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Is this iMac overkill?

G

gentlechainsaw

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 16, 2015
19
0
I am in the refurbished store looking for a Mac to do Photo and Video editing (PhotoShop/Light Room and FCPX/Adobe Premier Pro)

These are the specs of the iMac I am looking at.

Processor 3.4GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 (Turbo Boost up to 3.9GHz)
Cache 6MB shared L3 cache
Memory 8GB (two 4GB) of 1600MHz DDR3 memory; four user-accessible SO-DIMM slots; supports up to 32GB
Graphics NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680MX graphics processor with 2GB of GDDR5 memory
Storage1 1TB Fusion Drive
Display 27-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit display with IPS technology; 2560-by-1440 resolution with support for millions of colors
Wireless 802.11n Wi-Fi wireless networking2; Bluetooth 4.0 wireless technology
Connections and Expansion SDXC card slot, Four USB 3 ports, Two Thunderbolt ports, Mini DisplayPort output with support for DVI, VGA, and dual-link DVI (adapters sold separately, 10/100/1000BASE-T Gigabit Ethernet (RJ-45 connector)
Video and Audio FaceTime HD camera; Simultaneously supports full native resolution on the built-in display and up to a 30-inch display (2560 by 1600 pixels) on an external display; Support for extended desktop and video mirroring modes

Stereo speakers, dual microphones, Headphone/optical digital audio output (minijack), Support for Apple iPhone headset with microphone


My Budget was $2,000 but this build with apple care comes to $2300. I am not going to be doing a huge amount of editing as I only do this as a side job and hobby so I am curious as to whether you all think this build is necessary? My thinking is that, why not go a little bigger and better for a machine that will last longer in this day and age of constantly growing tech that requires faster machines.
 
Why not buy the current model:

Refurbished 27-inch iMac 3.5GHz Quad-core Intel Core i5 with Retina display
Originally released October 2014
27-inch (diagonal) Retina display with IPS technology; 5120‑by‑2880 resolution
8GB memory
1TB Fusion drive

AMD Radeon R9 M290X graphics processor with 2GB of GDDR5 memory

@ $2119?

It's $170 more than the 2012 model you're looking at and just hold off on the Applecare until next year before the warranty expires.

For $170 difference I'd go with the more current model.

As to overkill, I think all Macs are overkill for most of what I do. FCP X runs well on my 2011 with AMD 6970 for you'll be in good hands with either of those systems.

Good luck, there's some really good options out there.

Cheers,
 
I was thinking that the i7 processor would make a big difference? which is one of the main reasons I was going with this model.

Aside from that the only other difference I see is the display, which I do not believe I need a 5K display.
 
lol very true.

I guess I should hold off on applecare until after the first year of the warranty regardless right?
 
gentlechainsaw said:
I was thinking that the i7 processor would make a big difference? which is one of the main reasons I was going with this model...
Click to expand...

The benefit of the i7 hyperthreading is highly variable. When exporting from FCP X it's about 30% faster. It does nothing for Lightroom import/export. I haven't closely examined what Photoshop tasks it might help on.

In general an upgraded GPU is probably a better investment, although the GTX-680m is not slow.

Make sure you get either Fusion Drive or SSD, not the regular HDD. If you will be using fast external storage (which video editing often requires) then SSD might be better. Reason: you don't have enough space to put much content on a 1TB FD, so why not use the faster SSD which benefits many different tasks.
 
Funny I made the same exact thread last night..also looking at this machine. check out my thread called iMac help
 
gentlechainsaw said:
I am in the refurbished store looking for a Mac to do Photo and Video editing (PhotoShop/Light Room and FCPX/Adobe Premier Pro)

These are the specs of the iMac I am looking at.

Processor 3.4GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 (Turbo Boost up to 3.9GHz)
Cache 6MB shared L3 cache
Memory 8GB (two 4GB) of 1600MHz DDR3 memory; four user-accessible SO-DIMM slots; supports up to 32GB
Graphics NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680MX graphics processor with 2GB of GDDR5 memory
Storage1 1TB Fusion Drive
Display 27-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit display with IPS technology; 2560-by-1440 resolution with support for millions of colors
Wireless 802.11n Wi-Fi wireless networking2; Bluetooth 4.0 wireless technology
Connections and Expansion SDXC card slot, Four USB 3 ports, Two Thunderbolt ports, Mini DisplayPort output with support for DVI, VGA, and dual-link DVI (adapters sold separately, 10/100/1000BASE-T Gigabit Ethernet (RJ-45 connector)
Video and Audio FaceTime HD camera; Simultaneously supports full native resolution on the built-in display and up to a 30-inch display (2560 by 1600 pixels) on an external display; Support for extended desktop and video mirroring modes

Stereo speakers, dual microphones, Headphone/optical digital audio output (minijack), Support for Apple iPhone headset with microphone


My Budget was $2,000 but this build with apple care comes to $2300. I am not going to be doing a huge amount of editing as I only do this as a side job and hobby so I am curious as to whether you all think this build is necessary? My thinking is that, why not go a little bigger and better for a machine that will last longer in this day and age of constantly growing tech that requires faster machines.
Click to expand...

what did you end up doing?
 
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