"The missing mid-range desktop Mac"

[jeanlain]

I'm in the same boat as dal20402.

I have a 5k iMac at home and a 1440p iMac at work, which I need to replace. I don't want a non-retina monitor. 4k is not enough. I'm staring at the screen all day, I want it to look good.

The 5K iMac needs a replacement for those who don't work at a "studio". The M1 Max is overkill for me and the M1 doesn't have enough RAM for what I do.

I find odd that many here consider that there is no room for an M1 Pro in desktops. Just consider that M1 Macs only support two monitors and that the base Mac Studio supports five. Can't you see the gap?

 

[jeanlain]

At this point the people willing to tolerate the disadvantages of a desktop aren't doing it out of frugality but a desire for high performance.

What about screen size? A lot of people I know can't stand to use a small laptop screen. Yes, you can plug a laptop into a desktop screen, but why pay extra for a screen and battery that you're not going to use?

A lot of people leave the laptop open in that scenario, and with more people working from home, that's a setup people have become very comfortable with. The default rig that most companies I've seen send out is a laptop and a 24" screen to go along with it.

This probably varies across workplaces, but where I work almost no ones uses a laptop at their office.
I don't and I won't. I'm much more confortable with a full size keyboard and a large screen that is at the proper height. I don't see the point of a laptop that you need to complement with a keyboard, display and often a hub since it doesn't have enough ports.

 

[jeanlain]

We also have ultrabooks for portability but these aren't great for working at the desk.

 

[jeanlain]

The thing is, if you must have only one computer, it will be a laptop. But many employees can have more than one. Here at our university, the default computer is a standard tower (while most people here would be better served by AIOs, but that's another topic). Each of us also has a laptop to bring in classrooms.
I'm happy I don't have to plug/unplug a laptop to a monitor every time I come and go, and I wouldn't want to work on a laptop all day.

 

[jeanlain]

I'm curious what the workflows are that "require more RAM" but "don't need extra grunt to churn through all the stuff in that RAM".

Who are you quoting?
I can definitely use 10 CPU cores. What I don't need is a 24-core GPU, the ability to connect up to 5 displays, 10 GB ethernet, etc.

 

[jeanlain]

I'm curious what the workflows are that "require more RAM" but "don't need extra grunt to churn through all the stuff in that RAM".

Who are you quoting?
I can definitely use 10 CPU cores. What I don't need is a 24-core GPU, the ability to connect up to 5 displays, 10 GB ethernet, etc.

The crowd of "the M1 Mini is not suitable for my needs".

Yes, the crowd that needs more than 16GB RAM and doesn't do "studio" work. It may not be a negligible quantity.
Apple will most certainly cater to that crowd since the intel Mini still exists. I can see a M1 Pro mini coming.

At which point some of those implying that Apple doesn't need a midrange desktop will come and say that Apple clearly needed one.
If Ternus didn't mention the Mac Pro, would you also disparage the crowd of "the Mac Studio is not suitable for my needs"?

I'm not saying you're from any crowd, but in every thread where Apple's decisions are criticised, we get lectures about how disconnected from the reality the critiques are, how they couldn't be more wrong, and such, as if these posters were experts in marketing and sales. And after Apple reverses course and justifies the critiques, no lesson appears to be learnt.

 

[jeanlain]

The crowd of "the M1 Mini is not suitable for my needs".

Are those the same types who by pickups for getting groceries?

Me getting an M1 studio would indeed be the equivalent.
An M1 Mini, OTOH, has clear limitations. It's the entry level Mac, after all.

 

[jeanlain]

At the viewing distance I use (I'm not farsighted), a 27" 16/9 monitor should be used a 1440p or 5k for optimal UI size and screen real estate. 1080p/4k is not optimal at that size.