I-Mac purchase advice

Phil-1

Phil-1

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Phil
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I'm thinking of replacing my old Dell PC with an IMac.

I have been looking at the

27-inch iMac with Retina 5K display
3.2GHz Processor
1TB Storage
  • 3.2GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 processor
  • Turbo Boost up to 3.6GHz
  • 8GB (two 4GB) memory, configurable up to 32GB
  • 1TB hard drive1
  • AMD Radeon R9 M380 with 2GB video memory
  • Retina 5K 5120x2880 P3 display
for £1,500

It will be used for general home stuff, Internet, games and editing with Photoshop/Lightroom CC
Those that use Mac computers can you tell me will this be ok for my needs or should I get more memory etc. Im already thinking of upgrading the hard drive to a solid state drive.

 
The Mac will be noticeably faster with the SSD although you will be down on storage, the hybrid drive is an alternative or you could just plug in an external hdd and be sorted.

With regards to RAM, don't order this with the Mac. It's much cheaper to buy and fit yourself (very easy too).
 
Can you increase the RAW on a 27' Retina 5K with aftermarket modules?

I thought that the RAW was "soldered in"
 
I don't know for sure, but it I've seen that Ram upgrades are available on the web for 27 Retina iMac, so it seems that it is possible to upgrade as per the non retina 27". The 21" versions have ram soldered in.
 
GeeJay57 said:
I don't know for sure, but it I've seen that Ram upgrades are available on the web for 27 Retina iMac, so it seems that it is possible to upgrade as per the non retina 27". The 21" versions have ram soldered in.
Click to expand...

I have a late 2014 Retina 27" with only 8GB which I would really like to upgrade now I am processing D810 RAW files, but I did not think that it was possible?
 
BillN_33 said:
I have a late 2014 Retina 27" with only 8GB which I would really like to upgrade now I am processing D810 RAW files, but I did not think that it was possible?
Click to expand...

Hi, yes you can upgrade the 27" iMac memory yourself - i was shown in the Apple store how to do it - on the rear ion the machine near the stand, there is a small cover, flick this open and lift the lever and there are your memory modules...:)

It's the 21" (currently) that are soldered in...
 
Phil-1 said:
I'm thinking of replacing my old Dell PC with an IMac.

I have been looking at the

27-inch iMac with Retina 5K display
3.2GHz Processor
1TB Storage
  • 3.2GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 processor
  • Turbo Boost up to 3.6GHz
  • 8GB (two 4GB) memory, configurable up to 32GB
  • 1TB hard drive1
  • AMD Radeon R9 M380 with 2GB video memory
  • Retina 5K 5120x2880 P3 display
for £1,500
Click to expand...


The 1TB fusion drive is an additional £80 over the standard 1TB HDD (brings price to £1529), the 256GB SSD (flash storage) is the £160 upgrade price - the 512GB is a large £400 upgrade.

Incidentally, if you didn't know, the new 1TB fusion drive is now only a 28GB flash drive, where as the 2TB is a 256GB flash drive (the 1TB used to be 256GB flash drive as well...)


I've been going through a similar dilemma over the 2TB fusion drive or free SSD upgrade - but I'm hoping they upgrade them in a couple of months and maybe offer the SSD as a standard fit and larger capacity...:confused::confused::confused:
 
BillN_33 said:
Thanks guys - I'll upgrade to 32gb
Click to expand...

From what the Apple guy showed me, it was extremely quick and simple to do...certainly something I'm going to do when I manage to get one...
 
Thanks for all the replies to my original post. I won't be getting anything for the next month or 2 as I'm due a bonus and think I will use that. Hopefully they might upgrade the spect to include the SSD.

@ andyred & Mark G
Thanks I will upgrade the Ram myself if it's as simple as just plugging new modules in.
When you say the 1TB fusion drive is now only a 28GB flash drive what does that mean? Is the storage size not 1TB?

Thanks Phil
 
Phil-1 said:
When you say the 1TB fusion drive is now only a 28GB flash drive what does that mean? Is the storage size not 1TB?
Click to expand...

Hi

Yes, it's a 1TB drive but also has a 28GB flash drive which the system moves files to / from depending on how much they're used (thats my understanding of how it works), whereas the 2TB fusion drive has a 256GB flash (which the 1TB used to do).

Personally, I'm hoping they increase / reduce the cost of the SSD as this is the way I'm thinking of going - can always plug in a large quick drive for the backup / storage of files - I think one person I was speaking with, has the SSD, works on the files / photos on this, once done and completed, then transfers them to an additional large capacity drive for storage - so has the benefit of the SSD speed for working on them etc and the large drive for the end storage...

Also, with the price of SSD's falling as is usual with tech stuff then it may not be tool long before a large SSD external drive is in expensive (and much quieter)...
 
andyred said:
The 1TB fusion drive is an additional £80 over the standard 1TB HDD (brings price to £1529), the 256GB SSD (flash storage) is the £160 upgrade price - the 512GB is a large £400 upgrade.

Incidentally, if you didn't know, the new 1TB fusion drive is now only a 28GB flash drive, where as the 2TB is a 256GB flash drive (the 1TB used to be 256GB flash drive as well...)


I've been going through a similar dilemma over the 2TB fusion drive or free SSD upgrade - but I'm hoping they upgrade them in a couple of months and maybe offer the SSD as a standard fit and larger capacity...:confused::confused::confused:
Click to expand...


Thought 1TB Fusion drive has 24GB of Flash Storage and 2TB & 3TB fusion drives has 128GB Flash Storage
 
andyred said:
Hi

Yes, it's a 1TB drive but also has a 28GB flash drive which the system moves files to / from depending on how much they're used (thats my understanding of how it works), whereas the 2TB fusion drive has a 256GB flash (which the 1TB used to do).

Personally, I'm hoping they increase / reduce the cost of the SSD as this is the way I'm thinking of going - can always plug in a large quick drive for the backup / storage of files - I think one person I was speaking with, has the SSD, works on the files / photos on this, once done and completed, then transfers them to an additional large capacity drive for storage - so has the benefit of the SSD speed for working on them etc and the large drive for the end storage...

Also, with the price of SSD's falling as is usual with tech stuff then it may not be tool long before a large SSD external drive is in expensive (and much quieter)...
Click to expand...


Thanks I understand now. Its like a buffer. I have several 1TB external drive that I use for storage so a 1TB internal drive it more than enough for what I need. :ty:
 
I have a late 2015 iMac 5K, I choose all of the upgrades apart from the RAM which I did myself and saved a fortune (i purchased 32GB with Corsair)

I went for the 1TB Flash drive and it is really fast, a lot faster than the standard SSD's you'd find in a PC. It is expensive though so not sure it it is a must if you are working on a budget.

I would say to get the GPU with 4GB though as that is really useful with 5K.
 
A lot of good advice here.
Its difficult to gauge how happy you will be with performance as its a personal thing to a degree.
A few years ago I moved from windows to a late 2012 iMac. The pc had a 2.5GHz dual core CPU which I'd overclocked to 3.2 (the difference in speed was very noticeable when performing edits in LR) and had a 7200RPM HD.
In those days I was using a 10MP camera.
But I felt it was too slow. When you drew a correction, it would take several seconds to show up on screen. When you moved from one image to another, it took several seconds. If the image you were moving to already had corrections applied to it, it would take several more seconds to load.

The iMac, I purchased was a 27" screen 8GB ram (which I upgraded via crucial by adding another 2x 8GB sticks), 3.4GHz i7, 2GB GTX680MX, 1TB Fusion
I now use a 36 MP d810 with 50MB raw files.

The difference:
despite only a 200MHz difference in clock speed of the CPU, the i7 flies through the processing with no lag. I batch export in 4 synchronous lots to get all the cores working on exporting files.
Moving from one shot to the next is much better. The fusion drive makes a difference in that regard. When I offload images to an external WD 1TB black HD via UASP USB3 and work on them there, it does take time to move between images again. You get a provisional rendering in lightroom which you can work on, but takes several seconds longer to load up the image in full detail. Rendering import options will impact upon this.

The comments on the flash storage side of the Fusion drives above are particularly interesting, making any decision directed to only the 2-3TB fusion drives or an SSD

Overall, incredibly happy with the move to mac and this spec of machine.
 
For me, if you are going for a Fusion drive it makes no sense to get the 1TB version, you'd be better off with the smaller SSD and using external storage IMHO.

I have a 2015 27" retina (I upgraded my own RAM by the way, very easy) with a 3TB Fusion and it works great for all my applications, everything starts very quickly. With the 1TB fusion drive there wouldn't be enough storage to keep all of my applications in the SSD part and would feel slower.
 
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