Please review your 2017 iMac

[megatronbomb]

I've been away from Mac Desktops for years, but bought a refurbished iMac 2017 i7, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD, Radeon 580 two weeks ago and am totally floored.

My last desktop Mac was a Core2 Duo (I think it was the first aluminum body Mac that came out) and while the iMac looks similar there's no comparison. The screen is gorgeous. I've got it next to a relatively decent 4k Asus and the iMac puts it to shame. I'm not a fan of the little wireless keyboard or the Magic Mouse 2. The mouse seems ever so slightly laggy. I have a Magic Trackpad 2 scheduled for delivery today and am hoping that it is a better experience. The little wireless keyboard just doesn't fit my hands well. There's something "off" about the right side of it. Currently, I'm using the old wired keyboard from my iMac Core2 Duo. I was going to order an Apple wireless with the keypad, but after seeing all the complaints about it bending and seeing that it is backordered by a month, I think I might wait and see... though I'm eyeing a Matias backlight keyboard.

I've seen a lot of complaints about fan noise, etc., but other than the fan kicking on after about an hour of gaming in Windows 10 (Bootcamp) I haven't heard any other noise from the machine. I was playing Stellaris, so it probably wasn't too taxing on the machine. Other than Bootcamp for GIS software and the occasional game, on the Mac side I've used mostly Adobe Creative Cloud, Safari, and Office/iWorks without any trouble. One thing that surprised me was setting up my three printers. Two are large format professional grade printers and one is a consumer printer. On Windows I was always having some weird issue with them and it was always a pain to get them setup correctly after installing Windows, but getting them all setup on my iMac was surprisingly easy. I had mentally prepared myself for a day of frustration and that didn't happen. Installed Epson drivers for the two big printers, added them, and they worked without a hitch.

TLDR: New iMac awesome!

 

[Glideslope]

Quick 5m Report. 27" i5 7600K, 1T SSD, 32g RAM, 580.

Love that never ends.

 

[gian8989]

I was going to order an Apple wireless with the keypad, but after seeing all the complaints about it bending and seeing that it is backordered by a month, I think I might wait and see... though I'm eyeing a Matias backlight keyboard.

Since you didn't have the possibility to buy it with the iMac i don't think it is worth the full price since it doesn't even have backlit. I have it but I still find more comfortable to write on the old wired keyboard.
If you want to spend money on a keyboard try to look for Logitech Craft.

 

[Precursor]

I've been away from Mac Desktops for years, but bought a refurbished iMac 2017 i7, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD, Radeon 580 two weeks ago and am totally floored.

My last desktop Mac was a Core2 Duo (I think it was the first aluminum body Mac that came out) and while the iMac looks similar there's no comparison. The screen is gorgeous. I've got it next to a relatively decent 4k Asus and the iMac puts it to shame. I'm not a fan of the little wireless keyboard or the Magic Mouse 2. The mouse seems ever so slightly laggy. I have a Magic Trackpad 2 scheduled for delivery today and am hoping that it is a better experience. The little wireless keyboard just doesn't fit my hands well. There's something "off" about the right side of it. Currently, I'm using the old wired keyboard from my iMac Core2 Duo. I was going to order an Apple wireless with the keypad, but after seeing all the complaints about it bending and seeing that it is backordered by a month, I think I might wait and see... though I'm eyeing a Matias backlight keyboard.

I've seen a lot of complaints about fan noise, etc., but other than the fan kicking on after about an hour of gaming in Windows 10 (Bootcamp) I haven't heard any other noise from the machine. I was playing Stellaris, so it probably wasn't too taxing on the machine. Other than Bootcamp for GIS software and the occasional game, on the Mac side I've used mostly Adobe Creative Cloud, Safari, and Office/iWorks without any trouble. One thing that surprised me was setting up my three printers. Two are large format professional grade printers and one is a consumer printer. On Windows I was always having some weird issue with them and it was always a pain to get them setup correctly after installing Windows, but getting them all setup on my iMac was surprisingly easy. I had mentally prepared myself for a day of frustration and that didn't happen. Installed Epson drivers for the two big printers, added them, and they worked without a hitch.

TLDR: New iMac awesome!

I'm playing Stellaris on High Sierra, never even heard the fan

 

[artfossil]

I guess the SSD and the i7 make it faster than mine
mine is i5 16gb, 256 GB SSD,
it can not even handle my photoshop work

This does not sound like normal behavior. Why not troubleshoot with Apple? You're under AppleCare.

 

[CaptRB]

I guess the SSD and the i7 make it faster than mine
mine is i5 16gb, 256 GB SSD,
it can not even handle my photoshop work

Something is wrong with your machine.

Even my i5 MBP could handle PS and I shoot jewelry professionally for catalogue, which involves fairly complex post work.


R.

 

[megatronbomb]

I'm playing Stellaris on High Sierra, never even heard the fan

Awesome! I'm glad to know it works on High Sierra without issue. I tried it the other day before installing Steam in Boot Camp, but was getting weird graphic glitches. I was going to spend some time on the Paradox Forum this weekend and investigate. I assume I just have a graphics setting that's causing issues or something similarly easy to fix. Interestingly, I feel that despite the graphic glitch, Stellaris actually ran faster and smoother on the Mac side than in Boot Camp, which surprised me.

 

[bizzwriter]

I've been away from Mac Desktops for years, but bought a refurbished iMac 2017 i7, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD, Radeon 580 two weeks ago and am totally floored.

This is exactly what i bought last week -- and I love it! A week earlier I did a BTO iMac 2017 i5, 16GB RAM, 2TB Fusion, Radeon 580. After reading these boards, I realized I would be happier with the SSD and faster i7 processor. And although I was worried a bit about the i7 fan issue, when I saw a refurb in the Apple store, I bought the i7 immediately. It shipped FEDEX and I received both computers last Wednesday. After setting up the i7 and making sure all was well, I took the i5 (unopened) to my local Apple Store and dropped it off for a refund. I'm not a gamer or photo/video/recording guy -- mostly MS Word and Chrome. The ONLY time the fan has gone on full blast is last Wednesday when I was copying everything over from my old machine using my latest Time Machine backup. Since then, nothing. I also bought a 32GB Crucial RAM kit on Amazon, so now I'm running 48GB of RAM.

This replaces my 2009 iMac (which burned through 2 hard drives and 1 video card over the past 8-or-so years and it is crazy fast compared to the 2009. Looking forward to having this new machine for a LONG time! I just have to decide when I'm going to install High Sierra (it came with Sierra installed). Waiting a few more months for that.

 

[kwillems]

I also bought a 32GB Crucial RAM kit on Amazon, so now I'm running 48GB of RAM.

Uhm .... 8 + 32 = 40



and congrats with your new iMac !!!

 

[bizzwriter]

Uhm .... 8 + 32 = 40



and congrats with your new iMac !!!

Thanks kwillems! Actually, I (like megatronbomb) started with 16GB of RAM...

 

[Precursor]

Awesome! I'm glad to know it works on High Sierra without issue. I tried it the other day before installing Steam in Boot Camp, but was getting weird graphic glitches. I was going to spend some time on the Paradox Forum this weekend and investigate. I assume I just have a graphics setting that's causing issues or something similarly easy to fix. Interestingly, I feel that despite the graphic glitch, Stellaris actually ran faster and smoother on the Mac side than in Boot Camp, which surprised me.

You should have V-Sync enabled for all games in high sierra else you'll have screen tearing here and there. Mind you, I play at 1440p resolution with all settings at max, no glitches whatsoever.

 

[megatronbomb]

You should have V-Sync enabled for all games in high sierra else you'll have screen tearing here and there. Mind you, I play at 1440p resolution with all settings at max, no glitches whatsoever.

Good idea! Since there's no V-Sync options in Stellaris itself, I opened the settings.txt file and looked there. V-Sync was listed as enabled. I edited the settings, turned it off, and tested the game. Same issue. I've got a thread open with Paradox, so we'll see how that goes.
[doublepost=1509118250][/doublepost]

I also bought a 32GB Crucial RAM kit on Amazon, so now I'm running 48GB of RAM.

Glad you're enjoying your new iMac too! Did you get the Mac specific kit? I'll grab another 16GB when RAM prices level out.

FWIW: I installed High Sierra right after the initial setup and haven't had any issues that I know of. I was really looking forward to apfs as it "fixed" some of my gripes with older Macs. I can understand your situation might be different since you backed up from Time Machine. Maybe that introduces more potential complications with HS.

 

[bizzwriter]

Glad you're enjoying your new iMac too! Did you get the Mac specific kit? I'll grab another 16GB when RAM prices level out.

FWIW: I installed High Sierra right after the initial setup and haven't had any issues that I know of. I was really looking forward to apfs as it "fixed" some of my gripes with older Macs. I can understand your situation might be different since you backed up from Time Machine. Maybe that introduces more potential complications with HS.

After reading through the extensive RAM thread, I bought the NON-Mac-specific 32GB kit: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B019FRCV9G. I paid $269 last week and the price is now $325! Thanks for your experience with HS -- I'll get on board one of these days...

 

[redfirebird08]

Got mine about a month ago. It's the 21.5 inch model with 4k Retina screen, 256 gig SSD, 16 gigs of RAM, and 3 Ghz processor. I also have a 500 gig external SSD. Very very happy with this computer so far. It's by far the most quiet computer I have ever used. Dead silent. The processor with quad core technology is a lot better than the Core 2 Duo in my old 2009 iMac. Of course you cannot beat having SSD's. They blow old spinning drives out of the water. Mac OS runs extremely smooth on this machine.

 

[Foxglove9]

This replaces my 2009 iMac (which burned through 2 hard drives and 1 video card over the past 8-or-so years and it is crazy fast compared to the 2009. Looking forward to having this new machine for a LONG time! I just have to decide when I'm going to install High Sierra (it came with Sierra installed). Waiting a few more months for that.

Which iMac did you have the C2D or i5?

 

[Smellmet]

I've just ordered for work a 2017 27 inch imac with the 4.2ghz i7, 512gb SSD, 4gb video card and 8gb RAM, I've also just bought a 16GB chip of RAM from crucial to boost the memory to 24GB. Should be arriving in the morning to replace the 1.6ghz base model 21.5inch 2015 imac complete with 5400rpm drive no video card and 8gb ram my bosses bought me not knowing what they were buying, which has been an utter farce of a machine. Will report back in a few days. I'm sure this will be a bit of a beast of a machine.

 

[miatadan]

I'm a guy with many thousands invested in high end speakers and tube amps and I've also heard some pretty amazing near-field computer sound systems on a desktop. The HK sound sticks are the "high end" of the lowest arena of computer sound. Separating them isn't going to fix them. I bought them because they don't sound horrible and they look nice.
But a few hundred bucks will buy you something that sounds more like music.


R.

Being used to good quality sound, could not listen to HK sound sticks, plastic Logitech speakers even if when just playing back youtube videos. My current desktop pc connected to my home stereo which cost over $15000.00 US dollars. If iMac was in different room, than I get a pair of Audioengine A2+ speakers for $249.00. Built in speakers on computer monitors or all in one pc's including iMac not very good due to small size of drivers

even the usb cable connected from your computer to a DAC digital audio converter such as Audioquest USB Diamond makes a hugh difference and this cable more expensive than base Mac Mini

Dan

 

[Briax]

Specs: i7, 580 8GB, 512 GB SSD

Was really worried when ordering the machine with all the reports regarding noise. The iMac is dead silent when doing normal tasks, surfing, watching movies, iTunes etc etc - this is with a LG 5k Ultrafine attached. The fan ramps up when gaming/compiling big java project - which was expected.

Overall, super happy with the machine - really a powerhouse.

 

[miatadan]

Specs: i7, 580 8GB, 512 GB SSD

Was really worried when ordering the machine with all the reports regarding noise. The iMac is dead silent when doing normal tasks, surfing, watching movies, iTunes etc etc - this is with a LG 5k Ultrafine attached. The fan ramps up when gaming/compiling big java project - which was expected.

Overall, super happy with the machine - really a powerhouse.

almost about to order 2017 iMac and only issue is with noise of fans, when I built my custom pc in 2012 I purchased fanless Seasonic power supply , used Noctua fans and low wattage i3 2100T to avoid noise..... glad to hear this

 

[sartrekid]

You got in early, ordered and now have received your iMac. Are you happy with your purchase?

I'm as happy as one can be with a purchase! I've bought plenty of Macs, ranging from Power Macs/Mac Pros, to Macbooks, to Macbook Pros and now two iMacs, and I can say with confidence that the 2017 iMac is my second favourite Macintosh purchase of all time, only losing out to my Mac Pro from nearly a decade ago.

Any regrets?

None whatsoever.

Wish you had upgraded the CPU, SSD or ___?

Nothing. I bought the top i7/4,2 GHz CPU and the 580 Pro GPU, decided for a 512GB SSD and upgraded the RAM myself.

What about fan noise? I'm particularly interested in whether your iMac is quiet or not and what CPU choice you made when you make that observation.

Hardly ever audible on my machine unless Chrome decides to go berserk or when doing heavy-duty stuff like video transcoding. I fully realise that there's been an ongoing discussion over the CPU I went with in terms of throttling and lots of noise but I can't confirm any of that so far, but I honestly haven't thrown anything at my computer yet that made it choke. The same cannot be said of my 2015 i7 5k model with similar specs.

If you were ordering again, what changes to your order would you make?

In all honesty, there's nothing I'd do differently this time around. I feel I made the next-to-perfect choice (as perfect doesn't exist) with my iMac. I've never been happier and I say that while fully relying on my iMac for my livelihood.

 

[CaptRB]

I've had this i7 5K machine for two months and it's still dead quiet 95% of the time.

I'm running two monitors and this machine is used for photo processing and light video editing.


R.

 

[Smellmet]

Finally got my hands on my new work iMac, config is as follows:

4.2GHz i7
Radeon 575 4GB
24GB RAM
512GB SSD

It is, put simply, the fastest machine I've ever used. I thought my last 2015 4.0GHz i7 with 4GB card and 16GB RAM would take some topping but this just blows it away. Indesign, Photoshop and Illustrator all take well under five seconds to open the program from cold, everything just seems to happen the instant I ask it to. I'm happy with the spec I chose, surely the model above this wouldn't seem any quicker unless benchmarking it with some heavy lifting I would imagine.

 

[Traverse]

In my regular usage after 2 months with the i7 the fan is at 1200rpm idle about 99.9% of the time. YMMV."

I want to agree with you.

First of all, there is a lot of tech in these machines that needs to be cooled, it here is my experience.

I purchased my first iMac the day of WWDC and licked it up next week. I purchased the best model I could afford without guilt:

• 4.2 i7, 580 Pro GPU, 16 GB of RAM (added 8 more after purchase), 1TB SSD

After these past 4 months I have the following observations coming from a 2013 rMBP (ignoring the typical speed and display ovservations): this meadhine runs between 35c to 45c the majority of the time - cooler than my 2013 MacBook Pro and much much cooler than my idle 2011 MacBook Pro. During my usage, for 90% of computer tasks (writing, image editing, media management, web browsing with dozens I’d tabs, streaming music, and minor edits of video from iDevices) the computer remains within 55-60 degrees and the fan remains at 1200 rpm. It’s one of the coolest running computers I’ve ever used.

The only time I heard the fans (which DO get loud if running at max) was when I exported a 1.5 hour video project from iMovie, but that’s to be expected.

Overall, it’s a quiet machine, but it’s not meant to be silent. I’m glad I went with the i7 personally. If you owned a 15” 2011 MacBook Pro you’d know that this iMac is whisper quiet.

In a silent room, I can’t really here the 1200 rpm fan. Maybe if I try super hard. But I keep an external HDD on a 12 South “back pack” behind the computer, I hear that before the fan, it I usually have a desk fan or something going so any computer related sound is lost.

 

[MeValonicAcid]

I want to agree with you.

...After these past 4 months I have the following observations coming from a 2013 rMBP (ignoring the typical speed and display ovservations): this meadhine runs between 35c to 45c the majority of the time - cooler than my 2013 MacBook Pro and much much cooler than my idle 2011 MacBook Pro. During my usage, for 90% of computer tasks (writing, image editing, media management, web browsing with dozens I’d tabs, streaming music, and minor edits of video from iDevices) the computer remains within 55-60 degrees and the fan remains at 1200 rpm. It’s one of the coolest running computers I’ve ever used.
...

Unfortunately during the first weeks of using the same configuration, the temps frequently went up to 90-100°C and the fan maxes-out accordingly. But....
- 1 root cause has been identified: Google Chrome helper - Using 759% CPU continuously...
- 3D gaming on Win10: Still to check if a GPU or CPU demanding game pushes the fans to the max

 

[Traverse]

Unfortunately during the first weeks of using the same configuration, the temps frequently went up to 90-100°C and the fan maxes-out accordingly. But....
- 1 root cause has been identified: Google Chrome helper - Using 759% CPU continuously...
- 3D gaming on Win10: Still to check if a GPU or CPU demanding game pushes the fans to the max

Well the gaming is normal. I don’t use Chrome enough to judge.

A rough process will do that, but I had a Safari hang at 100% and it still didn’t push the fans to that. Chrome’s optimization is horrid.