Just bought a new iMac! What are some things I should do first?

[DJAznSensation]

So I just bought a new 27in iMac 2017 (3.8ghz i5 / 40GB RAM / 2TB FD / Radeon Pro 580 w/ 8GB VRAM) and now waiting to get off of work to pick it up at the Apple Store. As I wait till the clock ticks till closing time, I'm thinking of things that I will need to do when setting up the computer like, moving my photo library, logging into all my online storage accounts, 1password etc. I plan on starting fresh and not restoring from a backup as most of my important documents are online.

I wanted to see what you guys do when you buy a new computer and see if I can incorporate into my process!? It can be as "unimportant" as picking out a new 5K wallpaper, setting up external monitors, cable management, or more involved things like "de-fusioning" the Fusion Drive?

Bonus question: Should I worry about APFS (Apple File System) vs. Mac OS Extended (HFS+)? From my understanding it doesn't really apply to me because my iMac has a Fusion Drive.

 

[enricoclaudio]

My recommendation would be for you to return your new iMac and get a new one with SSD instead of FD. That would be the best you can do, trust me on that. Even if you get the 3.5GHz with Radeon 575 and 512GB SSD is going to be much better than the one you got with FD. Just my 2 cents.

 

[chedder’mac]

I’d second that recommendation about the SSD (or you can always mount an external if you really need the computer “right now”. You also have time to return it if you decide you want the SSD after trying it out.)
What will be it’s primary useage in life? Surfing, light office, music, photography?
It seems that everytime I upgrade to a new Mac it’s purpose in life changes...this time around it’s more of a photo studio, prior to that they have been for word processing, music management or gaming...
Usually the first thing I do after inital setup is get Apple Care+, then figure out how to run my peripherals...then comes the task of finding that “perfect” wallpaper, I’m a space buff so that isn’t so hard, just so many to choose from.

just adding my .02

 

[dark_skies]

Assuming you aren't going to return it ... the answer depends how you are going to use it.
Video processing? General purpose? Games? In any case -
1) buy an at-least 3 TB hard drive for backups. Might be good to make it a time machine drive. Or, better yet, get an e.g. USB3 2-drive bay and order a couple highly-rated internal drives. Dedicate one drive to backups, and the other for - whatever else. Or partition each drive with half as a backup, and use both in case one bombs out. Might have one more internal drive as backup-and-remove in case your machine gets hacked with those ransom-ware viruses that make all drives - including backups - unavailable. So good to keep a backup disconnected.
2) decide if you want external displays. Each display takes a port, leaving you less room for other purposes. My experience is USB3 external displays work but not terribly smoothly, making them good for e.g. static images/documents to refer to while working on your main display.
3) buy a decent antivirus program. Ignore the "Apple isn't hacked" stories - no longer true, but fortunately still less of a problem than in Windows.
4) set up Airplay to other devices
5) enjoy!

 

[DJAznSensation]

My recommendation would be for you to return your new iMac and get a new one with SSD instead of FD. That would be the best you can do, trust me on that. Even if you get the 3.5GHz with Radeon 575 and 512GB SSD is going to be much better than the one you got with FD. Just my 2 cents.

I’d second that recommendation about the SSD (or you can always mount an external if you really need the computer “right now”. You also have time to return it if you decide you want the SSD after trying it out.)
What will be it’s primary useage in life? Surfing, light office, music, photography?
It seems that everytime I upgrade to a new Mac it’s purpose in life changes...this time around it’s more of a photo studio, prior to that they have been for word processing, music management or gaming...
Usually the first thing I do after inital setup is get Apple Care+, then figure out how to run my peripherals...then comes the task of finding that “perfect” wallpaper, I’m a space buff so that isn’t so hard, just so many to choose from.

just adding my .02

Thanks guys! This was something I was mulling over for awhile now along with maxing out the processor as well, and I ended up going the stock configuration because my use didnt really warrant a full SSD drive as much as it is faster and more reliable. I figured that the price difference I'm saving I could go and upgrade the RAM and get a Thunderbolt 3 SSD drive. I'm going to take full advantage of the 14-day return policy and really put the iMac against my workflow.

2) decide if you want external displays. Each display takes a port, leaving you less room for other purposes. My experience is USB3 external displays work but not terribly smoothly, making them good for e.g. static images/documents to refer to while working on your main display.

I have to pick up a Thunderbolt 3 to thunderbolt 1 adapter as I have an external thunderbolt drive, which then I will daisy chain one of the external monitors on. As for the other ultrawide, I may have to find another purpose for it or get another adapter.

 

[tn-xyz]

against the popular opinion on this board, a fusion drive is more than fine if you need the storage and don't like your desk being cluttered with several external HDDs.

 

[labyrinth153]

Step 1 create encrypted time machine.
Step 2 file vault your drive.

My iMac was stolen a few months after I bought it by a jealous person.

 

[Glideslope]

So I just bought a new 27in iMac 2017 (3.8ghz i5 / 40GB RAM / 2TB FD / Radeon Pro 580 w/ 8GB VRAM) and now waiting to get off of work to pick it up at the Apple Store. As I wait till the clock ticks till closing time, I'm thinking of things that I will need to do when setting up the computer like, moving my photo library, logging into all my online storage accounts, 1password etc. I plan on starting fresh and not restoring from a backup as most of my important documents are online.

I wanted to see what you guys do when you buy a new computer and see if I can incorporate into my process!? It can be as "unimportant" as picking out a new 5K wallpaper, setting up external monitors, cable management, or more involved things like "de-fusioning" the Fusion Drive?

Bonus question: Should I worry about APFS (Apple File System) vs. Mac OS Extended (HFS+)? From my understanding it doesn't really apply to me because my iMac has a Fusion Drive.

Congratulations. If your machine shipped with 10.12 the first thing I would NOT do is upgrade to 10.13. Fusion Drives don't play nice with 10.13 and APFS. Nice choice on the 7600K i5. You'll find it is very close to the 7700K on operations with no Hyper Threading. Plus it won't heat your office. I'm assuming you added the extra RAM? IMO, 32g is all a Mac needs these days. If you had it configured by Apple return it immediately. Get a new machine with the stock RAM config and a 1TB SSD . Purchase a 32g Kit from Crucial. You'll be happier.

 

[enricoclaudio]

Here is my 512GB SSD Speed Test on my new 27" iMac 5K 2017, 3.5GHz i5, 24GB RAM, Radeon 575 and 512GB SSD

Now check on Youtube for this speed test on 2TB FD at 50% full:

 

[loekf]

Craig @ Apple has made some promises that APFS will (still) come to Fusion Drives as well.

There's nothing wrong with Fusion drives, but fact is that the amount of flash storage as part of a FD got smaller last year. I still have a 128 GB + 1 TB FD. All my data is on an external 8 TB RAID drive. There's also a 2 TB Time Machine drive and a 4 TB back up drive.

macOS and programs run off the FD drive, but it's usage is around 128 GB, so the HDD part is hardly used.

I think you made a mistake buying DRAM from Apple. It's way too expensive.

If you had a CTO model (customized to order) I would have invested the $600 dollar for 32 GB SDRAM into a 512 GB SSD ($200 extra) and the rest into 32 GB DRAM (~350 dollar for 2 x 16 GB DDR4 ?).

 

[Septercius]

against the popular opinion on this board, a fusion drive is more than fine if you need the storage and don't like your desk being cluttered with several external HDDs.

I'm not sure that clutter alone is a reason not to opt for an SSD. The speed and lack of noise outweigh any advantages that the hard drive/Fusion drive may have.

And it's quite easy to avoid the clutter issue, just buy one of these:

https://www.twelvesouth.com/product/backpack-for-imac

Mine has two 2.5" Thunderbolt 3 enclosures and a USB hub on it, and I can't see a single cable.

 

[DJAznSensation]

Congratulations. If your machine shipped with 10.12 the first thing I would NOT do is upgrade to 10.13. Fusion Drives don't play nice with 10.13 and APFS. They play, but not nicely. Nice choice on the 7600K i5. You'll find it is very close to the 7700K on operations with no Hyper Threading. Plus it won't heat your office. I'm assuming you added the extra RAM? IMO, 32g is all a Mac needs these days. If you had it configured by Apple return it immediately. Get a new machine with the stock RAM config and a 1TB SSD . Purchase a 32g Kit from Crucial. You'll be happier

Thanks! Yea, I upgraded the RAM myself. I would never pay the Apple premium for extra RAM. As for not upgrading the OS, I already did. I havent notice anything negative as of yet, however I havent really loaded all my data into it or pushed the iMac through my workflow.

Mine has two 2.5" Thunderbolt 3 enclosures and a USB hub on it, and I can't see a single cable.

Can you go into a little more detail on the two 2.5" Thunderbolt 3 enclosures what you bought and how you did this? I am very interested in doing this and having Bootcamp/Windows run off of it.

 

[Samuelsan2001]

Here is my 512GB SSD Speed Test on my new 27" iMac 5K 2017, 3.5GHz i5, 24GB RAM, Radeon 575 and 512GB SSD

Now check on Youtube for this speed test on 2TB FD at 50% full:

View attachment 736049

Yeah but that is just sequential read writes and most ssd use is for random read writes in small amounts, unless you are constantly moving huge files around it’s not a huge bonus, and the fusion drive is still as fast as any SATA connected ssd.

 

[vac373]

I just bought the same config as you (and added 16 gb of crucial RAM). I would've loved to upgrade to the SSD and even the i7 but had to stay within a budget. I purchased this as a refurbished unit, so a little over $2k shipped vs.a new i7 with the 512 SSD that would've been pushing $3k after tax... and then the additional cost off adding more external storage... Like you stated in a previous post, we have 14 days to return if the fusion drive doesn't work out.

 

[psymac]

I just bought the same config as you (and added 16 gb of crucial RAM). I would've loved to upgrade to the SSD and even the i7 but had to stay within a budget. I purchased this as a refurbished unit, so a little over $2k shipped vs.a new i7 with the 512 SSD that would've been pushing $3k after tax... and then the additional cost off adding more external storage... Like you stated in a previous post, we have 14 days to return if the fusion drive doesn't work out.

Thinking of getting the same system, can you post the read right speeds for Speedtest?