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2015 vs 2017 27" iMac

M

musiclvr

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 4, 2011
55
1
I've been wanting to upgrade from my 2011 iMac for awhile now. Was waiting for the announcement of the new iMacs. Now that they're out, I could probably get a good deal on a used 2015 version.

What do you think? Was the upgrade significant? Referring to the 27" 5K i7 SSD version.
 
musiclvr said:
I've been wanting to upgrade from my 2011 iMac for awhile now. Was waiting for the announcement of the new iMacs. Now that they're out, I could probably get a good deal on a used 2015 version.

What do you think? Was the upgrade significant? Referring to the 27" 5K i7 SSD version.
Click to expand...
It's a pretty good upgrade on the GPU, less significant on the CPU. I guess it depends how good of deal you get.
 
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I'm in the same boat. It's really just the screen and form factor that I'm after. Post prices as you find them please. Apple has not updated their refurbished and clearance page yet, but the discounts are usually slim.
 
I don't think you can make any type of solid decision until the real world reviews from users start coming out. You need to focus on thermal cooling differences from 2015 vs 2017 first and foremost. I'd wait at least a month before making any move.
 
I have a 2011 27" iMac. I think the 2015 retina screen will be an amazing improvement. I also think the 2015 SSD will blow the doors off of the 2011 drive, even if you have the SSD that shipped in that machine. If all you do is write email and surf the web there's likely to be less noticeable improvement.
 
dborod said:
I have a 2011 27" iMac. I think the 2015 retina screen will be an amazing improvement. I also think the 2015 SSD will blow the doors off of the 2011 drive, even if you have the SSD that shipped in that machine. If all you do is write email and surf the web there's likely to be less noticeable improvement.
Click to expand...

I went from a 2011 27" iMac to a 2015 27" i5 iMac. Great machine. Fast, quiet and best of all stays really cool. I have the 1TB SSD which is very fast. I purchased my iMac as a refurbished unit off the Apple site, saved about $150. Plan on keeping the machine for a while. No regrets.
 
Taz Mangus said:
I went from a 2011 27" iMac to a 2015 27" i5 iMac. Great machine. Fast, quiet and best of all stays really cool. I have the 1TB SSD which is very fast. I purchased my iMac as a refurbished unit off the Apple site, saved about $150. Plan on keeping the machine for a while. No regrets.
Click to expand...

I'm definitely going to be replacing my 2011 iMac with one of the new ones, but I haven't ordered one yet. I guess I'm waiting to see some benchmarks.
 
Apple store refurb prices on the Fall 2015 27" models have not moved since the new iMacs were announced. A $350 price difference for 2+ year old tech on a used machine is slightly absurd.
 
musiclvr said:
What do you think? Was the upgrade significant? Referring to the 27" 5K i7 SSD version.
Click to expand...

Much better GPU and SSD performance, better CPU and memory performance and a bit better (in terms of brightness) display.

At the moment, I am happy with my maxed-out 2015 iMac 5K, but if I was in the market for new, I would buy the 2017.
 
Let's revisit this now that the new models have been out for a bit...thoughts?
 
mikehalloran said:
Maybe. Without any other details, hard to know.

How many minutes left on AppleCare?
Click to expand...

It is under APP for another 1 yr 3 months. 16gb ram but downside is that it has only 1tb hdd storage. will need to explore how best to deploy SSD without voiding warranty
 
weedevil said:
It is under APP for another 1 yr 3 months. 16gb ram but downside is that it has only 1tb hdd storage. will need to explore how best to deploy SSD without voiding warranty
Click to expand...
Easy.

a)The only way to maintain AppleCare is to start from external and, when AppleCare is up, install inside. It's more expensive this way but AppleCare remains intact. An SSD in a Thunderbolt 2 dock is pretty fast but not as fast as...

b) Screw AppleCare and throw an SSD inside now. There are two busses: A PCIe 3x4 2TB SSD is $600 + Labor (an hour) and is roughly 6x faster than a SATA III SSD — 2TB is $350 for parts plus that same hour labor (250G – 4TB available). You can install both, actually as long as it's a 27" iMac.

Yes, 6TB SSD internal storage is possible — $1,400 for the parts and about one hour labor. BTW, if I found a 2015 i7 for $1,100 or so, this is what I would do, AppleCare or not.
 
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