Base model

[TripleMoxy]

Lots of the reviews seem to cover upgraded models, so I'm curious what experiences people are having with the base models now that they've been out for a short time.

I'm thinking of getting one this afternoon

 

[5iMacs]

There's some great anecdotal reports all over this forum, just look around, but if you're into benchmarks this page is great:

http://www.barefeats.com/imac5k6.html

Obviously the biggest misrepresentations you'll find in the forums are around how unacceptably 'slow' and 'outdated' the M290X GPU is, the benchmarks add some good perspective

It's always a personal decision whether to take a fast machine even faster for an additional $500. Just don't do it for the sake of the "future", since both versions will be slow in comparison with entry level machines in 3-4 years.

 

[TripleMoxy]

Bought the base model and running it through its paces. All seems good so far.

 

[c.s.]

There's some great anecdotal reports all over this forum, just look around, but if you're into benchmarks this page is great:

http://www.barefeats.com/imac5k6.html

Obviously the biggest misrepresentations you'll find in the forums are around how unacceptably 'slow' and 'outdated' the M290X GPU is, the benchmarks add some good perspective

It's always a personal decision whether to take a fast machine even faster for an additional $500. Just don't do it for the sake of the "future", since both versions will be slow in comparison with entry level machines in 3-4 years.

I'm amazed that Photoshop performed BETTER on the lower spec gpu! I guess I'm glad I went base model on this one. It's the one program I use most.

 

[thalazy]

Love mine.

Bought mine last night from the Apple store. Had no issues, boot time is acceptably fast and I have not noticed any lag. Consider me clueless on things such as that. I do game and went back and forth on 290 vs 295 but so far I get pretty decent frame rates on Tomb Raider, Bioshock Infinite and Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3. They aren't running in 5K but I didn't expect them too.

This is my first Mac desktop as my first Mac purchase is my 2012 Retina Macbook pro. I decided to get the magic trackpad instead of the included magic mouse as I figured I was use to the functionality of it on my macbook pro. Nice that since I got Pages, numbers, etc on my iMac that I could download them onto my Macbook Pro. I figured that since neither graphics card is high end and gaming in 5K will be a rarity on both, I may just stick with the base model. In 3-5 years maybe there will be that iMac that has it all and I can save up for that one.

I don't do any editing or photoshop. I just like really pretty screens and have a 4K tv and like to have a screen that looks just as good as my tv (although it has a much better resolution). My main reason was resale value as I figure I would lose more money if I went higher specs. Since this is the first release I know the hardware will get better and the older models will become less desirable; as companies really focus on chips and graphics cards that can truly handle 4K and 5K.

 

[petvas]

I got my iMac last Tuesday and while I upped the configuration to 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD, the rest is the base model. Performance is good, apart from the lag in Mission Control which affects other systems too and is a Yosemite issue..

 

[TripleMoxy]

Thanks for your comments, guys. I'm glad that I've gone for the base specification so far, and I've not come across any issues yet.

Saying that, I've put Steam on yet but I'll report back on performance one I do - although I don't have any ultra-modern games on there.

 

[EnderTW]

Thanks for your comments, guys. I'm glad that I've gone for the base specification so far, and I've not come across any issues yet.

Saying that, I've put Steam on yet but I'll report back on performance one I do - although I don't have any ultra-modern games on there.

I have base model, with 4k external attached. Only hiccup I see is in mission control animation, but Apple says they're working on a fix.. we'll see!

Overall it's good, I use a lot of Sketch, Xcode, safari, mail, limechat, messages, and it hasn't been a problem.

Wouldn't want to game on this or do video editing especially because I have my 4k connected. However, I haven't tried it yet, but photo editing should be fine. I'm going to wait until apple releases their new photos app in 2015.