Please review your 2017 iMac

[nyc2pdx]

I got the i7 with 3tb Fusion, 27".

Upgraded from late 2012 non-retina, 1tb Fusion, 27"

I'm happy with it. Quiet-I hear my noisy Drobo more than the mac. The 8gb vram is great. I am able to use x-plane 11 and pull 40-50 fps, which is far far better than before. Installed bootcamp and no issues with Win 10.

I am using my old iMac to extend my display (dual monitor) and using the thunderbolt 3 to thunderbolt 2 adapter with a thunderbolt cable to my old iMac. No issues, except every time my mac goes to sleep, upon waking I have to put the second monitor in targeted display mode-drops the target display mode when it goes to sleep.

If anyone knows how to fix that, and have my second imac stay in target display mode....let me know.

When Bootcamp initially started up in Windows, it set my resolution to full retina which meant I literally needed to come within 2 inches of the screen to get it back into a readable resolution. But all is good now.

 

[BuCkDoG]

I got the i7 with 3tb Fusion, 27".

Upgraded from late 2012 non-retina, 1tb Fusion, 27"

I'm happy with it. Quiet-I hear my noisy Drobo more than the mac. The 8gb vram is great. I am able to use x-plane 11 and pull 40-50 fps, which is far far better than before. Installed bootcamp and no issues with Win 10.

I am using my old iMac to extend my display (dual monitor) and using the thunderbolt 3 to thunderbolt 2 adapter with a thunderbolt cable to my old iMac. No issues, except every time my mac goes to sleep, upon waking I have to put the second monitor in targeted display mode-drops the target display mode when it goes to sleep.

If anyone knows how to fix that, and have my second imac stay in target display mode....let me know.

When Bootcamp initially started up in Windows, it set my resolution to full retina which meant I literally needed to come within 2 inches of the screen to get it back into a readable resolution. But all is good now.

So no loud fan noise when cranking the system up? That's good to hear.

 

[epca12]

I would really like to know if there are any ways to avoid or reduce the span spinning up on the i7 with 580 model.

 

[nyc2pdx]

Not that I am noticing...no more than I have noticed in the past.

 

[dsc888]

Thanks for the review, seems well balanced. By any chance could you have gotten use to your old speakers and the new ones just sound different or is there a clear distinction they sound "worse"?

I think Apple only uses the Fusion to help mitigate the cost to reduce its price for storage capacity. Based on the speed and type of their SSDs the price they charge is somewhat justified if we keep in mind Apples profit margins, warranties, service, pre installed, etc. Looking for similar/better quality and performance SSDs.... 2tb PCIe SSD ~ 1300 dollars not on sale. 250gb PCIe SSD ~ 127 dollars. Albeit the SSD cost the price Apple charges + the 2tb Fusion they remove...

Anyway the point is without reverting back to SATA for SSD without the Fusion option someone buying a Mac that merely needs a lot of space would have to drop A LOT of money. Only having 256gb of storage may be fine for many however is laughable for a system that would cost 2499 (2299 + 200 SSD).

Thats just my opinion anyway, to me it seems like there is a method to their madness. And I certainly don't knock Apple for using PCIe based SSDs, they were ahead of the times when they started and I hope they keep up that trend.

No problem! I'm glad you found my post helpful! Honestly, I think it's the speakers. I remember clearly that I was very pleasantly surprised how good the 2015 speakers sounded. The ones built into my 27 inch Apple Cinema Display that is connected to my Mac Pro sounds very decent and has decent bass for built in units. I will let these speakers break in a bit and see if the sound opens up a little more. I will report back once at a later time.

And most definitely, I get why Apple put in a Fusion Drive as the stock option. The vast majority of iMac owners just walk into their local Apple Store or Best Buy and get what's in stock and want the best bang for their buck. Those of us who have more particular needs and are more tech savvy will go the BTO route for a custom machine. But I still feel that Apple should at least put in a 256 GB SSD like how they made the Pro 580 with 8 GB Video Ram as standard on the top spec stock system. I like that I no longer have to pay extra for the better card like people did when they went for the 395X option last generation.

 

[BuCkDoG]

No problem! I'm glad you found my post helpful! Honestly, I think it's the speakers. I remember clearly that I was very pleasantly surprised how good the 2015 speakers sounded. The ones built into my 27 inch Apple Cinema Display that is connected to my Mac Pro sounds very decent and has decent bass for built in units. I will let these speakers break in a bit and see if the sound opens up a little more. I will report back once at a later time.

And most definitely, I get why Apple put in a Fusion Drive as the stock option. The vast majority of iMac owners just walk into their local Apple Store or Best Buy and get what's in stock and want the best bang for their buck. Those of us who have more particular needs and are more tech savvy will go the BTO route for a custom machine. But I still feel that Apple should at least put in a 256 GB SSD like how they made the Pro 580 with 8 GB Video Ram as standard on the top spec stock system. I like that I no longer have to pay extra for the better card like people did when they went for the 395X option last generation.

Thanks again for your input as well! How is the fan noise with this machine at full fan speed?

 

[dsc888]

Thanks again for your input as well! How is the fan noise with this machine at full fan speed?

No problem! I finally got my iMac to speed up the fans by paling an 8k video in YouTube with Chrome. There is definitely no mistaking it for anything else. It's fan noise. It came on for a little bit and then it slowed to idle. I can hear a slight whirl of the air from the fans at idle but it doesn't bother me. My Mac Pro doesn't ramp up much at all since it's got much better cooling vs the iMac. So I'd say I was a bit surprised when I first heard it during the video. I had mistaken it for the sound from the video before I realized the fans had turned up the RPMs.

Again, I'm coming from a 2010 Mac Pro which means I'm used a certain level of tower fan noise. It's maybe a hair louder than the 2015s I had but we're splitting hairs here and perhaps each fan in each unit sounds very so slightly different. Again, I wouldn't classify it as bothersome. Otherwise, I have not had the fans spin up. And I will admit that I have very sensitive hearing so it may not bother most people once they get used to it. I'm not sure if this helps.

 

[Falcon80]

Actually I am not that concerned about the fan noise, but rather more of how fast the iMac heats up. I am working in an environment which might not be the coolest of place so I am not sure if that will bring more stress to overall health of the iMac.

 

[hugodrax]

Upgrading was a breeze. Microsoft has a lot to learn from Apple. The entire out of box experience was so simple and it was fast. Open box, plug stuff in put in your old time machine disk. It will find and restore your computer. I was amazed that everything worked even my Universal Audio Twin MkII Quad interface. Usually that kind of stuff has drivers and licensing stuff but it just worked.

My desk looks so much cleaner since going from the 2012 mac mini to the i7 27inch cut down on the clutter big time

Oh the screen is amazing, huge difference in clarity and I had a good dell 24inch IPS monitor. The computer is fast! love scrolling through my photos library so much room.

OS X makes good use of 5K I do not feel like the letters are tiny etc.. it just looks sharper.

 

[SaSaSushi]

Would you say that if I was to purchase it and play WoW on it that it would not be worth it due to the fan noise? That is the only complaint I'm seeing with these new iMacs is the fan noise. It's just hard for me to tell what 2700 rpm fan noise is when it's completely different from the laptops. The rMBP I have idles at 2k rpm and maxes at 6k rpm and I'm used to playing WoW on that at 6k rpm but I don't really care because I use headphones while playing so wasn't sure if that is basically the same deal here.

I think you answered your own question there.

Yes, the fans would likely be running while playing WoW depending on your settings but the fans are not so noisy that they would be audible over the game audio with headphones on.

 

[Einz]

Yep. It's annoying enough that I'm considering returning it.

I think there is something wrong with your fan. Mine at 1200rpm and I can't hear it.

 

[BuCkDoG]

I think there is something wrong with your fan. Mine at 1200rpm and I can't hear it.

I went into Best Buy and the Apple Store today to test those fans and honestly couldn't hear them at idle. On full fans I could hear them but it is not unbearable like some of the posters are saying personally. Overall an incredible computer.

 

[freebo27]

I got the i7 fan to spin up, installed Xcode and at the end (when I assume its compiling) CPU went over 50% and the fan ran for about 30 secs. The only time I've heard the fan in 3 days of use.

 

[BuCkDoG]

I got the i7 fan to spin up, installed Xcode and at the end (when I assume its compiling) CPU went over 50% and the fan ran for about 30 secs. The only time I've heard the fan in 3 days of use.

I ordered the i7 512 SSD Pro 580 and 64 ram from OWC so should be in for a doozy if everything works as it should!

 

[Traverse]

Using a 12South BackPack to attach a 2TB Western Digital portable HDD to the back of the system. For now this is disconnected and used for remote usage. I have about 300GB of my 1TB SSD free. When it becomes full I will start offloading some iTunes content to it and leave it permanently plugged in.

 

[freebo27]

I ordered the i7 512 SSD Pro 580 and 64 ram from OWC so should be in for a doozy if everything works as it should!

Mine is same but I added 32GB of RAM for a total of 40GB, haven't managed to use more than 16GB so far and that was with a Windows VM running 4 core/8GB RAM.

 

[ThisBougieLife]

I just got my 21" with i7, Radeon Pro 560, 1 TB SSD, and 16 GB RAM.

I have to say: it's a huge improvement over the 2015 21" (which I only tried briefly for a month or so). I almost never hear the fan, even when editing videos and using StreetView (things that cause the fan in my MBP to rev high). The graphics are much better than the integrated graphics and everything seems "zipper". The downside is the lack of 2 TB options (whether Fusion or SSD). And yeah, I don't like the Magic Mouse, but that's why I use the MX Master.

Overall, I have almost nothing to complain about.

 

[Scott6666]

My 2012 i7 at the moment is also at 1200 rpm, not under load. Can only just hear it sitting 2 foot away. What CPU does your 2012 model have and what rpm does it run at idle?

My iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, Late 2015) is running with a 1200 RPM fan at idle and usually no more than 1400 for the last 2 years. 1200 Rpm is inaudible to me sitting right in front of it and I am VERY sensitive to fan noise. 1200 RPM is just standard for iMac i5 and has been for about forever.

 

[freebo27]

Which app are you guys using to see your fan speed?

 

[Scott6666]

Which app are you guys using to see your fan speed?

iStat Menus

 

[hugodrax]

I notice I am not seeing all my temps on iStat. is there an update? I am running the current version of 5

 

[Scott6666]

I notice I am not seeing all my temps on iStat. is there an update? I am running the current version of 5

There are various settings that let you select what to see and not. Temperatures are under 'sensors' I believe. I put a bunch in the menubar (RHS) and then you can click on the menu to see all the temperature under the sensor submenu.

 

[propower]

I have an i7 coming but I also got a chance to test CPU stress on a 3.4GHz i5 base model 27".
With just CPU stress could not get temps over 68degC or Fan off of 1200RPM. Idle temp ~42degC

1 YES = 25%CPU Didn't record Watts after 10min Peak~52degC shares cores well! 1200rpm
2 YES = 50%CPU 21W CPU after 10min Peak~58degC
3 YES = 75%CPU 27.6W CPU after 10min Peak~64degC 1200rpm
4 YES = 100%CPU 33.4W CPU …… 66degC! 1200RPM.

http://osxdaily.com/2012/10/02/stress-test-mac-cpu/

 

[hugodrax]

Now I am impressed even more. I was able to install a windows 10 virtual run it in parallels and install FDM-S2 software and run it with no issues. I was never able to do this before now I no longer need a dedicated PC to run this heavy software. Its great to see the realtime spectrum on a 5K 27 inch screen.

 

[wesleyh]

Anyone else hear a ticking or clicking sound on the new imac i7?