Which BTO 27" option would you drop?

27" $1999 base

BTO:
i7 - not very useful for day to day but for $200 it's an okie upgrade

1tb Fusion - temp solution, should provide good performance boost since the entire os will run off ssd

680mx - must have, best $150 you can ever spend on the imac

Applecare - brand new design, day 1 order, AIO nonremovable parts, and host of issues previous imacs had, and the $3000 price tag for the imac i want, this is a must.

DIY:
32GB memory upgrade - no brainer, 2 min easy job

External TB SSD or replace internal with SSD - both options will have to wait obviously, as currently all the ext thunderbolt ssd solutions are crap or very expensive. And we dont know if the internal hdd can be upgraded yet.

That's why I opted for the fusion drive, it may be throw away but for $200 and able to run the entire os on ssd i will use it as a temp solution.

Net net looking at around $3000 shipped not including ssd upgrade.

bat***t crazy..but i still want it.

Spiffious said:

Render times don't matter that much to me, I care much more about the machine feeling fast and responsive while working on projects.

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FOR SURE a fusion drive then. It will feel significantly faster and more zippy than without.

For the CPU vs GPU upgrade I honestly don't know, I hear when my friends talk about it that the i7 can make a big difference for rendering. I'm not sure though, so I would look at other posts for that.

I know that you should definitely get the fusion drive as one of the upgrades though .

I'd easily drop the 680MX. You don't need it for primarily 2D work in CS6.

However if you're playing a lot of games or if you're into 3D modeling the 680MX will make a big difference.

gagaliya said:

680mx - must have, best $150 you can ever spend on the imac

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Gaming?

thekev said:

The 27" is officially upgradable in terms of ram. You don't have to pay someone else to do it if you want to save money.

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I would already be paying them to install the SSD card. Assuming it is like the programs with previous imacs the memory install will cost the same (or almost the same) as buying it and shipping anyway.

Borrow the $200 from your uncle.

Wow there's some serious debate going on on this forum... Apple really priced everything very cleverly.
I would drop the i7. The reports of hyperthreading not bringing any significant advantage due to lack of support, and the $200 price difference for in so far as I can tell a not too significant speedboost make it not worth it.

Definitely keep the fusion drive unless there's a user upgradable option in the future. An SSD is the single biggest upgrade that can be done to a computer in terms of speed:$$$.

Then the graphics card, I would keep it for gaming and how software is increasingly relying on GPUs to acquire massive performance boosts.


So my breakdown is as follows:
(keep) fusion drive >> 2GB graphics >> i7 processor.