Apple iMac 24" or Mac Mini M1

[Foley909]

Hello, Im in the market for a new computer whose primary use is for both photo & video editing. I have brought my decision down to either the above title mentioned (both with 16GB) and trying to finalize my decision. Would anyone help advise? To me, the iMac 24" is the obvious choice but according to B&H, iMac 24" along with its discontinued brother, iMac 27" may also be discontinued in the upcoming year. Price range is around $1500ish... Although, i'd prefer the Mac Studio, I simply don't have the funds for it and a seperate monitor at the moment.

Secondly, I am used to using Apple products and would like to stay fluent, so I'm not interested in Dell or anything else. If I choose the mac mini, obviously a non apple monitor is fine!

 

[akdrone]

be very careful about the monitor. the pixels per inch issue is huge. Take a look at this Article On Mac Monitors. There are good monitors out there but many don't work well with Mac OS. The Mac Mini does give you easier options to upgrade selling the mini and getting a new one when the time comes. Both are good choices but I'd hold out and save up enough for 32GB ram....

 

[Dale D]

Hello, Im in the market for a new computer whose primary use is for both photo & video editing. I have brought my decision down to either the above title mentioned (both with 16GB) and trying to finalize my decision. Would anyone help advise? To me, the iMac 24" is the obvious choice but according to B&H, iMac 24" along with its discontinued brother, iMac 27" may also be discontinued in the upcoming year. Price range is around $1500ish... Although, i'd prefer the Mac Studio, I simply don't have the funds for it and a seperate monitor at the moment.

Secondly, I am used to using Apple products and would like to stay fluent, so I'm not interested in Dell or anything else. If I choose the mac mini, obviously a non apple monitor is fine!

I have been using iMAC 27 inch, 16 GB for years (2017) and still waiting for the M1 or M2 chip. Only option for that now is the Mac book pro with M2 cup in the 13 or 14 inch size. When I finally buy, it will be the highest specs offered since you really need a lot of RAM for video editing. I did not want to settle for 14 inch monitor.

 

[MavicAir2Marc]

I have a Mac Mini M1 with 8GB of RAM which works totally awesome compared to the Intel-based Macs. I don't have to use proxies for editing 4K and there are no dropped frames on playback in Da Vinci Resolve. Once you add effects, color grading and the like, it will slow down a little but once it's cached, playback is smooth.

 

[Foley909]

I have a Mac Mini M1 with 8GB of RAM which works totally awesome compared to the Intel-based Macs. I don't have to use proxies for editing 4K and there are no dropped frames on playback in Da Vinci Resolve. Once you add effects, color grading and the like, it will slow down a little but once it's cached, playback is smooth.

Surprised to hear that the 8GB works flawlessly with 4K.. I had always heard you need a minimum of 16GB for it to operate smoothly.. good to know!

 

[MavicAir2Marc]

Surprised to hear that the 8GB works flawlessly with 4K.. I had always heard you need a minimum of 16GB for it to operate smoothly.. good to know!

The M1 is a way more efficient chip and even with that little bit of RAM I was surprised at how well it ran compared to all of my other Macs. Currently though, I am spoiled by the fact I get to use a Mac Studio with 128 GB of RAM for the foreseeable future (which is nice).

 

[akdrone]

The M1 is a way more efficient chip and even with that little bit of RAM I was surprised at how well it ran compared to all of my other Macs. Currently though, I am spoiled by the fact I get to use a Mac Studio with 128 GB of RAM for the foreseeable future (which is nice).

Dunno who can make use of 128GB of RAM but more is better than less !

 

[akdrone]

I have seen at least one person with an M1 Macbook Pro have issues even with 32GB of RAM which shocked me but he had a lot of various things going on within his FCP project and I think it was some other software running in the background was causing the issues. I am in no hurry to get an M series as my work is just for fun but I will pick up an M2 Max with 64/2TB when they come out. As I have said several times in the past "this should be fast enough that I will never need a faster computer...". In two years everyone will probably be doing 3d VR video that requires the M4 chip and I will roll my eyes again.

 

[MavicAir2Marc]

Dunno who can make use of 128GB of RAM but more is better than less !

On my work computer, I routinely run Photoshop, Illustrator, Art Pro and Pilot (proprietary printing software), Acrobat, Word, InDesign...etc., etc. I'm in and out of so many programs all the time you should see when I command tab, it goes all the way across the screen... Those are the times it's great to have 128GB of RAM. LOL

 

[Dale D]

On my work computer, I routinely run Photoshop, Illustrator, Art Pro and Pilot (proprietary printing software), Acrobat, Word, InDesign...etc., etc. I'm in and out of so many programs all the time you should see when I command tab, it goes all the way across the screen... Those are the times it's great to have 128GB of RAM. LOL

Agreed! You can never have enough RAM. I often run Photoshop, Premiere Pro, Lightroom, Word, Home Page, Acrobat and LR Timelapse simultaneously when I am working on a video.

 

[akdrone]

Agreed! You can never have enough RAM. I often run Photoshop, Premiere Pro, Lightroom, Word, Home Page, Acrobat and LR Timelapse simultaneously when I am working on a video.

due to the way the Mac OS uses RAM I would bet that if you check Activity Monitor you would find that even with all those apps open you are using less than 64GB of real memory but if somebody wanted to give me a computer with 128GB of RAM...I would not complain..

 

[MavicAir2Marc]

due to the way the Mac OS uses RAM I would bet that if you check Activity Monitor you would find that even with all those apps open you are using less than 64GB of real memory but if somebody wanted to give me a computer with 128GB of RAM...I would not complain..

Especially with the M1 Ultra chip

 

[DCardelli]

Especially with the M1 Ultra chip

I just ordered a MAC Studio with 64GB with 2TB SSD. I did extensive research via various Photography and Video forums (and articles) and made my conclusion the extra $2K for the Ultra Chip (although I'd love to have one) and the extra 64GB would not be required for what I'd like to do....at least at this time....from all I've read, the Ultra is really for the Pro who is doing heavy animation and 3 D work....

I'll be using the $2K for a Mavic 3 (still deciding on which one).....

DC