iMac 5K Retina 27-Inch 2017 (32GB RAM + 1TB Fusion) for $770 USD. Is this a good deal?

[TheOutlier]

I found a iMac 2017 27-inch Retina 5K with the following specs for $770 USD.

* i5 3.5GHz (quad-core)
* 32GB 2400MHz DDR4 RAM
* 1TB Fusion
* Radeon Pro 575 4GB DDR5
* Comes with Apple Magic Keyboard (Space Grey)

Is this a good deal? Is it worth buying in 2022? Going to be using it for some 3D and motion design work.

 

[ryanmillercg]

If you consider that 5k monitors on their own (like the LG Ultrafine 5k) sell for about that much, if not more, then it's certainly not a bad deal. The specs are fair; i5 should be plenty fast for a while, 1TB fusion isn't as good as an SSD, Radeon 575 is perfectly acceptable for moderate 3d work / video editing / light gaming.

If your current work is well-suited to the CPU/RAM/HDD/GPU of this machine, then I'd say that's a good-to-great price.

Holding out for an equivalent Apple Silicon based 27" iMac this fall is certain to cost you something like 3x as much.

 

[wilberforce]

I wouldn't buy anything with a Fusion drive. Slow and prone to failure.

 

[gpat]

I would get it. Would make for a very good Windows desktop at the very least.
Prepare yourself to swap the drive, nonetheless.

 

[TheOutlier]

Yes, I do plan on using a Samsung T5 SSD drive instead of the Fusion drive. Performance-wise, does this machine still hold up in 2022?

 

[Juicy Box]

Performance-wise, does this machine still hold up in 2022?

Totally depends on what you plan on doing with it and how fast you need it to be.

I do have a M1 Mac Mini that I got last spring, but prior to that, my main Mac was a max out BTO Late 2012 27" iMac.

If I didn't get my M1 Mac, I could totally and comfortably get by with my Late 2012 iMac (that year with the 3rd Gen i7 and 680MX was a beast).

Hell, just for general, basic use, my 2006 Mac Pro that I currently daily use for a Plex server could be used.

So, totally depends on what you plan on using it for and what your minimum expectations of performance are.

Would make for a very good Windows desktop at the very least.

Lately, I have been really thinking of getting a new-ish Intel Mac just for Boot Camp and Crossover.

I have a lot of Macs, but all 2012 or older with the exception of my M1 Mac Mini.

My teenage kids are wanting to play games that are not WoW (which has had great Mac support since launch), but pretty much every game they name are a Windows-only games.

While the M1, Pro, and Max Macs (horrible naming by Apple) perform very well for many tasks, it appears that gaming support is still very limited, and might stay that way indefinitely.

I thought about getting my kids a M1 Max Mac Mini if it ever gets released, but the thought of dropping $1200+ on it, and them still not able to play any games has crossed my mind.

So, I have been debating about getting a newer Intel Mac, like 2017 or above, and do a mix of Crossover and Boot Camp Windows games on it.

Or, I might just end up buying my first PC since my first Mac almost 30 years ago. Something cheap, but powerful enough to play somewhat modern games @ a minimum 30fps on 1080p is all I need.

 

[ryanmillercg]

My teenage kids are wanting to play games that are not WoW (which has had great Mac support since launch), but pretty much every game they name are a Windows-only games.

You may want to consider a cloud service like GeForce Now or Xbox Cloud Gaming instead of a new machine. Could be a fair bit cheaper/more reliable/more performant, so long as your internet supports it.

 

[uller6]

Hell, just for general, basic use, my 2006 Mac Pro that I currently daily use for a Plex server could be used.

So, totally depends on what you plan on using it for and what your minimum expectations of performance are.

I don't want to be a party pooper here, and I know this is off topic, but using an old 2006 Mac Pro as an always-on Plex server will really chew through your electricity bill. As in, running your 2006 MP will cost > 1 Mac mini per year. I'd rather buy a new Mac mini every year. Once I did the math on my end I got rid of my old pro, and my wallet is thanking me every day.

 

[PBG4 Dude]

nvm, off topic

 

[Juicy Box]

Yes, I do plan on using a Samsung T5 SSD drive instead of the Fusion drive.

The T5 will be fine. Not as fast as the internal SSD, but overall, most likely a better experience than the Fusion Drive with the tiny 32GB SSD portion.

A downside of the T5 is that you will not have TRIM support over USB, which could lead to problems over the very long term for an external USB SSD drive, but there are plenty of people that have been using USB drives to boot from for years without any major issues.

Also, while using an external drive might reduce the chance of HDD failure, and can still happen. Sometimes when this happens, the HDD failure could cause booting issues even when booting from an external drive. This personally wouldn't stop me from getting a Mac with a Fusion Drive, but I still think people should know that HDD failure could still happen even if you do not use the drive.

I don't want to be a party pooper here, and I know this is off topic, but using an old 2006 Mac Pro as an always-on Plex server will really chew through your electricity bill. As in, running your 2006 MP will cost > 1 Mac mini per year. I'd rather buy a new Mac mini every year. Once I did the math on my end I got rid of my old pro, and my wallet is thanking me every day.

How much to you pay for electric?

Not sure where you live, but energy cost are very cheap (relatively) where I live. You are right though, the Mac Pro does a lot more energy than the Mac Mini, but not even remotely close to the cost of the cheapest M1 Mac Mini over a year. Maybe a half-decade's worth of energy.

I know approximately how much it costs me to run my Mac Pro 1,1, as I tested power consumption on it and most of the electronics I use in my home.

At idle, it costs a little over $0.40 a day for it to run 24/7/365, or a little over $150 a year. So, just enough to pay the tax on a new Mac Mini purchase and have a little left over a few meals.

Another thing to keep in mind is that I would have to have external drives for the HDDs plugged in to the Mini, all using energy, so it isn't not as simple as comparing the energy usage from the two machines, and the Mac Pro contains the drives for the server.

That said, I have been thinking about moving my Plex server to my Mac Mini for a few reasons, one of them being energy, but others as well.

Prior to using my Mac Pro, I was using my Late 2012 iMac as my Plex server, but was getting strange glitches. I had a Mac Pro sitting around collecting dust, so I decided to use that. It has many drive bays which made upgrading my storage HW super easy, and I run it headless so no added energy usage there.