So I have here a couple of the brand new M1 imacs. I have the base model 1200 and 99 dollar
version and I have a speced up 1800 and 99 dollar version…….so, should you pay more?
Sponsored by caldigit.
Hey, I’m Jerry and yes, I bought 2 of the new 24” M1 iMacs so that I could compare
them and see if it is worth getting a speced up version……Both of these computers come
with the same M1 chip Apple has been putting in all of these devices in the last 6 or 7
months. It’s the 8 core CPU, 8 Core GPU, 16 core neural engine….whatever that does…..and
it starts with 8 gb of unified memory.
The base model over here has that M1, 8GB of ram and 256GB of storage. This upgraded
version has the M1 with 16GB of ram and 512gb of storage. There are a couple of other differences
that we will get to in just a moment.
First off, both of these imacs come with the brand new, super thin design. Think of Large
ipads on a stand. I will admit that in person, its pretty crazy to see a display this thin
but then also realize that it also has a pretty darn fast computer attached to it.
The iMac mounts to an all new stand that is color matched to the iMac and tilts back and
forth……On the front you have a 23.5” display that is running at 4.5k resolution
and is surrounded by a white bezel and a chin.
Love or hate the design that’s what we have and I would prefer a chinless design and a
black bezel, but its not up to me.
The bottom of the iMacs are perforated for the new 6-speaker audio system that has 2
pairs of force canceling woofers and a tweeter but also for the iMac’s fans.
The new iMacs also come with a brand new Camera and mic system which is actually pretty impressive
and brings a massive update to the Mac line. The video quality is much improved, thanks
to a new 1080p camera and image processing from the M1, its now on-par or better than
the video on an iPad.
Inside the boxes of these iMacs there are a couple of differences. First, let me say
that this unboxing is wild…….First the imac sits upside down in the box, then the
sides kinda fold out releasing the imac and all the accessories are under a flap. Its
interesting packaging.
Each iMac gets a color matched USB-C to lightning cable for charging accessories, and a color
matched mouse or trackpad. They each have a braided color matched magnetic power adapter
as well but here, the upgraded iMac actually gets an Ethernet port built into the power
adapter where as the base M1 iMac does not.
Then there is the New color matched magic Keybaord and the upgraded model gets the new
touch ID sensor for the first time on an iMac and the base model just gets the lock button.
And I have to say that after a few days of using the touch id magic keyboard with the
iMac…I love it…Its way more convenient and faster than dealing with the watch unlock
with an iMac and of course its just as good as using touch ID on any recent MacBook.
Alright, so physically, what different?....
The base model has fewer color options and is limited to blue green pink and silver.
…..The upgraded versions can also be had in orange, yellow and purple.
Then there is the ……uh…..ah……the ports on the back…….the base model comes
with just 2 thunderbolt ports which is a bit lacking and then the upgraded models come
with 2 thunderbolt and 2 usb-c ports.
But you know what, no matter which of these iMacs you get, I am willing to bet you either
have more things to plug in or devices that cannot plug in without an adapter of some
kind. And that’s where our sponsor CalDigit comes in.
CalDigit specializes in Thunderbolt and USB-C docks, hubs, and storage devices. No matter
your needs or your budget CalDigit has a device to help make your computers better, inducing
adding ports to your new M1 iMac.
You can use the HDMI Dock to connect to your new iMac and get HDMI output to an external
display, 3 USB-A ports, a USB-C port, UHS-ii sd card reader and 1gb Ethernet.
For even more ports the CalDigit TS3 Plus is the best Thunderbolt dock I have used and
comes with 15 ports that your new iMac desperately wants like displayport, 5 USB-A ports, 2 USB-C
ports, Thunderbolt out, audio in and out, and 1gb Ethernet.
CalDigit Docks can replace all of the ports that are missing in the new 24” iMacs and
then some. And if you need to connect the highest performance external disks and networking
then the Element Hub comes with 4 Thunderbolt 4 Ports which can connect to super fast external
storage or even 10gbps Ethernet with the help of the Connect 10G.
Your new imac can do more with the help of CalDigit.
So, Other than the ports and colors, they are physically the same with a headphone jack
on the left and mic holes up top.
We have a pretty good idea of how these 2 iMacs with M1 will perform but just for completeness
we can look at generic tests like Geekbench and cinebench and then I want to test a video
export with final cut pro and see how Minecraft runs. Also, did you know that these 2 imacs
have different fans?
Starting off with geekbench, the new baseline iMac was able to get 1710 for single-core
and 7567 for multi-core compared to the 1747 and 7717 of the mid-range with 16GB of ram,
pushing the upgraded model a couple hundred points higher on multi-core tests.
I saw the same thing with the geekbench metal tests with the higher end model getting about
2000 points higher at 21788 vs 19846.
With Cinebench R23 We got similar results with the 8gb base model coming in at 1489
and 7132 and the higher end coming in a bit faster with 1506 and 7792.
Now, I just want to point out something about the fans. The baseline iMac actually only
has a single fan compared to the 2 fans in the other model. The M1 processor is so efficient
that I am not sure that the iMac with 2 fans has an advantage over the baseline model when
it comes to thermals but I want to point that out. …..Also, the fan noise sounds different
then previous macs. It really sounds like a TV static or even an amplified speaker that
is turned up way to high with no audio running through it.
During the cinebench test the base iMac fan was running at about 7k rpm and sound like
this………..
The upgraded imac’s fans were running quite a bit lower and although there are 2 fans
they were noticeable more quiet.
Of course when you get closer to them you will hear them but the sound from the fans
on both of these iMacs is not enough to be concerned or irritated by.
Looking at those 2 benchmark tests you might think there is a clear winner, but I was a
bit surprised when it came to my final cut pro export.
Using one of my old videos, both machines performed just fine in the editor with no
issues scrubbing or playing. When exporting the video with the same settings on each machine
I got an export time of 6 minutes and 24 seconds on the bassline iMac which actually beat the
16gb iMac’s time of 6 minutes and 29 seconds.
I mean, they basically performed the exact same on my video export test so what about
with Minecraft?
In Minecraft, both of the M1 iMacs performed exactly as you would expect from an M1 Mac
with mostly jitter free playing and each one hovering at or near 60fps during gameplay.
Also, in general use of browsing, creating docs, watching
video, and most computer tasks, there is an imperceptible difference when using these
iMacs. So, should you pay more? The difference between the base 1299 model
and this 1899 model is broken down like this….
To upgrade the power adapter on the base model it will cost you $30.. To upgrade the magic
keyboard on the base model to add touch ID, that will cost you $50. …..That means that
the 2 extra USB-C ports between the base and mid-tier imac basically costs $120.
Then if you want to upgrade the ram to 16Gb that is $200 and the extra storage is $200
for 512gb.
Since both of these iMacs perform nearly identical you can probably feel good about going with
the base model; however, you may want to consider how much ram your web browser of choice will
want in 2-3 years. So I would still upgrade to 16GB if you can afford it. …….The Magic
Keyboard with Touch ID is NICE and I love it but I don’t think it is a must have.
As far as the ethernet jack on the power adapter and lack of ports? I think you are better
off going with a Thunderbolt Dock like from our sponsor CalDigit, which will give you
many more expansion opportunities than paying $120 for 2 USB-C ports and $30 for Ethernet.
And then you can always connect external storage later if need.
Alright, so, that is my recommendation. Start with the Base model and work your way up and
if you need more ports, get something that will really give you more ports. But, what
do you think? Are you planning on getting one of these new M1 iMacs and if so which
one and what color? Let me know below. If you are interested in the 2 new M1 ipad Pros,
I posted my unboxing and initial testing including Thunderbolt drive speed, so definitely check
that out. Hit the thumbs up button if you liked it, hit subscribe if you want and Ill
see you next time.