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Just ordered 27 inch iMac having second thoughts

Did I make a mistake, do I return the imac

  • Yes, but wait till day 13 of return window

    Votes: 11 18.6%

  • Nah just keep it, the update wont be for a while

    Votes: 21 35.6%

  • return it un opened right away

    Votes: 27 45.8%
  • Total voters
    59
T

turbocamel

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 6, 2014
68
7
So long story short, I wanted to buy a machine before the back to school special died on sept 25th. My main laptop is hella old but we needed a family computer with storage so i figured Id get an imac, also I didn't want to be completely selfish buying myself a new top of the line 15inch mbp with upgrades before a family machine.

Ordered the 27inch 3.8ghz, +16gb ram, with both mouse and trackpad. at like 1158pm on sept 25th

The next day I realized I might as well update what I can from factory and do the ram cheaper later, I called in and changed configs. settled on this

4.2GHz quad-core 7th-generation Intel Core i7 processor, Turbo Boost up to 4.5GHz
8GB 2400MHz DDR
3TB Fusion Drive
Radeon Pro 580 with 8GB video memory
Magic Trackpad 2
Magic Keyboard

Also got some black beats headphones for free, nice to have. but now i'm left wondering, what the hell did I impulse buy. Is there going to be a huge update coming soon after i just dropped $2500

and for those wondering, my laptop is a 2009 mid 13inch mbp 2.26 c2duo, upgraded to 8gb ram , 2x 500gb hds, slow as ****, but took me thru med school and residency, hardly use it nowadays. Now my plex server and photo repository can be moved to the Imac, and ill get a new 15 inch later.
 
Keep it for sure. So what if a new one comes out, a new one is always coming out.

Personally i'd open it up and replace the 128GB SSD in the Fusion drive with a 1TB one, but that's just me.

Keep it and use it.
 
I have a 1 TB with 128 GB SSD Fusion (late 2014 iMac 27"). Speed is fine though.

But I hope Apple finally wiill release SSD iMacs this year.. at a "reasonable" price (= not iPhone XS prices).
 
turbocamel said:
So long story short, I wanted to buy a machine before the back to school special died on sept 25th. My main laptop is hella old but we needed a family computer with storage so i figured Id get an imac, also I didn't want to be completely selfish buying myself a new top of the line 15inch mbp with upgrades before a family machine.

Ordered the 27inch 3.8ghz, +16gb ram, with both mouse and trackpad. at like 1158pm on sept 25th

The next day I realized I might as well update what I can from factory and do the ram cheaper later, I called in and changed configs. settled on this

4.2GHz quad-core 7th-generation Intel Core i7 processor, Turbo Boost up to 4.5GHz
8GB 2400MHz DDR
3TB Fusion Drive
Radeon Pro 580 with 8GB video memory
Magic Trackpad 2
Magic Keyboard

Also got some black beats headphones for free, nice to have. but now i'm left wondering, what the hell did I impulse buy. Is there going to be a huge update coming soon after i just dropped $2500

and for those wondering, my laptop is a 2009 mid 13inch mbp 2.26 c2duo, upgraded to 8gb ram , 2x 500gb hds, slow as ****, but took me thru med school and residency, hardly use it nowadays. Now my plex server and photo repository can be moved to the Imac, and ill get a new 15 inch later.
Click to expand...

You bought an excellent machine, more power than you'll need for years, although I agree that if you can, switch out the fusion drive for a pure SSD. Don't listen to all the "Wait! Wait! A new iMac is coming out tomorrow!" Any new iMac you buy will be new when you buy it, and a year later there will be a new one everyone is saying you should have bought. And it is also likely the next iMac won't let you install your own RAM upgrade. As soon as that happens people are going to be crying about not having bought the current version...around and around. Good luck with your new machine!
 
  • Like
Reactions: smirking and turbocamel
There's lots of speculation that new iMacs will be announced this month, but at this point it's all speculation. There's also speculation that Apple will wait till 9th generation cpus are available. And Intel seems to be having production problems. Additionally no one knows if the new iMac will be a significant redesign, or basically a spec bump. I'm looking at new computers and at this point I'm trying to wait it out. My system is outdated but still meets most basic needs. The 8th generation cpus brought more cores to the party; i5 cpus are 6 core, i7s are 6 core with multi-threading. For tasks that make use of multiple cores, they do offer a meaningful improvement. For tasks using only a single core, differences are probably not so significant. Pragmatically, for most of the things most people use computers for on a daily basis, there is little meaningful difference. I do a lot of photo editing using LR and DxO; the latter is especially slow when using their Prime noise reduction with large raw files, and more cores are supposed to be very useful for speeding that process. Folks doing lots of heavy video editing can use all the power they can get. But for most things... There's a adage that if you need a computer, buy it. As soon as you buy it there will be something better coming along to replace it. If you don't really need the computer now, wait. Bottom line is no one really knows when new iMacs will be announced, when they will be available, what they'll bring to the table, and what they will cost.
 
I bought a new one 3 weeks ago and glad I did. If a new one comes out, so what. Stop second guessing Apple.

I did get the 512GB SSD though.
 
I agree with other posters above, about the SSD.
Your NOT including this is the order was... a mistake.

If it was me (and I realize your AREN'T "me"), I'd return it UNOPENED.
I'd then order up a 3.5ghz (midrange) model with either a 256gb or 512gb SSD.
 
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Reactions: fathergll
It’s a fine machine, to be sure. That being said, an update is most likely coming soon. If you feel like you’re going to have buyers’ remorse when the new one releases, then just return it before the window closes. Unless you absolutely need a machine right now.
 
I agree with what the others are saying, you should have gotten an SSD and you should probably wait for an update. But why not keep it for the return period? You have it and are allowed to use it for free for 2 weeks so make a good use of this time, test it out, use it as if it was yours and monitor your CPU, GPU, RAM and disk usage. At worse you wasted a bit of time setting it up and at best you now have a better idea of what you need/don't need from a new computer.
 
Appreciate all the feedback about the SSD, tbh as with apple, the price increase is not proportional to the product received. I figured the CPU upgrade ($180) was a better usage of money than the ram ($180) because I can swap it out later. As far as my usage goes, I do a lot of photoshop work for photography, plan on running some windows based Sneakerbots, as well as a lot of PLEX server for all the tvs in the house.

My current storage solution is not existant, I have multiple external hard drives laying around and I wanted larger storage space until I end up configuring my NAS in the upcoming months (15-30TB)

Perhaps the 512SSD was probably the better move for an extra $100, I didn't even think of it based on sheer space loss.

Is the HD on this IMAC user replaceable?
 
OP asked:
"Is the HD on this IMAC user replaceable?"

NO.

Not without prying the iMac open and VOIDING the warranty.
Are you willing to do that?
 
You've already determined that you've got regret due to the fact you failed to perform proper diligence. No big deal. No harm no foul.

Return the item un-opened so that Apple doesn't have to bear the cost of examining the item for re-sale suitability nor the expense of putting the item through the proper channels to that end. Someone else will walk into your nearest Apple location and be thrilled the item's in stock and ready to go.

JMO
 
Fishrrman said:
I agree with other posters above, about the SSD.
Your NOT including this is the order was... a mistake.

If it was me (and I realize your AREN'T "me"), I'd return it UNOPENED.
I'd then order up a 3.5ghz (midrange) model with either a 256gb or 512gb SSD.
Click to expand...




Do the above^^^.


  • i7 is not needed and run hotter. Unless you have a specific reason for getting an i7 for a family computer then go with the i5.
  • Get an SSD. Personally I wouldn't go under 512 SSD unless you are using external storage.


Don't open it....just return.
 
Well, everyone has their own opinion, but it really comes down to what you want and your level of urgency at getting a new machine.

I haven't followed the iMac rumors lately. Is there a known release being announced within a month or two? If so, I think I would cancel the order/return it unopened and wait for that announcement. The back to school offer is nice, but you can also get very nice discounts on the refurbished store, should you wait and new iMacs don't arrive. (Anecdotally, I bought a MacBook Pro from the refurb store, and it appeared brand new in every way. It has run flawlessly since 2013.)

You could buy a cheapo SSD and stick it in your 2009 MBP to give it a boost for a couple months.

If new iMacs are not on the horizon then I would go ahead and buy instead of waiting forever.

Some people suggested getting the iMac with an SSD and using an external drive for storage. I personally dislike dealing with external drives; they take up room on the desk, you have to turn them off and on and remember to plug them in, and now there are two places to store files and back up. Not a huge deal, but I prefer internal. My iMac has a fusion drive and it seems fast to me. When I first got it, the first few bootups were a little slow, but after rebooting it a handful of times it got much faster, presumably as the OS files got copied onto the SSD.

My 2011 iMac had the top of the line Core i7, but my 2016 iMac has an i5. I really miss the i7's hyperthreading.

Good luck! Whatever you decide to do, I think you will be happy. The current machines are great, and the new ones will also likely be great.
 
That is an old computer you are using. I'd just try to hold off another 40 days or so and buy the latest.
Agree that there is little reason to get an i7 over a current i5 (which I assume will be the latest if you buy the latest sometime in early November.
You should know by middle of next week if there is going to be an Apple October event. If there is one (and there almost certainly will be), then you will know when Apple is going to announce new computers. After that announcement, you will know when they are for sale (which should be shortly after the announcement). You have only days or at most weeks to wait to be able to make a very informed decision.

FYI, I'm getting by on PC until the new Macs are available. So I'm suffering along with you.
 
I’d return it - why not wait a month, see what comes, sounds like there’s no urgency? - and upgrade the RAM.
 
oakrrl said:
I’d return it - why not wait a month, see what comes, sounds like there’s no urgency? - and upgrade the RAM.
Click to expand...
You can also wait another month. Then another. Then you might as well wait until June 2019. Right?
 
Agree with @Fishrrman and @fathergll above on returning unopened.

Why not wait to see what happens with any announcement later in the month. Personally I’d go with at least 512GB SSD, i5 chipset since you don’t mention any video editing or games, and perhaps upgrade to 16GB of memory. Same $2300-$2500 machine, but the increased SSD and memory should be a great machine for a long time.

Best of luck!
 
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