Buying advice

[Chrrin]

I'm looking to buy an 2017 IMac, however I'm not sure which model will be the best buy.
I will use it for the following task.

- Maple to solve and visualise mathematical problems
- Spreadsheets (not super heavy)
- Lightroom (hobbyist)
- Final cut (hobbyist)
- Casual gaming

I'm considering between these two

Option one
3,5 Ghz i5
8GB ram
512 GB SSD
Radeon pro 575

Option two
3.8 Ghz i5
8GB ram
2TB Fusion Drive
Radeon pro 580

The price is the same for both in my country. I plan on upgrading the ram down the road.
Which would you choose?

Thank you in advance.

 

[trsblader]

Option one because of SSD, no questions asked.

 

[MadDane]

As trsblader said, option one for sure. But have you considered going for the base model upgraded with an SSD instead? This will be cheaper and for your usage almost the same I believe.

 

[Chrrin]

No but i will, thank you. Do you know if there is any speed difference between the 256 Gb and 512 Gb SSD?
I already have a WD thunderbold 2 6TB hard drive that i could use for mass storage.

 

[trsblader]

Do you know if there is any speed difference between the 256 Gb and 512 Gb SSD?

I can't find the thread quickly but there was one recently comparing performance and the speeds were almost identical. I wouldn't be too worried about it. I would also advocate for the base model with ssd depending on what hobbyist means to you. My hobbies are things I do a few times a month if I'm lucky, and even though I enjoy them don't warrant spending extra money that I don't have to spend. If that's the same for you, I think the base model will be just fine in your case.

I've met people who have a "hobby" that they do 3 hours a night after work, and then most of the day both Saturday and Sunday lol so if that's you, the mid level would be my go to (with SSD still).

EDIT: Found the thread! Lots of good numbers in there to look at and compare https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/2017-27-imac-ssd-speeds.2051983/. It looks like the write is a little slower than I thought I rememebred on the 256, but the read is pretty close. Even though the write looks like a big difference I'd be willing to bet in real world daily use for you, you'd never know the difference. Just my opinion though of course.

 

[Chrrin]

Thank you. Saving some money would be nice. I'm also lucky if I get to do it a few times a month. I'm more concerned with future proofing, as I plan to keep it for at least 5 years.

 

[Jimmdean]

I'll second base + SSD. And any difference in SSD speed between 256 and 512 will not be noticeable in real-world usage. If 256 will do it then save some coin there.

I think all the future proofing you'll ever need is in those 2 USB-C ports. They are pretty dynamic. If the screen holds I don't think 10 years of usability on these is out of the question.

 

[trsblader]

I think you'll be fine. My base model 21" from 2011 with a 5400 rpm hard drive is still going strong 6 years later. Only thing I did was upgrade from 4gb of ram to 16. I did almost the same stuff as you for up until recently and it was just great for me and though editing and encoding was never fast on that machine, it didn't really take a lot of time out of my life.

Only reason I'm upgrading from my 2011 is that I'm doing more editing and encoding. Not professionally, but more of that once or twice a month hobby, and because I feel that High Sierra will be the last supported version for the 2011 models. I told myself I'd upgrade as soon as USB3/TB3 came to the iMacs and that came sooner than I expected (was expecting it end of this year or early next). I'd also like to do some VR tinkering as a hobby and my 2011 would probably laugh in my face if I tried on there.

 

[Chrrin]

Could you tell me more about the USB-C? How do you think it will improve the usability?

 

[Jimmdean]

Could you tell me more about the USB-C? How do you think it will improve the usability?

USB-C is a very robust standard. It natively supports a lot of different things for a lot of different people. One person may want to connect it to a 4k Television, another may want to connect to an ultra-fast Thunderbolt RAID array. Another may just need another straight USB 3.1 Gen 2 port. Honestly I wish all the ports had been USB-C. It's going to be the standard for a very long time...