5K iMac or rMBP

[BJB Productions]

Hi - I'm a photographer and do a lot of work in Lightroom. I purchased a 5K iMac back when it was released and ended up returning it due to disappointing light bleed and UI lag. Now I'm reconsidering. I'm getting married and I'm giving my fiancé my 2014 rMBP (which I have been using up until now).

When I make my purchasing decisions, I always weigh in what will have the best resalability (not sure if that's a word). I like to always make a decent profit selling my old machine. I tend to refresh somewhat after Apple Care expires.

Now that it's been a few months since release, there's some decent deals on 5K refurbs in the Apple store. However, I'm not sure if I may be better off just getting another 2014 rMBP and then selling that when a refreshed 5K is released. The rMBP gets the job done, it's a little slow but not unbearable. Or, I can get a 5K and when the refresh happens, I can decide whether it's worth updating or not. Any thoughts?

 

[yjchua95]

Hi - I'm a photographer and do a lot of work in Lightroom. I purchased a 5K iMac back when it was released and ended up returning it due to disappointing light bleed and UI lag. Now I'm reconsidering. I'm getting married and I'm giving my fiancé my 2014 rMBP (which I have been using up until now).

When I make my purchasing decisions, I always weigh in what will have the best resalability (not sure if that's a word). I like to always make a decent profit selling my old machine. I tend to refresh somewhat after Apple Care expires.

Now that it's been a few months since release, there's some decent deals on 5K refurbs in the Apple store. However, I'm not sure if I may be better off just getting another 2014 rMBP and then selling that when a refreshed 5K is released. The rMBP gets the job done, it's a little slow but not unbearable. Or, I can get a 5K and when the refresh happens, I can decide whether it's worth updating or not. Any thoughts?

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1870452/

As reported here, Lightroom 6 on the 5K iMac has reportedly gone through significant performance gains. So has the rMBP.

 

[brdeveloper]

Hi - I'm a photographer and do a lot of work in Lightroom. I purchased a 5K iMac back when it was released and ended up returning it due to disappointing light bleed and UI lag. Now I'm reconsidering. I'm getting married and I'm giving my fiancé my 2014 rMBP (which I have been using up until now).

When I make my purchasing decisions, I always weigh in what will have the best resalability (not sure if that's a word). I like to always make a decent profit selling my old machine. I tend to refresh somewhat after Apple Care expires.

Now that it's been a few months since release, there's some decent deals on 5K refurbs in the Apple store. However, I'm not sure if I may be better off just getting another 2014 rMBP and then selling that when a refreshed 5K is released. The rMBP gets the job done, it's a little slow but not unbearable. Or, I can get a 5K and when the refresh happens, I can decide whether it's worth updating or not. Any thoughts?

Perhaps another option would be getting a non-retina Eizo panel and a 13" rMBP. The best colors of the market, but you would lose some processing power from a 15" rMBP or a 5K iMac.

 

[fathergll]

When I make my purchasing decisions, I always weigh in what will have the best resalability (not sure if that's a word). I like to always make a decent profit selling my old machine. I tend to refresh somewhat after Apple Care expires.

Your best resale down the line is going to be a base model RiMac if you end up spending in the $2300 neighbor(including tax/shipping). A fully deck out custom Model is going approaching $4 grand is going to obviously lose more $ value down the road so there are a lot of factors at play.

Now that it's been a few months since release, there's some decent deals on 5K refurbs in the Apple store. However, I'm not sure if I may be better off just getting another 2014 rMBP and then selling that when a refreshed 5K is released. The rMBP gets the job done, it's a little slow but not unbearable. Or, I can get a 5K and when the refresh happens, I can decide whether it's worth updating or not. Any thoughts?

If lightbleed is an issue why would you want to go back to the iMac? You're probably better off going with a decent separate monitor as mentioned. Think about the amount the of money/time you're going to be spending by selling then reselling these computers in such quick turnarounds. Personally if something like a Mac Mini wasn't powerful for me i'd just get a Windows machine and separate monitor. You can do a Macbook Pro laptop into the monitor but if your not using the computer as a laptop it's a heck of a premium you are paying

 

[BJB Productions]

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I would just be getting the base 5k. When I need portability I can use my rMBP and she can use the 5k that day. Great point regarding paying a huge premium for laptop portability and less power; especially if it's just going to be sitting on a desk.

 

[BJB Productions]

Any other input?

 

[sakabaro]

Curious to see what you meant by light bleed?

I am in the same situation. 2012 rMBP 15", considering either buying a new 15" (The new macbook seems to be underpowered.) or going for a 5k iMac. (I am concerned by the GPU being not that good for gaming.)

I would advise anyway to wait for WWDC as they might upgrade the 15" line. (And I hope for new GPU on 5k iMac!)

 

[Melodeath]

Curious to see what you meant by light bleed?

I am in the same situation. 2012 rMBP 15", considering either buying a new 15" (The new macbook seems to be underpowered.) or going for a 5k iMac. (I am concerned by the GPU being not that good for gaming.)

I would advise anyway to wait for WWDC as they might upgrade the 15" line. (And I hope for new GPU on 5k iMac!)

I think the chance of Apple updating the 5k iMac at WWDC with a new GPU is 0%