Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

iMac 5K late 2015, i5 or i7 for normal home use?

B

Bader

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 8, 2010
15
0
I'm about to buy a late 2015 iMac 5K in 10 days, my current computer is a late 2008 MacBook my usage for the had been only for normal home use like browsing, watching videos.

I'm interested to buy in iMac this time, but I am confused between getting an i5 3.3 GHz or i7 4.0 GHz!

I sometimes tell my self that an i5 should be enough for since I'm going to use it for normal use (browsing, watching videos, but I'll never use it for photo or video editing and etc), and sometimes I tell myself that an i7 can be great for me in order to be future proof, but ordering an i7 will take ages to arrive in my country, while the i5 is readily available.

What would you say guys, should I go for an i5 or i7?

Thank you in advance
Best regard :)
 
Bader said:
I'm about to buy a late 2015 iMac 5K in 10 days, my current computer is a late 2008 MacBook my usage for the had been only for normal home use like browsing, watching videos.

I'm interested to buy in iMac this time, but I am confused between getting an i5 3.3 GHz or i7 4.0 GHz!

I sometimes tell my self that an i5 should be enough for since I'm going to use it for normal use (browsing, watching videos, but I'll never use it for photo or video editing and etc), and sometimes I tell myself that an i7 can be great for me in order to be future proof, but ordering an i7 will take ages to arrive in my country, while the i5 is readily available.

What would you say guys, should I go for an i5 or i7?

Thank you in advance
Best regard :)
Click to expand...


For your usage, just get get the cheapest model 27" i5. Spend the extra money you would have wasted on upgrades on other stuff.
 
Thank you for your kind responses. I think I'll be getting a 3.3 GHz i5. Would you suggest me to upgrade the ram, or just keep it at 8gb?
 
Definitely keep the RAM at 8GB. Apple charges too much for their RAM. If you need more RAM at it is easy and inexpensive to upgrade yourself.
 
Bader said:
Thank you for your kind responses. I think I'll be getting a 3.3 GHz i5. Would you suggest me to upgrade the ram, or just keep it at 8gb?
Click to expand...
Keep the 8GB, there's no reason to upgrade to 16GB
 
Bader said:
Thank you for your kind responses. I think I'll be getting a 3.3 GHz i5. Would you suggest me to upgrade the ram, or just keep it at 8gb?
Click to expand...

Keep it at 8GB from the sounds of it thats more than enough for your usage. Make sure you get some sort of decent SSD is my only advice, so 2TB fusion drive or a pure SSD set up are your best options.
 
  • Like
Reactions: maflynn
Samuelsan2001 said:
Keep it at 8GB from the sounds of it thats more than enough for your usage. Make sure you get some sort of decent SSD is my only advice, so 2TB fusion drive or a pure SSD set up are your best options.
Click to expand...

I'm planning on getting 2tb Fusion Drive!
 
Bader said:
I'm planning on getting 2tb Fusion Drive!
Click to expand...
Given that the 2TB has 128GB of flash storage I think that's a good idea. I too went with that option. The SSD upgrade was too pricey, i.e., my data would not fit on a 512GB SSD (and I didn't want to deal with external drives).
 
Bader said:
Thank you for your kind responses. I think I'll be getting a 3.3 GHz i5. Would you suggest me to upgrade the ram, or just keep it at 8gb?
Click to expand...


One more thing to consider is if you even need an iMac for basic usage anymore. I never used to recommend an iPad over an iMac for a main computer, but with the arrival of the iPad Pro, it makes more sense to get a tablet if all you are doing is browsing and watching youtube videos etc.

Browsing and watching videos is so much better tucked up on a comfortable chair than sitting at a computer desk.
 
Last edited:
If you're one of those folks who normally has like 50 tabs open in a browser, you might consider going with a little more RAM.

For me, I like to future-proof my RAM in a computer and start with plenty of it; I like things running smoothly.

As for the CPU, the i5 should be plenty good enough for your needs.
 
SandboxGeneral said:
If you're one of those folks who normally has like 50 tabs open in a browser, you might consider going with a little more RAM
Click to expand...

Sometimes buggy web processes can leak memory like a sieve; having extra ram can delay the inevitable. 16 gb is quite comfortable for serious web browsing.
 
  • Like
Reactions: cycledance
Macmamamac said:
One more thing to consider is if you even need an iMac for basic usage anymore. I never used to recommend an iPad over an iMac for a main computer, but with the arrival of the iPad Pro, it makes more sense to get a tablet if all you are doing is browsing and watching youtube videos etc.

Browsing and watching videos is so much better tucked up on a comfortable chair than sitting at a computer desk.
Click to expand...

I understand what you mean. But I'm getting an iMac as a replacement for my old MacBook, and also I'm planning on getting the next iPad when it comes out :)
 
maflynn said:
Given that the 2TB has 128GB of flash storage I think that's a good idea. I too went with that option. The SSD upgrade was too pricey, i.e., my data would not fit on a 512GB SSD (and I didn't want to deal with external drives).
Click to expand...

Is the 128GB SSD storage part or apart of the 2TB storage?
 
Mine is coming soon, can you give me your initial thoughts on it. Happy with your purchase?
 
I bought an i5 version last week and couldn't be happier. 3.3ghz/M395/2tb/8gb, from stock at the Apple store, no waiting.
 
MadDane said:
Physically it is a 2TB HDD and a 128GB SSD in addition to that.
Click to expand...

Bader said:
That's great!
Click to expand...

I wonder why the SSD of the 2TB FusionDrive has a so much slower writing speed than the larger ones.

The iMac I returned had a 2TB FusionDrive what I split up. I ran a speed test on the SSD and the HDD.

Here is the result for the SSD:

128.png


And that's my current 1TB SSD (from what I saw here in the forums there is no real difference to the 256 and 512GB SSD):

1TB.png
 
Erdbeertorte said:
I wonder why the SSD of the 2TB FusionDrive has a so much slower writing speed than the larger ones.

The iMac I returned had a 2TB FusionDrive what I split up. I ran a speed test on the SSD and the HDD.

Here is the result for the SSD:

View attachment 608870

And that's my current 1TB SSD (from what I saw here in the forums there is no real difference to the 256 and 512GB SSD):

View attachment 608875
Click to expand...
Did you also make a speed test of the HDD after splitting then up?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back