[psmith2.0]

Yeah, gonna be interesting to see how this all plays out. Hell, I'm surprised they didn't make that white power supply a color either (or did they?). I mean, why stop there?

I need to get out to that Simply Mac store here in town in the coming weeks to see if they have these things in stock, and a display/demo model set up. I'd love to see one in person, any color. If you guys, a third-party vendor/retailer, are getting them in, then maybe we have some here in town as well.

I keep hearing how nice the display is from multiple sources/owners/reviews...

PS - Apple could simplify their lives (they won't) and just offer any standalone replacement power cabling in silver (or whatever comes with that silver iMac). It's neutral, would go well - what little it's actually seen - with any of the others, and it would be much easier for stores - Apple and otherwise - to keep in stock and not have to worry about the "Sorry, ma'am...we don't have a purple power cable. Can I interest you in pink, blue or yellow?" scenarios.

Yeah, you guys are probably going to have some fun in the coming year.

"Who do I have to blow to get a $#%^# green power cable?!?"

[chucker]

Originally Posted by pscates2.0 Nobody cares about the cabling (a rarely, if ever, seen power cable?). You'll see, what...10-15", at most, before it waterfalls over the back side of your desk?

I guess.

But "The back of this thing looks better than the front of the other guys, by the way," is literally a line from the original iMac introduction, so this, too, kind of gets us back to the roots.

When buying major items for your place like furniture and appliances, yeah, the back technically doesn't matter as much as it's rarely seen, but you don't want it to look terrible either?

Originally Posted by pscates2.0 And the lightning one which many probably won't even use? Yeah, those could've just been left white/light grey/whatever (especially the far-more-important power cable).

But why? I think having a colored Lightning cable is cute.

(I also think making them braided or doing something, anything about the fraying problem is good. I hope the braiding helps here. I can't be the only one who eats through Apple Lightning cables?)

Originally Posted by pscates2.0 What Apple is going to call "attention to detail" and "getting the little things right" (so people like Gruber can tug it over 38 paragraphs), I'm going to call an unasked-for pain-in-the-ass on the parts/service front, and something that never had to happen (but will, guaranteed).

Yeah, but it can be… both.

[kscherer]

Attention to detail is nice, and it is definitely a very nice-looking computer. My complaint has absolutely nothing to do with that. My complaint is that there is going to be a customer service issue going forward. Spare parts availability is going to cause customer trouble with these things, I guarantee it.

[psmith2.0]

Yep.

Every issue I have above is related to that, the coloring on everything. There will be a price to pay for that which will likely override all the “from the back” concerns. Time will tell. I just think it’s a weird priority.

[drewprops]

IF it wasn't a logistical nightmare none of us would probably care, but since this is one of the things we identify with we're irked.

I can imagine the riot of colors that a multi-machine office might enjoy. "Mac Pride" writ large.


...

[Kickaha]

Originally Posted by pscates2.0 "Who do I have to blow to get a $#%^# green power cable?!?"

Hint: he's magically delicious.

[psmith2.0]

Him too, huh? Everybody's got their hand out.

[709]

And that's how I found myself with Rule 34 leprechauns on my screen before noon. *sigh*

[psmith2.0]

Well, that certainly explains its insane thinness.

I knew there had to be something/someone behind that. Color me not surprised one bit. If any problems appear as a result, I’m gonna double down on my mockery/derision of the form-over-function onion head.

My desire for one of these has slightly cooled

[chucker]

Could be. Personally, I think it's easily one of the best Mac designs in a decade.

It would hardly be the first time Apple makes a design that ends up with thermal issues, though.

[psmith2.0]

It is a great design, but it would be a shame if thermal issues, once again, arose because of some of those design decisions. That’s exactly my concern, and it shouldn’t even have to be one. But with him in the mix, though…

On a computer, style/design can't - and shouldn’t - trump real-world usage and performance. If it has to be slightly less sleek and "attractive", but perform properly for the money being asked, then you go with that. At the end of the day these aren’t art objects or made solely for bragging rights.

Maybe with the M1 that’s not going to be the concern/risk it was before. I sure hope so. It seems to run much cooler and more efficiently. These new iMacs haven’t been out in the world long enough, so let’s see what the next few months bring (although I’ve not heard any issues from the M1-based notebooks, and they’re even thinner in the area that holds all the guts.

When I see him involved in anything these past 6-8 years, I just get nervous.

Nobody’s denying his great designs over the past few decades (jellybean iMac, iPod, etc.). But that doesn’t mean he gets a pass on the questionable, unasked-for stuff he’s had a role in more recent years. I don't worship at the altar of Ive. He’s had far more hits, of course, but those hits make those misses really stand out.

[chucker]

Yup, I totally get that.

[PB PM]

Given the total thermal load of the machine, and dual fan setup, heat is very unlikely to be an issue with these new iMacs. It’s more likely to be a supplier type issue. Bad batches of SSDs, RAM chips etc that would bring it down.

[psmith2.0]

And those are things that happen. That goes with the territory...bad, faulty batches of stuff, etc.

It's avoidable stuff like out-of-whack priorities or questionable decisions at the design stage that "doom" a machine and result in a less-than-ideal product. Those kinds of things are annoying because they don't/shouldn't have to happen.

[kieran]

I've had the fans come up when I've been processing some video and the bottom center of the iMac can get pretty warm, but nothing anywhere near the previous version.

Hell, the Thunderbolt Display gets much warmer than I can get this thing and the TD is just a big light basically.

[PB PM]

Originally Posted by pscates2.0 And those are things that happen. That goes with the territory...bad, faulty batches of stuff, etc. It's avoidable stuff like out-of-whack priorities or questionable decisions at the design stage that "doom" a machine and result in a less-than-ideal product. Those kinds of things are annoying because they don't/shouldn't have to happen.

The thing is running a low power chip, 35W total (CPU/GPU), there just isn't that much heat to be doomed by. If I was worried about any machines with the M1 it would be the fanless Macbook Air and iPad Pro, not the iMac. Would be surprised if a lower power version of the M1 was in the next iPhone too.

[psmith2.0]

That's why I said what I did upthread...the M1 is probably the deciding factor here. It's been in two 13" notebooks (and a small desktop) since November and I've not heard about any issues. And that's great.

The fact remains, Ive's involvement in things just gives me the "uh-oh's" at this point. Like it or not, agree with it or not...that's just how it is. My initial gut reaction was indeed "oh shit".

[drewprops]

Form over function has become my perception of Jony's notebooks.



...

[psmith2.0]

I still want one of these things. When I mock up my small house floorpland, under-stairs/loft desk area, etc., I've changed my computer from the 21.5" iMac to this new 24" model. Not much difference, side-to-side, actually. Just a thinner body, viewed from above (I did have to Google what 11.5mm translated to in inches).

FWIW, the 21.5" iMac has been the placeholder Mac/dimensions that I've based any desk/nook around for several years. Something came along and made me re-draw that part.

[kscherer]

We are in the process of switching out my work computer with a new M1 24" iMac. It is:

- 8-core CPU
- 8-core GPU
- 8GB RAM
- 256GB SSD
- Ethernet
- 10-key Magic Keyboard
- Yellow*

Since this iMac is replacing a POS terminal that is also my every-day work computer, it need not be fancy. I've been on a 2015 21.5" 4K since, well, 2015, and it has always been fine. So, the new thing will also be fine. FWIW, the 24" is about an inch wider overall, so you can take that into account if you are in a space-saving location.

* I don't care what Apple says, this thing is not yellow. It is gold!

[turtle]

We had a saying in the Navy that the brass all seemed to like: "Work it may, shine it must."

You know how hard it is for certain things to function when they "look nice"? I completely believe Jony was in on that school of thought.

[psmith2.0]

According to MacTracker, the 21.5" iMac was 17.7" high x 20.8" wide x 6.9" deep.

This new one, at 24" (23.5", really) is 18.1" high x 21.5" wide x 5.8" deep.

The depth is that stand/pedestal, front to back, of course.

But it's interesting that, despite a 2" growth in display size, the height only increased by about 3/8" and the width by less than 3/4". That's all due to the smaller bezel/framing around the display. When I adjusted my drawing/placeholder graphic on my floorplans/room designs, the side-to-side growth was about 3/8" in each direction...aka "nothing".

2" more display, less than 3/4" increase in overall width. Pretty cool!

Yes, every real-life pic I've seen of that yellow model does indeed look gold. A yellow-y gold, but gold way more than the banana/school bus yellow the Apple.com beauty shots seem to convey.

All about that metallic texture and shine/gleam, I guess. So many of Fender's guitars/basses look way better in person (the candys, metallics, sparkles, etc. just can't be properly conveyed via photography, I've learned). Same with these colors and the way they look on the aluminum in real life vs. all those website renders and beauty/PR imagery.

[Frank777]

I can see the M1 iMac being adopted in a lot of point-of-sale applications that might have otherwise gone with the iPad.

You can easily connect a second consumer-facing screen. Lightspeed POS is still around, right?

Although such easy customer access to the ports might pose an issue for malware.

[kscherer]

Well, I've had my new goldenrod running for two days, and

FAST!!!

Literally, everything happens on this thing faster than the system I was on (a 2015 21.5" 3.3 GHz quad-core with a 1TB FD and 8GB RAM). My new system is an 8/8/8/256 with the 10-key (we use the 8/8 for the ethernet bits and 4 ports). The yellow is growing on me (it's very yellow in front, but very gold on the stand and the back). Everything opens faster, the web is quicker (or at least responds better), it's just … faster!

The screen is amazing, and I've had to resize some stuff just to maintain proportions since this display is a bit larger. And gorgeous! Also, no glare issues to report, even from the floor model which faces the window.

The keyboard feels exactly the same (I refuse to use Apple's mouse, and have a MS wireless USB model, which works fine.) Only needed one USB adapter to reach my USB hub under the desk. Our two service counter machines needed a USB-C hub (we put out a blue and a purple for that space).

On the sales floor we have green and pink floor models, the sales desk (me) has yellow, service has blue and purple, and we have an orange model out on a display table but not turned on. So we have 6 of 7* colors available to look at, with silver being the only exception. Orange and pink are hideous, yellow is growing on me, the blue is nice, green is excellent, and I think I like the purple the best, but maybe I need more time with all of them. I have yet to see a silver model, but my gut feeling is that we will eventually stock mostly silver in various configurations with just a smattering of colors in 8/8/8/256. Time will tell on that decision.

* Isn't that a Borg?

[psmith2.0]

Sounds nice. I need to see one of these things...I just hate going out to the mall area. It's a zoo-and-a-half (traffic, parking, etc.).

[kscherer]

New discovery:

Even the network icons for these things are color-coordinated.

[PB PM]

Not surprising, they used to do that with the machines in the late 1990's and early 2000's.

[Frank777]

I've always thought of the smaller iMac as a compromise machine, for people who couldn't swing the budget or space for the 27".

The 24" iMac is different. To me, it's the first small iMac to stand on its own. The screen is big enough for most applications and it's fast.
The only big downside is that it has no RAM or SSD expansion, so it has a relatively more limited shelf life than the beautiful screen it holds.

I will still hold out for a more 'Pro' version with the larger screen option.
But instead of telling friends to just spring for the big one, I think I'll be recommending this machine to a lot of people.

[psmith2.0]

The size is perfect. As for the 21.5” and 27”, I’m the complete opposite. The 21.5” always felt “right” to me, and is the only one I ever considered. Every time I used the 27” at at store or my friend’s house, it just felt like it was going to eat me. Way too big for my needs, space, etc.

Which is why all us 21.5” fans probably have less of an overall issue with the new model. For us, it’s a step up. But if you’ve spent years on a 27” iMac, it’s going to feel “less than” in at least one area, for sure.

I’m hoping the “pro” stuff isn’t reserved for a larger, pricier high-end model.

At some point, the 24” should have the option for more RAM and whatever other improvements come to Apple Silocon. I hope they’re not be planning to make it the “SE” of the Mac lineup…updated every three or so years and always lagging a bit behind the others. I don’t want a 27” iMac, and I sure as hell don’t want a 30”. version. We should see, within 12 months or so, how Apple views this and if they’re going to update it more than the 21.5” model. If they opt to let it languish and not touch it again until 2023, that will be disappointing.

EDIT: iOS "auto-correct" can go suck something. I'm better off just writing my thoughts on chalkboard or dry-erase board, snapping a pic of it and posting that here. At least my words will come out as I intend; I'm not the problem here. I know how to spell.

[chucker]

Originally Posted by pscates2.0 At some point, the 24” should have the option for more RAM and whatever other improve myself come to Apple Silocon. I hope they’re not be planning to make it the “SE” of the Mac lineup…updated every three or so years and always lagging a bit behind the others.

I don't think they will.

I wouldn't be surprised if they skip one refresh and go straight from M1 to M3, though, because the current one is a bit overpowered for what I presume is the target audience.