Another What Should I do thread

[piltupso]

Its finally time to retire the Mac Pro 1,1. I am about to pull the trigger on a new 27" iMac and was considering upgrading the video card to the M395x but sticking with the i5 processor. My main concern is longevity of the machine. Through tinkering and upgrading I have been able to keep my Mac Pro useable for nearly 10 years. I don't expect to get anywhere the the life out the iMac as I can't really upgrade it like the older Mac Pro, a couple years back I upgraded the video card in the Mac Pro and it really gave the machine a new lease on life for quite awhile. Would the upgraded video card keep the iMac feeling current longer than upgrading the processor, what might be the best upgrade to consider?

I use the machine daily but I do not do any video work or anything else really taxing other than once and awhile and play a few middle of the road games for entertainment.

 

[maflynn]

Unless I missed it, you really don't say what your intended purposes for the iMac other then NOT doing any video work.

Its hard to recommend an i7 over an i5, or the M395 vs. the M395x without specifics.

 

[Samuelsan2001]

Best upgrade is 2tb fusion or a pure SSD to be honest, the 1tb fusion only has a 24gb SSD cache it's just not enough. The rest won't be much of an impact although the details of your usage are so vague as to be difficult to quantify. Remember the 5k iMac can take up to 64gb of RAM user installed. Don't do the iMac down though many people on here are still using iMacs from 2007 and 2008.

 

[piltupso]

I guess I could have been more specific.

The machine will be used for general browsing and email of course, as well as running a few spread sheets for a small side business. For entertainment the machine is used to play a few games and may become a Plex server. The Plex server however is not really an important factor as I am still exploring a couple possibilities for that set up. None of the games are cutting edge but they are probably the most taxing aspect of the regular machine usage. I can't say exactly which games as the titles played will likely change after the new machine arrives. On the old machine the games have been titles like Eve Online or World of Tanks and the like which I believe are not all that resource hungry in the overall scheme of things. On occasion the machine will be used for some work with Blender for 3-D graphics but this work is very occasional and purely at a hobby level. After some research and based on my experience with the Mac Pro it seemed like the more powerful GPU kept the machine feeling useable longer.

I believe the 27" is really much more machine than I "need" right now but I like to pay a little more up front and get a year or two more out of a machine rather than buying what I need now and upgrading in a couple of years. This is first all-in-one machine I have ever bought and I am struggling with the idea that the only thing I can change is the RAM. I Apple would make a machine users could open up and customize a little I would jump on it in a second.

 

[MadDane]

I believe the 27" is really much more machine than I "need" right now but I like to pay a little more up front and get a year or two more out of a machine rather than buying what I need now and upgrading in a couple of years.

I think you have answered your own question Go with whatever upgrades you can afford.

To elaborate a bit more: It sounds like you would be fine with even the base model (for now). So anything above that will just be extra power. Power that will come in handy in a number of years from now. Just remember to go for minimum the 2TB Fusion Drive, and even better would be pure SSD. That is the one component that will give you the greatest perceived performance improvement.