Assistance: 27 Inch iMac Justifications for me?

Nauticbloo · Feb 16, 2015

Hey guys, new here and looking for some assistance. I currently have a MacBook Pro (15-inch, Mid 2010) and I am looking to get a 27 inch iMac. I have been doing as much reading and research on the two 27 inch models as I can, and can't come up with a direction to go. I looked through the latest few pages on the forum but did not find exactly what I want, it did fill in some blanks and gray areas though.

I spent the majority of my day on the computer - I work from home 4 out of 5 days a week, using the computer for 100% of my work. I enjoy playing computer games on the off time such as League of Legends, Borderlands and much much more. I understand the non-Retina is unlikely to receive a hardware refresh and is likely to be dropped altogether which is one of the reasons I am having such a hard time here, that and well... this is a good chunk of hard earned money.

I currently have a crap desktop that I use for all of the above: i3 CPU, 4GB Ram and a 1GB ATI 5770. The iMac I will be buying would have the i7 CPU and the upgraded graphics. I'm looking for some suggestions and input for finding the right one for me. I am having a hard time justifying the ~700 dollar difference between the two builds.

Retina iMac: $2,999.00, 4.0GHz i7 and the M295X
vs
Non-Retina iMac: $2,349.00, 3.5GHz i7 and the 780M

Based on all the research on the two devices I have done, the processing capabilities are not too far off and not ~$700 for sure. I am aware that the majority of the price difference comes from the 5K display but is that worth the price difference? Is it or would it be for you?

I'm looking for some suggestions and input from you guys about the two machines. I am seeing a lot of "heat issues" from the M295X etc. In the real world, what am I looking at here?

Thanks a ton, everyone!

Sources from my research:
Retina i7 M295X vs non-retina i7 780M head to head:
http://barefeats.com/imac5k6.html
M295X read:
http://www.notebookcheck.net/AMD-Radeon-R9-M295X.129043.0.html
780M read:
http://www.notebookcheck.net/NVIDIA-GeForce-GTX-780M.88993.0.html

Ulenspiegel · Feb 17, 2015

Well, it is not an easy decision. There are many aspects that determine the pros and cons.
You work a lot on your PC, as you have mentioned, so you have to consider seriously the well-known heating problem of the reitna iMac.
Personally, (and agreeing with you) I don't think that the difference of the two builds justifies 700 USD.

I would choose the Non-Retina iMac: $2,349.00, 3.5GHz i7 and the 780M build.

AppleFan360 · Feb 17, 2015

I used both of those machines in the same configuration. Both are great and will run just about anything you throw at them.

It really comes down to how badly you want the 5K screen. If cost is an issue, go for the non-5K iMac. You will love it and will serve you well. The only reason I got the 5K iMac is because I had a little extra money. If I didn't I would have stuck with my non-5K iMac.

Might want to consider budgeting for a Fusion drive or SSD only system. It makes a world of difference in speed.

driftless · Feb 17, 2015

Ulenspiegel said:
You work a lot on your PC, as you have mentioned, so you have to consider seriously the well-known heating problem of the reitna iMac.
Personally, (and agreeing with you) I don't think that the difference of the two builds justifies 700 USD.

The heating issue is overblown, read some of the posts from those of us who actually have the 5K w/ the 295 and love it. The costs difference between the iMac and the 5K iMac is not worth it for processing power. It is, however, well worth it for the 5K screen. Once you work with the 5K it will change the way you view other screens.

Steveatesh · Feb 17, 2015

OP, I believe that you have the answer in front of you, you said you spend all day in front of the computer, presumably with a variety of text and graphic based applications.

Although the conversation on this forum tends to focus on negatives of the riMac, much of which comes from people who don't actual have one, the main advantage of the rimac is not the processor or Gpu but the screen.

It makes work so so much easier with the ability to have several apps open and in view at the same time, all with crystal clear crisp text or graphics.

This was an unintended advantage for me ( I got it for photos but I also do work on it) and it has actually improved my workflow across a number of processes I do which I had never thought of when I bought it. In addition the screen makes it a joy to use.

For me you are looking at the riMac in the wrong way. You are not paying for a better screen but the improvement it brings you in every aspect of the rimacs use over ordinary computers. That improvement manifests itself in better productivity and pleasure in using it.

If you are committed to working the old fashioned way get the old style iMac. If however you are committed to getting the most out of your computer and freeing up time for the rest of your day to day life, go riMac.

driftless · Feb 17, 2015

+ 1. Well said.

Ulenspiegel · Feb 17, 2015

driftless said:
The heating issue is overblown

Because you say so?
(Check temp after 15 minutes of watching full screen youtube videos or during gaming, like World of Warcraft)

...read some of the posts from those of us who actually have the 5K w/ the 295...

You are not the only one who actually use an riMac on daily basis, though I don't doubt that your posts in this context might be an interesting read.

...who actually have the 5K w/ the 295 and love it...

It does not heat, because you love it. Fair enough.

AppleFan360 · Feb 17, 2015

Ulenspiegel said:
Because you say so?
(Check temp after 15 minutes of watching full screen youtube videos or during gaming, like World of Warcraft)

The thing is that he's right. The heating issue is overblown especially here on MacRumors. I have yet to hear anyone report that they have returned their iMac because it overheated and blew up. The throttling issue is also questionable. To this day I still also don't understand that for those who don't like how hot the 5K iMac gets, just return or sell the darn thing and wait for the next generation. No point in being obsessive compulsive about the whole situation and cry about it on MacRumors for months on end.

thundersteele · Feb 17, 2015

You should add the $200 for the fusion drive to the non-retina iMac price. Having at least partial SSD storage is very important in my opinion.

Now you are looking at a $500 difference. Apart from the screen, the differences are not too significant:
Slightly faster CPU/GPU on the retina model
Thunderbolt 2 on the retina model

Btw I went for the i5 model. For me gaming is the computationally most demanding task for my iMac, and it is GPU limited. Of course if you have other tasks that benefit more from hyper threading, the i7 might be better.

Nauticbloo · Feb 17, 2015

Thanks everyone for the information. After doing more research and reading what many of you had to say I am leaning towards the riMac. Tomorrow I'm going to go take a look at one at the store and see if I too will fall in love. I currently use two screen, a 1440x900 and a 1280x768 in order to manage my workflow properly. Mathematically and from what I have seen and what has been said I should be able to do and have much more open on the 5k than i can on my two screen together. That would be very useful.

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Assistance: 27 Inch iMac Justifications for me?

Nauticbloo

macrumors newbie

Ulenspiegel

macrumors 68040

AppleFan360

macrumors 68020

driftless

macrumors 65816

Steveatesh

macrumors regular