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Which 512gb SSD 27" iMac? Base, mid, high?

Falcon80 said:
Have you made a decision? I am in a similar situation as you are. Still can't decide.
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I did. Ordered two days ago. Went with the mid-tier i5 3.5Ghz/RP575/1TB SSD. I need the larger SSD and picking that one helped offset the cost. Plus, I really am a noise nut. I don't like hearing the fridge turn on in the kitchen and I really don't want to ever hear my computer. I have a 2011 Mac Mini in my office that really is about silent. If I picked an iMac that ramped up I'd be annoyed with my choice. My other macs are all MacBooks, 2012Air, 2015 13MBP and essentially they are all silent. And despite the wide disparity in the processor speeds, I don't feel like I'm ever limited by the CPU performance. Not for my uses. So this quad core i5 - which can turbo up to 4.1Ghz will be a relative beast! Now, I'm just trying to decide how much after-market memory to buy. 2x8 (16) or 2x16 (32) which I will add to the stock 8GB for either 24 or 40Gb. I have about 12 days left before it arrives so I have time to analyze that decision to death too!
 
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EugW said:
The 2017 iMac brings Thunderbolt 3, USB C, Kaby Lake media upgrades (which IMO was a big deal), etc. 2018 will bring 6-core, so perhaps the best future-proofed machine will be a 2018, but as long as you know what you're getting into that's fine, which reasonable purchasing choices.
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This is a sweet update, yes!

Wouldn’t hold my breath for an iMac 2018 though, given the much longer upgrade cycle and 2018 promising to be the year of the iMac Pro.
 
Great thread....I too have been debating the same scenario. I also have a 2010 2.93 Ghz i7 iMac which has started showing its age over the last year or so. Crazy how many people seem to be in the same situation as me and also have the same 2010 iMac in this thread.

I am not a professional, but I do photo editing (lightroom) and video editing (FCPX) throughout the year for the various travel, parties, holidays, etc. Not daily, but I work on personal projects once every month or two.

The more research I do, the more I'm starting to realize that I may not need a higher end model. I think computer specs have gotten to a point where the "prosumer" doesn't have to get a maxed out computer and waste tons of money. At the moment I am leaning towards the entry level 27" iMac with 512GB SSD and upgrade ram third party myself.

This video on youtube is really what made me change my mind from the mid or high end models. It is 4K and 8K video editing on the 12" macbook:


And although its not an iMac it really just shows what these machines are capable of...
 
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sam2428 said:
At the moment I am leaning towards the entry level 27" iMac with 512GB SSD and upgrade ram third party myself.
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Great video, wonder how hot the machine was getting...

I think I will get the base as it's about A$300 cheaper than the mid and about A$450 cheaper than the top. I think if I went for the mid I'd regret not paying another A$150 to get the top model. Saving $450 allows me to get a bigger external SSD rather than an external HDD.
 
I'm beginning to rethink the 512gb + external drive option and instead leaning towards the 2tb fusion.....

I just can't get my head around dealing with the 783gb (of which 629gb is photos and home videos) I have uploaded and synced with Dropbox.....

Dropbox can't be spread over drives (I don't want to deal with symlinks) and I don't want to put all the dropbox content onto an external as they don't recommend it. The only way I can think of doing it is selective syncing most of my content with dropbox (most of photos/videos), ie. don't have the files syncing with the 512gb drive, just leave them on the dropbox servers. Then just having a copy on the external drive.....

Anyone else dealt successfully with this dilemma?
 
Tjmckay4 said:
I'm beginning to rethink the 512gb + external drive option and instead leaning towards the 2tb fusion.....

I just can't get my head around dealing with the 783gb (of which 629gb is photos and home videos) I have uploaded and synced with Dropbox.....

Dropbox can't be spread over drives (I don't want to deal with symlinks) and I don't want to put all the dropbox content onto an external as they don't recommend it. The only way I can think of doing it is selective syncing most of my content with dropbox (most of photos/videos), ie. don't have the files syncing with the 512gb drive, just leave them on the dropbox servers. Then just having a copy on the external drive.....

Anyone else dealt successfully with this dilemma?
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In your situation, I would just go for the 2TB Fusion and enjoy the workflow you're used to. You'll still benefit from fast speeds, not as fast as a standalone SSD, but storage is a problem. Even a 1TB SSD drive you'll probably run into that problem.
 
You can also get 256GB SSD and order a 1TB Samsung T3 (around 370$) . Just costs a little more than 512GB internal. Also this way you don't have any noisy spinning disks.
 
Quash said:
You can also get 256GB SSD and order a 1TB Samsung T3 (around 370$) . Just costs a little more than 512GB internal. Also this way you don't have any noisy spinning disks.
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Yeah, that is an option. Those Samsung drives are getting cheaper in Australia, although I don't know whether you can enable trim on them.

However, it doesn't solve the Dropbox issue.....
 
Quash said:
You can also get 256GB SSD and order a 1TB Samsung T3 (around 370$) . Just costs a little more than 512GB internal. Also this way you don't have any noisy spinning disks.
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Do the T3 drives support TRIM on Macs? I note that my UASP-enabled USB 3 enclosure with the Samsung 850 EVO does not support TRIM, so my SSD performance on the external drive decreased over time. At one point it had dropped to below 1 MB/s (!) on large transfers, so I had to let it sit there and garbage collect itself until the speed came back.

Not ideal, and you don't have to worry about these types of issues on internal SSDs in Macs. Furthermore, the internal SSD is several times faster.

So my recommendation is still to get the largest SSD you can afford, and then look to external storage after that.
 
Quash said:
You can also get 256GB SSD and order a 1TB Samsung T3 (around 370$) . Just costs a little more than 512GB internal. Also this way you don't have any noisy spinning disks.
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What about backups? For example, I already have a 2TB backup drive for my main system disk. If I go with your setup instead of the 1TB internal SSD I'm pondering, don't I have to get a second external SSD to back up the first external SSD? That wipes out any cost savings over buying Apple's somewhat overpriced internal 1TB SSD.

I'd be filling the SSD more than I'd like since I have a 520 GB iTunes library, but I think it will be ok since I'd be about 60% full in total.
 
randian said:
What about backups? For example, I already have a 2TB backup drive for my main system disk. If I go with your setup instead of the 1TB internal SSD I'm pondering, don't I have to get a second external SSD to back up the first external SSD? That wipes out any cost savings over buying Apple's somewhat overpriced internal 1TB SSD.

I'd be filling the SSD more than I'd like since I have a 520 GB iTunes library, but I think it will be ok since I'd be about 60% full in total.
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Not a perfect solution, but maybe Backblaze? off site back up.

In a crash, you can get a Hard Drive clone Fed Ex to you the next day. (this does not help as much if you are spread over multiple big HDs though i understand)
 
3-4 weeks shipping for the 512gb SSD BTO iMac 27"in Australia..... boo....

Should I go for the 256GB SSD?? Anyone done that and regretted it?

Also, base or mid? Much of a difference for day to day use?
 
Tjmckay4 said:
3-4 weeks shipping for the 512gb SSD BTO iMac 27"in Australia..... boo....

Should I go for the 256GB SSD?? Anyone done that and regretted it?

Also, base or mid? Much of a difference for day to day use?
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Probably base is fine, but I went for mid, just because.

512 GB size is 3-4 weeks shipping everywhere, not just Australia. They are severely constrained for that model. 256 GB is fine, as is 1 TB. Both are shipping in 3-5 days. Actually, my 1 TB order from Wednesday shipped yesterday, just two days later. One TB is what I wanted, so that works out.

I don't think very many people would want to get an iMac with 256 GB in 2017 though. I did on my laptop because it's a secondary machine that I don't keep much stuff on, and I know I don't need that much space on it, since I keep most of my big files elsewhere, like on my NAS or my iMac. 256 on my primary desktop would be very annoying. For you, if you're not sure, then I'd suggest 512, despite the long wait.
 
EugW said:
Probably base is fine, but I went for mid, just because.

256 on my primary desktop would be very annoying. For you, if you're not sure, then I'd suggest 512, despite the long wait.
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Yep, 512Gb is the one.... or should I get the 2tb fusion????.... Aarrrrhhh why didn't I order last week.... Grrrr..... First world problems.....
 
I also chose the base model with a 512 SSD upgrade. In a sealed machine like this I do not want a spinning, hot hard disk that is doomed to eventual failure. With USB 3 and C we have plenty of speed for iTunes and iPhoto libraries to be stored on cheap 3-4 TB external drives. We can back them up and replace them at will. Much better and more flexible solution in my opinion.

I had a 2011 i7 that was maxed out and had the old 256 SSD. I spent $3k US on that machine. This one was $2k. Even today it runs like a new machine in the store. Great video converting and not bad at counter-Strike either. But a dying logic board told me it was time to put a 5k beauty on my desk.

For browsing, email, office work, light game play, photo editing with Photos and some Handbrake transcoding, I think the i5 7500 and 570 GPU will be fine. $200 isn't a lot more for the 575 but I looked at the benchmarks and I just don't think the difference is ever going to be noticeable to me. So I took the $200 and bought a new USB C external drive to store my iTunes and photo libraries.

Works for me.
 
robertpetry said:
For browsing, email, office work, light game play, photo editing with Photos and some Handbrake transcoding, I think the i5 7500 and 570 GPU will be fine. $200 isn't a lot more for the 575 but I looked at the benchmarks and I just don't think the difference is ever going to be noticeable to me. So I took the $200 and bought a new USB C external drive
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Yeah, base I reckon. I will be doing similar activities but photo editing in lightroom and light 4k video editing in iMovie/Premiere. I'll use the savings for RAM as well as an external HD.
 
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Almost ready to pull the trigger on a 512gb 27" iMac. Anyone played a 4k 50/60fps movie file (like from the Panasonic GH5) on the base model without a drama?
 
Tjmckay4 said:
Almost ready to pull the trigger on a 512gb 27" iMac. Anyone played a 4k 50/60fps movie file (like from the Panasonic GH5) on the base model without a drama?
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If you’re using h.265 10-bit from the GH5, this will be a problem in Sierra.

High Sierra may work but it would depend upon the specific format of h.265 10-bit.
 
Tjmckay4 said:
Thanks EugW. Would the bump up to the mid model make any difference?
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No, because QuickTime in Sierra simply doesn’t support HEVC h.265 at all.

High Sierra (coming this fall) has hardware decode support for 4K 10-bit HEVC h.265 in QuickTime so any 2017 Mac (except the MacBook Air) can play it with low CPU usage but it depends on the specific flavour of HEVC h.265.

BTW, here is my MacBook High Sierra HEVC h.265 playback thread:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/4k-hevc-10-bit-on-the-2017-core-m3-macbook-is-gorgeous.2054232/

Do you know what codec your videos are in? According to online specs, 4K videos out of that camera are h.265 HEVC as of 2017 H2.
 
Tjmckay4 said:
The 4k videos at the moment are from my Samsung Galaxy S7 and Panasonic GX85 so I guess H264?
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You tell me.

If your Macbook can play 4k 60fps without problems in HS the base iMac should be fine then....
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My point was that in Sierra it doesn’t work at all, and in High Sierra it only works if the files are compatible. QuickTime can be picky with file specs.

High Sierra is not out until the fall.
 
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