Looking for something trustworthy, reliable, and durable. Something to last me a few years in terms of performance. I don't do anything crazy like audio/video processing. Will the basic model do, or should I go with the middle option w/ 4k and 3.0Ghz processor?
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Mac 21.5 - which one?
- Thread starter bnghle234
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Looking for something trustworthy, reliable, and durable. Something to last me a few years in terms of performance. I don't do anything crazy like audio/video processing. Will the basic model do, or should I go with the middle option w/ 4k and 3.0Ghz processor?
I always buy 21.5 iMacs for my parents. First one lasted them 11 years. Current one (current model) I’m hoping for as close to that as possible.
My parents are in their 70’s, so really don’t need much, I get them the base model. It’s fine. For everyday computing there’s nothing it can’t do. There’s really no need to chase specs just for tha sake of it if you don’t really need to
My parents are in their 70’s, so really don’t need much, I get them the base model. It’s fine. For everyday computing there’s nothing it can’t do. There’s really no need to chase specs just for tha sake of it if you don’t really need to
I mean if all you do is web browsing and emails by all means go for the base model. There isn't much 4K content you can consume on a mac anyway. Granted it has an ultrabook processor and integrated graphics and will choke at even CSGO.
That will be more then enough for typical usage, but if I may offer one change. Configure the machine to swap out the Fusion drive and use a SSD, it raises the price to be sure but you'll get a much faster machine. Its 2018, there's no reason run a computer off a spinning hard drive, even if its a fusion of ssd/spinning
As far as the base model versus the 4k model, do you have an Apple Store near you so that you could see the difference in real life? It's really a personal preference and budget, unless you have a technical need driving the decision.
The storage is going to make a pretty big impact to the performance of the iMac. As maflynn stated, SSD is really the way to go. Unfortunately, that gets really expensive in the Apple world. The next step down from SSD is the Fusion drive, which is a combination of a tiny SSD and an old school hard drive. The tiny SSD improves speed to make the computer feel faster, without spending the money for a full SSD. The base model has a slow 1TB hard drive with no speed boost from SSD technology. It's slow, but it will work.
With your need for 1 TB of storage, you could get the iMac with an internal 256GB SSD to and then plug in additional storage externally into the USB 3 or Thunderbolt ports. This would be the option that I recommend as you will have a better performing iMac.
Lastly, I would recommend going for 16GB over 8GB for RAM. Apple charges a lot for this, but I don't think you can add it after the fact on the 21" iMac so you have to get it when you order it. The 256 GB SSD and 16GB of RAM should give you a computer that will last you many years with decent performance.
The storage is going to make a pretty big impact to the performance of the iMac. As maflynn stated, SSD is really the way to go. Unfortunately, that gets really expensive in the Apple world. The next step down from SSD is the Fusion drive, which is a combination of a tiny SSD and an old school hard drive. The tiny SSD improves speed to make the computer feel faster, without spending the money for a full SSD. The base model has a slow 1TB hard drive with no speed boost from SSD technology. It's slow, but it will work.
With your need for 1 TB of storage, you could get the iMac with an internal 256GB SSD to and then plug in additional storage externally into the USB 3 or Thunderbolt ports. This would be the option that I recommend as you will have a better performing iMac.
Lastly, I would recommend going for 16GB over 8GB for RAM. Apple charges a lot for this, but I don't think you can add it after the fact on the 21" iMac so you have to get it when you order it. The 256 GB SSD and 16GB of RAM should give you a computer that will last you many years with decent performance.