Does anyone actually like their 2017 27" i7?

[Digeeedad]

Admittedly probably a silly newbie question but I'm definitely contemplating getting a 27" with i7, 1TB SSD and a 580/8gb GPU, for my daughter. She would be using it for video editing assignments, from her university film classes. She needs a computer/iMac set-up, similar to what she uses in her editing classes, to learn Avid Media Composer etc. In this forum and other sites and articles that I have read concerning the 27" i7, there seem to be many who discourage people from getting one due to heat and fan noise issues etc. I'm guessing there must be many users who are satisfied with their computers. Would definitely appreciate hearing from anyone who has experience and opinions (one way or the other) with this computer system.

 

[wardie]

Admittedly probably a silly newbie question but I'm definitely contemplating getting a 27" with i7, 1TB SSD and a 580/8gb GPU, for my daughter. She would be using it for video editing assignments, from her university film classes. She needs a computer/iMac set-up, similar to what she uses in her editing classes, to learn Avid Media Composer etc. In this forum and other sites and articles that I have read concerning the 27" i7, there seem to be many who discourage people from getting one due to heat and fan noise issues etc. I'm guessing there must be many users who are satisfied with their computers. Would definitely appreciate hearing from anyone who has experience and opinions (one way or the other) with this computer system.

I was going to write what I always write, but there are loads of threads on this already, please go read them. Arguments either way and work-arounds too. Summary: fast, yes. Gorgeous screen. Noisy, can be, depends. Workarounds, yes. Just make sure you have good insurance for a student with a costly piece of ‘relocatable’ kit like that! Very nice.

 

[Digeeedad]

I was going to write what I always write, but there are loads of threads on this already, please go read them. Arguments either way and work-arounds too. Summary: fast, yes. Gorgeous screen. Noisy, can be, depends. Workarounds, yes. Just make sure you have good insurance for a student with a costly piece of ‘relocatable’ kit like that! Very nice.

Thanks for the reply! Luckily, she still lives with us and commutes to school. I've spent the past week to 10 days reading many hours of posts here and you're right, there seems to be widely varied opinions and experience. Reading that the computer "sounds like a blow dryer" was definitely disconcerting. Several people have advised me that perhaps a new line of upgrades for the iMacs could be announced as early as this week. Will definitely keep my eyes open!

 

[Digeeedad]

The new iMacs are now listed in the Apple store. I wonder if the updates will include any cooling modifications?

 

[madmin]

No I don't like my 2017 i7 iMac... I love it, as much today as I did in July 2017 when I (over) paid for it

 

[PeterJP]

For Avid Media Composer, I would suggest to have more memory. We are using Windows machines with 32GB RAM here. If you're doing anything complex (multiple layers, 4K), you will need lots of RAM.

 

[TimJohn]

Yikes...and I just bought my 2017 27" iMac a few months ago. However, I bought it on Black Friday and received a $280 gift card so it helped me purchase a 6 TB external HD. So now if I were to buy the mid range newest 2019 iMac, with all the advantages of speed, it actually would cost me an extra $400. So I think there is a price bump and probably justifiable that most people wouldn't be bothered by it. And so....yes I still love my 2017 iMac. Its much, much faster, better display and runs much cooler than my 2009 model. Regrets? After reading the announcement of the new iMac I went to the Apple Can site and checked them out. Definitely no regrets and very happy with my 2017 iMac!

 

[CWallace]

I am quite pleased with my i7 / 16GB / 1TB / 580 27" iMac 5K to the point that the new models announced today are not of interest to me to replace early (I usually swap my iMacs every 2 years, but I intend to run this one into the ground as I can't see needing anything more, performance-wise).

 

[killhippie]

I am quite pleased with my i7 / 16GB / 1TB / 580 27" iMac 5K to the point that the new models announced today are not of interest to me to replace early (I usually swap my iMacs every 2 years, but I intend to run this one into the ground as I can't see needing anything more, performance-wise).

I still love my 2017 i7 iMac. Its a BTO i7 with 1TB SSD and 16GB ram with the 580 Pro. I used to upgrade every two years but Im happy this time to keep my machine and as has been said run it into the ground. I'm wondering how the new iMacs will cope with the Vega and i9 9900k CPU thermal wise considering the 7700k and 580 pro was pushing the envelope already. As to the rest of the machine they just took the same 2017 chassis and stuffed new components in, no bluetooth 5 update no 1080P facetime camera (this is 2019 Apple) the ports stay the same, and for my use this 2017 model still has all the power I need.

I think if Apple stays with intel unless they update again next year this is an odd time to stick a 9th Gen in your desktop with icelake coming out later this year you are buying last years tech pretty much and at a high price. For once the upgrade urge has vanished.

Apple did a okay (ish) update if you are after a new computer but not an amazing one. To move from a 2017 BTO i7 to a BTO 2019 i9 + vega , the machine specs look okay but they left so much unchanged. The iMac still looks gorgeous, but nothing physical has changed since 2017 with some of the specs which needed updating, so I think It's a lazy update tbh and I get the feeling we will see another iMac update before 2021 as well somehow with Icelake coming this year. Maybe even Arm if the rumours are true. I actually use my iPad Pro 12.9" 1TB a lot more now as its so capable for a lot of things I do, so between them both I'm very happy staying put.

 

[2580285]

Mine is a mid-2017 i7-7700K-equipped 27" iMac with 32 GB of RAM, 512 GB SSD and Radeon Pro 580 (which should be a rebranded AMD RX 580, if I'm not mistaken). I do advanced photo editing and mid-level video editing in 4K (not RAW video nor much H.265 exporting though) and it holds up really well. It does everything I throw at it with ease. Yes, it's got fans, and yes, they spin when it's under load, but they are quick to act and cool it down so portion of time when they make noise is not much compared to the total time I'm using it. And any reasonable workstation will have spinning fans, so I'd get a nice pair of headphones anyway (which I assume your daughter would have already if she does video editing). If the RX 580 is not enough I'd spec the Vega on the newer iMacs or, better still, get an eGPU. Cheers!