Apple iMac M1

5owners with an opinion

80%of verdicts positive

1/1positive/negative since 2024

0.5 yrslongest happy owner

0happy after 3+ years

Praised for performance; criticized for portability and repairability.

What people wrote

Likes itOwned 0.5 years

To me this sounds like issues on the Adobe side. I worked for 6 months on an M1 iMac with 8GB ram - it ran Xcode, iOS Sim, figma, slack, safari, terminal, calendar and zoom simultaneously for work on a large iOS app with zero issues. I used it because it was faster than using my i9 MBP 16” with 32GB of RAM - the MBP would be blasting its fans constantly with the same workload. Now I’m on an M2 Air and I don’t see myself needing to upgrade in the next 2-3 years.

Doesn’t like it

It's wild but my own issue free MacOS era was OS9 on my iBook G3 clamshell. Had to replace a harddrive (bounced down a stairwell, but held together) and upgraded the ram, but other than that fine experience. My next Mac was a 2008 Macbook Pro (non-unibody) that had backlight issues out of the box, failed display cable two years in, and then the GPU failed. (Nvidia plague era, and Steve Jobs silence plague era of shit-ass fan curves) To this day I still refuse to trust Apple's fan curves and install fan control software. Especially the M1 iMac with the cut down graphics that they only gave one fan and a smaller heatsink. Watched it break 100C regularly. The m1/m2 mac mini might be the only one I've never had issues with the stock fan curves so far, but I still bump them up anyway for peace of mind. I don't see a reason to let an SoC hit 98C even if its rated to do so.

Likes it

I’ve been using an M1 iMac as my main home computer (with 16 GB RAM, 1 TB SSD) and have zero reason to upgrade. I’ve loved it. Exactly what I need, though I offload a lot of home server type tasks to a big tower PC, including messing with local AI stuff. BUT a new hockey puck Mac mini that shared a screen with my gaming PC would be a nice space-saver. If only the studio display could switch inputs—using macOS on a curved gaming monitor seems weird.

Likes it

I needed to buy an iMac for my wife's new job, and could only afford the base model iMac M1 24" - 8 GB RAM, small storage, limited Thunderbolt ports, but it's still been the best computer we've ever had, bar none. My wife abused it with huge catalogs built in Adobe InDesign, as well as projects in Illustrator and Photoshop, and the only thing that's held us back is the small storage when Photoshop feels like it doesn't have enough scratch disk. We haven't even noticed the 7 core GPU (vs the 8 core the midrange model gets). Anectdata aside, you know your workflow better than I do so I won't tell you 8 GB should be enough. It definitely makes it less future proofed for sure.

Likes it

> What room do you use in the house? Had to move from central London to a suburb to afford a house with a dedicated cabinet. One of the best decisions I made at the beginning of the pandemic. I am sure my mental health has improved a lot with the option to "close" the cabinet at 6 PM and disconnect from my work till morning. > Do you have a special desk? A basic standing desk I bought on Amazon. It is okay. But now I am thinking to buy a new solid one. Standing desks tend to be wobble, and it can be not very pleasant. > What monitors do you have? iMac M1 24". I have LG 5k 24" as well on the table. But I turn it on only to connect to the iPad or when I have to present something online. > Keyboard? Ultimate Hacking Keyboard[0] 60 v1 with a palm rest. One of the best purchases at the beginning of the work from home/isolation trends. > Mouse? Apple Magic Trackpad. Do not like mouses. > Do you work from a laptop? Used to. But with the shift to the work from home situation, I switched to iMac—a more prominent display, quiet, better ergonomic. > Do you move around the house? Yes, but only for meetings. I usually make calls (Zoom, Google Meet) from my iPhone to move around. The second reason I do so, by the way, is the terrible Bluetooth stack on the current Apple Silicon machines and the inability of Google Sevices to work reliable anywhere except Google Chrome in the latest version. > What other equipment? - iFi ZEN DAC[1] for music - BenQ WiT e-Reading Desk Lamp[2] - Apple AirPods