The i7 version beats the M1 in multicore and the GPU options are pretty good. You can add 128 GB of RAM too.
As to requiring Windows or x86 goes, keep an x86 system around for when you need it while you migrate to Apple Silicon.
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Buying a 27-inch iMac in July 2021, am I out of my mind?
- Thread starter MetalMK
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The i7 version beats the M1 in multicore and the GPU options are pretty good. You can add 128 GB of RAM too.
As to requiring Windows or x86 goes, keep an x86 system around for when you need it while you migrate to Apple Silicon.
I sympathize with your dilemma. But getting an Intel Mac now is what I would recommend. In fact, I bought one and have no regrets. It's is a known piece of equipment. It's got a beautiful, big screen. Plus, the RAM is upgradeable. I am not an early adopter of anything Mac: I want to see them work out the bugs first on someone else's equipment. The 2020 iMac will be good for several years. If I were you, I would not get the new larger iMac when it comes out. Go with the Intel iMac. You already have the software for it. It will serve you well for several years, until you decide you need to upgrade later. There will always be a bigger, newer, shiny Mac out there. Good luck.
I would not get an iMac. The LG 5k is probably good enough and is a beautiful display. I should know. I have 2, plus an iMac.
I regret buying the IMac because it is now obsolete, but the display still can’t be beat.
Either get the 5k LG or splurge for the Apple XDR since that will be even better.
I regret buying the IMac because it is now obsolete, but the display still can’t be beat.
Either get the 5k LG or splurge for the Apple XDR since that will be even better.
There's also the Geekon X27 Fusion which uses the full laminated glass iMac panel, unlike the Ultrafines with their plastic-coated 5K. If you are able to export from China that is also 100% what you are looking for.
View attachment 1802294
Geekon 27-inch 5K monitor swivel lift professional design ThunderBolt Thunderbolt 3 power supply
X27, GEEKON, Brand New, National Joint Insurance, China Mainland, 16:9, HDMI, DP, USB2.0, TYPE-C, Audio, 178°, AH-IPS, 500, 178°, 5 Ms, 5 Ms, X27ProStand Bracket, X27FusionStand Bracket, X27ProliteStand Bracket, Official Standard, No, Level 1, No Camera, Rotatable, Built-in Speakers, Wall...www.ebuy7.com
This monitor makes no sense for the OP's use case. $1400 + shipping for a 27 inch monitor only?
Might as well throw in the extra $200 or so (or maybe same price if getting the Mac 2nd hand or with some deal) and get the 27 inch iMac and have a whole Mac built into it. You can probably Airplay to Mac with it when Mac OS Monterrey comes out and use it effectively as a second monitor for years to come.
The LG 5K display is a bit better since you can get one for under a grand online, so now that becomes 70% less than a 27 inch iMac, so yeah much better deal. If screen quality is acceptable, I would go for that if I absolutely needed a 2nd screen *today* and it had to be 27 inches.
If 24 inches is enough, I'd get the base level 24 inch Mac and use it as a second display via Mac OS Monterrey (or even just edit photos natively on it since the base is already awesome for that).
If either of those options aren't good, I would wait for the updated larger iMac.
If you care a lot about gaming, you should get the 2020 iMac with 5700XT, since it's going to be the best possible Mac gaming machine (leaving a mega expensive Mac Pro aside) possible for years to come.
The upcoming M1X-M2X 32/64 GPU core iMac will probably have better GPU performance, but there are not a lot of games out there for MacOS, and bootcamping won't be an option. This might or might not change in the future, but if it does, it will take at least 5 years, by then you're probably going to upgrade again.
Because I use my iMac for both work and gaming, this is what I did. For me the choice was easier though because my old Mac was broken and the 2020 iMac just came out.
If gaming is more of an afterthought for you, and you're ok to just play whatever is out there available for MacOS, then definitely wait for the new iMac.
Nice if you can get an LG at those prices, but here, they're €2000. Same price as the base 27" iMac. And the Geekon is €1150. So it would definitely make sense. I'm actually quite fascinated by that Geekon screen. If it's so good, I could see myself using one instead of a Huawei Mateview. Although the latter has 4:3 proportions, which is a very big plus.
The Geekon is split into 2 models, the X27 Pro (same panel as 5K Ultrafine) and the X27 Fusion (same panel as iMac)
You'd actually be better getting it from their official store on JD or Taoboo, and using a 3rd party shipping agent to get it to Europe/States. It's only 700 euro / $800 dollars without shipping.
item.jd.com
You'd actually be better getting it from their official store on JD or Taoboo, and using a 3rd party shipping agent to get it to Europe/States. It's only 700 euro / $800 dollars without shipping.
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Used 5k iMacs run $900 - $1,000 in my area. I'd say camp out on Craigslist for someone that is selling for 20% less. It might take a while but it's a way to get a 5k display for less. And you get a computer too.
Well I'm one who would never buy a newly introduced product from Apple, imho the risk is too high, unless one wishes to pay an additional premium for Apple Care, and even then possibly being without it for a period due to having it back at Apple for some rectification or another. MacBook battery recalls, keyboard recalls, display backlights, GPU failures and other product service programs make sad reading.
Like many new products today, commercially it makes sense to launch as soon as possible, unfortunately resulting in all the serious 'proof testing' being performed by the end users.
The iMac 27" for the last couple of years is generally a proven, reliable product, although the fusion drive wasn't too brilliant an idea, with many disenchanted owners modifying theirs to a single, larger SSD which certainly made sense. So much so that Apple adopted this with the 2020 iMac 20,1. Plus they had the sense to retain the excellent maintenance friendly aspect of simple upgradeable memory to a max of 128Gb.
I visited a Mac store yesterday particularly to view the new 24" iMac. Admitedly it's a nice fresh design and will no doubt prove very popular, but testing it for 15mins or so, did I find it blindingly fast to open apps etc? Not particularly! My trusty 2010 iMac with a large Crucial SSD and maxed out Ram opens apps if not as fast, certainly within a few 1/10 of a second. And that's fine with me.
Next to the new iMacs in the store was the 2020 Intel 27" iMac, which is the size of screen I far prefer, and I'm very tempted to purchase the mid-range 3.3GHz model, but not at the full current store purchase price, 2250€ ($US2672). I've just seen a private sale of the same 3.3GHz model at a 33% price reduction, made a bid, and hope to collect during the week. If all goes well, that will certainly perform all the tasks I require, especially when I upgrade memory to 64GB, until at least an M2X? 27" is announced (I certainly won't be interested in a newly introduced 1st Gen Apple silicon 27" for the reasons indicated above).
Will advise soonest of my experience with the 2020 iMac.
Like many new products today, commercially it makes sense to launch as soon as possible, unfortunately resulting in all the serious 'proof testing' being performed by the end users.
The iMac 27" for the last couple of years is generally a proven, reliable product, although the fusion drive wasn't too brilliant an idea, with many disenchanted owners modifying theirs to a single, larger SSD which certainly made sense. So much so that Apple adopted this with the 2020 iMac 20,1. Plus they had the sense to retain the excellent maintenance friendly aspect of simple upgradeable memory to a max of 128Gb.
I visited a Mac store yesterday particularly to view the new 24" iMac. Admitedly it's a nice fresh design and will no doubt prove very popular, but testing it for 15mins or so, did I find it blindingly fast to open apps etc? Not particularly! My trusty 2010 iMac with a large Crucial SSD and maxed out Ram opens apps if not as fast, certainly within a few 1/10 of a second. And that's fine with me.
Next to the new iMacs in the store was the 2020 Intel 27" iMac, which is the size of screen I far prefer, and I'm very tempted to purchase the mid-range 3.3GHz model, but not at the full current store purchase price, 2250€ ($US2672). I've just seen a private sale of the same 3.3GHz model at a 33% price reduction, made a bid, and hope to collect during the week. If all goes well, that will certainly perform all the tasks I require, especially when I upgrade memory to 64GB, until at least an M2X? 27" is announced (I certainly won't be interested in a newly introduced 1st Gen Apple silicon 27" for the reasons indicated above).
Will advise soonest of my experience with the 2020 iMac.
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A bit, yes. That sound you hear is all the heads exploding on this forum
That depends on the spec of the iMac you ordered. How is your new iMac configured? My loaded 2020 cost a lot less than $6500 and I maxed out the CPU and the GPU and ordered it with a 2TB SSD.
Same as yours + local sales tax(20%) + 64GB RAM + Windows 10 Home
But I still feel uncomfortable... Maybe I just need to pick XDR + MacMini M1
I'm glad you have the income to enjoy that big machine. I guess you can swing that sales tax. Our local, state and Federal sales taxes are 0%. We have people travel here from other states and even countries to shop here.
yes, please. Dump more little used iMac (M chips or not) to the used market..
Personally I could wait until the next-gen Big iMac with Thunderbolt 4 (with display inputs)*. My reasoning is that with TB4 maturing, there is no excuse for Apple not to support display inputs from external sources (like MBP, MBA, Mac Mini etc). This feature is especially important to people who plan to keep the machine/screen for 5 yrs (or longer). Ability to accept video inputs instantly makes the next-gen (or next-next-gen) Big iMac's more functional and useful.
*I know..perhaps it'll never happen
Further to my post #60 in this thread (and after spending some considerable time with the new 24" M1 iMac in two stores) I went ahead with the purchase of the 2020 27" 3.3GHz model, a private sale still with Apple warranty and at a huge reduction from current catalogue price.
After almost one month's use I can confirm that it's a marvellous machine, and as stated elsewhere this iMac display still can’t be beat! I'm sure that I'll be having no buyers remorse in comparison to an M1 iMac - which as a 1st gen model is very much unproven in terms of medium/long term reliability.
My plan is to retain this 2020 Intel model for the long term, as my previous 2010 27" performed faultlessly for 11 years (and still commanded an excellent resale price)! Plus there's an extra large smile on my face knowing that this is probably one of the very last totally upgradable Macs. Over the next 3-5 years or so I can see myself maxing out the Ram to 128Gb (when prices drop considerably), and even just for the fun challenge swapping out the i5 CPU for an i7-10700K.
Below: My new IMac20,1 2020 Retina 5K 27" 3.3GHz Model A2115
After almost one month's use I can confirm that it's a marvellous machine, and as stated elsewhere this iMac display still can’t be beat! I'm sure that I'll be having no buyers remorse in comparison to an M1 iMac - which as a 1st gen model is very much unproven in terms of medium/long term reliability.
My plan is to retain this 2020 Intel model for the long term, as my previous 2010 27" performed faultlessly for 11 years (and still commanded an excellent resale price)!
Plus there's an extra large smile on my face knowing that this is probably one of the very last totally upgradable Macs. Over the next 3-5 years or so I can see myself maxing out the Ram to 128Gb (when prices drop considerably), and even just for the fun challenge swapping out the i5 CPU for an i7-10700K.Below: My new IMac20,1 2020 Retina 5K 27" 3.3GHz Model A2115
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Further to my post #60 in this thread (and after spending some considerable time with the new 24" M1 iMac in two stores) I went ahead with the purchase of the 2020 27" 3.3GHz model, a private sale still with Apple warranty and at a huge reduction from current catalogue price.
After almost one month's use I can confirm that it's a marvellous machine, and as stated elsewhere this iMac display still can’t be beat! I'm sure that I'll be having no buyers remorse in comparison to an M1 iMac - which as a 1st gen model is very much unproven in terms of medium/long term reliability.
My plan is to retain this 2020 Intel model for the long term, as my previous 2010 27" performed faultlessly for 11 years (and still commanded an excellent resale price)!
Below: The new IMac20,1 2020 Retina 5K 27" 3.3GHz Model A2115
View attachment 1816462
It looks beautiful. The Cube is a nice touch too.
Further to my post #60 in this thread (and after spending some considerable time with the new 24" M1 iMac in two stores) I went ahead with the purchase of the 2020 27" 3.3GHz model, a private sale still with Apple warranty and at a huge reduction from current catalogue price.
After almost one month's use I can confirm that it's a marvellous machine, and as stated elsewhere this iMac display still can’t be beat! I'm sure that I'll be having no buyers remorse in comparison to an M1 iMac - which as a 1st gen model is very much unproven in terms of medium/long term reliability.
My plan is to retain this 2020 Intel model for the long term, as my previous 2010 27" performed faultlessly for 11 years (and still commanded an excellent resale price)!
Below: The new IMac20,1 2020 Retina 5K 27" 3.3GHz Model A2115
View attachment 1816462
That cube 😎👌🏻