Best Configuration for New Imac?

[jaybar]

Hi

I will be getting a new 21.5 inch iMac. We mainly do email, internet, word processing, light photo editing, music. I will be replacing an early 2010 iMac.

Standard drive or fusion drive or flash drive?

8 or 16GB of Ram.

Ideally I want to purchase or pick up at the apple store.

Thanks

Jay

 

[JustMartin]

It depends a little on your refresh cycle. If you're going to keep this one for three-four years like your old one, then I'm guessing that 8 gig would carry you through for that time. The fusion drive does make things faster, I suspect that SSD would be overkill based on your fairly light requirements.

 

[WJKramer]

Maxed out. I just ordered mine to replace my 2007 first gen aluminum. Hope to get longer out of this one.

Edit: I have done a 6GB RAM upgrade and 256GB SSD HD replacement. But it's time to move on. I do video processing and photo work.

 

[Hamburger]

I basically do the same as the OP and have just ordered a 21.5" base model with 256GB SSD. Don't have a lot of data, and coming from a 2010 MBA 11" I prefer to stay with SSD rather than getting fusion drive.
And the price for this configuration has dropped by €200 here in Germany. Nice!

 

[firedept]

I would say Fusion Drive and 8GB RAM. Only change I would make if you want to future proof, would be to go to 16GB RAM. Only say that because you can not upgrade RAM at later date in the 21.5. Fusion drive will make it quicker and give you a lot of storage.

 

[jaybar]

Hi

Apple staff is suggesting the standard configuration of either the 21.5 or 27 will be more than sufficient. Is there any validity to that?

Thanks

Jay

 

[mmomega]

Based off of what you say your use is, I'd say the base model would be sufficient.

Personally I would go Fusion drive in your case just the 1TB Fusion.

You'll have to call the Apple Store or go in because they do tend to have some custom iMacs on hand if they are ordered in that configuration enough.

Like my local store carries the i7 iMac with 1TB Fusion and 680MX in store when online that is a BTO model and doesn't show in stock at the store when it actually is.

 

[bp1000]

Just ordered the 27inch

3.4Ghz
16GB
256SSD
780 4GB GFX
Trackpad option

My reason for the SSD is i'm blown away with the speeds and SSD this year is double the speed. 256GB seem to have an advantage over the 128GB which comes in the fusion.

That said the difference is probably minimal in operation. Any large files i will just put on an external USB 3.0 drive, infact i still have 40GB of space on my 128GB macbook air from 2011. I dont really have the need for large amounts of hard drive space.

 

[Serban]

why 16 g ram from apple?

 

[Sanatogen]

Is the 16Gb really needed? Salary day is approaching and I'm on the fence if I should buy some more memory. Not that my machine runs slow or anything but I'm thinking it might be good to have just in case.

 

[bp1000]

why 16 g ram from apple?

It was £160

If i bought it from crucial it's £127 for a 16GB kit which is what i will need. Thats a 20% markup from Apple but the actually amount is Tiny in the grand scheme.

Sure i could sell the 8GB standard kit but to me it's just not worth the hassle, i'd need an apple spec screwbit and i would presumably invalidate the warranty + it's a business machine.

If i do upgrade ram (which i doubt i'd need more than 16gb) but i'd get a 32GB kit from somewhere perhaps in a year or 2 (might need it then) and it would be out of warranty.

 

[MrGimper]

My 16gb ram kit from Amazon was crucial, mac certified, and was £91. Works perfectly.

Also got AppleCare from Amazon for £94 as opposed to £140 from apple.

----------

It was £160

If i bought it from crucial it's £127 for a 16GB kit which is what i will need. Thats a 20% markup from Apple but the actually amount is Tiny in the grand scheme.

Sure i could sell the 8GB standard kit but to me it's just not worth the hassle, i'd need an apple spec screwbit and i would presumably invalidate the warranty + it's a business machine.

If i do upgrade ram (which i doubt i'd need more than 16gb) but i'd get a 32GB kit from somewhere perhaps in a year or 2 (might need it then) and it would be out of warranty.

On the 27" you can upgrade the RAM thru a trapdoor in the back. You could get the 16GB crucial kit I have for £91 and add it to the base 8GB, for a total of 24GB.

 

[jmgregory1]

Hi

I will be getting a new 21.5 inch iMac. We mainly do email, internet, word processing, light photo editing, music. I will be replacing an early 2010 iMac.

Standard drive or fusion drive or flash drive?

8 or 16GB of Ram.

Ideally I want to purchase or pick up at the apple store.

Thanks

Jay

Jay, most definitely spring for the Fusion Drive. I have a 21" early 2013 base with Fusion and could not imagine getting a non Fusion hdd based model. Once you have a taste of ssd speed, it's impossible to go back. Been loving my 2011 13" mba, so I knew we had to spend the money on Fusion back when my wife was looking for a work machine to use. I'm lucky enough to get to swap between the mba and the iMac - and I love not having to think twice about installing anything or keeping all photos, videos, etc on the iMac. On my mba, I'm constantly dumping old stuff to keep space open - which isn't a bad thing to do anyway, but having the iMac's 1.128 tb Fusion drive gives me lots of room while allowing the same speed as an all ssd drive (for the most part - and from what I've experienced).

 

[bp1000]

My 16gb ram kit from Amazon was crucial, mac certified, and was £91. Works perfectly.

Also got AppleCare from Amazon for £94 as opposed to £140 from apple.

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On the 27" you can upgrade the RAM thru a trapdoor in the back. You could get the 16GB crucial kit I have for £91 and add it to the base 8GB, for a total of 24GB.

Even better thank you I did not know ram was accessible

Assuming then 4 slots so I could add another 16 gb unless Apple did a dell and installed 4x 4gb !

 

[MrGimper]

Even better thank you I did not know ram was accessible

Assuming then 4 slots so I could add another 16 gb unless Apple did a dell and installed 4x 4gb !

8GB from apple is 2x4GB
16GB from apple is 2x8GB

There are 4 slots.

Assuming your £160 mentioned in your post is the price difference between an 8GB model and a 16GB model, i would get the 8GB model and buy a crucial 16GB kit. You then end up with 24GB for ~£70 less than a 16GB machine direct from apple.

In fact, you could get the 8GB model and 2x16GB Crucial kits, and end up with a 32GB machine for ~£20 more than a 16GB machine from apple Could then resell the 8GB, or keep it just in case your machine needs to go in for service.

 

[SteelBlueTJ]

I wish they offered an option in the configuration to not be forced to buy the apple keyboard and mouse. I am happy with my Logitech setup and would like to save $100 by having a "none" option for the keyboard and mouse. It's annoying having to waste money on something that I'll never use and just keep it in the box.

 

[talmy]

Hi

Apple staff is suggesting the standard configuration of either the 21.5 or 27 will be more than sufficient. Is there any validity to that?

Thanks

Jay

The base model will do just fine. Most people here are enthusiasts that will suggest more than you need.

 

[CWallace]

Just ordered by 3.5GHz i7 27" to replace my 2011 3.4GHz i7 27" iMac.

I originally planned to get the 3TB Fusion Drive, but just added a Synology DS413 with 8TB of storage (I have 4x4TB HDDs arranged in two 8TB striped sets I mirror using Carbon Copy Cloner) so I decided to get the 256GB SSD since that is what is in my current iMac and it's plenty. That way I can keep my current 2TB Time Capsule (since I run wired, don't need an 802.1ac access point yet) and save $300 over the new 3TB model.

Also went with 16GB of RAM from Apple since 3rd party is $170 and this way I can use the 18 months financing from Apple/Barclays.

 

[kumquat]

I wish they offered an option in the configuration to not be forced to buy the apple keyboard and mouse. I am happy with my Logitech setup and would like to save $100 by having a "none" option for the keyboard and mouse. It's annoying having to waste money on something that I'll never use and just keep it in the box.

Are you joking? You can choose none, just don't click on any of the circles. Wtf?

 

[blanka]

Get a mini, preferably the 2.3 quad, and a bigger screen, like a 24 inch 1920x1200 ips one. The 21 is cramped IMO.
You can get the base model and fix the RAM and SSD for a low price yourself.
Mini 2.3 quad 799
Dell U2412M 309 (IPS 1920x1200)
16GB RAM 120
256Gb SSD Samsung 840 EVO 179
Cable for extra drive 30
Total 1430$
To have a little better performing iMac (CPU wise), you pay $2099
All other options are outperformed by the solution I showed here, yet you will never have 1.25Gb with 250GB of SSD and not have a nice large screen with better warranty and better ergonomics, and a much lower total cost of ownership as the Mini's go down less in value.
You can even slide the Mini in your pocket and work somewhere else with it.

 

[talmy]

Are you joking? You can choose none, just don't click on any of the circles. Wtf?

"None" is not an option for the iMac. And since it is a "radio button" selection, at least one selection must be made.

 

[toddzrx]

Hi

I will be getting a new 21.5 inch iMac. We mainly do email, internet, word processing, light photo editing, music. I will be replacing an early 2010 iMac.

Given what you're using the machine for, why bother replacing what you already have? Just spring for a new SSD and drop it in the 2010 iMac. Way cheaper and the machine will be plenty capable.

 

[Santabean2000]

Hi

Apple staff is suggesting the standard configuration of either the 21.5 or 27 will be more than sufficient. Is there any validity to that?

Thanks

Jay

Apple staff want to make a quick sale.

The base model will do just fine. Most people here are enthusiasts that will suggest more than you need.

SSD speed should be had by everyone. Def spring for the SSD (or Fusion if you need extra space).

Other baseline specs are good to go.

 

[talmy]

Given what you're using the machine for, why bother replacing what you already have? Just spring for a new SSD and drop it in the 2010 iMac. Way cheaper and the machine will be plenty capable.

Good catch! Their 2010 iMac is perfectly suitable for what they are doing. Basically the same things my wife does just fine on here 24" 2008 model base iMac. Maybe the slender design of the new models caught the OP's eyes?

 

[toddzrx]

Good catch! Their 2010 iMac is perfectly suitable for what they are doing. Basically the same things my wife does just fine on here 24" 2008 model base iMac. Maybe the slender design of the new models caught the OP's eyes?

That's what I'd guess. For me personally, I'm old enough to be over Shiny New Thing Syndrome. I in fact have a 2010 iMac that I performed SSD surgery on. Works like a champ and I have no reason to replace it. I'm hoping it lasts until Retina screens become standard issue on the Mac lineup like it pretty much has on all the iToys. I'm thinking 2015 or 16.