2017 or 2019 27”

[ratherbfishn]

Looking at new 2017 imac 27 3.8 i5 base configured on sale for $1699 ($600 off). Would that be a good way to go (plus 3rd party ram) or is a 2019 model a better idea?

I’d prefer a 512 ssd internal for speed, but it comes w the fusion drive. This might be the deal breaker for me since I saw the improvement internal ssd made on my old iMac.

Reading differing opinions about heat on 2017’s. Is this one of the hot, fan-on-all-the-time configurations?

Use: I don’t video edit. Family leaves a million web pages open on different browsers. We play with adobe stuff sometimes on photos. -Occasional hobbyist. Light user? Will need windows either boot camp or parallels, etc. New territory for us.

I keep iMacs as long as possible. My 2011 iMac is about toasted.

Deal or no deal? Recommendations/alternatives appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Zdigital2015]

Looking at new 2017 imac 27 3.8 i5 base configured on sale for $1699 ($600 off). Would that be a good way to go (plus 3rd party ram) or is a 2019 model a better idea?

I’d prefer a 512 ssd internal for speed, but it comes w the fusion drive. This might be the deal breaker for me since I saw the improvement internal ssd made on my old iMac.

Reading differing opinions about heat on 2017’s. Is this one of the hot, fan-on-all-the-time configurations?

Use: I don’t video edit. Family leaves a million web pages open on different browsers. We play with adobe stuff sometimes on photos. -Occasional hobbyist. Light user? Will need windows either boot camp or parallels, etc. New territory for us.

I keep iMacs as long as possible. My 2011 iMac is about toasted.

Deal or no deal? Recommendations/alternatives appreciated.

Thanks

2019...I keep looking at them because I love a good deal, but I cannot bring myself to spend any more money on just 4 cores in an age of 6-, 8- and soon 10-core (Comet Lake-S) desktop CPUs. Just me though. And Fusion is okay, but I want SSD in my next iMac.

 

[ratherbfishn]

Thanks Zdig. Another thought. The 1st thing to go on my previous two iMacs was the hard drive. I replaced them both, actually 2x on the 2011...replaced w/ a hd then a ssd. Three hd failures total. Seems this design isn’t DIY friendly, at least not in my hands.

 

[Zdigital2015]

Thanks Zdig. Another thought. The 1st thing to go on my previous two iMacs was the hard drive. I replaced them both, actually 2x on the 2011...replaced w/ a hd then a ssd. Three hd failures total. Seems this design isn’t DIY friendly, at least not in my hands.

The HDD in my Mid 2010 27" iMac is dying, I have to retrieve it and copy the data off of it that I can before it completely goes, nothing critical, just pictures and such. It started giving me issues in 2016, so 6 years isn't bad. The 2.5" HDD in my 2011 Mac mini is throwing up errors..I did find a SMART issue. So another six years and out...so that being said, my Late 2013 iMac has a 3TB Fusion that I keep hearing a hollow sound coming out of the hard drive, so I'm keeping up on backups and such, hopefully, it won't go, but 6 years seems about right. In which case I then have a decision...install a 2.5" SSD and swap a larger PCIe SSD or move to a 2019 iMac with SSD only.

No, the iMac is not DIY friendly...I wish they would give us a more accessible chassis, but Apple.

 

[Fishrrman]

If you do get the base model at a big discount, you can get "internal SSD speeds" from an EXTERNAL boot drive by buying a Samsung X5 (X5, NOT the t5), and setting it up to become the boot drive.

They are modestly expensive, however.

 

[propower]

Been running the 2017 i5 3.8 (with internal SSD) for 2+ years as a pro audio machine. Fantastic computer. Like said above - add an X5 512GB for $250 as a boot drive. $1699 is a very good price. Of course Hex cores can do more and the i9 way more. But value wise the 3.8 is a decent but at this price.