IMAC recommended setup?

[wastro]

Currently using a MacBook Air mid 2013 - i7 1.7Ghz with 8 GB memory and 256 GB SSD. On the side i have a western digital my book (slow thing).

I work as a web/app developer and my hobbies are photography and light video editing.

I will buy a macbook pro later on, but i am currently looking for a good iMac since i want a large screen to work on. When it comes to photo editing and video editing, i am pretty OK with what i currently got. But obviously if i can get a better speed i would be happy.

When it comes to my professional life, i don't need much better performance. I would just like a larger screen and more disk space.

Im mostly confused and don't know what setup to choose when it comes to the different cpus and ssd vs fusion.

CPU - What would you recommend?

I am looking at the following :
https://www.apple.com/shop/buy-mac/imac/27-inch-3.8ghz-2tb#

Is there a big difference between the 3.8 i5 and the 4.2 i7? Or should i even be looking at the 3.5 version of this one (https://www.apple.com/shop/buy-mac/imac/27-inch-3.5ghz-1tb#) ?

Harddrive - Fusion or SSD?
What would you choose and why? I do need disk space. But would you buy a ssd for the os and then but an external raid ? Which raid would you recommend? The Western Digital (MyBook) i am using now is kind of slow over wifi.. Am i able to find a raid that im able to attach to with a cable (what kind of cable)?

Memory
I am just gonna buy 8gb from apple and then upgrade to 64 myself...

 

[Fishrrman]

"CPU - What would you recommend?"

3.5ghz version.
The i7's can reportedly be noisy (increased fan noise).

"Harddrive - Fusion or SSD?"

SSD.
DON'T BUY anything "less".
You can even get the 256gb SSD, it will do fine -- add external USB3 storage (HDD or SSD).

The 512gb SSD is a "reasonable compromise" -- more room but not exorbitantly-priced as is the 1tb SSD from Apple.

"Memory"

8gb and "add more" later if you discover that you need it.
There's no reason to buy more unless you "need it".

 

[sjackson]

I just bought a new iMac this week for much of the same work. I went 3.5GHz, 512 SSB, 8GB (ordered a further 16GB from Amazon)

 

[wastro]

A follow-up question;

If 3.5 is a good choice, how much worse choice would you consider https://www.apple.com/shop/buy-mac/imac/27-inch-3.4ghz-1tb# to be?

 

[1050792]

Go with SSD, the less mechanical parts inside the better.
The i5 is enough for what you need, you wouldn't get any benefit from the i7 unless you would use Apps such as Logic Pro X that would benefit from Hyper-Threading.

 

[Fishrrman]

Even the 3.4ghz should do, but again...
DON'T BUY the fusion drive version.

Get an SSD, even if it's only 256gb !