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Late 2015 (or Late 2014) Retina iMac owners, are you upgrading? Why or why not?

Late 2015 (or Late 2014) Retina iMac owners, are you upgrading?

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    21
redheeler

redheeler

macrumors G3
Original poster
Oct 17, 2014
8,922
9,763
Colorado, USA
I ask as a Late 2015 5K owner who is happy with my current hardware. Never thought the screen was too dim or the GPU was too weak.

But I'm curious what your decision is, as there are valid reasons to upgrade and obviously it will vary from person to person.
 
Hi redheeler

Not upgrading because I way over-specced on my late 15 5k purchase so it's going to last me for a long long time.

Within the last month, purchased a barely used returned late 15 5k for my daughter and think I got a great deal so she should be happy for a long while.

I went 1TB SSD on mine brand new and, because options were more limited on the used market, went 2TB Fusion on her's so it will be interesting to see how those relative experiences turn out.

Exactly as you said, upgrade reasons will vary from person to person, so I will be interested to read this thread as time passes and real world differences and uses become revealed.

Cheers
Rich
 
Same here, not upgrading right now. My Late 2014 Retina 27" is plenty fast for everything I do. I did add an external SSD via Thinderbolt 2. Never found the screen to be too dim and not sure I would benefit from the cpu/gpu updates.

That being said if Apple high Sierra end up supporting external GPUs that can drive the internal screen I would definetly upgrade (if it requires tb3).
 
Not upgrading because its obvious this years update was just a minor holdover until a larger update in 2018 (with the cooling capabilities of the iMac Pro).
 
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M3Jedi77 said:
Not upgrading because its obvious this years update was just a minor holdover until a larger update in 2018 (with the cooling capabilities of the iMac Pro).
Click to expand...
Same. I'm feel I'm going to regret it, knowing that this is (probably) the year before the redesign.

I also hope that it will feature a true high-end GPU and more affordable SSD storage.
 
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Not upgrading, simply because there's no need to. Speed boosts are always welcome, but my current 2015 5K is serving my needs well enough. It'd be a waste of money to upgrade at this time. I'm hoping to still be using this computer in 5-10 years.
 
Not upgrading. I have a maxed out late 2015 27" and it's more than enough for my needs right now. The M395X is a good card for CAD/CAM.
 
I have a late 2014 27" 5K which is covered under AppleCare until December 2017, so I'm not going anywhere. My machine is still great and meets my needs. If there is a major update in 2018 I may consider it.
 
2015 --> 2017 iMac represents a modestly decent upgrade (but not a "full revision").
If I had a 2015 model I -would not- "make the move" just yet.

The 2018 models should bring the Coffee Lake CPU and along with it full support for HDR and h.265 video (I'm under the impression that the 2017's fall just a little short, but I welcome correction from others). The 2018 "video bump-up" is worth waiting for IF you have a 2014 or 2015 model.

My opinion only...
 
My 2015 model (from just a month ago) is more than enough for me (27", 4GHz, 24GB ram, m390, 512GB ssd).
The gpu is more powerful than I need, and the screen is almost too bright.
 
One of the major selling points of the 2017 model is the brighter screen. I actually keep my 2014 about 5 notches below the brightest because it feels more comfortable to my eyes. I typically upgrade my workstation every 2-3 years but I just don't think the other performance gains will be noticeable. So I'll just wait another year. Still incredibly happy with the 2014 5k model.
 
I would agree with most here - the 2015 27" iMac at the higher end is a great machine, and very adept at most user workloads.

I'm hoping to upgrade to the 2017, but only because my wife's mid-2010 iMac is getting long in the tooth. Plan is to buy the new one for myself, and give the late 2015 to the Mrs. :)
 
I am. I have a fully maxed out late 14. It is still a fantastic machine but I am upgrading the iMac Pro when it is available. I tend to be on a three year upgrade schedule. However, I don't think that the non-Pro updates are worth upgrading to from the two models that the OP asked about.
 
KeyMs92 said:
Same. I'm feel I'm going to regret it, knowing that this is (probably) the year before the redesign.

I also hope that it will feature a true high-end GPU and more affordable SSD storage.
Click to expand...

Don’t forget: space grey accessories!
 
I have a maxed out 2014 27 inch 5k iMac and I am pretty happy with it.

But I am selling it to buy the new 5k 27 inch as my current machine's Applecare would expire in October and the reselling value would plumit afterwards
 
Not upgrading my 2014 5K iMac as I've decided the All-In-One form factor doesn't work for me.
 
c.s. said:
One of the major selling points of the 2017 model is the brighter screen. I actually keep my 2014 about 5 notches below the brightest because it feels more comfortable to my eyes.
Click to expand...
Exactly. I totally agree that they make their laptops more bright so they can be used outside in the sun, but does Anyone keep their iMac at the highest brightness and wish they want it more bright?
 
I have a late 2013 and I'm not upgrading. Might next year given a redesign.

Tbh I might not even get an iMac, hoping for that Apple branded display and planning on using my MBP as my all-around machine.
 
I'm not, I have a late 2015 with 1TB SSD, and the i7 CPU and M395X along with 16GB ram that's more than enough for me. As to the brighter screen that's the last thing I need as I have mine turned down otherwise I get eye strain. I can live without Type C thunderbolt 3. The iMac is is great for people that have older machines but since I bought mine a year and a half ago it going to hopefully be living on my desk for a long time to come. I think the High Sierra upgrade with APFS will make a big difference as well.
 
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I've never updated my Mac faster than in four years. And even then I did it because a family member wanted a new computer and my hand me down iMac was fine. So i bought a new iMac and gave my four-year old iMac to family member. I hope to get five or six years out of a desktop before buying again.
 
You can see one of the issues Apple has! The iMacs are so good and dependable, that many simply go 5+ years before replacing. It's not like an iPhone where people are changing them every 18 months or so. My previous iMac was the late 2009 one and I only said goodbye to it 3 weeks ago when I took delivery of the 2015 one. The older one was slowing a bit, but that was all to do with the hard drive.
 
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