The WORST Apple Product I've Ever Bought 😅

- Inside this box

is the dumbest Apple product I've ever purchased,

and that's saying something.

I would explain, but it's better

(table thumping) to just show you.

Behold, my friends, my new computer,

(foam squeaking) (rhythmic music halting)

an iMac.

Yeah, I'm not kidding.

This is my new computer.

I custom ordered

a very expensive, yellow iMac.

The way this one's set up might be

the only one in existence,

because I don't think anyone is dumb enough

to order an iMac the way that I ordered it,

and by I, I mean I asked Ken to help me order it,

and then he ordered it wrong,

so, it's even weirder. (chuckles)

(Ken laughing)

Now, you might look at this

and think that it is an incredibly questionable purchase,

but when you see my existing office,

you'll see that I have a lot of room

to make some improvements.

So, before we get started,

let me give you a tour of my actual office.

I've shown this in videos in the past,

but I've always cleaned it up, we've tried to decorate it.

This is what it actually looks like.

I actually need to kinda, like, design this sort

of setup a little bit more.

It's still a little bit basic, but there's that.

The couch, I can't show you.

We're gonna have to censor all of this,

'cause (clears throat) this is where I leave

embargo products that have not been dealt with,

so, we're just gonna move on from that.

Then you'll see this, my Samsung Frame TV.

Now, there's a little bit of a theme in my office,

where I have a lot of items that don't really make

a lot of sense from a value perspective,

but I irrationally want it,

and I wanted one of these Frame TVs for a while.

So, my existing setup is basically unchanged

since something like 2016.

So, a lot of it is built around my LG UltraFine 5K monitor.

Now, I'll be honest,

I love this display.

This is the original launch model,

and I've used it for many years.

The problem is that it is starting to go out on me.

Not only have I ever since day one

had Bluetooth and 2.4

gigahertz interference,

which means that things like Bluetooth mice

tend to be a little bit flaky with me,

but on top of that, especially the last year or so,

I've been getting this purple fringing

around the edges of the display.

It's fine, but it's getting worse and worse,

and honestly, I know that I'm gonna have

to give up eventually.

Look, I'm stubborn, it's a really good display, I like it,

but it is definitely time for a replacement.

The problem is, is that with my office, what I tend to do,

because I have a lot of products come in and out,

a lot of stuff, it all just kind of lives on the desk.

I gotta stop doing that.

I know I gotta stop doing that,

but for now, that's where things live.

I am going to fix this desk.

That is my goal for this video.

So, I'm going to upgrade and completely redo my setup.

Now, this setup is really designed to be used with a laptop,

and that's been my primary system,

so, it's been a number of laptops over the years,

but I've pretty much always taken my laptops

and plugged them in via a Thunderbolt dock,

which then goes to the 5K display, 10 gig ethernet,

all that kind of stuff.

It's really quite a good setup for me,

because I can take the laptop with me when I go home,

when I travel, when I come to the office,

one system everywhere.

Now, there are other, like, 4K monitors and stuff out there.

There are even some OLEDs that are tempting,

but to me, it feels like this is a good opportunity

to try to go back to a device that I have wanted

to use since day one, which is the iMac.

The issue though is that using a base iMac

becomes a little bit of a challenge

when it comes to doing a little bit more of creative tasks,

you are running lots of apps and stuff,

because all those base iMacs only have

eight gigabytes of RAM.

Now, we've talked about this in the past.

We made an entire video using the MacBook M3,

the MacBook Pro with eight gigs of RAM.

It is a usable setup, but for me, it's not...

I'm not gonna, look, it's 2024,

I am not gonna daily drive a system.

I don't care, Apple Silicon or not, with eight gigs of RAM,

that's just not an option.

This is a good opportunity for me to actually tidy, clean,

and redesign this setup with at least

a little bit of thought in mind.

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(screen whooshing) So, this is my 24-inch iMac.

It looks so weird with this VESA stand.

Take a look at...

(upbeat music)

Wow, that is a white-ass bezel.

I'm gonna put this back on now.

We're just gonna cover this up.

(crew laughing) I'm gonna show,

make sure that I keep my screen nice and protected

until I get it on the actual VESA arm.

The way I'm going to configure this in my office,

is this is going to be on a VESA arm,

so I actually have some sort of flexibility,

because the base stand that it comes with

is a very short, squat, little thing

that just adjusts a little bit of tilt.

So, that was one of the main things

that I wasn't sure I wanted,

and then Ken ordered it with a VESA arm,

and then I was like, "Okay, I guess I'm gonna commit

to the VESA life?"

Oh, good lord.

- I mean, I have the Slack message. (chuckles)

I basically sent you the invoice,

did not realize it was VESA,

and you were just like, "Ah, the one with the VESA.

Ah, actually, (duck quacking) it, I'll just order it."

- That is an exact quote? (Ken laughing)

- That's literally what you said.

I didn't even have time to respond to you.

You made your decision up on your own.

- [Austin] That is exactly what I said, yes.

- [Ken] You could have turned back.

(screen whooshing) - So, it is time

to start cleaning up this desk.

I need to order a bunch of accessories,

a bunch of peripherals.

I have some ideas right now,

but this is the starting point,

and hopefully by the end of this video,

this whole setup will be much tidier, and much, much cooler.

(Austin muttering indistinctly)

Yeah, yeah, there you go.

(arm thumping)

I did it.

(bright music)

So, with my VESA arm built, it is time

to layer our iMac into place.

Goodbye to this beautiful, gold exterior

that I'm never gonna see,

'cause I'm looking at it from the other side.

All right, I'm gonna adjust this very slightly,

tighten everything down,

and we're gonna get this iMac up and running.

My questionable decisions continue.

Ready and...

(computer chiming)

Whoo!

Those speakers are actually not bad.

I have a little bit of second thoughts right now,

I'm not gonna lie.

Screen's a little small, a little small,

but something that's small, never hurt anybody.

(bwow intensifies)

I'm gonna see how well I like this iMac,

and I'm gonna start thinking about the rest

of the desk, but,

I feel good.

Asterisk, a little nervous.

(screen whooshing) And now, the peripherals

are in, it is time to look at my new desk setup.

So, in addition to my yellow iMac,

I also have this keyboard,

which was built for me by Betty from Switch and Click.

I have swapped out the key caps

to make them a little bit more Mac friendly,

but on top of that, I am using the Magic Trackpad

that came with the iMac, plus my Logitech MX Master 3S.

All of this is on a yellow desk pad.

As you can see, I've tried, not super successfully,

but I've tried to get a little bit

of color coordination with this setup.

I also now have some basic things, like a headphone holder,

and an Anker USB-C charger on my desk,

where I can charge laptops, and phones, and you name it,

but I'll tell you what, I've been using

this iMac setup for a few weeks,

and I'm actually kind of happy with it.

So, let's discuss the iMac M3

It's not terrible.

You know, you've got the Apple M3 processor,

which is very powerful, even today.

So, you've got very good single thread performance,

enough sort of graphics, and sort of general horsepower

to do things like editing,

which I've had zero problem with,

and you've also got a very nice, 24-inch, 4.5K display.

What I've been using this iMac for

is a mixture of basic tasks, like, you know,

web browsing, and writing, and researching everything,

but I also do a lot of video editing on this.

Now, primarily, the things that I edit

these days are Shorts,

so, certainly a little bit (graphic whooshing)

easier to handle,

but I will tell you this, the M3 has had absolutely

no problem chewing through it.

It shouldn't be a surprise.

I used to edit our main videos on my M1 MacBook Pro

all the time back in 2020,

so, the fact that this has significantly more performance

than that easily makes it powerful enough

for anything I want to throw at it,

but I will say, it'd be really nice

if at least I could have outfitted this with the M3 Pro.

That is still a significant step up in performance,

and because they've got the pro-level chips

in something like the Mac Mini,

I don't understand why they couldn't put it in the iMac.

It does feel like they're sort of artificially trying

to separate out their product line,

and let's be real, they probably don't sell

that many of these iMacs.

It is a very niche product that is much more so

for consumers than for actual professional use,

but it just looks so cool, right?

It's one thing for me to tell you all about my new setup.

I need to actually bring in an expert.

Luke Miani has made many, many, many wonderful videos

on the Apple products of yesteryear and tomorrow,

but does he approve of my setup?

(screen whooshing) Behold, my friends,

this is very secretive,

my office setup.

Can I direct your attention to my setup over here?

And can I get your honest opinion,

unbiased, as much as possible?

Don't tell me what I wanna hear.

- Okay, first off, I love this keyboard.

The keyboard, 10 outta 10.

Now, the yellow iMac...

- Uh-huh?

- I'm not sold on it.

- Oh really? - I'm not sold on it.

It's...

(Austin and Luke laughing)

See, the thing is they need a bigger iMac.

- What? - I miss the 27-inch iMac.

- [Austin] It's a little small.

- It's a little small,

but I like the idea that you've done here.

I like the coordinated yellow, that's a good touch.

- So, I've had this setup now for about three weeks now,

so, I've been spending some time on it.

My thoughts are I'm gonna replace this VESA arm.

- With a yellow one.

- Well, I need something that's less ugly.

I actually wanna put, like, a small display.

I was actually thinking about maybe

running an iPad with Sidecar.

I was thinking about it,

- Oh. - 'Cause I want something

that's kind of small.

- I like that. - More so just, like,

to kind of put, like, just a little bit

of extra information down there.

Some of the other things I've got here,

and in fact, this is new to you,

because I've spent the last couple of weeks tweaking

and tuning this setup.

I now have the Osmo Pocket, which now functions as a webcam.

So, now, I have a decent webcam,

which you can see will actually follow me.

So, as I move around, get close, get farther away,

it works pretty well.

I also have the Neumann mic,

which I can just pull right down here.

So, if I need to podcast, I can just be ready to go

as quickly as this.

Hit a couple of buttons with the lights,

(remote clattering) it feels good.

This is the setup now.

I'm gonna evolve it more.

I've already established some areas that need improvement,

- Mm-hmm. - But does it get

the Luke Miani seal of approval?

- Oh yeah, this is an excellent setup, you have my seal.

Would you like a handshake to confirm it?

- Thank you, appreciate it.

So, you agree that a $2000 iMac is a good idea?

Thank you very much. - No, no, no, no, no.

Wait a minute, wait a minute.

(Luke chuckling) - So here's the next part

of the video that I've been waiting

to talk about for a long time.

This iMac,

(hands clapping) let me actually

show you how expensive this was.

You look at the iMac, it starts at 1,300 bucks, right?

But who wants no USB 3 ports, gigabits,

and then nah, of course not.

And you also have to go up to the higher configs

for the colors. - The colors.

- [Austin] So, we're starting at 1,700 bucks,

then we go out to $1,900. (cash register chiming)

- [Luke] God.

- [Austin] And then we had another 50 bucks

for the Trackpad, (cash register chiming)

making this computer (pen scratching)

$1,949

for an M3 iMac.

(exhales) Is this still Luke Miani approved?

- You don't even have a terabyte.

(Austin wheezing)

- [Austin] No, I could have!

That would've been just another 200 bucks.

That would've been 2,000,

I wanted to keep it under- - That's insane.

- I wanted to keep it reasonable at less than $2,000.

Well, you know what?

Have you ever made an irrational purchase?

Have you ever done something dumb

because your heart told you to?

- Yeah, I bought an M2 Ultra Mac Pro.

(Austin laughing)

Even I'm not that dumb.

- Yeah. - Well,

you made some videos out of it, though.

- I did.

- I'm making a video out of this, which helps me

to justify. - There you go, I mean,

only YouTubers could justify it, then, is what

we're basically saying. - That's true, that's true.

This is my new system.

I am quite happy with it.

I really like the aesthetic of it.

I like the fact that it is really a super minimal setup.

I don't have to have the tower,

I don't have to have the laptop.

It is outrageously expensive,

but if you can get past that price,

or just don't configure it with a VESA arm

and everything, like I have, it's really solid.

(screen whooshing) So,

is the M3 iMac worth it?

No, it is not, it is not.

It is not a hard conversation to have.

Now, if something like the iMac is interesting to you,

I would highly recommend to consider a refurb model.

When you're talking about sub-$1,000 for a system,

even with an M1 that has still plenty of performance,

you've got years of updates down the line,

Apple Silicon, a beautiful display,

it's not an actually bad system.

It really is pretty solid.

The problem though is that when you get into the value.

When you look at the upgrades,

when you look at trying to get this thing

to, like, a reasonable sort of spec,

it is absurdly expensive.

And the fact that the iMac does not have

any CPU options at all is incredibly frustrating,

because if it had the pro chip as an option,

that would make such a big difference to the performance.

Thank you very much for watching.

Don't do what I do,

but what you can do is subscribe

to the channel on the

ringaling that dingaling button.

If you don't, then,

a charge for $1,949

will be magically debited out of your account,

and Tim Cook will be hiding in the bushes,

laughing maniacally that someone finally bought this iMac,

the only one that they've ever made like this,

because it's dumb.

(upbeat music)