iMac 27 recommended configuration

[pappkristof]

Hi guys!

I’m planning to buy a new iMac to replace my 2013 machine, which starts to slow down and lacks the Retina display. Currently I’ m hesitating between the following three models:
1, i5 (3.8 GHz), 512 GB SSD, Radeon 580
2, i7 (4.2 GHz), 2 TB Fusion Drive, Radeon 580
3, i7 (4.2 GHz), 512 GB SSD, Radeon 575

I mostly use my Mac for Photoshop, Muse, Dreamweaver, rarely video editing with Premiere Pro and gaming (Civilization V & VI).

Which configuration would you recommend? Thanks for the answers.

 

[Juicy Box]

2 TB Fusion Drive

I bought the original Fusion Drive on the Late 2012 iMac, and I regret it. I wished I would have just paid a little more and got an SSD.
[doublepost=1516808193][/doublepost]I think getting the iMac with the best video card with the most memory would be a priority, as upgrading later is not an option, and this will most likely be the thing that ages first.

Then, the i7 would be my second priority. The upgrade is relatively cheap from Apple's BTO option, plus I don't think it would be easy to upgrade later.

While I would prefer an internal SSD, you could always run an external SSD as your boot drive if you wanted later on, and just get the Fusion Drive now.

I would not upgrade the BTO RAM, just do it later and it would be much, much cheaper.

 

[pappkristof]

"I would not upgrade the BTO RAM, just do it later and it would be much, much cheaper.”

I was planning to do that.

 

[SecuritySteve]

Of your suggested configs, I would recommend option 1, for many of the same reasons that @vertical smile suggested. Though by using the i5 as opposed to the i7, you will miss out on hyper threading - but that may be fine based off of your use cases.

You get what you pay for though. Pretty sure option 1 will take care of you for at least the next 4 years.

 

[Juicy Box]

Of your suggested configs, I would recommend option 1, for many of the same reasons that @vertical smile suggested. Though by using the i5 as opposed to the i7, you will miss out on hyper threading - but that may be fine based off of your use cases.

You get what you pay for though. Pretty sure option 1 will take care of you for at least the next 4 years.

So, you would priorities the SSD vs Fusion over the i7 vs i5?

I think option 2 would be better, due to always being able to use a external SSD to make up for having a fusion, but there is not much you can do to make up for not having the i7.

I thought I was reading about people replacing the Fusion Drive with two SSDs. I think it was very involved, and required using a heat gun to remove the display, but it might give an option for future upgrades to the internal drives.

 

[SecuritySteve]

So, you would priorities the SSD vs Fusion over the i7 vs i5?

I think option 2 would be better, due to always being able to use a external SSD to make up for having a fusion, but there is not much you can do to make up for not having the i7.

I thought I was reading about people replacing the Fusion Drive with two SSDs. I think it was very involved, and required using a heat gun to remove the display, but it might give an option for future upgrades to the internal drives.

Yes. I think we need to start moving away from Fusion Drives entirely. Apple's kinda on the road to start doing this with newer iMacs anyway, but really in real-world situations SSDs will give a performance boost over the processor most of the time.

The only real sacrifice between 1 and 2 is hyper threading, and a few MHz of single-core performance. Its still a tough call, but I still think option 1 is best.

 

[Juicy Box]

Yes. I think we need to start moving away from Fusion Drives entirely. Apple's kinda on the road to start doing this with newer iMacs anyway, but really in real-world situations SSDs will give a performance boost over the processor most of the time.

The only real sacrifice between 1 and 2 is hyper threading, and a few MHz of single-core performance. Its still a tough call, but I still think option 1 is best.

Fair enough. My reasoning was there was stuff to mitigate the issues of the lack of the SSD, but there wasn't much you can do about the lack of the i7.

I mostly use my Mac for Photoshop, Muse, Dreamweaver, rarely video editing with Premiere Pro and gaming (Civilization V & VI).

Would Muse and Premiere Pro be the only software on here that would benefit from hyper threading? Maybe Photoshop?
I am not sure.

 

[SecuritySteve]

Would Muse and Premiere Pro be the only software on here that would benefit from hyper threading? Maybe Photoshop?
I am not sure.

I believe Muse and Premiere Pro may be able to utilize hyper threading. Pretty sure Photoshop will not though. However, take into consideration that my knowledge of these applications comes from reading what other users are saying about these applications. I am not a graphic designer or artist, so I've never used these applications myself and tested them thoroughly.

 

[theluggage]

Then, the i7 would be my second priority. The upgrade is relatively cheap from Apple's BTO option, plus I don't think it would be easy to upgrade later.

True - its relatively cheap, and the hardest thing to work around later, but its also a relatively limited improvement: the killer app for i7 seems to be video work (mungeing video is about the only thing that lights up all 8 virtual cores on my i7 - closely followed by the fan cranking up). The i5 is widely reported to be cooler and quieter - but in my experience the fan is also a sign that the i7 is earning its keep. I don't thinks its an easy choice - if money is not an issue and you don't think you'll get obsessive about noise when teh computer is under heavy load, get the i7 - but the i5 will probably do the job, and be quieter.

 

[Juicy Box]

True - its relatively cheap, and the hardest thing to work around later, but its also a relatively limited improvement: the killer app for i7 seems to be video work (mungeing video is about the only thing that lights up all 8 virtual cores on my i7 - closely followed by the fan cranking up). The i5 is widely reported to be cooler and quieter - but in my experience the fan is also a sign that the i7 is earning its keep. I don't thinks its an easy choice - if money is not an issue and you don't think you'll get obsessive about noise when teh computer is under heavy load, get the i7 - but the i5 will probably do the job, and be quieter.

I got the i7 upgrade on my Late 2012 iMac, It doesn't get too loud. I think I hear the Fusion HDD drive more than the fans.

Although, this is also with me coming from an Mac Pro 1,1 using Fan Control, and a G5 PM before it, so comparatively, the iMac is not loud at all.

 

[pappkristof]

Yes. I think we need to start moving away from Fusion Drives entirely. Apple's kinda on the road to start doing this with newer iMacs anyway, but really in real-world situations SSDs will give a performance boost over the processor most of the time.

The only real sacrifice between 1 and 2 is hyper threading, and a few MHz of single-core performance. Its still a tough call, but I still think option 1 is best.

Thanks for the answer. Do you think that Radeon 580 is significantly better than 575? Is it a must? Cause if I choose option 3, I can have both i7 and SSD.

 

[SecuritySteve]

Thanks for the answer. Do you think that Radeon 580 is significantly better than 575? Is it a must? Cause if I choose option 3, I can have both i7 and SSD.

My line of thinking for you was the same as it was when I chose my own GPU option in my iMac Pro. You simply can't upgrade this card down the road, so you'll need to pick up what performance you can get out of the current options to last as long as possible. Likely your GPU will be the first thing that is outdated.

 

[Juicy Box]

Thanks for the answer. Do you think that Radeon 580 is significantly better than 575? Is it a must? Cause if I choose option 3, I can have both i7 and SSD.

Having the better video card with the more video memory would be important because that is not something that can be replaced later. Maybe with an external GPU, but internally, you wouldn't be able to mitigate the issues of having an outdated video card later on. So, I would get the best possible one that you can.

There are things you can do to overcome having a slow Fusion Drive, and the i7 won't see a huge different over the i5 for most things, but the Radeon 580 would help your new iMac feel new for longer.

My line of thinking for you was the same as it was when I chose my own GPU option in my iMac Pro.

I was the one that pointed that out I think.

 

[1k9]

What I bought- 2017 iMac 27”, 4.2 i7, 16gb ram (good reason for the upgrade from 8gb) 1tb ssd, radeon 580, and after receiving it I add additional 16gb ram for a total 32gb.
I have a 1.5tb for back up and bought a Samsung T5 500gb ssd just in case.
I also got the Magic Mouse and touch pad, and the keyboard with nurmaric keys (I really like this keyboard more than the regular one.)

Main use is for photo editing and regular everyday use. Is it an over kill? Maybe or maybe not. I want it the way I want it because it’s really hard to reconfigure after the purchase, and I want it to be future proofed for 4 years or so.

Now as far as the Fusion drive vs SSD, I think Apple should do away with the spinning drives, why spend so much money for a great computer, you know you want to be as fast as possible and cripple it with a Fusion drive. Think about it this way, if it was just a spinning drive without the small SSD (Fusion) would you choose it over an SSD. The argument is always the same, that the Fusion drive has more storage, if you want more storage add a external drive.
So far I’m happy with my choice of my IMac. Ask me in a year if I’m sorry I bought an upgraded model.

Best of luck with your purchase.

 

[AlexJoda]

My line of thinking for you was the same as it was when I chose my own GPU option in my iMac Pro. You simply can't upgrade this card down the road, so you'll need to pick up what performance you can get out of the current options to last as long as possible. Likely your GPU will be the first thing that is outdated.

But this strategy binds you to your maxed out iMac or iMac Pro for a very long time. It might be better not to choose the maximum configuration and save the money and use it to replace your iMac earlier. In let's say 3 years from now the than new iMac might be more powerful than the iMac Pro today. But with your maxed out iMac or iMac Pro you have to stay with it for another 3 years....

 

[SecuritySteve]

But this strategy binds you to your maxed out iMac for a very long time. It might be better not to choose the maximum configuration and save the money and use it to replace your iMac earlier. In let's say 3 years from now the than new iMac might be more powerful the the iMac Pro today. But with your maxed out iMac or iMac Pro you have to stay with it for another 3 years....

You forgot that you get more resale for the higher end parts. Is it more expensive now? Yes. But it will also be more expensive than the cheap version in the future.

Also the graphics card will almost certainly be more powerful than my current generation in 3 years. I accept that, but I didn't buy the iMP for it's graphics processing power, rather it's CPU / RAM capabilities. The GPU was simply a choice of upgrading the resale value, and getting the most entertainment in the meantime.

I believe most users know what hardware they need, and pick some combination in that use range. For some of us that puts us on the bleeding edge because our tasks scale infinitely, but others settle somewhere.

This rant was a bit off topic, but I felt it was important to bring up.

 

[AlexJoda]

You forgot that you get more resale for the higher end parts. Is it more expensive now? Yes. But it will also be more expensive than the cheap version in the future.

Also the graphics card will almost certainly be more powerful than my current generation in 3 years. I accept that, but I didn't buy the iMP for it's graphics processing power, rather it's CPU / RAM capabilities. The GPU was simply a choice of upgrading the resale value, and getting the most entertainment in the meantime.

I believe most users know what hardware they need, and pick some combination in that use range. For some of us that puts us on the bleeding edge because our tasks scale infinitely, but others settle somewhere.

This rant was a bit off topic, but I felt it was important to bring up.

Steve I can follow your arguments but I think that the maxed out products will loose more resale value than the more standard products (many might know this from maxed out luxury cars...). I have the same preference as you to max out the CPU and RAM rather than the GPU because I did not play games or do much 3D stuff on my iMac. That's why I choose the i7 iMac with the 575 GPU (also to reduce the additional heat from the 580) and the 1TB SSD.

But it might be even more wise to choose a standard non BTO model with a special rate and follow my own advice....(sometimes the heart wins over the head and this is such a lovely machine...)

 

[pier]

Option 1.

The i7 is too hot for the iMac and you’ll have plenty of performance for your use case.

Also RAM prices have skyrocketed lately, the difference when buying from Apple isn’t as huge as it used to be.

 

[1k9]

Don’t worry about resale value

 

[haruhiko]

Upgraded BTO configurations is not going to hold up resale value as stock configs, BUT:

- The stock configs come with a Fusion Drive, which is a big drawback. If you're spending so much for a computer you deserve to have an SSD (YMMV, of course)
This is exactly the reason for me to order online although I live very near an Apple Store.

- I also don't think it is worth to tolerate for lower performance or compromises (if it is a compromise for you to choose lower configs) for several years just for an unknown resale value in the future