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2012 vs 2014 iMAC - need input

I

icing2014

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 7, 2014
2
0
Hi everyone,

I need help in making my mind up in regards to getting my first iMac. I will be using it for graphic and web design, and minimal video editing (mainly family videos)

I have been going back and forth on refurbished vs new, and since this is my first iMac - all the specs and year when it was released making me dizzy :) the below specs are from the Apple store as of tonight 8/11/2014. I have the bottom final three choices and I would appreciate it if you could tell me why you would choose one over the other.

I was set on getting a Fusion drive over a regular one but now I'm thinking if that is necessary if I were to get a faster processor?

Thank you so much in advance.


OPTION 1:

Refurbished 27-inch iMac 3.4GHz quad-core Intel Core i7
Originally released October 2012
27-inch LED-backlit display with IPS technology
8GB memory
1TB Fusion Drive
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680MX with 2GB
Built-in FaceTime HD camera
Price: $1949

OPTION 2:

Refurbished 27-inch iMac 3.2GHz quad-core Intel Core i5
Originally released October 2012
27-inch LED-backlit display with IPS technology
16GB memory
1TB Fusion Drive
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 675MX with 1GB
Built-in FaceTime HD camera
Price: $1949

OPTION 3:

New iMac 27-inch iMac 3.5GHz quad-core Intel Core i7, turbo boost upto 3.9GHz
27-inch LED-backlit display with IPS technology
8GB memory
1TB Fusion Drive
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 775M with 2GB
Price: $2259 (educational discount price)
 
Option 1. The 680MX is faster than the 775M and the RAM can be upgraded by you using cheaper 3rd party RAM to 32GB. As noted, the hyperthreading of the i7 can be useful. You won't really notice the difference in speed between the older i7 and the newer one.
 
Note that option 3's fusion drive is PCIe based and is faster than option 1's. But the other video board may be slightly better.
 
Option 2. Then get a ssd and a thunderbolt enclosure for fusion like drive. There is one in the market place too that'll save you quite a bit as well. Also it's new and not refurb.
 
Option 1 is the best value of those.

The 680MX is still a pretty hefty GPU, and the RAM is a user upgrade that you can do cheaply yourself, so between the two refurb options it's a no brainer to pick between 1 and 2, which just leaves the decision between the new and the refurb.

In my opinion, the refurb with the 680MX is the better deal - you won't really notice much difference at all between the newer i7 and the one in the refurb, and the discount is pretty good.

Refurbs are also essentially "as new" machines from Apple - they have the same warranty and the same access to basic 1 year and 3 year apple care. They're a great way to get an excellent deal.
 
Option 1. 680MX great choice. Saves you some money over option 3, and really is the wisest choice of the three. I own this machine and do this kind of work on it. Amazing iMac to work on. Fast.
 
Option 2 doesn't make any sense to me - you're getting slower CPU then Option 1 in exchange for more RAM. But it's unlikely you really need 16GB of RAM, and if you ever do, it's easy to upgrade. So I say Option 2 is out.

Regardless of the SATA3 vs PCIe of the Fusion drive, it really isn't going to be particularly relevant to a Fusion drive since it's rather limited in performance to begin with because it's a... Fusion drive. I'd rather have a smaller SSD, but you haven't listed that as an option. SATA3-based SSDs are still insanely fast for normal users anyway.

From benchmarks I've seen, the GTX 775M vs the GTX 680MX has the 775M with a very marginal lead, but let's call it even.

Options 1 is refurbished, a year older, with a slightly slower CPU (let's say ~10%) but $300 savings compared to Option 3.

If money isn't tight, and it's like, "heck, what's another $300?, I want to treat myself to a new-new computer" - I say go for Option #3.

However, I'll assume it is, and the $300 difference is a lot of money to you, in which case, Option #1 is the way to go.
 
Option 1. But buy some more RAM to put in it. 8GB is pretty much nothing for working with video or larger Photoshop files.

I've got 2x4GB sticks that came out of that exact same model if you want to buy them. PM me if you're interested. (I bought third party RAM, so I have no use for them).
 
icing2014 said:
Hi everyone,

I need help in making my mind up in regards to getting my first iMac. I will be using it for graphic and web design, and minimal video editing (mainly family videos)

I have been going back and forth on refurbished vs new, and since this is my first iMac - all the specs and year when it was released making me dizzy :) the below specs are from the Apple store as of tonight 8/11/2014. I have the bottom final three choices and I would appreciate it if you could tell me why you would choose one over the other.

I was set on getting a Fusion drive over a regular one but now I'm thinking if that is necessary if I were to get a faster processor?

Thank you so much in advance.


OPTION 1:

Refurbished 27-inch iMac 3.4GHz quad-core Intel Core i7
Originally released October 2012
27-inch LED-backlit display with IPS technology
8GB memory
1TB Fusion Drive
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680MX with 2GB
Built-in FaceTime HD camera
Price: $1949

OPTION 2:

Refurbished 27-inch iMac 3.2GHz quad-core Intel Core i5
Originally released October 2012
27-inch LED-backlit display with IPS technology
16GB memory
1TB Fusion Drive
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 675MX with 1GB
Built-in FaceTime HD camera
Price: $1949

OPTION 3:

New iMac 27-inch iMac 3.5GHz quad-core Intel Core i7, turbo boost upto 3.9GHz
27-inch LED-backlit display with IPS technology
8GB memory
1TB Fusion Drive
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 775M with 2GB
Price: $2259 (educational discount price)
Click to expand...

Option 1. The 3.4GHz i7-3770 performs similarly to the 3.5GHz i7-4771.

The GTX680MX is also faster than both the GTX675MX and GTX775M.

8GB might be a bit short for your usage. I suggest upgrading to at least 16GB.
 
With the uses you stated, I'd go with option 3. It's newer, the Fusion drive is faster, and it sounds like you don't need the slight performance increase of the 680MX vs the 775M. Unless you're gaming, I'd go with option 3 over option 1.
 
a few years have passed since the last post on this thread bit I am still fairly new at this and am looking at an older iMac. Here are the stats:

iMac 27" All-in-One Display
3.4GHz Intel Quad Core i7 w/TurboBoost Speeds up to 3.9GHz
16GB of RAM - Dual Channel Memory
1TB Solid State Drive Storage
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 675MX Dedicated Graphics w/Dedicated VRAM
2K Display (2560x1440 Screen Resolution)
Two Thunderbolt 2 Ports
Four USB 3.0 Ports
SD Card Slot
3.5mm Audio Jack
Gigabit Ethernet Port, Bluetooth 4.2, WiFi
2012 Model Release Date Sold Through 2014 (Model Identifier 13,2)

Since it is now 2022 I was wondering id this would be a good machine for basic web surfing/shopping and non graphic heavy gaming. Any help would be appreciated.
 
hmcidc said:
a few years have passed since the last post on this thread bit I am still fairly new at this and am looking at an older iMac. Here are the stats:

iMac 27" All-in-One Display
3.4GHz Intel Quad Core i7 w/TurboBoost Speeds up to 3.9GHz
16GB of RAM - Dual Channel Memory
1TB Solid State Drive Storage
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 675MX Dedicated Graphics w/Dedicated VRAM
2K Display (2560x1440 Screen Resolution)
Two Thunderbolt 2 Ports
Four USB 3.0 Ports
SD Card Slot
3.5mm Audio Jack
Gigabit Ethernet Port, Bluetooth 4.2, WiFi
2012 Model Release Date Sold Through 2014 (Model Identifier 13,2)

Since it is now 2022 I was wondering id this would be a good machine for basic web surfing/shopping and non graphic heavy gaming. Any help would be appreciated.
Click to expand...
Are you sure it has 1TB SSD? This model apparently was not sold with 1TB SSD, but it may have been upgraded by someone.

Identify your iMac model - Apple Support

Use this information to find out which iMac you have, and where it fits in the history of iMac.
support.apple.com support.apple.com

If it is actually a 1TB HD or Fusion drive, that will reduce its performance, reliability and value significantly.

I don't have personal experience with this model, so otherwise cannot advise. When buying an "obsolete" iMac, the price needs to be really low to make sense. At some point it will no longer get security updates and you cannot upgrade the OS.
 
I concur with Wilber's analysis. That said: to directly answer the question about a 2012 iMac's current viability for the tasks you've described, I'd opine that -- assuming that is indeed an SSD in there -- it should be able to handle pretty much anything you could throw at it, short of current modern games.

My own 2012 iMac had to be demoted when the hard drive started to show signs of failure, so it is no longer my primary computer... but I swapped out that nearly dead HDD for an SSD a year or two ago, and the newly resurrected iMac still provides a great deal of value in my household, with the kids sometimes using it for gaming and my father-in-law sometimes using it to work remotely.

I've said it before, and I'll likely say it again and again... old Macs are awesome.
 
hmcidc said:
a few years have passed since the last post on this thread bit I am still fairly new at this and am looking at an older iMac. Here are the stats:

iMac 27" All-in-One Display
3.4GHz Intel Quad Core i7 w/TurboBoost Speeds up to 3.9GHz
16GB of RAM - Dual Channel Memory
1TB Solid State Drive Storage
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 675MX Dedicated Graphics w/Dedicated VRAM
2K Display (2560x1440 Screen Resolution)
Two Thunderbolt 2 Ports
Four USB 3.0 Ports
SD Card Slot
3.5mm Audio Jack
Gigabit Ethernet Port, Bluetooth 4.2, WiFi
2012 Model Release Date Sold Through 2014 (Model Identifier 13,2)

Since it is now 2022 I was wondering id this would be a good machine for basic web surfing/shopping and non graphic heavy gaming. Any help would be appreciated.
Click to expand...
Personally my main machine nowadays is a Late 2013 iMac 21.5-inch i7 3.1 GHz 16 GB GeForce GT 750M 1 GB 128GB PCIe SSD + 1 TB HDD and it works amazingly.
I could replace the original Apple 128 GB PCIe SSD with a more capacious and faster storage but the machine is already great.
The iMac you've linked is almost fast as mine so for your daily use is perfect.
Just choice a reliable seller and check the storage status (ask for a complete DriveDx report).
These machines are solid af.
 
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