Finally ordered a new iMac!

[rotlex]

It's been a LONG time coming, but I finally bit the bullet on the new 27" iMac this morning. I've been putting it off for quite a while now as my current 2007 24" has been a real workhorse all these years, and I had no real reason to get rid of it. Alas, my wife couldn't figure out what to get me this year for my birthday and I figured now was as good a time as any, lol.

I went with the 27" 5K, 4.2Ghz I7, 8GB Ram, will order 16GB from OWC today, 512SSD, Magic Trackpad and Magic Keyboard with the number pad. (Wound up with education pricing and a free set of black wireless beats to boot).

Here's hoping this one can last me 10+ years. Really looking forward to seeing how it handles Lightroom and movie duties. Believe it or not, my 24" still chugs through both pretty well, however, my now 100K plus image library is causing it to beach ball quite a bit, lol.

 

[ApfelKuchen]

Congrats! I think you'll be very happy with the performance upgrade. Will it last 10 years, or 8? No way to know the future, but I have an Early 2008 iMac that's still (slowly) chugging along with its original HDD. In the end, longevity will depend more on your future needs and expectations, rather on the durability of the hardware.

 

[CaptRB]

I did the same machine...comes tomorrow!

Only I went with the 2TB fusion drive because I want to swap for a much bigger (and potentially faster) internal SSD down the road. I also got the extra memory and 580 graphics etc.

I don't know about 10 years. My last iMac lasted nearly 5, but I do enjoy upgrading, so I think I'll add more memory and SSD in two years and then buy something fresh two years after that! These machines are pretty powerful, so you should be happy for a while...maybe even 10 years.

Let's all hope we live that long. ;-)


R.

 

[KentuckyApple]

I came from a late 2009 i7. My new i7 with SSD is great. Beautiful display. I'm happy with it in every way.

 

[tarsins]

Same but with 32GB RAM and 1TB SSD. It's a great machine, so smooth and a beautiful screen. Keeping a lookout for a second monitor now. Those 5K LG Ultrafines are so tempting but man, the price! May have to settle for a 4K monitor.

 

[rotlex]

Same but with 32GB RAM and 1TB SSD. It's a great machine, so smooth and a beautiful screen. Keeping a lookout for a second monitor now. Those 5K LG Ultrafines are so tempting but man, the price! May have to settle for a 4K monitor.

Speaking of 2nd monitors. I have an older 20" Apple Cinema display, from like 15 years ago, that I use as one now. It suits my needs as far as a way to keep imessage, calculators and other things off my main screen. It's currently hooked up to my 24" through a VGA adapter from LONG ago. Anyone know what type of cable\adapter will be needed to connect it to the new 27"?

Thanks.

 

[cynics]

Speaking of 2nd monitors. I have an older 20" Apple Cinema display, from like 15 years ago, that I use as one now. It suits my needs as far as a way to keep imessage, calculators and other things off my main screen. It's currently hooked up to my 24" through a VGA adapter from LONG ago. Anyone know what type of cable\adapter will be needed to connect it to the new 27"?

Thanks.

USB C to VGA adapter or cable should work.

In applications that I know I'm not going to be moving it around a lot (like a laptop) I prefer cables especially for VGA because the USB C cable is a lot thinner and more manageable.

EDIT: Congrats on the new iMac.

 

[CaptRB]

BTW...I've got 5K next to 4K.

99% of the time no one can see a difference.



R.

 

[cynics]

BTW...I've got 5K next to 4K.

99% of the time no one can see a difference.



R.

Thats just the resolution which is highly variable due to screen size. We see "sharpness" based on PPI. A 4k screen can look the same or even noticeably sharper if its small enough (higher PPI).

 

[CaptRB]

The point is that I have a Dell 4K next to the Apple 5K. Both 27"
Do people look at the 5K and say, "Wow, what an upgrade!"

Nope.


R.

 

[tarsins]

The point is that I have a Dell 4K next to the Apple 5K. Both 27"
Do people look at the 5K and say, "Wow, what an upgrade!"

Which Dell monitor and cable do you have? Some people are saying that the Apple USBC>Displayport doesn't work and they have to buy a third-party one.

 

[CaptRB]

Which Dell monitor and cable do you have? Some people are saying that the Apple USBC>Displayport doesn't work and they have to buy a third-party one.

Dell Ultra HD 4k Monitor P2715Q

Works perfectly with the new iMac.

side-by-side its pretty tough call to say which is better. The Dell has a matte finish that is certainly better for my photography. I pulled up some 5K & 6K video and it's tough to see any significant difference. A bigger screen would likely show the advantage better. The Mac may have a tiny edge in dynamic range, but I'm not positive about that until I match them more closely. The Dell is a killer screen for about 450 bucks. No way would I buy the ugly LG 5K unless it was somewhere near the same price, which of course it eventually will be. And the Dell even rotates to vertical usage and rotates at the base AND can be made higher or lower. It's just a better option if you need a 2nd screen.


R.

 

[tarsins]

The P2715Q is on my shortlist. Are you using the Apple cable or a third-party one?

 

[CaptRB]

The P2715Q is on my shortlist. Are you using the Apple cable or a third-party one?

I think the cable I ordered came from Monoprice, but I may using the one from somewhere else at this point...it's just the display port from monitor to USB-C and works perfectly.

R.

 

[torana355]

After the horrible Image retention I had on my 2012 27" iMac I'm not touching another one till I know they have resolved the issues. We also have the IR on all my iMacs at work. Hopefully the 5k panels are free of the problem.

 

[BWhaler]

Congrats on your new Mac

 

[TheMadBrewer]

Speaking of 2nd monitors. I have an older 20" Apple Cinema display, from like 15 years ago, that I use as one now. It suits my needs as far as a way to keep imessage, calculators and other things off my main screen. It's currently hooked up to my 24" through a VGA adapter from LONG ago. Anyone know what type of cable\adapter will be needed to connect it to the new 27"?

Thanks.

I got my new iMac on Friday. My old one was from early 2012 so not so old as some, but still getting a bit long in the tooth.

A few years ago I hooked an old Samsung 25" DVI monitor as a "convenience" monitor -- by that I mean I mostly just dragged windows/app that I wanted to monitor progress on, or sometimes stream a video I was only half paying attention to while working on the main monitor (did this a lot with a MLB subscription).

Since apple doesn't have a USB-C to DVI adapter, I bought a third party one that was decently rated on Amazon. Didn't work. Bought another, more expensive: didn't work. Starting to get a bit pissed off, I bought a USB-C to Mini Display Port and then just plugged the old MiniDP to DVI adapter into that. No joy.

So I noticed that the monitor actually had a VGA port as well. The first adapter I bought actually had DVI, VGA (and i think HDMI) so I went thru my box of junk I've been meaning to get rid of and lo, there was a male-to-male VGA cable. Plugged it all in and it worked!

So I guess the moral is if you are going to go old school on an external monitor, go really old school

 

[CaptRB]

After the horrible Image retention I had on my 2012 27" iMac I'm not touching another one till I know they have resolved the issues. We also have the IR on all my iMacs at work. Hopefully the 5k panels are free of the problem.

Hmmmm...I work with a bunch of these machines and never saw image retention.

R.