How long will late '12 iMac last me?

[greenbreadmmm]

This this hasnt even began to show signs of slowing down and while looking at how little the '12 - 13' has changed and how processor upgrades have slowed over the last year... Basically I'm asking will i get a healthy 4-5 years out of this beast? (3.4 i7, 16gb, 680mx) I do graphic design, mostly photoshop, illustrator and indesign. Occasionally i do after effects.

I know people will say it'll last until you notice it getting slow, but i guess normally at close to 20 months old computers start to slow a bit and this thing has held strong, so was just curious if this is cause technology has finally started to peak or what ? What will show its age first, my gfx card or what?

thanks in advance and sorry for the run on thoughts

 

[MartinAppleGuy]

This this hasnt even began to show signs of slowing down and while looking at how little the '12 - 13' has changed and how processor upgrades have slowed over the last year... Basically I'm asking will i get a healthy 4-5 years out of this beast? (3.4 i7, 16gb, 680mx) I do graphic design, mostly photoshop, illustrator and indesign. Occasionally i do after effects.

I know people will say it'll last until you notice it getting slow, but i guess normally at close to 20 months old computers start to slow a bit and this thing has held strong, so was just curious if this is cause technology has finally started to peak or what ? What will show its age first, my gfx card or what?

thanks in advance and sorry for the run on thoughts

Yes, you will last 5+ years. After Effects is probably the only task that might not be so great in 5 years time. I personally would say that you men tire machine would show it's age one day, not a single part first. You should be fine with your usage and that spec for a long time.

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And if you wish to to last until your iMac no longer works, current software will always run well on your machine. If what you do can be done in CS6 or CC, then it will perform just the same in many years to come. I would recommend not upgrading the OS after the 4th of so year so that then the performance should never lower.

 

[mojolicious]

Basically I'm asking will i get a healthy 4-5 years out of this beast? (3.4 i7, 16gb, 680mx) I do graphic design, mostly photoshop, illustrator and indesign. Occasionally i do after effects.

If you *have* to keep current with Adobe apps then it's conceivable that in 4-5 years' time Creative Suite 8 will run like a dog.

From personal experience a more likely scenario is that browsers and browser plug-ins will outstrip your CPU/GPU, leading to a gradual degradation of your online experience to the point that web browsing becomes impossible. Additionally there's the possibility of lack of security updates once the latest available OS becomes unsupported.