27” spec advice

[ChrizON]

Hello everyone. I’m hoping someone with something of a better Mac knowledge/experience base than mine can advise me.

I’m thinking of getting a 27” iMac (maybe a MBP as an outside bet if anyone thinks that mat be a good option) but wondering as to which of the models available would offer the best performance.

I’m looking at the (at time of writing 21/08/18)

£1,945 model - 3.5GHz Processor 1TB Storage but bumped up to either the 256GB SSD (£2,039) or 512GB SSD (£2,219)

Vs

£2,249 model - 3.8GHz Processor 2TB Storage

My question would be what would be the best option for my usage case, the better GPU and CPU hamstrung a bit by the fusion drive, or the lower spec GPU and CPU but with the faster SSD.

In essence I will be doing a mixture of things.

Programming using the likes of Netbeans, IntelliJ and Xcode and editing photos from an SLR with Lightroom and video editing with mostly iMovie and a few other supporting applications.

Money is quite tight at the moment so I am Budget conscious that perhaps even both machines are overkill and the cheaper machine (still in the 27” line-up) would actually do. I am after all using a nearly 10yr old windows machine with a 4yr old GPU in it.

Any advice would be very gratefully received.

Thanks

 

[cb3]

My experience with the iMac: Get the SSD! 512GB and up. Best thing I ever did.

 

[chscag]

I agree. Purchase the model with a SSD, preferably large enough to meet your needs. Avoid the ones with a Fusion drive.

 

[ChrizON]

Hey,

Thanks very much guys. What you’re saying is kinda what I was thinking. I have a couple of big external hard drives so may have to save a few £ with the smaller SSD and then have to keep it relatively clear with mostly software and files ones finished on the external.... although the bigger SSD would be a dream!
I’m guessing the SSD will have a bigger impact than the others as the HDD would be like a bottleneck, ie the system will only be as fast as the slowest component in the chain.

 

[chscag]

One thing you might consider: The 2017 5K 27" iMac has two Thunderbolt 3/USB 3.1 ports in addition to the four USB 3.0 ports. Attaching a Thunderbolt drive to one of the Thunderbolt ports will be very fast. Of course Thunderbolt external hard drives are still rather expensive.

 

[ChrizON]

One thing you might consider: The 2017 5K 27" iMac has two Thunderbolt 3/USB 3.1 ports in addition to the four USB 3.0 ports. Attaching a Thunderbolt drive to one of the Thunderbolt ports will be very fast. Of course Thunderbolt external hard drives are still rather expensive.

Hey, thanks for the suggestion, much appreciated. I think as you say with them being expensive and me being in a price sensitive position at the moment that I might have to make do with my existing external HDDs. I think even the smaller SSD would do to put on files, work with them and then just save them to my existing drives and clearing the space again in the SDD would be good enough. But certainly I think now you’ve made me consider it that a thunderbolt drive will be an accessory to aim for in the not too distant.
Thanks again for the suggestion.

 

[theluggage]

But certainly I think now you’ve made me consider it that a thunderbolt drive will be an accessory to aim for in the not too distant.

Note that, for general use, the big speed improvement comes from having a SSD as the system disc where all the OS files, application files, temporary files, virtual memory files that are continually being accessed while you work get stored.
There are some other advantages to Thunderbolt - like TRIM support on SSDs - so if you were thinking of using the external drive as a system disc it might be worth going for a Thunderbolt SSD.

...otherwise USB 3 is more than fast enough to keep up with a single hard drive or most SSDs (especially if you get one that supports USB 3.1g2). For data storage, I wouldn't bother with Thunderbolt unless you need some super-fast RAID array or high-end PCIe SSD.

Also, with some of the smaller external hard drives that mention "Thunderbolt 3" in the blurb you have to read the specs carefully to make sure they really do use the Thunderbolt protocol (i.e. they use PCIe internally) and not USB 3.1 ("compatible with Thunderbolt 3").

 

[ChrizON]

Note that, for general use, the big speed improvement comes from having a SSD as the system disc where all the OS files, application files, temporary files, virtual memory files that are continually being accessed while you work get stored.
There are some other advantages to Thunderbolt - like TRIM support on SSDs - so if you were thinking of using the external drive as a system disc it might be worth going for a Thunderbolt SSD.

...otherwise USB 3 is more than fast enough to keep up with a single hard drive or most SSDs (especially if you get one that supports USB 3.1g2). For data storage, I wouldn't bother with Thunderbolt unless you need some super-fast RAID array or high-end PCIe SSD.

Also, with some of the smaller external hard drives that mention "Thunderbolt 3" in the blurb you have to read the specs carefully to make sure they really do use the Thunderbolt protocol (i.e. they use PCIe internally) and not USB 3.1 ("compatible with Thunderbolt 3").

Thanks for this clarification, as I said my workflow involves just doing everything on the SSD and then an external drive for archiving, so speed I guess really wouldn’t be that much of an issue. This the extra expense just to see if I like working whereby I manipulate files on the external drive might not be worth it.
[doublepost=1535031360][/doublepost]Just wanted to say a quick thanks to you all for your inputs. The information has been very valuable and much appreciated.

 

[ignatius345]

Hey, thanks for the suggestion, much appreciated. I think as you say with them being expensive and me being in a price sensitive position at the moment that I might have to make do with my existing external HDDs. I think even the smaller SSD would do to put on files, work with them and then just save them to my existing drives and clearing the space again in the SDD would be good enough. But certainly I think now you’ve made me consider it that a thunderbolt drive will be an accessory to aim for in the not too distant.
Thanks again for the suggestion.

If you're cool with managing files manually on external drives, sure, go with the SSD. But I will say this: I'm using the Fusion Drive and I like it a lot. I don't find myself waiting for stuff, and generally it's very very fast. The logic of the Fusion Drive is that it moves whatever files you use the most onto the SSD portion and runs them from there. So if you have a 2TB Fusion Drive, you have a 128 GB SSD with your most-used files on it. Your older and less-used stuff is right there too, stored on the HDD. People love to crap on Fusion Drives here, but for me, at the end of the day I have one single internal 2TB drive and in real-world usage -- graphic design work, some video and audio editing, plus regular old stuff like web and email -- it's very fast.

You do have to be careful to get the 2TB Fusion Drive, because the smaller ones have a much smaller SSD part. This is from Apple's site. Underlined emphasis mine:

Fusion Drive
Fusion Drive combines speedy SSD storage with a high-capacity hard drive. macOS intelligently manages what goes where, using the SSD storage for files you access frequently and keeping the rest of your digital life on the roomier hard drive. Over time, the system learns how you work, so it tailors management of Fusion Drive to work best for you. You can choose a Fusion Drive of up to 1TB on the 21.5-inch iMac and up to 3TB on the 27-inch iMac.

The 1TB Fusion Drive pairs a 1TB hard drive with 32GB of fast SSD — enough to store important macOS files and applications to ensure fast startup, near instant wake from sleep, and quick application launching, with room left over for your most frequently used files and apps. The 2TB and 3TB Fusion Drives pair a larger hard drive with 128GB of fast SSD storage, providing even more space for your most frequently used files. For the best performance, iMac systems with 32GB or more of memory should be configured with a 2TB or larger Fusion Drive or all-SSD storage.