Buy 2020 iMac or wait? Or Macbook pro? Please help

[Riffbear]

Hi guys Im looking at purchasing a new iMac. My current one is a 2015 model.
I do mostly animations (adobe animate) and heavy use of photoshop and Final Cut pro.

I was thinking of buying this,

27-inch iMac with Retina 5K display
With the following configuration:
Standard glass
3.6GHz 10-core 10th-generation Intel Core i9 processor with Turbo Boost up to 5.0GHz
32GB of 2666MHz DDR4 memory
Radeon Pro 5700 XT with 16GB of GDDR6 memory
2TB of SSD storage
Gigabit Ethernet
Magic Mouse 2
Magic Keyboard — US English
Accessory Kit

Or am I better off getting a macbook pro with m1 or wait for the new iMacs to be launched in 2021?
If macbook pro is the way to go i can always hook up my 2015 to it to use as a monitor.

My 2015 still works ok – gets a bit sluggish at times. But its not like I need to buy a new iMac asap.

However I would like to upgrade this year.

Cheers.

 

[imp3rator]

1. 100% chance that new Apple silicon will have same power as 3.6GHz 10-core 10th-generation Intel Core i9
2. You can put 2TB SSD as well
3. There is 50% chance that will support 32GB RAM.
4. But 99% chance that apple silicon will not have dedicated GPU of that horsepower and RAM in one or two years...

5. Maybe they will use Intel + AMD Gpu for one or two models of imac...

 

[Riffbear]

Thanks so you're saying i should place the order then?

 

[Riffbear]

1. 100% chance that new Apple silicon will have same power as 3.6GHz 10-core 10th-generation Intel Core i9
2. You can put 2TB SSD as well
3. There is 50% chance that will support 32GB RAM.
4. But 99% chance that apple silicon will not have dedicated GPU of that horsepower and RAM in one or two years...

5. Maybe they will use Intel + AMD Gpu for one or two models of imac...

Thanks, So you're saying i should place the order i've listed then?

 

[patch1103]

I’m in a somewhat similar boat, although my late-2013 iMac just died several weeks ago and forced my hand a bit. My plan was to hold out until the M1 iMacs arrived, but I decided instead to spring for an M1 Mac mini, which is set to arrive this week. I understand the performance vs cost ratio on these is off the charts. My plan is to use it until the iMacs come out. If it still meets my needs at that point, I may continue with it or, if the M1 iMacs are compelling enough, I might get one and repurpose the mini as a server. You may want to consider the mini as an interim solution, especially if you want to dip your toe in the M1 waters.

 

[costica1234]

32GB of 2666MHz DDR4 memory

If you decide on the 2020 iMac, then don’t get 32 GB of RAM from Apple as it’s crazy expensive. There are plenty third-party vendors out there that sell iMac compatible memory for much cheaper.

If macbook pro is the way to go i can always hook up my 2015 to it to use as a monitor.

This is incorrect. There is no target display mode on any 5K iMac!

 

[Apple_Robert]

Since your current Mac is working ok and that is what you like using, I would wait and see what Apple does with a Silicon iMac this year.

 

[Juicy Box]

My 2015 still works ok – gets a bit sluggish at times.

What are the specs of your 2015?

If macbook pro is the way to go i can always hook up my 2015 to it to use as a monitor.

If you were going to use Target Display Mode, the Late 2013 27" iMac was the last model to support using it as a display.

 

[sdz]

Do you think the new iMac with Apple Silicone will support user upgradeable RAM?

I doubt it. Will be very expensive otherwise

 

[imp3rator]

The whole concept of apple silicon is based on "unified" RAM. Apple silicon will support more than 16GB but only from apple. Hackintosh will be killed as well i think...

 

[sdz]

The whole concept of apple silicon is based on "unified" RAM. Apple silicon will support more than 16GB but only from apple. Hackintosh will be killed as well i think...

Wow. Thats bad.

 

[Riffbear]

What are the specs of your 2015?


If you were going to use Target Display Mode, the Late 2013 27" iMac was the last model to support using it as a display.

 

[imp3rator]

Thanks so you're saying i should place the order then?

You can put cheaper RAM than Apple does (so you can buy with 8GB RAM). You can install Bootcamp and play games (it is not direct comparable in Tflops but 5700xt has 10 tflops as well as Playstation 5 GPU). And you will get strong gpu for few years.

If you wait - and Apple will not introduce Intel based iMac (new tiger lake cpu, new gpu..) you probably loose all benefits above (no more than 16GB RAM, or expensive 32GB from Apple and that GPU with large RAM) and If I'm correct Macs in "sale" doesn't have option for CTO(BTO) configuration.

 

[Riffbear]

You can put cheaper RAM than Apple does (so you can buy with 8GB RAM). You can install Bootcamp and play games (it is not direct comparable in Tflops but 5700xt has 10 tflops as well as Playstation 5 GPU). And you will get strong gpu for few years.

If you wait - and Apple will not introduce Intel based iMac (new tiger lake cpu, new gpu..) you probably loose all benefits above (no more than 16GB RAM, or expensive 32GB from Apple and that GPU with large RAM) and If I'm correct Macs in "sale" doesn't have option for CTO(BTO) configuration.

Thanks But i wont be doing any gaming at all. So i am still not sure what to do. Weather to upgrade or just wait. But it sounds like the 2021 imacs will not be able to upgrade to 32gb of ram correct?

 

[imp3rator]

I think that yes - but only from Apple for 540$. You can buy own for 110$.
Probably biggest reason is 5700xt with 16GB RAM. If Apple silicon will not support dedicated GPU, you can't get that powerful GPU. I can't imagine how apple have to change architecture of silicon to work with dedicated GPU... but maybe they will surprise with own powerfull gpu ?
Very unpredictable in iMac (or powerfull GPU) category.

If you want Macbook Pro 13, 16 or iMac 21,5"...than 100% wait, but you have quite specific configuration.

 

[posguy99]

View attachment 1710429

Put more RAM (at least another 16 gb) in the one you have, and wait.

 

[mdgm]

Do you have a HDD, Fusion Drive or SSD in your 2015 iMac?

It could be a slow HDD or Fusion Drive that is probably why your computer appears to be sluggish at times.

You could try booting off a USB3 SSD.

More RAM is nice, but to check if you need it take a look at Activity Monitor? If the system is swapping a lot then more RAM is likely to help.

 

[wilberforce]

The machine you configured is $4400. You could knock $1350 off this:

i9 is not worth it, get i7, saving $400.

32GB RAM is not worth it, get 8GB RAM, and replace with 32GB Crucial RAM for about $150; saving $450.

It is also questionable whether the 5700XT for $500 will benefit you. Adobe Photoshop does not use GPU much, and I understand Adobe Animate does not use GPU at all. I suggest open Activity Monitor - Window - GPU History, to understand how much your current GPU is actually being used in your typical tasks. The 5500XT is already much faster than the 295X.

See this:

and this:

I only point this out as your decision may be different if the cost is $1350 less, for almost the same performance.

 

[Riffbear]

Put more RAM (at least another 16 gb) in the one you have, and wait.

Ok thank you.

 

[Riffbear]

Do you have a HDD, Fusion Drive or SSD in your 2015 iMac?

It could be a slow HDD or Fusion Drive that is probably why your computer appears to be sluggish at times.

You could try booting off a USB3 SSD.

More RAM is nice, but to check if you need it take a look at Activity Monitor? If the system is swapping a lot then more RAM is likely to help.

Fusion Drive. And thanks for your advice.

 

[Peet_B]

I struggled with the exact same question as you are struggling with. In the end I decided to buy my current machine, the Mid-2020 5K iMac with the i7-10700K, 8GB Radeon Pro 5700, 32GB of RAM (obviously not bought directly from Apple but installed myself) and a 512GB SSD (though if I would have to order again I would go for 1TB since I didn't know the 2020 iMac is the first 27" iMac that doesn't have a user upgradable SSD anymore).

As for Apple Silicon, If they supported eGPU's or had better graphics in general, I would have waited. But since the ARM and regular GPU compatibility is something that (if it ever will) would take years, I opted to buy "the best" iMac to date.

I also use a NVMe external carrier with Thunderbolt and it gets speeds close to the original SSD inside, so storage limits are essentially no longer applicable.

The Radeon Pro 5700 is in my opinion the best bang for the buck, even though it's the least used option I guess. It comes close to the 5700XT in terms of performance, but only has half the memory (8GB instead of 16GB), but I never had a use case where something ran slow at all, even with 4 different Adobe apps, lots of browser tabs, and loads of other applications open. It's simply a beast and I'm very very happy with the configuration I've got.