So I’m looking to buy a new iMac. My old 2012 one has a failing HDD and I’m surprised it even lasted this long.
I tried looking at some YouTube videos but couldn’t really find any on the different upgrade options, and their use and what’d be worth it etc.. I kinda want that 1TB internal SSD. I know I can always hook up an external drive but I’d rather not. I like having an all in one machine. I have tons of music as well and that’s what my old Fusion iMac had and it was perfect. As far as memory and other options I’m kinda lost. Accessories as well looks like there’s so many options there too.
Any advice would be appreciated
The 2-port iMac that doesn't come with Ethernet is a bad deal (and I say that regardless of whether or not your setup will even make use of the Ethernet port to begin with). It's a slightly different internal design with one fewer fan as well. In fact, the only people that I'd recommend buying a 2-port Apple Silicon iMac are those that find a REALLY good deal for one on eBay. Otherwise, just say no.
Past that, you cannot upgrade the internal storage, so get as much as you can afford (unless your storage strategy relies on servers, cloud, external drives or some combination thereof (again, sounds like you at least want a 1TB SSD, which is a very good idea).
You also cannot upgrade RAM. There's never-ending heated debate on these forums about whether or not 8GB of RAM is fine and those fighting tooth-and-nail on the side of it being fine are generally doing so to defend their own decision not to spend more money. Take that with a Costco pack of salt. Suffice it to say that 16GB is a comfortable minimum, but since you can't upgrade the thing, getting 24GB allows you more headroom as macOS and your applications inevitably bloat and end up using more system RAM. 8GB is not comfortable (though, as those defending that it is will tell you, they don't notice it); the system is constantly paging to disk even on very light casual-user caliber workloads (generally not something that happens with those same loads on 16GB or higher today).
By avoiding the 2-port model of iMac, you're basically eliminating the 8-GPU Core variant of M3. The 2-port version has the 8-Core variant; the 4-port has the 10-Core GPU variant. So, that's effectively one less decision you have to make.
Color is personal preference. The only thing I'll say is that the silver accessories are sold separately; the colored ones are not. (Your only way of acquiring the non-silver ones outside of purchase would be to visit an Apple Authorized Service Provider [not a Genius Bar] and have them order one for you as a stocking part. Do with that information what you will.)
Lastly, I'm much more a fan of the Magic Trackpad than the Magic Mouse, though that is entirely personal preference. And depending on the length of your workspace, the full Touch ID keyboard with 10-key is always nice; but you might be using this on a smaller surface in which case the smaller keyboard may be more sensible. Either way, the Touch ID keyboard is so great that I wouldn't bother with the version that doesn't have it (another reason to skip the 2-port iMac).
