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iMac Recommendation?

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staleygreg

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 23, 2017
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I am looking for an iMac(I think). I have an iPad and a rMBP 13" 2015 I use as my main computer. I do a lot of data analysis and work in spreadsheets a lot which would be better on a big screen, plus it would be better just for personal browsing/email/youtube. Trying to decide which iMac would be best for me, I plan to keep this for a while and get good use out of it.

I have thought about the idea of getting an external display and a thunderbolt 2 dock for my rMBP but I think I would rather have a separate device. I guess another option would be to get a 27" 4k monitor and a mac mini, but they haven't been updated since 2014 so I don't want to get something that's already 3 years old. Plus, the cost of that would be around $1,000 already because I wouldn't get the base model mac mini.
 
It sounds like what you really want is screen real estate. Would you sell the rMBP, or do you need some amount of portability? If you don't need portability, I'd sell the rMBP and get a 27 inch iMac, probably base CPU/GPU and as much SSD storage as you can afford; base 8Gb RAM and add 2x8 Gb of 3rd party RAM (datamemorysystems.com, crucial.com, etc) for 24 Gb total. I think that machine would suit what you do very well, and would be a good long term computer.

If you do need a portable machine, it's a harder question, and I'd probably suggest trying an external monitor. You wouldn't necessarily have to go 4K, you could consider 2560x1440 at 32 inches which isn't as gorgeous as retina resolution but is perfectly usable (I know, that's what I use every day on my 2009 Mac Pro!)
 
kschendel said:
It sounds like what you really want is screen real estate. Would you sell the rMBP, or do you need some amount of portability? If you don't need portability, I'd sell the rMBP and get a 27 inch iMac, probably base CPU/GPU and as much SSD storage as you can afford; base 8Gb RAM and add 2x8 Gb of 3rd party RAM (datamemorysystems.com, crucial.com, etc) for 24 Gb total. I think that machine would suit what you do very well, and would be a good long term computer.

If you do need a portable machine, it's a harder question, and I'd probably suggest trying an external monitor. You wouldn't necessarily have to go 4K, you could consider 2560x1440 at 32 inches which isn't as gorgeous as retina resolution but is perfectly usable (I know, that's what I use every day on my 2009 Mac Pro!)
Click to expand...

I haven't decided if I would sell my rMBP yet or not. I do use it every day on the couch and I think I like using it better than my iPad. The problem is my rMBP display has spoiled me. My wife has a macbook air and when I look at her display it disgusts me, so I wouldn't like anything under 4k.
 
Sounds like a job for the base 5k iMac, but I'd get an all-SSD version. You'll have a good idea from your rMBP how much space you need, except with a desktop it's no big deal to hang a USB external drive off the back if you need more.

Start with 8GB RAM and get an upgrade from Crucial/OWC or similar if you find you need more - fitting extra RAM to the 27" is easy, and you can get an extra 16GB, bringing it to 24GB, for less than Apple charge for the upgrade to 16GB.

If you're not doing serious graphics/video/audio editing or running Windows in a vm you'll probably be ok with 8 GB, but the nice thing about the 27" iMac is that you don't have to commit upfront...
 
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For screen real estate, get a 27" iMac.

I would strongly suggest that you spend at least $100 more for the "build-to-order" model with a 256gb SSD instead of the fusion drive. MUCH faster over the life of the machine. For $300 more, you can get the 512gb SSD. I don't feel the 1tb option is worth spending the money on. If you need more storage space, buy an EXTERNAL drive (either HDD or SSD). Far cheaper.

The base model will probably suit you fine for the tasks you describe above. Again, the SSD will really make even that one feel snappy.

If I was buying an iMac, I'd probably spend the $200 more for the 3.5ghz "7600" CPU on the midrange model, but that's just me.

DON'T sell the MacBook!
If you do, you're gonna be regrettin' it later on!
 
I would wait till you can afford one of the SSD-only Kaby Lake iMacs.
They are really much better than the previous generations - especially the 21" versions.

The MacMini does not do 4k.
 
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