I know…I used one of those “clickbait” headlines that are common on social media now. I couldn’t resist. The chatter about possible iMac upgrades coming prompted me to write this.
Anyway, my reasoning is simple. Years ago my wife and I each had 27” 5K iMacs. The displays were gorgeous. Over time, we needed to replace the iMacs. The first because it needed a repair that would cost almost as much as getting a new Mac. The second because it could no longer keep up with what I needed it to do. In both cases, of course, the displays were perfectly good. And yet, we had to part with the iMacs for next to no money…especially the one that needed a repair. I wound up giving that one to Apple to recycle.
To replace our Macs…my wife shifted to a MacBook Air with an external 4K 27” display. I got a Mac Studio with an Apple Studio Display. The new displays alone cost us about $2400. That is money that we would have not had to spend if we could have repurposed the old iMac displays with our new computers. The iMac displays were almost as good or better (for my wife’s display) than our replacements. But Apple makes that virtually impossible.
If we had both gotten iMacs, we would have had to give up a 27” display for the iMac’s 24.5” and faced the same dilemma again when the new iMacs needed to be replaced. With the Mac Studio or a Mac mini or a MacBook+external display, we have much more flexibility and we’ll save big bucks in the end by upgrading our Macs and keeping our displays. Even if a 30” iMac Pro comes out, I can’t see considering one anymore.
I can see that the iMac retains an appeal to a certain category of user — the remnant of those who were attracted to the simplicity of the all-in-one desktop design. But that’s not me anymore. And I suspect for most people here, it is not you either. My 2¢.
I came to this conclusion a long time ago, when the first iMacs shipped. And even before that, in the days of the “classic” Macs.
I never wanted to buy an all-in-one computer from any vendor for precisely the same reason. Displays last much longer than computers. That was the case back in the days of CRT displays and is even more true today.
FWIW, I’m still using the first LCD display I ever bought. A Dell 2405 FPW that I bought in 2005 for use with my QuickSilver-2002 PowerMac is still working great. That display has been used on all my subsequent desktop systems (2011 Mac mini server, 2018 mini, and now a 2024 mini). The only thing I needed to keep it going has been a DVI-HDMI adapter dongle, which Apple bundled with the 2011 Mac mini.
Yes, 1920x1200 is considered low resolution by today’s standards, but, on a 24" screen (about 94 ppi), it’s never been a problem. And although I’ve kicked around the idea of replacing it with something larger (possibly an ultra-wide display), I haven’t done so, because, like you, I have a problem with getting rid of something that still works.
I had and heavily used a 2010 27” iMac until 2022. I will admit that there were some irregularities that showed up in the display late in its life, and it wasn’t a 5K or retina display, so I wasn’t sad to replace it. I now have a Studio and a Studio Display, and I’m hoping to someday find enough desk space to add a second Studio Display
That said – I think no one really internalized how much of the cost of a 27” retina iMac was actually the display. A decently-equipped 27” iMac came in at $2500-$3000, but you were really paying $1600 for the display and $900-$1400 for “the rest of the computer”.
Before I got that 2010 iMac, I actually had a history of my (desktop) Macs outliving their (separate) displays. But I think with modern LCD displays that’s not as likely to happen.
This is exactly my objection to the iMac design. The other human in our household has had two, one of which I got for him from a friend who was getting a new one. Fixing anything on most of the models was/is a major pain, and Rossmann’s, the place where I had gotten my MacBook Pro worked on and got SSD upgrades for two 2012 Minis, did not do iMacs.
Aside from repair issues, I would much rather choose my displays separately, and I need to be able to use the displays with KVMs.
Providing no path to repurpose iMacs as displays seems horribly wasteful to me.
For me, nothing beats the beauty, simplicity, and calm of an iMac with wireless keyboard and trackpad. A virtually empty desk, with only the power cord running to the back of the unit. As close to an “invisible computer” as you can get.
I have a similar experience. When my 2019 27" iMac died I ended up replacing it with a Macbook Air and a 32" LG monitor instead of the current iMac with a smaller screen. It works well but I miss the old iMac. For example the iMac had 1Tb storage but the MBA only has 500Gb. I have had to store my photo library on an external SSD but otherwise the setup works reasonably well.
I have a 27” i9 iMac with 48Gb RAM, a Vega Pro graphics card and 1Tb SSD sitting on the floor awaiting an offload to some sales site. I’ll be lucky to get 800 EU for it.
It kills me that I can’t just use it as a monitor.
Interesting point. I have used laptops for so long, and while it worked, older iMacs as displays, that I haven’t used a standalone display for a loong time. I take it from other posts here generally though, that those who use them really spend some time in purchase decisions and really value their qualities, so I can kind of see the attachment to large standalone displays. Looking forward to reading replies.
Back in the day, 27” iMacs and especially 27” Retina display models had a much better display than you could get with a stand alone external display. In terms of costing of the entire package. I have worked with architects for a long time. And those displays were mostly gorgeous and SHARP which if you’re doing CAD is a seriously big deal.
But in 2020 one office with a pile of older aging 27” iMacs totally switched to M1 16” MacBook Pros with everyone getting an HP Z27k display in the hot seat office and at home. One 4K 27” display with power delivery, wired Ethernet, and USB ports using only one cable between the display and laptop. The interesting part is the laptops are now outlasting the displays. Of 14 M1s purchased only one has had a hardware failure but it was a screen going bad. But several of the displays have gone out of service. And we now have a few M2s, M4s, and M5 MacBook Pros.
Well, you could use screen sharing to display some other computer’s screen on it. But that’s a big waste of CPU and network bandwidth.
Another option, if hardware-hacking is something you’re comfortable with, is gutting the iMac, replacing the motherboard with a display controller board, to turn it into a plain monitor. You can do some web searching to see what’s involved (Here’s one example).
The nice thing about that approach, is that you can keep the display for use with newer computers, and you can sell the removed Apple boards on eBay so they won’t have to be trashed/recycled.
I also remember seeing a 19" laptop at Micro Center many years ago. I think it was also made by Acer. Far too big to be used on the go, but quite nice if you plan on setting it up on desks after you get to wherever you’re taking it.
I really like my iMac Pro 27”, but it is definitely showing signs of age. Not the computer itself – it still runs well with software that is supported on it, but it is not compatible with MacOS 26 (which I like) and will likely lose more (or all support) with MacOS 27. If Apple releases a new silicon iMac Pro (or at least a 27” or larger iMac, I would likely buy one. These days my 16” MacBook Pro M4 is my main computer, but I miss the larger screen when I’m editing photos.
I may buy a Studio Display to use with the MacBook and retire the iMac, but I’ll miss it.
I use my MacBook Pro every day with an external monitor for photo editing. The monitor is also connected to a 2012 Mini (backup system) and a Mac Studio (M1). I only rarely use a laptop without an external display.
When I replace any computer that still works, I feel bad about recycling it.
Case in point: I recently replaced a 2011 MacBook Air with a new 2026 M5 Air. The 2011 Air still works fine, but I can’t use it because there is no secure web browser compatible with the platform, and my primary usage is web surfing when I’m on the road.
I could run Linux on it, but the software I want to use is for macOS. It’s really too old for anybody else to find useful, and has a $0 trade-in value.
So it’s going to be recycled. But I definitely don’t feel good about it.
t does seem a waste, but it’s not as big a one as with an iMac. I gave up on Macs with integrated displays. I gave my wife an Bonzi Blue iMac, but I needed a larger screen. I gave up on Mac displays after the first generation Apple Display started flickering. My current 27 inch screen came from Dell and is attached to a 2024 Mini. I only use my 13-inch MacBookAir 2017 when I’m away from my home office, and find the screen display difficult to use because of the font size needed to show the screen. I also don’t like the laptop keyboard; it’s too cramped for me to comfortably touch-type.
Back in the day our local MUG had a member who would collect old Macs, freshen them up and outfit schools in Africa with them. One man’s effort but I often recall him when upgrading now.
