FiddleMaker Loc: Merrimac, MA

Yes, the Mac Studio is very tempting but I am closing in on80 years old and will never live long enuf to get the benefit of such a nice system.

Alfresco

I bought a 27" iMac in January and later upgraded the RAM to 100 GB installed. I would do it all again if I had my druthers. With the 24" iMac you can get it built with 16 GB of RAM but that's all. The 27" iMac is still available at Costco and I'm sure at a few other locations. You can trade in your current iMac even if you don't buy one from Apple. They send you a box for shipping and a label, just saying.

cjc2 Loc: Hellertown PA

Sorry to agree. You can trade it on a Mac with an M Series chip.

FiddleMaker Loc: Merrimac, MA

Can I use Lightroom/Photoshop on the 24" M1 machine ? Is there enuf RAM ?

imagerybox Loc: Elgin, IL

You may find these links helpful in your decision.

https://markellisreviews.com/8gb-vs-16gb-m1-macbook-does-it-even-matter/

https://medium.com/macoclock/who-really-needs-16gb-in-their-m1-mac-f9f76c087577

JimG1 Loc: Waxahachie, TX

Since I'm looking to upgrade my Mac, a late 2012 21", I find this conversation interesting and popped over to the Apple store to check the cost between the two. The 27" Mac is no longer sold on the Apple site. You could go with the Mac Mini with a 27" display and have the M1 chip along with the larger screen for about the same price as the 27" Mac if I remember correctly.

happy sailor Loc: Ontario, Canada

I have the new 14 inch MacBook Pro with the M1 Pro processor, 16 GB of memory and 1TB SSD. There are no issues with whether or not PS can run with this amount of ram. It runs just fine. When on my desk, I have it connected to a 27" BenQ monitor. I replaced my 27 inch iMac with this configuration and am quite happy. My old iMac had 32 GB of memory and this new one is an excellent improvement.

I have read others comments that have the MacBook Air with the M1 chipset and 16 GB memory and they are having no problems at all running PS.

Rendering video on my machine has been great too. At the very worst I expect that with 16 GB of memory I may experience some slowness but haven't seen any yet.

It has been my experience that the Mac systems have never required the amount of ram that the Windows system seems to need.

some of the previous suggestions about the new Studio might be a great way to go if you never want the computer other than at your desk but if you want portability at a MacBook Pro or Air with a monitor for your desk might be the way to go.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Apple has DISCONTINUED the 27" Intel iMac. The replacement for now is the Mac Studio desktop computer with separate Studio Display.

For my money, the 24" iMac is a great buy if you need decent speakers, a 1080P webcam, great built-in microphones, a keyboard, and a mouse or trackpad. Don't buy the base model, as it lacks an Ethernet jack, one fan, and two ports, all of which you get with the mid-tier models. Nicely spec'd with 1TB SSD and 16GB UNIFIED memory, the mid-tier model costs around $2100.

The Mac Studio with M1 Pro processor looks like a Mac mini with a taller case. It is a more powerful machine than any of the base M1 Macs, but with 32GB UNIFIED Memory and 1TB SSD storage, it's $2200 *without* a monitor, keyboard, mouse, mics, speakers, and webcam. (If you have those items from your current computer, they should work with the Mac Studio.)

I'm using a 2020 M1 MacBook Air with 1TB SSD and 16GB Unified Memory. It has been a dream to use, and I have not been able to choke it yet. I connect it to an LG 27UP850-W monitor with USB cable, so it gets charged by the monitor power supply. It's the best of both worlds, portable and desktop.

The new Macs are either noiseless or whisper quiet. The M1 Air has NO fan, yet never gets more than warm when pushed hard. My son has a 14" M1 Pro MacBook Pro, and it is silent enough under heavy load not to be heard "on microphone" while recording audio.

The new Apple Silicon machines are faster than the Intel machines they replace, and faster than most Intel machines running Windows that are in the same price classes. Since they use about one third the power as did the old Intel machines, they are less expensive to operate.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

I'm one of those that have the MacBook Air with the M1 chipset and 16 GB memory. I'm thoroughly satisfied. My son has the same computer as you are using. It rips through 4K video like a hot knife through butter. It screams through Photoshop renders.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Nice rundown, Bill. Thanks for the additional information.
--Bob

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

YES, emphatically, there is enough UNIFIED MEMORY. That is RAM shared with all processor cores, so nothing has to be bounced around from RAM to VRAM.

What truly matters is not how much Unified Memory you have, but how much on-board SSD you have! Your MacOS operating system needs room on the SSD to perform virtual memory swaps. The M1 SSDs are so fast, the user cannot tell when swaps are taking place, or the system is working from actual unified memory.

That is why you can load up with 10-12 heavy applications and not see the computer bog down. The foreground app uses the memory it needs. The OS spools all other open apps to SSD storage while you're working with the foreground app. When you switch, it shuffles.

I have successfully run 47 apps in 16GB Unified Memory on my MacBook Air. But I leave over half my 1TB internal SSD EMPTY. All my files are on external SSDs and conventional drives. I noticed a little slow down, but everything still worked.

My son initially had the same machine with 8GB unified memory and 512GB SSD. He quickly filled up the SSD with 4K video and found that the system had no room to breathe! We moved everything but apps and the OS to external SSDs, and performance returned to normal.

Apple Silicon truly is amazing. But as good as it is, I would get at least 16GB and 1TB if you generate lots of large images or 4K video or multi-track audio (we do). Jay got a 14" MacBook Pro with 32GB unified memory and 1TB SSD. It screams. Yet it runs NO FASTER on single core applications like MS 365 Office apps, Safari, Mail, and other everyday apps.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

One thing to consider is how much longer Apple will support Intel hardware with MacOS and other Mac application updates. At some point, they will drop dual processor support and go forward with ONLY Apple Silicon compatibility. That could be several years off, but I'd avoid the issue and buy an M1 or later Apple Silicon machine.

It took them four years to drop support for Power PC processors and six years to drop support for Rosetta PowerPC-to-Intel code translation when they transitioned to Intel machines. So over that time, every application had to be updated/upgraded. Many peripheral manufacturers dragged their feet and never updated older hardware drivers.

The sands of time wash over all computerized devices in about five to seven years. Your old stuff might still "work", but that's relative to what you need to do.

BobHartung Loc: Bettendorf, IA

Just ordered Mac media with 129 GB of RAM.

FiddleMaker Loc: Merrimac, MA

I just Googled: Mac media with 129 GB of RAM but I got totally confused with all the stuff that popped up on the screen.

neillaubenthal

The Intel iMac is very slow compared to the M1 chip in the 24 inch. Apple has almost completed the transition to their own Apple silicon chips…and at this point any Mac that doesn’t have Apple silicon M1 chip is obsolete. That said…the M1 iMac only has a 24 inch 4K monitor…so you need to decide whether that’s adequate or whether you want a 5K monitor. If the former…the M1 iMac is fine although a bit underpowered compared to the Pro or Max versions of the M1…but the M1 nothing still runs rings around *any* Intel iMac. If you want 5K…something like an LG 5K monitor and an M mini would be a good choice…or if budget allows the Mac Studio with M1 Max chip and the 5K monitor of your choice…the new Studio display is excellent, same panel as the former 27 inch iMac…but at $1600 it’s not the budget option.