What 2019 iMac Did You Order?

[igilphoto]

So I finally received my I9 iMac and have to say it's amazing !
I was worried that the i9 with 580x will be a bad idea ,but so far its powerful and silent !

Just wanted to write a few words for those that thinking about this combo ( I don't need the vega )

 

[BJMRamage]

So I finally received my I9 iMac and have to say it's amazing !
I was worried that the i9 with 580x will be a bad idea ,but so far its powerful and silent !

Just wanted to write a few words for those that thinking about this combo ( I don't need the vega )

What type of "heavy lifting" do you do on your iMac? ...since you didn't get the Vega and still think it is good.

 

[dcpmark]

My custom configuration ordered from Expercom on Friday, 29 March shipped today via UPS Ground. UPS estimates delivery this Wednesday!

/Dances a little jig

Just got my “Processed” and “Shipped” notifications.....2-5 day delivery. Ended up being a STEAL at $3188 out the door for an i9 8-core/8GB RAM/1 TB SSD/580x WITH Applecare....thanks again for the tip!

 

[jsmitty]

My 4/1 order from Expercom just shipped UPS ground from UT. 27” 9th Gen i5 512 SSD Radeon 580X

 

[drewaz]

My 4/1 order from Apple is on a plane headed from China to Anchorage. Anchorage ETA is in 30 minutes. Original delivery was for Friday but it's now been pushed back to 4/15.

 

[igilphoto]

What type of "heavy lifting" do you do on your iMac? ...since you didn't get the Vega and still think it is good.

I'm a photographer ,mostly daily business actions and usage and the main big tasks are exporting/importing images into lightroom,editing and rendering previews while I'm doing other tasks .
I upgrading from an 2011 iMac with ssd so for me any upgrade would be great of course, but I wanted a machine that can last a few years- Even If I'l do some gaming or video editing .

In my country ,at some point of upgrading the 575 option is at same price as the 580 so I chose the later option .The only thing I was worried about was throttling and heat/noise problems .As I don't really need the extra power from the vega, I couldn't justify buying it .

Right now I had the time only to run some tests, and edit a few work projects .
When idle, or doing regular tasks the mac is completely silent and fast.When I tried editing and then exporting, edit while exporting and other bit more demanding tasks - I did heard the fans kick in but mostly for a few seconds at a time and loud at all so its ok for me .

I still need to see how things go over the next days ,but right now its even better than I expected .
Even the benchmarks were better than those I saw before (but I also upgraded the ram to 40 gb) -
Around 6300 for single core and 36,000 for the multi .

 

[propower]

Just got my “Processed” and “Shipped” notifications.....2-5 day delivery. Ended up being a STEAL at $3188 out the door for an i9 8-core/8GB RAM/1 TB SSD/580x WITH Applecare....thanks again for the tip!

That's a great price! What is the return policy like with them? Two weeks no question or??

 

[JoeMacDe]

I'm replacing my 2011 27" iMac with the following:

3.1GHz 6-core 8th-generation Intel Core i5 processor, Turbo Boost up to 4.3GHz
16GB 2666MHz DDR4 memory
1TB SSD storage

It's on the UPS truck this morning, while I watch the truck scoot all over town on UPS's "Watch My Delivery". A watched pot...

Joe

 

[dcpmark]

That's a great price! What is the return policy like with them? Two weeks no question or??

Not sure, and hope I never have to find out.

 

[SkiHound2]

After much internal debate I did not opt for either the i9 or the Vega 48. So the high tier i5 3.7ghz, 580x. I did upgrade to a 1TB SSD and will upgrade ram. I want to be able to keep at least my working LR catalog, cache, and recent photographs on the SSD, so I went for the 1TB rather than a smaller SSD. I think for what I do the SSD and increased ram will give me the biggest tangible performance gains. I did have major internal battlers between the i5 and i9, however.

 

[petercw2]

After much internal debate I did not opt for either the i9 or the Vega 48.

I'd personally be interested in understanding how you came to this decision. I'm in the same seat.

 

[SkiHound2]

I'd personally be interested in understanding how you came to this decision. I'm in the same seat.

Well, I'm using 2012 Mini. It's a 2.6ghz i7 so not bad. It has handled all of my day to day tasks without much issue. It really struggles with the most recent versions of On1 Raw. What I can read that is probably more due to the lack of decent gpu than the processor. I almost purchased a 2017 i7 iMac. While folks said they ran hot I didn't hear anyone say it ran slow. Benchmarks I read would indicate that the 3.7ghz i5 is largely on par with that chip. Indeed, it generally seems a bit faster. I've used 4 core i5s a little and they seem pretty quick. The 6 core is considerably faster. I don't game and I don't do any extensive video editing or rendering, so I really didn't feel the Vega 48 was required, especially at the cost of the upgrade. I've read some reviews from photographers that think the i5 works very well for photo editing. I think for photo editing having the catalog, cache, and working files on that fast internal SSD will really offer a big improvement. And things like PS are known to like a lot of RAM so I'll upgrade to 40gb. Just felt that for my needs the larger SSD would provide a bigger benefit for ME than the i9 or Vega. If they had an i7 upgrade for something like $200 I probably would've gone for it. If I was doing something that really made efficient use of more cores and threads ... Ultimately I just decided they cost didn't provide enough benefit for my uses. They are hard decisions.

 

[snillemikke]

I'd personally be interested in understanding how you came to this decision. I'm in the same seat.

I ordered the same, only with 512 gb SSD.
I too struggled deeply with i5 vs i9. I wanted to future proof the iMac as much as possible, but simultanously not waste money on tech I don't need. I don't do much photo editing, but plan to begin with it on a hobby basis. I edit videos of family holidays and random stuff, but nothing very serious, not often enough to justify the Vega 48, and neither in 4k. I am however a solid Logic user, and I write all my music in that program. I'm not a 120 tracks EDM guy, but a 25-30 track rock band guy. For this I need processor power, but not graphics. Therefore I really didn't want to pay for Vega 48, but I was afraid of thermal heating from the i9 together with the 580x. Although posts here seems to indicate this was a less of a problem than feared, you may never know a few months in. I read a few older posts (2017/18) about how Logic was not perfectly efficient in utilizing multiple cores, especially not hyperthreaded virtual cores, I found that fast 6 cores would be better for my use than 8 "slower" cores. Hence, I could therefore justify the i5 instead of i9, and simultanously cross of the fear of heating.

I wanted to have the 1TB SSD disc, for the same reasons as the guy above; storing plugins directly on the computer, but I found it too expensive over 512GB given I likely will never use up the to TB3 ports. I may add an external SSD if ever needed. I know many professional composers and studio musicians who have all Logic projects on externals without being hampered. They make money and a living from writing music, I don't. Thus, I don't need better tech than them.

Edit: only 8 GB ram of course, but plan to add this later when needed. Currently looking at USD230 for 2x 16GB sent to my country (inc taxes) so I hope this will drop somewhat in the next year or so.

 

[petercw2]

Ultimately I just decided they cost didn't provide enough benefit for my uses. They are hard decisions.

interesting and good insight. thanks for sharing

Since I'm replacing a 2011 - I just want what will give me the greatest performance over a period of time.

Maybe I have a goofy idea a i9 will be better for "keeping up" in 5+ years time than a i5. I'm willing to admit I'm basing that off a guess and zero actual evidence. ‍♂️

 

[Bohemien]

Thanks for sharing your lines of thought guys, I'm still not finally decided on both the CPU and GPU question, so this really helps.

Therefore I really didn't want to pay for Vega 48, but I was afraid of thermal heating from the i9 together with the 580x.

Just FYI, the i5 and the i9 both have a TDP of 95W, so the heat produced might be quite similar, as Apple seems to be restricting the maximum power allocated to the CPU. I don't know about the i5, but the i9 even seems to be restricted to somewhat around 85W from what I've seen in the video reviews. Anyway, I think your reasoning regarding Logic seems valid. Makes me think if I really "need" that i9 I've pretty much decided on, but then I also do a lot of photo editing (more than using Logic and Ableton).

Currently looking at USD230 for 2x 16GB sent to my country (inc taxes) so I hope this will drop somewhat in the next year or so.

Are you somewhere in northern Europe (your pseudonym sounds like that to me )? Amazon Germany just dropped the price of the 32GB RAM modules to 189€ (Crucial CT2K16G4SFD8266, 2x16GB kit) today (was around 215€), maybe you could order from them.

Now I ordered the RAM before I even ordered the iMac...

Maybe I have a goofy idea a i9 will be better for "keeping up" in 5+ years time than a i5. I'm willing to admit I'm basing that off a guess and zero actual evidence.

Same thinking here. Although the big unknown factors here are if Apple will move to ARM processors, and how much of a speed bump will come from Intel moving to 10nm CPUs. My new iMac is supposed to last me 8 years (at least) and I fear if I go for what would be sufficient today, I might want to upgrade again too soon. Still, even today's base model is a power house compared to the 2011 MBP I'm working on today, and which for most tasks is perfectly fine and fast enough, if I'm honest.

 

[goldbuffalo]

Yeah I’m leaning toward top-tier I5 and no I9 and no Vega....that would add a whole nother $1000 to the price. I could save that thousand dollars and in a couple years I have half the cost of another iMac, at which time the I9 and Vega will be yesterday’s new.

Now for those that really need it, that’s fine, but I don’t, so I’ll save the money.

 

[SkiHound2]

interesting and good insight. thanks for sharing

Since I'm replacing a 2011 - I just want what will give me the greatest performance over a period of time.

Maybe I have a goofy idea a i9 will be better for "keeping up" in 5+ years time than a i5. I'm willing to admit I'm basing that off a guess and zero actual evidence. ‍♂️

I think that's a tough call and certainly factored into my thinking. I tend to keep these things a long time. But almost no matter what we buy, the machines available in2-3 years will almost certainly be quicker. That doesn't mean what you buy now won't be doing just fine 6 years down the road, but trying to stay on the bleeding edge is a fools game, unless resources are pretty much unlimited. I may regret not buying an i9 5 years down the road. Or, given what looks like an inevitable move to ARM processors, even the i0 will seem dated 5 years down the road. I don't have a crystal ball. Good luck.

 

[TheyCallMeBT]

I'm (im)patiently waiting on two credit cards to arrive. I got the Chase Freedom Unlimited and the Capital One Quicksilver. They each have $150 cash bonus for spending $500 in the first three months, plus 1.5% cash back. So I'll split the purchase between the two cards, and that'll knock off about $350 from my purchase. The leftover credit limit will help to balance out the purchase for my credit score. I think I'll probably gain a few points from the changes, all things considered, three or four months down the line.

I had my identity stolen a few months back and I have alerts on file. So there were extra steps that had to be done.

Don't worry, I'm using my credit wisely.

I'll be getting the 27 inch with:

• 3.6GHz 8-core 9th-generation Intel Core i9
• 8GB 2666MHz DDR4 memory
• Radeon Pro Vega 48 with 8GB of HBM2 memory
• 512GB SSD storage
• Magic Trackpad 2
• Magic Keyboard with Numeric Keypad

And adding 32 GB of RAM. I still need to decide which to buy.

It comes to $3,246.38 with edu discount (I teach a university course), plus tax.

That makes $2,897.68 after the CC cash back.

Then I'm selling my 2013 iMac to my mom for $450 (Apple trade in was $490). So that's $2447.68 after the "trade in".

Oh, and then add the $200 or so for the RAM upgrade-- guess I should figure that up in my calculations. Lol.

$140 per month will get it paid off in time for the 0% interest for 15 months. All in all, I think I've got a pretty good purchase plan.

I work in video production, photography, and drone services. I was undecided for a while on the Vega, but I decided to go forward with it. As it stands, I'm holding off on some edits right now for the new machine. My 2013 is a really great machine. 1080p footage is still a breeze to edit and export. But editing a 3 cam multicam edit with two 4K sources and one 1080p source (LUTs not even applied yet) gets me 5 frames per second on 1/4 preview in Premiere, at best. At worst 1 frame every 3 seconds. I've got five of those to do at the moment.

Can't wait for this new beast! And it's an added bonus that it'll be easier on me to be "tech support" for my mom with her buying my 2013. Her Windows laptop is horribly slow-- I was about to put an SSD in it to try to improve it, until I found out she wanted to do this. So that's a win-win-win.

 

[amoergosum]

Amazon Germany just dropped the price of the 32GB RAM modules to 189€ (Crucial CT2K16G4SFD8266, 2x16GB kit) today (was around 215€)

I saw that deal and ordered it yesterday.

My iMac and Crucial RAM will arrive tomorrow...really excited!

 

[harpster]

interesting and good insight. thanks for sharing

Since I'm replacing a 2011 - I just want what will give me the greatest performance over a period of time.

Maybe I have a goofy idea a i9 will be better for "keeping up" in 5+ years time than a i5. I'm willing to admit I'm basing that off a guess and zero actual evidence. ‍♂️

I think there is a lot of merit to getting the fastest CUP you can within reasonable cost but I'm less convinced about the GPU which is way more money than I feel like shelling out for it. When I got my 2010 27", the day I went to to Apple Store (tax free day) they had just received the i7 version and I didn't think twice about getting it. I still don't consider it a slow machine for general stuff but I did pop it open to install a 512G, then later a 1G SSD.

But now I can't run latest OS and it's been long enough that I'm going to upgrade for the huge improvement in performance and display, faster ports, etc. and I know it's going to be awesome! For me it's the i9, 580 and 1T SSD and like everyone else I'll increase the RAM later. This thread had been a great help to sort things out! Only thing left to decide is to get from some like Expercom or Adorama or local Apple Store (and pay the tax). I think I'll keep checking back to see how the mail order stuff is being received.

 

[finlaycraig]

3.7GHz 6-core 9th-generation Intel Core i5 processor, Turbo Boost up to 4.6GHz
8GB 2666MHz DDR4 memory
Radeon Pro 580X with 8GB of GDDR5 memory
512GB SSD storage

The top tier i5 and 580X are both plenty powerful, and only ~£80 to upgrade the the 2TB Fusion Drive to a 512GB SSD was a no brainer.

I think this config is the secret sweet spot. Take the extra £1000 saved on the i9 and Vega will make upgrading easier sooner.

 

[amoergosum]

My iMac i9 (with 8GB RAM pre-installed) was just delivered.

I'm about to install 2 X 16GB RAM.

Can I just put them in the empty slots? Is that the correct pairing?

 

[Benz63amg]

My iMac i9 (with 8GB RAM pre-installed) was just delivered.

I'm about to install 2 X 16GB RAM.

Can I just put them in the empty slots? Is that the correct pairing?

Yes
[doublepost=1555076049][/doublepost]

I think that's a tough call and certainly factored into my thinking. I tend to keep these things a long time. But almost no matter what we buy, the machines available in2-3 years will almost certainly be quicker. That doesn't mean what you buy now won't be doing just fine 6 years down the road, but trying to stay on the bleeding edge is a fools game, unless resources are pretty much unlimited. I may regret not buying an i9 5 years down the road. Or, given what looks like an inevitable move to ARM processors, even the i0 will seem dated 5 years down the road. I don't have a crystal ball. Good luck.

Well said

 

[geo.]

Are you somewhere in northern Europe (your pseudonym sounds like that to me )? Amazon Germany just dropped the price of the 32GB RAM modules to 189€ (Crucial CT2K16G4SFD8266, 2x16GB kit) today (was around 215€), maybe you could order from them.

Now I ordered the RAM before I even ordered the iMac...

That was a good offer! I was also looking for buying some RAM for the new iMac 2019. Checking the prices from Amazon.de from the same model you ordered ... I looked at individual modules (16GB) and noticed it was even cheaper. One stick for 84.99 EUR (https://www.amazon.de/Crucial-CT16G4SFD8266-PC4-21300-SODIMM-260-Pin-x/dp/B071KP8CGJ)

So I ordered 4 x 16 GB = 64 GB for a total of EUR 339.96.

I guess there is no difference buying individual sticks or kits, right?

Thanks for sharing!

 

[propower]

I wanted to have the 1TB SSD disc, for the same reasons as the guy above; storing plugins directly on the computer, but I found it too expensive over 512GB given I likely will never use up the to TB3 ports. I may add an external SSD if ever needed. I know many professional composers and studio musicians who have all Logic projects on externals without being hampered. They make money and a living from writing music, I don't. Thus, I don't need better tech than them.

I replaced my 6-core nMP with the 2017 5K imac i5 3.8 2 years ago. 80% music production 20% light imovie to youtube video editing. I bought the i7 first and it ran way hot ramping fans often. The 3.8 only ramps fans a little on long video renders. I was very worried when i made the change that Logic/ProTools/StudioOne would run out of CPU with an i5 (coming from a 6C/12T machine) but surprisingly the i5 has handled everything with no issue for 2 years! I run most of my current virtual instruments from a TB3 SATA SSD 4 bay cage. Never an issue. The new 2019 i5 is faster than the 2017 (good for low latency performance) and has 50% more cores = 50% more plugin power (for audio). It is my belief that this would serve the needs of a great number of musicians . I certainly want it ... or the i9! LOL