC, ARM is not x86, an SOC is not a motherboard. But few understand the differences until they run an M1 Mac through its paces... It just works differently.

Yes, the M1x and M2 machines will be better... The question is, do you need "better"? The reviewers who've worked with M1 machines generally conclude that MAYBE < 5% of us do...