Based on what i do, would this be a good purchase? My knowledge of the finer details isn't great...

[iWheeler]

Hello, i'm looking at upgrading to the current iMac but i don't know enough about CPU/GPU chips to really know what would benefit me, be good enough etc and i just get a headache when i try understand the science behind them!

So, what do i do....

- I work with the adobe suit every day, mainly Photoshop, Indesign and Illustrator but i also use (less frequently) Premiere Pro and After Effects though i may be getting more involved with these in the future.

- I also use Logic Pro X quite often for writing music, recording bands and mixing etc and have quite a lot of plugins (my current MBP struggles getting CPU overload quite often, i'll get more into this in a min...)

- I design and build websites.

- I'm looking to start learning VFX possibly starting with Cinema 4D but i'm also interested in game design so Maya as well in the future.

So this is what the computer needs to be able to cope with. Currently i have a mid 2010 MBP with 250GB SSD, 750GB 7500rpm HDD, 8GB RAM, i don't do all the things listed above on it as it is really starting to struggle with certain tasks, battery is failing and quite regularly it has been going to the black screen then the "you're computer has restarted because of a problem", even when i have just woken it up!

The iMac i'm looking at is (my budget is roughly £3000 but i'd rather not spend it all if i don't need too):
27-inch iMac with Retina 5K display
(upgrade) 4.0GHz quad-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 4.2GHz - is the upgrade worth it? big difference?
8GB 1867MHz DDR3 SDRAM - two 4GB - I'm going to get RAM else where as it's far cheaper!
(upgrade) 512GB Flash Storage
(upgrade) AMD Radeon R9 M395X with 4GB video memory

My theory with the 512GB SSD upgrade is i've been using an SSD for a while and it's just simply far superior but i currently have a few USB 3 drives that i'm thinking of using to store everything else (projects, large files etc), this way the computer is running from an SSD and my work files etc are running from multiple inputs rather than everything running through the same port and 'clogging it up' if that's even a thing anymore? i know a lot of people would run logic sessions with plugins on a separate drive, sessions on another drive because apparently it's less strain on the computer/CPU etc?

My concerns:
Adobe told us they don't support AMD chips, At my work we bought a MacPro to speed up rendering and it ended up being only roughly twice as fast as an 2013 iMac, we contacted adobe and they said they didnt support AMD hence why it's not much faster. this was about 2-3 months ago now so i don't know whether anything has changed since?
We can only speculate when Apple will bring out the next iMac, i don't fancy buying one then 3 months later they bring out far more powerful one as i've read some people speculate the possibility of a pro version of the iMac as they might be phasing out the MacPro, however if you think the iMac in question would be more than powerful enough for what i do i'll be happy to purchase it.

Sorry for the long post! i have done a lot of research but now i'm ready to buy one and want to hear what people say for my specific situation, also i bought my MBP in 2010 and want my next purchase to last as long (at least 5 years), i don't mean reliability i mean the speed technology is progressing i wouldn't want to be too far behind in 5 years time, is there a huge leap forward on the horizon? i believe the standard hard drive/fusion drive will probably be phased out in 5 years and with the introduction of purely USB 3.1/C ports on the MBP it seems the standard USB port and possibly thunderbolt? could be on there way out too.. though it would take a lot longer to phase those out i think.

i doubt i'll ever be be full on high end VFX user but i still want to be able to do it without issues being slow and laggy etc.

If you're still here after all that i thank you for your time and look forward to reading your response! (if you want to reply that is...)

 

[mcnallym]

Personally in your situation would look at moving to Windows Platform. Apple seem at the moment firmly wedded to AMD GPU's for the time being, and I wouldn't bank on them moving to Nvidia GPU's in the near future.

For what APPLE wants/prepared t pay then AMD simply fits better for APPLE.

So unless Adobe makes a big leap to supporting Metal with there suite of Apps then don't expect Adobe on OS X to keep up with Adobe on Windows.

Of course your problem here will be Logic Pro X as that is OS X only though there are Windows equivalents if prepared to look at and learn alternatives.

 

[thats all folks]

Adobe may not support AMD/Mac to the same extent as Cuda/Windows but they definitely support it. Ray Tracing is the only Cuda only feature. The rest of the GPU specific features are rather narrow and use Open GL and Open CL so AMD or Nvidia are fine. your mention of unimpressive render times on the Mac Pro, most rendering is still based on the CPU. If you are talking about After Effects, I'm a little behind on the latest but historically AE rendering was a single threaded affair and real gains came from multiple rendering instances, originally on multiple machines but then on multiple core systems. I suggest at a minimum you look at something like this,
http://aescripts.com/bg-renderer/

If ultimate performance is your primary goal, switch to Windows. If staying on Mac is important, get the most and best you can because, down the line it will only be to your advantage. and at the end of the day, the differences between your current machine and your proposed purchase are tremendous. you will be very happy with your new machine. of course you've waited so long, that would likely have been true years ago.

the only disclaimer I would offer is that there should be a new generation of iMacs coming out in the next 4 to 6 months. can't say if it's worth waiting for, just something to be aware of.

 

[iWheeler]

Personally in your situation would look at moving to Windows Platform. Apple seem at the moment firmly wedded to AMD GPU's for the time being, and I wouldn't bank on them moving to Nvidia GPU's in the near future.

For what APPLE wants/prepared t pay then AMD simply fits better for APPLE.

So unless Adobe makes a big leap to supporting Metal with there suite of Apps then don't expect Adobe on OS X to keep up with Adobe on Windows.

Of course your problem here will be Logic Pro X as that is OS X only though there are Windows equivalents if prepared to look at and learn alternatives.

i have thought about windows but i just really don't want to move away from mac.. yet, i understand i'd get far more power on a PC but i just really can't stand windows, i work with both mac and PC and every time i'm on the PC there's usually something wrong, in my experience over the past 10 years or so using mac they have been flawless, occasional hiccup her n there but nothing like what i've had with PC, with apple you get quality hence the premium you pay, PCs don't last in my experience.

Adobe seems to be the main hurdle but i primarily use the graphic design software, VFX im more interested in learning Cinema 4D/Maya which i've heard isn't a problem on the iMac?

Logic is another reason i want to stay with mac, the first DAW i learnt was Cubase at college, used pro tools a little but later down the line i got a copy of logic and it was definitely my favourite.
[doublepost=1480640495][/doublepost]

Adobe may not support AMD/Mac to the same extent as Cuda/Windows but they definitely support it. Ray Tracing is the only Cuda only feature. The rest of the GPU specific features are rather narrow and use Open GL and Open CL so AMD or Nvidia are fine. your mention of unimpressive render times on the Mac Pro, most rendering is still based on the CPU. If you are talking about After Effects, I'm a little behind on the latest but historically AE rendering was a single threaded affair and real gains came from multiple rendering instances, originally on multiple machines but then on multiple core systems. I suggest at a minimum you look at something like this,
http://aescripts.com/bg-renderer/

If ultimate performance is your primary goal, switch to Windows. If staying on Mac is important, get the most and best you can because, down the line it will only be to your advantage. and at the end of the day, the differences between your current machine and your proposed purchase are tremendous. you will be very happy with your new machine. of course you've waited so long, that would likely have been true years ago.

the only disclaimer I would offer is that there should be a new generation of iMacs coming out in the next 4 to 6 months. can't say if it's worth waiting for, just something to be aware of.

I'm not after ultimate performance as i know i wouldn't benefit from it yet, gonna take a couple years at these new bits of software i'm learning to really start pushing the computers capabilities.

The thing with waiting for the next machine is there will always be the next machine, there always something each year that's better than the last, and as some people have mentioned it could potentially be worse, look at the current mac mini, i was really tempted by one a few years back but now i'm not interested at all.

Yes the new iMac is a huge leap from what i currently use, to be honest this current MBP is still awesome but for what i do i would benefit from the current spec and i need USB 3/thunderbolt. I just want to make sure that the spec i'm looking at will be a good investment and won't fall too far behind in 2/3 years. the way my MBP is still going strong 7 years later i'm expecting the iMac to do the same.

 

[thats all folks]

I wouldn't necessarily say there will always be a next machine. for anyone waiting for an Air, Mini or tower might feel differently. also not every year brings a big change. if you asked this question 18 months ago, I would have no problem suggesting a maxed out 2011 iMac (for the cost conscious) but the 2015 screen improvements make that a no brainer. the 2012 should have been a better machine but was plagued by overheating issues.

so yeah, get the 2015, get the top GPU and CPU cause in the total cost, is a minor percentage for something you hope to have for years to come. might as well make it the best it can be.

my last suggestion, order it with the full-size wired keyboard. those extra keys are definitely useful in After Effects and a number pad is also a plus for editing.

 

[iWheeler]

I wouldn't necessarily say there will always be a next machine. for anyone waiting for an Air, Mini or tower might feel differently. also not every year brings a big change. if you asked this question 18 months ago, I would have no problem suggesting a maxed out 2011 iMac (for the cost conscious) but the 2015 screen improvements make that a no brainer. the 2012 should have been a better machine but was plagued by overheating issues.

so yeah, get the 2015, get the top GPU and CPU cause in the total cost, is a minor percentage for something you hope to have for years to come. might as well make it the best it can be.

my last suggestion, order it with the full-size wired keyboard. those extra keys are definitely useful in After Effects and a number pad is also a plus for editing.

my other thought with the next gen iMac if it is a big update from the previous.. (could end up being the same just better components) that there could be issues for the first one or two next gen iMac, if it is a big change that is. But like i say i'm not after the best most powerful computer, just one that will be more than enough for what i need and hopefully stay good for like 5 years.

yeah i use one of those keyboards at the moment, wont hurt to get a new one though!

 

[kschendel]

I wouldn't sink a lot of money into incremental CPU speed upgrades; they will likely only get you 10 to 20% improvement depending on what you do. Even the base CPU should be a lot faster than the Core 2 Duo in your current MBP. Definitely go for the SSD and the additional memory (3rd party is OK). The one bit I can't comment on is the GPU.

I don't see any big processor speed advances on the horizon. USB-C is new but it's just another interconnect IMHO and unless you are hooking up a bunch of outboard stuff, it's no big deal. I don't see USB 2.0-3.0 going away any time soon; Thunderbolt, I dunno.

 

[iWheeler]

I wouldn't sink a lot of money into incremental CPU speed upgrades; they will likely only get you 10 to 20% improvement depending on what you do. Even the base CPU should be a lot faster than the Core 2 Duo in your current MBP. Definitely go for the SSD and the additional memory (3rd party is OK). The one bit I can't comment on is the GPU.

I don't see any big processor speed advances on the horizon. USB-C is new but it's just another interconnect IMHO and unless you are hooking up a bunch of outboard stuff, it's no big deal. I don't see USB 2.0-3.0 going away any time soon; Thunderbolt, I dunno.

I have the 15" MBP so it's a 2.4 GHz Intel Core i5, the 13" was the Core 2 Duo.

I think i'm gonna go for the iMac i mentioned, until i'm an advanced user on the VFX software i'm sure this iMac will be good enough, also much easier than trying to transition to using a PC.