Help me decide on which iMac

[dmcfarlan]

I currently have access to a iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2014)
3.5 GHz Intel Core i5
24 GB 1600 MHz DDR3 with
1.12 TB Fusion Drive
I can purchase the above system for around $1,000 from the company I used to work for.

Or I can buy:
APPLE IMAC 21.5-INCH RETINA 4K W.APPLECARE (3.3GHZ CORE I7 QUAD CORE, 16GB RAM, 500GB SSD) Late 2015

I edit video and the top system does ok, but struggles with 4k video. I am leaning towards the bottom system, because I travel some and I can fly with the 21.5 inch system. My question is, would the bottom system be any faster?

 

[Glmnet1]

I currently have access to a iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2014)
3.5 GHz Intel Core i5
24 GB 1600 MHz DDR3 with
1.12 TB Fusion Drive
I can purchase the above system for around $1,000 from the company I used to work for.

Or I can buy:
APPLE IMAC 21.5-INCH RETINA 4K W.APPLECARE (3.3GHZ CORE I7 QUAD CORE, 16GB RAM, 500GB SSD) Late 2015

I edit video and the top system does ok, but struggles with 4k video. I am leaning towards the bottom system, because I travel some and I can fly with the 21.5 inch system. My question is, would the bottom system be any faster?

Yes, the bottom system would be faster. The cpu is better and it has an SSD. I don't know how it will handle 4k.

OTOH, it has less RAM and no way to upgrade it. It also has a much smaller screen which would be a dealbreaker for me but if it's a good thing for you because you bring it on a plane then definitely the bottom one is a better choice. A laptop seems like a better option for travel though!

 

[dmcfarlan]

Yes, the bottom system would be faster. The cpu is better and it has an SSD. I don't know how it will handle 4k.

OTOH, it has less RAM and no way to upgrade it. It also has a much smaller screen which would be a dealbreaker for me but if it's a good thing for you because you bring it on a plane then definitely the bottom one is a better choice. A laptop seems like a better option for travel though!

If I go with the smaller screen I plan on buying a 27 in 4k monitor to use with it. Not sure if I could get a laptop as fast in the same price range. This would be my full time system.

 

[cynics]

For video editing I would go with the 5k. Not only is the performance of the CPU's somewhat marginal but the 5k has a dedicated graphics card. The biggest gain in video editing performance doesn't come from which video card more then it comes from having one so the work isn't being done by the CPU's integrated graphics.

Overall system performance will feel snappier on the 2015 due to its SSD but only if the HDD portion of the Fusion drive is being leveraged.

Still given those options and knowing it was for video editing I would pick the 2014 5K just because it has dedicated graphics.

 

[maflynn]

I'm no video editor, but I would think the 27" display would be a better option, i.e., more screen real estate. Plus the 5k iMac has superior components to make it a faster computer.