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Please review your 2017 iMac
- Thread starter jayfromnova
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For the RAM is there any difference between the Crucial you bought and the OWC version that costs 319.99 for the same 16x2? Seems crazy why I would just not buy the Crucial and save like 80 dollars.
I'd say no. I've been a Mac user since the 80s and I remember the days when you HAD to look for Mac specific upgrades and had to resort to ordering from a catalog because this was before the Apple Store existed. Even back when things were PowerPC, I recall seeing "bad RAM" in my help desk days.
Everything is intel now and once you find a reputable brand and it hits the specs, I don't see any real benefit to paying more for "Mac" RAM.
Ymmv though...
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This was my logic
I ordered the 512 at first but then I started shopping for a 1TB SSD (Samsung 850) and a USB 3.1 Gen 2 case and it ended up being just over $600.
Decided to return my 512 and plunk that $600 into the 1TB SSD instead. For me, it was a cost averaging thing over the years (in a way, similar to buying an expensive mattress). An externally connected USB-C connected SSD drive can't theoretically push more that 1.25GB/sec (when used for USB, the port is 10Gbps) and this internal drive being NVMe and is actually writing over 2GB/sec and is even faster at reads. Doesn't mean a whole lot right now but I think it will when this Mac is 5 years old and I still want to get 2-3 more years out of it.
That was my (twisted) logic at least.
I'd go for the Crucial. It's cheaper and many have posted on these forums for the 2017's specifically that it was just fine. Don't quote me, but I swear the price of OWC's is going up regularly and that it was 249.99, then 279.99, 289.99 and now 319.99. Likely due to the demand since it's a new product. Crucial's seems to be staying the same although hit or miss on stock depending on where you get it (which may be a factor of OWC's increasing in price as well).
I will be ordering the Crucial from B&H then! Appreciate the knowledge and the savings!
Just picked up a base model i5 27" and put the money saved from not getting the i7 into a 1TB SSD and 48GB of RAM (Kingston HyperX). I'm very happy with the computer; the screen is gorgeous and the computer is super quiet without a spinning HDD.
Something to ponder as you decide on which computer to go for. In 2013, I bought an i5 27" with the non-retina screen for RMB13,800 (I live in China). I just sold it to a Apple re-seller for RMB5,600, and that was with the typical screen clouding that happened to that gen of iMacs.
For four years of use, that iMac cost me only (RMB13,800-RMB5,600)/48 months = RMB171 or USD25/month! I find that astonishing for how much productivity and output that computer provided to my personal life and my work. Apple has great resale value, so go for the iMac you really want.
Something to ponder as you decide on which computer to go for. In 2013, I bought an i5 27" with the non-retina screen for RMB13,800 (I live in China). I just sold it to a Apple re-seller for RMB5,600, and that was with the typical screen clouding that happened to that gen of iMacs.
For four years of use, that iMac cost me only (RMB13,800-RMB5,600)/48 months = RMB171 or USD25/month! I find that astonishing for how much productivity and output that computer provided to my personal life and my work. Apple has great resale value, so go for the iMac you really want.
I will be ordering from B&H Photo which has some in stock. Thanks again!
They took the chime off the iMacs now too???? Or do you just have yours turned off.
The chime is gone, and good riddance. It was obnoxiously loud and didn't do anything useful besides alerting everyone else in the library that someone just started up their Macbook.
Well I understand it on a laptop, but presumably one is not dragging an iMac to the library. I think it should be optional.
Sorry if this has been posted/answered, but does anybody have the maxed out 27" and how's FCPX or Adobe Premiere working out for you???? I edit 4K material and need better playback (Yes, I transcode or use proxies if needed but like to bypass that time consuming process) than my 2013 6 core Mac Pro. Benchmarks look much better than my machine but only real world experience will really tell the tale.
EDIT: Oh, and no, I'm not waiting for/getting an iMac Pro
EDIT: Oh, and no, I'm not waiting for/getting an iMac Pro
If I was doing to BTO iMac right now it would definitely be 1 TB SSD
- Gives the option to bootcamp windows with plenty of room
- I always find I underestimate drive space in an attempt to save money. Really over the life of the computer its not worth the compromise.
- If you decided to sell your iMac down the road the 1 TB SSD will add $$$
No but waking people up because you are starting your computer in the morning is really annoying as well!
It's not your imagination. The price goes up every week that Crucial can't fill orders for the 16g 2 DIMM Kits. I'll wait for Crucial. It's that important, IMO.
Yes because that money you spend upgrading that ssd you will totally get back
(not)If you need it buy it, but you might as well bootcamp of a cheap samsung T3.
A lot of people are talking themselfs into alot of upgrades on these forums because it's a good investment down the road.
You're probably better off buying some
stock or bitcoin or something..It's not your imagination. The price goes up every week that Crucial can't fill orders for the 16g 2 DIMM Kits. I'll wait for Crucial. It's that important, IMO.
Always nice to know I'm not going insane. I've been keeping my eye on these kits as I plan to buy one once I get my iMac, and have noticed that if one site doesn't have it, check 1 or 2 others and usually one of them does. Almost like they're just rotating stock lol. Just a heads up in case you are antsy like me and don't want to wait until mid July if you don't have to (I think mid July was Crucial's last estimate).
Of course upgrading the internal SSD Is totally dependent on the users needs. To add an external 500 gig SSD With case will cost about 200 bucks and give you about 400 MB per second. To get an External that equals the internal SSD performance would be much more expensive. Even more expensive than the $400 to $500 it costs to upgrade the internal drive From 512 to 1 TB.
In 2013 I purchased a 27" with 512 GB of flash storage in the box, it was sufficient at first but over time I came to need an external drive and ended up purchasing a 1 TB SSD in a USB 3 enclosure. If I didn't own this I would probably have done the same and gone for the 1TB drive but I ended up going 512 GB again. The price of the external SSD plus enclosure was about $500 at the time of purchase but that was almost a year ago now. I hope that by the time I upgrade this machine in 3 years the price of 2 TB of flash is reasonable. but then again I was hoping that by 2017 the price would have dropped more than it did from 2013...
I was hoping to see SSD prices fall as well but things have really stagnated. There's a serious shortage of NAND right now and even the big storage vendors (EMC, IBM, HDS, HP, PURE, etc.) are constrained. My day job is in the industry and we've been hoping to see solid state match or beat SAS 15K drives on price for about 3 years now? It's getting close but not quite there yet...
Cracking open my 2008 iMac to swap the 3.5" HDD for a 2.5" SSD was relatively easy compared to what Is required to open this thing up and seal it all back. It doesn't even use a standard slot from what I see.
I went with the internal 1TB Flash because I did the math and it made sense for me. It might not for others and that's ok too.
I thought the same. I simply cannot justify spending the money Apple is asking for SSD updates. Are they a better option? Unequivocally. But the cost is insane. I will be just fine with the standard 2TB Fusion.
I wonder if it would actually be cheaper to buy the SSD storage elsewhere and having an authorized repair facility install it. That may be an option. I bought a 1TB M.2 drive for under $300 three months ago for a PC build.
SSD or nothing!
Note that you can use USB 3.1 SSD or even Thunderbolt I suppose for external storage too, although Thunderbolt enclosures and drives are still very expensive.
I was actually trying to convince myself to go for the 2 TB SSD, but in the end I just couldn't justify the cost. My cost threshold was 1 TB, but it seems the "sweet spot" for bang for the buck in this forum amongst users is at 512 GB. But either way, it's OK, because you can use an external drive too. You can achieve 400 MB/s real-world on a USB 3 Gen 1 interface. Then again the internal SSD from Apple might get you 2 GB/s. Hard to compete with that.
Note that you can use USB 3.1 SSD or even Thunderbolt I suppose for external storage too, although Thunderbolt enclosures and drives are still very expensive.
I was actually trying to convince myself to go for the 2 TB SSD, but in the end I just couldn't justify the cost. My cost threshold was 1 TB, but it seems the "sweet spot" for bang for the buck in this forum amongst users is at 512 GB. But either way, it's OK, because you can use an external drive too. You can achieve 400 MB/s real-world on a USB 3 Gen 1 interface. Then again the internal SSD from Apple might get you 2 GB/s. Hard to compete with that.
Pretty interesting the relatively small difference between the processors. See attached comparison of Geekbench results.
Wow that's a pretty small difference between the two i5 chips given how much higher the thermal load is on the 7600K. Glad I opted for the mid-tier i5 3.5 GHz/Radeon 575 model once I decided I didn't need the i7. I'm getting a markedly cooler chip and not missing out on much performance.
So I guess it is advisable to either gofer the mid-tier i5 for better thermal load/power usage or all the way to i7 for maximum performance?