Break me off a piece of that Kit Kat Bar!
I'm planning to buy a maxed out 27" model. But I'm leaving the ram as low as possible. There's no way I'm paying the Apple prices for RAM.
Get with the times. IPS 27" monitors are very cheap nowadays. For example, AOC I2757FH costs just $270 at Best Buy.
Holy schnikes! $2,568 for the configuration I want without tax??? Plus I need to upgrade the ram later? WTF man I can have like two and a half really nice PC's for that.
Ugg... I'm rethinking my whole idea of switching to Apple.
how am I supposed to get the wife on board for a $3,000 desktop?
I'm dying over here
Get with the times. IPS 27" monitors are very cheap nowadays. For example, AOC I2757FH costs just $270 at Best Buy. It probably uses the same IPS panel as the iMacs (they all use the same LG panel). It's probably not as good as iMac's display but then iMac's display is not the best either. It's probably good enough for most people (not everyone edits photos for money).
GTX 680 ($450) + i5 ($180) + SSD ($300) + HDD (free) = about $950.
No they TIG weld the aluminum case shut after assemby is finished.
I made my decision
27 inch high end with 680MX and Fusion drive
Standard 8 GB RAM which I'll upgrade later with 3rd party reasonably priced RAM ( not paying those ridiculous apple prices for RAM)
I'm going to need a dvd burner and cd rom for work. Should I go with the superdrive? Is it worth the $? Or is there another option that will work fine with my new iMac?
thanks for the help
So RAM is not user upgradable on any model?
Call me old fashioned (I'm only 36), but I don't understand the need for a thinner, non-user upgradeable desktop system. Aside from the RAM, there is no way to upgrade the graphics, add PCIe cards, internal HDD/SSD's, etc. I realize general users may not need such requirements, however the advent of digital media has created a need for larger hard drives (hence the SSD boot and HDD combo's).
Additionally, I've been able to upgrade my 12-Core Mac Pro with USB 3, graphics cards, and other such upgrades thereby "future proofing" it to some extent. Businesses are realizing iMac's aren't the smartest decision; should it need repairs nothing can be done onsite - no replacing internal parts that a tower would allow. When AppleCare runs out after 3 years, you're SOL. At least a tower allows on-site IT repairs and upgrades.
Unless the iMac becomes more user/business friendly, this is a win for Apple; locking people into 3 year product cycles and Genius bar appointments for simple repairs. I know many claim this is a post-PC era, it may be a more mobile era as the mobile market increases however the desktop and power market has increased as well. If Apple abandons the Mac Pro, I could not do my work on an iMac.
So RAM is not user upgradable on any model?
I disagree. All of our employees have iMacs (save for a few who are mobile, and therefore have MacBook Pros, most users have the basic 21" model, and designers use the higher-end 27"), and they're a dream for the IT department (yours truly) to maintain and support: they rarely break; when they do, I get a part the next day; with the right tools, the most complex repair (MLB or LCD repair) can take ~1.5hrs; and save for the occasional Outlook problem, there are no software issues to deal with. The fact that they're so "un-upgradeable" is what, IMHO, makes them such a solid, reliable computer.
Still not happy about the cost of the higher-end options, though
What do you need more then 16 Gbs of ram for?
I shouldn't have to shell out $200 for a RAM upgrade just to future-proof myself. And $250 for the Fusion Drive upgrade? It only cost $30 to upgrade to a hybrid solution when I got my HP (includes 32GB of SSD using Intel's tech, which is no worse than Apple's solution IMO except for perhaps the fact that Apple gives a bit more SSD space - still not worth that price premium).
they're a dream for the IT department (yours truly) to maintain and support
I made my decision
27 inch high end with 680MX and Fusion drive
Standard 8 GB RAM which I'll upgrade later with 3rd party reasonably priced RAM ( not paying those ridiculous apple prices for RAM)