Need recommendations for a new iMac for basic use

Macs are still the easiest computers to use.

As has been said, iPads may be easier for some things, but can get notoriously difficult for other tasks, including file management which is not easily done on an iPad.

I would suggest you stick to a Mac you already use one, and will find as has been said that the new ones are no harder to use. Some things may be easier with the newer OS, but in all honesty even those would not be too difficult

And of course there's always the user guide. Reading through that is walkways a good idea to get to know a Mac, your old one or a new one. Apple's user guides do include pictures and graphics. And of course there's always the Apple Support Youtube videos.

click here ➜ macOS Monterey User Guide - Apple Support

and here ➜ macOS Tahoe User Guide - Apple Support

ExplainitomelikeIm2yrsold wrote:

"I doubt macOS is going to get appreciably simpler than it already is." There is no reason for that. They can get computers to do all sorts of things these days, and the list keeps growing. They surely should be able make computers less difficult to use. Like I've said many times before, everyone doesn't have a Ph.D. in Computer Science.

There are 1.5 billion users of Apple products, and very few of them have PhDs in computer science, and they all get along with their computers quite well. There is nothing that any computer could do in the past that can’t be done with a newer computer, and in most cases more easily and with more features.

ExplainitomelikeIm2yrsold wrote:

"I doubt macOS is going to get appreciably simpler than it already is." There is no reason for that. They can get computers to do all sorts of things these days, and the list keeps growing.

That is a large part of why computers are more difficult to use.

You keep acting like there is no inherent tradeoff between features and simplicity, and you also tell us to explain it to you like you are two years old. Two-year-olds can be pretty stubborn about demanding things they can't have. Or things they shouldn't have.

The "like you are two years old" answer is: You can't always get what you want.

Just because a two-year-old doesn't accept the answer that they cannot play in the middle of a busy street, does not mean that the two-year-old is right, and the adults are wrong!

They surely should be able make computers less difficult to use. Like I've said many times before, everyone doesn't have a Ph.D. in Computer Science.

On some of the personal computers that were around before the Apple ][ and the TRS-80, when you turned them on, you had to toggle in machine language programs using a bunch of physical switches on the front panel to set individual bits in memory to '1's or '0's. Once you "bootstrapped" the machine far enough, then maybe you could load in a program from some other source like a paper tape punched with a Teletype terminal, or a floppy disk.

The System folder on my Mac contains over 300,000 items that take up over 26 billion bytes on the disk. That is over 208 billion bits ('1's and '0's). If you had to toggle in each bit, by hand, when you turned the computer on, it would take you over 31 years to do it – toggling in one per second, non-stop, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with no pauses for eating, drinking, sleeping, or going to the bathroom.

Some things have gotten simpler. But people also keep expecting computers to do more and more and to be more and more powerful, That ups the complexity by leaps and bounds. Even if today's machines were rebuilt from the ground up to be as close to perfect as they could be, there would still be that extra complexity to deal with.

ExplainitomelikeIm2yrsold wrote:

Read the Owner's Manual...that's why they give you one. And I guarantee the instructions won't be nearly as difficult to accomplish the "operation" of a vehicle. Unlike a computer, one doesn't have to go through 17 or more different prompts to get an end result. It's push this button, move this lever, adjust this dial control, etcetera.

You may be in for a surprise once you drive a vehicle that has a modern entertainment and navigation system installed.

But setting that aside, a computer is a "soft tool". A car isn't. If you buy a car, you cannot convert it into an 18-wheel tractor-trailer rig. You may be able tow a small U-haul trailer, but that's it. If you buy a tractor-trailer and want to go to a concert in the city, you cannot convert it into a compact car for the evening. (Oh yes, and if you want to drive a tractor-trailer, you need a special driver's license for that. The handling of those rigs is enough different from the handling of passenger cars that a regular driver's license won't do.)

With computers, the same computer might be a word processor, a photo processing lab used by a professional photographer, an engineering workstation used by someone designing a bridge or skyscraper, a simulation tool used to model the chemical behavior of potential medicines, a node in a massive network of machines used to predict the weather, or any number of other things.

Even if the individual software applications are "easy to use" for a trained professional in the relevant field, who has taken time to learn them, that does not mean that they are going to have shallow learning curves. (Or that merely installing a bunch of professional applications on your computer will somehow magically turn you into a professional photographer, architect, chemist, doctor, and weather forecaster.)

ExplainitomelikeIm2yrsold wrote:

"...you need to learn to use the technology as it exists." No, I don't...software engineers need to work on the simplicity aspects of using a personal computer.

Practically speaking, that means that you don't use computers. Software engineers are unlikely to tailor things to your specific needs. Only you can decide if your need or desire to use a computer is greater than your unwillingness to learn new things. No one here can make that choice or learn things for you.

I'll bet dollars to donuts many, many, senior citizens don't use computers because they lack simplicity. Senior citizens are the fastest growing segment of the population globally...look at all the business they're losing. I might be joining the non-users soon myself, especially if computing becomes any more complex then it all ready is...

Almost everyone you're talking to in this thread is a "senior citizen," including me. I also believe, as I noted, that computers have gotten easier to use. But I also make it a point to keep learning new things. Unlike my brother, I haven't decided that the computers I first learned to use were best and I shouldn't have to learn anything new.

ExplainitomelikeIm2yrsold wrote:

"I doubt macOS is going to get appreciably simpler than it already is." There is no reason for that.

But maybe there is a reason why Chesterton built their proverbial fence?

They can get computers to do all sorts of things these days, and the list keeps growing.

Could that even be the reason why computers are not getting appreciably simpler? That there’s a growing list of features and requirements?

My stuff used to fit in a 16 KB Apple ][, or variously into a 32 KW PDP-11. Which were vastly simpler computers. Much easier to understand in their entirety. But which were comparatively more difficult to use even then, and which were and are vastly more difficult to use for tasks more recent; for modern expectations and requirements.

They surely should be able make computers less difficult to use.

Maybe “they” do make the computer less difficult.

But maybe “the list keeps growing”, as you put it.

Every complex system involves trade-offs and compromises.

Which — in a manner of consideration — means things computing aren’t getting appreciably simpler.

Or maybe you ask why an iPad might be appropriate, rather than a Mac that you yourself claim to find daunting.

Like I've said many times before, everyone doesn't have a Ph.D. in Computer Science.

Not everyone can correctly abbreviate Ph.D., either. Erudition does have its uses.

I wish you well with your new Mac. Or iPad. Or Windows 11 PC. Or with pen and paper, which I routinely use. Or with your existing Mac. Or with whatever else you might find best meets your needs and budget.

Thank you, for your somewhat late reply!

The icon

Thanks, for your late reply!

The iconic remark about Windows, is not interesting at all!

I´m a little confused, about what you need?

I think,we´ll stick to your first question: "A new iMac ,for basic use"

There, are many options, within Apple, but it's harder to choose, the right one?