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Which iMac should I buy?

Z

Zeviet

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 9, 2009
14
0
Hey,

I've been working on an outdated Macbook Pro, looking to upgrade to an iMac.
I'm a videographer, looking to edit 4K, work on After Effects, Photoshop, Lightroom. Look for an iMac that would do the job, (obviously the iMac Pro can, but looking to spend less).

Thanks in advance
 
how much did you want to spend on it and what kind of specs do you need? the pro goes on sale sometimes.
 
around $2000. Honestly, not sure what specs are needed for 4K editing. Quick research came up with this result for a good iMac for video editing - 27in iMac with Retina 5K Display.
Anyone think that the iMac is an overkill? It's also a bit out of budget, but is it worth going for it over the iMac retina display?
 
4k video is really demanding if you want to have realtime playback, i don't edit video so i can't tell you exactly what you'll need. i'm pretty sure you will need a lot of ram though, at least 64gigs of it. also a really powerful multi-core cpu.
 
Zeviet said:
around $2000. Honestly, not sure what specs are needed for 4K editing. Quick research came up with this result for a good iMac for video editing - 27in iMac with Retina 5K Display.
Anyone think that the iMac is an overkill? It's also a bit out of budget, but is it worth going for it over the iMac retina display?
Click to expand...
If you want to stay under budget take a look at the refurbished store. They are 15% off which should bring the 27in under $2000.

What I suggest you do is get the refurb 27 5k but wait for one with an SSD 256 or 512, not more because the 1TB are too expensive. If you see a mid range one with the better CPU and GPU and can afford it go for it, if not the base one should be fine. Don’t pay extra for RAM, the 27 comes with user upgradable RAM and it’s a lot cheaper to add your own after.

I don’t edit videos but the iMac seems to be the recommended Mac for the job if you don’t need portability. In fact it’s currently the only decent Mac desktop, along with the iMac Pro.

If you don’t need to buy one right now I think you should wait, they are due for a refresh and could receive the new 6 core CPUs which would be a good upgrade for video. Nobody knows when they’ll be refreshed though, it could be today, it could be in October(more likely) or it could take longer....
 
Any of the 27” models will do the job, and as you go up the spec scale things will get even better. You would probably see a benefit from the i7 processor over the i5, especially with After Effects and its ilk, so might be worth trying to find a deal on a model that has an i7 installed. Refurb store as mentioned above is a good idea.

I would suggest having at least 16GB of RAM, but doubt you would see big returns from a substantially bigger pile of it beyond that. At any rate, you don’t need to pay Apple’s RAM fees up front with the 27” models, as they easily let you add in more later.

If you’re working with video, you’ll want an external storage drive with massive capacity. File size adds up *really* fast with 4K video especially; having an SSD for that job is very nice, but not as important as raw amounts of storage space. Look at your budget and judge accordingly.

Hope this helps!
 
You'll probably want an i7, but it's going to cost more than $2,000.

Compromise choice:
Get the "mid-level" iMac. It has a better CPU than entry-level (7600 instead of 7500) and better graphics.
I'd suggest a "straight SSD" (special order through build-to-order) instead of a fusion drive.
Even if the SSD is only, say, 512gb (adds $300 to cost), it will give you that "extra boost of speed" needed for the increased disk ins/outs you may see with 4k.

You'll need to plug in external storage, as well.
Something with USB3, perhaps an external SSD (for project storage).
 
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ArmouredBear said:
Newer iMacs should be out before the end of the year so best to wait a bit if you can.
Click to expand...
Agreed. If you have a functional Mac, don't buy anything until the new models come out. The new iMacs should be a pretty big jump over last year's models. Basically you'll be able to get an i5 with the performance of a 2017 i7, but one that runs quietly (unlike the i7 in some scenarios), and at the pricing of the i5.

I predict the new iMacs will be out by October.
 
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Agree with what a few others have said. If you can hold out for a bit (no saying how long, probably by this fall though) the new models should make it worth your while as Apple will most likely upgrade the Mac lineup with 8th gen (Coffee Lake) Intel Core chips which should mean a move from 4 core to 6 core processors on the 27" iMacs, which will will definitely help with your use case.
 
I'm a big fan of buying from the refurbished store, so waiting for a 2018 iMac for me means waiting until probably next year. If you don't want to wait that long the machine you want is available today in the refurbished store for $1949 (just under budget). It's the 27" 3.8 GHz quad core with 2 TB fusion drive and Radeon Pro 580 with 8 GB of ram! An internal SSD is preferable, but they cost a lot more money. The 2TB fusion drive has a built in 128 GB SSD and a 2TB Hard Drive. I do lots of video editing (no 4K, but lots of 1080) and the 2TB fusion drive in my 2015 iMac works great. I use external SSDs as my scratch disks and I don't notice any slowdowns.

This model does ship with only 8GB of ram, but upgrading the ram in these computers is super easy and also very affordable.
 
Fishrrman said:
You'll probably want an i7, but it's going to cost more than $2,000.

Compromise choice:
Get the "mid-level" iMac. It has a better CPU than entry-level (7600 instead of 7500) and better graphics.
I'd suggest a "straight SSD" (special order through build-to-order) instead of a fusion drive.
Even if the SSD is only, say, 512gb (adds $300 to cost), it will give you that "extra boost of speed" needed for the increased disk ins/outs you may see with 4k.

You'll need to plug in external storage, as well.
Something with USB3, perhaps an external SSD (for project storage).
Click to expand...

Thanks for the help, I am looking at this iMac, thoughts?

Apple 27" iMac Retina 5K
4.2GHz i7,
8GB RAM,
512GB SSD,
Radeon Pro 580 8GB
 
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Thanks for the replies, from what I've researched, seems like iMacs might be announced this summer?
 
I'd wait as well. There are some nice improvements to the new Intel chips. Hopefully the wait won't be too long.
 
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Zeviet said:
Thanks for the replies, from what I've researched, seems like iMacs might be announced this summer?
Click to expand...
No amount of research will tell you when the new iMacs are coming because no one knows, we can only guess. Hopefully it’ll be this summer or at the very least October. I’d like to see some kind of leak to know when to expect them.
 
Glmnet1 said:
No amount of research will tell you when the new iMacs are coming because no one knows, we can only guess. Hopefully it’ll be this summer or at the very least October. I’d like to see some kind of leak to know when to expect them.
Click to expand...

If you need a new iMac now, buy one. Any iMac you get will be a year old a year later, and you'll be back here reading about the next wishes for the latest and greatest. If you can wait, then wait. I went through the same decision-making process, decided to buy (I was using a decade old 2007), and for the last three months it's been a pleasure to sit down at my new iMac.
 
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