Build-to-Order Pricing for New iMac Models Revealed

[slffl]

Hell ya!! I'm going to be maxing the 27" out! Can't wait!

[longofest]

Originally Posted by Antares

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.

At least the RAM in the 27" model is user upgradable - as all RAM should be.

[mslide]

Originally Posted by lilo777

Get with the times. IPS 27" monitors are very cheap nowadays. For example, AOC I2757FH costs just $270 at Best Buy.

Now compare that with a 27" panel that is the same resolution as the 27" iMac. Big price difference.

[brianc34]

Originally Posted by jdegid

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

It's pretty simple. Buy last years iMac for under 800 now. Add all the ram you want, up to 32gb for about 100 bucks. Keep it for 4-5 years and sell it for 300 then. 500 bucks for 4 quality years of a desktop without any future upgrades. Tell me what PC you can buy for that.

[Foxer]

I hope they're in the local Apple Store Friday so I can get a first hand glimpse before I order. I want to see if this new display is all they claim.

[longofest]

Originally Posted by lilo777

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.

A 128GB SSD now-adays is about $100 at retail, not $300.

https://www.google.com/search?q=128g...w=1569&bih=894

[JHankwitz]

Looks like I'll be able to get a fully loaded top of the line 27" iMac with well over 10 times the processing speed and power for less than 1/3 the cost of my old Mac II fx. Not only that, but it will weigh far less than the 85 lb. 20" $2,600 color monitor I had to use with it. Merry Christmas to me!

[Isengardtom]

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)

[Verenom]

Originally Posted by foodog

No they TIG weld the aluminum case shut after assemby is finished.

So RAM is not user upgradable on any model?

[bedifferent]

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.

[Evil Wayzz]

So excited! I am going to attempt sell my existing 27inch late 09, i7 Imac with 16 gb of ram for $1300 and then hopefully have a small balence left for a new 27inch i7 iMac!

[MightyWhite]

I am happy.

I planned to get the top end 27" for £1,699 + fusion £200 now the 680 2gb gpu is only £100... Sold

Nice round 2k... More than I planned or ever thought I would spend on a pc but it should be awesome

Will pick up another 8gb ram from crucial for £31 and I'm done....

[JHankwitz]

Originally Posted by Isengardtom

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)

The added time & effort you'll need to upgrade later, in addition to all the problems you'll have with the substitute memory, it's well worth the added cost now. Trust me, I've been there, done that.

[JackLeBoul]

If you need to have more 8GB RAM, decent video card, a machine that needs to be upgraded so that it lasts more than 5 years - buy a used MacPro.

Honestly, the concept of the iMac was mostly for folks you wanted a laptop with a big screen. I would say until iMac 12,1 (mid 2011) all internal parts were in fact laptop parts, you just got a big screen with it.

Now that you are not able to upgrade anything except for ram (27-inch) what you have is a large MacBook Air.

For 3'000 bucks, you can get a great used MacPro, buy top line 500GB SSD, 32GB RAM and a decent screen which will outperform the latest iMac.

[unplugme71]

Thinness is cool. Lighter weight is better! Ever have to carry a 27" iMac to the Apple Store for repair? OMG!

[Mike Valmike]

Originally Posted by Robdon771

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

Just use any external USB burner. LG and Samsung offer blu-ray/DVD combo burners that will read or write anything for less than $100. OS X handles them fine, other than not having native BR movie playback. (You can rip it and watch the resulting file, you just can't watch the disc raw)

[kitsunestudios]

Originally Posted by Verenom

So RAM is not user upgradable on any model?

User upgradable on the 27", not the 21".

[Phx08]

Maxed 27" here I CUM...come*...come*....sorry

[juliazo]

Originally Posted by bedifferent

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.

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

[Jbach67]

Originally Posted by Verenom

So RAM is not user upgradable on any model?

I may be wrong, but I recall something about the ram being use upgradable in the 27 in models. And that would be the way to go.

[turtlez]

ah crap. I had a feeling the prices this time round would be enough to make me switch back to PC. Given the way os x is going though it does make it a lot easier to switch in that regard too. Sad day for me

[mattopotamus]

Originally Posted by juliazo

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

good point, plus being a business customer for apple you are really taken care of.

[dashiel]

Originally Posted by waloshin

What do you need more then 16 Gbs of ram for?

Photoshop eats RAM like Skittles, more true than ever after it went 64bit, it will use every scrap of memory you have now.

Originally Posted by longofest

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).

Totally different technology. Intel is a caching solution, Apple’s is a tiering solution, something you don’t typically find outside of enterprise level solutions.

[mslide]

Originally Posted by juliazo

they're a dream for the IT department (yours truly) to maintain and support

Could you please have a talk with the IT manager of the company I work for

[Jbach67]

Originally Posted by Isengardtom

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 right there with you. Are you going with stock hi end processor or did you mean to max that out too?