What to replace my late 2014 iMac with?

[Cruciarius]

My current Mac is an iMac 5K late 2014 model with 32GB of RAM & 3TB built-in Fusion drive. While it was under warranty, it suddenly had an overheating issue. After a few trips to the Apple store, it was fixed. They replaced the screen, thermal paste, and honestly, I don't recall what else. Anyway, it ran fine for a few months. Now no longer under warranty, it's over heating once again. Interested in replacing it.

What I want to do with my Mac:
• Have 2+ monitors at 4K or 5K.
• Able to do graphic work with Photoshop & Clip Studio.
• Play Ark & a handful of other games at high settings. Gaming on my Mac doesn't interest me too much, but would like to occasionally.
• Possibly stream either digital artwork creation, a gaming console, or gaming to platforms such as Twitch.

I've heard that the iMac Pro is still superior to the Mac Mini 2018. Also know that in 2019 the rumored Mac Pro will be released. Being a rumor, I'm unsure if I should wait to see what it brings to the table or not.

The Mac Mini 2018 can be user upgraded RAM, but why not to the full 64GB as listed on the buy page? Seems we can only upgrade it to 32GB and I'm not finding a page or video explaining why. Anyone know?

Anyway... given what I want to do with my Mac, what would be the recommended one to get?

Not too thrilled with how my current iMac has been, as far as all these over heating issues are concerned. Before all that though, it ran everything beautifully. Loved it. Now, I'm not too thrilled with the cooling system built into them, if they overheat so easily.

 

[shaunp]

A new iMac is just more of the same. iMac Pro also has thermal issues - i.e. it throttles. If you are unhappy with the hardware you have to be honest with yourself about your requirements. Apple unfortunately don't make a standalone computer with decent cooling that you can attach your own monitor and have good GPU choices. If this is what you want then you have two choices - hackintosh or PC.

Apple has designed itself into a thermal corner with pretty much its entire product line. But they are nice an thin. And they look pretty.

 

[vkd]

Replace it with an iPhone XS Max 512GB, only $1,449.00. Careful you don't drop it, though.

 

[rickvanr]

If it's something that happened under warranty, and was supposed to be resolved they might honour it. Definitely worth a call to AppleCare in my opinion.

 

[billyb2]

I just replaced my late 2012 iMac with a 2018 Mac Mini and am happy. It sounds like you might do what I do (graphic design and video work). Here is my setup and so far it kicks ass.

2018 Mac Mini
eGPU: OWC Helios with Radeon RX580 8GB
32GB Ram (will do 64 later, costs too much now)
43" 4K tv
27" 4k monitor
24" 1080 monitor
Lacie 2Big 6TB Raid (already owned)
Mercury Elite Pro RAID (already owned)
And other misc peripherals I need.

Edit: One thing I really like about this new setup, everything is now modular. If something needs to be replace, I can do it by pieces and get more life out of this system versus needing to replace the entire computer.

 

[Cruciarius]

I just replaced my late 2012 iMac with a 2018 Mac Mini and am happy. It sounds like you might do what I do (graphic design and video work). Here is my setup and so far it kicks ass.

2018 Mac Mini
eGPU: OWC Helios with Radeon RX580 8GB
32GB Ram (will do 64 later, costs too much now)
43" 4K tv
27" 4k monitor
24" 1080 monitor
Lacie 2Big 6TB Raid (already owned)
Mercury Elite Pro RAID (already owned)
And other misc peripherals I need.

Edit: One thing I really like about this new setup, everything is now modular. If something needs to be replace, I can do it by pieces and get more life out of this system versus needing to replace the entire computer.

I've been looking over the Mac Mini 2018 a TON lately. Used to have a Mac Mini prior to this iMac 5K late 2014 model and liked it back then. It was always super quiet and I never had any overheating issues with it.

Curious, you mentioned upgrading to 64GB later. Where have you seen the RAM prices? Crucial & Amazon, as far as I've seen, only list up to 32 GB (2x 16GB chips) as an option.

The graphics card I plan to go with is the ASUS Radeon RX Vega 64, which is recommended in most videos about the Mac Mini 2018 + eGPUs, with the Razer Core X enclosure. As for monitors to pair with it, I was hoping for 2 5K, but I'm not even sure if it can use those or not. Being new to buying graphic cards separate, I seem to have trouble finding compatibility with what they can go up to.

The Mac Mini specs I intend to go with would be:

3.2GHz 6-core i7
8GB RAM - upgrading later
256GB SSD - Maybe? Storage I'm unsure about. If I go external HDs, I could get far more space for far less & with any hope, it'll last thru the life span of the Mini & into the next Mac I get in the future.

Everything else as base specs.

The Mac Mini interests me more than an all-in-one, like the iMac or laptops, because I can always replace the computer itself, without having to buy monitors or anything else again (granted if issues happen, I will).

 

[billyb2]

I've been looking over the Mac Mini 2018 a TON lately. Used to have a Mac Mini prior to this iMac 5K late 2014 model and liked it back then. It was always super quiet and I never had any overheating issues with it.

Curious, you mentioned upgrading to 64GB later. Where have you seen the RAM prices? Crucial & Amazon, as far as I've seen, only list up to 32 GB (2x 16GB chips) as an option.

The graphics card I plan to go with is the ASUS Radeon RX Vega 64, which is recommended in most videos about the Mac Mini 2018 + eGPUs, with the Razer Core X enclosure. As for monitors to pair with it, I was hoping for 2 5K, but I'm not even sure if it can use those or not. Being new to buying graphic cards separate, I seem to have trouble finding compatibility with what they can go up to.

The Mac Mini specs I intend to go with would be:

3.2GHz 6-core i7
8GB RAM - upgrading later
256GB SSD - Maybe? Storage I'm unsure about. If I go external HDs, I could get far more space for far less & with any hope, it'll last thru the life span of the Mini & into the next Mac I get in the future.

Everything else as base specs.

The Mac Mini interests me more than an all-in-one, like the iMac or laptops, because I can always replace the computer itself, without having to buy monitors or anything else again (granted if issues happen, I will).

OWC (macsales.com) has 64gb. 32 was $300 and 64 is $1k. For the time being 32 will do fine.

As for GPU, I wanted the Vega 64 as well. But my prices came up at about $200-300 more and I couldn’t justify that price difference.

 

[Cruciarius]

I've honestly never heard of OWC, but yeah... $1k is a lot for RAM.

The GPU, I'll likely get the Vega 64. I know it's a lot of money as well, but with what I want to do, I think it's something I'll regret not getting.

Just have to think of what order I should buy things. Already have 2 monitors I can use temporarily. So RAM, GPU, and 4K monitors will have to be gotten later.