Hi there, I am new to mac and coming from PC with i7. I looking at buying an imac for home office and looking at future proofing it. It is more for personal media music photos movies etc. I was looking at 21.5 but realized you can't upgrade the ram later so now looking at the 27 inch although I would like to use 1tb ssd and not sure if I need to upgrade to i7. The bulk of my media music etc will be stored on a NAS drive and just have my MS Office as well as OS and apps on the ssd. Thoughts ?
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Imac buying advice
- Thread starter New2imac01
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Hello. Home Office is not nearly enough to warrant an i7 processor - keep the i5 or go even i3. The iMac will be near silent that way, cool and won't use as much electricity. Go all SSD and save some money in not upgrading the processor. 27 inches is great, I wouldn't trade my 2015 machine in ever
What will you be using it for exactly?
Hi there and Thank you for the reply. I was thinking the same about the i5 however my concern is that if I have to many things going on will it then slow down. I hear i7 is great for multi tasking but on the other hand is it noisy? On the most part it may be overkill since it will be used for personal home media and finances.Hello. Home Office is not nearly enough to warrant an i7 processor - keep the i5 or go even i3. The iMac will be near silent that way, cool and won't use as much electricity. Go all SSD and save some money in not upgrading the processor. 27 inches is great, I wouldn't trade my 2015 machine in ever
What will you be using it for exactly?
Hi, you‘re welcome!
What are „many things“ you‘re talking about? If you mean Safari tabs, Numbers spreadsheets, Preview and music, you‘ll never run into a bottlenecking issue with the i5. The i7 is only needed if you‘re exporting videos, rendering graphics and all that jazz on a daily basis. If pushed, the i7 needs more electricity and thus produces more heat. But with normal usage like you‘ve described so far you wouldn‘t even push an i3 option.
Hi, you‘re welcome!
What are „many things“ you‘re talking about? If you mean Safari tabs, Numbers spreadsheets, Preview and music, you‘ll never run into a bottlenecking issue with the i5. The i7 is only needed if you‘re exporting videos, rendering graphics and all that jazz on a daily basis. If pushed, the i7 needs more electricity and thus produces more heat. But with normal usage like you‘ve described so far you wouldn‘t even push an i3 option.
Yes you are right! I figure my choice would be an i5 the next choice would be 1tb ssd. As for the ram if I go with a 27 inch I could then upgrade ram in the future but if I go with 21 inch I would then have to upgrade ram in the beginning to a least 16g to be future proofed. However price wise it does not make sense and then the 27 inch seems more appealing according to cost.
That‘s nice
If finances are an issue, I‘d advise you towards the 512 GB SSD because you could always connect an external SSD or HDD via USB later if needed. About RAM, 16 GB seems about right. That‘s nice
Well I am trying to see what configuration would be best with the 1tb ssd. Whats holding me back is if I should just go with the 27 inch and not worry about ram cause I could update that in the future.
If I were you, I‘d go with the middle option: 27 inches, 3.5 GHz i5 processor, but with 512 GB SSD to make the price more stomachable. (If you‘re dead set on 1 TB SSD, because you know you need all that space for your apps, feel free to ignore that advice.)
The best 27 incher with 3800 dollars is only marginally better when it comes to the CPU, but is way better in terms of GPU. This is only really noticeable if you do some gaming as well. If not, you‘re better off with the normal 27-incher.
Yes I hear you about the price. I am trying to justify the $480 difference if I go with 512 ssd with 27 inch 3.5 ghz instead of 1tb. I don't do any gaming on it however worried about the storage. I then may set up a NAS drive for both my wife's computer and I to store media, files etc that are not always used but safe.
If you don‘t do gaming, you could go even to the basic 27-incher, see here: https://www.apple.com/shop/buy-mac/imac/27-inch-3.4ghz-1tb#
The 570 GPU is more than enough for every task you throw at it besides gaming, and you could go there with 1 TB SSD as well. Would be less pricy as well.
You‘re welcome! And don‘t worry about the difference between the i5 processors, you won‘t notice it at all.
OP --
DON'T pay Apple's ridiculously high price for a 1tb SSD. It's not worth it!
Get a 27" iMac with a 3.5ghz i5 CPU (the "midrange model").
Get 8gb of RAM (27" iMac has easily-upgraded RAM).
Then get either a 256gb or 512gb SSD.
For additional storage space (such as storing movies and videos), use an EXTERNAL USB3 drive (either HDD or SSD, your choice).
MUCH MUCH cheaper, you get more for your money, and there will be NO DIFFERENCE in overall performance.
BE AWARE that to get an iMac with an SSD, you MUST "special order" it through Apple's online store. Brick n mortar Apple Stores don't carry them "in stock".
A very few retailers (such as B&H in NYC) stock iMacs pre-configured with SSDs. But check to see if you're happy with those stores' return policies first.
DON'T pay Apple's ridiculously high price for a 1tb SSD. It's not worth it!
Get a 27" iMac with a 3.5ghz i5 CPU (the "midrange model").
Get 8gb of RAM (27" iMac has easily-upgraded RAM).
Then get either a 256gb or 512gb SSD.
For additional storage space (such as storing movies and videos), use an EXTERNAL USB3 drive (either HDD or SSD, your choice).
MUCH MUCH cheaper, you get more for your money, and there will be NO DIFFERENCE in overall performance.
BE AWARE that to get an iMac with an SSD, you MUST "special order" it through Apple's online store. Brick n mortar Apple Stores don't carry them "in stock".
A very few retailers (such as B&H in NYC) stock iMacs pre-configured with SSDs. But check to see if you're happy with those stores' return policies first.
If you are patient, check the refurbished units on the Apple website. You can save 15% and find a model that matches or exceeds your choice.
It‘s really simple in your case: If you like clutter (external drives) on your desk, take a small SSD in the iMac and get an external one. If you‘re like me and want it all inside, order 1 TB.
It‘s really simple in your case: If you like clutter (external drives) on your desk, take a small SSD in the iMac and get an external one. If you‘re like me and want it all inside, order 1 TB.
Sorry, but why should OP buy a brand new iMac just to open it? If he/she is a tinkerer, yes, but I personally wouldn‘t mess with the warranty of a brand new all-in-one.
Hi thanks for the reply and yes I will be going with 1tb ssd. I am still on the fence about going to an i7, still thinking if it’s good for long term. The other option I am thinking about is top end 21.5 with i5 or i7 16gb Ram with 1 tb ssd to future proof only because the 27 inch may be to large. Thoughts ??
Same as Dave245.
About future proofing: The SSD is the single best thing you can do to your iMac. Between i5 and i7 - based on your use case you won‘t ever use the i5 to its fullest, let alone an i7. That’s money wasted, since you’re not rendering videos or crunch numbers in science programs on a daily basis. About the top end 21.5 inch, that boils down to your personal preference, but if you have the space, I can only advise you to go 27 inch. You get used to it so quickly that 21.5 inch really seems tiny to me nowadays.
I bought a 21.5" w/512 ssd, 16 RAM, and the i7 processor a few months back. It's not uncommon for me to have Excel, Word, Pages, Safari (w/multiple tabs including video), Mail, Calendar, Preview (for pdf's), itunes blazing, and other task specific apps like Quickbooks etc, open while I'm actively using all of the above, at the same time. It's also not uncommon for me to be driving lg's 5K display during times of heavy lifting and while using the aforementioned apps. The 21" iMac never breaks a sweat and, it remains silent and only warm to the touch while pushing it w/the apps I've mentioned simultaneously. Take the i7 "is hot and noisy" with a great big grain of salt b/c, it simply is not. It really is a nice machine and IMO, the sleeper within the 2017 iMac lineup. Some folks say it's outdated, I say it's iMac perfected, and mature. Tomato/tommato. Plus, it's light and ez to move around/smaller, if that suits your needs. I highly doubt you would regret a 21" iMac if it appeals to you. *do note: I don't do any heavy video editing but the little bit of trimming and other minor tasks I do, do..no heat, no noise, just stable and fluid. Good luck.
Edited to add: The 27" iMac is indeed every bit the computer the 21" is, and in some cases, more. Frankly, the 27" probably does represent a 'better value' for your dollar but to denigrate or, dismiss the 21" is just silly if it suits your overall requirements.
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