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I am considering getting a base 5K iMac with a fusion drive.

T

TazExprez

macrumors regular
Original poster
Feb 4, 2010
136
30
New York
I have been thinking about getting a new Mac for quite some time to upgrade my base C2D 2.4GHz MBP 13 2010. I was thinking about getting a 2017 base MBP 13 with 16GB RAM and a 256GB SSD. I really wanted a quad core i5, at least, and a better video card, so I ended up with a Dell Inspiron 15 7000 Gaming during the Memorial Day sales. I bought the Dell before the 2017 Macs where announced, but I had time to return it after the Apple announcement. This laptop has a 7300HQ quad core i5 and a 1050Ti 4GB video card.

I have been eyeing the base 2017 5K iMac for a while now. I really wanted to get it with an SSD, instead of the 1TB fusion drive. Best Buy, Amazon, and others, currently have it for about $1,600.00, which is the lowest I have seen it for. If I decide to get this from Apple with a 256GB SSD, it will cost me $1,789.00 from the Education Store. I have about $80.00 on my Amazon gift card balance, so I would actually save almost $300.00 by buying the base 5K iMac from Amazon. I would like to know if the fusion drive would slow this computer down too much? I want to use it for video editing and web and app development. I have already started doing web development and my current MBP is good for that. Amazon does not have the base iMac in stock right now, but you can still order it and they will ship it later.

Thanks a lot for any help and have a nice day.
 
Why not Apple refurb?Usually available about once a week, $1609 3.4ghz, 8gb ram, 256gb SSD.Use the website Refurbme or Refurb Tracker to alert you when available.
 
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psymac said:
Why not Apple refurb?Usually available about once a week, $1609 3.4ghz, 8gb ram, 256gb SSD.Use the website Refurbme or Refurb Tracker to alert you when available.
Click to expand...

I have been looking at the Apple refurb store for months, but I do not recall ever seeing that configuration. I will have to track it down. Thanks for the tracking services.
 
TazExprez said:
I have been looking at the Apple refurb store for months, but I do not recall ever seeing that configuration. I will have to track it down. Thanks for the tracking services.
Click to expand...
Sure, good luck with that. They were available just yesterday, but sell out really fast, usually within the hour.

Another option if you want new and if you live in a sales tax state, is Adorama, $1879-$75 Apple Insider coupon, $1804 (as Amazon and Apple both charge sales tax).

If you do have to go with a Fusion Drive, I’d suggest not getting anything less than 2TB as they have a 128GB SSD while the 1 TB has only a 32GB.
 
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psymac said:
Sure, good luck with that. They were available just yesterday, but sell out really fast, usually within the hour.

Another option if you want new and if you live in a sales tax state, is Adorama, $1879-$75 Apple Insider coupon, $1804 (as Amazon and Apple both charge sales tax).

If you do have to go with a Fusion Drive, I’d suggest not getting anything less than 2TB as they have a 128GB SSD while the 1 TB has only a 32GB.
Click to expand...

I just set up an alert with each service. I noticed that the Apple store site is down right now. Maybe we get some good deals when it goes live again. I live in New York, so Adorama charges me taxes.
 
As mentioned above, the 2tb fusion option is FAR better than the 1tb because the 1tb fusion setup has only a 32gb SSD/flash portion, whereas the 2tb fusion setup has 128gb SSD/flash.

Even better would be a straight SSD.
But this has to be "custom ordered" through Apple's build-to-order program online.
More effort and more waiting but -- better performance in the long run.
 
Thanks a lot. I decided on the base model with a 256GB SSD. The last two computers that I bought have both come with SSDs and I will not go back to spinning drives. Now I am just waiting on the Apple refurb store to get some of these iMacs in stock. I was considering getting this iMac during the back to school sale and I should have gotten it then. This was probably the best sale of the year. This year Apple was giving away free Beats headphones valued at $300.00, along with education pricing. Now you get a $150.00 gift card, but no education pricing.

Has Apple done a Cyber Monday sale?
 
Anyone looking for new Macs check B&H and Adorama. I got our iMacs for $150 off and no shipping or sales tax.
 
Sometimes maybe true, but not usually for BTO models where Apple refurbished are often the better deal despite sales tax.
 
psymac said:
Sometimes maybe true, but not usually for BTO models where Apple refurbished are often the better deal despite sales tax.
Click to expand...

I could basically only order from Apple because I want a 256GB SSD and none of the prebuilt systems have this. A site, like Portable One, will customize an iMac for you, but it will cost you more than at Apple's education store, and you cannot return a custom system to Portable One.

I'll just wait on the refurb store.
 
I just missed a refurb today. It was on sale this Monday from 4:58PM to 6:08PM EST. I have to check my email constantly. Refurb Tracker sent me an email at 4:59PM EST, but I checked it about 4 hours later. RefurbMe never contacted me.

I'll keep checking for a few more weeks. If I can't find one, I'll just try to find a sale on the base one that comes with 3.8, 2TB Fusion, and a Radeon 580. I could have gotten that for about $2,000.00, plus taxes, from Amazon today. They had it for $2,099.00 and I have around $80.00 in a gift card balance.
 
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IMHO Don't get a fusion as I don't see APFS ever coming to spinning disks let alone fusion setups; if you need extra space have a hard disk hooked up via USB3 and keep the internal storage SSD.
 
TazExprez said:
I just missed a refurb today. It was on sale this Monday from 4:58PM to 6:08PM EST. I have to check my email constantly. Refurb Tracker sent me an email at 4:59PM EST, but I checked it about 4 hours later. RefurbMe never contacted me.

I'll keep checking for a few more weeks. If I can't find one, I'll just try to find a sale on the base one that comes with 3.8, 2TB Fusion, and a Radeon 580. I could have gotten that for about $2,000.00, plus taxes, from Amazon today. They had it for $2,099.00 and I have around $80.00 in a gift card balance.
Click to expand...

Yes, they sell out really quickly, sometimes within a few minutes. I did go ahead and purchase the configuration you noted above from a long time eBay seller for $1900 shipped, sealed new with Apple warranty and no tax, PM me if interested. I’ll see how it goes and then most likely defuse the SSD and HD, and then perhaps get a fast SSD external drive when the price goes down in a year or so.
 
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I'm guessing it's pretty rare to find a refurbished unit with SSD drive given these are BTO?

Was looking at either base 27" or top 21.5"
I know the 27" is the better buy, but I still think it's a bit too large. I have a 24" display and it's ideal.
 
TazExprez said:
I just missed a refurb today. It was on sale this Monday from 4:58PM to 6:08PM EST. I have to check my email constantly. Refurb Tracker sent me an email at 4:59PM EST, but I checked it about 4 hours later. RefurbMe never contacted me.

I'll keep checking for a few more weeks. If I can't find one, I'll just try to find a sale on the base one that comes with 3.8, 2TB Fusion, and a Radeon 580. I could have gotten that for about $2,000.00, plus taxes, from Amazon today. They had it for $2,099.00 and I have around $80.00 in a gift card balance.
Click to expand...
Boom!

https://www.apple.com/shop/product/...play?afid=p231|camref:ikL2&cid=AOS-US-AFF-PHG
 
TazExprez said:
I have been looking at the Apple refurb store for months, but I do not recall ever seeing that configuration. I will have to track it down. Thanks for the tracking services.
Click to expand...

This is exactly what I got about a month ago. I saw it in the refurb store one day when I was just starting to research what I wanted a made a note, didn't realize at the time it was rarely in stock. Once I decided this was "the one" it took about 3 weeks for it to be in stock again and I jumped on it.

I checked the store multiple times a day (I bookmarked it so this wasn't too much trouble). I noticed that around 8pm EST the store seemed to be refreshed and that's when I ended up getting mine.

I did see a 3.5ghz with the 256 gb SSD pop up a couple times.... I want to say it was around $1775. Good luck!!
 
I’m getting my 3.8ghz/2TB model delivered on Friday, and wanted the faster processor and also especially the better GPU for future proofing. I may be overconfident, but I’m willing to take a chance that the 2TB fusion Drive maybe good enough for my purposes or go ahead and diffuse the drive and have at least a 128 GB SSD temporarily until external T3 SSD solutions come down in price.

The difference between the 3.4/256 and 3.8/2TB models after tax is only about $180, which I couldn’t pass up, in spite of all the dire advice to avoid fusion drives at all costs. I decided I didn’t want to lose a faster processor and a much better GPU new iMac for just an added 128GB SSD in a refurbished unit.

Let’s hope my assumptions are correct and I’ll be happy with the fusion drive/128GB SSD, I will post some benchmarks when it arrives.
 
Just skip the FD. Either save more money, or try and play with configurations. IMO, a 512 SSD with an external 3.0 platter is a good option. I have an SSD in my 27” 7600K. I can’t imagine ever going back to a platter. As others have mentioned if you go FD you MUST go at least 2TB for any improvement. :apple:
 
Agreed. Go 512 SSD for boot, OS, apps, caches..etc. You external drives for libraries of documents, pictures, videos...etc. Besides the library drive you also need another external drives as the Time Machine or CCC backup of the entire file system.
 
I highly recommend getting a 512GB SSD.
I know youll think it may be too much money compared to the fusion drive but it will pay off in the long run.
 
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