Just received my refurbished 2020 27' iMac and its awesome!!

[SoYoung]

I'm so glad I didn't bought the Mac Studio. I saved around $2k CAD (2TB mac studio + studio display) and instead I picked up an i7 8 cores, 16GB Ram with the amazing Radeon Pro 5700XT with 2TB SSD and seriously its speedy and snappy at a point I don't know what the M1 could do better for my needs. Plus, I'm still able to natively install windows for my gaming needs. I never had a desktop computer with a SSD yet and I'm still shocked of how fast it boot.

I just make this thread for people who still want an iMac and disappointed with the Mac Studio and don't want a smaller Mac, don't be afraid and buy a refurbished 2020 model while you can. Its identical as a new product in my eyes so far (first time I bought refurbished) and the performance is truly awesome.

Don't know how long Apple will support this model, but I'm sure it will be supported at least for 4-5 years from now so I'm okay with that.

2020 27' iMac owners, how you still happy with your computer?

 

[rm5]

Totally makes sense.

I don't own one of these, but I'm curious what you use the machine for other than gaming. I know the 5700XT is substantially faster than the base M1 in terms of the ability to play back denoised 4K footage, but I don't know how it stacks up to the M1 Max/Ultra.

This is interesting that you chose an Intel Mac rather than the Studio, though I understand why, and sometimes I almost wish I would have done the same.

Sometimes what you have is what you need, sounds like that's true in your case.

 

[SoYoung]

Totally makes sense.

I don't own one of these, but I'm curious what you use the machine for other than gaming. I know the 5700XT is substantially faster than the base M1 in terms of the ability to play back denoised 4K footage, but I don't know how it stacks up to the M1 Max/Ultra.

This is interesting that you chose an Intel Mac rather than the Studio, though I understand why, and sometimes I almost wish I would have done the same.

Sometimes what you have is what you need, sounds like that's true in your case.

Just to be clear, I have nothing against the M1 Macs, the most reason I chose this model if the price VS what I get for and the fact I prefer an all in one device and not a console + display combo. a 2TB Mac Studio would be very expensive and there's some downside with my decision (Will probably have less macOS updates) but I had to change my desktop computer and right now, it seems it was the smarter choice for me.

When you buy refurbished, you have to buy the model Apple have in stock so the one I chose was the best one I could found for me. I chose the highest graphic card available because I like gaming and its essentially the only reason. I don't want a PC because aside of gaming, I just prefer to be on Apple ecosystem all the time.

If the Mac Studio was an all in one iMac with a lower price of a combo, it would be a much, much harder decision.

 

[Bodhitree]

Agreed the 27” iMac is pretty good value, hope you are very happy with your new mac.

 

[pmiles]

The key selling point is being able to boot Windows. If you have the need to, there's only one choice.

 

[Lihp8270]

27’ didn’t realise they made them that big. It must be huge?!

 

[servenvolley]

I bought a 2020 27" refurbished from Apple over a year ago. I love it. I have it target-displayed to a 2009 iMac and I plan to keep that set up as long as Apple will support it.

 

[PBG4 Dude]

The key selling point is being able to boot Windows. If you have the need to, there's only one choice.

Upgrading to 64GB RAM is only about $300 and is user serviceable too.

 

[saudor]

I built a hackintosh based around imac 2020 (i7 10700K, 32gb RAM, etc) and love it. When I need to do "spreadsheets and work", I boot into macOS. When i want to kick back and relax, I reboot into windows.

How the tables have turned lol

 

[ADGrant]

Upgrading to 64GB RAM is only about $300 and is user serviceable too.

That was a key advantage to me. I have a 2020 i9 with 5700XT and a 2TB SSD. I upgraded the RAM myself to 64GB.

 

[zarmanto]

I built a hackintosh based around imac 2020 ...

Ummmm... that's not what a hackintosh is. For the record: a hackintosh is when you run macOS on a non-Apple computer, typically by building your own PC from components; Windows is actually optional in such a scenario. To build a hackintosh, you have to be very selective about which components you purchase, because not all hardware will be recognized by macOS, and then you have to obtain a hacked copy of macOS to get it to install successfully on the PC... thus the name.

(And yes: I once built a hackintosh, many years ago. It was a fun little experiment, but I absolutely do not recommend it for most purposes.)

Oh... and to the original poster: My primary home computer is a 2019 iMac, as noted in my sig below -- and I'm still quite happy with it. I don't know if I'll be buying a silicon iMac anytime soon, as I Bootcamp Windows for games, like you... but I'm still very curious as to how Apple is going to develop that line-up, going forward.

 

[saudor]

Ummmm... that's not what a hackintosh is. For the record: a hackintosh is when you run macOS on a non-Apple computer, typically by building your own PC from components; Windows is actually optional in such a scenario. To build a hackintosh, you have to be very selective about which components you purchase, because not all hardware will be recognized by macOS, and then you have to obtain a hacked copy of macOS to get it to install successfully on the PC... thus the name.

(And yes: I once built a hackintosh, many years ago. It was a fun little experiment, but I absolutely do not recommend it for most purposes.)

Oh... and to the original poster: My primary home computer is a 2019 iMac, as noted in my sig below -- and I'm still quite happy with it. I don't know if I'll be buying a silicon iMac anytime soon, as I Bootcamp Windows for games, like you... but I'm still very curious as to how Apple is going to develop that line-up, going forward.

Let me know which Mac model this one is

Jokes aside, I’m just saying I built a hackintosh that closely resembles apple’s iMac 2020 specs for ultimate stability for similar reasons OP mentioned vs going M series . So an i7 10700K, Z490, the same wireless chip used in iMacs, Radeon graphics, etc. Been doing it since 2015 and super stable but I agree - it’s not for everyone.

 

[wilberforce]

I picked up an i7 8 cores, 16GB Ram with the amazing Radeon Pro 5700XT with 2TB SSD

That is exactly the "best" configuration I have recommended; it is IMO the ultimate refinement of the Intel iMacs. Lucky you were able to get a 5700XT, they are becoming hard to find for a reasonable price, although the stock appears to come and go.
The only thing I suggest is upgrade to 32GB (or more) with third party RAM. Note: you cannot mix sizes of DIMMs in the 2020 iMac without degrading performance. A quirk of the 2020 iMac.

 

[zarmanto]

... Jokes aside, I’m just saying I built a hackintosh that closely resembles apple’s iMac 2020 specs ...

My apologies; I thought you were saying that you built a hackintosh out of an actual iMac 2020. Thank you for the clarification; using the specs as a blueprint makes sense.

 

[SoYoung]

That is exactly the "best" configuration I have recommended; it is IMO the ultimate refinement of the Intel iMacs. Lucky you were able to get a 5700XT, they are becoming hard to find for a reasonable price, although the stock appears to come and go.
The only thing I suggest is upgrade to 32GB (or more) with third party RAM. Note: you cannot mix sizes of DIMMs in the 2020 iMac without degrading performance. A quirk of the 2020 iMac.

Yeah I checked the refurbished store everyday since march to get this specific configuration and a couple of days before I bought it it pop up once, but someone bought it before me so I lost hope and after the week end the same model pop up again but with the 10Gbps ethernet connection so I immediately bought it.

I think a decent 2020 model will be difficult to find from now on on the Apple Store. The only model left here in Canada are the very expensive ones with bad configurations like 128GB Ram and one of the two 8 GB graphic cards.

I'll eventually upgrade for 32GB ram but for right now I'm pretty satisfied with what I have.

 

[krazzix]

2020 27' iMac owners, how you still happy with your computer?

Extremely happy. As a webdeveloper, I love to use MacOS. I can do that. It's plenty fast enough for my work. As a gamer, I can boot into Windows and play every recent game on it with good performance. Cyberpunk, Horizon Zero Dawn, Jedi Fallen Order, Diablo 2 Resurrected, Elden Ring just to name a few.

The Mac Studio is faster, but also way more expensive and I can't play any games on it. I would be restricted to cloud gaming. Which is horrible because of lag, monthly payments, and being restricted to what you can play.

So yeah, this machine is awesome and it's going to be for a while as far as I can see.