iMac now or wait?

[piotrrcola]

I am thinking of getting a 27" iMac, mostly for reading purposes. I don't game / photo. Occasionally it will be used as a Plex media server (so I need dedicated graphics). I'm currently using my rMBP but it won't support 4K display so my current monitor is an inferior display in comparison to the laptop screen. At most, I do spotify / safari / word / powerpoint at the same time (probably don't even need 8GB ram).

Questions
1. Should I get one now? or later when the product refresh happens. Since I don't need top of the line, I would prefer to get a refurbished one and save some money
2. Do I need a fusion drive or is a 1TB 7200 good enough?

Thx

 

[Brian Kendig]

Buy what you need, when you need it. It sounds like the current iMac is good enough for you now.

It's looking like the Mac product refresh might happen with WWDC in June, so if you can wait three months then you might be able to get something better.

And for your needs, it sounds like a 7200rpm hard drive should be suitable.

 

[MadDane]

At the bare minimum I would go for a Fusion Drive, although pure SSD would be better. Everything just feels very slow on a regular hard drive. Other than that you would be fine with whichever machine you like.

And dedicated graphics is not needed for Plex Integrated would be perfectly fine for that.

 

[trsblader]

Given your needs, a refurb now would be fine. I would also opt for a fusion drive but the 7200rpm drive will still suffice. Heck I'm still on a 5400 and for the majority of my needs it's fine. A lot of refurbs you'll find will include the fusion drive.

One thing to keep in mind if you do wait, is refurbs won't hit the store for multiple months after the new models come out and by then more rumors about a refresh will start and you'll be in a never ending circle of buy now or wait. Someone else may be able to give a better number, but I've seen 4-6 months after the new models is about when they start hitting the refurb store.

 

[piotrrcola]

Do you know how this iMac (with a 1TB fusion drive) will compare in performance to a 15" mid 2012 retina MBP?

My "old" rMBP is perfect for my current needs, I am barely at 2-3% pageins compared to page outs.

I'm trying to avoid any assumptions regarding a comparison between the two.

 

[trsblader]

I also have the 2012 retina (8gb ram, 256 hard drive "base model") and did some comparison's to the 2015 iMac with a 2tb fusion. This is just my own research so by no means am I saying it's the right answer. Looking at geek bench scores on average the 2015 iMac was 1400 points higher on single core, and 2700 higher on multicore.

One thing to note though is that the 1tb fusion drive only has a 24gb flash vs a 2 or 3tb fusion that has 128gb of flash so presumably the 1tb will be a little slower than a 2tb, and I'm not sure how that would directly compare to a 2012 retina mbp.

Also for what it's worth, I'm sort of in the same boat as you. My 2011 iMac has done great but the things I want to use it for now it just doesn't cut it so I'm faced with upgrading now or waiting. I'm holding out that the next iMac will include USB-C and I'm betting on that being in standard in the next 5-6 years before I'll want to buy another iMac. No idea if either of those will happen. If it weren't for that though, I'd have a 2015 iMac on my desk right now.

 

[G.McGilli]

Regular HDD is more than enough for what you've listed as your computing needs...

 

[pat500000]

Just buy it. There wont be an update for long time.

 

[maflynn]

Do I need a fusion drive or is a 1TB 7200 good enough?

I would avoid both the spinning disk and the 1TB Fusion drive. They both will make the iMac feel slow and sluggish.

Get the 256GB SSD if you can, or at the very least the 2TB Fusion drive. At least with the 2TB Fusion drive, you get 128GB of flash storage. The 1TB Fusion drive uses a paltry 24GB of flash storage.

Another option if budget is an issue, is to get an external SSD and run off that, you'll see some clear cut performance increases running off an external SSD vs. a hard drive.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP asked:
"Do I need a fusion drive or is a 1TB 7200 good enough?"

Nope, a 7200rpm HDD -will not- be "good enough"...
...Unless you like looking at spinning beachballs.

You need the 2tb fusion drive model for [what I consider] "baseline acceptable" performance. This comes with a 128gb SSD/flash portion and a 2tb 7200rpm HDD portion.

If you don't mind an "Apple refurbished" model, check ebay. There are several sellers now with Apple refurbs of the 2tb fusion model in the $1,700 range. These come with the 1-year Apple warranty and you can get AppleCare for them as well. Considerable savings than if you buy from the Apple online store.