Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

jw3571

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 21, 2010
157
2
Which processor should I go with? I think i'm going with 16gb of ram with the 3tb fusion drive. Really only use it for my photos and music, spreadsheets, surfing the internet. I would like to be able to keep the machine for at least 5 years.
 
I5 will do you just fine for your needs, but ima go with i7 since the cost between the i5 and i7 is small
 
Your kind of usage sounds to me that you don't need the i7. Only If you do heavy photo editing or video editing you should go with i7.

On the other hand, if you want to use it for years it's not stupid to go with the todays best possibilities, which means i7.

Why are you struggling to get the i7? Because of fan noise or price? If fan noise is important to you choose i5.
 
Base model i5 for your needs. If this is the 27" go with 8gb of ram and only if necessary upgrade to 16 on your own later down the road for a fraction of the cost of Apple's upgrade.
 
Which processor should I go with? I think i'm going with 16gb of ram with the 3tb fusion drive. Really only use it for my photos and music, spreadsheets, surfing the internet. I would like to be able to keep the machine for at least 5 years.

If you are considering the i7 to get better performance I would suggest that getting the SSD might be a better option. Reduce to 8GB of RAM and add the 512GB SSD. And it would be cheaper adding your own RAM after.
 
  • Like
Reactions: keysofanxiety
For your needs, I would concur with the sentiment that the i5 will be plenty for your needs. As others have said as well, save money by getting the base 8GB of RAM and purchasing your own to install. Cheaper, easy to do, and just takes minutes.
 
If you are considering the i7 to get better performance I would suggest that getting the SSD might be a better option. Reduce to 8GB of RAM and add the 512GB SSD. And it would be cheaper adding your own RAM after.

That's a good idea. Take the SSD. It sounds to me you don't need a lot of space, so why not choose SSD and i5? You will love it! ;)
 
i7 is for video encoding and heavy 3D tasks, like rendering. If your not encoding or rendering then i5. Also recommend 512ssd and using external for media. 16 ram is great if you use an SSD.
 
It has been suggested here that 1TB Fusion Drive should be avoided at all costs. What do I do in India as these jokers are dumping only the 1TB option here! Otherwise, for the money, it seems to be a fanatically specced computer. :)
 
It has been suggested here that 1TB Fusion Drive should be avoided at all costs. What do I do in India as these jokers are dumping only the 1TB option here! Otherwise, for the money, it seems to be a fanatically specced computer. :)
The 1 TB Fusion drive is a problem. The SSD is only 24 GB. The rest is HDD.

Do you not have SSD options?
 
The 1 TB Fusion drive is a problem. The SSD is only 24 GB. The rest is HDD.

Do you not have SSD options?

In India, Apple does not offer BTO/ CTO options, so no SSD option here on the iMacs. iMac Retina 5K 3.4GHz with Radeon 570 is $2200 roughly. Top end iMac Retina 5K 3.8GHz with Radeon 580 is $2800. This one comes with 2TB Fusion.
 
That sucks! But isn't it possible to buy an iMac from another country close to yours?
[doublepost=1498768084][/doublepost]I do need the larger storage, my pics and music are a 1Tb and I'd like it all onboard and not have to use an external.
 
The 1 TB Fusion drive is a problem. The SSD is only 24 GB. The rest is HDD.

Do you not have SSD options?

Actually the 1TB Fusion now uses 32GB SSD. And yes that is still very small. Just pointing out the correction.
[doublepost=1498770041][/doublepost]
[doublepost=1498768084][/doublepost]I do need the larger storage, my pics and music are a 1Tb and I'd like it all onboard and not have to use an external.

Not trying to start an argument with you but a bus powered USB 3.1 hard drive would be easy to place out of the way behind the computer. This gives more flexibility and you could easily do a 4TB 2.5" hard drive. Place that on the something like this: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1043844-REG/twelve_south_12_1302_backpack_v3_shelf_for.html. That is what I use.
 
I'd go for a pure ssd and just use an external 3tb drive. It might actually be cheaper than the 3tb fusion anyway. SSD will "future proof" better and be much faster. Also in case u didn't know, you cant actually manage what's on the ssd with fusion, for that reason alone I got pure ssd
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.