My current system is a 2017 Intel iMac, which has done good service, but keeps telling me not to just unplug external drives, which makes me think there could be a port/ controller issue coming down the track. That, plus the fact that the next generations of macOS will undoubtedly be Apple Silicon only, has started me thinking about replacing it.
Now, I’m rapidly approaching my 70s and if I keep my next machine as long as my other macs, this could well be the last I ever get. I’m quite taken by the new Mac minis, especially their high speed ports, as that would let me put my photo library on a good external disk. I’ve been promising myself that I’ll go through and edit trove of photos I’ve accumulated since the year dot, also digitise and edit a fairly large selection of slides and negatives from earlier days.
With that in mind, and wanting to future proof against whatever demands Apple Intelligence and OS/ software upgrades may throw at us, what configuration and what monitor would you go for? Indeed, would you go for a mini? Cost is not critical as, like I said, this could well be my last ever Mac.
The Mac Mini is definitely the Mac of choice for me when it comes to a desktop setup.
I have had two iMacs and I tried the Mac Studio in the past. I always have returned to the Mac Mini. I think that it is a very capable machine and especially with the recent upgrades and the new form factor, the Mac Mini is a fast, extremely efficient and beautiful beast, especially with its M4 Pro configuration. Jason Snell of Sixcolors.com said on a recent podcast that he seriously is considering ditching the Mac Studio in favor of a Mac Mini when upgrading maybe in 2025.
“Cost is not critical”…
Well, the Apple Studio Display for sure is my dream come true for a display, but it is too expensive for my taste. In other words: this dream has not come true for me yet. You could even push it higher to a Pro Display XDR, but that really may be overkill.
If you are thinking about getting a more expensive desktop Mac model, the Mac Studio may be interesting, but not right now, I think. It will get updated to the M4 line, according to Mark Gurman just in time for WWDC in June 2025 at the latest. Is it worth the wait? Not for me. Its performance capabilities do not make sense for me, I was disappointed of its noise (first gen entry model), I really do not need it.
What is important these days when buying a Mac…
RAM (16 GB is absolutely fine, upgrading to 24 or 32 - or even more is helping future-proofing for sure)
Internal SSD storage… I really cannot bear Apple’s price premium on that these days, external SSDs work just fine. Then again, having a lot of storage available internally for sure is nice.
P.S. You made the point twice that your new Mac may be your last one ever… I think almost any current Mac sold these days will last for a long time. It may be an idea to just get a good Mac that fits your needs and getting another one in a couple of years from now. The progress Apple is currently making from CPU generation to CPU generation is absolutely impressive. If cost is not critical, having the option of getting a new one just to enjoy the progress in a few years from now may be a nice idea, too, without thinking about how long you will use it or not. Who knows?
Hopefully, others will have interesting thoughts and ideas, too. It is a personal decision and there are so many answers and good choices.
FWIW, I’ve always just purchased what I think I might need for the next three years. I don’t try to future proof my hardware because my needs might change, or the world might change. Microsoft “wasn’t interested” in the internet in the early 90’s. Apple was caught napping when ChatGPT arrived so now many Apple users are having to upgrade their hardware.
I’m rapidly approaching my 80’s and still not worrying about hardware that can be easily replaced. YMMV.
Thanks. Monitors are an issue with Apple; they’re very nice but very expensive. Have you any suggestions? I am tempted by the Studio monitor, but need to check if it’s HDR before buying.
Actually, all Macs do that. You should always “eject” an external drive before unplugging it. If you don’t, then it complains. This ensures that all reads and writes are completed and no data is lost or corrupted. Sometimes writes can happen in the background and not be completed even though the GUI suggests they are. Ejecting ensures those writes are completed before the device if disconnected.
I’m a couple of years younger than you, I think, and I keep thinking that I should think the same thing. (However, as I tend to give in and buy another one every three or four years, I suspect that my forever machine will have a descendant or two – or I least I hope so…)
I have a Mac Studio M2 at the moment, with an Apple Studio Display.
My suggestion is really to do with the monitor. You’ve got an iMac so you’re used to a top quality 5K 27" monitor: as the next one is going to last and money isn’t a problem, do you really want to make do with a cheaper and lower quality screen ‘for ever’? I decided I didn’t, even though I had a good 4k LG screen. I’m glad I bought the Studio Display.
Now back to considering whether I can pretend that the promised tariff increase of 20-40% on Apple machines justifies replacing my 3 year old MBP M1 Pro…
I’m two months shy of 76 and use a 2020 27" iMac as my main computer and am facing the same issue over the “last time buy”. But there are two factors outside of ones control:
How long do I have to live?
When will Apple do the next change forcing an update?
I feel that technological advancements will make item 2 a greater possibility than item 1, even at my age. Forget about future proofing. Buy at least what you need if not what you want today, and expect to have to replace it in the future.
ADDED: Back in the early 80’s I knew a fellow who had terminal cancer. He bought an Apple ][, which was knowingly his “last time buy”. But I’m praying that this doesn’t apply to anyone here.
having studied and taught 2 Corinthians 4 last week and 2 Cor 5 this coming Sunday, reading a post about ’this will likely be the last computer I buy’ hit me a little bit different
Financial planners recommend a healthy person planning for retirement should plan to live to 95. Of course, none of us knows how long we will actually live, but 95 is as good an age to pick as any.
I agree that the Mini is a great choice for many people but I really prefer my M1 iMac. Screen is perfect size for me and it has plenty of power. At 73, I figure I’ll have at least one more Mac. I tend to keep my Macs 5-7 years.
As for cars I bought a ‘91 Miata in 1999, drove and raced it until 2012. I think that’s the longest I’ve owned a car.
Didn’t make myself clear, it’s giving me the message on an external drive that has’t been unplugged or even moved — it’s taped to the back of the machine.
As for skinflint, I was afraid you’d all think I was for hanging on to old stuff. I love the 25 year old truck — how many miles on it?
Further question, thus time about memory and how much you need.
If I bought a Studio display, how much of the unified memory would it consume? I’m naively assuming two buffers, with 3 (RGB) 32 bit ints per pixel and 5120 x 2280 pixels. That’s about 280 MB, so it doesn’t make a big difference to memory available for applications on the baseline 16GB machine.
Also, has anyone any comments on swap? My guess is that the very high disk access speeds make it unnoticeable.
Now I’m curious about the set up. It could be a number of things causing the issue, including the drive itself, the wire, the port, and of course the software. My 2011 Intel iMac has an ssd bungeed to the back and plugged into a Thunderbolt 1 port, and that is the boot drive. The original 1 TB HDD is still in use and used as a data drive. I certainly don’t want to dissuade you from buying a new one, as my M1 MBP is a fantastic machine and does the heavy lifting like video & audio work much faster than the iMac, but if you’re just using it as a utility machine with some media consumption (email, Office, surfing, Youtube - like my kids use the imac) then there’s nothing wrong with being practical and keeping the 2017.
And the Toyota is barely broken in - just turned a mere 180k miles the other day, and I’ve fixed nothing but the starter and the exhaust manifold. And miraculously not a bit of rust on the body or frame. It’s sort of the imac of trucks.
You’re undoubtedly right and I should try trouble shooting the drive before looking to a new machine! It’s an SSD Velcro taped onto the stand and plugged into the USB C port, thinking about it maybe the cable is stiff enough that the connector gets stressed if I move monitor.
The other reason was, how long will Apple support macOS on Intel? And what useful features will they miss? Apple Intelligence for a start, and that sounds a potentially useful technology. I’m already two generations of OS behind (Ventura) because Apple stopped MailTags from running on anything newer. I reckoned more and more would just stop working over time.
This is what I dislike about external disk drives and why I miss my Apple Time Capsule (wireless backup!) On my M1 MacBook Air, the Thunderbolt cable to my external display comes out the left-hand side of the Mac where it is easy to bump. As the disk drive which runs hourly backups is connected to a port on that display, the drive can become disconnected without first being properly ejected. I’ve had to place a makeshift shim under the connector in an attempt to improve its stability.
You could even push it higher to a Pro Display XDR, but that really may be overkill.
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