iMac or Mac Mini?

Based on your stated needs, I would recommend the Mac mini however instead of 24GB of RAM get 16 and then upgrade the storage to 1TB. You will have a very nice machine at an affordable price of $999, then allocate about $300 or so for an external display and you are pretty much done unless you need to get a keyboard and mouse. If you are upgrading from another Mac, just use the old Mac's keyboard and mouse and then follow the directions below for migrating from the old Mac to the new one.

·       Always connect your old Mac's Time Machine External Hard Disk prior to startup, this will allow a migration from your TM backup and it will be dead simple! When you start the new Mac for the first time it will startup Setup Assistant (SA), SA will get to a point where it asks if you are migrating from another computer, select Yes and follow the on-screen prompts and it's done! It is that simple! This is the easiest, quickest and most reliable method to migrate from the old Mac to the new Mac is to simply connect the old Mac's Time Machine External Hard Disk to the new Mac using a USB cable before you turn on the new Mac. 

·       NOTE 1: You will likely need a USB A to USB C adapter, you can find them on Amazon for $10 or less. Something like:  USB to USB C adapter

·       NOTE 2: If you have already done SA on the new computer then simply connect the Time Machine External Hard Disk using a USB cable and launch Migration Assistant (MA) which is located in Applications - Utilities - MA. Then follow the on-screen prompts.

·       The ONLY difference between MA and SA is MA will create a new user account that you need to log into.

Both SA and MA migrate applications (not 32 bit apps), data files & settings. They do not migrate Mac OS itself. Some professional apps such as Adobe and Microsoft apps may require re-installing their apps as they will not allow them to be migrated. As long as you kept the security keys for installing their apps, it is not an issue. 

Finally, my recommendation is not using Wi-Fi when doing Setup Assistant or Migration Assistant. Why, it simply fails in a lot of the cases reported in these forums. A wired connection is more reliable and the last thing you need is a failed migration when there are safe methods readily available. Please read and follow the directions in Setup Assistant and Migration Assistant. If you do not have a Time Machine backup of the older Mac then create one!If you are not aware of Time Machine, please read Back up your Mac with Time Machine and finally if you need an External Hard Disk to use as a Time Machine External Hard Disk then many experience users on these forums prefer the OWC Mercury Elite Pro due to it's reasonable price, high level of quality and ease of use. 

AppleGirl331,

"Seems to have some odd behaviors that I can not get rid of with Malware or Anti-virus software.

The odd behaviors that you are complaining of are almost certainly caused by having third party apps including:

• Antivirus
• Security
• Cleaning
• VPN
• Maintenance

Mac OS is catlike in that it can manage itself and does not require nor does it benefit in any way by having these types of third party apps installed! In fact they tend to do the following, which is exactly what users do NOT want, they make Mac OS:

• Slow
• Unstable
• Have odd behavior (sound familiar??)
• Can Damage Mac OS
• remove money from your wallet

If you simply keep Mac OS up-to-date and restart the computer about 1x. per week users are rewarded with fast, stable and very secure systems.

Please tell us exactly which third party apps of the types mentioned above and we can advise which should be uninstalled as well as the further steps to take.

Assuming that you use the computer for email, web surfing and other moderately demanding tasks, I would recommend you get the mini. The mini is a powerful little computer and your initial outlay may be lower than that for an iMac.

I would also suggest that you bump the internal storage to 1TB, while I would expect 24GB of RAM should carry you forward comfortable for some years.

When it's time to replace the computer, you could conceivable get another mini, again at a lower cost than another all in one iMac, if those are still around.

And if you wish to use a different monitor at any time, that is easy to do.

Definitely mini rather than iMac!

Why do I say that?

7 hours ago my beautiful 2017 27" iMac died! Suddenly stopped working.

I checked the fuse and cable were transmitting power and reset the SMC etc. No go.

I won't be having it repaired as I don't believe in throwing away good money on obsolete tech so now I am left with not just a kaput computer but a beautiful, huge, expensive screen that can no longer be used.

If it had been my mini I would still have a working monitor and it wouldn't be a total loss.

Don't get an all-in-one computer as it's like having all your eggs in one basket.

AppleGirl331 wrote:

Seems to have some odd behaviors that I can not get rid of with anti-virus/bug software.

Most people on these forums consider "anti-virus" and "cleaning" apps to be malware and the cause of many woes.

The general advice is to steer clear of them.

Chrome has also been implicated in poor performance as it hogs system resources.

One thing to be aware of in the basic M4 mini is that it has a tiny 256GB SSD and if you write large amounts of data its lifespan could be short.

I do not write large amounts but I am pessimistic so I have used an external SSD as the boot drive so the vital internal gets no wear at all.

The process is simple.

After you have set up your new mini you download the installer for Sequoia.

You open the installer and choose to install it on your new external SSD which you have formatted as APFS.

Once it is installed you simply add all your details again as you would do with any new computer and from then on your M4 is wearing out your cheap external and not the priceless internal.

If you need more info just ask.

Ian that is genius. After reviewing a lot of content, I upped the drive to 516, but I may do this as well- so you have that external boot drive and a back-up external drive? I will also keep my 1.5 TB of images off the mini on another external drive, so I may have 3 external drives hooked up if I did this too.

I have the older base model M2 mini.

I do not use the internal drive at all.

The mini is run entirely on the external.

One thing to be aware of is that if your external SSD is connected via USB 3.0/USB-C the drive speed will only be around 350MB/s compared to the internal SSD of around 2,000MB/s.

To the uninitiated that sounds disastrous and they think they will have a slow computer.

However, the speed of a computer mainly depends on the CPU/GPU and the drive has very little effect except when copying hundreds of gigabytes which is not something most people do regularly.

When I started on this path over 15 months ago I checked the performance of the Mac running normally on the internal SSD and the external using GeekBench. The scores were virtually identical.

I then tested it rendering and exporting video and there I found the externally booted mini was not as fast . . . it was maybe 4% slower.

To put that into context, a one hour export would take a couple of minutes longer.

I can live with that! When using the computer normally there was no detectable difference.

Two months ago I bought an NVMe in a Thunderbolt enclosure (over twice the price) which is actually faster than the internal SSD just to see what I had been missing.

Yes, it is much faster copying gigantic files (which I never normally do) but in normal use I just can't tell any difference.

I suppose it will save a couple of minutes when exporting an hour long video but was it worth all the extra expense?

No!

Hard to say with such minimal info about usage and personal requirements, but if you are not a gamer or video editor, you’ll benefit more from extra ram and storage than cpu and gpu cores.

MacBook Air/Pro and maybe a cheap/more expensive 3rd party monitor as a 2nd display when used as a desktop.

Your welcome.

Those are both fine systems, and more than capable of some tasks, and maybe less appropriate for others.

Neither has expandable storage, nor expandable memory.

What tasks do you plan to (try to) use with either of these systems?

Where is your current iMac 27” 2019 lagging?

If there is a local Apple Store or authorized reseller, maybe visit and see whether, for instance, the 24” screen is big enough for your needs?

The iMac, since the jury is still out on the newly-designed Mini: some are always sweating, some always have their ear muffs on, while the rest insist it’s their best purchase ever but struggle keeping a straight face while saying it.