That’s the latest rumor, from “credible sources,” apparently. So my dilemma: I have a Late 2013 27" iMac. Big Sur is not supported, so I’m stuck on Catalina. I’d been hoping the new 27" iMacs would be coming this year. Should I wait? Should I get an M1 Mini and a 27" monitor? Should I get the new 24" iMac and settle for a smaller screen? I could probably get by with 16GB RAM and 1TB SSD (what I currently have), which both of the “buy now” options support.
I would not expect an iMac before spring 2022. This fall will most likely be about iPhone 13 and the M1X MBPs. Perhaps a high-end mini, but I definitely do not expect a high-end iMac. I would expect that to come later, closer to the M-version of the Mac Pro.
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I have a 2010 27” iMac and am in a similar position. I’m just going to keep using High Sierra and waiting as long as I need to. If my computer actually dies before large-screen Apple Silicon iMacs are out, I’ll have to make a quick choice between buying an M1 mini with an external monitor as my new primary machine and using my wife’s MacBook Pro with a scrounged external monitor as a stopgap until the new iMacs actually come out. But Plan A is to just keep the old machine running as long as I can.
Dave
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I’d be holding off until after any releases in Sep/Oct. If there’s no news on iMacs there I’d go for an M1 Mini and a good 27” monitor.
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If you are in a situation where your old machine absolutely needs to be replaced, but you know that you really want the next revolutionary upgrade, not the current evolutionary one, you might consider getting a replacement now. The replacement could be the current evolutionary machine, or you may temporarily sacrifice a few capabilities to get a lesser version of the revolutionary one.
Once the the machine you really want is released, you should be able to get a good price for the relatively new machine you are replacing. The only additional costs will be the difference between the price you paid for your temp machine and its trade-in value and the cost in time of doing two upgrades rather than one. For that cost, you got to work with less frustration over the time gap.
When I upgrade a device that has trade-in value, the true cost of the new machine is not the list price, but the difference between what I pay for the new machine and the price I can get for the old one. Over time, I find that upgrading every few years is not much more costly that doing so once per decade.
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I’m running a current generation 27 inch Intel iMac…and have pretty much made the decision that if it need replacement I’ll get a mini and a a decent monitor. I run Lightroom on it and it’s the household server or else I would just use the new Apple Silicon MBP once it’s released and plug it into a monitor and drives when needed…
Not interested in a smaller screen…heck sometimes in the Library module in LR 27 isn’t big enough when using the grid mode for looking at images.
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Hey Jeff,
My workhorse 17" MacBook Pro died, and I’m fumbling along with a Mid-2012 MacBook Air.
I desperately want more power, storage, and screen real estate – but I’m disappointed by all of Apple’s recent systems and refuse to upgrade to Apple Silicon until M1X is out (unless for some unforeseen reason I absolutely have to).
I’ve bought Apple’s lower-end tech twice before because of timing and price and was highly disappointed (and stuck) with the result both times.
I advise waiting unless you really can’t.
-Chris
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If you need to get something before new models are out, you can get a mini and use it from your iMac via screen sharing. You’ll want to get a headless video widget that makes the mini think it’s connected to a large monitor, a la:
NewerTech HDMI Headless 4K Display Emulator NWTADP4KHEAD B&H
You’ll still need a monitor for setup and some kinds of maintenance, and booting if you don’t want to have it auto login (which negates any security from turning on filevault), but that can be any cheap small monitor and it can likely live in a closet most of the time. I regularly screen share into two or three minis (2011, 2014 and 2018) and they typically go months without my needing to connect to a real monitor.
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Thanks everyone for the thoughtful and insightful comments and suggestions. This forum is such an oasis! I think I’ve decided to kick the can to at least the fall new product announcements, and re-evaluate at that time if in fact a 27" Mx iMac is not announced.
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While for some the M1 Mac mini might seem better than the current M1 iMac, consider the cost and availability of quality monitors. We were trying to buy 27" monitors of 4K or higher pixel count with video over USB-C. From Dell that means a 2-4 month wait. I found a nice Phillips that was even better than the Dells we wanted – it included Ethernet ports – but in 2 days the price jumped by $200. So if a good monitor is important to you start looking at the monitor market, it ain’t pretty. And I’m assuming you don’t want to lay out $6,000 for Apple’s display.
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