The iMac is dead, buy this

this video is sponsored by Asus wait has Apple killed the big iMac a few years ago if you wanted to get a decent mid-range Mac desktop experience you would buy this 27 inch iMac is this a ghost starting at eighteen hundred dollars it came with a large crisp and colorful 5K display desktop class Core i5 processor discrete graphics and even user upgradable memory now though it's gone and the Beautiful IMAX they do sell aren't comparable what is is the new Mac Mini which is now the least expensive way to get the much more powerful M2 Pro processor however this doesn't come with any peripherals so if you want to set up like the olimac you're gonna have to Shell out over three thousand dollars that's disappointing but I have a clever solution and part of that solution is an awesome monitor from Asus who's sponsoring this video keyboard let's talk about that new powerful Mac Mini in a previous video we already determined that the base vanilla M2 model is great for average people as long as they're not a gamer at six hundred dollars it's a great deal however if you want any more oomph you're gonna have to pay more than twice that because the M2 Pro powered Mac Mini costs thirteen hundred dollars despite this it does represent a less expensive way to get what is the most dramatic performance jump in the range for people with CPU intensive tasks the M2 Pro makes a big difference to export a collection of 100 Raw photos on the 600 M2 mini it takes 1 minute and 12 seconds a base M2 powered MacBook Pro does it in 34 seconds and a fully upgraded M2 Pro Mac Mini will do it in only 20 seconds I can't even heat up my coffee in that time it's a similar story in my DaVinci export 2. and it's why I recommend the M2 Pro powered MacBook Pro as the most balanced Mac available at two thousand dollars it does cost more than that old iMac does and it doesn't provide any of the benefits of a desktop setup so you're still gonna have to Shell out for all of this that 1800 iMac was a bit of a cut price Model it only came with eight gigabytes of RAM and 250 gigabytes of storage so you could argue that spec wise it's closer to the cheapest Mac Mini but back then 400 would upgrade the CPU RAM and SSD to the same level as the M2 pro at twenty two hundred dollars that's a full thousand dollars less than the Mac Mini with a studio display magic mouse and keyboard compared to the old iMac the M2 Pro powered Mac Mini looks to be a bad deal then but I think I can tweak this setup to bring the price back down to earth and the first order of business is the monitor the studio display is sixteen hundred dollars sure it's nice but I wouldn't spend that much of my own money on it instead let's look at the Asus Pro art pa279 CRV thank you [Music] its MSRP is only five hundred dollars like the studio display it covers the entire P3 srgb and Adobe RGB color gamuts which means that on average the colors are close to as accurate as the human eye can even discern in fact it's even slightly better than the studio display if you're editing pictures or video you don't have to worry about the monitor tainting your edits you can connect it to your Mac Mini with HDMI or if you prefer a single cable solution you can plug in Via USBC and take advantage of the monitor's built-in USB hub to get more of those precious ports and power even the thirstiest of MacBooks with 96 watt power delivery with its slim profile compact base and decent Cable Management I even think it looks good and I'm the absolute pickiest when it comes to monitor design the 4K panel is not quite as sharp as the studio displays so you might have to put up with Mac os's unfortunate display scaling but remember 500 the price difference alone almost pays for the Mac Mini that means you can Splurge for a touch ID equipped magic keyboard which costs 150 if you're among the seemingly few who like the Magic Mouse it adds eighty dollars to the tally this brings the total up to two thousand and thirty dollars this is really coming together nicely isn't it but the one thing I haven't brought up about the new Mac Mini is its tired design this form factor has been with us since I was in college in 2010 I just gave it for one my age it's not a bad design but it's lacking personality it could even be unapologetically plastic I'd totally be down for that with the M2 Pro processor there are admittedly benefits to keeping this form factor the chip is larger and warmer so the internals and cooling do fill the Mac Mini's volume now and if you want expandability there are already a bunch of great accessories that you can stack perfectly underneath we're not going to include them in our price comparison but they're pretty cool let me go get them this OWC hard drive enclosure is exactly the same shape as the Mac Mini and lets you install a massive 3.5 inch hard drive for all your media better yet if you still need front-facing USB a ports and an SD card reader there's also this satachi USBC Hub and SSD enclosure whose m.2 slot supports a SATA SSD empty they're each about 100 but even with the cost of a drive these are a much cheaper way to increase storage compared to Apple's offerings put together I think this stack looks pretty cool the Mac Mini is now starting to become more like a full fat desktop computer okay so there are still two things missing a webcam and speakers the integrated speakers in the iMac were pretty good so if you get a set for your desk I recommend spending a minimum of 100 not like these oh so look at these Harman Kardon sound sticks so nice on the webcam front a 40 phone mount for continuity camera is a really great option available to anyone using an iPhone as old as a 10r if you want a dedicated webcam though that'll set you back 50 to 150 okay so this setup does admit some we have an iMac at home Vibes there are certainly more cables to manage and power outlets to use but there are also benefits to this modular setup worth considering one of the big frustrations for owners of old IMAX is that they find themselves with an excellent perfectly functioning display attached permanently to an unusable Obsolete and un-upgradable computer from a waste and Longevity perspective this is bad but by modularizing our setup we can replace and upgrade pieces as our needs change theoretically this should make things less expensive in the long run but we've made things less expensive in the short run too with this setup the grand total of this entire desk is 2204 dollars only five dollars more than that upgraded iMac I mentioned earlier that's not bad even still I do think the M2 Pro Mac Mini is too expensive thirteen hundred dollars is a bit dear for what you're getting and what you're missing worse still if you upgrade the CPU GPU and memory the price jumps to two thousand dollars it ends up being more than a comparably equipped M1 Max powered Max studio that's just ridiculous and confusing in that respect I'm sad the iMac is dead it offered really good value for the package to get that value now though it's with this sponsored Pro art display which offers a reasonable desktop setup for any Mac User desktop or laptop and that's something to be happy about thanks for sponsoring this Mac address Asus if you are looking for other ways to save money on your Mac setup well you might as well subscribe now in the comments what I'm curious about is whether or not you prefer the all-in-one solution like the iMac and its trade-offs or something more modular like this and it's trade-offs

Channel: Mac Address

Views: 1,595,047

Keywords: Mac, Macintosh, Apple, Tech, Review, Mac Mini, M2 Pro, Asus, ProArt, PA279CRV, Monitor, Consumer Advice, Desk setup, Magic Keyboard, Touch ID, Magic Mouse, 4k Resolution, Professional, Apple Silicon

Id: uCsFBIlEybE

Length: 8min 30sec (510 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 31 2023