iMac M1 Configuration

Looking for suggestions/opinions. My Dad is an active 90+ year old. He uses his current iMac (2014) for email, internet shopping, occasional photos or video watching. He wants a new M1 iMac. Does he need 16 GB of RAM? Does he need more than 256 GB SSD. I consider myself a Power User, photo editor, use DevonThink, have a Synology NAS so it was easy for me to choose my 16 GB/512 M1 MBP. For my Dad I doubt he needs all this but I don’t want to buy him a machine that will be slow and have no room for the future. Thoughts? Thanks in advance.

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I’m not sure, but the fact that your dad is 90+ and doing all of this is pretty phenomenal. That’s awesome!

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I think it’s a common misconception that only “power users” benefit from great hardware. Even if your dad doesn’t use all the extra apps, he’ll notice how fast and responsive the machine is, and he won’t have to wait on anything if you do get the extra ram.

For the disk, I’d just see what he’s using now. If he’s getting close tow I get out his current configuration, then up the disk to the next highest level for room to grow.

Bottom line, buy the best computer you can afford at the time, you won’t regret it.

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Absolutely, lord willing we could all be thinking about a new iMac in our 90’s!

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I purchased around 120 - 150 Macs between 2009 - 2018, and of those probably 80% or so were base model computers. The average office user, IMO, doesn’t need more than 8gb ram.

And in this case, if he should fill up the 256GB SSD your dad can always plug in a Samsung T-5 or T-7 external drive. I only had macOS and apps on the internal 128GB of my 2018 Mac mini. My entire home directory was on an external T-7 and performance was excellent.

I’ve not used an M1 more than a few hours but I have used my 2020 iPad Pro for around a year. I can edit 4K video and render it at close to real time, and my iPP has 6GB ram. So any of the new iMacs should be able to match or beat that, IMO. Unfortunately because Apple was cheap and only put two ports on the base model I would probably go for the $1499 8gb/256 iMac.

So, that’s my $0.02 based on your description of your dads needs. Here’s some more information from a YouTuber with whom I usually agree:

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Thanks for the kind words and suggestions. Made it easier to help him choose. He’s only using 100 GB of his current 256 HDD so we went with the 256 GB storage. Opted for the 16 GB RAM just to give him the best experience. He’s a Veteran of WWII so he qualifies for an Apple 10% discount so all all a good deal.
Again thanks for the quick and helpful responses.

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I’m currently using a dual core MBA with 8gb and push it harder than your dad so any configuration would work well for him. Can’t wait to get my new iMac.