That isn’t what I meant, but okay.
It’s an easy all-in-one solution for consumers. The Mac Mini requires you to buy an external keyboard and mouse, not to mention that you have to pick out for a monitor that’ll suit your needs.
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LOL. Enjoy the crow, brah! 
Agree, the 24 inch iMac does appear to be geared for home users. We shall see what happens with the 27 inch though. That’s what I want to see!
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If I wasn’t a developer I would love the iMac. The only thing wrong with it is the amount of RAM. Or if it could do target display mode I could use it with the work laptop at least.
I think it’s going to be a hit, however we measure success in desktops these days.
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I will definitely be buying the 24” iMac as soon as it becomes available, that’s for sure.
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If one gets the cheap iMac instead of buying the comparable Mac Mini it works out to…what…$600 extra for the monitor, mouse, and keyboard?
That’s a horrible value if the user is the sort that’s willing to head to Best Buy and drop $200 total on the cheapest mouse, keyboard, monitor, and adapter that they can.
But if you actually want the Apple KB & mouse that’s almost $200 right there. The monitor isn’t a $400 value, but it might be approaching $250 to $300 - and it includes a 1080p webcam as a bonus.
So to me the base model doesn’t feel completely outrageously overpriced. Upgrades are ridiculous as always, but no different than the any other Apple product. 
I’m the only consumer around.
I plan on buying the blue one. I’ve been waiting for this iMac forever. I don’t even care if it’s a “downgrade” from my current machine. It’s still perfectly powerful enough for most tasks.
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wow - I am genuinely surprised by the negative reaction to the iMac (edit: on this thread) - it’s quite an attractive device IMO and I think it’s going to be wildly popular among non-tech nerds. Granted I’ll wait for the M1X 27-30" or whatever, but this is a very promising start.
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Yeah, the display is fantastic. If you think it’s. 300 value you don’t know what you’re talking about.
I’m assuming you think it’s worth less than that?
Sorry, I’m on my phone. It’s closer to 600, and that’s looking at 4K 24” monitors, which this isn’t.
I’m basing my $300 number on about what a 24" LG 4K runs at Best Buy. Basically I’m trying to use the numbers the average consumer making the decision would probably have available.
I was pricing base model vs. base model, but point taken on the slightly nicer ones.
That’s where I think we disagree - I don’t think most of them know better. And while I’d like to hope that’s not true, it’s not borne out in my experience.
For the people who really want to do backup, I’m not sure they’d spring for the extra storage on the Mac when an external SSD is dirt cheap comparatively and has the benefit of being removable.
And I wasn’t. I was comparing actual specs.
And you guys are forgetting the webcam, speakers and mic.
I mentioned the webcam as additional value, but I forgot about the speakers & mic. Good catch.
All that to say, I can definitely see somebody being able to cost-justify the iMac vs. the Mini if they’re not already bringing a monitor, keyboard, etc. to the table.
I’ll toss in my $0.02.
iMac - this is the size my wife and I both want. She upgraded her 21.5” iMac for a 27” in 2017. The size has just been too large for the spaces where she wants to use it. I’m currently using a 2015 Air with a Thunderbolt Display. Combination takes a lot of disk space. The 24” screen will be just about right. We like the colors but a little ambivalent about the 2 tone effect. I really like the red but not sure about the rose gold accent. Wife wants the blue. Will relegate our older Airs for use when traveling.
iPad - We just got new iPads last year so there’s nothing compelling to make us upgrade.
TouchID keyboard - handy but I’ve gotten used to unlocking with my watch so it’s not as useful as it might have been. I prefer a keyboard with a numeric pad. My wife prefers a backlit keyboard.
Apple TV - We currently have 2 ATVs, a HD and a 2nd gen. Thinking about getting the new one and move the HD to the bedroom TV.
Airtags - Wife wants them more than I do. Thinking about 2 for the dogs, one for her purse, and I’d like to attach one to her pencil that she keeps misplacing.
Purple iPhone - Meh, my XR and wife’s XS Max are still doing great. Don’t plan to upgrade until 2022 or 23.
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Any all-in-one or miniature desktop should generally be expected to have similar processing capabilities to that of a laptop. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Two USB-C ports and 256GB of storage should be perfectly adequate for most people.
They’re taller than laptops, but they’re also narrower than laptops. The advantage isn’t there.
I used to use a 27" iMac (the 2013 revision). It was ultimately too big for my liking. At least I didn’t have to worry about the battery dying on me or very loud fans whirring up. Things have improved even more with Apple Silicon I assume?
What I’m hearing from the M1 crowd is that even the MacBook Air is rivaling the Intel iMacs, performance-wise.
I’ll grant the RAM and ports argument, but the RAM integration (i.e. non-upgradeability) is part of what makes the M1 perform substantially better, isn’t it?
And none of the current 27" iMacs can even be configured beyond 2TB (the same as the upper limit for the M1-based Macs) until you hit the very top model in the line. Was more than 2TB ever available on the 21.5?
I would fully expect iMacs with higher RAM ceilings and faster processors (and thus more cooling, I would guess) coming down the road, but if you had the opportunity to get the 21.5" Intel Mac that was “current” as of a week or so ago or the current M1, unless you needed either the extra ports or more than 16GB of RAM I don’t even think it would be a contest, would it?
It seems you’re arguing that the iMacs should blow the laptops away. That’s definitely true on some level, and if we get to the end of the ARM transition and Apple hasn’t dropped some processors that are significantly better than the M1 I’ll be disappointed.
But with the M1 transition I feel like they’re bringing laptop performance up to the iMac level, rather than dropping the iMac to the laptop level. It’s a matter of perspective of course, but it’s the sort of thing I keep hearing from the people who have used the M1.
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