Upgrading from a late 2013 iMac to a new iMac 24"

mtatti wrote:

I have 8 mb of memory and my unit runs real slow. I do email and internet browser, no gaming, very little video watching. Should I get the 16 or 24 mb of memory?

Unless there's more to things that you are telling us, 16 GB should be more than enough. (I hesitate to recommend 8 GB - even though 8 GB should be adequate for these particular uses – because you cannot upgrade RAM later if you discover that you need more.)

I'm also wondering if I should get 8 or 10 core unit.

As far as an 8-core vs. 10-core GPU, that probably wouldn't make much difference unless you were doing a bunch of heavy Photoshop editing, running high-end games, etc. Even then, you'd get at best a 25% speedup (a job that relied solely on the GPU would complete in 80% of the time that it would have taken with 8 cores).

Two GPU cores aren't the only thing you lose on that model. You also lose:

• Two USB-C (USB 3) ports
• The Gigabit Ethernet port
• Touch ID support on the Magic Keyboard

If you get the stripped-down model, you may find yourself needing to add a hub of some sort (even a very simple one, with multiple USB-A ports) right away.

Is the ethernet upgrade just in the type of power adapter and can I get the different power adapter in the future if I need ethernet if wifi isn't available.

It is in the power adapter. I don't know if you can buy the one with Ethernet later, as a separate upgrade – but you could probably get a USB-C to Ethernet adapter, or a USB-C or Thunderbolt hub with its own Ethernet port.

My old unit has the older standard usb ports and I use a backup disc for this; can I use an adapter to plug my backup drive into the usb4 port on the new unit?

Yes. There are various ways of connecting USB-A (USB) devices to USB-C (USB) ports, including the Apple USB-C to USB Adapter, and assorted hubs and docks. The Apple adapter takes up a entire USB-C port to give you just one USB-A port, whereas a powered hub or dock could let you connect multiple USB-A devices to one USB-C port.

If you get one of the versions of the iMac that has four USB-C ports, you can attach USB accessories and adapters either to the "USB4 / Thunderbolt" ports or to the "USB 3" ones. Both carry USB 3. The two "USB4 / Thunderbolt" ports are more valuable because they can also carry DisplayPort, USB4, and Thunderbolt.

What is the usb-c to lightning cable used for?

That's for recharging the Magic Mouse and Magic Keyboard – using your Mac, or a standard USB-C power supply.

When you plug a Magic Keyboard into a Mac, that

• Pairs the keyboard with the Mac,
• Charges the keyboard, and
• Lets you use the Magic Keyboard as a wired keyboard while it is charging

You could also presumably use this cable to connect an iPhone. The latest iPhones use USB-C, but there are a lot of iPhones that use Lightning.

I have the 2020 M1 iMac with 16GB memory and the 8 core CPU/8 core GPU and it is more than adequate for the tasks you described. The current M3 model with those specs should be even better.

The USB-C to Lightning cable is used to charge the Magic Keyboard and Magic Mouse (or Trackpad).

You can use the following adapter to connect to your external backup device that has a USB connector: USB-C to USB Adapter - Apple

Apple doesn't list the power adapter with ethernet as an item that is sold separately but it may be available by contacting Apple Support.

It is just the power adapter that is different.

I'm seeing it as a $30 price difference (at Blue iMac - Apple ).

From my previous post:

Apple doesn't list the power adapter with ethernet as an item that is sold separately but it may be available by contacting Apple Support.

That is the only way that I know that you can find out if they would sell it to you separately at a later date.

Don't use the backup drive from your 2013 iMac on the new Mac — other than completing Migration Assistant transfer of your 2013 iMac data (not applications). You will want a new Time Machine backup drive for the new iMac and operating system content and it should be formatted APFS via Disk Utility. Time Machine also uses a different backup structure than it used on your 2013 iMac.

That new Time Machine drive should be 2.5 - 3x the size of the startup drive in the new iMac and have a USB-C 3.2 adapter cable to just plug into the new iMac's USB-C v4. I happen to use a 2TB Crucial X9 SSD as it is less expensive than the X9 Pro model and still plenty speedy for Time Machine backups.

Just to add on... This past spring, I decided it was time to move on from my 2019 6 core i5 iMac to something new.

Got an 8 core 8 gb machine. I'm an IT manager. I work from home fairly often. I have to say it's proven to be more than adequate. I routinely running multiple Office 365 apps, an VPN to my corporate network, multiple browsers with multiple tabs, MS Remote Desktop to connect to multiple servers, etc. and have yet to run into trouble due to lack of RAM or horsepower. The M3 is an amazing processor.

That said, you can never have too much RAM. Buy what you can afford. Mine's the mid level model with 4 ports and Ethernet on the power adapter, though I doubt I will ever connect it to a wired network.

I definitely recommend getting 16GB of RAM and try for more storage than you think you'll need. There is nothing more frustrating than having to figure out what to delete or copy off your iMac in a year or two just to make more space for things you need to do. Constantly juggling drive space will drive you mad. Yes, it is easy to connect additional drives to your iMac, but the whole reason I chose this model is for how clean it looks on my desk without tons of wires hanging down from the back. All my data is in one place, easy to find. I recently bought the 16GB iMac with 1TB SSD used for the same price as a base model iMac M1. Having the extra ports on the back is another blessing you will appreciate later.

Have you installed and run any "cleaning", "optimizing", "speed-up", anti-virus or VPN apps on your Mac?

Please download and run Etrecheck.  The free version is sufficient.

Copy the report as shown in this animated screenshot

and use the Additional Text button to paste the report in your reply.

Then we can examine the report and see if we can determine the cause of the problem.