27' iMac recommendations for Photo Editing

[30ftandrising]

Hey guys,

after rocking an 2009 iMac with a 2,8 i7 machine, 240GB SSD and 16GB RAM i think its finally
time to upgrade. I don't feel i have reached the frustrating limit of this guy but more and more
i feel myself lusting after fast I/O and smooth Adobe Lightroom experience.

My main usage is clearly editing and organising photos (RAW files from 24MP sensors and up).
However i plan on buying a 4K video camera so editing those files should be no problem as well.
I suppose all iMacs will be more then suitable but i have a hard time figuring out the ideal configuration
under budget constraints.

Wich configuration out of my three would you choose and why?

Config 1
3.5GHz i5 / Radeon 575 / 512GB SSD 2.299 $
Config 2
4.2GHz i7 / Radeon 575 / 256GB SSD 2.399 $
Config 3
3.8GHz i5 / Radeon 580 / 512GB SSD 2.499 $

Memory will be upgraded separately.

Config 2 is my favourite at the moment... i get the most processor horsepower out of the
three and i'm not paying for the high end videocard... i don't really see the use case for that
8GB video ram. Do i miss something? Regarding 4k videofiles, would you rather go with
more internal harddisk space? Personally i store most of my files at an external harddrive array
or on the NAS. I keep only files on the iMac on wich i´m currently working on.

Thanks for you input
Philipp

 

[Fishrrman]

Actually, I think you'd do "more than well enough" with Config 1 from above.
Use the money saved to buy additional external SSD storage...

 

[phrehdd]

I went to Apple's BYO of the 27"

I upgraded the default 3.8GHz quad-core 7th-generation Intel Core i5 processor model for the faster CPU (add $200)

• 4.2GHz quad-core 7th-generation Intel Core i7 processor, Turbo Boost up to 4.5GHz
• 8GB 2400MHz DDR4
• 2TB Fusion Drive
• Radeon Pro 580 with 8GB video memory
• Magic Mouse 2
• Magic Keyboard - US English

Price - 2499.00

I am unsure where you live but this would be the USA price on line from Apple. If this is correct, this matches your highest price and gives you the 4.2 i7 AND the GPU pro 580.

 

[HBOC]

I had a mid 2011 base iMac until summer 2016. I used that to edit D600 files. While it would slow down (beach ball), it was alright.

Then a year ago, i upgraded to the 2015 15" MBP (2.5 GHZ, 512SSD, 2 GB card) and wow, much quicker.
Personally i would opt for option one. The $200 could go towards 20 months of CC 2017.5

 

[phrehdd]

I had a mid 2011 base iMac until summer 2016. I used that to edit D600 files. While it would slow down (beach ball), it was alright.

Then a year ago, i upgraded to the 2015 15" MBP (2.5 GHZ, 512SSD, 2 GB card) and wow, much quicker.
Personally i would opt for option one. The $200 could go towards 20 months of CC 2017.5

Glad your 2015 MBP worked out well for you. I have the late 2015 with your specs and 16 gig of RAM. Depending on what I have open, it can work quite well for good size raw files. The catch is - the OP mention wanting to do some 4K video work. I am unsure our MBP is the best choice. My comment above about the BYO was based on the future need to do some 4K work.

 

[Samuelsan2001]

The 580 for the speediest 4K video editing otherwise it should be fine on any configuration with an ssd.