1080p iMac: Get 16 GB RAM?

[EightyTwenty]

I’ve been running a PC with 4 GB of RAM for the past 7 years. I’d like the iMac to last *at least* the next 6 years. Will 8 GB be enough for that length of time? I have no worries about CPU and will be running external SSD.

Seems like 8 GB has been the entry-level standard for the past 5 years. Do you see 16 GB as entry-level anytime soon?

My use is very basic. I just want to be able to run updated versions of macOS smoothly for the life of the machine (6 years minimum).

Thanks.

 

[padams35]

Five years ago the entry level standard was [8GB+HDD or 4GB+SSD].
Today the entry level standard is [8GB + SSD or Fusion]. (The pure HDD option is now a bad joke.)

I expect it will be a couple more years before 16GB becomes the entry standard, but a 6+ year life is long enough that upgrading to 16GB now is probably a wise purchase.

 

[velocityg4]

Given the difficulty of upgrading the iMac. I'd get the RAM upgraded. Also get an SSD not HDD. Modern macOS is painfully slow on a HDD. Although with that you could always do a cheap external SSD. $70 will get you a decent SATA SSD and USB 3.1 Gen 2 Enclosure.

Even with basic tasks. Web page size has grown a lot in the last 4 years. 8GB RAM gets chewed up pretty quick. In 6 years I'd expect 8GB RAM to be as miserable as trying to use 4GB in a base Macbook Air from 2013.

 

[jerwin]

consider the base mac mini.

 

[EightyTwenty]

consider the base mac mini.

I am considering it, but I really like the 21.5" glossy screen of the iMac. If I could find a comparable monitor, I'd go the Mac Mini rout, but they are very hard to find. Even Dell no longer makes them (smallest size is 23 inches).

I had to replace my glossy with a matte and I hate it. Watching videos is not nearly as enjoyable on a matte screen, in my opinion.

I considered Mac Mini + LG 4k, but that's much more expensive than the iMac and the ultrafine has been sold out for 3 weeks on Apple's site so it might be discontinued soon.

 

[macduke]

I’d get 16GB to last longer. I’ve had 16GB since 2012 and am looking forward to more, but I’m a moderately higher end user.

 

[curmudgeonette]

FYI the 21.5” iMac is 4K, not 1080p.

The 21.5" iMac is available in two screen resolutions: 1920x1080 and 4096x2304

 

[EugW]

Don't get a 1080p iMac. Just don't.

 

[alien3dx]

You can get 1080p but must have 16 GB ram. With oddness price of latest from apple ..1080p it pretty useless compare to 4k price compare to last year price. Get 8th gen proc 4k with 16 GB ram and minimum 512 GB SSD . For the best just 256 gb ssd cum 2 tera platter but this part even apple cannot support it,

 

[Dezlboy]

I just ordered the I3 4K iMac. My needs are very minimal. Safari, mail, Office for Mac.

Only upgrade was from 8 GB to 16 GB RAM. (edited to correct number...Thanks EugW! ). Likely will never ever need 16GB, but since adding RAM isn't easy (no access door like the 27 inch), I upgraded for the "just in case" and "peace of mind" scenario.

Also changed to 256 SSD cause wanted SSD. Even 128 SSD would suffice, but not an option. (I don't consider this an upgrade, more like a trade.....)

Also considered the i3 Mini and a Dell 24 inch 4K monitor. Would have likely suited me fine, but finally decided the "all in one" form factor of the iMac won out. (don't recall if the Mini plus monitor was more expensive).

 

[EugW]

I just ordered the I3 4K iMac. My needs are very minimal. Safari, mail, Office for Mac.

Only upgrade was from 8 MB to 16 MB RAM. Likely will never ever need 16MB, but since adding RAM isn't easy (no access door like the 27 inch), I upgraded for the "just in case" and "peace of mind" scenario.

Also changed to 256 SSD cause wanted SSD. Even 128 SSD would suffice, but not an option. (I don't consider this an upgrade, more like a trade.....)

Also considered the i3 Mini and a Dell 24 inch 4K monitor. Would have likely suited me fine, but finally decided the "all in one" form factor of the iMac won out. (don't recall if the Mini plus monitor was more expensive).

So, in other words, you didn't just upgrade the RAM. In fact, the more important upgrade was the SSD.

BTW, I would hope you don't only have 16 MB RAM.

 

[macduke]

The 21.5" iMac is available in two screen resolutions: 1920x1080 and 4096x2304

I’m so sorry. They’re still selling that in 2019? What the hell. I guess I just never hear about anyone on here buying the lowest spec iMac 21.5”, never hear about it in the press, and have never looked at it on their site because I’ve only been interested in the 27”. Wow. Going to go wipe my comment now. Thanks for the info. I wonder if they leave this option for education or something? They used to have an edu iMac back in the day, not sure if it’s still around.

 

[Dezlboy]

So, in other words, you didn't just upgrade the RAM. In fact, the more important upgrade was the SSD.

BTW, I would hope you don't only have 16 MB RAM.

Hi EugW,

I didn't call the "switch" (there I go again!) from 1TB Harddrive to 256SSD an upgrade because the storage size was degraded in lieu of "less moving parts/duability." For those that need a lot of storage, they might call what I did a downgrade.

But, yes, agreed. The biggest upgrade (modification) was going with SSD.

And....it took me a second to catch your 16 MB comment! Yes, 16 GB!

 

[Trusteft]

Man, last time I had 16MB of RAM I think I had a Pentium class computer. Well, if you like it, that's all that matters.

 

[Dezlboy]

Man, last time I had 16MB of RAM I think I had a Pentium class computer. Well, if you like it, that's all that matters.

Yep....EugW caught my mistake! Make that 16GB RAM. FWIW: I just got rid of a laptop running Win95 with 64K or 128K....

 

[EightyTwenty]

Don't get a 1080p iMac. Just don't.

My current monitor is 19.5” 1600 x 900 = 94 PPI. iMac is 21.5” 1920 x 1080 = 102 PPI; significant upgrade from what I have now. I know 4K is way better, but it seems like overkill for me. I’ll go 4K on my next upgrade 6 years from now.

I used the 2011 21.5 iMac years ago and couldn’t believe how amazing video looked on it. I watched 720p UFC and it felt like I was looking through a window at the actual event. I found it to be an incredible display.

 

[jerwin]

I have owned 6 macs.

Powerbook 140: What killed it for me: black and white graphics-- at a time when greyscale would have made games playable
Powerbook 1400: What killed it for me: screen developed an annoying line down the center

iBook G3-500:What killed it for me: Could not suport a widescreen external display. Rage 128 graphics didn't accelerate quartz graphics.
Powermac G4-1.25: Stupidly bought this instead of the Powermac G5. Neverthelss, upgraded it to a 9600 graphics card, usb 2.0 to stave off obselecence-- (ipod, quartz extreme shaders) Almost maxed out the ram. Killed off by Tiger's incremental backups, which really called for a dual core machine
Imac 9,1: Much faster than the old powermac G4. The nVidia 9400 did see me through some enjoyable games. Upgrading the RAM allowed me to transcode video in the background-- though it still took hours and hours. (Having less ram resulted in constant swapping.) Made obsolete by a great many annoyances, including lack of any games support, need for a faster drive interface, Apple's change of font!
Retina Imac 2014: still going strong. Might be nice to have more cores (Optical Character Recognition is a daily task). H.265 support might be nice (though nicest of all would be 4K streaming from paid video services--something that isn't supported on any mac to date). Thunderbolt 3 might be nice. It's not really obsolete.

It's kind of difficult to predict how a machine will last into its third or fourth year. Best advice I can offer is "buy a midrange computer." A couple years from now, Apple's macos will probably support some sort of fancy database filesystem that assumes an SSD, and extra cores. Graphics will be designed around HiDPI. RAM consumption will be a linear growth, rather than an exponential one.

Either that, or macs will be dead, replaced by ARM machines.

 

[Trusteft]

Don't get a 1080p iMac. Just don't.

I never owned an iMac (well I do own a sunflower one, but it is not operational) and for my mac mini I have a 4K monitor, but for my Windows machines my main monitor is a 40 inch 1080p panel. It's fine and I use it at a monitor distance (about 70-80cm from my eyes). Considering how much worse Windows scaling is and I am doing just fine with it, I am sure someone would be fine with a 1080p 21 inch monitor.
(not even going to go about previous decades experience).
If someone wants a 1080p monitor, good for them.

 

[alien3dx]

My current monitor is 19.5” 1600 x 900 = 94 PPI. iMac is 21.5” 1920 x 1080 = 102 PPI; significant upgrade from what I have now. I know 4K is way better, but it seems like overkill for me. I’ll go 4K on my next upgrade 6 years from now.

I used the 2011 21.5 iMac years ago and couldn’t believe how amazing video looked on it. I watched 720p UFC and it felt like I was looking through a window at the actual event. I found it to be an incredible display.

i'm using 21.5 anyway... pretty big for me.