Did my work buy me a good machine?

[HelloMikee]

I posted early about getting a new iMac and configuring most of the budget to the SSD vs. ram and processor. My computer at work is about just on it's last leg so I needed an upgrade badly.

I work with large raw files, large PSD files and in the future want to get into a bit of video editing. At any given time I'm pretty much running a couple adobe apps (LR and PS, or PS and DW), Spotify, Safari, messages, mail, finder and maybe a couple smaller apps.

On my current machine (mid 2011) it takes a solid hour to get everything up and running.

This is the machine ordered:

27-inch iMac with Retina 5K display
3.8GHz quad-core 7th-generation Intel Core i5 processor, Turbo Boost up to 4.2GHz
16GB 2400MHz DDR4
1TB SSD
Radeon Pro 580 with 8GB video memory

I understand with the SSD, just that alone I'm gonna see a huge bump in speed but is the rest of the machine solid? I plan to go up to 64gb ram with the new machine later but I'm worried we made a mistake by not going with Core i7? Or for what I'm doing, will the i5 running perfectly smoothly?

Thanks in advance, not really up to date with Apple Mac specs these days so just looking for peace of mind.

 

[mikehalloran]

It will be slower with the i5. We all know the adage that time=money. You can remind them of the fact that they saved $200 while you are on a break waiting for something to render.

 

[HelloMikee]

It will be slower with the i5. We all know the adage that time=money. You can remind them of the fact that they saved $200 while you are on a break waiting for something to render.

Because I don't edit video now, I don't really have any experience on render wait times but I like how you put it in that render = break lol. And yea, fighting over $200 was pretty damn annoying.

 

[jerwin]

These photoshop benchmarks are done with windows, with a proper cooling solution, but they still may be of interest.

https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/a...Intel-Core-i7-7700K-i5-7600K-Performance-879/

 

[Briax]

Keep in mind the i7 will be noisy when pushed. If the budget can be stretched get the iMac Pro base model - extremely silent and powerful.

 

[jerwin]

Keep in mind the i7 will be noisy when pushed. If the budget can be stretched get the iMac Pro base model - extremely silent and powerful.

This configuration lists fo 3099, If it's an issue stretching it to $3299, it's going to be difficult stretching that to to 4 or 5K-- even though the imac pro is that much more powerful.

 

[Briax]

This configuration lists fo 3099, If it's an issue stretching it to $3299, it's going to be difficult stretching that to to 4 or 5K-- even though the imac pro is that much more powerful.

Yup.. True might be over budget. From personal experience, it was worth it though. The constant fan noise (which was quite loud..) is extremely annoying - even doing simple tasks the fans would kick in 100%.. I would for sure go for the iMac Pro. Just my 2 cents!

 

[mikehalloran]

If your workload is so heavy that it causes the fans to run on, there's a workaround—disable Turboboost.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/reducing-2017-5k-imac-i7-fan-noise.2152445/

Your break may last a bit longer.

You will have 10 days to put it through its paces and convince your boss that an iMac Pro really, really was the right machine.

The vast majority of Refurb Store Macs have nothing wrong with them other than being the wrong machine for the job causing them to be turned in during the return window. There's a base model Pro for $4,249 — just sayin'
https://www.apple.com/shop/browse/home/specialdeals/mac/imac_pro

"Oh yes, I'm the Great Enabler. Ooooh! Ooooh!..."