New iMac!

[Jimmy.apple.fan]

Hi....

Very first post after registering...... Need the forums help!!!

Am ready to order/purchase my very first IMac however am really not sure which one to go for!!

Will def order the 27inch with 1TB fusion drive however.... What is the best processor to go for....i5 or i7....?!?

Also what is the best Ram.... Start of with 8 or upgrade to 16?!?

Also do I get the better graphics card with 2gb Ram....

Also how easy is it to upgrade Ram after purchase as many people seem to state!?

My use will be the usual Internet/emails.... Light gaming.... Photo editing of kids pics & small video clips taken on IPhone!!..... Also want to download Kids DVD collection for apple sharing via iPad/apple TV in the house?!?

Confused as to what is necessary?

Any help/advice welcome.

 

[Serban]

in terms of graphic cards core speed is the most important and after that the vRam so for you no, you can stay with the default one. Ram can you upgrade yourself later very easy if you need it. And for your work the i5 it's ok

 

[DoFoT9]

Your requirements aren't very high.

Get the i5.
Get 16GB RAM stock.
Get the 1GB RAM GPU.

Enjoy!

 

[Ajay(UK)]

During my deliberations and discussions the most common "trend" I found was that Fusion makes a real noticable difference to the speed so that I would say is a must. As for RAM I have ordered another 16gb from the UK Crucial Website (£73 delivered) which arrived next day already for DIY fit when I eventually get mine. As for the processor I think we can all get wrapped up in the "max out the spec" philosophy and I am sure the i5 will be more than capable for most especially with its 1GB graphics although adding the 2GB gpu maybe worth a punt!

 

[leerichards1]

My requirements are on the lower end like yours, but considering I will likely have this computer for the next 4/5 years (as I did with my previous PC) I opted for the specification below. Perhaps I won't get the benefit of the higher-spec graphics card, but I felt it was worth paying a little extra now on the off-chance it will prove a wise investment further down the line.

i5 3.2 Ghz Processor
8GB RAM (3rd party upgrade to 16GB)
1TB Fusion Drive
2GB Graphics Card

Ordered day 1 so have had my machine since late December and I absolutely love everything about it.

 

[Norcal.]

Do NOT buy ram from apple. You are wasting your money. When you buy your iMac, get 8GB. Since you're getting the 27" you can manually install additional 3rd party RAM after you buy it.

 

[bflowers]

You will be fine with the base 8GB of RAM to start with. You can always upgrade the 27"'s RAM later, or buy it cheap from someone upgrading to 32 like I did. Don't pay the Apple tax for the RAM.

 

[jtrainor56]

My requirements were not earth shattering, I believe Lightroom and DAZ 3D are the most intensive applications I play around in. I do some gaming but most is through Steam.

With that said I went for the i7 with the 680MX video, 8 gig of ram that I upgraded my self to 24 gig and the 3TB fusion. In 2-3 years I didn't want to look back and regret I didn't go for it. Good lick in whatever you decide. ~ Joe.

 

[Jimmy.apple.fan]

Thanks for the tips!!

Summary!! Fusion is a no brainer.
i5 is more than acceptable.... Not sure what the real time difference would be between i5/i7 ?!?

The higher spec 2Gb Ram for graphics card may help for future value

Stay with standard 8gb RAM & upgrade in time... Only concern is how easy is it to install the RAM as dont enjoy the thought of messing & taking apart a brand new IMac machine!??

Thanks for everyone's opinion!! Exciting times

 

[Twimfy]

Thanks for the tips!!

Summary!! Fusion is a no brainer.
i5 is more than acceptable.... Not sure what the real time difference would be between i5/i7 ?!?

The higher spec 2Gb Ram for graphics card may help for future value

Stay with standard 8gb RAM & upgrade in time... Only concern is how easy is it to install the RAM as dont enjoy the thought of messing & taking apart a brand new IMac machine!??

Thanks for everyone's opinion!! Exciting times

Running a 2008 iMac on a 3Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo and 4GB of RAM.

I use my machine for way more intensive purposes than you plan to and it still chugs along nicely some 4-5 years after it was purchased.

So I see no point in you throwing money at something you don't necessarily need, the i5 will be more than enough.

Unless Apple start making some drastic changes to OS X an i5 machine will perform really well for your three year Apple care period.

As for the ram upgrade. On a 27" it's so simple a child could do it.

 

[mushroomtip]

Only concern is how easy is it to install the RAM as dont enjoy the thought of messing & taking apart a brand new IMac machine!??

Thanks for everyone's opinion!! Exciting times

here is a video . fast forward to the 1:00 minute mark

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uYzM9cwNas&sns=em

 

[Jimmy.apple.fan]

Thanks for advice & video..... Really didnt realise it was so simple or there was even a small little partition at the back! Clearly makes sense to start with the standard 8Gb RAM and upgrade later.

Also fusion clearly provides huge improvements and is a must on new IMacs for future value. Also everyone appears to agree with the better graphics card with 2GB Ram
Salty it's just the processor and i5/i7...... If, as the majority agree, there is very little real need for the i7 why do so many people purchase it ?!? Is it worthwhile for future proofing?!?

 

[mrmarts]

Hey guys I know its to early to call but is there any signs or rumours of apple upping the memory in their video cards in 2013.

 

[WhiteIphone5]

You will be fine with the base 8GB of RAM to start with. You can always upgrade the 27"'s RAM later, or buy it cheap from someone upgrading to 32 like I did. Don't pay the Apple tax for the RAM.

21.5 inch.doesn't allow RAM changing?

 

[bflowers]

21.5 inch.doesn't allow RAM changing?

No, for whatever reason, they designed it so that only the 27 inch iMac has user accessible RAM. The 21.5 only has 2 slots, both of which are filled with whatever you pay Apple to have installed at the time you buy the iMac. You can upgrade the 8 to 16 only if you are willing to take apart the machine. It is not like the old days of computer repair. See iFixit's guide.

http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Upgrading+iMac+Intel+21.5-Inch+EMC+2544+RAM+Memory/12218/1

 

[WhiteIphone5]

No, for whatever reason, they designed it so that only the 27 inch iMac has user accessible RAM. The 21.5 only has 2 slots, both of which are filled with whatever you pay Apple to have installed at the time you buy the iMac. You can upgrade the 8 to 16 only if you are willing to take apart the machine. It is not like the old days of computer repair. See iFixit's guide.

http://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Upgrading+iMac+Intel+21.5-Inch+EMC+2544+RAM+Memory/12218/1

is it possible to buy it without fusion and then add an SSD later then configure on terminal to make a fusion drive?
i dont understand how it works, if you order fusion drive, you get 128GB flash and 1TB drive right? then what if you just order the TB, is there like an empty space to where the SSD wouldve been?

 

[bflowers]

is it possible to buy it without fusion and then add an SSD later then configure on terminal to make a fusion drive?
i dont understand how it works, if you order fusion drive, you get 128GB flash and 1TB drive right? then what if you just order the TB, is there like an empty space to where the SSD wouldve been?

Yes, but again, it requires CUTTING open your brand new machine.

You can actually upgrade several things: RAM, Hard Drive, Solid State Drive, and apparently even the processor.

I recommend reading this thread, at least the first several pages.

If you buy the standard configuration, it will come with the slower 5400 RPM HDD. The 27" model gets a 7200 RPM drive. If you then want to add (not replace the HDD) a SSD, you have to use a blade style SSD. OWC carries them, as I suspect other sources do now too. You could also find one on ebay, as people will have taken them out of other Apple computers.

Once both drives are installed, it seems that the computer will auto detect the presence of both, and attempt to get you to let it create a Fusion Drive. If you are all backed up, you could simply let it do this, then restore your files to the new drive.

Again, check out the other thread, as one user cut his open very early, and details a lot of what he found.

 

[WhiteIphone5]

Yes, but again, it requires CUTTING open your brand new machine.

You can actually upgrade several things: RAM, Hard Drive, Solid State Drive, and apparently even the processor.

I recommend reading this thread, at least the first several pages.

If you buy the standard configuration, it will come with the slower 5400 RPM HDD. The 27" model gets a 7200 RPM drive. If you then want to add (not replace the HDD) a SSD, you have to use a blade style SSD. OWC carries them, as I suspect other sources do now too. You could also find one on ebay, as people will have taken them out of other Apple computers.

Once both drives are installed, it seems that the computer will auto detect the presence of both, and attempt to get you to let it create a Fusion Drive. If you are all backed up, you could simply let it do this, then restore your files to the new drive.

Again, check out the other thread, as one user cut his open very early, and details a lot of what he found.

ill definitely check it out, you mention if i add an SSD it would automatically detect and attemp to create it? then why are there tutorials of how to make one, im gonna take a guess and say because its a2012 imac that comes configured with fusion so it just detects and creates it right?

 

[bflowers]

ill definitely check it out, you mention if i add an SSD it would automatically detect and attemp to create it? then why are there tutorials of how to make one, im gonna take a guess and say because its a2012 imac that comes configured with fusion so it just detects and creates it right?

The new machines automatically try to make one. The tutorials should all center around forcing an older model to do it. It might be tied into the firmware.

Here is the pertinent post from R.OG from the other thread.

The blade ssd install went as planned, so i decided to boot into recovery with the 128gb samsung drive and Blade SSD. Thankfully disk utility did not try to fuse the two SSDs together. I swapped out the samsung SSD with the 3.5" 1tb and booted back into recovery and disk utility tried to fuse the two drives together to create a fusion drive. This is good news for those who what to run the imac with 2 SSDs, my ultimate goal is to install a 512GB Samsung ssd and a 256GB blade ssd.

 

[Fried Chicken]

I don't foresee needing a massive processor but I do foresee needing a massive graphics card.
I went with the GTX680MX but the i5 processor. The $200 wasn't worth it for the what I saw as minor speed bump and hyperthreading support.

I deliberated intensely on the fusion drive and decided against it. NAND prices will go down significantly, and so a year from now I could either put in an SSD stick from some future apple product or OWC.

Alternatively by a year from now I expect 2.5" SSDs to achieve 1TB capacities and have reached the full limit of SATA III, so I could just replace the HDD with an SSD in the iMac.
Someone argued that I would be having a slow iMac for most of its useful lifetime, however I plan on keeping the iMac at least 5 years, so one year of "only" having an HDD in a computer that is exponentially faster than the one I use now is a simple tradeoff.

 

[Jimmy.apple.fan]

thanks for advice.....

In smmary the graphics card higher spec 680 is def worth the extra however there is no real benefit of the i7 over the i5 and wont be for a number of years......

lastly then.....what is the main/key benefit as to why lots of people purchase the i7....??

Thanks

 

[Twimfy]

thanks for advice.....

In smmary the graphics card higher spec 680 is def worth the extra however there is no real benefit of the i7 over the i5 and wont be for a number of years......

lastly then.....what is the main/key benefit as to why lots of people purchase the i7....??

Thanks

Because they can, some people just like to have the best of everything.

In all seriousness though it's likely to be bought by people doing constant intense video encoding or studio work. From what you've mentioned though you probably won't see the benefits with the tasks you have in mind.

You really will not notice the difference.

My last machine was a i5 1.7Ghz 13" Macbook air and with the SSD apps opened so quickly I couldn't even fathom how they could be any faster.