What 2019 iMac Did You Order?

[lishaoalox]

@lishaoalox It is gonna be a VERY fast and beautiful machine. Let your friends here know when you order it! .

Surely I will !
Planning to wait to Summer to see if my country will have some discount and replace my table during this time.
Will update this once ordered.

Very interesting. Do you have any links with SSD benchmarks?

I didn't run the benchmark but read some info like this: https://twitter.com/tapbot_paul/status/1060611584639361024
Some said that is due to the SSD Controller/nand flash amounts, not really sure about that.
Since I'm not a heavy user for SSD speed, I think the 256G is enough for me to go.

 

[RedNation]

Just arrived today:
27-inch iMac with Retina 5K display
i9
8GB of 2666MHz DDR4 memory
1TB of SSD storage
Radeon Pro Vega 48 with 8GB of HBM2 memory
Magic Mouse 2 + Magic Trackpad 2
Magic Keyboard with Numeric Keypad — US English

I don't have a imac before but i am using a 2015-mid macbook pro. So excited to have a desktop and do some minor projects at home. I am happy with this configuration and it will last for a couple of years ! Btw, I want to try the trackpad and hope it is good !

 

[codernova]

Just arrived today:
27-inch iMac with Retina 5K display
i9
8GB of 2666MHz DDR4 memory
1TB of SSD storage
Radeon Pro Vega 48 with 8GB of HBM2 memory
Magic Mouse 2 + Magic Trackpad 2
Magic Keyboard with Numeric Keypad — US English

I don't have a imac before but i am using a 2015-mid macbook pro. So excited to have a desktop and do some minor projects at home. I am happy with this configuration and it will last for a couple of years ! Btw, I want to try the trackpad and hope it is good !

I am almost exactly in the same boat you are except one of the things I didn't get was the trackpad. I'm still wondering about picking that up. Please let me know your thoughts after you've spent some time with it.

 

[henry72]

I am almost exactly in the same boat you are except one of the things I didn't get was the trackpad. I'm still wondering about picking that up. Please let me know your thoughts after you've spent some time with it.

FYI - Pretty sure the iMac only comes with one Lighting cable, so basically you get an extra cable if you buy the trackpad separately maybe @RedNation can confirm?

Anyway, I have both Magic Mouse 2 and Magic Trackpad 2 and I prefer the trackpad as I am used to it on my MacBook Pro. It is much better than the first gen because you can click anywhere.

 

[RedNation]

FYI - Pretty sure the iMac only comes with one Lighting cable, so basically you get an extra cable if you buy the trackpad separately maybe @RedNation can confirm?

Anyway, I have both Magic Mouse 2 and Magic Trackpad 2 and I prefer the trackpad as I am used to it on my MacBook Pro. It is much better than the first gen because you can click anywhere.

@henry72 Yes. There is only one lighting cable. And I just contacted with the apple service team. They said that's a way to reduce some weight and ended up with sending another cable for me LOL.

 

[henry72]

@henry72 Yes. There is only one lighting cable. And I just contacted with the apple service team. They said that's a way to reduce some weight and ended up with sending another cable for me LOL.

What a lame excuse... "reduce some weight" lol. Glad to hear they are sending you an extra cable

 

[Dutch60]

Just arrived today:
27-inch iMac with Retina 5K display
i9
8GB of 2666MHz DDR4 memory
1TB of SSD storage
Radeon Pro Vega 48 with 8GB of HBM2 memory
Magic Mouse 2 + Magic Trackpad 2
Magic Keyboard with Numeric Keypad — US English

I don't have a imac before but i am using a 2015-mid macbook pro. So excited to have a desktop and do some minor projects at home. I am happy with this configuration and it will last for a couple of years ! Btw, I want to try the trackpad and hope it is good !

Congratulations! Looks like a very nice machine!
I hope mine will arrive in 1 or 2 weeks.

 

[FinallyMac]

I have ordered the following configuration:
27‑inch iMac
i9 3.6GHz
8GB RAM (will be upgraded with Crucial 2 x 16GB)
Radeon Pro 580X
512GB SSD
Magic Mouse 2, Magic Keyboard

It replaces my 2015 Macbook Pro 13“
i5 2.7GHz
8GB RAM
256GB SSD

Most of the components were easy for me to decide:

• i9 because I want to have the latest generation and hyper threading. The larger number of cores surely helps with virtual machines.
• 40GB RAM because 8GB were a bit tight so far. 16GB are the minimum for me, so I didn't think long about investing 150€ for 32GB.
• 512GB SSD because 1TB are priced slightly above my self-imposed limit. On the previous 256GB SSD there were still 70GB free, but I often had to think about saving files on the internal SSD or externally. Therefore, 512GB should be ok. My photo and video collection are stored externally anyway.

In contrast, I found the decision between Pro 580X and Vega 48 somewhat difficult. Depending on the application scenario, the performance differences vary between manageable and quite clear. I do video editing little and if no 4K. I think, for say maximum 200€ extra charge I would have taken the Vega.

As always, the future will show whether this was the right decision

 

[ratherbfishn]

Is there a new discount code for Expercom?

“newimac“ doesn’t work/is expired.

Google search led me to all kinds of janky coupon sites.

Anyone experienced problems purchasing from them? -Beyond what’s been mentioned.

Im trying to figure which is the better deal. Student price and tax from Apple or Expercom price OTD.

Thanks

 

[LiE_]

Just put in an order for this iMac. I have another 16GB RAM coming and a 1TB external SSD. Got AppleCare as well.

 

[mrvo]

27‑inch iMac
i9 3.6GHz
8GB RAM (will be upgraded with Timetec 2 x 16GB)
Raedon Pro Vega 48
512GB SSD
Magic Trackpad 2, Magic Keyboard 2

 

[darkstar710]

Just arrived yesterday:


27-inch iMac with Retina 5K display
3.7GHz 6-core 9th-generation Intel Core i5 processor, Turbo Boost up to 4.6GHz
8GB of 2666MHz DDR4 memory (+ 32 GB Crucial Memory = 40 GB)
1TB of SSD storage
Radeon Pro 580 X with 8GB of GDDR5 memory
Magic Trackpad 2
Magic Keyboard - US English




I may have made a mistake. After placing the order, I realized that the i5 processor does not have hyperthreading. When I first researched the iMac, I misread which processors have hyperthreading. I thought it was all 9th- generation processors, i5 and i9. Then after placing my order, I found that only the i9 has hyperthreading. I am wondering if I should return it for the i9 processor. My application usage is fairly normal:


- Web browsing (usually 5-10 tabs open)

- Word and Excel

- Apple Photos and Lightroom CC

- iTunes Music library

- VMware Fusion Pro (1 Windows 10 desktop)


But I plan in the future of setting up a nested VMware ESXi environment for training. Basically it will have 5-6 VMs (2 ESXi hosts, 1 vCenter server, 1 DC server, and 1 -2 Win 10 desktops). This is just a lab environment and will not be permanent. My question is will the i5 processor without hyperthreading be enough for this limited lab environment or should I really get the i9 with hyperthreading?



I am wondering what you all think. Thanks.

 

[Sooby]

I recently received the following:

27‑inch iMac
i9 3.6GHz
8GB RAM (I've upgraded it to 40gb)
Radeon Pro Vega 48
512GB SSD
Magic Trackpad 2, Magic Keyboard 2 and I'm using a Logitech MX Master 2 mouse in conjunction with the trackpad.

I'm blown away by this machine. I was using a late 2015 i7 4ghz and m390 iMac prior to this one and the difference in performance is huge. I've also paired it up with the LG 5k Ultrafine monitor and the two work perfectly together and since the Ultrafine has three additional thunderbolt ports it somewhat makes up for only having two thunderbolt ports on this iMac, which is one of the drawbacks this has as compared to the iMac Pro.

The Vega 48 is also more powerful than I was led to believe. After a gaming session I did a Geekbench test and got an OpenCL score of 150996 which is a bit higher than the scores of around 142000 which are on the Geekbench list. I think these people must not be allowing the GPU to warm up when they're running the benchmark because after it gets warmed up I'm consistently hitting 148000 and above, which is great. It performs great in games as well. I've been running Mad Max, Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor, Alien: Isolation and Borderlands 2 at 4k resolution, maximum settings and they all run well. I've also been playing Subnautica, Everspace and Rise of the Tomb Raider at maximum settings and at 3200x1800 resolution and they all run smoothly above 30fps; likewise the recently released (for MacOS) Black Ops 3 runs smoothly at max settings at just a bit under 4k. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided was playable at max settings and 2560x1440 but I don't think this game is well optimised for the Mac because it doesn't look that great but seems to be very taxing on the system. It would probably be better in Windows. In fact all these games would perform better in Windows, but at the moment I'm just playing them on MacOS. It's also good fun going back and playing older games in 5k like Batman Arkham Asylum. The ultra high resolution breathes new life into these older games, though there is screen tearing, so it's probably still better to play at 4k. I will say however that modern games do cause the fans to blow pretty hard, but if you play with headphones the noise isn't a problem. Also, 32gb or more is a must for some of the more graphically intensive games like Rise of the Tomb Raider at max settings. While playing that my ram usage was around 23gb.

For the i9 processor I've hit 6191 on single core and 34187 on multicore on Geekbench which is only a little behind the multicore score of the 10 core iMac Pro and better than the 8 core iMac Pro. That's incredible for the price! And during everyday usage the fan noise is basically silent, which was often not the case with my previous iMac. In my country (Australia) I've save about $1500 by buying this instead of a base iMac Pro. With that money I've been able to add on additions such as the Logitech Brio 4k webcam which is a much better webcam than the iMac Pro's, more Ram than a base iMac Pro, an external SSD and still have a $1000 left over. The Vega 48 is only a little worse than the Vega 56 (probably 5fps or so in most games or you can probably run games in a little higher resolution); the difference in price is not worth it for the Vega 56. Apple have done very well with this product and I think it's the best value product they're currently selling.

 

[Rupert Beehsley]

Just a thought for you and anyone else looking at this option with the 27": Consider going for the high end model instead. There's a weird almost counter-intuitive price scale at play here when converting the fusion drive to an ssd:
27 base ($1799) + 512 ssd = $2099
27 medium ($1999) + 512 ssd = $2299
27 high end ($2299) + 512 ssd = $2399

As you can see above, simply ticking that 512gb ssd option drops the price gap between the base model and the highest one to only $300. What do you get in return:
a.) a much faster cpu (while still an i5, the high end standard cpu is a 9th gen vs the 8th gen in the other models)
b.) a much faster gpu
c.) more vram

I'm leaning heavily towards this option myself even though I'm in the same boat where the base model is plenty enough for my needs. Out of any possible option you could spec these with, that extra $300 is the best bang for the buck.

[doublepost=1562496589][/doublepost]Thank you jwhazel, I wouldn't have got there without your post. Just an extra £300 over the lifetime of the machine, it is a no-brainer. Was going for the base+ssd but now ordering as you suggest. Happy days.

 

[Sam Marks]

I recently received the following:

27‑inch iMac
i9 3.6GHz
8GB RAM (I've upgraded it to 40gb)
Radeon Pro Vega 48
512GB SSD
Magic Trackpad 2, Magic Keyboard 2 and I'm using a Logitech MX Master 2 mouse in conjunction with the trackpad.

I'm blown away by this machine. I was using a late 2015 i7 4ghz and m390 iMac prior to this one and the difference in performance is huge. I've also paired it up with the LG 5k Ultrafine monitor and the two work perfectly together and since the Ultrafine has three additional thunderbolt ports it somewhat makes up for only having two thunderbolt ports on this iMac, which is one of the drawbacks this has as compared to the iMac Pro.

The Vega 48 is also more powerful than I was led to believe. After a gaming session I did a Geekbench test and got an OpenCL score of 150996 which is a bit higher than the scores of around 142000 which are on the Geekbench list. I think these people must not be allowing the GPU to warm up when they're running the benchmark because after it gets warmed up I'm consistently hitting 148000 and above, which is great. It performs great in games as well. I've been running Mad Max, Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor, Alien: Isolation and Borderlands 2 at 4k resolution, maximum settings and they all run well. I've also been playing Subnautica, Everspace and Rise of the Tomb Raider at maximum settings and at 3200x1800 resolution and they all run smoothly above 30fps; likewise the recently released (for MacOS) Black Ops 3 runs smoothly at max settings at just a bit under 4k. Deus Ex: Mankind Divided was playable at max settings and 2560x1440 but I don't think this game is well optimised for the Mac because it doesn't look that great but seems to be very taxing on the system. It would probably be better in Windows. In fact all these games would perform better in Windows, but at the moment I'm just playing them on MacOS. It's also good fun going back and playing older games in 5k like Batman Arkham Asylum. The ultra high resolution breathes new life into these older games, though there is screen tearing, so it's probably still better to play at 4k. I will say however that modern games do cause the fans to blow pretty hard, but if you play with headphones the noise isn't a problem. Also, 32gb or more is a must for some of the more graphically intensive games like Rise of the Tomb Raider at max settings. While playing that my ram usage was around 23gb.

For the i9 processor I've hit 6191 on single core and 34187 on multicore on Geekbench which is only a little behind the multicore score of the 10 core iMac Pro and better than the 8 core iMac Pro. That's incredible for the price! And during everyday usage the fan noise is basically silent, which was often not the case with my previous iMac. In my country (Australia) I've save about $1500 by buying this instead of a base iMac Pro. With that money I've been able to add on additions such as the Logitech Brio 4k webcam which is a much better webcam than the iMac Pro's, more Ram than a base iMac Pro, an external SSD and still have a $1000 left over. The Vega 48 is only a little worse than the Vega 56 (probably 5fps or so in most games or you can probably run games in a little higher resolution); the difference in price is not worth it for the Vega 56. Apple have done very well with this product and I think it's the best value product they're currently selling.

I have also received the last week an iMac 2019 5K with the same configuration. Very happy with it so far.

My configuration is almost the same:

27‑inch iMac
i9 3.6GHz
8GB RAM (I've upgraded it to 40gb, Timetec Hynix 16GBx2)
Radeon Pro Vega 48
512GB SSD
Magic Mouse 2 (I also use another optic mouse that I like).

I added a 1TB Samsung T5 and I am very satisfied with the machine. Excellent performance and dead silent.

My question is: at what room temperature are you obtaining these benchmark results with your new i9 iMac Vega 48? Because I have these weeks a room temperature in excess of 32° C (yes, it is like working inside a sauna). Ambient temperature sensor 45° C.

I am obtaining slightly less values in the benchmarks with the same exact machine configuration. 33400 multicore geekbench 4, 143000 metal (no warming up of GPU before the tests). I think that this could be due to the relatively high room temperatures in my studio these days (i.e. 42° C to 44° C outside during various days and no A/C yet in my room, also tropical nights +32° C outside at 2:00 am). I think that the climate change is slightly affecting my iMac performance .

But, in general, the machine is running smoothly and silent which is a very good thing. It is a very good iMac 2019 configuration, in my experience.

 

[Dutch60]

3 weeks ago I ordered, and yesterday I received:
27" iMac 2019
i9 processor
Radeon Pro Vega 48
2 Tb SSD
8Gb RAM (never used this, but have installed 64Gb OWC RAM, even before starting up a first time)

 

[Sooby]

I have also received the last week an iMac 2019 5K with the same configuration. Very happy with it so far.

My configuration is almost the same:

27‑inch iMac
i9 3.6GHz
8GB RAM (I've upgraded it to 40gb, Timetec Hynix 16GBx2)
Radeon Pro Vega 48
512GB SSD
Magic Mouse 2 (I also use another optic mouse that I like).

I added a 1TB Samsung T5 and I am very satisfied with the machine. Excellent performance and dead silent.

My question is: at what room temperature are you obtaining these benchmark results with your new i9 iMac Vega 48? Because I have these weeks a room temperature in excess of 32° C (yes, it is like working inside a sauna). Ambient temperature sensor 45° C.

I am obtaining slightly less values in the benchmarks with the same exact machine configuration. 33400 multicore geekbench 4, 143000 metal (no warming up of GPU before the tests). I think that this could be due to the relatively high room temperatures in my studio these days (i.e. 42° C to 44° C outside during various days and no A/C yet in my room, also tropical nights +32° C outside at 2:00 am). I think that the climate change is slightly affecting my iMac performance .

But, in general, the machine is running smoothly and silent which is a very good thing. It is a very good iMac 2019 configuration, in my experience.

Yes, it's Winter at the moment where I live and is usually around 14-17 degrees in the day and about 5-9 degrees at night, so that may be helping to get those scores. If you have any graphically intensive games, try playing one of those at maximum settings for a while and then run Geekbench on the GPU immediately afterwards. You might get higher scores.

 

[Sam Marks]

Yes, it's Winter at the moment where I live and is usually around 14-17 degrees in the day and about 5-9 degrees at night, so that may be helping to get those scores. If you have any graphically intensive games, try playing one of those at maximum settings for a while and then run Geekbench on the GPU immediately afterwards. You might get higher scores.

Thank you for this information and also for the gaming advice (that I plan to try). Now this makes a lot of sense for me. You are very lucky to have these good temperatures there. Here in Spain we have been the last two summer weeks with scorching temperatures (42º-45º C day, 29º-32ºC night). But the imac is working very well and silent under these conditions. So I am very happy with my new iMac.

 

[LiE_]

Just put in an order for this iMac. I have another 16GB RAM coming and a 1TB external SSD. Got AppleCare as well.

I returned this in the end, it's a lovely machine but there were a couple of things that made me change it for a Mac Mini i5/16/256 + Ultrafine 4k.

1. Price - I had pushed my budget a little too much going for this, which feeds into point 2.
2. Overkill for my usage - I found that I'm not editing photos in Lightroom that often and the day job isn't that taxing.The Mac mini does a fine job of editing photos in Lightroom as well as some photoshop work.
3. AIO - I like that with the Mac mini if at some point down the line a beefier Mac mini is released it's an easier upgrade. Also if there are any issues it's easier to fix a Mac mini.
4. Looks - The iMac really is looking dated, and will look even more so when they release an updated AIO.

Loving my setup now.

 

[D4walker]

Is there a really big difference between the iMac 3.0GHz and the 3.7GHz? The 3.7GHz is faster, of course, but is the difference really that noticeable? I know the price between those two isn’t THAT different (if you buy them with a 512GB SSD), but I’m curious, since they’re both i5 and with 6-core.

 

[WebHead]

Well, I just received my 2019 iMac i9 to replace the 2011 version that had GPU issues, and... it's DOA with more GPU issues! (580 version)

Feeling cursed right now.

 

[SecuritySteve]

Well, I just received my 2019 iMac i9 to replace the 2011 version that had GPU issues, and... it's DOA with more GPU issues! (580 version)

Feeling cursed right now.

And unto thee, I bless with the greater blessing of Apple! Thou shalt be cursed no longer!

I'm sure Apple will make it right if you bring it in to the store and show them it's DOA.

 

[WebHead]

And unto thee, I bless with the greater blessing of Apple! Thou shalt be cursed no longer!

I'm sure Apple will make it right if you bring it in to the store and show them it's DOA.

Hehe thanks, yes have already arranged a replacement over the phone. Turnaround time: another 2+ weeks.

If I weren't such a diehard Apple fanboy my faith would be tested!

 

[D4walker]

So, after almost two months of deliberations, I finally decided to order an iMac.

I got the 2019 5k 27’ 3.7GHz i5 / 8GB RAM (will upgrade to 40GB) / 512GB SSD / Radeon Pro 580X.
I think I did the right thing this time, hopefully it will arrive soon and well.

Although, I do have a question, the iMac was shipped and, according to the tracking number, it’s coming from China, is this normal? It’s my first time ordering from Apple.com, and my first time with a customized computer (although I only changed the Fusion Drive for an SSD).

 

[Zen_Arcade]

So, after almost two months of deliberations, I finally decided to order an iMac.

I got the 2019 5k 27’ 3.7GHz i5 / 8GB RAM (will upgrade to 40GB) / 512GB SSD / Radeon Pro 580X.
I think I did the right thing this time, hopefully it will arrive soon and well.

Although, I do have a question, the iMac was shipped and, according to the tracking number, it’s coming from China, is this normal? It’s my first time ordering from Apple.com, and my first time with a customized computer (although I only changed the Fusion Drive for an SSD).

Good machine.

Yes re normal coming from China - it's where they are manufactured, and yours is technically a BTO (Build To Order). That's probably a configuration that is build ahead of time and stocked in relatively small quantities at warehouses in China.