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iMac M1 - any recommended upgrades?

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Luckyfish

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Lightroom Version Number
Lightroom v 5.4
Operating System
  1. macOS 12 Monterey
Hello. I am thinking about buying a new iMac to replace my old one. I am looking at the current models, probably the M1 24 inch (middle of the current range) which comes with 8GB memory and 256GB SSD. Photography is a hobby rather than my profession (albeit one that I am passionate about!) and I mainly use Lightroom and occasionally use Lightroom Classic. My budget is limited and I am wondering whether I should buy either the 16GB memory or the 512GB SSD upgrades. - I probably can’t afford both. Or is the M1 with the base spec OK for my relatively modest needs. I’d welcome your advice! Many thanks.
 
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I have the M1 iMac. I chose 16GB as that was the max available and the 1TB SSD. I don't think you will regret larger RAM and storage. With 256GB. you need to keep ~100GB free fro working storage and the swap drive. So, 156GB for apps and data is going to run out soon. As a Lightroom user rather than a Lightroom Classic user, much of your image storage requirements will be in the cloud. However. Lightroom does maintain a library file and image cache locally. And Personally, I would want to keep a local copy of all originals and all smart Previews. You can store the local copy of originals on an EHD.
The M1 24"iMac come with either two TB4 ports or 2TB4 ports and 2 USB-C ports and an Ethernet built into the power supply. The latter option gives you more flexibility with future peripherals (like a second larger monitor) and USB EHDs.
 
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I agree with Clee, I'd go 16GB RAM because you can't upgrade that, whereas you can plug in external drives.
 
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Victoria Bampton said:
I agree with Clee, I'd go 16GB RAM because you can't upgrade that, whereas you can plug in external drives.
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The basic M1 iMac is limited to 2 Thunderbolt 4 ports. This too seems inadequate. While you can daisy chain up to 7 TB(3/4) devices per port, All the devices except the last one need to have 2 TB4 ports. Any USB-C device needs to be on the end of the daisy chain. While I have replaced all of my EHDs with TB enclosures, most are TB3 and a few are TB2.
I have the M1 iMac with 2 USB-C ports and 2 TB4 ports. All are in use. I have a 1 gigabit ethernet cable that plugs into the Power adapter. My second monitor consumes one of the TB4 ports and I have a TB4 hub that is in use too.
 
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Many thanks for the helpful replies! I will go for the middle one in the range with 2 USB-C ports and 2 TB4 ports - and add an upgrade to 16MB RAM.
 
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