Anyone actually happy with their iMac 5K ?

[driftless]

Hi Rick,

You posted a reply to your video, which I watched, that stated it is a software issue. I don't think it is can't perform issue but like, Yosemite, there are bugs to work out. I haven't had the same problem as you. My iMac is similar although I have 32GB RAM and the 1TB SSD.

 

[WilliamG]

I am surprised that my iMac5k is performing so poorly as a dedicated video editing work station. I'm even more surprised that I have not seen any other complaints. Apple has sent me a replacement iMac and it is exactly the same - lame, with the corrupted fonts and all. I've posted a video to illustrate one of the issues:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=205P68V9M5g&spfreload=10

Corrupted fonts in FCPX.
Performance is choppy, sluggish and unimpressive for top of the line, custom configured iMac - iMac:
Retina 5K, 27 inch Late 2014
PROCESSOR: 4GHz Intel Core i7
MEMORY: 16GB 1600 MHz DDR3
GRAPHICS: AMD Radeon R9 M295X 4096MB

Perhaps, the 5k iMac may be great for photo editing but it is extremely deficient for video editing. Basically, it doesn't perform...maybe the video card cannot handle the 5K, or perhaps the CON-FUSION drive is bewildered, maybe a ton more RAM is needed...but my 2010 iMac i7 with 16g of RAM is as good or better for the job than this 2015 iMac 5k Retina - Very strange.

I've been on Apple's case about this, and as much as they are sympathetic, professional and courteous, I feel they are playing around with the issue and know full well this first-gen retina is not ready for prime time.

On a positive note, the actual 5K screen is quite nice, clear, crisp and impressive and the corrupted font issue seems to have since been resolved with an full erase and re-install, but the sluggish performance is not getting addressed.

I welcome any feedback and experiences anyone else has with the new Retina Thanks

I'm really surprised by the idea of asking for a replacement computer because one application has some font issues...

Sounds to me like the issue is just FCPX..

My 5K iMac (exact same spec as yours - but using a Thunderbolt SSD for OS drive) has been pretty great. I can't say I have any of your issues, and this is my primetime Mac.

 

[steve62388]

I am surprised that my iMac5k is performing so poorly as a dedicated video editing work station. I'm even more surprised that I have not seen any other complaints. Apple has sent me a replacement iMac and it is exactly the same - lame, with the corrupted fonts and all. I've posted a video to illustrate one of the issues:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=205P68V9M5g&spfreload=10

Corrupted fonts in FCPX.
Performance is choppy, sluggish and unimpressive for top of the line, custom configured iMac - iMac:
Retina 5K, 27 inch Late 2014
PROCESSOR: 4GHz Intel Core i7
MEMORY: 16GB 1600 MHz DDR3
GRAPHICS: AMD Radeon R9 M295X 4096MB

Perhaps, the 5k iMac may be great for photo editing but it is extremely deficient for video editing. Basically, it doesn't perform...maybe the video card cannot handle the 5K, or perhaps the CON-FUSION drive is bewildered, maybe a ton more RAM is needed...but my 2010 iMac i7 with 16g of RAM is as good or better for the job than this 2015 iMac 5k Retina - Very strange.

I've been on Apple's case about this, and as much as they are sympathetic, professional and courteous, I feel they are playing around with the issue and know full well this first-gen retina is not ready for prime time.

I watched your video.

Don't you think that looks like a a software issue in FCPX? That was my immediate reaction. I suppose it could be a driver issue too. That would explain why a replacement was never going to make a blind bit of difference.

Just out of curiosity if you force your 5k into 2560*1440 resolution does it change anything? This won't really prove anything one way or another but it could be an interesting exercise.

 

[Leobul41]

I purchased the 5k within minutes of the Apple event where it was announced back in October. I had been wanting to purchase a new 27" iMac and the rumor was that they were going to release a retina screen so I had been waiting for a few months. The presentation about the device looked so amazing and I was so excited that the rumors were true. I went with the upgraded 4.0 GHz i7 CPU, 4 GB graphics card, 3 TB Fusion Drive and 16 GB RAM. I don't use it for any professional work at all, but since I usually keep my computers for 5 years or so I always try to get more then what I need. It cost a LOT of money, so I was nervous.

It finally arrived after about a week. I have been using it for 3 solid months now and I am absolutely blown away with it. It is so amazing and completely silent except when I am doing video conversions or playing high end games I definitely hear the fan kick in, but even then it isn't loud, just noticeable.

I play extremely resource intense games and the 5k handles them flawlessly. I can't speak for an i5 CPU or one with the 2GB graphics card, but the i7 with 4GB graphics card is a gaming machine believe me. I even play a couple of PC games I own in Boot Camp and I get the same results. It handles them like a boss! (It seems there have been at least 2 graphics driver updates on the PC side for my graphics card already by the way)

I have had maybe 2 issues since I've had it. One was due to Safari not finding web pages when clicking on links and the other was the Mail application not synching with the gmail server. Both of these issues were due to Yosemite, not the 5k iMac.

I've read many of these post and I believe most of these complaints are due to user caused issues (lack of understanding, incorrect judgments, etc.), Yosemite or even flat out fabrications in some cases.

I like Yosemite, but it has not been a smooth transition for many no matter what computer they own. There has been issues. You can always trust that the Apple OS engineers will resolve most of the bugginess over time and Apple Care will resolve any hardware issues you have. There is absolutely no need to wait for a second generation 5k. IMHO Anybody that tells you that doesn't have the money to buy one for themselves and is just trying to justify why they don't have one.

Hi can tell me what game do you. Play and what resolution did you have chance update video card driver in boot camp

 

[thundersteele]

Yes I'm very happy with my 5k iMac. 256 GB SSD, M295X GPU, rest is stock. Use if for work, gaming, and general computer needs

 

[bigyenta]

iMac 5k retina reviews on Youtube worth watching

Thanks for your replies and thoughts. Yes indeed, first releases are sometimes something to be avoided. I came across TWO excellent iMac 5K retina reviews that should be of great interest to anyone having similar performance issues

Around 7:35 minutes, if you don't wish to view the entire review, which is excellent by the way:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sR1_FqBzhPU&spfreload=10


This i5 review is completely understandable and makes total sense:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQpUJQRK5CI&spfreload=10

For those of you with a new 5K iMac Retina - when the thrill of the beautiful 5k monitor subsides and get down to the practical performance needs, your return date will have passed and you will be feeling buyers remorse UNLESS Apple is able to address the performance issues in some sort of Yosemite OS update.
$5000.00 is lot of change to drop on 'sizzle' where there is no 'steak'.

In reply to your questions:
1. YES, EVERYTHING, all the trouble shooting suggestions have been tried, including screen resolution changes, erase, partition, reinstall.....performance wise, the bottom line is that the 5k is slow with video editing. I think that the FUSION drives are not suitable for video editing - the get CON-fused.

2. I will look into the graphics card firmware or driver update.

3. The replacement Retina 5k was identical in its issues to the first 5k.
FCPX font issues are software related, and were corrected but the performance issues are something else, hardware/software/ both who knows - but need to be addressed by Apple ASAP.

I am anxious to see if an internal SSD will solve performance issues. Will keep you posted on any developments, in the meantime any feedback and experience sharing is welcome.

 

[driftless]

Yeah, OK. Time to unfollow this thread and just enjoy my 5K iMac. It is a wonderful machine despite what those who do not own one say.

P.S. - after watching the two videos one reviewer just made a lot of assumptions. The reviewer had problems FCPX which is a software issue.

 

[steve62388]

For those of you with a new 5K iMac Retina - when the thrill of the beautiful 5k monitor subsides and get down to the practical performance needs, your return date will have passed and you will be feeling buyers remorse UNLESS Apple is able to address the performance issues in some sort of Yosemite OS update.
$5000.00 is lot of change to drop on 'sizzle' where there is no 'steak'.

You have worded that as if everyone is having problems and that's just not the case. I can tell you I don't so that immediately disproves your point. You should be saying something along the lines 'I had issues in my FCPX workflow' to add a little more balance.

There are quite a lot of reviews out there that have assessed FCPX performance, did you check up on those? A couple I quickly skim read seem to indicate it was all pretty good.

You sound angry and if the 5k has not met your expectations I can understand why. But just take a moment for a breath and if you look into it all a bit deeper you might be able to figure out what the problem is. Or just forget about it and return it but it's probably unfair to tar everybody with the same brush.

 

[driftless]

You sound angry and if the 5k has not met your expectations I can understand why. But just take a moment for a breath and if you look into it all a bit deeper you might be able to figure out what the problem is. Or just forget about it and return it but it's probably unfair to tar everybody with the same brush.

From his post, it does not sound like he actually owns a 5k iMac.

 

[senseless]

I have a base Retina iMac and use FCPX, not professionally. I had a late 2009 I7, which was very fast for it's day.

The new Retina I5 is a little faster than my old I7, all things equal. Adding more memory didn't do a whole lot I could see, but the internal fusion drive, external thunderbolt drive and USB3 has made a big difference. Exporting movies is much faster. It's also runs much cooler and quieter than my old iMac which I thought was going to melt down under load.

So, buy it for the display, but don't worry about it being too sluggish to enjoy. Yes, I am very happy with it.

 

[iMcLovin]

Anyone actually happy with their iMac 5K ?

I think everyone here still active in the imac forum is here either because they are unhappy with something or because they consider to buy a new iMac.

Im usually active here just before buying a new machine, then Im not reading the forums unless I have some problems - I just randomly popped in now.

Anyway, just for the record. I had a maxed out late 2012 imac (the first of the new flat design). Then I sold that one and bought the 5K iMac with 1tb SSD, 32gb ram and all the other glory. And, I never regretted it for a second. The machine runs silky smooth. Nearly all my programs have retina support (all the adobe programs, fcpX, etc etc, ) The performance is great, rendering time is noticeable better than my previous machine. I did a Motion 5 render test for Roberto ( he is a member here wanted to test the iMacs capabilities) Rendering time in Motion 5 was nearly as good as the mid range 8 core Mac Pro which cost almost twice as much, and motion 5 even supports multicore rendering....so thats rather impressive! Games works fine. If gaming is you main usage, buying macs are never a good deal. But I play some LoL and I get full 60fps with maxed out settings - that's of course not in 5K, no machine can handle 5K gaming and it's pointless. Adobe programs will probably perform 'better' on this machine than ANY of the Mac pro models, since they rely more on one core performance than multicore. And in addition to have a great and powerful machine I have the nicest screen on the market. And I seriously think it is the best screen you can find today in the normal consumer market. So unless you are unlucky with a model, something is broken, the iMac is exactly what you think it would be and more.... an expensive but very sexy machine and what most, even professionals, need of hardware power. Times are shifting and the Mac Pro is more is more and more for a very small custom market, mostly focused only on fcpx.

So, yeah! If you are planning to buy, I have absolutely nothing negative to say about the machine. But I would personally max it out as far as you can if you are going to work professionally on it.

 

[MacDanish]

I think everyone on these forums still active in the imac forum is here because they are unhappy with something or consider to buy a new iMac.

Im usually active here just before buying a new machine, then Im not reading the forums unless I have some problems.

ANyway, just for the record. I had a maxed out late 2012 imac (the first of the new flat design). Then I sold that one and bought the 5K iMac with 1tb SSD, 32gb ram and all the other glory I could stack it with. ANd, I never regretted for a second. The machine runs silky smooth. Nearly all my programs have retina support (all the adobe programs, fcpX, etc etc, ) THe performance is great, rendering time is notacibly better than my previous machine. I did a Motion 5 render test for Roberto ( he is a member here wanted to test the iMacs capabilities) Rendering time in Motion 5 was nearly as good as the mid range 8 core Mac Pro which cost twice as much, and motion 5 even supports motlicore rendering....so thats rather impressive. Adobe programs will probably perform better on this machine than ANY of the Mac pro models, since the rely more on one core performance than multicore. And in addition to have a great and powerful machine I have the nicest monitor on the market. And I seriously think it is the best screen you can find today in the normal consumer market. So unless you are unlucky with a model, something is broken, the iMac is exactly what you think it would be. and expensive but very sexy machine and what most even professionals need of hardware. Times are shifting and the Mac Pro is more is more and more for a very small custom market, mostly focused only on fcpx.

So, yeah! If you are planning to buy, I have absolutely nothing negative to say about the machine. But I would personally max it out as far as you can if you are going to work professionally on it.

Although I'm awaiting delivery of my new iMac 5K and surely can't comment on the user experience yet, I absolutely agree with you on your statement. You generally have two groups of people on the forum. One looking to solve a problem, often related to software some way or the other, and the other group are people wanting to buy a new Mac. I'm in the last group.

One of the best posts in this thread I think. Very well written !

 

[rosario1990]

My wife is using iMac 5K. And she's happy to use this.

 

[ErikGrim]

I have owned dozens of Macs going back to the Mac 512 and can honestly say this is the best Mac I have ever owned. Not a day goes by without me marvelling at the amazing screen (even after months) and the fact that Photoshop opens in less than two seconds (compared to a minute and two seconds at work).

It is so far the perfect Mac. Not a single issue.

 

[dan57]

Love this machine. I bought a base model about a month ago and added 16g of RAM. This is my first Mac after using PC's for 20+ years. I had a bit of a learning curve, but not too bad.

I am a photographer and editing photos using Lightroom and PS on this computer and with this screen is a pleasure.

 

[aevan]

Love this machine. I bought a base model about a month ago and added 16g of RAM. This is my first Mac after using PC's for 20+ years. I had a bit of a learning curve, but not too bad.

I am a photographer and editing photos using Lightroom and PS on this computer and with this screen is a pleasure.

Glad you're enjoying your iMac. I have the same configuration and am loving it immensely! It just gets better and better the more I use it.

BTW, since you're coming from a PC, how do you rate Lightroom performance in comparison to the Windows version?

 

[dan57]

Glad you're enjoying your iMac. I have the same configuration and am loving it immensely! It just gets better and better the more I use it.

BTW, since you're coming from a PC, how do you rate Lightroom performance in comparison to the Windows version?

I don't notice any difference in usage of Lightroom. I do notice how much faster it is on my new iMac Retina.

 

[kis]

Zero issues with mine, couldn't be happier!

 

[dgr]

I'm happy with my 5K iMac, came from a mid-2011 27" iMac. I mainly use it for photo editing and dual booting into Windows for gaming. The resolution increase does take a little getting use to when viewing photos. Zooming in 1:1 on a photo in LR is not the same view anymore because of the resolution so I zoom in 3:1 to get close.

I had one problem initially and that was trying to get Bootcamp to work. More specifically I wanted Windows to boot off my external SSD. I thought I just had to go through the bootcamp process and then use Winclone to copy Windows to my external drive. I couldn't even get Windows installed through the normal bootcamp process.

Reading through posts here help me figure it out and eventually I used imagex to image my external drive. Didn't even have to use bootcamp to make it work. All good now.

 

[siddhartha]

Mostly happy.

Still get occasional random reboots (and I checked my additional RAM-not the issue), and the computer on the whole seems more "finicky" than the 2011 model it replaced.

Mine's the i7, 295 version with 3TB fusion drive.

But it does what I want beautifully. I play games in bootcamp/steam, without any issue. Mostly Dark Souls/II these days.

Seems a bit more unhappy with my USB3 hub, and doesn't like things being unplugged without warning (including USB thumbdrives). Just a bit more unstable with these things, when the 2011 iMac (also an i7) didn't seem to care.

Screen is awesome! And the computer's fast, fast, fast.

Would have loved to get the 1TB SSD, but oh well. Maybe upgrade to that in the future when prices come down

 

[WilliamG]

Mostly happy.

Still get occasional random reboots (and I checked my additional RAM-not the issue), and the computer on the whole seems more "finicky" than the 2011 model it replaced.

Mine's the i7, 295 version with 3TB fusion drive.

But it does what I want beautifully. I play games in bootcamp/steam, without any issue. Mostly Dark Souls/II these days.

Seems a bit more unhappy with my USB3 hub, and doesn't like things being unplugged without warning (including USB thumbdrives). Just a bit more unstable with these things, when the 2011 iMac (also an i7) didn't seem to care.

Screen is awesome! And the computer's fast, fast, fast.

Would have loved to get the 1TB SSD, but oh well. Maybe upgrade to that in the future when prices come down

Random reboots are never, ever, ever acceptable. I still suspect your RAM is the issue. I recommend removing the RAM for a while and seeing if the issue persists. Sometimes even RAM tests won't even find bad RAM, if you've tried that.

 

[aevan]

Random reboots are never, ever, ever acceptable. I still suspect your RAM is the issue. I recommend removing the RAM for a while and seeing if the issue persists. Sometimes even RAM tests won't even find bad RAM, if you've tried that.

True, I had an issue with my iMac freezing during video playback because of RAM. There were no errors on it (I ran Memtest all night) - but it still caused my Mac to freeze. I replaced it and now it works fine. I was informed that while some RAM can be without errors, a slightly higher voltage might cause problems. New iMacs are picky, had no issues on my 2011 model.

 

[WilliamG]

True, I had an issue with my iMac freezing during video playback because of RAM. There were no errors on it (I ran Memtest all night) - but it still caused my Mac to freeze. I replaced it and now it works fine. I was informed that while some RAM can be without errors, a slightly higher voltage might cause problems. New iMacs are picky, had no issues on my 2011 model.

I'm not sure what you mean by new iMacs being... picky.

FYI, I'm using Corsair Vengeance 1.5v RAM - 32GB of it - which I moved from my 2012 27" iMac to my 5K iMac. No issues, and never any random reboots.

 

[Rud3Bwoy]

returned mine after numerous of bleed in issues,honestly i got it just for the screen,but not much difference outside of videos/photos etc happy i got my money back sticking to my late 2013 which i got not to long ago,ill wait for a refresh

 

[aevan]

I'm not sure what you mean by new iMacs being... picky.

FYI, I'm using Corsair Vengeance 1.5v RAM - 32GB of it - which I moved from my 2012 27" iMac to my 5K iMac. No issues, and never any random reboots.

Well, picky in the sense that some RAM just wont play well with them, even it meets all the specifications mentioned on the Apple memory upgrade page.

PC3-12800
Unbuffered
Nonparity
204-pin
1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM

As you see, they don't mention the voltage.

Since your RAM works fine, you should have no problems. Again, I'm just saying what I heard - that newer iMacs have smaller tolerances when it comes to RAM. It's not like I did lab testing to confirm it But speaking from my (limited) experience, it does seem to be at least partially true. At one time I put 3 different brands of RAM in my iMac 2011 and had 0 issues with it while a pair of identical Kingston RAM modules that meet Apple's official requirements caused videos to freeze. That's what I mean by 'picky' And, I heard it comes down to voltage - less issues to be had with 1.35V RAM than with 1.5V RAM. Again, if your setup works fine, no reason to worry.