What is considered a heavy/power user?

[cynics]

How many cores would you like? 4? 6? 8?

Well, I should clarify first. I'm a realist and I understand the iMac is an all in one and there is nothing currently available to run near the TDP required for the iMacs current design. An i7-6850 (6 core) has a TDP of 140w, current 6700K is around 90w I believe.

Also assuming there was some ground breaking redesign and the iMac could keep an Intel 6950X (10 Core) cool I wouldnt be willing to pay an additional 1500-2000 dollar premium.

But to answer your question assuming cost and cooling weren't factors as many as possible while still maintaining a 3.5ghz or greater frequency with turbo boost at or around 4ghz. AKA Pretty much Intels Extreme Edition line.

Cooling is equally as important to me just for noise. I currently have an i5 which even with all 4 core at 100% doesn't lift the fan RPM above 1200.

The i7 is much faster especially with HT but to me its not worth it if my iMac sounds like a Hoover.

 

[Seed101]

I'm mainly using After Effects, C4D and Maya, Premiere, Photoshop.
Sometimes I need to go elsewhere to complete projects...dunno if the makes me a 'power user'.

The iMac is a great all rounder, suitable for about 80% of my needs.

 

[InlawBiker]

An iMac power user would be doing some kind of production work all day and at some point bumping into the limits of the machine. In my book a "power user" is somebody using the computer all day, every day to its maximum potential.

I am a "power user" of my work laptop. It has been abused and used for 10 hours per day ever work day for the last 3 years and still running strong. Fortunately for me my work doesn't require huge computing resources.

My proposed home iMac will be much more powerful than my work laptop, but so what! I want one.

 

[faneos]

Power users are users that pay premium prices for computer components or computers generally.

 

[jblagden]

Power users are users that pay premium prices for computer components or computers generally.

While that's true, it doesn't explain the reason. It just makes it sound like what most folks buy is a good value for the money, and power users will pay exorbitant amounts of money for just a little more speed. While that can be true in some cases - like $400 motherboards, $1,000 CPUs, and $600 GPUs - it's not 100% true.

Power users pay more for their parts because they're buying more powerful hardware. For example, most folks would just go with a dual-core 2.4 Ghz i5, while a power user would go for something like a quad-core 4 GHz i7. Also, most folks just use integrated graphics, while a power user will buy a GPU like a GTX 1070, 1080, or at least a 1060.

 

[cynics]

I'm currently a student in university and occasionally use Xcode along with browsing the web and word documents.

I see a lot of posts about people wanting an iMac because they're "power" users and I never understood what it takes to be considered that?

Anyone else wonder the same thing or just me?

Diagnosing your question a little bit more throughly.

I think people would say that in that context because they feel less expensive Mac's vs the iMac isn't powerful enough for their task.

But its very specific for them and their task. For example with video encoding you can use a laptop but if its a regular thing you may want to consider something like an iMac since its better for the job.

I don't know much about Xcode but I wouldnt think you'd need a lot of what the iMacs offers vs a well spec'd MacBook for example (I could be totally wrong).

There is a difference between being a power user and a dummy. I wouldn't buy a Mac Pro to rip my DB collection for example. There are also people that just want the latest and greatest and have the capital to back it, nothing wrong with that either. However those people could try to justify their purchase by claiming themselves "power users".

The more I say it the dumber it sounds, power user. There are people that want the best tool for the job and then their are self proclaimed power users that just want the best tool. Lol