M3 iMac vs Intel iMac - you won’t BELIEVE this!

How fast is the base model 24-inch M3 iMac? More importantly, what wins in the battle of M3 iMac vs M1 iMac? Or M3 iMac vs Intel iMac? In this video, I run a real-world Final Cut Pro test, and the results are… well, very surprising indeed. You don’t want to miss this one!

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CHAPTERS
00:00 - Intro
02:55 - My test procedure
04:09 - 27-inch 5K iMac
06:44 - M1 iMac
08:36 - M3 iMac
11:50- Conclusion

[MarkEllisReviews]

I knew this would kick off some debate 😉 Who’s still rocking (and loving) a 27-inch iMac?

[alexkoulouris]

It’s possible that the difference in export time is due to the 32gb vs the 8gb on the M1 & M3. I would be interested to compare the M3 with 16GB to your 27” or simply remove some memory from your 27” and drop that down to 16GB vs the 8gb. I have a suspicion that the results will tell a different story.

[tristangarel-funk]

I've certainly no desire to abandon my perfectly functional iMac 27 (2017). But I have no doubt Apple and Adobe are working hard to render it unusable as soon as they can.

[elgonwilliams]

The bandwidth is the problem. The 8GB is causing at least 5GB to be shifted to the SSD, which on a 256GB model runs much slower dues to bandwidth constriction than a 512GB or 1TB drive. Increasing the RAM to 16GB would solve the export problem as that process is memory intensive. The base models are intended for folks who aren't doing what you're doing, per se. And Apple wants people to upgrade the SSD and RAM because of the extreme markup they charge.

[ericseaberg]

I have the last 2020 iMac 27" with 3.6GHz 10-core i9, AMD Pro 5700XT 16GB graphics and 128GB RAM. This replaced a 2011 i7 and I figured it would have to last a LONG TIME, so I got the biggest they had at the time. The fact I could upgrade from the base 8GB RAM to 128GB on my own was a major plus!! I do some video with Avid & DaVinci, but mostly audio post-production for Radio, TV & Film running ProTools, etc. This iMac will stay with me for a long time. BTW, our studios have MacStudio and MacPro Towers throughout the facility, along with some really BIG rendering farms, and I still like my iMac better!! THANKS for the "real world" review!!

[davidsteinberg]

Your tests show that the render is processor dependent, while the export is memory dependent. I'd love to see you do the tests on 16gb m1s and m3s.

[watchcommander]

It’s the total production time that really counts and also agree if it was the 16GB Unified Memory version with 512GB SSD it probably be a lot different result Great Video Mark

[Lovesongofprufrock]

I love my 2020 intel iMac. It runs sonoma and works well. I also don’t want to reduce real estate to 24 inches. I’ll wait for an upgrade. Great video as always!

[scottjohnson]

I loved this comparison, as I had an 27-5K iMac and recently upgraded to an M1 Max Studio for editing purposes. And my experience matches this. Renders are faster, but exports are about the same. However, I am fine with this. I export only 4-5 times per project and usually do that overnight. But I render continuously throughout the edit process. So overall I save huge amounts of time with better render speeds.

[getnyrb]

Great test thanks. I went for a refurb 2020 27" to replace my 2017 a few months ago.. I've upgraded the RAM to 32gb. I would have considered the M3 however the smaller screen put me off.

[RadekPogoda]

As much as I fully understand your disappointment with export times, I missed one consideration at the end - the total time for both operations. And it should be added, as it actually creates the whole picture.

If you add both - time for render and time for export, the results are significantly different:
Intel - 15:51 min,
M1 - 10:02 min,
M3 - 6:38 min.

The M3 is 58% faster than the Intel and 34% faster than the M1. You see clear benefits if you multiply this by the amount of work you typically do on the Final Cut.

I produce between 4 and 7 hours of YouTube content a week. My production time is usually twice the final product length.

If I could save 58% of production time by switching from 2019 i5 5K iMac to the M3 Mini Pro - then why not? 

One last thing - I wonder how different the result of the M3 would be if you had the 512GB SSD - based on two and not only one NAND memory chip?

[joesalyers]

The M1 was the only chip in the M family to not get the full hardware encode/decode engine with the full FPGA on the chip, the M1 Pro & Max and M2/M3 families all got that extra little boost. Also Modern encoders since 2015 have made HEVC or H265 the standard so no one (developers) works on rendering performance for H264 anymore. The Radeon 575X can render HEVC footage just have a quick test of that and you will really see the differences. But sadly the poor little original M1 didn't get the hardware encode/decode option but every chip after it did.

[rebeccaw]

My take away is that’s it’s crazy that a recent model M1-M3 in only a stock standard budget 8gb, stands up to an older top of the market (of its time) spec 32gb Intel Mac. Also, these machines will run for years to come, you can’t really go wrong.

[geoffthefarmer]

I love my 2017 27" iMac. I spend much more time looking at the excellent 5K monitor than I do waiting for it. To replace it with a 5K monitor and Mac mini or studio will cost me twice what I paid for my 27", so I will be sticking with it for some time yet.

[tomschimana]

Besides RAM, it could primarily be due to the different control of the SSDs. If I understood correctly, with Apple Silicon, the control of the SSD is such that you only get the full performance starting from 512 GB (internal this are two 256 GB Flash and double)

[DojoOfCool]

My background is in software development and I worked for a few Mac software companies, so when Apple announced they we're going to switch to their own chip I immediately bought a new 27" iMac with Intel i9 chip. I'm still daily driving that computer and it is as fast as M1 and M2 Mac for my audio work. I would buy a new iMac if they still made the 27" or bigger model. The iMac is a great Mac and Apple needs to bring back large screen iMacs.

[SirTools]

Love this "real" world test. I am sitting on my 27inch Pro for now and just keep wondering if the hype is worth all that coin. My 27 inch iMac shows no signs of issues or slowing down, but it is maxed out from ram to graphics. Until the old iMac shows issues or problems with newer software, just feel like it's best to just sit and wait this out.

[StCharlesFilms]

A useful and practical test, thank you. I’d also be interested in the results of the same test on a Mac Mini M2, as I’m considering this upgrade from my iMac 27”…

[butlerwm]

As some of the other comments have mentioned, system RAM and overall process times should be factored into the equation when comparing products. Otherwise it's an Apples to Oranges issue. Additionally, there were i7 and i9 iMacs available before the switch to M-series CPU/GPUs. Each has their own cost to performance equations. All-in-all, I like what I see in the Apple silicon machines. In the world of computers, there is yet to be anything called perfect. Still, we continue toward that goal. Good video.

[JoeCastellon]

Render times are important but for me the deciding factor was always timeline performance. I used to edit on a base model 13” MacBook Pro 2015 and though the renders where anywhere between 40 mins to 6 hours, the real pain point for me was how sluggish the timeline was when editing. It would take me 6-16 hours to edit an 8 min video. When I finally was gifted a Mac Studio, editing times went down to just a couple of hours tops, and render times didn’t give me enough time to go get my coffee at the kitchen. Even with the M3 Max available, I won’t need to upgrade in a very long time.