What 2019 iMac Did You Order?

[ThatiMacGuy]

Hey folks, I've been reading through this discussion and really appreciate all the info! I'm a bit of a tech newbie, but am looking to get a new 27 inch and am hoping for some advice.

I'd be using my iMac primarily to record vocals with Logic Pro (professional singer here!), as well as some music production, some video editing on Final Cut Pro, and photo editing on Photoshop. While I know that Macs aren't ideal for gaming, I'd want this iMac to be my all-in-one device for work as well as gaming, and I'd probably just run Windows Bootcamp on it to get all the latest big games running on my iMac. I might want to dabble into live streaming myself on video, or my gaming, as well. I'd probably tend to do some multitasking with a number of the above tasks I've mentioned, such as running Logic Pro while streaming videos, etc. I'd hope to use this iMac for as long as possible before upgrading again in the future, considering how it would be a pretty big investment.

With all of that in mind, here's what I've come down to:

I will probably want to get the Vega 48 for gaming purposes, and I am considering splurging on 2TB of SSD storage for peace of mind (I do have a lot of recording projects and would have a lot of games that would take up a good amount of space). I will also get an additional 32gb RAM off of Amazon, bringing the total RAM to 40gb.

I can't decide between the i5 6 core and the i9 8 core. Being the newbie that I am, I'm not sure how the difference between the two would affect me. I've read somewhere that the i5 6 core might actually be a more efficient option, depending on what you need your iMac for, so I'm conflicted. Based on my usage detailed above, would the i9 8 core even be useful for me?

Anyway, any advice based on my situation would be super appreciated. I'm learning a lot from this thread, so thanks very much to you all!

 

[Drmedic1]

Bit the bullet. Bought the below.

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
1TB SSD storage
Magic Mouse 2
Magic Keyboard with Numeric Keypad - British

Came with a pair of beats studio3s which I will probably keep, and I bought the trackpad 2 when it first came out so didn't need that with this order.

I opted for the higher end model based on the fact that when you upgrade from fusion drive to SSD 512gb or 1tb, the difference was only £300, and that is excluding the fact you also get a Radeon Pro 580x with the higher spec'd model. Hopefully it'll last me 5+ years, ideally 10+ (but that may be wishful thinking)

 

[nemoryoliver]

If the Fusion Drive with the 32GB SSD does not meet your needs you can always use an external USB or Thunderbolt 3 SSD.

Later once the warranty is finished you can potentially open it up and replace the internal PCIe SSD and/or the SATA HDD with a big SSD if you are game. Plenty of people on the forum and across the internet have done this successfully (but of course you need to be careful and follow instructions closely).

I think that it is quite likely that future iMacs will have soldered internal storage that is impossible to upgrade once they get T series chips in them. At least you've got a few options to think about!

I know people seem to not like Fusion Drives on this forum, but I think with the 40GB Ram and the i9 will be fast and enough for most tasks and of course multitasking which is important.

Also, like someone said above me, you can always use external drives as the boot drive in the future, if the Fusion Drive is not enough. So don’t worry too much, make sure to keep the most important apps and documents on the SSD part and enjoy it!

Thanks, guys! I'm actually thinking now what will be the best external SSD solution.

I have a spare SATA III SSD running windows and want to try it first. I wish it's possible to partition it and run Mac OS on the other side of it so I can still put it back to my windows machine after my testing. Then if the SATA III 6Gb/s speed is enough i'll get the T5 if not I could either build my own 10Gb/s TB3 Enclosure with NVMe SSD or just buy off the shelves a Samsung X5 that can get up to 2,800+MB/s.

 

[wardie]

Thanks, guys! I'm actually thinking now what will be the best external SSD solution.

I have a spare SATA III SSD running windows and want to try it first. I wish it's possible to partition it and run Mac OS on the other side of it so I can still put it back to my windows machine after my testing. Then if the SATA III 6Gb/s speed is enough i'll get the T5 if not I could either build my own 10Gb/s TB3 Enclosure with NVMe SSD or just buy off the shelves a Samsung X5 that can get up to 2,800+MB/s.

If you go down this route there are some cheaper options than the X5 for T3 NVMe, have a look in the Accessories sub-forum, search “TEKQ Rapide” I have for example. I tried to put Win10 on external SSD but had some issues with the hackery you need to do with Bootcamp, so ended up repartitioning my internal drive and using the TEKQ for Lightroom library and VMs instead. Just as fast as internal for normal purposes.

 

[nemoryoliver]

If you go down this route there are some cheaper options than the X5 for T3 NVMe, have a look in the Accessories sub-forum, search “TEKQ Rapide” I have for example. I tried to put Win10 on external SSD but had some issues with the hackery you need to do with Bootcamp, so ended up repartitioning my internal drive and using the TEKQ for Lightroom library and VMs instead. Just as fast as internal for normal purposes.

Before the TEKQ Rapide was cheaper but now the X5 is almost the same price. check it out in amazon.

Samsung X5: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GBGG68L
TEKQ Rapide: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07C9C9D5T/

I ended up purchasing the X5 by the way.

 

[wardie]

Before the TEKQ Rapide was cheaper but now the X5 is almost the same price. check it out in amazon.

Samsung X5: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GBGG68L
TEKQ Rapide: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07C9C9D5T/

I ended up purchasing the X5 by the way.

Lucky you. In UK they are still very different. I got TEKQ for £316 but X5 is £418 still...

 

[nemoryoliver]

Lucky you. In UK they are still very different. I got TEKQ for £316 but X5 is £418 still...

Even on amazon?

 

[wardie]

Even on amazon?

Yes both amazon UK. The TEKQ sold out now at 1TB, low stocks in all sizes I think - not many places to buy in UK. Pricespy showing all respectable UK retailers still £415+ for X5.

 

[nemoryoliver]

Yes both amazon UK. The TEKQ sold out now at 1TB, low stocks in all sizes I think - not many places to buy in UK. Pricespy showing all respectable UK retailers still £415+ for X5.

That is not good. I am from the Philippines and luckily I got the x5 at $199 USD only. I thought prices were the same everywhere

 

[TVreporter]

X5 is $330 Canadian ($250 Us) for 500GB on Amazon.ca - way too high for my liking. I think I might go T5

 

[rob97ag]

Just received our new iMac...

i9
8GB memory, adding 32GB from Crucial
Radeon Pro 580X w
2TB SSD storage

We have a mid-2010 that has been struggling the last two years (likely the hard drive). My wife does photography, and it's a miracle she hasn't thrown it out the window after numerous times of Lightroom and PS freezing up and taking forever. The only other option I was considering was the Vega, but we don't do gaming or anything...so hoping the 580x will be fine for her photo uses.

 

[taoisawesome]

If you got one, post which 2019 iMac config you ordered!

I ordered the following config and saved some money on RAM since it's user upgradable:

• 27" 5K
• 3.6GHz i9 8-core
• 8GB RAM
• Vega 48
• 2TB SSD

Why did I go with this config?

I didn't like that the i5 was the second best option, had the same 95W TDP, and had no hyper threading. I figure this processor will last me a very long time, unless Apple blows everything out of the water with their in-house chips in a couple years. Either way it's already overkill in 2019 for my needs. I'd have probably gone with a lower priced 6-core i7 if it was available.

I'll be ordering two 16GB RAM modules and match the pairs with the two 4GB modules that come with it so I can get the full bandwidth at 40GB of RAM total. Looks like it will set me back about $210-230. Then in a few years I'll be able to upgrade to 64GB if I want by replacing the 4GB modules with new 16GB modules and they'll likely be much cheaper.

I went with the Vega 48 because I want to do some occasional gaming in Windows using Bootcamp. I'm betting the performance should be near the GTX 1070/1660 for gaming, but a good amount higher for general computing since it's more of a workstation chip. I'm mostly a console gamer but wanted to play a few games on PC with a friend. I plan on trying 1440p resolution at moderately high settings for most games and think it should be able to handle that for everything but the most demanding.

I decided to go with the 2TB SSD because I am tired of always running out of space with 512GB on my MBP. Sure it will be connected to external hard drives, but the SSD is much faster, even than my Samsung T5 external SSDs, and lightyears faster than my HDDs. I want to be able to partition a good amount for Windows and a smallish Steam library, while also having room for local sync for iCloud and Dropbox files, which I don't like keeping on an external since they sometimes go to sleep and don't stay updated.

Out of everything I maxed out, which is most everything, the 2TB SSD was the hardest choice. I wish there was more of a 1.5TB option, lol. Oh well. My budget was $4000 and I stayed under that because I work in higher education and got the discounts (it was around $3800). I also opted for the numeric keypad option since it's wireless now. My goal was to spec something that is more advanced than what I need today that would last me 5-7 years, and I think I have done that. I also opted for the 18 month 0% financing as I am very responsible with credit so the cost is spread out over time and I can leave that money invested. I'm excited for it to arrive!

Most of the time, I use mine for office and photoshop, do I need to get i9 ? or just base?

 

[ThugFreak]

Most of the time, I use mine for office and photoshop, do I need to get i9 ? or just base?

Deleted

 

[wardie]

I think you just need the "base" model. It's real fast.
Look at this Geekbench 4 chart. And click the "Multi-Core" tab.
The "base" 2019 27'' iMac beats every iMac before 2019 (20963).
It even beats the 2017 i7 4.2 GHz iMac (19383).
That's because it has 6 cores (older iMacs have 4 cores).

Photoshop will benefit from more cores I expect, but standard apps like Office will probably run single thread and hence faster CPU clock cycle will be better - regular and also turbo boost. Will you notice a massive difference in Office? Doubt it. I’d bank the extra cash and get base unless you have a real need for CPU intensive tasks like a lot of heavy photo editing / video / 3D etc or time=money as a professional.

 

[nemoryoliver]

Most of the time, I use mine for office and photoshop, do I need to get i9 ? or just base?

I got the i9 myself because of the main reason that I want it to last as long as possible. That it could handle apps great in the next 8+ years from now.

 

[Ubele]

Last week, I got a 2019 27" iMac, 3.0 GHz i5, 570X GPU, 2TB Fusion drive, and 8GB of RAM from the Refurbished store for $1,699. I got an additional 16GB of RAM from OWC for $100. So far, I'm loving it.

I'd been using a 2015 13" MBP connected to a 4K monitor, and a 2012 i7 Mac mini RAM connected to an old 1080P monitor. I do a lot of amateur photo editing, web development, video, writing, and music. Unfortunately, my MBP's 8GB of RAM had become inadequate for some of my programs. My mini's 16GB of RAM is fine, but the mini won't drive my 4K monitor. I'd been wanting an iMac for years, but the comparable 2017 configuration in the Refurbished store was $2,100, and $2K was my psychological price point. I was coming close to getting a refurbished 2018 Mac mini, but when I factored in the cost of possibly needing an eGPU at some point, it was approaching what I'd pay for an iMac, and I loved the iMac's 5K display. So when Apple dropped their storage prices, which applied to refurbished units, as well, and I found the above configuration, I jumped on it.

Here's my reasoning for getting this particular configuration, in case it will be helpful to others who are trying to decide what to get:

27" display: Since so much of what I do is visual, I wanted the bigger one (as opposed to the 21.5").
3.0 GHz i5: I'm a hobbyist, so I don't need anything faster, and the base processor is plenty fast.
570X GPU: I'm not a gamer, and I don't do 3D modeling or heavy 4K video editing, so the base model seems fine, and it's better than the integrated GPU in the Mac mini.
2TB Fusion drive: Excluding my collection of ripped DVDs, I have 750GB of files. I keep multiple backups, so having everything on one drive is more convenient than having some files on external drives that also need to backed up. A 1TB SSD would have been ideal, but it was more expensive. A 1TB Fusion driver would have been cheaper, but it has the smaller SSD component. My wife and I each have Mac minis with home-made Fusion drives, and they've been used heavily for over three years, so I don't mistrust them the way some people here do. Yes, they're not quite as fast as a pure SSD -- but, again, for what I do, a Fusion drive is plenty fast.
8GB of RAM: I got the minimum so I could buy cheaper third-party RAM. 24GB total should be fine for me.

 

[Martyimac]

I got the i9 myself because of the main reason that I want it to last as long as possible. That it could handle apps great in the next 8+ years from now.

Same as I did. Specs in my sig.

 

[smayer97]

...

Now how do I best access data on 2011 with dead graphics to transfer to the new one!?

Assuming your iMac still boots, just no display:

You can consider using Target Disk Mode (TDM). Of course, you will need a TB3 to TB2 plus a TB to Firewire adapters to achieve this, as there is no TB3 to Firewire adapters that I can find (I have searched high and low... I have a 2010 27" 2.93GHz iMac to migrate over too). To get into TDM simply press and hold the T key during boot-up, then plug in the old iMac to the new iMac and access the old iMac like any other drive.

An alternative is to remotely log into the old iMac, using the same login credentials as if you were at the iMac.

And another would be to get an external monitor, using mini-display adapter to HDMI or DVI or even VGA (whatever your external monitor needs).

Cheapest places I find for cables is either Amazon or MonoPrice.

 

[smayer97]

I ordered the following with an estimated delivery on July 24-26.

• 3.6GHz 8-core 9th-generation Intel Core i9 processor, Turbo Boost up to 5.0GHz
• 8GB 2666MHz DDR4 memory (upgrade to 40GB by me)
• 1TB SSD storage
• Radeon Pro 580X with 8GB of GDDR5 memory
• Magic Mouse 2
• Magic Keyboard - US English

I kept browsing the refurb store for this configuration, but I was never able to get one exactly like this. Now I have to figure out how to migrate everything over from my 2011 iMac to the new one. I have never done that before!

Read my post just above, as the options are similar for you (except for the external display).

So, the above is about how to get the 2 iMacs connected.

As for performing the migration, you have several choices:
1. if you have a Time Machine, plug that into the new iMac and attempt a restore using Time Machine restore... note it may balk if you have a lot of old software. If so, it will direct you to use Migration Assistant.

2. Use Migration Assistant to move stuff over. This will work whether using TDM or over the network or from the Time Machine too.

3. using other backup or cloning software, perform restores from that.

4. manually copy/move stuff over from one iMac to the other.

In any case, note that many settings, etc may not make it over, so be prepared for some cleanup. Of course the closer your current macOS version is to Mojave, the less challenges you will encounter.

(I have yet to attempt all of this myself from a 2010 iMac as mentioned above but those are the options. BTW, I am moving to the exact same iMac as you, except with 512GB SSD. I'm still running Mac OS X 10.6.8 (due to old software I needed at the time) so I have to decide whether to upgrade to macOS 10.13 High Sierra first or not (I have downloaded and kept all the intermediate upgrades from Apple so I can easily do this; I currently have partitions with El Capitan (10.11), Sierra (10.12), and High Sierra (10.13)).

In a worst case if something does not go as expected, you can always perform a complete restore to factory default using the built-in macOS recovery and start over (for more details on that, read the following simple article from Apple here: https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT204904).

And if you do not have good internet connection or limited monthly download allowance, before you start anything, create a bootable Recovery disk using the following instructions from Apple: https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT201372 (you will need an external device like a USB key or external drive and a copy of Mojave installer; download from App Store).

P.S. If anyone needs access to old intermediate macOS upgrades from macOS 10.10 and up and cannot get them from Apple (they have been slowly locking down access to older versions), I may be able to supply my copies.

 

[28Gauge]

Read my post just above, as the options are similar for you (except for the external display).

So, the above is about how to get the 2 iMacs connected.

As for performing the migration, you have several choices:
1. if you have a Time Machine, plug that into the new iMac and attempt a restore using Time Machine restore... note it may balk if you have a lot of old software. If so, it will direct you to use Migration Assistant.

2. Use Migration Assistant to move stuff over. This will work whether using TDM or over the network or from the Time Machine too.

3. using other backup or cloning software, perform restores from that.

4. manually copy/move stuff over from one iMac to the other.

In any case, note that many settings, etc may not make it over, so be prepared for some cleanup. Of course the closer your current macOS version is to Mojave, the less challenges you will encounter.

(I have yet to attempt all of this myself from a 2010 iMac as mentioned above but those are the options. BTW, I am moving to the exact same iMac as you, except with 512GB SSD. I'm still running Mac OS X 10.6.8 (due to old software I needed at the time) so I have to decide whether to upgrade to macOS 10.13 High Sierra first or not (I have downloaded and kept all the intermediate upgrades from Apple so I can easily do this; I currently have partitions with El Capitan (10.11), Sierra (10.12), and High Sierra (10.13)).

In a worst case if something does not go as expected, you can always perform a complete restore to factory default using the built-in macOS recovery and start over (for more details on that, read the following simple article from Apple here: https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT204904).

And if you do not have good internet connection or limited monthly download allowance, before you start anything, create a bootable Recovery disk using the following instructions from Apple: https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT201372 (you will need an external device like a USB key or external drive and a copy of Mojave installer; download from App Store).

P.S. If anyone needs access to old intermediate macOS upgrades from macOS 10.10 and up and cannot get them from Apple (they have been slowly locking down access to older versions), I may be able to supply my copies.

Thanks for your reply. I have had the new iMac for a little over a week now and everything has gone quite well. I transferred everything over from the 2011 iMac to the 2019 iMac via a ethernet/patch cable hooked between the two using Migration Assistant. I had to do a little cleanup afterwards, but nothing over the top. I am really pleased at how the transfer went for me.

 

[jharvey71884]

Mine will be here in a few days from B&H.

27’ 2019 Base model

But have an extra 16gb of ram coming from crucial and a Samsung 1TB SsD to boot off of.

 

[mountain_feeling]

I received my new iMac a few days ago: 27 inch, 3.7 i5, vega 48, 512 SSD, 40 GB w/ crucial

Very happy with it thus far. This thing is huge though; it dwarfs everything on my desk. Before I bought it, I was concerned about fan noise from reading all the posts complaining about it, especially at idle. I can say that my iMac does have some fan noise at idle 1200 rpm, but honestly, I never would have noticed it had I not been actively trying to listen for it... like having my ear pressed against the computer. I'm sensitive to noise but this doesn't bother me at all. In fact, the minimal ambient sound in my home drowns it out. Not sure what people are complaining about, unless they're using their iMac's in anechoic chambers. Computer stays cool as well. Watched some videos, played some games; my computer never went above 1200 rpm. I think the 9th gen i5 w/ vega 48 is a good combo for a cool and quiet machine.

 

[CE3]

I just ordered the 27" with i9, 580X, and a 512 SSD

ETA: I’m upgrading the RAM to 64GB. I found two Samsung 32GB modules for $288 with tax, which is about $15 less than I paid for a 32GB upgrade in 2017.

 

[macduke]

Most of the time, I use mine for office and photoshop, do I need to get i9 ? or just base?

Base would probably be fine unless you're just constantly using Photoshop, but if you're going to keep it for a long time, I would go for a middle tier and get an extra couple years out of it.

 

[CE3]

This is the first time I've ordered a Mac direct from Apple online, and I've never seen something ship so fast from China to the the states. My iMac was in Shanghai on the 6th, and it's in Memphis today (the 7th)!