Costco iMac 27 base model $100 off and AppleCare 50% off

[mauka]

Picked up new 2020 27” iMac base model for $1650 and AppleCare for $67.50. Good deal for Costco members, today through 10/16/20.

Replacing my 2014 Mac Mini. Only way this would disappoint is if super Apple silicon iMac is announced tomorrow.

 

[glenthompson]

Nice deal if you can live with the small SSD. Yes, you can easily add a fast external drive but I would hate to start with a machine that can’t hold all my current stuff.

 

[decypher44]

Picked up new 2020 27” iMac base model for $1650 and AppleCare for $67.50. Good deal for Costco members, today through 10/16/20.

Replacing my 2014 Mac Mini. Only way this would disappoint is if super Apple silicon iMac is announced tomorrow.

Great deal! Congrats!

 

[JeepTech]

I just looked at the deal, it’s actually $67.50 off of the original apple care price not 50% off. Then $100 off the iMac. So you get the Apple care for $135 which is education price.

 

[mauka]

Paid $67.50 for AppleCare, which is 50% off. Must be purchased with computer, not sold separately. Purchased in Oregon without sales tax.

True that the base model only has a 256 SSD - which is small. But I refuse to pay Apple prices for BTO upgrades. Planning to pickup a Samsung X5 Portable SSD 500GB - 2800MB/s -Thunderbolt 3 NVMe External Solid State Drive when the price drops. In the meantime I have a 2TB USB-C drive that works well.

 

[JeepTech]

I’m dumb.... I was just looking at the $135. Didn’t take off the $67.50 from that lol. My mistake.

 

[Honumaui]

mauka ? mountainside ? island thing not sure if that is what name comes from

yeah that is a great price I picked up a base model recently made a post from a full time photographers perspective

IMHO the boot is not a huge deal as I think as many do any data you work on should be on its own drive anyway so the main boot apps to launch and run will be fine on the slower smaller 256 they have on the base model
most testing shows its more about latency and seek that helps anyway over raw speed I did some heavy testing before and NVMe or regular SSD around 500MB/s made no difference in both real world and benchmark apps for me as the boot
again boot drive the data does help with huge files if on faster drives

but putting the boot on a external X5 is something I also thought of might wait for a bit more price drop if you do it for sure post back please

I might even say get a Samsung T7 for storage 2TB about $320 as of this post and try the built in boot ?

 

[mauka]

Made a few upgrades:

Memory - 64GB Crucial 2x32GB. Runs @2667 in slots 1 and 3. Slows down if original 4GB sticks are used.

External storage - 1TB using Cable Matters USB-C enclosure housing Crucial MX-500 SSD - 460 Write/525 Read.

My SSD is repurposed early generation pulled from a DIY PC. I tested the built in 256GB and others and decided that this performance is “good enough” for now. Storing all photos, music, movies.

* Built-in 256GB storage - 625 Write / 1400 Read.

* External MVME USB-C with WD Black 256GB - 204 Write / 825 Read. (Poor results might be SSK brand enclosure).

* External Seagate USB-3 2TB spinner hard drive - 119 Write / 124 Read.

Happy with iMac and with great Prime day price for memory (64GB @ $168). With reused 1TB SSD and reused HD monitor as 2nd monitor in portrait mode it’s a real workhorse for just under $2k new outlay.

iMac is replacement for 2014 Mac Mini, but I also traded in my mini for new 2018 Mac Mini (2nd tier i5 w/512GB). Apple gave me $190 trade value, easy transaction started online and finished with pickup by appointment in Apple Store. Planning to upgrade memory in new mini as well.

FYI “Mauka” is towards the mountains, commonly used in Hawaii as location direction.

 

[Honumaui]

FYI “Mauka” is towards the mountains, commonly used in Hawaii as location direction.

yeah yeah that is what I was wondering if you were from there etc..... or you took it from the Hawaiian meaning
was not curious what it was hahahhaha my bad

I from Maui (west side) also lived Lanai back in 90s oh loved Lanai best island ever