Why the base $1,299 iMac is now a “worse” value for what you’re paying for – Appleosophy

Source Domain: appleosophy.com

Back on April 20, 2021, Apple unveiled the 24-inch iMac that was completely redesigned from the ground up for Apple Silicon. Featuring an ultra-thin design that’s 11.5 millimeters thin on the side, along with light gray bezels, the iMac comes in seven vibrant colors that pay homage to the original iMac. To this day, the iMac continues to start at $1,299, which is a good deal for an all-in-one desktop computer, right?

When Apple introduced the redesigned 24-inch iMac back then, it touted Touch ID as one of the new features for the iMac, and similar to Touch ID on MacBooks, Apple implemented Touch ID on the Magic Keyboard. However, the base $1,299 does not include the Magic Keyboard with Touch ID; instead, it comes with the base Magic Keyboard (with Lock Key) by default.

If you go to the iMac’s buy page and configure the base iMac model that has two Thunderbolt ports (by the way, Apple recently revamped the ordering process for a Mac to match that of other Apple products), you’ll be presented with two configuration options for the Magic Keyboard:

Magic Keyboard (with Lock Key)
Magic Keyboard with Touch ID and Numeric Keypad

Previously, for the base M1 and M3 iMacs, you could configure them to the (compact) Magic Keyboard with Touch ID (but without the Numeric Keypad) or either of the options above. But now, since Apple removed the option for the compact Magic Keyboard with Touch ID, the only option if you still prefer Touch ID would be to select the Magic Keyboard with Touch ID and Numeric Keypad, which would be a $80 upgrade for the base iMac model.

During the iMac’s introduction, Apple touted that the Ethernet port was relocated to the power adapter instead of directly on the iMac to “keep your desktop less cluttered”. However, the base iMac model does not include Ethernet either, so if you prefer to have Ethernet built-in (without using some Ethernet-to-USB-C adapter to take up one of the ports), that upgrade would set you back $30.