Back when I got my new 27in iMac in 2019 (2017 model) I was bitterly disappointed about the shocking level of “judder” when scrolling even slightly complex RW Projects in edit mode. I thought it might be ram so maxed that out, no change. Then someone claiming to know what they were talking about (they didn’t!) said it was the Fusion drive and that a good external SSD connected visa Firewire would sort it, it didn’t. After some research it turned out to be the fact that the iMac I bought and which cost nearly £2k was woefully underpowered in the graphics dept.
How bad you ask? This bad: This is a standard project in RW and although you can’t tell, I’m scrolling smoothly up and down the page. Pants isn’t it?
This weekend I setup a new M1 Mac Mini (used for backups etc, not main work machine). I’d read a lot about it being extremely capable for such a cheap machine. Once it was setup and connected to a screen with the same (almost) settings as the iMac, I figured I’d do a quick compare…
I’m scrolling up and down at much the same rate/smoothness. It’s not perfect, that it’s a damn sight better than the iMac. And the Mini has half the ram!
Another Mini will be on order soon, to replace the iMac. And this iMac will be my last.