After using my M1 iMac 24 inch for 6 months, I thought I’d share my experience. Just so you know, I’m not against Apple—I also have a base M1 Air that I love, and I collect older PPC Macs for fun.
I have the highest configuration with a 2TB SSD and 16GB of RAM. I use the magic keyboard with Touch ID and the magic trackpad. Here’s what I like and what I don’t like:
The Good:
The Display, It’s a fantastic panel for productivity and enjoying content. The colors are true to life, and the pixel density is impressive. (Seriously, why haven’t PCs caught up with this resolution?)
The Stability, In my six months of use, I’ve only had to restart the computer about three times. It has rebooted during updates occasionally, but I haven’t experienced any issues while using it.
Touch ID on the keyboard, This feature is awesome and should be standard on all computers moving forward.
The Meh:
Port selection, The ports are limited with only 2 Thunderbolt 4, 2 USB 3, and 1 headphone jack. I can’t imagine using the base model with just 2 ports. I’ve been using nearly all of my ports constantly. It’s manageable with adapters, but it can be a bit annoying.
Magic Trackpad, While it’s better than the Magic Mouse, using it for long periods can be tiring. Actions that require long movements from the top right to bottom left can feel tedious.
The Bad:
(I want to add that these are subjective issues and might not matter to most people, but they affect my experience.)
The keyboard, I’m going to say it: The Magic Keyboard is really disappointing. I don’t enjoy typing on it. I love the keyboard on my M1 Air, so I don’t get why this one feels so off. Maybe it’s my desk setup? I also dislike that if I switch to another keyboard, I lose the Touch ID feature, which makes things complicated as I end up needing two keyboards on my desk to have both options.
The Stand, I can’t adjust the display height besides tilting it, which frustrates me. I like my monitors lower than this iMac sits, and the design makes it even more noticeable.
Legacy compatibility, I know this is a rare concern, but I still want to mention it. I use floppy disks and CDs often for my old computer collection. MacOS really complicates this for me. It has a hard time working with CDs and floppy disks and often claims they’re corrupted, even when they’re not.
RAM usage, I have 16GB of RAM and usually run only Discord and Chrome. I don’t understand why it needs 13GB of RAM and 14GB of Swap just to do that. My Windows PC handles all this with just 5GB of RAM.
Reliance on Bluetooth, Apple clearly prefers wireless, and having their products encourages that lifestyle. But I’ve struggled to rely solely on Bluetooth. My headphones remain wired because my AirPods and AirPods Pro often cut out or fail to connect to the iMac. (I’ve never had this issue with the headphones and my iPhone). Thankfully, the keyboard and trackpad work fine, but it would be frustrating if they didn’t.
Overall Thoughts (Also kind of a summary)
Overall, the iMac is a solid computer if you just use it for browsing the internet and want something that looks nice and runs quietly. MacOS is excellent for users who want a simple setup that works without fuss. It’s a great experience if you’re a basic user, but it can also be a hassle for more advanced needs. The included peripherals leave much to be desired, and there aren’t many good alternatives if you want Touch ID. The number of ports is just not acceptable for a desktop computer, and I hope Apple realizes this with upcoming models. I’m thinking about retiring my iMac and returning to my MacBook and desktop setup because it better meets my needs. I’d love to hear your experiences—good and bad—with the M1 iMac, as I want to like this computer but am struggling to fully enjoy it.
Thanks for reading!
