The 27″ iMac is gone, and many see a gap in the lineup. Not those who have always bought full-featured iMacs anyway, but those whose machines did cost around $1,800 to $2,200.
While these users can purchase a computer and display that replaces an iMac and is likely to last longer, the smallest Mac Studio and Studio Display combo now costs $3,600 – roughly double that. If you combine a Mac mini with the Studio Display, you get at least $2400 – reasonable if the display can be used on two or three computers over time. However, you then have the situation of only getting an M1 chip. Many would like to use a Mac mini that uses an M1 Pro chip, like in the MacBook Pro.
A desktop Mac with M1 Pro would be great
If the M1 has four performance and four efficiency cores, the M1 Pro only has two efficiency cores, the rest is for performance. In addition, the graphics unit is twice as powerful. The M1 Max doubles the GPU performance again with the same CPU, the M1 Ultra is again the double version of the M1 Max. It becomes clear that the M1 Pro would be the performance sweet spot for many users, the M1 is very well suited for all normal tasks. M1 Max and M1 Ultra are aimed at professional users. At a fair price you have to say, but still clearly above what a private user has in the budget.
So what is missing is a desktop with M1 Pro. Maybe Apple will add this in one of the next updates. In our opinion, the following lineup would be ideal:
- M1: iMac 24″, Mac mini, MacBook Air
- M1 Pro: iMac 27″, Mac mini, MacBook Pro
- M1 Max: Mac Studio, MacBook Pro
- M1 Ultra: Mac Studio
- M1 Black: Mac Pro
Assuming, of course, that Apple still pushes a big iMac. In principle, the Studio Display is already a large iMac, but the M1 chip is still missing. But back to the topic: apart from the missing big iMac and the Mac mini M1 Pro, the existing scheme in Apple’s range is already clearly recognizable: each product comes with two M1 variants, so that the categories overlap.
The MacBook Pro is available with Pro and Max, the Mac Studio with Max and Ultra. So a Mac mini with “normal” and Pro fits in well. The upcoming Mac Pro should go one step further (we creatively named the chip “Black”). In terms of computing power, this should then overshadow everything that has been before.
But the desire of the mainstream will remain for now: an iMac mini with M1 Pro.
