Need a new Mac...help

[pspdfppdfxhd]

We need a new Mac here. Thought it might be easy just to get another 27 inch iMac but they only seem to make 24 inch ones now. Could there be an alternative? I think 24 is too small after using a 27.

[David]

I just had to replace my Mac at home. I had the 27 inch (bought it new in November 2010), didn't want to do the 24, but didn't really have a choice.

Got the 24", and it's waaaaayy better than the 27". I like it and so does my wife.
Don't miss the extra large screen, works great, super fast, SSD drive.

Happy camper

[wonderings]

Personally I would look at the more powerful options out there with M3 Pro chips. Even an M1 or M2 Pro or Max will be an amazing upgrade. I have 14" MacBook Pro M1 Max with 32 gigs of RAM and it is a speed demon, Apple's new chips really make the Intel Macs look antiquated and feel very very slow. I was thinking about going with a 24" iMac for work, but not sure I want the smaller screen, 27" is like the perfect size. I am guessing Apple with have something in the 32" category next year for some new iMac Pro. 

[Tracy]

I got the Mac Studio M1 with 64 gigs of ram, it's good to get as much RAM
as your company will allow

[Joe]

I just bought a new 24" iMac with the M3 chip, 16 GB of RAM and 1 TB SSD about two weeks ago. The screen is a bit smaller but really isn't an issue. I could still do Prepress on it if I wanted to. I don't. The thing is FAST!

With Apple care and tax it was a bit over $2200 but I have a 10% military discount with Apple so it is 10% more than that at the regular price.

If you want the 27" display you will need to get a:

Mac Studio, starts @ $1999.00 with Apple M2 Max with 12‑core CPU, 30‑core GPU, 16‑core Neural Engine and 32 GB of RAM and 512 GB SSD and the 27" Studio Display, starts @ $1599.00 with standard glass and tilt stand so the base price is $3598.00 not including Apple Care and tax.

Edit: There are cheaper ones with fewer USB ports (2 instead of 4), lower end M3 CPU, less RAM (8 GB), smaller SSD either 256 mb or 512 mb and the lesser keyboard (I sprung the extra $30 for the keyboard with the number pad).

[Joe]

Personally I would look at the more powerful options out there with M3 Pro chips. Even an M1 or M2 Pro or Max will be an amazing upgrade. I have 14" MacBook Pro M1 Max with 32 gigs of RAM and it is a speed demon, Apple's new chips really make the Intel Macs look antiquated and feel very very slow. I was thinking about going with a 24" iMac for work, but not sure I want the smaller screen, 27" is like the perfect size. I am guessing Apple with have something in the 32" category next year for some new iMac Pro.

The Pro Display XDR is 32". Starts at $4999.

Also they don't make the iMac Pro anymore.

With the 24" iMac you could always buy a 27" or larger display and connect it to the Thunderbolt port. The USB and Thunderbolt ports are just regular USB C ports. Then use the 24" display as secondary monitor.

[Joe]

Also on the Mac with M1, M2, or M3 they say you need about half the RAM as you needed with the Intel Macs so if 32 was enough for the Intel Macs 16 should be enough on the M3. I have no proof other than Apples claim though.

[Tracy]

When I get bloated files with lots of pages, I wish I had more than 64!

[Possum]

That's funny. They don't make a Pro computer anymore but they have a Pro display for only $5,000.

[David]

Mac Pro is a game-changing combination of Apple silicon performance and PCIe expansion for specialized workflows. And every configuration comes with the incredible new M2 Ultra — our most powerful and capable chip ever.

From $583.25/mo. for 12 mo. or $6999*

oh they got 'em alright....

[Joe]

Mac Pro is a game-changing combination of Apple silicon performance and PCIe expansion for specialized workflows. And every configuration comes with the incredible new M2 Ultra — our most powerful and capable chip ever.

From $583.25/mo. for 12 mo. or $6999*

oh they got 'em alright....

That is a Mac Pro. They don't make the iMac Pro any longer. Also the M3 chip is out now so they are lying about "with the incredible new M2 Ultra — our most powerful and capable chip ever". Also be sure to get the $4,999.00 monitor to go with that beast.

[Joe]

When I get bloated files with lots of pages, I wish I had more than 64!

Are we talking about those PDF's with 10,000,000,000 paths of high resolution vector objects? That probably has more to do with the CPU than the RAM.

[Tracy]

Huh! I thought it was the RAM
yes those are the files! 

[Joe]

Huh! I thought it was the RAM
yes those are the files! 

Well I mean more ram would not hurt it any but those files send your CPU usage through the roof.

[pspdfppdfxhd]

Wow, after reading all this I am amazed how little I know about the new Macs. Still chuggin along with a 2015 Imac with 32GB of ram. It's getting painful to use.