Buying my first iMac

[atomx66]

I just bought mine from Adorama and it was a good experience.

I got the 27", 3.5 GHz i7, 8GB, 512 Flash, GTX 780m. Through Apple: $2,849.

Through Adorama, I got the same machine for $2,726.05 with free three-year Apple-care.

I'm very happy with the price, service, and the machine....it is very fast.

 

[duce2777]

I pulled the trigger

So I finally did it thanks to all the help from all of you great people on this forum. Here's a run down of what I got.

Apple iMac 27"
Intel Core i5 Quad-Core 3.4GHz
8GB RAM
3TB Fusion Drive,
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 775M graphics processor with 2GB of GDDR5 memory
Mac OS X Mavericks 64-bit - BUNDLE - With 3 Year Care Extended Protection Plan

Total: $2331.99 out the door from Adorama

Last question I think - I called to order 8 more GB of RAM from Crucial but was not sure which one to get. When I contacted Crucial this is what they sent me.

So, CT6045782 references your iMac to base part number CT2K4G3S160BJM, which is high density with 8 chips per module and CT6045784 references CT2K4G3S160BM, which is low density with 16 chips per module. Other than that,they are the same and are equally compaible.

Which one do I need low (16) or high density (8) chip?

 

[ixxx69]

So I finally did it thanks to all the help from all of you great people on this forum. Here's a run down of what I got.

Apple iMac 27"
Intel Core i5 Quad-Core 3.4GHz
8GB RAM
3TB Fusion Drive,
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 775M graphics processor with 2GB of GDDR5 memory
Mac OS X Mavericks 64-bit - BUNDLE - With 3 Year Care Extended Protection Plan

Total: $2331.99 out the door from Adorama

That's great - enjoy!

Personally, for that money, I would have skipped the extended protection plan and gotten the retina 5K iMac:
For $2,349 at B&H Photo Video (also in NY w/ no sales tax), you could get:
Apple iMac 27" 5K retina
3.5GHz i5 quad core
8GB RAM
AMD Radeon M290X GPU 2/ 2GB GDDR5
1TB Fusion Drive (or more likely, i would have stuck with the 256GB SSD version for $2,399)

Also, you're not going to have much use for 8GB of RAM let alone 16GB for your stated usage.

Finally, my general advice to almost anyone is not to spend a ton of money up front to make a computer last forever... you end up on a performance roller coaster where you're paying for a ton of performance up front (that you're not even going to use or appreciate) and then four or five years in, it feels like a dog compared to what's new. IMHO, it makes far more sense to figure a budget for replacing the computer every 3 years or so (or whenever it starts to feel a little slower than it once did), and then stick to the budget.

 

[duce2777]

I almost went with the 5K but I read that "But for the majority of mainstream consumers, you're unlikely to even notice the difference" unless your editing the highest-resolution photographs or editing video. I'm totally new to the iMac I'm sure it will be amazing and I'm sure the 5K will kick some ass that was just what one reviewer stated. I like your idea of saving money now for the future. But I am still curious if I do decide to upgrade the memory 8 more GB which one is the right one to buy. I think I'll take your advice and hold off for now.