Upgrade or Buy New

[cwood59]

Hi!

I create music and videos on youtube, I handle a lot of large files as well as some larger apps like Logic pro and Final cut pro.

I currently have a (21.5-inch, Mid 2011) Imac. (TOO SLOW)

It has a 2.5GHz i5 processor, 4 GB of ram, as well as a 500gb Hard Drive.

I have been looking into upgrading my current imac to a 2tb SSD, and max out the ram at 32gb.

That adds up to about 1000 dollars. Is it worth the investment? Or should I buy a new Imac?

 

[chscag]

Your iMac is going on 7 years old and soon will be vintage according to Apple. Spending $1K on a machine that old to me does not make sense. Buy a refurbished 2017 27" iMac from the Apple on line refurb store or wait until the 2018 iMacs are announced. Stick with the 27" models as they can be upgraded for memory. You can order one with a 2TB SSD but that will cost $$$.

 

[Fishrrman]

$1,000 is MUCH BETTER SPENT on something new or Apple-refurbished.

'Nuff said about that.

Are your videos 4k?
Do you use an audio interface for your music?
If so, is it USB, firewire, or something else?

 

[mreg376]

Hi!

I create music and videos on youtube, I handle a lot of large files as well as some larger apps like Logic pro and Final cut pro.

I currently have a (21.5-inch, Mid 2011) Imac. (TOO SLOW)

It has a 2.5GHz i5 processor, 4 GB of ram, as well as a 500gb Hard Drive.

I have been looking into upgrading my current imac to a 2tb SSD, and max out the ram at 32gb.

That adds up to about 1000 dollars. Is it worth the investment? Or should I buy a new Imac?

You can find 2TB SSD's for about $400-500, and the RAM for about $300, so I'm thinking more like $700-800. You'll see a big performance boost, but I understand that's not cheap.

Your problem is that if you want a 2TB drive in a new machine you'll have to pay Apple and arm and a leg for it (think $1,400 just for that upgrade), or still pay that extra $500+ for a third party SSD IN ADDITION to the purchase price of the new machine and have to add it yourself by opening your brand new iMac, or pay even more for someone else to do it or for an external SSD setup.

My recommendation would be to buy a much cheaper 1TB SSD and the RAM from suppliers with a 30-day return policy, and upgrade your current machine. If it's still too slow for you, send the stuff back and spend your $4,000 on a new 27" iMac with a 2TB SSD. But if the 2011 runs ok, then add some external storage when you need it.

 

[sublunar]

Based on the age of the machine (and the possibility of something going wrong on it) I'd say a new iMac is a better deal, the 2018 vintage (expected in October) should come with more cores on board thanks to Coffee Lake which will probably help video exporting performance.

$1000 may even pay for a Retina 4k iMac if Apple go Retina across the board.