iMac 5k - comments please

BillN_33

BillN_33

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I may be getting one and would appreciate all comments, apart from get a PC or a SloshingTosh

If I upgrade the 8Gbte RAW with 16Gbte, (2 x 8Gbte), from MyMemory or similar, presumably as there are 4 slots I will end up with 24 Gbte

anyone upgraded the RAM

what do I need to connect my current iMac to it - i.e. what kind of cable
 
I was looking at them over the weekend and it looks a very nice screen - was a bit difficult to compare the retina screen to the normal screen as they were not next to one another - but I think i could see a difference with the retina screen...

The 27" has 4 slots which you can upgrade yourself (whereas the 21" doesn't) - from what I have been told, you should run the same size in all the ports, but I'm not 100% sure how true this is...

You could always sell the 2 memory sticks that comes with it and upgrade all 4 - someone could then upgrade their extra 2 ports for an additional 8GB and you'd get some money back ???
 
I reckon that it is a bargain at £2k

27" and 5k plus it's an iMac
 
I was under the impression Apple have stopped you being able to upgrade the ram yourself, could be wrong though. Someone did say that it's now soldered in? If that is the case, their prices have a very healthy mark up on them.
 
BillN_33 said:
I reckon that it is a bargain at £2k

27" and 5k plus it's an iMac
Click to expand...

And it comes with the fusion drive as well :)

My only real niggle, was it was still 8GB memory as the rest of the iMac range - I feel as the flagship version, it should come with 16GB - told the Apple guy this, fell on deaf ears :D
 
Livin The Dream said:
I was under the impression Apple have stopped you being able to upgrade the ram yourself, could be wrong though. Someone did say that it's now soldered in? If that is the case, their prices have a very healthy mark up on them.
Click to expand...

Hi Kris - yes for the 21", but the 27" still has user upgrade options...
 
an extra 16Gbte is £100 from Crucial

if they are soldering the RAM in that's just stupid
 
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BillN_33 said:
an extra 16Gbte is £100 from Crucial

if they are soldering the RAM in that's just stupid
Click to expand...
Soldered ram is on the MacBook Retina, MacBook Air & the Mac Mini now. iMacs are still just so-dimm modules still, and as above still via a user accessible slot on the 27" machines. You can upgrade the 21" too, but that involves removing the 21" LCD panel out of the front.

Yes you can mix the memory & add 16gb on top of the 8gb to get 24gb. Matched pairs on a stop watch are a smidgen faster, but more memory mismatched still beats less memory matched.

Cable, depends on what kind of iMac you've got currently, thunderbolt equipped then thunderbolt cable is fastest. If not then most likely Firewire 800 and a FW800 to Thunderbolt adapter. Both of these if you haven't got them are a £30 spend, so if this is a one off just for the migration then you can just use a 50p cat5 cable between them.
 
BillN_33 said:
an extra 16Gbte is £100 from Crucial

if they are soldering the RAM in that's just stupid
Click to expand...


Of course... Macs are stupid :)

I think the soldered RAM was just in the 23" iMac though wasn't it?
 
Small latch below the power socket opens the port to add additional memory in the 27"iMac
 
Thanks guys for all your comments
 
Grabbed a 27" 5K from John Lewis today - really nice bit of kit

cannot play with it for some time as I decided to run the "migration assistant" transferring all from my 2009 iMac ............. looks like a 15 hour wait!!!! ......... started at 18 hours went down to 10 hours now it is back at 17 hours

hope it works and I don'y have to rein put all the software serial numbers and passwords

Ethernet to Ethernet - no Thunderbolt on the 2009 model ..... presumably that is why it is slow
 
only 5hrs to go now before the migration assistant finishes
 
As other have said, theres not a problem upgrading the RAM on the 27" version, I got 32gig from Crucial and it was about half the price Apple was charging.

If purchasing try and talk yourself into upgrading the HD to an SSD, these are lighting fast at around 704mb per second read/write!

I also upgraded the GFX card, as theres one thing that can be said for Macs............they last a long time, I've had my Mac Mini for about eight years now and its still going strong!

Simon
 
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