Are You Happy With Your Retina iMac?

[joema2]

Not really, you get a top of the line 2013 iMac 27" with i7 4gb video card and 16gb RAM on ebay for $1600. That's about half the price of a comparably equipped 2015 iMac 27" ($3,000) - less than half when you factor tax. And both of these models are almost tied when it comes to benchmarks:
https://browser.primatelabs.com/mac-benchmarks

I own both the 2013 top-spec iMac 27 and 2015 iMac 27. This is a good point -- the 2013 model is really good. The only real downside is after you use the retina screen, it's hard to go back to non-retina. This is especially so for text, even more than graphics.

For quite a while you could get a factory refurbished (essentially new) top-spec 2013 iMac 27 from Apple, but I haven't seen those in a while. There are a few 2013 iMac 27s but most have 1TB HDDs, not even Fusion Drive. I would not get one of those. In general I would recommend the newer retina model, but if a potential buyer doesn't mind getting a lightly-used 2013 model, or can find a factory refurbished 2013 with the right features, those may fit the budget better.

 

[dyn]

But the skylake chipset does run cooler on the workloads then the prior chipset.

The higher the workload the smaller the differences between the various generations of chips (Skylake isn't just a chipset). That's because nearly all the improvements in energy consumption is in the area near idle. Like I said: it really depends on the workload.

In case of the iMac 5K there seems to be a difference when the fans start to throttle up between the 2014 and 2015 model. This also greatly affects sound and temperatures. The 2015 model has a different throttle curve than the 2014 model.

 

[Raublinger65]

Thanks for all the opinions, everyone. I picked up my base model with a Track Pad today, and so far I am ecstatic. No noticeable lag in Mission Control; I haven't heard the fans once; there was only the smallest little sliver of light bleed at the top middle of my monitor, visible only in startup in a very dark room, so nothing I will ever think of again, I imagine. All in all, very pleased, and the screen is so damn sharp and crisp that I'm already struggling to look at my 11-inch MBA.

I don't have Microsoft Office installed and, while I was planning on doing that at some point, I think I'm going to have to give Pages a fair shot. It seems less cluttered than Word and probably equally useable.

I will report back with a fuller review when I've had the time to actually put this thing through its paces, but for now I still have a big grin on my face.

Are you still happy with the base model? I am thinking on purchasing one.

 

[Penfold2711]

I love my 5k iMac this is my first iMac having had MacBooks and its a dream yes it might run hot when i batter the cpu but i found my windows pc does the same, i know i will have a smile on my face for the next 4-5 years i own this until i pull the trigger on the Apple iMac brain implant.

 

[maflynn]

I love my 5k iMac this is my first iMac having had MacBooks and its a dream yes it might run hot when i batter the cpu

This is my first iMac since the original Bondi Blue iMac. Boy what a difference 17 years make

My iMac doesn't run hot, but then I'm not pushing it too hard. Lightroom, PS are probably the most intensive stuff. I was using windows for a while, but so far I've not really needed to get into that OS.

 

[YanniDepp]

I have a 5K iMac at work, and a 4K iMac at home. I really like both of them. The display quality is fantastic and the colours are great.

The only concern I have is that the screen vibrates when you're using the speakers. The louder they are, the more the iMac display vibrates. I know there's nothing that can be done about it, but it's a bit disconcerting and I'm wary of having the volume up for extended periods of time.

The only other thing is, because they're a lot thinner and lighter than the older (optical drive) iMacs, it's really easy to accidentally move them when plugging headphones and USB cables in. If you're someone who is obsessed with all your monitors lining up perfectly, it's a bit annoying.