I Ordered My Retina iMac High End What did you get?

[tillsbury]

On holiday at the moment, so saw this while grabbing some free wifi at a coffee shop two days ago. Instant order, maxed out (with the extended keyboard and magic trackpad, because I've already got the normal keyboard and magic mouse and find them awful to use).

Count yourself lucky guys, the maxed out here is NZ$6149 even with education discount, which is US$4857. But at least we don't need applecare so I suppose there's a tiny silver lining.

Anyone asking why you would need 5k, or calling it eye candy, doesn't have a rMBP. I've been waiting for a retina desktop since the day my ipad3 arrived. My only complaint is that it's only a 27" display and that will be a serious step backwards.

I can't understand why people would hate on the graphics. My day 1 rMBP runs perfectly smoothly with a crummy old GT650M. It still runs perfectly smoothly with two external 2560 monitors and HDMI (totalling very close to the same number of pixels as the 5k retina, but over four screens). And under Bootcamp it runs most Windows games perfectly acceptably at HD resolution or above. I'm sure the 2Gb graphics will do the job fine, and the 4Gb will do everything I'll want it to.

Now to wait for the shipping... probably won't arrive until end of month because of Apple dire choice of carrier over here. Ah well...

 

[boast]

 

[Lankyman]

On holiday at the moment, so saw this while grabbing some free wifi at a coffee shop two days ago. Instant order, maxed out (with the extended keyboard and magic trackpad, because I've already got the normal keyboard and magic mouse and find them awful to use).

Count yourself lucky guys, the maxed out here is NZ$6149 even with education discount, which is US$4857. But at least we don't need applecare so I suppose there's a tiny silver lining.

Anyone asking why you would need 5k, or calling it eye candy, doesn't have a rMBP. I've been waiting for a retina desktop since the day my ipad3 arrived. My only complaint is that it's only a 27" display and that will be a serious step backwards.

I can't understand why people would hate on the graphics. My day 1 rMBP runs perfectly smoothly with a crummy old GT650M. It still runs perfectly smoothly with two external 2560 monitors and HDMI (totalling very close to the same number of pixels as the 5k retina, but over four screens). And under Bootcamp it runs most Windows games perfectly acceptably at HD resolution or above. I'm sure the 2Gb graphics will do the job fine, and the 4Gb will do everything I'll want it to.

Now to wait for the shipping... probably won't arrive until end of month because of Apple dire choice of carrier over here. Ah well...

Hmm! let me think about this one. I seem to remember TC boasting about what a great year this was going to be for Apple - let me see.

They release a dumbed down iMac
They release a dumbed down Mac Mini
They release a new iPhone which is basically the 5s on steroids
They upgrade the screen to 5K on a couple of the larger iMacs phew!
They finally get round to upgrading the Pro
Super thin iPad is still an iPad.
Oh yes, mustn't forget the watch!

Where are the innovative new products? As I said before eye candy. Apple have become a company more focused on bling.

It may suit plenty of the younger consumers who simply want to impress but it doesn't impress me. I think Apple realise they can't replace SJ so are taking the company in a different direction.

 

[nionelle]

It may suit plenty of the younger consumers who simply want to impress but it doesn't impress me.

Without wishing to feed the troll, what would have impressed you this year? 5k is a world first, yes many of the other upgrades have been revisions but even Apple can only work with the tech that exists right now.

People wanted big iPhones - done, people wanted Retina iMacs - done. Investors wanted new product categories - done with the iWatch.

I'm not saying it's been a legendary year but there have been decent upgrades across the board.

 

[Designer Dale]

For people still wondering about ram upgradability on the 5k machine, OWC is already selling it.

RAM Modules for 5K iMac

Dale

 

[Train]

I bought a rMBP last year and absolutely loved the display, but I found myself using my old 21,5" iMac (Early 2011, base model) much more often. So I sold the rMBP and waited desperately for the release of the Retina iMac.

My specs are:

- 4.0GHz QC i7 Turboboost 4.4GHz
- 8GB 1600MHz DDR3 SDRAM-2X4GB
- 3TB Fusion Dr (3TB+128GBFlash)
- AMD Radeon R9 M295X 4GB GDDR5

Bought it right after the keynote with 16 GB of RAM and the base processor but then cancelled and reordered when I learned that the RAM is user accessible. I plan on upgrading the RAM to 16 GB right now and perhaps 32 GB in a couple of years.

I would have gone with the 1 TB SSD if I had the money, but the Fusion drive will be just fine as the hard drive in my 21,5" iMac is already fast enough for me. Plus, I can get rid of the 3 external hard drives currently attached to my iMac now.

 

[kendrickhphoto]

For people still wondering about ram upgradability on the 5k machine, OWC is already selling it.



RAM Modules for 5K iMac



Dale

Just my .02 but I'd go with the Crucial RAM.

I made a post about it here:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1803637/

 

[SchneiderMan]

What about 3rd party ram recommendations? I usually get OWC's version. Is there anywhere else to consider with top notch name brand ram that might be less?

Crucial RAM is best. These kits will work just fine with it and they're cheaper than OWC - http://amzn.to/1qRLFka Ordered 32GB to upgrade myself.

My order:

 

[mgb1120]

Looking to replace my 27" i5 2009 iMac 2.66 ghz, looking at the 27" retina, would I be able to tell a difference between the i7 4 ghz and 3.5ghz i5? Also would you recommend 16gb ram vs the 8? Basic home use, some video/cs4 use, everyday computer!

Thank you in advance

 

[karmamule]

Looking to replace my 27" i5 2009 iMac 2.66 ghz, looking at the 27" retina, would I be able to tell a difference between the i7 4 ghz and 3.5ghz i5? Also would you recommend 16gb ram vs the 8? Basic home use, some video/cs4 use, everyday computer!

Thank you in advance

When buying a higher end product I like to max it out to the extent my budget allows to ensure it has as long a useful lifespan as possible. You can save a bit of money if comfortable buying & installing the extra RAM yourself. Even if your use is "basic" now, future OS' will be more demanding, and you never know when you'll develop an interest in something that'll put more of a strain on your iMac.

There's an awful lot of pixels to be pushed around, so give yourself some breathing room for the future!

 

[mgb1120]

When buying a higher end product I like to max it out to the extent my budget allows to ensure it has as long a useful lifespan as possible. You can save a bit of money if comfortable buying & installing the extra RAM yourself. Even if your use is "basic" now, future OS' will be more demanding, and you never know when you'll develop an interest in something that'll put more of a strain on your iMac.

There's an awful lot of pixels to be pushed around, so give yourself some breathing room for the future!

Would you go with the i7 & 16gb ram? That's what I'm leaning towards

 

[pasadena]

Would you go with the i7 & 16gb ram? That's what I'm leaning towards

Don't waste your money on the RAM. If you have $200 to spare, upgrading the GPU is a MUCH better idea.

You can get additional RAM at Crucial for half the price Apple charges for it. I bought a 16GB kit for $140 - I'll be at 24GB for $60 less than the Apple price for 16GB.

A 8GB kit will cost you less than $100. That's half of what Apple charges.

If $400 is all you have for upgrades, get the CPU and GPU, then you can always buy more RAM later.

 

[am011288]

I thought of not upgrading RAM at first. But, eventually I did because I did not want to mix different brands RAM and give Apple an excuse later if something goes wrong.

So, if I were buying RAM from third party, that 8 gigs of stock ram in imac would be useless...so in that way, I'm paying almost same amount for 16 gigs

 

[mgb1120]

Don't waste your money on the RAM. If you have $200 to spare, upgrading the GPU is a MUCH better idea.

You can get additional RAM at Crucial for half the price Apple charges for it. I bought a 16GB kit for $140 - I'll be at 24GB for $60 less than the Apple price for 16GB.

A 8GB kit will cost you less than $100. That's half of what Apple charges.

If $400 is all you have for upgrades, get the CPU and GPU, then you can always buy more RAM later.

Good call thanks for the advice!

 

[pasadena]

I thought of not upgrading RAM at first. But, eventually I did because I did not want to mix different brands RAM and give Apple an excuse later if something goes wrong.

The RAM is user-accessible. You can change it and they can't say anything. At worst they'll ask you to go back to the stock RAM and see if your problem is solved.

So, if I were buying RAM from third party, that 8 gigs of stock ram in imac would be useless...so in that way, I'm paying almost same amount for 16 gigs

No, If you buy a 2-sticks kit, you can use it in addition to the stock RAM.

In my case, since I bought 2x8 = 16GB from Crucial, I'll have 16+8 = 24GB total, for $60 less than the price I'd have paid Apple to go up to 16Gb.

 

[am011288]

The RAM is user-accessible. You can change it and they can't say anything. At worst they'll ask you to go back to the stock RAM and see if your problem is solved.



No, If you buy a 2-sticks kit, you can use it in addition to the stock RAM.

In my case, since I bought 2x8 = 16GB from Crucial, I'll have 16+8 = 24GB total, for $60 less than the price I'd have paid Apple to go up to 16Gb.

Ofcourse you can use any combination that's possible. U can even use different RAM sizes in those 4 slots, although that's also not advisable. I keep my point because my brother works with Apple Care protection team and he advised me not to mix different brands as that has caused people trouble in the past as Apple has refused to fix their iMac's under Apple care free repair service.

 

[lewisd25]

I thought of not upgrading RAM at first. But, eventually I did because I did not want to mix different brands RAM and give Apple an excuse later if something goes wrong.

So, if I were buying RAM from third party, that 8 gigs of stock ram in imac would be useless...so in that way, I'm paying almost same amount for 16 gigs

You can always buy 32gigs of Crucial memory, then sell the stock 8gigs on ebay or cragslist...

 

[am011288]

Yep...that sounds like a good plan

Anyway, Apple already made my purchase worthwhile by giving me a free trackpad and expedited shipping worth $100. So, I'm happy

 

[WizardHunt]

Well folks guess what? Mine is in Prepared for Shipment Mode. Yippee!!!

 

[SchneiderMan]

I thought of not upgrading RAM at first. But, eventually I did because I did not want to mix different brands RAM and give Apple an excuse later if something goes wrong.

So, if I were buying RAM from third party, that 8 gigs of stock ram in imac would be useless...so in that way, I'm paying almost same amount for 16 gigs

That's why you keep the stock 8GB included with your iMac in case you want to troubleshoot or if you want to bring in your iMac for support. Don't mix RAM brands, just purchase a Crucial 16GB kit or even two if you want to max out the RAM.

 

[maclove4life]

I ordered my 5K iMac earlier today...This will be my first apple "desktop"

Image

are you planning to use external hard drive as your main?

 

[tillsbury]

They release a dumbed down iMac
They release a dumbed down Mac Mini
They release a new iPhone which is basically the 5s on steroids
They upgrade the screen to 5K on a couple of the larger iMacs phew!
They finally get round to upgrading the Pro
Super thin iPad is still an iPad.
Oh yes, mustn't forget the watch!

Where are the innovative new products? As I said before eye candy. Apple have become a company more focused on bling.

This isn't just pessimistic, it's complete nonsense.

"Dumbed down imac"? Just because you don't want to buy one doesn't make it a bad machine. A couple of my friends earlier this year asked about Macs, and both ended up choosing the cheapest 21" iMac ($2k over here). Both of them would have done fine with the new 1.4GHz iMac, as they don't even have the faintest inkling of a requirement to process video or play games. The new iMac is $1.5k. That's a big difference, it means that an iMac is now just fifty per cent more expensive than an ordinary PC, rather than double the price. They'll get a heap more customers for the iMac in this way. It's a very clever move.

There is a reasonable and expected upgrade to the Mac mini, and interpreting the new models as "dumbed down" is again plain wrong. They're better in almost every way.

As I said before, the Retina iMac perhaps isn't perfect, but it's about as close as you can get if your requirement is for a powerful desktop but you don't need a gaming PC or a video or graphics workstation.

"The ipad is still an ipad"? What did you want it to be?

Nice troll from a hater, but you're not getting anywhere posting nonsense.

 

[OurDarkness]

Image

Congratulations on your purchase!

That's precisely the configuration I am interested in... will upgrade to 32 GB later.

I am going to be using mine with audio production, Cubase 7.5 and/or Logic Pro X. I think it will be more than enough graphics-wise, no? What do you guys think?

 

[bwsteg]

Yep...that sounds like a good plan

Anyway, Apple already made my purchase worthwhile by giving me a free trackpad and expedited shipping worth $100. So, I'm happy

Care to explain how you got those free items from Apple?

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are you planning to use external hard drive as your main?

No, 256GB is more than enough for me. I currently have 128GB on both my macbook air and PC desktop which is more than enough for me..

256gb is perfect for my usage...

 

[Lankyman]

Without wishing to feed the troll, what would have impressed you this year? 5k is a world first, yes many of the other upgrades have been revisions but even Apple can only work with the tech that exists right now.

People wanted big iPhones - done, people wanted Retina iMacs - done. Investors wanted new product categories - done with the iWatch.

I'm not saying it's been a legendary year but there have been decent upgrades across the board.

I note your comment regarding troll if a post doesn't meet with your own views - pretty tolerant of you.

Which people wanted larger iPhones? I note many of the posters in the iPhone forum were saying that 4" was enough phone for most users when the 5s was released. Fickle or what? I'm more than happy with my mid-2011 iMac screen, ditto my iPad 2 and given the amount of users that still have the iPad 2, I guess they're also happy.

All these improvements are are tweaks to what we already have. Where are the breakthrough products?

A cynic might argue that the lower specs on a number of items is designed to get the consumer to spend more to get them where they wanted to be in the first place, which might just have been the previous base model. That's what a cynic might argue.

Still I'm sure you will still be happy, there again it might be that you are just easily pleased.

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There is a reasonable and expected upgrade to the Mac mini, and interpreting the new models as "dumbed down" is again plain wrong. They're better in almost every way.

Go and tell that to the guys on the Mini forum next door. They've waited 2 years for the 'upgrade' cough! and they all seem pretty ecstatic - not.