Nothing about it being fast, fast, fast. Just too thin, thin, thin.

[www.washingtonpost.com]

The ultrathin new iMac lost a lot more than size
A half-inch desktop computer shows how Apple’s obsession with thin design can work against us

Apple’s newly redesigned iMac measures just 0.45 inches thick. That’s a hair thinner than the original iPhone. It’s thin enough to wedge under a wobbly table.

But to make a desktop computer that incredibly slender, something had to go. Unfortunately, left on the chopping block were some capabilities you might actually want in a $1,300 desktop computer.

Gone are the large-sized USB ports many of us still use to plug in gear. Gone, too, is the ability to later upgrade your memory. This iMac is no longer even an all-in-one computer: Apple had to move the power supply to an external brick like on a laptop.

An obsession with thin design has taken over consumer tech, and Apple is its leader. For you, that affects a lot more than just style. Going thin shapes what a device costs, what it’s useful for, how long it will last and what kind of impact it might leave on the environment.

Even if you’re not in the market for a new iMac, this computer is a case study in the strange priorities that shape so much of the technology we use.

This 24-inch computer, the first iMac powered by Apple’s own M1 processors, does contain lots of useful upgrades over the 2017 version. It’s faster and has a much-improved camera and a Touch ID fingerprint reader on the keyboard. It also comes in a rainbow of colors that will give anyone old enough nostalgia for the original all-in-one iMac.

I had been eagerly awaiting this iMac to replace my 5-year-old model. I’ve long been one of the iMac’s biggest fans: A desktop computer might sound old-school, but a big, beautiful screen is pretty much the ideal portal for getting work done.

But the new iMac I’ve been testing for a few weeks is a departure from my old one. It’s essentially an iPad on a stand. Actually, it’s less useful than that, because the iMac doesn’t have a touch screen.

Apple isn’t the only tech maker chasing thinness. Acer made an even skinnier desktop computer called the Aspire S24. But Apple sets the priorities for the industry and our expectations for what “progress” looks like in tech.

There are good arguments for thin handheld devices: Skinny phones fit better in skinny jeans. But even with Apple’s mobile tech, we’ve been burned. The ultrathin “butterfly”-style keyboard Apple introduced for laptops in 2015 created so many problems that Apple eventually abandoned it. Some people still haven’t forgiven Apple for removing the headphone jack in the iPhone 7 to add battery and waterproofing without making the phone fatter.

The arguments for a thin desktop computer are more of a stretch. There may be people who only care that this iMac is cuter. Apple believes it’s redefining the desktop computer into a device that can be at home in a kitchen or living room, or even picked up. (I wonder, though: Isn’t that what an iPad is for?)

We’re talking computers, not stilettos, so let me be unabashedly practical: To really evaluate the new iMac, you need to look inside.

---

Saint Cloud, Minnesota, where the weather is wonderful even when it isn't.

I wonder what Uncle Walt would have had to say about the new iMac.

---

It is what it is.

FWIW, I do not have any argument with the text you copy - or your post!

Things change...I'll take thin and quick.

I can no longer put spark plugs into my EV, nor can I jam a DVD into my smart TV. I'm okay with that.

---

“Live your life, love your life, don’t regret…live, learn and move forward positively.” – CR Johnson
Loving life in Lake Tahoe, CA

Quote
Markintosh
I can no longer put spark plugs into my EV

BECAUSE YOU NO LONGER NEED THEM.

That's one of the dumbest examples I've ever heard.

---

It is what it is.

Quote
N-OS X-tasy!

Quote
Markintosh
I can no longer put spark plugs into my EV

BECAUSE YOU NO LONGER NEED THEM.

That's one of the dumbest examples I've ever heard.

Not so, it was a good example of how things change. Soldered RAM is faster. Same for storage.

---

Saint Cloud, Minnesota, where the weather is wonderful even when it isn't.

Quote
N-OS X-tasy!

Quote
Markintosh
I can no longer put spark plugs into my EV

BECAUSE YOU NO LONGER NEED THEM.

That's one of the dumbest examples I've ever heard.

This is the only reason I am not going to have a new Mac for the foreseeable future. I have stuff to connect (it's not as useless as spark plugs in and EV, sorry), and I'm not going to have a huge extra dongle. Skinny is sexy, but what's the point if you have dongles hanging off all over the place? Dongles are NOT better in any way than having a couple extra ports.

My PC laptop has all kinds of beautiful ports, and I like that a lot. I could deal with the ports on a mini Mac, but I want a laptop. iMac's a no go.

Buy a dock with a long cable and tuck it out of sight.

And USB-C to A adapters aren't that big.

Quote
Lux Interior
Buy a dock with a long cable and tuck it out of sight.

And USB-C to A adapters aren't that big.

Kludge. How is that better than more ports? Plus, docks aren't cool with most audio interfaces.

I think having the power supply outside might be a plus. It is easier to replace if it goes south.

---

Roswell, GA (Atlanta suburb)

Quote
rgG
I think having the power supply outside might be a plus. It is easier to replace if it goes south.

Less heat internally as well.

Quote
N-OS X-tasy!

Quote
Markintosh
I can no longer put spark plugs into my EV

BECAUSE YOU NO LONGER NEED THEM.

That's one of the dumbest examples I've ever heard.

Ummmm...my point exactly! Just like I don't need DVD's if I have a smart tv and streaming.

---

“Live your life, love your life, don’t regret…live, learn and move forward positively.” – CR Johnson
Loving life in Lake Tahoe, CA

I'm of the ports are good school of thought. I hate the idea of more desk real estate and the expense of adding a dock. Talk about clutter.

---

Hurts like a bastid...

Two ports on any desktop computer is too few. The segmentation of models is fake, the one with 7 cores is only about 8% slower instead of 12.5%. The "faster" one with two fans seems to still be heat/power limited. It also seems like having the Ethernet port in the power brick uses Thundercrap bandwidth (I haven't seen a test that proves this one way or the other yet).

The mini is a better buy than the low end iMac and the mini can come with 10Gb Ethernet. I would be tempted to take an iPad Pro over the low end iMac if I could get one with 16 GB of RAM, two Thundercrap ports, and it ran macOS.

---

In tha 360. MRF User Map

I'm already missing the ports on my old MBP, the two on the MBA M1 are insufficient - especially if one is needed for charging. Yes I can add a dock but that is a clunky solution.

If the new MBP's are better equipped, I'll give my air to my son and get one.

---

“No persons are more frequently wrong, than those who will not admit they are wrong.” -- François de La Rochefoucauld

"Those who cannot accept the past are condemned to revise it." -- Geo. Mathias

The German word for contraceptive is “Schwangerschaftsverhütungsmittel”. By the time you finished saying that, it’s too late

Quote
Markintosh

Quote
N-OS X-tasy!

Quote
Markintosh
I can no longer put spark plugs into my EV

BECAUSE YOU NO LONGER NEED THEM.

That's one of the dumbest examples I've ever heard.

Ummmm...my point exactly! Just like I don't need DVD's if I have a smart tv and streaming.

So your argument, then, is that I/O ports are no longer needed on a computer?

---

It is what it is.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/16/2021 04:38PM by N-OS X-tasy!.

Quote
N-OS X-tasy!

So your argument, then, is that I/O ports are no longer needed on a computer?

For 90% of users, that is probably true, and I think that 90% is who the iMac is aimed at. I have a CD/DVD attachment that I have used probably 5 times in the last 7 years, usually to permanently rip something to a digital format.

Want ports? Get a mini...

---

“Live your life, love your life, don’t regret…live, learn and move forward positively.” – CR Johnson
Loving life in Lake Tahoe, CA

Quote
Speedy
Soldered RAM is faster. Same for storage.

These things are faster because they're newer generation components with advanced technology; soldering didn't alter their speed.

---

Le poète doit vivre beaucoup, vivre dans tous les sens. - Verlaine

Quote
Filliam H. Muffman
Two ports on any desktop computer is too few.

Base model only has two, but other models have 4: 2 Thunderbolt/USB 4, 2 USB 3,

Quote
DeusxMac

Quote
Filliam H. Muffman
Two ports on any desktop computer is too few.

Base model only has two, but other models have 4: 2 Thunderbolt/USB 4, 2 USB 3,

They must be fatter then

....what about the Port......of New Orleans.....????

---

_____________________________________

I reject your reality and substitute my own!

soldering didn't alter their speed.


It does increase reliability.

There was, in the time of rebuilding desktops and repairing permissions, also the mantra of 'reseat the RAM'.

Apple got rid of FW and SCSI ports, and started using USB.

People complained.

People moved on.

People moved on.

Apple dropped the CD/DVD player.

People complained.

People moved on.


I wouldn't mind another two ports on my M1 MBA, but mainly to have on or two on both sides of the Air, not that I need more ports.

The M1 mini would be a different matter.

Not that I have one yet, but it would be nice to have more than four ports on it.

For isn't enough on my other two minis, and the M1 has the room for more, if not the support.

---

I am that Masked Man.

All you can do, is all you can do.

There’s trouble — it's time to play the sound of my people.

Your boos mean nothing to me, I've seen what you cheer for.

Insisting on your rights without acknowledging your responsibilities isn’t freedom, it’s adolescence.

I've been to the edge of the map, and there be monsters.

We are a government of laws, not men.

Everybody counts or nobody counts.

When a good man is hurt,
all who would be called good
must suffer with him.

You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead.

There is no safety for honest men except
by believing all possible evil of evil men.

We don’t do focus groups. They just ensure that you don’t offend anyone, and produce bland inoffensive products. —Sir Jonathan Ive

An armed society is a polite society.
And hope is a lousy defense.

You make me pull, I'll put you down.

I *love* SIGs. It's Glocks I hate.

Quote
Markintosh

Quote
N-OS X-tasy!

So your argument, then, is that I/O ports are no longer needed on a computer?

For 90% of users, that is probably true, and I think that 90% is who the iMac is aimed at. I have a CD/DVD attachment that I have used probably 5 times in the last 7 years, usually to permanently rip something to a digital format.

Want ports? Get a mini...

Well, since the title of this thread is "The iMac is too thin for NEEDED (emphasis mine) ports" I will have to reject your argument.

---

It is what it is.

This has been a knock against Apple since shortly after the iMac went flatscreen. There is no need for a desktop computer to be super thin. There just isn't.

FWIW the future is in wireless. Bluetooth or Wi-Fi for peripherals. And conductive for power. Are there ports in an iPad ? No. That’s the model Apple is looking to. Install RAM ? Naw, buy a more expensive machine. Bigger drive ? That Cloud thing is right there.

Quote
cbelt3
... Are there ports in an iPad ?

An iPad and a desktop computer are different types of devices.

(Also, there is, in fact, one port in an iPad.)

Quote
AllGold
An iPad and a desktop computer are different types of devices.

Only in the Apple walled garden. The iPad Pro and the MBA have very similar hardware. Back when the M$ Surface came out, I almost bought one to have a touchscreen macOS tablet. M$ put a few too many proprietary chips in it to make it easy.

Put four channel wireless Thundercrap in an iMac and I think people will stop complaining. I would guess running the 6K Pro Display XDR wirelessly is at least five years in the future.

---

In tha 360. MRF User Map

Filliam,

Not sure what you mean. iPads and desktop/laptop Macs are very different beasts. There are things I can do on desktop/laptop with ease that is exceedingly difficult to do on an iPad. On the other hand, the vast majority of the things I can do on an iPad are just as easy to do on my desktop/laptop machine.

Robert

Hi everyone,

I own both laptops and desktops. I wouldn't go near the base model iMac M1. two Thunderbolt ports doesn't cut it. Once I'm using both of those ports for, say, a printer and an external storage device (for Time Machine), how am I supposed to connect another external device (of any kind) without playing cable swapping games?

I know the idea is that everyone should move to devices connected via wireless and/or storing things in the cloud. That doesn't work for a lot of people. Heck, many probably don't even understand the concept of backing things up to the cloud. Then there are the people who aren't comfortable with the it.

The purchase of a base model iMac means purchasing a hub or dock of some kind to use with it. Guaranteed. 'course, if I was choosing an M1 iMac, I'd get the next version of with 4 Thunderbolt ports. I'd could get away with adapter(s) or USB-C to USB (whatever) cables for using existing devices with it.

One of the reasons people buy the iMac is because of the display. Dollar for dollar, the iMac is a better bang for the buck than the a Mini because of Apple's excellent displays. How much would an equivalent stand-alone display cost? If you buy a mini, you need to add that expense to it and it's significant.

Robert

Quote
RAMd®d
People complained.

People moved on.

Same as it ever was.

Beleaguered!

Doomed!

Robert,
If the iPad was running macOS, with the exception of not having a second Thundercrap port, what couldn't you do with it that you could on a MBA?

---

In tha 360. MRF User Map

Filliam,

Run software that isn't necessarily available in Apple's App store. Print in a reliable manner. Easily manage the files. Run more than one version of the OS on it. Easily handle multiple users on one machine. Easily connect a slew of peripherals ranging from printers to scanners to external storage to optical drives and do that simultaneously if necessary. I can do all of that easily with a Macbook of any kind. Not remotely as easy on an iPad. In some cases, I can't do it at all.

Robert

Quote
Robert M

The purchase of a base model iMac means purchasing a hub or dock of some kind to use with it. Guaranteed.

Robert

I will respectfully disagree. My multifunction printer is all wireless, so no connection needed.
Use one port for permanently connected backup drive. I still have one port open to connect occasional use devices.

The base level iMac is meant for your average Joe or grandma or millennial that does most everything by phone anyways. It was never meant to be a prosumer machine. Joe just needs to print and probably doesn't even back up his computer. Maybe Joe needs to scan, so he buys a multifunction printer...or uses his phone...like people do in the year 2021.

---

“Live your life, love your life, don’t regret…live, learn and move forward positively.” – CR Johnson
Loving life in Lake Tahoe, CA

Markintosh,

We'll definitely have to agree to disagree. You're making assumptions that don't necessarily hold water.

Here's an example: how many people who have a desktop computer and a printer (of any kind) has that printer connected via wireless? I'm betting most households have it within the immediate vicinity of the computer and it's connected with a USB cable.

The base model iMac M1 exists because Apple needs to offer a cheap iMac. That's why Apple always offers a base model of each version of the iMac (and its other Macs). People want a cheap computer. Doesn't matter if it's adequate or barely adequate. They want a Mac and they want it cheap.

For many people, that cheap mac is just dandy. For many others, including non-prosumers, they become problematic.

Robert

yeah, kid came to same conclusion when deciding to retire his 27" iMac plus external monitor setup.

so he'll buy a M1 mini instead, add whatever dongle dock, plus another external monitor.

Quote
Lux Interior

Quote
RAMd®d
People complained.
People moved on.

Same as it ever was.

Beleaguered! Doomed!

This x 1000.

Can u even buy a printer without wireless anymore?

My $79 inkjet had it 10 years ago standard.

---

Edited 999 time(s). Last edit at 12:08PM by jdc.

Quote
jdc

Can u even buy a printer without wireless anymore?

My $79 inkjet had it 10 years ago standard.

This exactly. I have not had a hardwired printer for about 7 years....nor scanner.

Looking at people in my son's age bracket...he doesn't know anyone that even owns a printer. He'll come to our house about once a year when he needs a form printed for the DMV or something.

---

“Live your life, love your life, don’t regret…live, learn and move forward positively.” – CR Johnson
Loving life in Lake Tahoe, CA

Markintosh,

Again, this isn't just about how _you_ use the machine. People still hardwire printers and print at home regularly. Just because you don't use a printer that is hardwired doesn't mean that is the norm. Heck, much of what I see used and how things are done by the people in the forum isn't the norm for many people.

Interesting perspective from your son. What is his age bracket? It makes a difference. Right now, with a elementary age child, I still have to copy, print and fax items regularly. That's on top of sending and receiving digital copies of docs. 'course, these days, I scan everything using a nice desktop scanner so I don't have to keep hard copies on many things.

I still do a significant amount of computer work for people on the side. Very few of their printers (and all-in-one devices) configured wirelessly. Hardwire is still the norm even for devices with wireless built into them.

Robert



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/17/2021 02:15PM by Robert M.

Apple has long favored form as much as, and often more than function.

That's their choice, and they're free to make it, as they see fit.

We are free to vote with our wallets.

Apple has made changes that over the years, I've been a little disappointed in or uncomfortable with.

Yet I choose to stay, my choice.

What Apple hasn't done well (if ever) in a good many years is have two levels of gear for the consumer/prosumer and the professional.

Apple made a conscious choice to move from being and serving The Crazy Ones to catering to 'the rest of us'.

Not surprisingly that's upset and alienated a lot of Mac users.

Still, it's Apple's choice, and ours to accept their direction or not.

I'm disappointed that they don't work as hard to support the — what — type of user that made/supported the Mac in the early, beleaguered days?

I could be bought off with four T-Bolt 4 ports minimum on every Mac (six would be better).

Is a TB4 port backwards compatible with USB 2.0, etc?

Or is it the same port shape but wholly different wiring architecture.

It's all USB-C to me.

---

I am that Masked Man.

All you can do, is all you can do.

There’s trouble — it's time to play the sound of my people.

Your boos mean nothing to me, I've seen what you cheer for.

Insisting on your rights without acknowledging your responsibilities isn’t freedom, it’s adolescence.

I've been to the edge of the map, and there be monsters.

We are a government of laws, not men.

Everybody counts or nobody counts.

When a good man is hurt,
all who would be called good
must suffer with him.

You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead.

There is no safety for honest men except
by believing all possible evil of evil men.

We don’t do focus groups. They just ensure that you don’t offend anyone, and produce bland inoffensive products. —Sir Jonathan Ive

An armed society is a polite society.
And hope is a lousy defense.

You make me pull, I'll put you down.

I *love* SIGs. It's Glocks I hate.

Quote
Robert M

Interesting perspective from your son. What is his age bracket?

I still do a significant amount of computer work for people on the side. Very few of their printers (and all-in-one devices) configured wirelessly. Hardwire is still the norm even for devices with wireless built into them.

Robert

My son is low 30's.

In my last few years of teaching, more than half of my middle school students submitted work electronically via email or a "drop box", and that was 5 years ago. Teachers and families that went through COVID this year figured out they could do everything without the printing.

I guess we help different sorts of people with tech...the one's I generally help are happy to ditch wires. My mother is 80 and she has a wireless printer/scanner. We set it up in 15 minutes over the phone.

But hey...if you want wires...go for it.

---

“Live your life, love your life, don’t regret…live, learn and move forward positively.” – CR Johnson
Loving life in Lake Tahoe, CA

Quote
Markintosh

Quote
Robert M

The purchase of a base model iMac means purchasing a hub or dock of some kind to use with it. Guaranteed.

Robert

I will respectfully disagree. My multifunction printer is all wireless, so no connection needed.
Use one port for permanently connected backup drive. I still have one port open to connect occasional use devices.

The base level iMac is meant for your average Joe or grandma or millennial that does most everything by phone anyways. It was never meant to be a prosumer machine. Joe just needs to print and probably doesn't even back up his computer. Maybe Joe needs to scan, so he buys a multifunction printer...or uses his phone...like people do in the year 2021.

You seem to think that just because you do things a certain way, others should too. It doesn't work like that.

I despise wireless mice and keyboards. I use an Apple Extended II KB and a Microsoft IntelliMouse, both corded. I would need ports for those.

I own a multipurpose printer AND a stand-alone scanner (non-wireless) I would need ports for those. BTW, I've tried wireless scanning on the multipurpose - it's friggin' slow.

Oh, yeah, in addition to the multipurpose printer, I own a laser printer. Non-wireless. I would need a port for that.

I have an external DVD burner. I would need a port for that.

I have two external drives, a platter that uses USB 2 and an SSD that uses USB 3. I would need ports for those.

Get the picture?

EDIT: Oh, and by the way: If no one needs ports, why then are the masses crying out in joy at the news that Apple will be adding honest-to-goodness dedicated ports back to the MacBook Pro?

---

It is what it is.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/17/2021 10:07PM by N-OS X-tasy!.

Think it's more likely that you don't represent the norm...whatever. You do you.

---

“Live your life, love your life, don’t regret…live, learn and move forward positively.” – CR Johnson
Loving life in Lake Tahoe, CA

Quote
N-OS X-tasy!
Get the picture?

Ive got several pictures... you might want to recheck the wireless scanning thing, our 10 year old brother is super fast, right to email. Surely you could leave the DVD burner and scanner unplugged until you need them, right?

---

Edited 999 time(s). Last edit at 12:08PM by jdc.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/18/2021 01:11AM by jdc.

jdc,

You demonstrated my point exactly. People buying that base model iMac could very well need one of those devices and it will cost them. A quality USB-C dock can range from $50 or so for a hub to close to $200 for a powered dock. A Thunderbolt 3 dock is $129 to $279 easily.

And, no, I don't like leaving items disconnected because USB and Thunderbolt can both be flakey. Many a time I've had to swap devices only to find the new device doesn't get recognized properly until after a restart. Very annoying.

I'll agree with you about scanning though. My office's HP all-in-one is hardwired to our network (despite having wireless as a feature) and it scans quickly. Even single pass duplex scanning is reasonably quick. Same goes for the HP all-in-one I have at home. The Fujitsu ScanSnap, which is a single pass duplex scanner handles scans over the network wickedly fast.

Robert

Markintosh,

I think the issue is that you think there is a norm when in fact, the norm is that how people configure their desktop machines varies tremendously. Some follow what you and your son consider a norm. Others are more like me and N-OS. Still more range somewhere between both of us. That's why you can't make assumptions based on how you do things.

Robert

Robert,
Sorry, guess I didn't detail it clearly enough in the earlier post and it looks like you took that as license to add a strawman that wasn't in my comparison. Using a new M1 MBA as the base machine (with no migrated or legacy software), compare it to a new M1 iPad Pro running the same software, and the single Thundercrap port on the iPad Pro would not be a limiting factor. Assume it would be possible to clone the OS and user accounts from one to the other. My goal was to highlight that with the new hardware, the Apple walled garden is the biggest limitation between the macOS and iOS platforms.

Robert M
Filliam, Run software that isn't necessarily available in Apple's App store. Print in a reliable manner. Easily manage the files. Run more than one version of the OS on it. Easily handle multiple users on one machine. Easily connect a slew of peripherals ranging from printers to scanners to external storage to optical drives and do that simultaneously if necessary. I can do all of that easily with a Macbook of any kind. Not remotely as easy on an iPad. In some cases, I can't do it at all.
Robert

---

In tha 360. MRF User Map



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/18/2021 09:45AM by Filliam H. Muffman.

Filliam,

It looks like I misread the question. I answered it not realizing you said the ipad running the Mac OS. I answered as if you said the iPad running the iPadOS. I apologize for misreading it. Since the iPad doesn’t run the MacOS, i can’t answer the question as stated.

Robert

I declare that everyone is right!

---

“Live your life, love your life, don’t regret…live, learn and move forward positively.” – CR Johnson
Loving life in Lake Tahoe, CA

Fair enough.

---

It is what it is.